PATUSCO'S JAGGED ALLIANCE 2 STRATEGY GUIDE Version 1.1 (12/08/99) Finished reading the manual twice and still have that creepy feelling that "The truth is out there"??? Bought the Official Strategy Guide, and it didn't include a zip of you wanted or needed to discover all the features in this fabolous game? Or simply to finish it? Then this Guide is for you!!! DISCLAIMER This Guide is some sort of a compilation of the hints that the gamers were giving at the several JA2 discussion boards, so my thanks go to all who contributed to this guide, in that way. (Impossible to write all your names at this moment, but maybe your name is already in my Thank You section. Check it to find out. If not, well, you know who you are… and after all, this Guide is for you, isn't it???) So, I have not written all this stuff, but at least a good part of it. I edited & changed some posts to fit this guide & added some of my own knowledge here & there to complete them. Consequently, I can't guarantee that what is written here corresponds to the actual truth of the game, since I'm either no God, or one of the programmers of this awesome game. (Congratulations, Sir-Tech, you did it !!!) I'm willing to continue to update this Guide, so I would like to have feedback from all of you guys, expressing your opinions, ideas & other hints as well. For this use the following e-mail, contact me via ICQ, or leave messages in the Terravirtua / Talonsoft / Tactical Planet boards. E-mail: helioa@hotmail.com ICQ: 42954468 If anyone wants to post this Guide in any Website, I just would like the credit for making it. ( ? Make sure you write my name correctly and with Big Letters! ? ) Enjoy this great game as much as I'm doing right now… See ya... Hélio "Patusco" Andrade __________________________________________________________________________________ INDEX Changes Made To The Guide Between Versions Generic Strategy Hints Other Hints Sorted Questions 1 – MERCS, NPC'S & ENEMIES 1.1 – Merc Skills 1.2 – Merc Specialties 1.3 – Mercs Incompatibilities & Other Info 1.4 – M.E.R.C. 1.5 – I.M.P. (Custom Mercs) 1.5.1 – Answering The Quiz 1.5.2 – The Choice Of Faces 1.5.3 – The Equipment You Get 1.6 – NPC's 1.7 – Enemy Info 2 – WEAPONS, AMMO & ITEMS 2.1 – Weapons Attachments 2.2 – Weapons Ammunition 2.3 – Talon Grenade Launcher 2.4 – Rocket Rifle 2.5 – Items 2.5.1 – Merging Items & Purposes 2.5.2 – Night Vision Goggles 2.5.3 – RDX 2.6 – Locations Of Shops & Goodies 3 – STRATEGICAL & TACTICAL ISSUES 3.1 – City Conquer Order 3.2 – Militia 3.3 – Opening Doors 3.4 – "Heads Off" 3.5 – Stealing 3.6 - Stealth 4 – VEHICLES 4.1 – The Helicopter 4.2 – The Ice Cream Truck 4.3 – The Hummer 4.4 – Fueling The Vehicles 4.5 - Tanks 5 – CITIES & QUESTS RELATED 5.1 – Omerta 5.1.1 – A Letter For Miguel 5.2 - Drassen 5.2.1 – Doreen – The Child Labor Exploiter 5.2.2– Father Walker 5.2.3 – Skyrider – The Chopper Pilot 5.3 – Alma 5.3.1 – Saving Dynamo 5.4 – Cambria 5.4.1 – The Hicks Family 5.5 – San Mona 5.5.1 – Tony – The Arms Dealer 5.5.2 – Get Maria!!! 5.5.2.1 – Maria & The Shady Lady 5.5.3 – Kingpin 5.5.3.1 – Stealing Kingpin's Money 5.5.3.2 – Kingpin's Fist-Fight Tournament 5.5.3.3 – Killing Kingpin & Co. 5.6 – Chitzena 5.6.1 – Escorting The Tourists 5.6.2 – The Chalice Of Chance 5.7 – Grumm 5.8 – Balime 5.8.1 – The Chalice Of Chance – Part 2 5.9 – Tixa Jail 5.9.1 – Saving Dynamo – Part 2 5.9.2 – An Escort For A Gas Deal 5.10 - Estoni 5.11 – Orta 5.12 – SAM Sites 5.13 - Meduna 6 – OTHER QUESTS 6.1 – Alien Bugs (Sci-Fi Mode) 6.2 – Mickey & The Bloodcats 6.3 – The Bounty Hunter 6.4 – The Missing Scientist & The Robot Merc 7 – MIXED ISSUES 7.1 – Difficulty Levels 7.2 – Game Limits 7.3 – Mines 7.4 – The Flower Service 8 – JA2 LINKS 9 – THANK YOU'S… ____________________________________________________________________________ CHANGES MADE TO THE GUIDE BETWEEN VERSIONS Version 1.1 – Releasing Date: 13th August 1999 Well, the changes are huge! It's impossible to read it and don't see it! It took me lots and lots of my holiday days to get this baby like it is. I am very happy with the feedback that people sent to me, expressing how they liked the first Guide. But now let's see what were some of the changes: ? Guide increased with many, many more hints & tips; ? Opened many new chapters and sub-chapters along with a new organization of all Chapters; ? Processed all the information from the previous Guide and rewrited it all (info was a liiitle messy and confusing sometimes, wasn't it ?); ? Index now looks a little bit cooler and less confusing; ? Added links for easy navigation, due to the size of the document; ? Opened the Links, Thank You (so many requests!) and this section; ? Added the source of the info, when it came from a very secure source (Sir-Tech guys, Talonsoft…) so you know that info as to be true; ETC… Version 1.0 – Releasing Date: 2nd August 1999; __________________________________________________________________________________________ GENERIC STRATEGY HINTS First and foremost, your main character only has to be good at killing people and picking locks. Reduce Explosives and Medical to zero, because you are going to hire in people to do this for you. (Bear in mind that 0 skills cannot be improved by practing or training, only through actual use, and having 0 in Explosives means you merc will have possible problems using grenades…) Anything above 60 health points initially is wasted points that could be better spent on Marksmanship and Agility. This is because your are not PLANNING to get shot. You are going to make better use of cover. Those two stats (Marks/Agil) coupled with an 85 strength and 70-75 in all other stats (except leadership--you may SAFELY drop that to the minimum 35) will ensure that you are lean and mean enough to do that job. Aim at setting Marksmanship to 85 and move Mechanical up to 60+. The combined 85's in Agility and Marksmanship will let you kill and not be killed. Make the decision from day one that you will NOT get wounded and need the medical supplies. My game in on the Experienced level. I am presently assaulting Meduna Airport (already own all other cities on day 65 with almost 100% loyalty). I have been wounded three times since I started and it was not until today that I allowed my Mercs to suffer the occasional wound. These latter sectors of Meduna are RIDICULOUSLY difficult. Remember all those Rocket launchers you could not find? They have been stock piled in Meduna and you will come under heavy fire when you get there. COMBAT Combat is a thinking man's (or woman's) game. Look at the lay of the land and decide-- where is the best place to stage this attack from? NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER allow the computer to Auto Resolve incidents involving your Mercs. You can always do better. Nighttime (between 0100 and 0400) is the most exceptional time to make your assaults. The enemy seems more sluggish (hell, wouldn't you be at that time of the morning?). Remember that line from Lethal Weapon 1, "Noses in the dirst, assholes!"? There is your greatest safety. Get down on your belly and turn on the stealth mode (Alt-Z) for your whole crew. Take your time. Hold down the Alt key when moving around a corner. It makes your Merc more cautions (will cost an extra point or two of movement, but you can toggle stealth on and off as you need to gain a point to get back behind cover). When you hear your Merc say he/she heard a noise, let him lay still for a few seconds to see if the enemy will be stupid enough to walk right into your arms (VERY, VERY important). Sometimes, you can lure them into a trap--Lay your assault team down in prone position and in stealth mode. And always behind some form of cover (Cover: something that the enemy cannot shoot through. Concealment: Something that sort of hides me (grass), but will not stop bullets). Have one of your Mercs fire a random round out into the sector to get the attention of nearby enemies. LET THEM COME TO YOU. They come into sight, make your shot and move to other cover. If the enemy cannot see you, he cannot shoot you. Ease around a corner, get off a good clean shot and get back behind cover. Idiots and dead people stay in the open and use every movement point to fire the weapon dry.. You should only use two Mercs to make your assaults in the first 4-5 cities and then only increase it to one or two more until you get to Meduna. I only have a crew of 5 making that assault. Three of those are just for support fire. Two Mercs travel more quietly than six. Easier to control. SAVE AFTER EVERY SUCCESSFUL round of combat. If you go through two rounds without seeing an enemy, you will return to real time movement. ALWAYS SAVE here. As someone mentioned in one posting, roof tops are EXCELLENT. Peek over the edge, rack off a round or two and move back out of sight. Lay down on the roof, wait two rounds to get back to real time movement and then sneak forward again with all available movement points. Don't think "how much damage can I take and still survive?" It is entirely possible to get through, at the very least, the first 2/3s of the game without taking a single point of damage. That is not always the case when you have to take on the two tanks with a single rocket launcher and four hand grenades. Not if you are keeping your sanity. BASIC RULES OF PLAY Create the character mentioned above, hire one additional GOOD Merc (like Igor or someone close in stats), and one average joe. The two of you will go kick butt in the first city. Make your lead Merc do most of the work so he/she will advance faster. After taking over a city, hire two cheepo Mercs to come in and train Militia (or Ira, from the rebel group as she has skill in teaching which is a bonus to training Militia not to mention she is free). Take over a couple of Mines (about three cities) and then sit back on your laurels for a few days (2-3). Start training Militia in the city's mine sector. You can have other Mercs taining on other sectors of the city. This will increase militia faster. Train them all the way to aqua before going to take over a new sector. I have 16 Mercs employed and until recently, only had four members on my assault team (Igor, Spider, Shadow, and my design). I recently added Ivan just because he was in the Demo. All others are permanently assigned to cities. When not training militia (meaning that the militia is at full force and strength), my city mercs practice Marksmanship. Once that reached 85, I picked another random one for each. They do not travel, but they get paid every week. Hope that this is of assistance to those of you who are fighting the good fight. If you are encoutering an especially difficult area, let me know and I will try to walk you through it. Keep your heads low and your powder dry. __________________________________________________________________________________________ OTHER HINTS 1) Game's too hard? Try novice, it ain't novice. 2) Start up the game and before doing anything make certain AIM has the Mercs you want available (not hired elsewhere). Save now. Then get custom Merc. Don't like him/her? He/she doesn't have the special abilities you want? Restart and try again. And when it comes to stats, allocate point to those that don't go up regularly during play. Marksmanship, agility, meds... all tend to rise. Others move more slowly. And some, like wisdom, apparently not at all. 3) Buy an expensive Merc with great equipment to begin. YOU GET TO KEEP EQUIPMENT! Everyone complains about pistols and low rifle supply at first. So buy Lynx, for example, for just a day, use him to his fullest, keep his armor and rifle, then give it to a cheaper, less well initially supplied merc. 3a) At the beginning, after getting the best equipment from great, but expensive, mercs, buy some cheap quick-learnin' rookies, like Barry or Igor. These guys will rise fast and furiously, yet will charge you a fraction, even once they reach high levels, of the big boys. 4) Save games in Save menu at critical points. Fast save (alt-s) after small "victories". 5) Talk to the locals. They tell you all the quest info. you need to know. 6) Tired of looking for the enemy? Let them come to you. Take a defensive position and fire some shots in the air. They'll come running. 7) Never stay too long in a bad position. The temptation is to keep firing with a long distance rifle, even out of range, at some guy who is well-bunkered in. This wastes time and ammo. If it don't work, fix it. Leave the position and take a new angle on him. Resist the urge to stay put. 8) If you enter a sector with enemies and are getting cut to pieces, check the map. It may present a far superior entry point. Leave, sometime this means taking just two steps, and re-enter from another side. 9) ALWAYS leave points for next turn. APs accumulate... to a point (excuse the pun). I believe you can add up to 5 points from a previous turn to the next. If you need that aimed shot, but don't have the points, don't waste the ammo in frustration. Wait for next turn and take two well-aimed shots. Oh, and then there's interrupt, nothin' like it. 10) Throw stuff between guys during combat. What a sensation: Lynx just nailed a guy twice for serious damage from a ridiculous distance with his long-range scoped rifle (the best weapon on the team). But he's got just five points left and the bugger is still standing firm with a wicked shotgun ready to end the-guy-on-your-team-who-snuck-up-near-him- and-ran-out-of-point's life. Toss the rifle to Raven! (Or some other sharpshooter.) The MP5K she's currently carrying won't go the range or do the damage, but she's got plenty o' APs. She catches it, takes careful aim, and plugs the sucker for a critical hit before he gets one off. "That enemy breathes no more." 11) For information on whether quests have been completed, look at your history file. Uncompleted quests appear in red. Once they're completed, they turn black and another notation appears. __________________________________________________________________________________________ SORTED QUESTIONS 1) What's the most effective way of scouting in a sector where you have no idea where the enemy is? (I tend to get sloppy and walk right into them because I can't muster the patience to proceed slowly and methodically through every square foot.) Patience, several routes. Or move into good defensive positions and fire into the air. Also cool is attracting the enemy with a sniper team in ambush in an right angle to his approach. 