Jagged Alliance 3 from Haemimont Games

[Atlet]

Patch 1.2.0 Released – Buns

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1084160/view/3708208311619367003

Patch 1.2.0 Released – Buns

Hello everyone,

We have just release patch 1.2.0 codenamed “Buns” that focuses on quality-of-life combat improvements. In addition, “Buns” offers tons of bug fixes and general improvements.


Highlights

Fast Speed
– speeds up the time during the enemy turn to shorten waiting times. The Fast Speed button appears in place of the End Turn button during the enemy turn.

Inaccurate attacks may hit other body parts
– There is a small chance to hit another body part of the target with an inaccurate attack (Community suggestion).

Free Aim firing mode changing
– You can now cycle the weapon firing modes during Free aim using the Free Aim shortcut key while setting up the attack.

Improvements for modders
– various improvements to modding, especially regarding weapon modifiers. Improvements to the Blender exporter (Community suggestions).

Combat

• Ricocheting shots are now simulated and have a chance to damage characters and objects nearby.
  
  
• The remaining number of overwatch attacks will now be shown on the combat badge above the merc's head
  
  
• Various improvements to melee attack animations
  
  
• Fixed some cases where conflicts would not end
  
  
• Made the "Run and Gun" attack sequence more fluid
  
  
• "Run and Gun" would no longer make shots against dead enemies
  
  
• Enemies no longer redeploy when a merc retreats
  
  
• Handled cases where melee attacks would fail to execute
  
  
• Fixes to free aim melee attacks and melee attacks against objects
  
  
• Melee animations connect better when the attacker and the target are on different elevation
  
  
• Fixed some cases where the Surprised enemy state was applied incorrectly
  
  
• Grenades that don't deal damage will no longer destroy objects
  
  
• Fixed some cases where the camera was in the wrong position or got stuck
  
  
• Bug fixes and improvements to the "Remote Detonation" action
  
  
• More fixes for combat effects never ending (incl. Zoophobic and Claustrophobic)
  
  
• Fixed an animation issue causing enemies to sometimes start displaying a crouching animation before dying
  
  
• Fixed a rare case of neutral units walking around during combat
  
  
• Smoke objects will no longer provide a cover spot
  
  
• Infected are no longer incorrectly considered to be in a crouched stance
  
  
• Fixed some attacks being incorrectly labelled as Free Aim in the UI
  
  
• Fixed cases where wrong firing modes would appear for weapons that do not have these modes
  
  
• Made the AI units reload more visible (community suggestion)
  
  
• Fixed the AP costs when using doors and windows
  
  
• Improved performance on combat start
  
  
• Handled cases when entering the overwatch area did not trigger an attack
  
  
• Civilians killed by allies or neutral units no longer incur a loyalty penalty (community suggestion)
  
  
• (Spotter talent) The Marked combat effect is now applied only during combat and on start of combat
  
  
• Combat tasks that require something to happen in the same turn now work correctly when reentering combat
  
  
• The "Put this apple..." and "Make them suffer" combat tasks can no longer appear together
  
  
• Certain Combat tasks objectives (e.g. “Killing Spree”) now properly handle animals
  
  
• The "Knife Juggler" combat task can now be completed only by the merc who has the task
  
  
• Improved the logic for civilian units cowering during combat
  
  
• Aim effects from weapon mods are now applied to overwatch and interrupt actions (community suggestion)
  
  
• Fixed a case where applied wounds did not lower the max health
  
  
• When using the Revenge perk, the damage is checked for the whole attack and not for each separate shot
  
  
• Tired and Exhausted voice responses will no longer play during combat
  
  
• Fixed some cases when prone units faced the wrong way
  
  
• Fixed some cases where a merc will get stuck in an aiming pose when interrupted by another player in multiplayer
  
  
• Improved how some terrain objects affect cover and line of sight
  
  
• Light/darkness indicator is properly updated during deployment
  
  
• Added spark FX when bullets hit hard walls
  
  
• Fixed cases where the flare burning sound was not played
  
  
• Added additional FX on buckshot burst
  
  
• The burning FX on objects will no longer disappear after save/load
  
  
• Visual FX are now properly removed when disarming landmines

Exploration

• The Suppressed combat effect no longer persists out of combat
  
  
• Enemies are more likely to react to their buddies getting shot nearby
  
  
• Fixed some cases where enemies would not redeploy properly when they are attacking a sector
  
  
• Searchlights are turned off when defending a sector to not compromise sneaking mercs
  
  
• Fixed cases where searchlights were not revealing mercs
  
  
• Improvements to how/when mercs stop movement in Exploration mode when seeing mines (community suggestion)
  
  
• Improvements to the Hyena roaming logic
  
  
• Fixed a case causing mercs in Overwatch to teleport at combat start
  
  
• Fixed interactable discovery not working occasionally
  
  
• Handled rare cases where windows and doors became invisible
  
  
• Fixed some appearance issues with electricity wires
  

Inventory

• Some stackable items like knives can now be scrapped (community suggestion)
  
  
• The “Weapon shipment” item can now be opened from the sector stash.
  
