Is anyone a fan of this one? I really like it.

You manage a team of mercenaries trying to liberate a south american republic from control by a dictator. You have to conduct raids, defend your holdings, equip militia, and otherwise kick ass and take names. The game is done in real time, but with the ability to stop time and issue orders. If you stop and play it becomes like a turn based strategy.

Yes, I must say that I'm a fan of this game specially after patch 1.13 which allows to play with Fog of War. In previous versions you didn't have the "Fog of War" (you would instantly see all enemies on the map) which isn't realitic at all and frankly it's a bit "stupid" and makes the game too easy. This was my major complain regarding this game with pre-1.13 versions, thankfully this was solved with patch 1.13

Nevertheless I still prefer the older Jagged Alliance 2 because it had more features such as having a Helicopters (and/or later on a Jeep as well) to transport your mercs around the strategic map and you had more weapon slots where you could attach more stuff besides sights such as laser sight/pointer, bipods, grenade launchers, etc...
IMO, Jagged Alliance Back in Action is better than the older Jagged Alliance 2 in terms of graphics (obviously!) and I also prefer the real time with pause (of Jagged Alliance Back in Action) to the turn-base gameplay (of Jagged Alliance 2).

I'm in the midst of taking cambria university and hospital. I took the university last night. I used two teams. Team 1 secured the perimeter by eliminating the guards outside the compound. They then took a defensive position in the parking lot to prevent reinforcement from the hospital and to prevent guards inside the compound from exiting. A sniper from team 1 then took out a pair of guards on the roof. Team 2 then snuck up on the roof. Using careful positioning they were able to eliminate the remaining guards outside the buildings by attacking them from on the roof. Once that was completed they descended and entered the building (which by this point had only three remaining guards holed up inside. Team 2 switched to silenced MP5SD's and were able to induce the enemy to leave their defensible position, at which point they were eliminated.

Tonight I hope to clear the hospital. It looks to be a tougher nut to crack. Once I have liberated that I will probably liberate the SAM site and Cambria itself from the clutches of the evil dictator.

AAR! AAR! AAR! Write one, please! With pics, maybe?

We will see. Maybe.

I played for over 2 hours just to liberate the university. It looks to be the easier of the two.

One trick I found that works really well for clearing buildings is to find a side with lots of windows, crawl your team members below each window, turn their field of fire to face inside, then have them stand up in the gun ready position. You instantly have 3 or 4 shooters at one or two targets, its very effective, and can often take them by surprise.

If you think that taking Cambria is hard (and inded it is) wait until you take Grumm!

In Grumm there's something like 50 plus enemy soldiers defending the Industrial Park area (which is a rather small area BTW) and 25 or so soldiers defending the town itself (with a total of almost 80 soldiers defending Grumm). And to reach Grumm you should either take a supply depot (located in the Grumm outskirts east of Grumm Industrial Park) which is guarded by something like 30 enemy soldiers or take a road block (located in the Grumm outskirts east of Grumm town) which is only guarded by 10 soldiers. Either way in the end you should take both of these 2 locations.
In my game I already took almost every major town/cities in Arulco with the sole exception of the capital city of Meduna (there's also some other "minor" sectors still occupied by the enemy) and so far and by far the hardest town to take was definitly Grumm! It took me almost an entire REAL LIFE DAY just to occupy both the Industrial Park and the town of Grumm. I took Grumm with 1 squad of very well equiped (with some of the best weapons and armour in the game) and now well experienced mercs and the results that one of my mercs ended up severly wounded with only a small bar of remaining health (I had to order this merc had to abandon combat) and all others were either considerably injured and/or had their body armour completly worn out!

I just can't imagine how it will be when I start taking Meduna!

I moved on to the hospital last night. After taking the university I had team 1 in the compound of the university, in the main building, and Team 2 outside, in the parking lot providing containment. I had team 2 reposition so that they could contain hostiles exiting the main doors of the hospital. Over the course of an hour or so of play I took out more than 8 enemies from that position. I had a single sniper (PSG1 w/ 12x), a designated marksman (FAL w/ 12x) and three support soldiers (2x Tavor w/ reflex or EoTech, 1x AKM w/EoTech). In those exchanges one of the support soldiers was seriously injured and withdrew away to a safe location.