2) What Precisely cuts down action points in combat? Unbandaged wounds certainly, but what about bandaged ones? What about energy? I hate when guys with 23 points perfect only get 15 at other times! An interrupt with not the full action points left from the previous round. An interrupt after an interrupt. A hit. Running, using full APs for some rounds. Bandaged mercs have less APs. If your merc is not hurt (bandaged of not bandaged) and not tired (blue bar) he should get the full APs all the time. 3) When you Quick Load a turn back does the fight go exactly as before unless you do something radical?? That happens to me a lot. Hits and misses are the same if i have the same people fire in the same order??? Also the enemy always hits for same amount of points and never misses. Yes, I've had the same thing. When I re-load, everything is exactly the same unless I do something different. I only re-load when somebody took a hit, though, so it's usually easy to solve: I just take the person that took a hit & move them to somewhere safer. That way I have one less person firing & it changes the random number generator (or whatever). Force your way into locked rooms - it doesn't seem to cause loyalty issues, except maybe in Balime, but then it will be obvious to you why. 4) Is it worth letting the computer auto-resolve battles, or is it too much of a risk? It depends on the ratio of mercs/militia versus enemy, and depending on their levels. If your mercs and/or militia outnumber the enemy, using AutoResolve may speed things up without risking your mercs. Besides, during AutoResolve you can always order your mercs to flee the sector by clicking on their portrait in the AutoResolve window. 5) Does the enemy attacks all the sectors of cities indiferently of what they contain? I've noticed that the game AI appears to exclusively go after the "high value" areas (mines, airports, SAM sites), and I have yet to see it go after population areas such as the middle section of Drassen or the non-hospital section of Cambria. 6) What's the yellow crosshair for? The yellow crosshair is what happens to tell you that you're using the maximum amount of AP's you can for targeting.... making an "aimed shot" compared to just moving the cursor over the enemy, and just L-Clicking the mouse. Move the cursor over the enemy, and R- Click a few times... notice the number increase? You're now aiming. 7) Is it worth searching the non-obvious places? I did find a key once in a medicine chest that seemed like all the others, but searching everything is such a bore in broken down town. I would search every corner. Depends on what you are willing to endure to get a health booster or another grenade. 8) Is there any safe place to store items without haveing a significant risk of theft? In a sector where you have militia. they'll keep it safe for you, until the sector get taken by the enemy. Also realize if you have no militia in the sector, the items may begin to disappear… remember you are in a war ravaged country, where that mini-14 you have left on the ground may bring a family security or food for the next week… 9) What are the specific effects of alcohol (seems to make morale soar for moment, then plummet)? Tends to temporarily boost the morale, followed by low morale for a period of time… Don't give to Ivan though, he had a relative he will tell you about who became an alcoholic… 10) Hmmm, this game was released 3+ months ago in Germany, and from what I know it had the same bugs the English version has.. couldn't u guys fix a few of these? (especially the damn helicopter - sam site crash.. god, so damn annoying, I can't use chopper at all to try to avoid random crashes). Anyway, when is the patch coming? And, will my old save games be compatible w/ the game after I patch it? Every bug that was reported by Topware was fixed for the English version. The helicopter crash is a missing file that will appear in the patch. However, in the meantime, know that if your game exits to the desktop stating "missing file for character 97", it basically means Skyrider has been shot down, which you probably don't want to happen. And yes, when the patch is released, your save games will be compatible. Ian Currie – Sirtech Canada 11) Am I missing something? Can somebody tell me the levels of armor in this game? I'm on day 8, and I have one Kevlar vest, and the rest of my mercs have flak jackets. It's only day 8, and the enemy is taking very little damage from my weapons, and I'm getting nailed for 35-60 points by these guys. I'm using automatic rifles and such, but they only do about 20. What armor do the enemies have, and is there somewhere I can get it? I know the enemy should be stronger, but it seems to be unfairly so for the novice level setting at this point in the game. (What I mean by unfairly is that on Day 8, I don't have the resources to hire really top-notch mercs, and I don't have access to the really good weapons or explosives, which I seem to need defeat the enemies I am facing. Just sitting around saving up money leads to attacks by the queen's forces.) Here's a little bit of friendly assistance. - Buy better Mercs at the start. I chose Lynx to begin with because he's one of the best sharpshooters in the game and because he's one of the only semi-affordable ones with a red-hot, long-range rifle. This will help you immensely in the beginning. Of course, you have to grab those mines fast to be able to keep on affording him or one like him (also started with just one other hired Merc, Danny for Meds). - The enemy militia slightly North of Drassen that guard the roads and territories between towns have longer range weapons. This makes them tougher to defeat, but a few good battles might score you a couple of decent range weapons. - You're on the 8th day, Gun's & Ammo store should be getting in a few new, better- than-pistols items by now - order a few. - Use the right ammo for the job. Some of those enemy bad boys have the tough armor (enemy types are defined by color, see the manual - elite troops are badddd). Go for the head or, alternatively, use that AP ammo for a bit more damage (though it might not score you the 40+ point hits). __________________________________________________________________________________________ 1. MERCS, NPC'S & ENEMIES 1.1 - MERCS SKILLS What does Dexterity effect exactly? Dexterity affects the skills that use it, primarily Medical and Mechanical, but also quite possibly removing traps… Does the skill of the Doctor determine the speed of healing of "patients" when in "doctor" mode (not bandaging in battle, but actual health point recovery)? Yes. Is training worth it? (Seems to take long time) No, some mercs with high wisdom learn faster, and with a trainer student situation even faster yet. Where do Mechanic skills really come in handy, beyond fixing items? (For example, I tried wire cutters on barb wire fence in trees in Alma sector, I believe, and though they turned gray, as opposed to red, they didn't cut squat - maybe mech skill too low.) Mechanic skills allow for better lockpicking, and removing of traps… The wire cutters will only work when the symbol is red. You need to fiddle around a bit until you find a spot where it works. There´s no link between tech skills and using the wire cutters. Is camouflage programmed to just an attribute of merc´s visibility in the game ? so will it work also inside houses too ? Or is it more complex code ? I believe camouflage only works in the outdoors... Eric T. Cheng – Sirtech Canada Ok, here's my question. Does Dexteriety affect marksmanship in anyway at all? Reason why I am asking is this. My custom merc has a 87marks and a 85dex, and he can consistently out shoot Scope with her 99marks and 73(?)dex. I payed good money for Scope and she isn't doing to good. Nope, depends on guns mostly. Dex is used for determining if you hit for everything else like punches, grenades and various knives (thrown and melee). Also, some mercs are better at burst fire. There has been speculation about certain mercs being better with certain weapons like Ivan with Russian made weapons and such, but no hard facts from Mr. Camfield. Suggestion (and some info) for the Attributes of the Custom Merc: Health - 65 Unless health has a meaning other than how many hit points you get, I don't see why you need a big health. If you take 30 hits, it takes the same amount of time to heal them whether you went from 99 to 69 or from 55 to 25. If I take a bunch of hits, I'll run from back-up anyway. If I find out that dexterity is useful for something, I will run my health down to 55 & take 85 dex without a 2nd thought. - To improve, get shot, hit, and daggered 'till at least 2/3 of your health is gone. and leave it alone for a while and watch your blood-drops before medicate him/her. Too dangerous to try at the end of the game 'cause enermies are simply too powerful. Agility - 85 A big one. Combat movement points is apparently based on agility, as is stealth. Also, this attribute is somewhat difficult to boost. - To improve, dodge bullets, knives, and punches a lot. Sometimes punching or knifing enermies can increase this stat, but most of time punching will do for Strength and knifing will do for Dexterity. - Agility is increased this way. When you're in the real time mode and looking for enemies and see them first, pull back into cover, and a lot of times the agility goes up a point. My Merc is usually around 88-89. - I've also had agility go up when I try to sneak & run at the same time. Dexterity - 75 Wish I knew what dexterity was good for. It must be worth something, though, so I think it gets a lot of points. - Dexterity basically boils to how well you can handle two weapons at once. Also important for medics and such, but if your merc is ambidextrous, dexterity is a big factor. - Dexterity is used for determining if you hit for everything else like punches, grenades and various knives (thrown and melee.) - The best info I have been able to come up with is that dexterity has little effect on combat except for the determination of whether you can have the ambidextrous skill. Otherwise, it's mainly for explosives, mechanical, & medical (i.e., useless for a custom merc, IMHO). - To improve, use knives. Sometimes punching helps. - Dexterity improves if you do a lot of stuff with your hands. No that doesn't count. Mercs on repair get it quickly and i think Medics do too. Strength - 55 Strong enough to haul a full load of ammo around, & that's strong enough. I don't plan to be wrestling a grizzly bear. - How you going to open all these damn doors and boxes? I've set 80 for me, and anyways spending too much time to open something. - I think that Strength goes up if you haul stuff past your limit (101% and up). At least that's what happened with shank when he had a 200% encumbrance and i got him to go from Tixa to Estoni. - To improve, use punches. Sometimes knifing helps. Leadership - 70 I think this is more than enough to be able to recruit any NPC in the game. - This affects the influence and the power of persuation with NPC's (determine if you can recruit them or not). - To improve, practice and train militia. Wisdom - 85 I would make it 99 if I could. Since you have the same guy around from the very beginning to the very end, he has plenty of time to improve his attributes--if he has enough wisdom. Also, I don't there you can ever improve this one beyond what you start with. Marksmanship - 80 The most important attribute in the game, of course, but I think 80 is high enough to start with. You shoot more than you do anything else, so if your wisdom is 85 & marksmanship is 80, marksmanship will be up to 90 soon enough. - This is too much, IMHO. Marksmanships grows really FAST, so you can set it 70, and spend 10 points for someting else. - The most important attribute in the game, of course, but I think 80 is high enough to start with. You shoot more than you do anything else, so if your wisdom is 85 & marksmanship is 80, marksmanship will be up to 90 soon enough. I started out with a bit lower, since it goes up so fast. I think had 74? Depends on if you are willing to suffer for a bit in the beginning. - To improve, practice and shoot enermies a lot. Most of all, always aim for heads, and shoot enermies from out of weapon range. Mechanical - 35 It seem that if your mechanical is zero or close to that, your gun will jam much more frequently. That sucks. If zero you can't improve this skill. - To improve, practice and fix things. Explosives - 0 Unless I can give him explosives of at least 80--& I'm not going to do that--zero is the number. I'm not about to give my precious custom merc a 35 & then have him start messing around with RDX. If zero you can't improve this skill. - I left this at 35. I think it might affect your chances with grenades and LAWS. At least I have seen this skill go up once in awhile with successful use of those. - Explosives is one of the easiest skills to increase. Just keep setting and un- setting dynamite. Acutally, use the student to set it, then someone with high explosives to disarm it(much safer that way). You can get it up real fast... - To improve, practice. Medical - 0 Since I like to take MD as a starting team member, zero is plenty. I'll have MD & Ira available on the very 1st day. Also, my philosophy is to run from back-up if I take too many hits, anyway, so medical is fairly useless. If zero you can't improve this skill. - Since I like to take MD as a starting team member, zero is plenty. I'll have MD & Ira available on the very 1st day. Also, my philosophy is to run from back-up if I take too many hits, anyway, so medical is fairly useless. - Depends on your style I suppose. In the beginning I have my team spread out fairly thin so I find it useful for everyone to be able to bandage themselves if they take a bad hit. - To improve, practice and doctoring patients. Other hints on skills: - You can save an incredibly amount of money by using guys like Igor (with high wisdom) early. They have very comparable stats to the more expensive soldier mercs later, because Marksmanship goes up fairly steadily. But for Mechanic, Explosive, or Medical skills you're probably better off buying experienced guys. Those skills go up much slower than Marksmanship. Fox and Barry were my early doctor and mechanic, but compared to Danny and Trevor, their skills aren't even close even though through experience their combat ability is comparable. - After you have cleared out a sector and wait there for about a day, the corpses of the fallen begin to rot which attract crows. The crows are the key, they are the targets. I thought I'd be weird and try to kill one with my bare hands, well that didn't work because every time I'd walk/run up to them, they'd run away. Well my custom merc has stealth specialty so I turned that on and most of the time I can get in to melee range to problem. One punch and they go down (even with my then measly 60 strength.) It seems that killing things with your bare hands gets you big experience and raises to your stats fast. I had both my dex and str go up 10 points EACH in a period of about 30-40 minutes of crow bashing. I killed Doreen barehanded (beat that bitch down!!) and gained a level from just that alone. Between the crow bashing and Doreen I was a level 3 on like day 6. - For Strength, Dexterity, and Agility, attack your car with your fist and knife. 10 minutes of this boring work can increase one's stats more than 10 points each. I didn't do it though.... not that much. Index ? 