  
• Fixed the recipe for disassembling the TNT proximity detonator
  
  
• Mercs no longer lose their special items when their contract expires
  
  
• The “Cash stack” context menu option no longer appears for single items
  
  
• Fixed cases where weapon mods that changed the magazine size did not update the remaining ammo properly
  
  
• Removed the "Equip" option in the context menu for the “Weapon shipment” item
  
  
• Mercs were are no longer able to equip or give items when they are too far away from each other using the context menu

SatView

• Balance changes to shipments and enemy attack frequency
  
  
• Fixed some rare cases when a conflict would break when assigning mercs to squads above and underground
  
  
• Fixed timeline icons for shipments not updating in some cases
  
  
• Fixed a case where defeated enemies were not shown in the auto-resolve UI
  
  
• The route line of highlighted squads can no longer be hidden behind other route lines
  
  
• Fixed rare cases when double-clicking a squad in SatView did not position the camera properly
  
  
• Mercs that are being trained are automatically removed from the operation when they reach the highest possible stat with the current trainer(s)
  
  
• Travelling from an underground sector to the above-ground sector will no longer trigger a voice response
  
  
• Fixed some cases where the Well-Rested status was lost when wounds were healed
  
  
• The R&R operation will no longer trigger a voice response on finish
  
  
• Fixed not being able to un-pause satellite time in some rare cases when pressing multiple buttons at once
  
  
• Opening the SatView when all mercs are dead no longer causes the game to freeze
  
  
• Fixed an infinite money exploit based on starting and cancelling Operations
  
  
• Using herbal medicine to remove the Tired combat effect will now properly update the timeline
  
  
• Fixed incorrect timeline icons remaining in the SatView for aborted or stopped operations
  
  
• Added an icon to distinguish inventory and sector stash items when selecting items for a Repair operation (community suggestion)
  
  
• Repair operations will now also allow repairing items from another squad in the sector (community suggestion)
  
  
• Fixed some cases where the Travelling voice response was played in sectors with enemies
  
  
• Starting an operation will now properly play a sound effect
  
  Quests and scripting (Spoilers)
• Fixed a case where the conflict would not end if Biff was already dead when you enter Hill Station
  
  
• Fixed a case where some of Pierre's banters after the world flip at Fort L'Eau Bleu were not playing
  
  
• Pierre is no longer unarmed when returning to Ernie Island
  
  
• Stopped some of Pierre's banters from playing when the combat at Fort L'Eau Bleu was initiated through stealth
  
  
• Bounce will now play a banter when you interact with him after defeating Siegfried
  
  
• Fixed conversations with too many options causing a freeze (e.g. Emma’s conversation in Port Cacao)
  
  
• Characters killed by overwatch or interrupt attacks are properly counted by quests
  
  
• Fixed a discrepancy between the written and voiced text in the Bounce conversation
  
  
• Bug fixes and improvements to "The Docks" quest
  
  
• Handled a case where the note about the machine gun in the "Helping Ernie village" quest appeared before talking to Basil
  
  
• Fixed some cases where dead NPC would still play banters
  
  
• Minor fixes to the “Twin Manors” quest
  
  
• Fixed multiple problems in the Boss Blaubert conversation regarding Smiley and Luigi
  
  
• Handled some cases where the "Voodoo people" quest would not progress
  
  
• Fixed a note in the "Chalet de la Paix" quest pointing to the wrong NPC
  
  
• Bug fixes and improvements to the "Herman is missing" quest
  
  
• Properly handled the cases with the remaining treasures after the main treasure is found in the "Treasure Hunting" quest
  
  
• Fixed some banters in Ille Morat not playing occasionally
  
  
• Disabled the phrase for reuniting the Coffee Beans if they are already reunited
  
  
• Properly show some disabled phrases in Headshot Hue's conversation
  
  
• Improved the wording of the notes in "The Dead Poachers" quest
  
  
• Several voiced lines are now played correctly instead of being text only
  

UI

• Added a welcome message when starting the game after a new major patch has been released
  
  
• The "Show More" info is now disabled by default
  
  
• Added a different icon for mechanical traps (community suggestion)
  
  
• Added Depth of Field sliders in Photo mode
  
  
• Tutorial popups will no longer appear if the player has no controllable mercs
  
  
• Player badges are now visible in the enemy's turn
  
  
• Added a fade-in to the end turn button at the start of the player turn
  
  
• Fixed cases where quest and item badges would appear over nothing
  
  
• An incorrect warning about multiple allies in danger no longer appears
  
  
• Weapon and grenade damage no longer appears as 0 in the sector stash after auto-resolving conflicts
  