Simultaneously I crawled Team 1 around the east side of the hospital (eliminating a single sniper in the process). I left one support soldier (HK G53 w/12x) and a designated marksmen (VVS Vinatorrez w/ 12x) in front of windows to cover internal hallways.

the remaining three, which included a pair of snipers (1x PSG w/12x, 1x Dragunov w/12x) snuck onto the roof with the intention of clearing the roof. In the process they engaged three targets through a sunroof, eliminating them, though one of my snipers was heavily wounded and forced to withdraw. Two of the three roof top guards were also eliminated. This engagement sparked several guards from inside the facility to exit from the cargo door. Each was quickly eliminated from accurate fire from the roof.

I continue the liberation tonight (fingers crossed). There are three remaining guards in the main hallway of the hospital. My cover team should be able to eliminate them. There is one barricaded in a back room. There are multiple bad guys left in the extended wing of the hospital (10+ I think). So far I have 2 severely WIA from my two teams (5 per team). There are over 30+ enemy KIA.

I took the hospital with few more wrinkles. Once I had those two sectors I consolidated and moved on the SAM site. I used two teams of 6 to assault. One from the north, one from the east. All were equipped with sniper type weapons (except for one or two support elements per team). The team from the east engaged first with a surprise attack on two targets. This riled the enemies guarding the south and west who abandoned their fortified positions to move to the fortified positions to the east side of the site. That proved a crucial error as my team from the north attacked them while they moved through the open. The full assault lasted less than 5 minutes with 11 enemy KIA and no injured mercs.

I then moved on to Cambria. I took the east side of the main street after some significant gun battles. Again I had a 6 man team from the east and a 6 man team from the north. The north team occupied a position along the main north/south road, and when enemy sought to engage my team sweeping the east side they engaged and caused significant losses. I've since moved west, but I still have two large enclaves to take. Hopefully by this time tomorrow Cambria will be liberated from the clutches of the evil Diedriana.

I played it for probably 20-30 hours right after release, and pretty much enjoyed it despite the early issues. Until it got too hard for me to do much with.

Hog, if you want to make it easier, the best way is to simply change one file to make everything an enemy KIA has in their possession fall on their death (no more looking through hundreds of "cases" to find a single weapon), lots of weapons, which can be sold for more money.

Good idea. I'll try that next time I fire up the game. Thanks for the tip.

The campaign moves along well. I recently took a lightly defended farm in the north west near San Mona. It fell without significant incident. The farm was defended by around 10 hostiles. I positioned a single team of six mercs with a good field of fire at the bulk of their force, made them prone and then engaged them at range. My force quickly evened the odds before those inside the farm building could react. In the short firefight which ensued 8 were KIA. I then repositioned three of my mercs to cover the advance of the other three to eliminate the two remaining hostiles. One hostile ran outside and began engaging my team of mercs moving into position and was quickly eliminated by the cover team. The last merc made the mistake of moving into the line of sight of one of my best shooters and was eliminated with a single shot.

Just picked this up....... Must say, fun game so far.

My tip: Each squad should have 4 with sniper rifles, with an AR or SMG to back up, and the others an AR with a scope. Everyone should also have a secondary speed optic. Just wipe out as many as you can outside of their engagement range. Makes life much easier (given most engagements are 4:1 odds at best.

My attempts at stealthly attacks have failed badly...... The Mercs you can hire at the beginning are pretty weak (well the ones I picked) are massivly weak sauce on the stealth department. Don't suppose you get your money back if you fire them?

Yes, I also have the same oppinion regarding steath attacks. I don't use this tactic and completly gave up on it and basically I only use sniping and/or "brute force" assaults.
One weapon that I think it's essencial to always have around in a squad is the M-79 grenade launcher. When you find yourself vastly outnumbered this is your "live saver"! With a grenade launcher you can toss grenades at much longer distances (compared to tossing them by hand) and you can potentially kill many enemies with a single grenade (if you have a group of enemies near each other). With this weapon you can fire at the enemy having your merc hidden behind cover and without being exposed to enemy fire.

75% off on Steam today for anyone wanting to give it a whirl, $9.99.