1.2 – MERCS SPECIALTIES Your custom merc starts with 2 skills. He doesn't learn anymore, but as his level goes up, he improves them. Here is the list of all the specialties and what they do: Auto-Weapons: burst fire is more accurate Boxing: skilled at h2h combat Camoflouge: less likely to be seen Ambidextrous: shoots well with 2 guns Electronics: not sure, anyone? Heavy-Weapons: more accurate with mortar, LAW, etc. Knifing: knifing does more damage and is more likley to hit Lock-picking: more likely to pick locks Martial Arts: skilled at h2h combat Night Ops: better sight and stealth at night Stealthy: quieter in stealth mode Thrown Weapons: much more accurate with thrown weapons Teaching: teaches/trains militia or other mercs faster When you are "skilled" at something, what PRECISELY does that mean? (My guy is Ambidextrous and Martial Artist.) For example, will someone skilled at Knife Throwing hit or kill nearly every time? (As opposed to someone with simply a very high Dex/Agil.) I would say there a much bigger chance he'll succeed with any task that belongs to this skill. For those not Ambidextrous, bad idea to use two pistols at once? Yes, low chance of hitting. How to make good use of Stealth & Night Ops? Quite the same as daytime tactics, though with camo paint, they can be more effective at night. 1. When dashing from position to position, make sure you're in a half prone position, don't run. Don't even move around standing upright. 2. Prone position is good when you want to avoid the enemy or taking cover, thus, if you're hunting enemies, this is a position to avoid, until you make contact of course. 3. Use cover. Hide behind trees and corners, climb up to roof tops, usual stuff. At night, the enemy's sight is reduced to that similar to yours, hence when you come into contact with one of them, it is usually a fair fight. 4. Note that the night ops perk, does not guarantee initial movement in an interrupt. Agility does! Night ops just make the merc less tired during the night. Try this with a non night-ops merc, move him across the map, and boy you can see his stamina plummet (The blue bar). Index ? 1.3 - MERCS INCOMPATIBILITIES & OTHER INFO - The best mechanic from MERC and Steroid won't work with Ivan and Igor. So is Dimitry with Stefan and Static with Stefan. Surely, there are much more. Just for laughs I restarted the game trying to put together a team that would dislike each other more than they did the enemy. I hired Lynx, Buzz, Buns, Fox, and Steroid. They argued for so long in the DZ in Omerta that the enemy managed to sneak up on them before I could move them. - Grizzly - Dr. Q, Lynx - Buzz, Buzz - Lynx - Magic seems to hate Buns, he called her some uppity b*tch who gots to get out of his hair. People complain about the corpses when they see them after they have decayed and crows are picking at them. Does this affect the morale in any way, and if so, how can I get rid of the corpses? The sight of corpses don't affect the mercs' morale. The corpses will rot away in a few days... Eric T. Cheng – Sirtech Canada Index ? 1.4 – M.E.R.C. How to get new MERC guys? Hmmm. I've been going for about 12 days game time now and MERC doesn't seem to have any new guys. Has anyone had MERC recruit new guys? Does it seem to be triggered by time or by how much money you give them? I've got about 9 MERC guys to choose from now. When Speck lets you know he hired some more mercs he says it's thanks to your patronage. I don't know if it's true or not. But you definately want to support MERC just in case. They get some decent mercs later on, in particular Numb. I've been playing a long time without anymore MERC guys being available so I think I'm at the max. But by time Bubba, Larry or even Numb and Cougar became available, I can afford way better mercs from A.I.M., so I'm not going to waste time with them. Don't you think? Well, that's subjective since it's variable when they come online. Cougar is one of the best mercs in the game, and definitely the best bargain. Ian Currie - Sirtech Canada Index ? 1.5 – I.M.P. (CUSTOM MERCS) - If you type 90210 as a password in the IMP page, u get the same custom merc you created last time. (Cheat in the Russian version, don't know if it works in English version) o 1.5.1 - Answering The Quiz Along with with the skills you may get, you also get one in six types of personality: Aggressive: Makes you a better fighter, but worser at talking to people. Friendly: More success with talking to NPCs. Normal: Just like it sounds. Optimist: Always has a higher morale, better leadership abilities. Pessimist: Lower morale and likely poor leadership abilities. Psycho: Causes mercs to be over-aggressive. If they have a burst-capable weapon, they may tend to fire off bursts when you least expect it, for no apparent reason. However, they do have a 15% higher chance to hit. The only way to find out what kind of personality your merc has, is to read the email you get from IMP on day 3. Below is a list of how you should answer the I.M.P. Quiz to get the specialties wanted and personalities: (missing answers means that it doen't affect the generation process) Question 1: 1: Martial Arts 3: Hand to Hand combat 4: Lock Picking 5: Throwing 6: Optimism Question 2: 1: Teaching 3: Psycho Personality 4: Friendly personality Question 3: 1: Lock Picking 3: Stealth 4: Normal personality Question 4: 1: Automatic Weapons 2: Friendly Personality 3: Normal Personality Question 5: 3: Aggressive Personality Question 6: 2: Night Ops Question 7: 1: Electronics 2: Knifing 3: Night Ops Question 8: 1: Ambidextrous 3: Optimistic Personality 4: Psycho Personality Question 9: No answer to this question has consequences on the specialties and personality. Question 10: No answer to this question has consequences on the specialties and personality. Question 11: 2: Teaching 3: Aggressive Personality 4: Normal Personality Question 12: 1: Martial Arts 2: Knifing 4: Automatic Weapons 5: Hand to Hand combat 6: Electronics Question 13: 2: Normal Personality 3: Normal Personality Question 14: 2: Normal Personality Question 15: 1: Throwing 2: Ambidextrous Question 16: No answer to this question has consequences on the specialties and personality. o 1.5.2 - The Choice Of The Faces If you pick face 1, 7 or 8 and have Strength higher than 75, you get a 'big guy' meaning his body is bigger than usual and he can't have a speciality that's called 'Ambidextrous' so i'm guessing it's the one that lets you use both of your hands equally well, cause it's not Stealth and not Night Ops although it only makes sence if it was Stealth. o 1.5.3 - The Equipment You Get Some info on what equipment you get with your custom merc. All equipment you get is brand new. You always get a Flak Jacket and a Flask, you may get a Steel Helmet randomly. The rest of the equipment depends on the Merc skills & specialties: SKILLS: Marksmanship - You get a MP5K and 2 clips of 9mm SMG ammo if your marksmanship is 80 or above, if is it's less than 80 you get a Beretta 93R and three 9mm clips. Medical – If your Med > 60 – You get a Medikit; if you have 30 < Medical < 59 – You get a 1st Aid Kit. Mechanical – If your Mech > 50 you get a tool kit. Explosives – If your Exp > 50 you get a TNT and detonator. SPECIALTIES: Stealthy – You get a gun with silencer. Knifing - You get a combat knife. Throwing – You get a throwing knife. Electronics - You get a metal detector. Night Ops – You get 2 break lights. Lockpicking – You get a lockpick. Hand-To-Hand Combat - You get the dusters (that thing to wear on your fist). NOTE: You get only one of the 3, medical, mechanical, or explosive item. If your medical is the highest of the 3, then you get a medikit, regardless whether you have over 50 mechanical skill. So you need to specialize in one of these 3 skills. Index ? 1.6 – NPC'S o 1.6.1 – RECRUITABLE NPC'S Ira - She is a rebel in Miguel's hideout. Ira have high Wisdom, therefore will eventually be a better merc than Dimitri. With teaching expert, she is the best militia trainer in JA2. Dimitri - A rebel blocking the door to Miguel's hideout. Dimitri is quite a good merc for the time being. Lack of Wisdom limits his future prospect. Carlos - Another rebel along with Miguel, Ira & Dimitri. No comment, doesn't look impressive despite having 91 Agility. To recruit him, you have first to capture 5 towns, and then talk to Miguel, he will say that he and Carlos are ready to join you. Just recruit them. Miguel – The leader of the rebels. With 98 Leadership, wow, a good merc overall. You only get him after securing 5 town/mines. Then talk to him, and he will say that he and Carlos are ready to join you. Just recruit them. MadDog - Just go to the junkyard sector (Estoni) to hire him. Great Agility & Dexterity but his Marksmanship is about 60, otherwise… He's pretty unreliable in combat (whenever I needed him most, he got crazy), but he can open ANY door. He's an expert in Lockpicking and works for free. Hamous - He is the guy near the Ice Cream truck. He has good ability..and he is good with Auto Weapons.. he is ok. Conrad – A military in the Weapons Facility of Alma. He's a pretty good all-rounder, with excellent marksmanship and high leadership. Speak to Conrad after clearing the sector using Direct. You can't friendly with someone who's a drill sargeant-type. I've heard that has a better impact when speaking to soldiers or with a high leadership person, but sometimes it's very difficult to hire him. If you hit Friendly twice he'll say "This does not interest me. Killing you interests me. Remain calm.... While I Shoot you." And he will… But if you can hire him, he will ask for 5500 per day. Say No and he'll drop his price to 3300. Dr. Vince - He is from the Cambria hospital, a very good doctor, although he needs to work on that terrible markmanship. Shouldn't be a problem with the high wisdom. Dynamo - He is being held in Tixa Prison. He is also brother of a miner who wants you to get him back from Tixa. Dynamo is a pretty good repairman with pretty good wisdom. Shank - You will find him in Tixa. He is damn useless, but have pretty good wisdom. He says he is good with throwing knives, I think. If you hire him, he'll ask you to take him to some town that starts with an E, and he will give you a good deal on gas. You should take him where he wants to go. Iggy - A russian ex-army member, who has Heavy Weapons expert skill, and pretty good stats, a level 5, who asks for 1950 per day, and equiped with rocket rifle. He is a random encounter NPC, that can be found in almost every places. However, try bars in cities. Some people got him at a bar in San Mona, others in the SE corner of the NW sector of Alma. And I think he's available almost at the end of the game because of game balance reason. o 1.6.2 – NON-RECRUITABLE NPC'S Mickey - He can be placed randomly to any bar of any town. ( for more info on this NPC, see section 7.2 – Mickey & The Bloodcats ) Carmen (The Bounty Hunter) - He travels between San Mona and Drassen, you can find him in the bars of both towns on different days. ( for more info on this NPC, see section 7.3 – The Bounty Hunter ) Mike – He makes an unexpected appearance in JA2, seduced by Deidranna's big bucks. (Traitor!). His location is random, so you'll be able to find him in a lot of locations. Expect a very hard encounter that should end with Mike's death since you'll not be able to hire him. Index ? 1.7 – ENEMY INFO The enemies may appear with red, yellow or grey shirts. Red shirts are those you always see at the start of the game, and mainly in the easy mode game. Yellow ones are rare. Grey ones are the elite forces, and Mike is one of the grey ones. They are much similar to your militia which is green, light blue and dark blue. I do know that the grey ones never misses, use heavy weapons like rocket launcher, and when you place a cursor on them, it should display excellent. Index __________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. WEAPONS, AMMO & ITEMS ? 2.1 - WEAPONS ATTACHMENTS Can anyone explain what exactly all of the weapon attachments do? I can guess what some of the benefits could be, but I am looking for a exact explanation. I know that you can target more accurately with the scope by taking more action points to aim until the circle becomes yellow, but what about the laser sight and the bipod? Do you have to activate these in some way, or are they always in affect once attached? All attachments should improve your chance of hitting the enemy (no need to activate anything). Remember, you can use each one of them together… The bipod only works in prone position (lying down). A little bit logic, don't you think?!? The way the aiming works is not different if you have scope, bipod or laser sight or nothing at all. Temporary Attachments: Sniper Scope - Better accuracy at the greater distances (20+ tiles, I believe); Laser Sight - Better accuracy at all distances; Bipod - Better accuracy when in prone position (Actually, what happens is that you don't have the penalties for firing when prone). To better see the difference it makes, try firing a Burst , while prone without the bipod, and then with... Permanent Attachments: Barrel Extender – To get it, you have to merge a Steel Tube, Duct Tape & Quick Glue. Then attach it to a gun. What you'll get is an increase of the gun's fire range; ??? – To get it, you have to merge an Aluminium Tube & a Spring. Attach the result to a gun & you'll get a gun that takes less Action Points to fire. Attention: These are permanent modifications!!! After you do it, you can't go back to the original state of the gun!!! If you drop the extender on a gun's spot and it fails, you should reload. Both the Extender and the gun have been damaged. Knowing that the condition of the Barrel Extender affects the increase on range, you should probably repair it before you put it on the gun. So make sure you have a good mechanic… It may happen sometimes, that during a battle, the extender goes flying off the gun. This can make many people think that the Extender is somekind of useless. I had no luck. I mean that I tried putting Glue on the Tube, then putting Tape on Tube, then i tried putting Glue on Tape, then tape on bar, and so on. With no luck use a merc with good mechanical skills to do that. Well the way I made the Barrel Extender was by first putting the steel bar in my hand, then I put the Duct Tape on it, like putting a Sniper Scope on a rifle, just right click the bar and place the Tape in an accessory slot. Finally I put the Quick Glue in a second accessory slot of the bar and voilá, a Barrel Extender. Remember, if you have low mechanical skill, it ain't gonna work. You have to have the skill to use the equipment. ( for more info on this question, see section 2.5.1 – Merging Items & Purposes ) Index ? 