  
• Enemy badges will now update properly when the unit visibility changes
  
  
• Fixed some UIs that were not scaling properly in 4K resolution
  
  
• UI improvements to the Mercs Control menu
  
  
• Improved selection for some interactable objects
  
  
• Typo fixed in the “Ice Storm” talent
  
  
• Fixed a rare case where the melee attack avatar was not in the right place
  
  
• Fixed not being able to get to 0 points in the IMP stats UI when using the arrow keys
  
  
• Restored the Aiming article in the Help section
  
  
• Added "Action Cancelled" notification when an action gets interrupted
  
  
• Fixed shipment badges sometimes missing in tactical view
  
  
• Disable the Next/Finish button when no answer is selected in the IMP test.
  
  
• Stopped displaying scrollbars in the Conflict screen when they are not needed
  
  
• Units will no longer change their color when they die
  
  
• The keyboard shortcut for accessing the inventory works properly in the A.I.M. Evaluation screen
  
  
• Fixed a case where joining a multiplayer game will produce an empty error message
  
  
• Fixed how menus expand when the UI scaling is less than 100%
  
  
• Fixed an issue with mercs appearing twice in the UI when a merc being bandaged dies
  
  
• Fixed some cases where the Snype messages were getting cut off
  
  
• The Outro images are now properly fitted to the screen

General

• Fixed some cases where sounds are still played when the master volume is set to 0
  
  
• The "Modding Expert" achievement will no longer unlock on a failed modification
  
  
• The "Time Is Money" achievement is now unlocked as described
  
  
• Many tweaks and improvements when using a controller including new QoL options
  
  
• Desyncs fixed
  
  
• Various optimizations and stability improvements
  
  
• Added a functionality that checks for keybinding conflicts when new keyboard shortcuts have been added

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Lilura please comment.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

Looks like a pretty hefty patch, maybe they care?

 

[Nortar]

Lilura please comment.

 

[Atlet]

JA 3 has some problems with the difficulty settings. The in-game explanation makes the reader think that the enemy AI gets smarter the harder the dificulty we choose, but it's not really the case, it's basically a boring buffing to each enemy, namely free move action each turn (0 in first blood, 3 in commando and 6 in mission impossible). One can argue that enemy getting 6 free move each turn can make shooting in the legs more tactically interesting, specially against strong melee dudes, but meh, not rly that fun imo. Aside this, harder difficulties basically just make the player earn less money and loot. Pretty disappointing.

Feels like the only way to play this game then is normal difficulty in iron mode (dead is dead plus to the bitter end modes) with lethal weapons mode on (if merc reaches 0 HP, its dead, jim, no downed mechanic here).

Anyway, there are several cool mods out there already tho that ups the difficulty and makes enemy AI way way smarter.

Gonna fish a full iron mode firstly before digging them.

 

[Cadmus]

fucking finished this fucking rocking game, fuck yeah, loved it
9/10
the missing point is for the shit UI
I don't remember the last game with this good voice acting and funny 80's cheesy writing

 

[0wca]

This game needs more love.

Bear-Buggery 3 is getting all the praise while this is being quietly forgotten about.

 

[Roguey]

Bear-Buggery 3 is getting all the praise while this is being quietly forgotten about.

BG3 doesn't have pod crap which is something it has going for it.

 

[0wca]

Bear-Buggery 3 is getting all the praise while this is being quietly forgotten about.

BG3 doesn't have pod crap which is something it has going for it.

And that's one point for BG3 and dozens of points for JA3.

Still a clear winner.

 

[Zarniwoop]

Meh, the only mod that matters is "Mines never run out", or as I like to call it, the "make the game actually playable" mod.

 

[ArchAngel]

Bear-Buggery 3 is getting all the praise while this is being quietly forgotten about.

BG3 doesn't have pod crap which is something it has going for it.

And that's one point for BG3 and dozens of points for JA3.

Still a clear winner.

Winner of shit competition still makes it shit. Both are shit.

 

[Latelistener]

Tried the demo. Realized that there is no option to initiate turn-based combat even in the presence of the enemies. In other words, you have to stealth kill multiple enemies fully in real time with no pause.

Did they even play their own game? Why is it so hard for them to just remake a 25 years old game with the same rules, but new graphics?

They were probably just too lazy to code so that the whole game could work both in the real-time and in the turn-based modes.

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Bear-Buggery 3 is getting all the praise while this is being quietly forgotten about.

BG3 doesn't have pod crap which is something it has going for it.

And that's one point for BG3 and dozens of points for JA3.

Still a clear winner.

Winner of shit competition still makes it shit. Both are shit.

Nice try Luj

 

[Strange Fellow]

Tried the demo. Realized that there is no option to initiate turn-based combat even in the presence of the enemies. In other words, you have to stealth kill multiple enemies fully in real time with no pause.