I found that taking the barracks and port near alma was surprisingly tough. I used two teams attacking from the north. The original plan was to have Team 1 position themselves to attack the front entrance of the barracks and Team 2 the west side, on the water. The idea being to simultaneously eliminate the guards outside the barracks. That proved a bad strategy so I tried a different approach. First both teams attacked the front entrance, eliminating the guards around that locale. They then low crawled to the water side of the building and attacked the enemy outside the building there. I then positioned Team 2 to defend the water side entrance to the barracks, and sent in Team 1 to clear the building. I had team 1 switch from distance rifles to SMG's and AR for the assault inside the building. I was able to eliminate the guards inside the building with some ease, however the command room proved more difficult. I put half my team at one door and half the team at the other door, unlocked both. As I was contemplating how to proceed one of the guards tried to exit the room. The resulting (short) gun battle caused numerous guards to rush towards that door at the far west of the room. One of my mercs basically spammed the doorway with grenades eliminating 4 hostiles. Once the enemies were fully concerned with the West doorway my other half team opened the North door, engaged the soldiers in a crossfire and eliminated them.

Shortly after that occurred the remaining outdoor hostiles, positioned near the port warehouses attacked my team defending the water side door to the barracks. My team was nearly overrun, however the hostiles made the fatal error of bunching up, which meant that a well placed grenade killed 3 of the hostiles and wounded two more. After that, it was merely mopping up. Two or three remaining hostiles were quickly dispatched. And both sites secured. No mercs lost 40+ enemy KIA.

I am on that bit now. However the barracks and port have over 60 bad guys. I think I waited to long to attack it. Does not help that I am trying to do it with one five man team. My other teams are off in the far west of map and waiting for a shipment of gear at the airport.

This is going vary badly....

Yeah... I took it slow. I took the airport, then quickly Drassen and the road block and then the mine. Once I had the mine I waited a long time to build up a force to move on. I took the water pump next, then the university, hospital, the other road block, then Cambria. Then the sam site.

I've found crashed truck to be a critical place to hold, as every enemy patrol seems to want to try and take it back. They haven't attacked Cambria in a while. I may be able to move my holding force from there soon.

My recommendation is get as many mercs as quick as you can. Gear is less important than numbers (get your gear from the dead).

Oh, I took Alma last night. The prison hurt me bad. I entered the sector from the north, right into a group of baddies, then got attacked from the roof, it was only because of numerous grenades (like 10+) that I was able to secure the roof. From the roof I neutralized the guards outside the prison, then sent another 6 man team inside to clean up. There was one baddy left in a difficult spot (I would have had to go through a bottleneck, so I sent 4 men from my team around the outside, blew out a wall into a room with two doors from which he would be visible, then I opened both simultaneously and attacked him from two sides.

The prison has lots of goodies (grenade launchers, lots of guns and ammo).

Then my team on the roof engaged targets on the edge of Alma, that provoked most of them into attacking them. It was a very hard pitched battle (with my second team simply lobbing grenades over a hill to help). Then my second team went around the back way and quickly dispatched all the remaining baddies. This is a tough map with lots of bottlenecks. I'd prefer to fight it by entering from the west with two teams together.

WOW....managed to take it with my little 5 guy team. But they will not be fighting again anytime soon. All are super gimps and without medical items to fix them up. ALOT of cat and mouse with bad guys. But major score on captured weapons. Just hope they don't get attacked anytime soon as their is no way they could hold anything.

I really enjoyed the 1st half of game but its devolved to huge numbers of uber armed and armored bad guys. Not so crazy about that. For the life of me I can not fathom why the bad guys ditch their prefectly good defensive positions to run at you like morons. Its like the game went off to some focus group and came back with a bag of stupid. Fewer bad guys in defensive would be much better than 40 heavily armed guys running at you. The elements are there for true good tactical fun but I really do beleave some moronic marketing person got in the way or some such.

Been looking at the mods that are out for this game. Some seem promising but not exactly what I feel would improve things much for what I would want. Considering whipping something up quick to return the game play I really enjoyed in the first half to the second half. Many of the most promising mods for game play also add many new items. Most folks I am sure would like that. However I am wierd. I want LESS weapons. Would much prefer the game world to be populated with ak's, fn fals, g3's than tar21's, g11, and that wonky rocket gun thing.

Another thing I find odd is that the model for the mini 14 in game is an m1 carbine?