2.2 - WEAPONS AMMUNITION I recently captured the military base in Alma, and when I searched the sector inventory, I came up with a really good rifle, the H&K G11 (not sure if that was the right number…) Anyways, it uses 4.7MM ammo, and I also found another 50 round drum in the sector, but so far, I haven't found any other places with that type of ammo, even at Bobby Ray's. Will Bobby Ray's eventually sell it, or is there a place in Arulco where I can get it? I found some clips for that weapon once when I went to the gun shop in San Mona, he had 5 clips of the 4.7 mm ammo which I quickly bought. I also managed to buy some 5.7 mm ammo which I have no clue what weapon it is for. Where to get 7.62mm Ammo? I have the weapons but zip of bullets… I got 3 of those rifles plus Ivan carries some super sniper rifle that also uses same ammo...It's almost impossible to come by with armor piercing bullets (red ones) but the blue ones are sold on the Bobby's ray's website on the first page of ammo page...but still those blue ones are practically useless because everyone wears armor. What I do is take some guy like custom merc or other with AKM loaded with red bullets do the first shot then with Ivan I finish the guy even with a blue bullet because armor is down... What is the 5.7mm ammunition for, because it doesn't work with H&J G11 which uses 4.7mm caseless also they look very similar I got them from Tony. The only weapon in the game that utilises 5.7mm ammunition is the FN P90. Also the G11 is the only weapon in the game to use 4.7mm ammo. Both the 4.7mm and the 5.7mm clips hold 50 rounds, more than any other ammo clips. Index ? 2.3 - TALON GRENADE LAUNCHER Where to find Granade Launchers? I found two or three in Grumm and have heard that there's a lot of heavy duty weaponry in Alma. Ok, has anyone worked out how to use this yet? I have the Talon as an addition to a rifle, and I get a little yellow star that tells me the rifle has it attached... Then when I click a 40mm grenade on the rifle to load it, it also adds as an attachment (one of the four spaces). But, I can only shoot the rifle as a rifle? How do I tell the merc to let rip with the 40mm??? When you open the merc menu in tactical mode (the picture of the merc plus the controls) you get a new icon in the button used to change between Single/Burst Fire fire. When the Talon is attached there should be 3 switch modes, as exposed below: - First click on the icon: Burst Fire - Second click on the icon: Grenade Launcher - Third click on the icon: Back to Single Shot. Index ? 2.4 – ROCKET RIFLE Where to find Rocket Rifles? After you take over Alma, you will find a general in one of the buildings, when you speak to him, speak being "direct", he will mention that there are weapons being made in Orta, which is north of Meduna. Once you take this area, move into the building, there will be a Bloodcat researcher, bribe him (took $20,000 to do it for me) and he will lead you to the basement. The basement is almost as well fortified as the outside of the building, after you clear it, you will find a scientist in back. Threaten him until he starts walking, follow him to a room, it will be full of crates, which contained, the first time I played, 6 rocket rifles and several packs of minirockets (HE, AP, and a few HEAP), and the second time found 8, all with no fingerprint ID. I found a rocket rifle on a dead enemy elite, and the user ID was programmed to his fingerprint only. I need to know if I can reprogram the user ID so I can fire it. There is a guy in Grumm, called Frodo (looks and talks like a transvestite) that has an electronic shop that can fix it. Just take it to him and he should have it fixed in a day. Also, don't take anything from his shop. I did that and the only thing he did from then on was calling me an asshole. NOTE: Before taking it into combat give it to the person who you want to use it have him fire a shot, it won't shoot but it will get his fingerprint, then your all set. Index ? 2.5 – ITEMS Just restarting JA2 after an abortive first effort. But now, Doreen's locker is missing something… This time, Doreen's lockers don't have that MP5K!!! Is its presence random? Should I reload to a point before entering the Drassen sector? Yes, items are somewhat randomized (every item has a probability of existing, from 10 to 100%). If you REALLY want the MP5K, you need to reload your game from before entering the sector. You may also need to do something different before entering the sector (so the random cards get shuffled a bit). Ian Currie - Sirtech Canada o 2.5.1 - MERGING ITEMS & PURPOSES Here are some of the merging possibilities & uses (don't know if there are more…): - Marbles (on the ground) = Enemies Slip - Emtpy Can + Fathom (attached to a door) = Alarm - Aluminium Tube (or Rod) + Spring (attached to a gun) = Less Action Points To Fire - Steel Tube + Tape + Quick Glue (attached to a gun) = Longer Barrel/Wider Range - Compound 18 + Armor = Stronger Armor - Ceramic Plates + Vest = Stronger Vest - Monster Queen Slime + Armor = Stronger Armor - TNT + RDX = HMX - C1 + RDX = C4 - TNT + Platin Watch + Tape = TNT With Timed Fuse - Lameboy + Copper Wire = Display - X-Ray Tube + Fumblepack + Chewing Gum = X-Ray Device - X-Ray Device + Display = X-Ray Detector (batteries needed) - String + Soda Can + ??? = ??? ( NOTE: To know where to find some of above stuff, see section 2.6 - Locations Of Shops & Goodies ) I tried to combine the Spring with the Tube, didn't work i also tried the Steel Tube with the Duct Tape or Quick Glue, didn't work either. So, to combine you just take one and put him on the other? Or you need to do it with mechanics and toolkit? It works like this: Put the Steel Tube (for instance) in your secondary hand. Pick up the Duct Tape with the left mouse button, then click on the Steel Tube with the right mouse button. You'll get the description of the Steel Tube with four grayed-out boxes. Disregard the grayed-out boxes. Click the left mouse button on one of the boxes and the tape will dump in. Do precisely the same thing with the Quick Glue, and the Steel Tube will disappear, only to be replaced with a "Gun Barrel Extender". Then pick up the Extender and use it on one of the empty spots on a gun. ( for more info on this question, see section 2.1 – Weapons & Attachments ) Is it possible to make a Cocktail Molotov? How? (3 answers available) 1 - The making of Molotov Cocktails is only possible in Jagged Alliance 1. This feature is not availeble in Jagged Alliance 2. That means, you can not make Molotov Cocktails in JA2. Topware Interactive 2 - You can't make Molotov Cocktails. Why use them when there are plenty of fragment grenades around? Eric T. Cheng – Sirtech Canada 3 - As I know, all fire-based weapons are disabled in JA2. You can't make Cocktail Molotov, and you can't find and use Flame Thrower. Flamer is only available by cracking savefile, Cocktail maybe not available at all... Although some people said that you could get it, using a knife to cut up T-Shirts into rags, and combine them with Alcohol, in a Jar. I've got those things, but can't seem to make this work. o 2.5.2 - NIGHT VISION GOGGLES Can you please explain to me how the Night Vision Goggles work, in mine it only makes light a couple spaces away my guy. It sucks. The Night Vision Goggles don't light the way for you. You'll see the enemies from farther away. The enemies, not the ground of other dead things. The range of the Night Goggles is not equal to the light radius and they don't suck at all. I found some Night Vision headgear. Doesn't "appear" to do much. It mentions slot for AA batteries. Are these needed in its attachments area? Is there another way to "turn it on"? If I wear it all the time, will it only work when I want it to (at night)? No batteries required for the headgear. You should get a bigger radius of lighted squares around your character if you got this option on. Might only be one or two squares but it's worth it (You can look farther than the lighted squares anyway). Especially if you equip someone with them who's got the night ability. o 2.5.3 - RDX RDX is supposedly a highly explosive material. How do I detonate it? Merge it with C1 to make C4, and it says it's unstable. Or merge it with TNT to make HMX (do it yourself to see what it is). RDX jars are fairly stable to carry around. I've taken full bursts in the face while carrying it. Index ? 2.6 - LOCATIONS OF SHOPS & GOODIES Since the presence of some items in a certain place may be random, they may not be there when you go looking for them. But there's also a big chance that they are there… Just try! Where to find some stuff: - Alma Military Compound – Lots of good weapons, ammo, protections & other sorted stuff; - San Mona C5 – Weapons; - Estoni I6 – Handguns; - Estoni I6 – Ammo; - Balime – Fumblepack; - Balime L12 – Lameboy; - Balime L12 – Video Camera (electronic shop); - Balime L12 - Electronic equipment, medical supplies, general store (good for drugs) - B15 - In the shed there is 2 full tanks of gas and some ammo. In the house bathroom is a medikit; - Southeast of Chitzena – In a house there are Ceramic Plates and Comp-18 stuff; Where to find some Shops & Dealers: - Bobby Ray's on-line store (it seems that he changes the inventory hourly); - Shops for repairing items (electronic or mechanic depending on the shop) - Grumm H1 (two shops) and one in Cambria (fix the Rocket Rifles ID in the electronic shop of Grumm); - An Irish explosives dealer – he randomly appear in the bar of Drassen. He only takes cash, and only sells the heavy stuff like C4, TNT, detonators, etc... If you kill him, you get a Comando and a load of stuff for free... - Tony's hidden shop in San Mona – he sells guns; - Devin will sell you explosives in a bar of San Mona; Index __________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. STRATEGICAL & TACTICAL ISSUES ? 3.1 - CITY CONQUER ORDER The Official JA2 Strategy Guide suggests the following order to conquer the cities: 1 - Omerta 2 - Drassen 3 - San Mona 4 - Chitzena 5 - Cambria 6 - Alma 7 - Estoni 8 - Grumm 9 - Balime 10 - Tixa Prison 11 - Creature Quest 12 - Orta 13 - Meduna Any recommendations where to go after overtaking a city? Read the intelligence reports and figure out where the key locations are. Talk to people in each town to get quests. Index ? 3.2 - MILITIA Can any Merc train militia? Does the merc doing it make a difference? Yes. Low Leadership, long time to train. Does who trains the militia make a difference other than the speed at which they train? Will a better mercenary with teaching abilities, say, train a more ruthless militia? To my knowledge it doesn't make a difference other than the speed. When you train militia, does it ever stop (no more training required?). It keeps giving me the option to train for $750. I've done it several times and it seems to keep adding more men - is there an end point? The limit is 20 men per city sector. When you keep training them they can reach the veteran status. That's only possible when you have the maximum number of green units trained and keep training them. They can also reach the veteran status in combat against the enemy. After a number of battles they can even reach elite status (veteran - blue, elite - dark blue). Elite is only possible through combat, not training. When you look at the militia in a sector (using "show militia" icon), you can see something like 10/0/0. First number is green militia, second is intermediate, third is veterans. In the beginning 20 green guys will do the trick. Later in the game 20 greens don't stand a chance against veteran attackers. Can militia be trained anywhere or just in city sectors? City sectors and SAM sites. In the other hand, there are some hidden areas with large buildings/sites where there is no possibility of training militia. Any way of healing militia after a battle. You can't heal them with your medics? Will assigning someone to doctor in the sector help? You can heal Militia guys that are "Dying" if you have a Merc on the map during/after the battle ends. The Merc needs both medical supplies and a few points of Med skill. Equip the Med Kits and heal them just as if they were your own... since they are! This is a great way to preserve the Militia and even more so when in particular it's a Veteran Militia dude with an Auto-Rifle that is bleeding to death. Index ? 3.3 - OPENING DOORS I seem to have the biggest problems opening metal doors and other things. I can shoot lockers open but am not sucessful shooting the metal doors open. I thought I was doing it before, is there maybe an option I checked? How does everyone else open a door if they dont have the key. I dont feel like wasting all my heavy explosives. 1. Use a merc with high Mechanical and the lockpicking skill (make sure he has a lockpicking kit). If he doesn't open the door in first attempt, try again & again until he opens it or he says that he really can't open that damn door. Lots and lots of times they will open the doors after some frustating attempts. The best men for the job are Trevor, Magic, Static, Vicki, Gasket & Steroid; 2. Use a merc that has high Strenght with a crowbar; 3. Use explosives (some rumors about some lock explosives) Index ? 3.4 – "HEADS OFF" How do you cut off the head of the terrorists like druggist or the imposter because i already found them and after i kill them there is no head. As far as I know, you have to knock the enemy down without killing them. Leave them in the "Dying" state. When they are on the ground you should be able to chop the heads off with a machete. Simply attack the body, and the head will be yours. Look then for the Bounty Hunter, since he'll buy heads. ( for more info on this topic, see section 7.3 – The Bounty Hunter ) Index ? 