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[mendonca]

*sobbing*
Oh my go-  guys I have horrible news 
Barry took a bullet too many and has died  *balls eyes out*

It was a simple mission, ...

I don't believe you ...

... his glock 18. He auto fired his entire 15 round magazine and reloaded each round for four rounds- until he ran out of ammo. ...

Awesome ...

R.I.P. Barry Ungar

(*note: Images are not to scale. Drawn from memory. Sequence of events are approximate in timing, but accurate in detail.)

R.I.P. Barry, I am already missing ya.

Nice story, enjoyed that thanks Goron!

[Goron]

... his glock 18. He auto fired his entire 15 round magazine and reloaded each round for four rounds- until he ran out of ammo. ...

Awesome ...

heh, that was one of the most impressive displays I have ever seen Bull make. Bull does not normally play a major role on on my team, if he is even on the team at all. This campaign around, I decided to pick him up to act in a heavy weapons squad, mostly because he has 9 bazilion strength. I figure he can carry a handful of mortar shells no problem and the mortar. Add with Dimitri as his partner, carrying more shells and maybe a few RPGs and/or 'nade launcher+'nades... that will be an impressive addition to any team- compared to my normal 'qualified' heavy weap operators who can only carry like two shells at a time or go over weight (plus all their standard gear, I always keep my mercs tricked out with smoke grenades, sidearm, light armor, nvg, gas mask, goggles, medical supplies, canteen, plus some).

Bull put on his show right when things were pretty intense in the fight to the north. And as I mentioned, I had no intention of engaging the enemy where BUll, Dimitri, and Grizzly were flanking around. My goal was to swing them around and get them north as quick as possible to lay fire on the bastards shooting up MD and Scope.  But it seems the enemy had the same idea, so our two flank groups met. My story doesn't show the reality of how dire that engagement was too well though. You need to remember Bull was equipped with a mini-14, a semi-auto rifle. That thing is not the best at facing a group of enemy at short range. Grizzly was at this point still dwiddling around with two red shirts that came from between the buildings, so he wasn't really contributing much to Bull and Dimitri's position.

So for two rounds or so, I just had Dimitri blasting away full auto with his Aug para loaded up with tracer rounds, hurting, killing, and keeping heads down while Bull moved in closer. But once he got in close, and I mean close - there were probably 6 tiles between him and three red shirts and a black shirt (started at five total down there, but DImitri killed one, I think)- I had a wtfwasithinking moment... I had just put Bull right smack in front of a group of enemies with a semi-auto rifle AND in Dimitri's line of fire.... ... *smacks head*... But thats when Bull pulled through, and fired 60 9mm AP rounds in 4 rounds. Probably 30 of them went right into the black shirt- doing... 2, 3 damage a pop, but overall they did their job in keeping the enemy suppressed, giving Dimitri time to move up (he had been laying his fire down from pretty far away, especially for a 9mm smg) and then between the two of them (and I think Grizzly did get in a burst or two by the end) they finished off that flank pretty easily.

Jeeze, it wasn't until I lost Barry that I really realized just how good he is... No one even compares to him when you consider his explosives skill... I ended up hiring Red as his replacement, but Barry was a heck of a lot better at everything else than Red is.


Maybe I'll start a new campaign as an AAR, or heck, a community game or something.

[Toady Two]

I'm lovin my new restarted game with 1.13. I choose to have random I.M.P. personality traits so I got a psychotic unlikeable coward but also expert sniper. He will sometimes go crazy and fire full auto on enemies but is a better shot then anyone in the team.

[Goron]

I'm lovin my new restarted game with 1.13. I choose to have random I.M.P. personality traits so I got a psychotic unlikeable coward but also expert sniper. He will sometimes go crazy and fire full auto on enemies but is a better shot then anyone in the team.

psychotic...
unlikeable...
coward...
expert sniper...


...
... LOL
that is quite an interesting character mix.

[Granite26]

Recipe for a clock tower, there....

[Goron]

Dangit!
*grumble grumble grumble*
I just can't seem to keep my explosives experts alive. I just lost Red, my Barry replacement, during an enemy counterattack on the Chitzena(sp?) SAM.

That leave me with... Fidel... and then I think Trevor has pretty good explosives. Fidel is old but experienced... Trevor is expensive.
Oiy.

[mendonca]

That leave me with... Fidel... and then I think Trevor has pretty good explosives. Fidel is old but experienced... Trevor is expensive.
Oiy.

Take Fidel!