I'm almost ending this game (I only have the Meduna sectors and the Lab sector left to conquer) and actually I found that some weapons do "spawn" (or populates the world) much more frequently than others. In my game and regarding Assault/Battle Rifles I noticed that AKMs, AKS-74U, AK-74, Tar-21 and FN-FAL are the rifles that spawns more frequently, while the M-16, M-4 and SKS spawns "moderately" and the G3, G11, rocket rifles and L85 NEVER "spawned" to me - These rifles are only available (at least in my game) by buying on some weapons dealers (and there are few that sell these weapons) or sometimes in Bobby Ray's online weapon shop or at best stored in some rare locations.

But I think that what you are after is an option that existed in Jagged Alliance 2, which was 'limited weapons' (if I'm not mistaken) that limited the existance of some weapons in the world (only some models of weapons did ever appeared with this option set to ON). If this 'limited weapons' option was set to OFF (the default setting) things were very similar to what currently happens in Jagged Alliance Back in Action. Since I always played JA2 with 'limited weapons' option set to OFF (default) so I don't miss it that much in JA:BiA but of course it would always be great to have a similar option in JA:BiA.

Well I got all the files open. sbobovyc's tools make it possible. i love the fact I am late to the mod party, unlike SABOW/APOS. Everything has been figured out by others. In about 30 minutes I will have a basic mod to my liking. For a total time of perhaps 2 hours including researching what was out there. Wow this is way easy in comparision to what I have done with SABOW.

However reviewing config files for ammo I vary much dislike the fact that they have 556 with less armor penetration than 762x39. That is frankly wrong. Against building materials a BIG yes. Body armor a big NO.

This makes sense. Soldiers are usually equipped with standardized weapons. Diedriana's army is equipped mainly with COMBLOC weapons (ak, aksu, akm, dragunov), though some are equipped with the FN-FAL (perhaps left-overs from the previous regime?). The army does, however, contain a smaller number of highly motivated and equipped special forces. These are the dudes clad in black or white, with NVG, and equipped with MP-5's. Some of their armouries also have M4's.

I don't think that there's any sort of "standarization" or an atempt for it within Diedriana's army. Just happens that there are some weapons that seem to spawn more (are more common) than others. The weapons that I seem to get the most when looting enemy soldiers are:
- AKMs, AKS-74U, AK-74, Tar-21, FN-FAL, PSG-1, Dragunov, MP-5, VSS, FN Minimi, RPK-74 and sometimes to a lesser extend M-4 and HK-21. Base on this list that doesn't include shotguns and pistols I have my doubts that there is any atempt within the game to standarize equipment, namely weapons for the Diedriana's army soldiers. This I think is made on purpose so that the player can have at his disposal many diferent types and models of weapons.

Like I previously said in Jagged Alliance 2 there was an option which could inded be a step towards modeling some sort of "standarization" of Diedriana's army which was a "limited weapons" option that when set to ON, only some weapon models would spawn on looted dead soldiers and within the rest of game itself (if I'm not mistaken) which means that many weapon models would never spawn in the game (with this otion set to ON) giving a sense that only some weapon models existed within the country (Arulco) and therefore also giving a sense that Diedriana's army had some sort of weapon standarization. Anyway, I never played with this option set to ON and I think that in many if not most latin America countries (which Arulco pretends to be based on) seem to lack weapon standarization (at least in an organized fashion) within their Police and even military forces. So in the end this varied weapon models that spawn within the game may not be that unrealistic as one may initially think and besides having many weapon models at our disposal is at least IMO, very fun since it gives more options for the player.

I have been dieing to give the in game G3 a try but even after moding games files they still are not dropping them. But I do like that g41. But my game the level 5 guys seem to spawn with zillions of hk21's. I modded that and replaced with rpk74. Also added in the an94 from addons. The bad guys have been dropping those when taken out. =) Tar thing now only shows up in boxes now for me. =)

My largest complaint now is the the ai rushing behavior. They don't all do it but 90 percent do. Still working on finishing campaign with my modded files.