3.5 - STEALING Here, I'll explain a trick to get weapons that enemies won't drop when they die. - Manage to get close an enemy, and punch the badguy in the torso (usually 3 hits) or hit him with a crowbar to make him fall to the ground. Do not inflict serious damage to him, only put him unconscious. That leaves an enemy who won't rise in about two turns, which gives alot of time to rob him and kill silently. Tricks to get close: 1) Sneak close at night to his back in stealth mode if your merc have corresponding bonus; 2) Just plain run to enemy; 3) Hide and wait right at the corner of a building or behind door; 4) Use smoke grenade/tear gas first. They will be laying on the ground suffering. Then use stun grenades. But make sure you have gas masks on! 5) Try a tranquilizer dart. It only do 1 or 2 damage, but takes down any merc regardless of ability; 6) Trick him to a place where you can ambush him. - To pickpocket enemy, you must have both hands free and stand next to him having enough APs. Don't trust white number of necessary APs over grabby hand set over enemy, this is MINIMAL required APs. Pickpocketing takes all your APs, so have other merc or two nearby to kill enemy after robbery. However if enemy is in "dying" state you will almost never get anything from him. If you doing robbery with your custom merc with both hands free, you'll get some weapon ~100% cases. Other mercs could steal guns too, but with less chances. I have never succeed to steal anything exept guns enemies holding, but maybe it is possible to get some other items too. - BEWARE! Most enemies have more than one gun. If you took his gun, you're not safe anyways, he can: 1) Take his other gun and feed you with 4-5 bullets; 2) Get a knife/machete and cut you; 3) Punch you several times. - But in any case pickpocketing (especially from grey and camouflaged enemies) is good way to obtain good guns which are hard to be found in other ways, because after the death of enemy his gun disappears in most cases. As for stealing, my game didn't crash, it just appeared to do nothing. Am I doing this right. Will stolen items simply "appear" in inventory or will a selection screen come up? Can some mercs steal while others can't? Again, I walked up to a living, breathing enemy who was still very much in on the fight and put the grabbing hand over him at close range, the stopwatch came up and, seemingly, nothing happened (but no crash - game simply continued). Should he be unconscious? Same here (with the game doing nothing). Seems to depend on the speed of the machine because the program seems to calculate quite alot when you steal. If you're succesful you should have the gun in your hand or receive a message on screen that says you haven't been succesful and even tells you which gun the enemy has. I tried to steal again from an unconscious guy from which I took a gun. The game just hung for a couple of seconds an then returned to the normal state ... Index ? 3.6 – STEALTH When stealthy, how do you know EXACTLY when the enemy spots you? I assume that you go into turn-based mode when you spot them, but have they seen you? How do you know whether to sneak further or start blasting? When they see you they'll come running to you to initiate hand to hand combat, shoot immediately or use their walky talkies first before shooting. You won't know which effects the step to the next square will have. Is it possible to knife or martial arts kill an enemy silently without a guard right nearby noticing? How stealthy can you get? Silencer is also an option. About a guard right nearby - not sure about it. 5-6 squares might be possible if he doesn't look into the direction. Index __________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. VEHICLES There are only 3 vehicles that you can find, to help you travelling in Arulco. These are the Helicopter, the Ice Cream Truck and the Hummer. You'll not be able to use other vehicles that you may find during the game – trucks in some farms & a bunch of tanks in Meduna. The Ice Cream Truck and the Hummer are good, especially when the enemy still has SAM Sites, because they can move into territory where the Helicopter might get shot down. Also, if you've got more than one team, operating in different parts of the country, the Heli comes very expensive and as long as you've got no other airport than Drassen he has to return for fuel. The ground vehicles are also pretty useful to transport weapons to the store and back. ? 4.1 – THE HELICOPTER If you want to be able to use a helicopter to transport your mercs, you'll have to find the pilot (Skyrider) that is hidding somewhere. Moves mercs very fast, cost $$$ though, and after some time it will have to return to the base for refuelling. How do you use the helicopter after you found the pilot? I need his services, but he is not in or around the airport. What's wrong? On the large map screen, click on the helicopter icon. He will ask what you want. Then you can move the helicopter like your mercs. To load mercs in helicopter, used large map screen, select merc squad and select vehical, select helicopter. ( for more info on this question, see section 5.1.3 – Skyrider – The Chopper Pilot ) Index ? 4.2 – THE ICE CREAM TRUCK Where to find the Ice Cream Truck??? I found it once at D11. But it's a random encounter on the Drassen/Cambria road (maybe also San Mona/Cambria or Cambria/Chitzena). Just follow the road sectors and you should meet the truck and driver (Hamous). Unless they changed things from the beta you should be able to put an entire team of 6 mercs in the Ice Cream Truck. I usually put people in the truck by going to the sector map screen and clicking on the mercs I wanted in there and then selected for them to be in the vehicle of choice. I usualy use the strategic map to get the mercs inside any vehicule. It's the easiest way. If I recall correctly, you can also hold down CTRL and click on the truck for your second to sixth merc. If you encounter enemies in a sector while riding in the Ice Cream truck and you sneak through the sector into the next without taking them out, will you still have the Truck? Could it be stolen if it is, in fact, left behind? (I wonder about this with running out of gas too). If you encounter enemies you'll have to go the sector (you'll get the menu if you wanna flee or fight). In case you ride a vehicle your team will be dismounted but close to the vehicle. In tactical mode the vehicles can't move. So if you decided to fight but then try to leave you'll have to leave the vehicle behind. I happened upon Hamous when traveling down to Alma. He demanded money so I shot him to hijack his Ice Cream Truck. But I can't use it? What's up? You have to hire him first to get access to his truck... In one sector found Hamous and his Ice Cream Truck. Had to kill 8 guards and made Hamous join the team (to get the Truck). Went to a battle with another team in another sector. Finished that fight and went back to the sector and the truck was gone!! What happened? How to solve this problem? That's what happened to me yesterday: found Hamous, went to the sector, Tactical map. I went to the web then etc, etc and in the end the Truck didn't appear on the Strategic map anymore and it wasn't possible for the two mercs in sector to mount the truck in the team/task list. When I went to the sector in Tactical mode it still was there and I could mount it (steering wheel cursor). Once that was accomplished I could see it as an icon again. Index ? 4.3 – THE HUMMER There's a Hummer in the sector just east of Balime (L10). It will cost you 10.000. The guy in that sector will also refule it for free. If you drive the Hummer into a sector occupied by any other mercs on your payroll, it will replicate and you will then have two. Someone stated that presently owned 3. Index ? 4.4 – FUELING THE VEHICLES Some gas for the vehicles can be obtained in the "E" city after you escort Skank there. He is rescued from the basement of Tixa. I can't for the life of me figure out how to put the fuel in the truck. Any hints? (Tried putting fuel in hand, right clicking - get special cursor, but can't affect the truck, etc.) It only worked for me, if the merc had to WALK towards the truck, and refuel it. If the merc is just standing next the truck, and you say "refuel" he will do nothing. So, go away some steps. And then try it again. Index ? 4.5 - TANKS Can you steal tanks? I just blew 2 to pieces… No, they are stationary and cannot get stolen. But it's possible to steal weapons from the tank. I went up to a tank and CTRL clicked it. And apparently my guy took it's gun. So now I have a "cannon". But I have no ammunition for it, and even doubt that there is any ammo for it in the game. The description of the weapon, only says "No Description Necessary". I have cleared *every* sector in the game except those around Meduna. How the #@$*%&#@ do you beat the tanks? I can't get near them. Even stealth isn't working for me. I can't even begin to fathom getting through all the sectors around Meduna and keeping my Mercs alive. Tanks get pretty easy to kill with a merc specialised in Heavy Weapons. The key is to get close enough to shoot the rocket ... What I do is sneak at night time, I spot the Tank with a camoflaged merc, I pull out of Tank spotting range, bring the heavy weapon expert and, BANG, from a safe distance. I used rocket launchers and even the mortars have good results in the right hands. Also, if you go out at night, you can even get closer (for obvious reasons). Index __________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. CITIES & QUESTS RELATED ? 5.1 – OMERTA Recruitable NPC's at Drassen: Ira, Dimitri, Carlos, Miguel; Non-Recruitable NPC's at Drassen: Fatima o 5.1.1 – A Letter For Miguel Once you start the game, your boss, Enrico, has already dropped a quest on you. You should find Miguel Chivaldori to deliver him a letter from Enrico, asking for help. I'm having a hard time finding Miguel… Where is he? Kill the enemies in the first sector you start in, then go find a woman called Fatima. Talk to her nicely and when she asks for something to prove that what you say is true, give her the letter, and she'll lead you to Miguel (you'll have to walk with her to the sector in the right). After you find him, you will be able recruit Ira. ( for more info on this NPC, see section 1.6.1 – Recruitable NPC's ) Index ? 5.2 – DRASSEN Recruitable NPC's at Drassen: Skyrider (in surrounding swamps); Non-Recruitable NPC's at Drassen: Doreen, Father Walker, Pablo, Sal; o 5.2.1 – Doreen – The Child Labor Exploiter In the middle sector of Drassen, you will find a big factory building, with lots of kids working inside. If yau talk to them, they will say that the owner of the factory (Doreen), is really bad and makes the kids work like dogs through the day. So, they wished that Doreen just "disappeared". It's up to you to do that task. However, just like most things about this game, there are more than just one solution for any given problem. For this quest you have possibilities: - Go the easy way & drop a bullet in Doreen's head, putting her 6 feet under; Or - Through dialog you can convince her to change her ways. If you just leave her and come back when you have cleaned out that particular sector (middle on for Drassen) and have your Custom Merc speak to her Friendly-like. Keep speaking friendly, even though see gives some half aggressive answers. Eventually, she says she sees the errors of her ways, and leaves. You can confirm that you have done right, by speaking to the children, they all say something about being free. This may require a certain leadership to do. NOTE: If you choose the second option, you'll not get the items on her... most important, a key to the storage room of the factory is in the sweatshop. Plus, it is so much fun to waste her! Why would you want to keep her alive? Shoot that b*tch!!! o 5.2.2 - Father Walker When you have already talked to Miguel, in Omerta, you will be asked to somehow get food to all the people hiding in the basement hideout. The only way to do this is to find a certain priest (Father Walker) that is able to organize the food transport for the rebels. It will give you a raise in loyality, and access to recruit rebels for your team, who don't cost a penny… so it's important that you do it. I've restarted and Father Walker is not in Drassen. I've seen him before and know what he looks like (and anyway he's a named NPC, easy to spot) and i've searched the entire mine sector of Drassen. Is my game completely shot now? Should I restart from the very beginning? I went to an old save and took over the town AGAIN and he still wasn't there. He can be in two locations. One is in the middle sector of Drassen inside a bar, the other is in the northern sector of Drassen inside his church. Where is that priest (Father Walker) hiding in Drassen? Checked the bar and the church, no go! Did you try during the day? I couldn't find him at first because I decided to make a night time assault on Drassen. I waited around till morning and found him in the church. o 5.2.3 – Skyrider – The Chopper Pilot If you want to be able to use a helicopter to transport your mercs, you'll have to find the pilot, named Skyrider that is hidding in the swamps near Drassen. After you found him, to use his services, you'll have to clear some SAM Sites or he won't be able to do his job since the airspace is not secure and he will be shot down. He will also tells you the locations of all SAM Sites, a short time after you find him and start moving by chopper. I still can't find the damned pilot. I checked the swamp immediately around Drassen. Even walked through it in tactical mode. However, I did this late at night (maybe he's like the Father and only around certain hours). I heard his placement is random. So, one, where might he be? And second, do I need to physicaly check each sector in tactical or will it be like finding the Ice Cream Truck where I'm prompted in map movement mode that someone is there? Will he only be in a house? If you talk to the girl in the church in Drassen after talking to Father Walker, she will ask if that is your hideout in the swamp and give you a direction, east, south, southwest… etc. The location is random, but will be limited to the swamp areas around Drassen, that are three sectors around Drassen (around means they can be two or three sectors away and don't necessarily have to border on Drassen). He's in one of them, usually inside a house. You don't need to go to the tactical map. When you enter the sector where he is you'll get a message telling you that your team has met someone (same with Ice Cream Truck and other quest related NPCs). Waldo tells me that I killed the helicopter pilot in Drassen, so I have to find the other. Is it possible (if I reloaded a saved game) to get that pilot instead somehow? You killed the military pilot of the helicopter but there's another pilot who's hiding in the swamps near the lake next to Drassen. His location is random every new game. Speak to the locals for hints on his location. ( for more info on this chapter, see section 4.1 – The Helicopter ) o 5.2.4 – Pablo & The Gun Shipments After you have captured the Drassen Airport sector you'll be able to order weapons and other stuff through Billy Ray's on-line weapons store, to be delivered in the Airport. Pablo is the man in charge of the shipments work in the Airport. But sometimes there are some problems, when ordering the stuff… Problem with Gun Shipments. I don't know where they went in the Airport… Are you looking in the crates in the building marked SHIPMENTS? I found that if you talk to Pablo before opening the crates may help reduce the losses. Also need to use merc with high leadership. I found also that if I bribe Pablo, usually with $100, from time to time, I'll get all my stuff intact, and always assume a friendly posture. If you already have militia, just withdraw $10 from your account & give it to him (don't choose "give" option in chat options, instead withdrow $10 from bank and put them with cursor on Pablo). Your history log will read "Greased Pablo's palms" and from then on he will guard your stuff 100% just as if you had shot him in the legs. If you rough him up that helps too but be careful with the violence. Just use the fist icon on him (punch) a few times, and it'll work wonders for your relationship... If you attack Pablo after you have militia at Drassen airport, your loyal militia will interpret Pablo as an enemy & go ballistic. Pablo will not survive. If you kill him the locals will turn against you. But if decide to cut Pablo's throat (Ira tells you that he works for Deidranna and you should kill him), he is replaced by a nice boy named Sal who's kind of stupid, but not any better at shipping stuff either - he loses your shipments sometimes too. You can bribe him with $100, or kill this one as well, but if you do this, your popularity in Drassen is gone… I have not lost a shipment since I destroyed the SAM site near Drassen. I have also found the previously lost shipments in warehouses in other cities! First of all, Eric T.Cheng said earlier that it's worth killing Pablo because Sal takes his place and does a little better. However, in the "official" strategy guide, it says that Sal is not nearly as reliable as Pablo, so you should keep him alive. So, there are two contradicting sides. Who is more reliable, Pablo or Sal? I don't recall saying that Pablo is worth killing. I do remember saying that you should beat Pablo up a bit to get him to return your stolen shipments from Bobby Ray's. And yes, Sal is MUCH MUCH worse than Pablo, he won't steal your shipments but lose them outright! P.S. I even tried giving Sal $50 and he said I "move to the head of the line" but still can't find the shipment he says is there. Eric T. Cheng – Sirtech Canada Index ? 