So, inspired by this thread, and the great depths of feeling associated with the loss of your mercenaries, it is time for me to attempt a game (experienced, counter-attack on) where I will not be re-loading on the death of anyone. Especially Ira.

The only thing is, I'm 6 hours gametime in (just the first sector out of omerta) and scared shitless of what to do next?

Current team:
IMP (Pimped on physical stats, weak everything else, hope to train up as useful point man with a bit of extra MRK (currently 61). Night ops and Auto Weapons)
Spider for another week
Len and Static for a day.

My first thoughts were make a mad rush with the crack team to get the Airport, and open up Bobby Ray's. Wait here to train 20 regular militia. Buy some weapons. Use Len and Static's medical deposits to get in Grizzly and Igor for a week.

Now I have an issue, as I need to secure some income. If I take Drassen, I am looking at an unholy shitstorm to repel as Deidranna opens up on my ass (I have never done 'the counterattack' before)

I could then just secure the mine only (ignoring the middle sector). This would only get me probably 2 to 3k per day only partially controlling Drassen, as this mine output is not very good on this game. This would barely cover wages.

Favourite strategy therefore seems to be to go and take Cambria in it's entirety, including trying to sort out the Hicks. This could work well, but I do worry about my poor mercenaries, knowing I need to take proper care of them, and I will only have some fairly small arms (although Len's M4A1 should come in handy - plus IMP spawned with a belt of 5.56x45). I don't even have NVGs, but I should have 2 N.Ops Mercs...

Any thoughts?

[Goron]

Recently I have taken a liking to taking Chitzena first. It is a small city, two sectors, easy to capture quickly and control and quickly gets some mine income flowing. It is also near San Mona which gives access to Tony's and a whole bunch of instant income.

I don't think I have ever taken Cambria first... in fact, it is usually my 3rd or 4th city.
If you do go that way, just be really careful of mines and booby traps and such. I think part of the reason I hold off on Cambria so much is I have lost one too many a teammate to mines there- so I like to wait until I have absolute fire superiority over the enemy, allowing me to not have to maneuver too much. Then I can just have my explosives expert (if any are left by then... see below) clear the sector post-fight.

But I figure if you play it safe, carefully, and smart, you should be able to clear the city with some good night time tactics. There is a lot of cover available to let you get close/get away as needed. Got any silenced weapons? Any chance you could swing by Tony and pick a suppressor up? Even a pistol suppressor should help save you a lot of grief if used well.


In my current game I cleared  the starting town, hoofed it to San Mona then Chitzena and Chitzena SAM. Worked my way back across the country to Drassen (stopped in Tonys again on the way), took Drassen from top to bottom. Defended against counter attack (did it the gamey way, sat in a building and picked them off one at a time as they came in), took Drassen SAM, Went down and took the East two sectors of Alma, then took the central SAM... then back to Alma to get the left two sectors, then back over to Tixa... Thats where I'm at now... just finished clearing Tixa and trying to decide where to go next...

That leave me with... Fidel... and then I think Trevor has pretty good explosives. Fidel is old but experienced... Trevor is expensive.
Oiy.

Take Fidel!

I did take Fidel... Had him for all of two fights before he too, got blasted to pieces... I swear to [insert your deity here] this game has it against me successfully keeping any explosives experts...

After paying for two weeks of Fidel, and losing him after a mere one or two days (I don't buy insurance, maybe I should start ) I could not afford Trevor by a longshot, and didn't like any of the other 'experts'... So I hired Gumpy. And honestly, he has proven to be pretty darn useful. He has lived through several fights now, and I've utilized his skills quite extensively too... We'll see if he lasts though.

(I did actually lose Dimitri in a fight too, but it really pissed me off the way it happened so I loaded ...)

EDIT: just remembered, I lost Grizzly too... I wasn't happy about it but, that's how it goes sometimes huh? So I picked up Steroid to replace him... I wanted cheap strength:-)

This campaign I have actually been using two squads per fight, something relatively new to me, normally I use only one.
Right now my team is:
Primary Squad
Goron (imp)
Wolf
Scope - Designated Markswoman
Steroid
MD - squad support gunner
Gumpy - explosive expert

Support Squad
Bull - mortar man
Dimitri - watches mortar man's back
Shank (just got him from Tixa)
Dynamo (just got him from Tixa)
(and I feel like I am forgetting someone elsee )

Non-Combat Support (militia trainers)
Ira
Flo

[mendonca]

Oops.