The dealer in Balime Slums sells G3s!
The "best" merc (or at least the most expensive) which is Gus Tarballs comes with a G3 as well. But IMO the G3 in JA:BiA is somehow a disapointment since in overall the FN FAL is a much better weapon (in the game) because the FN FAL has much more range (42 for the FN FAL against 31 for the G3), weights slightly less, fires more rounds per burst and the mercs seem to aim faster with it. The G3 however does a little bit more damage and have a better durability than the FN FAL but IMO doesn't compensate the other advantages that the FN FAL has over the G3. Together with the fact that (unmodded) the FN FAL spawns frequently while the G3 is rare it's easy IMO to prefer the FN FAL to the G3 in the game.

The G3 is ok. Nothing special. Gus still has his in my game as his backup weapon. Usually I have him shooting something with more accuracy at range.

I really like the Barrett, it is very effective at really long ranges (the M-40 is close behind). In terms of all around shooters the G-11 is impressive, as is the 7.62mm SCAR.

Well sniper weapons in the game like in real life only serves to one purpose, sniping enemies that are far away and preferably careless. This is modeled in the game (and rightly so) by being weapons that take "quite a long" time to aim and shoot (something like 5 seconds) so these weapons aren't definitly suitable when you are engaging an enemy that is aware of you and engaging you, specially at closer distances.
With this, one of my preferred weapons is the M-16 since it has a long range (specially compared with most assault rifles in the game), it's lightweight (lighter than a M-4 in the game but this is not true in real life - must be an inacuracy within the game), fast to shoot, very good precision in automatic/burst fire and inflicts a good damage. The Tavor-21 (which equips some of my mercs as well) is also a very good weapon but it doesn't have the range of the M-16.
Regarding 7.62 NATO weapons my favourite is the M-14, which is a very rare weapon - So far in the map I only found one hidden on a stash, but something it can be purchased on Bobby Ray's online shop - The M-14 is a very deadly weapon since it inflicts a very good damage, has an excelent range (almost on par with sniper rifles), very reliable, much faster to aim and shoot than a sniper weapon and while it only fires a few rounds per burst in burst mode when it hit an enemy (on burst mode) the results are always a very gory mess

Ya I seem to be using m16 and G41 ALOT. However old school battle rifles IMO should be alot more effective at range. I just feel that for game purposes that could have been balanced out a bit better. Ah well, thats what mods are for. =). Curious as to what will be happening with this new stand alone expansion getting released soon. Jagged is an addicting little game despite some odd choices in game play (rushing bad guys).

Just ran into my 1st tank. Not vary thrilled how those are done. Might as well have been a REALLY dug in bunker or something instead.

I finally gave in and started equiping my mercs with law rockets and m79's to deal with the uber armored hoards of level 5 bad guys. Lots of flying bodies everywhere now.

Been reading this thread except for most of Paul's "spoiler" posts

I just started this game two days ago after getting it on the Steam summer sale. Wow! I played Fallout Tactics before this and I must say this game gives a better "feel"... all that's missing is some power armor and I'm happy.

I am curious about Paul's two teams... I started the game with 40K funds and just managed to get two guys... well, one guy and one gal. So far, I have taken the airport, the town, the mines, the water pump, the roadblock, and the uni/hospital with just the two of them. My biggest problem is carry-capacity. Each merc has one primary and one backup weapon, which just leaves me with 4 additional weapons to carry back to base or give to the militia. That limited slot space and the limited inventory means I leave a lot of stuff behind.... like those kinky magazines and empty batteries.

So anyway, one team of two mercs. One is a handgun specialist and is ideal for closer-in attacks which I discovered also disrupts the enemy's aiming time. The other is a sniper-type, though he doesn't really have a sniper weapon. He shoots single-shot when the hit possibility is good, and fires a burst for those -oh-#%&*$#-we-got-lotsa-baddies-coming-in- situations. Secondary weapon for both is a shotgun, which is fun when I can set up a trap... get one merc in position, the other one goes in the open, sticks out his tongue at the bad guys, maybe flick the finger, then runs back. Infuriated, the enemy soldiers rush in, only to find themselves facing two shotgun barrels in nearly-point-blank range. My main tactic, though, is to spot the enemies from afar, have the handgun merc crawl closer, then start sniping with the other merc. As the sniper guy takes longer to aim and shoot, the enemy usually gets hit once, decides he wants to come in closer to bring him in range, runs towards me, then realizes the handgun merc is there and annoys him and prevents him from doing anything. So usually, an engagement has my sniper firing one shot, enemy comes in, second merc gets the guy in range and fires of two or three shots which essentially "suppresses" the enemy, then my sniper gets off the second shot finishing the guy off.