5.3 - ALMA Recruitable NPC's at Alma: Conrad; Non-Recruitable NPC's at Alma: General, Sergeant, Head Miner; Alma is a Military Weapons Facility, so don't expect anything but some hard time taking the 4 sectors of this town. The upper right hand corner sector of the town, may be the most difficult of them all, it has loads of enemies well equiped and 2 snipers in the roofs of two warehouses that are full of stuff. You can recover the Soviet Dragunov 7.62mm Sniper Rifle from the snipers. (What a weapon!!!) Expect some other cool rifles (Colt Commando (5.56mm M-16 carbine), a French FAS-MA (also 5.56mm assault rifle) and AK- 74 Soviet 5.45mm from Alma). Alma is a "must" for getting lots of quality equipment. In NW sector of Alma, in the building where are located the General and Conrad, there is Sergeant in one of N-E rooms. You need to speak to him BEFORE somebody will press red button to detonate the Rocket Rifle. Sergeant wants to desert the army and gives you Rocket Rifle for you not to kill him. This Rifle is clean (first merc who takes it, can use it), so you don't have search for technician to reprogram it. If you delay the talk with Sergeant until later, the Rifle explodes and Sergeant gets wound. You can cure him, and speak in any case. Sargeant will later increase the loyalty of Alma. o 5.3.1 – Saving Dynamo When you talk to the head miner of Alma, besides for getting the money of the mine, he will ask you to recover his brother who is imprisioned at Tixa Jail (you'll get now the location of Tixa on the main map). So to resolve the quest you need to go to Tixa and just set Dynamo free. Index ? 5.4 – CAMBRIA Recruitable NPC's at Cambria: --- Non-Recruitable NPC's at Cambria: Dr. Vince, The Hicks Family; Cambria seens to be a tough town to conquer. Dreidranna's men will try to retake her intensively. There is here a running Hospital, where you might get some help. As for quests, the people of the town will ask you to put the Hicks out of circulation in Cambria. Attack on Cambria goes well so far but...the city is already surrounded by enemy army units on almost all sides, I have taken the whole city except the mine. Should I train up militia for the rest of the town before I take it? Will the enemy try to retake sections of the town before I have all of it. How to take the rest of the city without being immediatly attacked from 5 different armies. Well they'll jump you when you've taken the mine. Start training your militia the moment you've taken a sector of the city. As you capture more sectors of the city, continued militia training will expand appropriately to fill in the newly captured areas. Train the militia up to veteran status.. and don't leave either the Hospital or the mines until it tells you you can't train any more. Can anyone answer a few questions on the Hospital for me? Do I need to capture all the sectors of Cambria before Dr. Vince will help me, or is my leadership to low? After a fierce fight to take the first sector (top right), cleared out the sector of the Hospital. After doing that and killing the Hicks, the town's loyalty was around 22%. My guess is that either you need to clear out the whole town or get their loyalty up to a certain percentage before the docs will help. But if the doctors mention to you that someone has been stealing their supplies or their supplies are going missing, then you will not get any healing from them. Don't steal from the Doctors supplies… it may cost you in the end. o 5.4.1 – The Hicks Family The Hicks are an inbred farm family just east of Cambria. You'll get the quest of killing them, from the storekeeper who won't sell you guns. Beware, though, because it's an incredibly tough fight. But when I killed all the Hicks, that seemed to raise the loyalty some, adding to the fact that they have some nice items in the shed. Also, something funny: if have Fox or Flo in your squad, you can make her marry one of the Hicks!!! She was not amused at all, in fact she was sure pissed off. But that's too much waste of a merc to leave there. (maybe other female mercs do the trick as well – I'm listening Buzz already if I tryied to marry her with one of the guys: "WHAT!?!? Getting MARRIED??? The only one I would marry is my GUN!"). Here's some hints to help you killing them for good: Go in with at least 6 mercs loaded for a bear. You can open a hole up in the shed and blasted them as they walked through the door. You may get mauled a bit, but you should be able to do it without losing any people. They're all armed with shotguns and Mini-14s. When ever you are trying to maneuver around to get a look on the bad guys, all the Hick-brothers go swarming around you all the while, almost collecting near you for safety. It can happen that you may have a merc lying down in a paddock trying to finish off one guy with a shotgun, and had about a dozen Brothers, all crouched on the ground behind him, watching him perform, as if they were making judgements on how good a shot he was or something. They would also follow you around when you were running anywhere as well, even get in the road. Index ? 5.5 - SAN MONA Recruitable NPC's at San Mona: Iggy; Non-Recruitable NPC's at San Mona:Hans, Brenda, Tony, Carmen, Kingpin, Angel, Maria, Madame, Kyle; When you get into the city, you'll realize noone of Deidrenna's men are there, and you can't even train militia. This can be cool, since you don't have to waste your time training, and conquer other city instead. But there is so much to do in this city, that you'll spend a lot of your time in it. San Mona – Sector C5 – Here there's a hidden weapons store (Tony's store), and a whore house (The Shady Lady). You might also find Carmen (the Bounty Hunter), an explosives dealer and Kyle who says he'd like to own a Leather shop. Occasionaly in bar of San Mona there is a guy named Iggy, very useful, that has a Rocket Rifle. If you find him, you can recruit him. There are reports that he may only show up more to the end of the game, since he is a good NPC, and due to the game balance thing. The sector C5 of San Mona is one of the sectors you'll be returning to, all the time. San Mona – Sector C6 - You'll be able to find Angel (in his Leather shop) and Mickey (buys animal parts). o 5.5.1 – Tony – The Arms Dealer In the tattoo shop at San Mona you'll be able to find a guy that sells weapons. It's a woman at the start who tells you that someone sells weapons in the back of some shop. You need to execute Kingpin's guys at least in that sector to get to the shop. Hans (the tattoo shop owner) has a door behind him. He'll only let you through if Brenda (the annoying punk freak woman) is gone from the story. She may eventually leave on her own, or if you're in a hurry, you can give her a videotape to make her leave. In that same sector, there is a house on the extreme right of the map. Inside that house, there is a chest, open that check, and you should find the videotape. Hand that video over to Brenda, and she'll get the hell out of there. If you don't want to get the videotape, just shoot her and move on. Apparently this doesn't bring any ill effects later. Talk to Hans when she's taken care of, and you'll have access to Tony, the arms dealer. After visiting Tony once, Hans may say that he's stepped out and to come back later. It will take time for Tony to get more stuff and money & to appear in the shop... so wait a full day at least, until you return there. And another thing that might interest you: Tony uses a Steyr AUG. o 5.5.2 – Get Maria!!! Angel who is in the Leather shop in San Mona, will ask you to search his sister – Maria – and bring her back to him. You'll be able to find later that Maria is in a Whore house named Shady Lady also in San Mona. Get her out of there, and escort her all the way to Angel in the Leather shop, but only during business hours (day). He's got a life too, ya know. He will not be there by night. When you brought Maria to Angel, he'll give to you a deed as payment, if you're close enough, otherwise he should leave it on the counter, but you have to go inside to see it. If you get the feeling that you should sell the Leather shop, and Angel & Maria are already gone, go to the guy in the tatoo shop (Hans). He gives some speech about wanting the leather shop but he won't sell. Give him the deed (if you saved Maria) and the guy will give you 10,000 bucks for it. ? 5.5.2.1 - Maria & The Shady Lady In one of San Mona sectors you'll find a brothel house named Shady Lady. In there is Maria, the sister of Angel, that may already asked you to return her to him. To talk to Maria, you need to pay for her services… You'll be suggested sneaking Maria out without getting caught, but this is difficult. You'll have to open the door of the room where you are to get Maria out. Untrap it don't do the trick, so you need to grab the key. A guard may show up, so kill him silently. Return Maria back to her brother, Angel, and Maria will say that Kingpin and his gang will be after them, so they just go away. If you get back to the Shady Lady and talk to the madame (the manager), she will tell you that someone unknown kidnapped Maria, so no one will be after you. Before "escorting" Maria, if you try to put a few knives (or bullets, wherever) in the head of the madame and her dumb henchman, this basically set all of Kingpin's men against you before you could figure out what quests would occur in his sector of town. So understand why the game suggests sneaking Maria out without getting caught. I agreed to escort Maria to her brother, but after I've assigned her to a squad I can't move them to take her to Angel… I get a message that "Maria can't be given movement orders at this time" You can't move her via the Strategic Map. You have to move her in the Tactical Map. This was done to avoid players cheating and moving her out of the brothel by simplying using the Strategic Map movement. Take her and the rest of the squad that she is in and walk to the far right side, when the walking man icon appears, click on it and you will manually walk to the next sector. That's the only way to travel sector by sector with Maria. Eric T. Cheng – Sirtech Canada I don't quite understand how, since I took out the Madame and her dumb henchman silently and in just one tactical turn, the whole city of San Mona (and Kingpin) knew I was now "enemy". The Madame did say "wait til Kingpin finds out", but this seem unrealistic. Is this throughout the whole game? If I enter an area that sees me as neutral ou friendly like San Mona and move silently killing thugs, will others somehow magically sense my new "enemy" status? Well, they know you're not friendly anymore. The explanation may be that someone saw you and informed the others. I think they'll attack you every time you come back to the San Mona sector until you've eliminated Kingpin and his whole gang. I'm not sure about respawning of Kingpin's men as long as he is still alive. Index o 5.5.3 - Kingpin Kingpin's is by far the most complicated "quest" in this game. He is a ruthless leader of a gang of assassins and other criminals in the city of San Mona. He is also very rich, so you'll have the oportunity to steal his money. But don't underestimate his power, because if you do, you won't leave San Mona alive… ? 5.5.3.1 - Stealing Kingpin's Money If you steal Kingpin's money that is on the San Mona mine, he will send you an e-mail after a couple of days and ask for his money. He'll send killers that will appear "out of nowhere", attack you wherever you are for the rest of the game, and they get tougher as they go on, if you don't bring him the money back. They'll look just like normal civilians, you won't know they are killers. Once they are close enough they start shooting. Doesn't sound good, does it? So if that's happening to you, don't have any choice but return to San Mona and kill Kingpin and the complete gang (all very tough guys) or simply return the money to him (if so, why did you take the money anyway?!?). Here's how to get Kingpin's money in the mine: enter the mines in San Mona from the San Mona mine screen (the abandoned mine screen from the map screen). You want to enter the northern entrance to the mines (the southern one just takes you to the screen where Kingpen lives). Follow the tunnels until you get to the section that requires you to exit to the next part of the mines (like you where leaving the mine screen). In the next section of the mines is a room with many chests. The money is in there. Be carefull about going up the ladder, because Kingpin's men will not be amused if you pop up inside his house. Don't remember if the chests are trapped either. ? 5.5.3.2 – Kingpin's Fist-Fight Tournament A better idea might be hiring a merc with good fighting skills and getting some more money from Kingpin first by winning the fist-fights in Kinpin's bar, where you could bet money on fights as long as he's still alive (one of your mercs against Kingpin's fighters). These fights can get won but you've lost some money if Kingpin is dead already. You need to come to the club in San Mona, near the Kingpin's residence at between 6 PM and 11 PM and talk to the manager, he will offer you the tournament. Take a good fighter along an energy booster and it should be easy. If you're in San Mona and fail to meet Kingpin by winning the tournament, then just go to his house and through the back door. He'll speak to you that way. Then go and steal the money in the mine but make sure that your team(s) is good enough to kill everything in the two San Mona sectors when Kingpin sends his killers (there's no way to just ignore him). The (criminal) civilians in San Mona will be pissed and fight you, but the friendly (and helpful) ones will still support you. ? 