So I couldn't even take the airport without taking a casualty. There was a little dude hanging out behind the right hand guard post, started opening up on my imp as he snuck round the corner to try and shoot someone else.

Spider runs up, unloads her .38 from point blank range at this guy, and misses like 4 out of 5 shots. Next turn spider gets killed (deservedly?), IMP survives (barely), and Len runs in and mows them all down with his M4.

We take the airport, Spider down. You see, at this point I would normally reload. As I haven't done so, I suppose you could say that from this point on I am actually learning something new.

We sit down, train militia, rest and recuperate.

Unfortunately I didn't bank on the soldiers coming to meet me after a few hours (maybe 8 hours?) to try and retake the airport. As such, I never retreated to safety, and IMP and Ira are sat by the guard posts at night, highly illuminated.

A turn into their visit, IMP is dead, and Ira is mortally wounded (slowly bleeding to death on the floor).

Static and Len however are just back of the access barrier, in darkness, and its a bit of a turkey shoot as the enemy strolls in to the light. Picking them off with the M4 and a Shotgun from range is more a question of sensible use of ammo, than if they will break the lines and get to me.

Igor and Bull arrive in Arulco, just before Static and Len leave.

We get some ammo and some micro-uzis from the airport, and easily repel another couple of lighter assaults on the Airport.

I have about 4k in the bank, 2 mercs with 6 days left, 3 mercs six-feet under.

I think I need a plan B. Off to Chitzena via San Mona we go ...


I never lost a mercenary before (thanks to reloading), but you know what this is a real kick.

[Goron]

Unfortunately I didn't bank on the soldiers coming to meet me after a few hours (maybe 8 hours?) to try and retake the airport. As such, I never retreated to safety, and IMP and Ira are sat by the guard posts at night, highly illuminated.

most times I play, even when I play 'no load' style, I will still load in these situations. I find it too tedious to move my team into defensive positions every time I compress time... so I will just compress time, saving every few hours, then if I get attacked, load to the last save immediately, position my team (trying without bias of knowing attack direction), then compress again. Only sometimes do I truly play with no reloads, but personally I don't see reloading in these situations as that bad- it just saves you time:-)

I think I need a plan B. Off to Chitzena via San Mona we go ...

yeah, that play style will result in a lot of plan Bs, plan Cs, and sometimes even plan everyone's dead When I play a version of the "Living off the land" mini-mod from here: http://ja2guides.wikidot.com/mini-mods ; I find myself getting everyone killed, a lot... lots of start overs, until I get used to playing ti super safe.  Can't be afraid to retreat at first sign of things going south.

I never lost a mercenary before (thanks to reloading), but you know what this is a real kick.

[woose1]

Oi, I got a question, I can't seem to find any SAM sites in any cities, is it just me or are they not in the mine squares? Where's the one in Drassen?

[Granite26]

How does JA(2?) compare to Silent Storm?

[Virtz]

How does JA(2?) compare to Silent Storm?

Better AI, bigger maps, harder, includes a persistant strategic portion (training militia, income from mines, defending the areas from enemy attack, etc.), includes minor RPG elements (minor side quests), no ability trees a la Diablo, much more defined character personalities (including dislike of other mercenaries, thus influencing gameplay), less destructability, more realistic character damage (especially with 1.13), sci-fi elements optional.

[Jude]

This inspired me to start playing JA2 again, but I just started a game and didn't have much time so I saved right after the first conversation with the rebels in Omerta...now when I load my game, as soon as I zoom to the in-game screen the program crashes. Ugh. I'm just going back to Master of Orion.

[Goron]

Oi, I got a question, I can't seem to find any SAM sites in any cities, is it just me or are they not in the mine squares? Where's the one in Drassen?

SAM sites are not located in any city... except the capital.

locations in spolier

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Drassen SAM is like E15 or something
Chitzena is D2
Central (Cambria) SAM is I8
and Meduna SAM is N4

or around those...

How does JA(2?) compare to Silent Storm?

Better AI, bigger maps, harder, includes a persistant strategic portion (training militia, income from mines, defending the areas from enemy attack, etc.), includes minor RPG elements (minor side quests), no ability trees a la Diablo, much more defined character personalities (including dislike of other mercenaries, thus influencing gameplay), less destructability, more realistic character damage (especially with 1.13), sci-fi elements optional.

I think Virtz said it well... very well.
Ja2 does have destructible environments, but SS has more destructible environments... thats probably the only thing SS has over ja2, in my opinion.

I believe ja3 is being built on the silent storm engine...