No sweat. So far I've only used up two or three of those bandage roll kits. I'm playing on Normal difficulty with Line-of-Sight... I wonder if you guys are playing on hard?

I once saw an enemy patrol of 9 soldiers coming at me so I just waited for them at the road just after the mines... when the fight started, I parked my two mercs behind a rock, crouch position, guard mode on. Used the Baretta 92F and the Enfield L85... none of them even got close.

I do need a third or fourth member though... need some Mechanical and Explosives guys in my team, but strapped for cash at the moment. I do have some 45K worth of diamonds but have not sold them yet. Still at 06:30 on my third day though... damn, my ammunition order hasn't even arrived yet.

I found a mod (Combat Evolved) that makes this game so much more fun for me. I've also edited the enemy units to be more like a third-world army, with AKs, AKSUs, SVDs, etc. Cuts down on the variety, of course, but makes it more realistic in my mind. No more dudes running around with ridiculous weapons.

Now if only I can figure out a way to make them less accurate when standing and firing at me full auto than my snipers are prone with clear lines of sight...

Ya I like the damned game despite minor/some BIG issues. Its fun. I get to use my brain. However with vanilla it gets wonky IMO when you start facing 30 or 40 level 5 bad guys. You need a tactical nuke to kill the buggers. But I refused to get law rockets and m79's (will not touch the rocket gun thing wtf is that?) untill it became clear that they are realy needed due to 20 level 4 and 5 guys rushing you. Even with 16 mercs on your side they just tear everything up without explosives. I just don't like this part much. But had a blast with the first half of game.

I have now weathered all sorts of crazy attacks, and I can tell you, a pair of two 6 man squads with dragunovs or other decent distance weapons have hold against repeated 20+ infantry attacks. I have one sector in the SW where I must have killed a few hundred by now. They keep attacking 8-16 at a time, and my guys just whoop them. I engage at range, and I target 6 baddies at a time (2 shooters each), they barely even get off a shot.



Very good at range. There is a place you can buy them (in San Mona I think).

G-11 is, I think, better overall though, much quicker to shoot indoors.



If you hit them, even once, it seems to affect their accuracy.

Also, the game models burst fire somewhat oddly. Your first shot in burst fire is as accurate as single shot. So, if you would be "likely to hit" in single shot, your first shot in burst is as well. However, the screen displays the AVERAGE of chance across the entire burst, so if your second and third shots are unlikely to hit, the average would be "unlikely to hit". So, when they are standing aimed and firing full auto they are hitting you because they have a decent first shot, the rest are likely missing.

How many guys are in the bunker/barracks area north of Alma? So far they were the toughest I've faced and with the proper tactics and careful aggro, I was able to clear the area with 3 mercs. The job will be easier with 6 or 8 but I've no time to babysit that many (I prefer a mix of Plan&Go and real time). It's easy enough to take on 100 enemies provided they come in waves of 5-8 at a time.

Hitting enemies is a must! Doesn't matter if you do -20 or -1 damage, a hit "resets" the aim timer, or at the very least disrupts it. You can see this effect on your guys, especially for one that takes time to aim, like my sniper merc. He takes about 5 sec to aim for a head shot, if he gets hit, the timer will pause or for harder hits, resets to 5 sec. So I have him hang behind the group, and use my two other mercs as meat-shields/disruptors with pistols/rifles. I almost never use burst fire, waste of ammo.

Anyone know where the game folder is, I've looked everywhere that I can think of and can't find it . . . thanks.

Mine is C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\JABIA

Hi,

Has anyone had a look at the new campaign : crossfire ?

Bongokid

Its very useful indoors.

Never really appreciated the burst, even indoors. I'd rather fire off high-RPM pistols or rifles, or my always-trusty shotguns.

Well, Diedranna's finally been deposed. I took her palace yesterday around 1400 GMT. My team of snipers whittled down the opposition while my two fire teams moved in for the kill. The Dictator was cornered in a back room guarded by a dozen or more of her toughest soldiers. After a long gun battle (in which two of my mercs were seriously injured), Diedranna was hit by a stray bullet, at which time her defences crumbled. With her death the people of Arulco can now find peace.