5.5.3.3 – Killing Kingpin & Co. If you manage to time the stealing of the money well, you might have no problems but it can really suck bigtime if you're too weak to attack Kingpin and he's already sending killers. What you should also evaluate is the distance to San Mona. It might get nasty if you have to travel through 10 sectors to the other side of the country just to finish Kinpin off. You need to kill all the enemies in San Mona sector C5 and D5 (careful, there are civilians in C5) to finish the Kingpin business. Take your best mercs and slowly make your way into the sector where the Kingpin lives. Don't come from the mine, because as soon as you enter his house the alarm will go off, but from the sides of the sector on ground level. Attacking him at night can be a huge advantage if you already have night goggles. Make sure to look into buildings from different windows as a majority of your opponents will not be outside, but inside, hiding behind windows and such. It's classic urban combat, house-to-house, room-to-room. The fun will most likely start when you enter the sector where the brothel house is located. Here, you'll start to meet the six or seven "named" henchmen. There's also an unspecified number of generic goons. It's a little tough because only the named henchmen dropped anything when they died, the generics didn't. Index ? 5.6 - CHITZENA Recruitable NPC's at Chitzena: --- Non-Recruitable NPC's at Chitzena: 2 Tourists, Monk; This city is a turistical town, due to his ancient ruins. Here you'll find 2 quests to fulfill, one envolving the tourists themselves. o 5.6.1 – Escorting The Tourists Two tourists can be found in the Northernmost sector of town. They require an escort to the Drassen airport. Upon completing this quest you will receive $2,000. In addition, the gentleman has two "custom-modified" Automag III pistols that he sends to you which arrive somewhat later in the game (you are notified via email). These pistols define "handcannon" and are by far the best pistols featured in the game (29 dmg, 20 range, but only 5 rounds at a time). Carrying these as a back-up, especially for an ambidextrous Merc is a nice way to build individuality. o 5.6.2 – The Chalice Of Chance The monk-like caretaken of the Chitzena ruins (same Northernmost sector as mentioned above) wants you to retrieve a Chalice being held secure in Balime. He promises you great fortune in an indefinite kind of way. It is, however, the very same item the Kingpin asks you to get for him in San Mona (I prefer blowing him away for his money - he is a fat, evil bastard, after all). ( for more info on this Quest, see section 5.8.1 – The Chalice Of Chance – Part 2 ) Index ? 5.7 – GRUMM Recruitable NPC's at Grumm: --- Non-Recruitable NPC's at Grumm: --- This city so far seems to have nothing interesting… (but I know there must be something). Index ? 5.8 – BALIME Recruitable NPC's at Balime: --- Non-Recruitable NPC's at Balime: Security Guard; The city of Balime is known for is optimal weather and good beaches. So it's full of rich people who just live here or come to spend their vacations on a paradisiac place. Here's you'll able to continue the quest of Chalice of Chance initiated in Chitzena. Check Balime eastern sector. There are 3 stores there. One sells electronics and you'll find there a Video Camera (details here fo his use). o 5.8.1 – The Chalice Of Chance – Part 2 In Balime, how am I supposed to take the Chalice of Chance without turning that old geezer museum security guard against my team? If my guys are forced to kill the geezer, I immediately lose all town loyalty (down to 0%) and stand no chance of raising a militia. Things I've tried so far: Using a tranquilizer dart on the geezer (just pisses him off), tried giving him booze (he didn't want it), and tried to sneak past him (no luck, he always sees me and turns enemy). Here's how ya do it... First you need 5 mercs in there with him. When he goes off into the room to the left take 4 mercs and block his path so he can't go out to the main area. Then have the other merc go in his office and hit the switch to turn the alarm off and then get the Chalice, make sure he doesn't see you and do not talk to him. Then get your mercs out. Although less reliable, there is another possibility: go sneaking into the museum. Go at night and use stealth mode. All you need is to get in the front door, but you may need to pop some zits along the way. There is a room with a switch to disarm the alarm. Don't go into the backroom where the old geezer is. I found a hole or "bug" on the right side of the Chalice room. I manage to find myself outside the museum. I just leave the map without getting into a big fight. Only one merc need to enter the museum, that should have Night Ops and Stealth. When you have the Chalice, return to Chitzena, giving the Chalice to Yanni, that will raise your loyalty and then you can train a militia in Balime. Don't give it to Kingpin, later on you can go in the San Mona abadonded mine and steal his money. ( for more info on this Quest, see section 5.6.2 – The Chalice Of Chance ) Index ? 5.9 – TIXA JAIL Recruitable NPC's at Tixa: Dynamo, Shank; Non-Recruitable NPC's at Tixa: Warden; Tixa is a sector close to the SAM site at Cambria (J9). It's a prison which also has a cellar. You find the location on the map when the Alma miner asks you to go get his brother (Dynamo) which is imprisioned at Tixa. When you attack Tixa, the alarm in some rooms may go off. The buildings then fill with gas. No affect on the prisioners, but let me offer some alternatives to trying to take that place head on. Sneak in from the eastern side of Tixa. Enter the house at the southeast corner. Be very nice to the warden's husband. He'll tell you everything you need to know. Either that, or wait until 17:00 PM and sneak into the house to catch the warden off guard (hey, even she has to eat). Inside you'll find some NPC's that you can recruit. Also, you'll find a cool looking greyish gun at Tixa. The gun is called a Steyr AUG. Austrian Army standard issue. It fires 5.56mm rounds. Takes 30 round clips and have a range of 50 that does 30 of damage. There's always a Steyr AUG in Tixa, one of the guards has it, and the rest are scattered about. o 5.9.1 – Saving Dynamo – Part 2 This quest begins in Alma, where the miner asks you to save his brother – Dynamo – that is being held in Tixa Jail. To complete the quest, you have to hit the road to Tixa, and set Dynamo free. (You'll be able to recruit him). You don't have to return to Alma to say the miner that his brother is free now. Simply save him in Tixa and the loyalty in Alma will rise. If you have trouble to set Dynamo free or recruit him, here's how you do it: To open the door of Dynamo's cell, get the prison Key. It's silver and could be in the little locker in the wardens office. If not you'll get one when you clear the basement. Open the cell door and talk to Dynamo. He is free now, if you already cleared the Jail of enemies. To recruit him, you have to approach him friendly with someone with high leadership. He'll come with you. o 5.9.2 – An Escort For A Gas Deal You'll also find another prisioner in Tixa, near the location of Dynamo. His name is Shank, and when you talk to him, you will hire him. But he will mention an arrangement for some gas. You have to escort him all the way to where he wants and he will get you a deal on gas. When you get to the escort destination, simply talk to Jake with Shank. Jake then starts selling you gas. That completes the quest. Index ? 5.10 - ESTONI Recruitable NPC's at Estoni: MadDog; Non-Recruitable NPC's at Estoni: Skipper; Estoni is a sector with a junkyard. You'll find here an old man (Skipper), who can give you a keycard for the secure area in Orta, if you give him any item. You'll also find MadDog, which is an expert in Lockpicking and can work for you for free. Index ? 5.11 - ORTA Recruitable NPC's at Orta: --- Non-Recruitable NPC's at Orta: Ernest (scientist), 2nd Scientist; Orta is not on the map initially. It's the General in the Military Facility who gives you the Orta location, saying that it's kind of a research lab for Deidranna's weird purposes. The exact location of Orta is K4. In the Junkyard of Estoni (I6), you can get a codecard from Skipper that opens the door to the cellar. In the Orta cellar there are loads of elite enemies and a whole truckload of rocket rifles. First you have to kill the enemies and then find a scientist (Ernest) who can open the door to the room with the rifles, you'll find him in the western part of the cellar. There are three or four small rooms behind a locked door. He usually is in the room in the south, standing in a corner. If you haven't entered all the rooms, you may probably missed him. Talk to him, until he speaks no more or says "it is time to be generous". Hand him about 20K-25K in money and he'll open the door for you. You can then kill him to take the money back. In the room you'll find about 5 rocket rifles in there, all usable. Or simply threat him 3 times, and he'll go open the storage room door. On the ground floor there is another scientist who opens a locked door in the same level, if you give him 20.000 in cash. Other option to open this door is to go talk to Skipper (old guy) in Estoni. Give him an item – any item – and he will give you a keycard for this secure area in Orta. Index ? 5.12 - SAM SITES The SAM Sites, when in enemy hands, prevent you using safely the airspace surounding them. So don't even try to fly with the chopper when the area you want to travel by is still in red. Only what you see in green is a safe airspace for you. When you start the game, you are not given the locations of the SAM Sites. There are 2 ways of finding them: going on foot through the sectors until you find them or when you find Skyrider, the Chopper Pilot, he'll eventually tell you where ALL of them are on the map! But as far it seems, their locations are not ramdom. So I checked their locations, and there are 4 of them. Their locations in sectores is the following: D2 / D15 / I8 / N4. I took control of a SAM site, but the bad dudes took it back. Can I blow up the SAM Sites for good? No. But, you can train militia to guard the SAM site once you've regained possession of it. I've just conquered the first SAM site. There's a locked room with no windows. And boy… am I curious. How do you get in (Is there a key so I don't have to use explosives? Is the lock pickable?) And what's inside? Actually there is no other way then to blow the wall. Inside there are 3 crates of ammo BUT the locks are trapped, so, just shot them. Take someone for the explosives and for opening the door, somebody with a big gun. Index ? 5.13 - MEDUNA Recruitable NPC's at Meduna: --- Non-Recruitable NPC's at Meduna: Elliot, Joe, Deidranna Meduna is the last city between you and the final victory. All enemies in the city are by far the most difficult ones, since most, if not all, are "Excellent", carry big, big guns and there are LOTS of them, Everywhere. To participate in the party, some Tanks make their appearence as well. Those are the most frustating enemies, since their range and power damage is HUGE. (To know how to overcome this problem see Chapter 4.5 – Tanks ) As for getting the Queen itself, there are two ways into her Mansion: - The straight forward one (but most difficult) that is going along the surface and entering the Mansion (more like a fortress) by the doors, killing everything in your way and facing the last Tanks. (To know how to go all the way and make yourself more fearfull than Rambo, click here ) - And the long but much easy one. You need to find a secret passageway to the underground level of the Mansion, where the Queen is hiding (avoiding combat at the surface of last sector). (To know how to find the secret passageway, and hide like a chicken, click here ) How can you take Meduna? I mean, I sneak through sectors with the tanks (cause I don't have any LAW rocket launchers) but when I kill off all of Deidrana's elite guards… I cant find her… I found Elliot, and killed him… and I cleaned out her main room, but she is missing, is there a secret basement or something? Here's what to do in Deidranna's "Mansion": She's in the lower left corner of the building, if you catch her and Joe fast enough, you can kill them there (you can also pay Joe off, he'll leave, and you only have to deal with her). She does have a rocket rifle, and took out 2 of my mercs, but it's the end of the game so it doesn't matter. If you don't catch her quickly, she'll run into the fireplace, and you have to go on a hunt underground. The fireplace is in the west part of the mansion, so to go down a level, simply put the cursor over the fireplace and the cursor will change to a ladder. After entering the new level, kill all the "excellent" guys around (if Joe is still there, try paying him to leave, if you can, since he is a tough guy). Open some doors to the bottom of the screen and you'll find Deidranna nearby. And now send that b*tch to hell !!! ATTENTION: Before encountering Deidranna you'll have to pass through an intense mine field. Make sure you have a merc with a metal detector!!! (This field is in a large hallway). What do I use the Remote Control for in Meduna? It must contain some guns or something cause I beat the Queen without using it. The remote control opens a secret passageway to the basement of the Queen's palace… The passageway is on sector O3 near the four statues. (it's the one cut off by the legs…) By doing so, you avoid having to kill all the guys in the sector of the Palace at the surface. Index __________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. OTHER QUESTS ? 6.1 – ALIEN BUGS (SCI-FI MODE) First of all, the bugs in the game aren't real aliens from the outer space. At least from what I've seen so far in the game, Deidranna's happy ass is behind their genesis. They drop no weapons, and they spit acid/smoke crap at you, and try to swipe you with their claws. The Alien Bugs are pretty much just one more thing to do in the Sci-Fi mode. They are serious pain in the ass until you eradicate them, since they make mines stop producing money, but they are quite fun to blow away. When one mine stopps producing and the chief worker tells you that the mine is infested with bugs, you then have to fight your way down to the lowest mine level and kill the boss creature plus his offspring. Killing them seriously boosts morale! Your mercs just LOVE blowing those shits away. And since there are so damn many of them, it's really easy for your morale to go through the roof. On the converse side, if your town loses a fight to the bugs (milita are, for some reason, totally inept when it comes to fighting bugs, even though mercs easily dispatch the bastards left and right), your loyalty in that town will drop like a ROCK (we're talking like from %40 down to NOTHING). How to exterminate them for good: 1. Make sure you bring Gas Masks for all your guys because the bugs spit poison clouds or whatever it is. 2. Bring a LOT of Ammo, like, a crap load at least 100 + rounds for everybody, and some Mustard Gas. It might be better to equip your guys with submachine guns temporarily because a lot of the combat will be at close range and you do more damage to the bugs if you have two submachine guns on auto fire. 3. Go into the infestated mine and kill the bugs. You've to go down 3 levels, sometimes moving to another sector on the same level. There are small holes, similar to the exit in the first level of the mine. This should lead you to the lair of the monsters. Just go killing the Bugs. This will go on quite a while. You can't miss the Bug Queen. 4. The Queen is not that bad, but she is hidden behind some rocks. If you try to get in sight she will interrupt and kill you. So throw grenades over the wall without seeing her, in the entrance where she sits plus one or two mustard gases and she should die but if she doesn't use some explosive grenades to finish her off. That's the only way to do it, at least in Grumm and Drassen Mines. 5. Also the Bug Queen's blood makes your armor better. So make sure you pick it up. 6. Just make sure that you don't leave once you go down because once you leave, you will have to fight your way down all over again. 7. The mine will be operational again once you kill the Queen. There are people who claim that you need to blow up the eggs as well. But the mine is operational without you blowing them up, so I didn't tried that out. Am I supposed to go down with a certain number of mercs or at a specific time? They are not there all the time, so checking the mine at different times might be a solution. But the consensus seems to be that the Queen only appears after 4.00 AM, so try waiting around until then. Question on the Bugs. Can I use HP ammo (like on the Bloodcats) or do I need AP? You should use HP ammo. Just for the queen use AP. HP Does far more damage against bugs while AP might just go through them. Last question is what does the Bug Elixir do? What to do with Bugs body parts? There are two items that could be called elixir. First there is the Slime from the corpse of the monster queen. You can harden your armor with it. Second there is an elixir that hides you from the bugs (to a certain degree). This can get obtained from a NPC (don't know which)? Second, they do drop body parts like the Bloodcats. So far I've gotten Organs, Claws and parts of their skin. I figure that they might be sellable to that guy who buys the Bloodcats stuff (Mickey), but I haven't tried yet. Well I finally killed the Bugs. But I can not get the Jelly the Queen left. I can not pick it up nor get it in the jar. Can someone help me with this? Did you hold down the CTRL key before moving the cursor over it? If that doesn't work, go to the strategic map, and activate the items filter and move the items from there. Index ? 6.2 – MICKEY & THE BLOODCATS To complete the bloodcat quest, you must return to Alma and talk to the NPC that sent you after the bloodcats. The same is true of some other quests. Ran into one Bloodcat in westernmost sector of San Mona, is that the only place they are found? Only yes or no, please. Nope. Where to sell Bloodcats pelts, claws, teeth, and what to do with the bugs remains? I found Mickey, the Irish guy that sold items to you from JA Deadly Games, in the bar in Drassen. He is now dealing exclusively in animal parts. He should be around there or at least up north. I met the former arms dealer from the first game (Mickey) and he made me so sick that I shot him on principle. Will there be repercussions? He's the only one that buys animal parts. Sorry. Index ? 6.3 – THE BOUNTY HUNTER I think there is a Bounty Hunter out there...And he buys heads… is it true? Yes there is a Bounty Hunter. His name is Carmen and you'll find him in the bars in Drassen or in San Mona. He does buy heads and he gives a list of people to kill (about 6). If you take their heads to him, he will pay you anywhere from 10.000 to 25.000 (half the actual reward). Good way to get money! Don't forget that when you return to bring him the heads he may not be in the same place since he travels between Drassen and San Mona. Are the terrorists locations random? They aren't always in the same spots! They just move to another places.Any comments? As far as I know the terrorists locations are random. I found 3 out of 6 wanted terrorists, MOM in Chitzena, The Druggist in a bar in Grumm, and the Imposter in Cambria (G8). He was pretending (badly) to be a Canadian. Also, The wanted list characters are not among Kingpin's gang. How did you ID the terrorists? I've got the computer files, but does the merc tell you on the tactical screen when you actually meet the terrorists? Or do I have to go back onto the laptop and figure it out? No, you have to remember what they look like. When I found the Imposter in Cambria (his AK-74 kicks!), he was pretending to be a Canadian (not very convincing, though). If this guy is anything to go by, they don't want to draw attention to themselves, & can't do anything for you, except yap. They don't attack you imediately, so if you notice someone suspicious, you can get the chance to go & review your files, to see if you remember seeing one of these guys. When you or they have initiated a fight their name will change to the "Real" name and you should be able to figure out if it was one of the terrorists by comparing the name to the disc you got from Carmen. Could even be a good idea to check these files, after you have freed a town sector & have looked at all the Citizens that you can look at, just to see if any look like one of the terrorists. Index ? 6.4 – THE MISSING SCIENTIST & THE ROBOT MERC Where do you find the missing Scientist that the Queen is so pissed about...? I heard that he is building a Robot Merc. How to get that? I found him in H7 (left to Cambria) or in E4 (just below San Mona), both Hill and Farm areas, or in the land to the east of Alma right above the sector where the Bloodcat lair is. That might be a random location but you might want to look there. When you get there you have to open a drawer in the house and there will be a switch in there. Turning on the switch will open up the secret door to a room in the barn. Go in the barn and talk to the escaped scientist, who is working on the bot. He'll say in order to activate the robot, you have to bring two items to him. A rifle and video camera. You can get a video camera in one shop of electronics or in the Museum of Balime. For a rifle, it should be the most powerful weapon you currently have right now 'cause once it's attached to the robot's body, it'll be the only weapon the robot'll ever use. It's permanent. So, choose wisely. The robot is real good at taking out the bloodcats, with some backup from the rest of your guys he shouldn't be beat up to bad (it takes about 5 to 8 damage off for each hit from a bloodcat compared to the 20+ damage it would do to a merc). Index __________________________________________________________________________________________ 7. MIXED ISSUES ? 7.1 - DIFFICULTY LEVELS What's the real effects of difficulty levels? I chose the middle level of difficulty (experienced?) and I can't do squat against my enemies... they are standing up in the middle of the field and i'm prone behind a tree and I can't hit them with a shotgun, but they can peg me with a handgun???? I read that the computer units have a MASSIVE bonus to hit against me. I may replay the game, but not on Hard if the cheating gets worse than this. It's one of the real annoying things about this game that wasn't in JA. Now you know why they have a Fast Save and Fast Load. Err...no, it's NOT true. Computer units do not have any bonus to hit (at least not on easy or medium difficulty). Swear to God. On easy level, enemies have a "chance to hit" penalty. In EVERY JA game, people have thought the same thing ("I can't hit the broad side of a barn, but the computer never misses"). I've experienced the perception myself when playing, but it really is just that perception. The computer does have the advantage of knowing it's chance to hit in all situations (while you don't) and exploits that. Ian Currie – Sirtech Canada What's the difference between difficulty levels please! Here's what I've learned until now : - Starting money goes down with each level (same as JA1) - More enemy patrols as you up the level - Shooting Bonus: slight penalty for enemies at easy level, no penalty at average, unknown (slight/heavy?) bonus at expert. Index ? 7.2 - GAME LIMITS Just 2 questions. Is there a time limit in JA2? I trained too long once and i got an email saying that i got to move on, from my boss? What happen if i ignore this? Second, can the mines ran out of money? The game itself, I predict (since I have not finished it), does not limit the time taken per se. However, the mines DO run out of money and Dedrianna's forces appear to grow throughout at least the beginning of the game, so there is serious incentive to keep moving. Obviously, eventually her forces would become too strong and your cash flow too weak to sustain any kind of reasonable resistance, let alone take the country. My advice: do not spend too much time training. I recognize the impulse to create a trained custom super-merc, but the game will penalize you seriously for days of training. Your best bet is to create your custom merc with an understanding that some skills improve far faster than others through action, set those that don't a bit higher and those that do a bit lower. Then improve through action, and always maintain the understanding that it is highly unlikely that you will ever be outstanding in all categories. Index ? 7.3 - MINES Do all mines run out of Gold/Silver? Short answer: No. Can you go in mines and explore ? Yes, you can go inside and explore all the mines. Can usually find silver in them which can be added to your bank account, same way you would add money. Happened to someone else that the Chitenza mine was tapped out? if so any idea's if you can do something about it? In real mode one mine might tap out. Nothing to do about it. It happened to me with the Drassen mine. But it's random. Just a nasty little surprise to make the game harder. Occasionally and in no necessary order one mine or the other might stop working in "real" mode (not sci-fi). There's no way to start producing there again. There's just no more silver/gold. Someone said you have to convince head miners to start getting mine profits. I didn't have to convince anyone in Drassen, I just talked to the head guy, he turned it over to me and I seem to be making money. Are there multiple people to talk to for each mine, or just one? Just one - no convincing necessary. They were always happy that I wanted their money. Some might require a couple of "talk" sequences. Index ? 7.4 – THE FLOWER SERVICE Anybody found a use for send flowers yet? I was experimenting sending them various places. But never got any indication that the stuff was recieved. Is there a point or just a way to blow like 200 bucks real stupidly? Just pick out a bouquet, attach a nasty message and select Meduna as your destination. Pick overnight delivery, wait one day and get ready to laugh your head off. It's pretty funny 'cause she gets all pissed off and poor Elliot gets slapped about 6 times. Index __________________________________________________________________________________________ 8. JA2 LINKS - My own page for the Guide (will always be the first site to have it, of course): http://www.terravista.pt/Meco/4883/index.htm - Official Jagged Alliance 2 Website (from Sir-Tech): http://www.sir-tech.com/ja2/ - Terravirtua JA2 Discussion Board: http://www.terravirtua.com/sqlboard/ - Talonsoft JA2 Discussion Board (have to open an account first – and read the rules!): http://www.talonsoft.com/discussion.html - Tactical Planet JA2 Discussion Board: http://forums.tacticalplanet.com/secondary.asp?topic=236 - The Voice Of Arulco JA2 Fansite (or Eki's Site): http://www.kolumbus.fi/janne.pirkola/jagged/textversio.htm - The NetHQ – Home Of The Rebellion – JA2 Fansite: http://ja2.gzone.de/engnh/index.html - Jagged Alliance 2 Character Information: http://users.lmi.net/rpourr/ja2char.html - S.E.A.L.'s Board For Jagged Alliance 2 http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Tower/2096/jaggedalliance2.html - Tactical Planet JA2 On-Line Guide: http://www.tacticalplanet.com/strategies/ja2/ Index _________________________________________________________________________________________ 9. THANK YOU'S… Allright, I already eated, went to the bathroom… Breed in, breed out, here we go: Personal Thanks: In first place I'd like to thanks all the help from Migas to this Guide. Hints, tactics, savegames (the end!!!), ideas & for being kind of a beta tester of this guide. You rock, man!! Thanks to the ex-MGC Crew, (you know who you are), to Smirnoff for letting me open his eyes for this great game & for listening me over and over about JA2 till he finally got out. This applies also to many other friends such as: Vampirus Brothers, Ostras, João and Pedro. Public Thanks: Above all possible people, I have to give a Big THANK YOU to Sir-Tech!!! Great job!!! Then I'd like to give thanks to all that contributed with the first hints of this Guide, by giving them on the boards. Since I haven't take note on your names due to the large volume of text I had to deal with to compile the first version, I can't do other thing than thank you all. Sorry for this, but the prize is that this Guide is for you after all. Special thanks goes to Rexer, the guy from Tactical Planet who will also put a JA2 Guide on-line soon (maybe already up while your reading this) with some of my help; to Eki's JA2 Site for posting my Guide and giving me the credit for it. Then there's all the guys who e-mailed me after the release of the first version of the Guide, sending comments, ideas, hints and some questions that I hope this new version can answer them all. Here are their names: Anthony (S.E.A.L.) Smith (big thx for the revised Guide you gave me), Bo Humphrey, Boris Bonin, Ben Huo, Christopher Blough, Carol Tucek, Charles, Chief, Dohi (have no prob with big letters ?), Dwight DeKuyper, Demiter Stankov, Eric Gerard, H„kan Johansson (thx for the file), HappyStoner, Hock Jin, Roger D Hayes, Ja^m[e]s L{ee}, Jacky Dabah, Johnny, Kenneth, Kensou Sie (thx for the bug/cheat), Kknd Mdk, Kyle Oksiuta, Andrew L., Marco Behrmann, Matthew D. Przybilla, Maxim Gromov, Michael Hanna, Oleg Werner, Oscar L. Ocampo Jr., Ragelic, Raymond E. Graham, Robert Abbosh, Tim Wuyts (thx for converting the Guide to a .txt), Quay Jones, William Wei, and a Korean guy that due to the very different character they use, I was unable to know his name.