Wut? There is a pause feature.

 

[PanteraNera]

Tried the demo. Realized that there is no option to initiate turn-based combat even in the presence of the enemies. In other words, you have to stealth kill multiple enemies fully in real time with no pause.

Wut? There is a pause feature.

Maybe it didn't got added to the demo.
On release there was no pause feature!

 

[Latelistener]

I wanted to say that it's a good thing they added a pause feature, but wait a minute.

They were too lazy to make stealth work in the turn-based mode, so now you have stealth that works like it's an RTwP game, while the rest of the game is turn-based.

 

[Nachy]

Tried the demo. Realized that there is no option to initiate turn-based combat even in the presence of the enemies. In other words, you have to stealth kill multiple enemies fully in real time with no pause.

Did they even play their own game? Why is it so hard for them to just remake a 25 years old game with the same rules, but new graphics?

They were probably just too lazy to code so that the whole game could work both in the real-time and in the turn-based modes.

In fairness vanilla JA2 didn't have manual turn-based activation as well. That was a feature that was first introduced with 1.13 and Stratecialla. Though it can be argued they easily could have the hindsight of both of those existing during JA3's development.

But with all that said, the way it works even prior to the pause patch isn't actually all too bad. Even on Mission Impossible difficulty you can get pretty cheesy with the stealth kills and clear all sectors with it save for a few endgame ones. I do some bias in that micromanaging isn't too much of a bother for me, being used to RTS like StarCraft. But even if you don't execute things perfectly, the leeway for enemies reacting to your kills and spotting your mercs is pretty lenient. You can get away with just 1 or 2 dedicated stealth mercs either with a knife or a silenced weapon and pick off everyone one by one.

Still, I do agree and also wish it was a proper turn-based mode too post-patch, executing those clean and planned stealth placements in JA2 was really satisfying.

 

[Latelistener]

JA2 transitions back and forth between turn-based and real-time on the fly automatically, when you see or you don't see any enemies. I never even had an urge to have this button in JA2.

Here though? Apparently, you have to do stealth kills in RTwP mode and once you have been detected, it switches to turn-based mode and cannot be switched back until you kill all enemies.

I saw some positive feedback on the game, but I cannot imagine how can this be compared to JA2. Feels like a mobile game in comparison.

 

[Nachy]

That's fair.

I think it retains most of the spirit and DNA of JA2 while doing its own things for better and worse. There are some comparisons to be made, and some arguably weaker than what was in JA2, but I respect that it tries to differentiate itself as well. I do miss how more brutal and organic JA2 feels, and JA3 suffers a bit in over-tuning its balance and doing bandaid solutions to some of its own flaws (the stealth being strictly in real time particularly pre-patch was something initially done to balance it out being too powerful, but it still ended up something that can be cheesed anyways).

But there are a lot of things that make it an enjoyable experience on its own and feel fresh while embracing the major stuff that made JA2 stand out. I always enjoyed JA2's pastiche of cheesy action movies mixed in with the open RPG world and JA3 managed to capture that too. Arguably weaker writing in some aspects but nevertheless fun and engaging. It respects its past and I like how it does to reference both JA1 and JA2 without being overbearing. The combat itself can get pretty intense and brutal, especially on a somewhat blind playthrough where you're still figuring out what works and what doesn't. Overall exploration and discovery too is great, it gave me a lot of similar feelings just trying to check every sector and talking to different people in JA2.

I'm aware it's a contested design, but I also like that it puts more time and resource pressure too. You eventually can trivialize the resource scavenging once you figure out the meta, and I do wish it was executed better, but it's neat that it does try to encourage you to give your mercs a variety of different weapons for different ammo types especially in early to mid game as you struggle with resources.

All I can say is you do get used to how the stealth works eventually, and it's a relatively minor flaw in the grand scheme of things. The way enemy encounters work does get annoying, but there is a fair amount of depth introduced with the 3D environments too. Destruction is somewhat more meaningful in JA3 especially since it's permanent damage.

I rarely replay a lot of newer games from the past few years or so, but JA3 is something that made me replay it immediately after my initial playthrough. I like that it's also different enough that I can replay all three main Jagged Alliance games and have them feel distinct from each other. JA2 is still the better and more cohesively designed game overall, but JA3 is quite a pleasant surprise.

 

[Strange Fellow]

I never liked the turn-based stealth in JA2 in the first place. Has that guy noticed you or not? Click end turn and find out, either he'll do nothing or he'll kill your merc. Meh. I don't like the gamey awareness indicators of 3 but I don't think stealth in this game is any worse than its predecessor. Neither is great.

I do wish night ops had been handled better in this game, though. In 2 it's a completely different experience, here it's barely an inconvenience.

 

[Beowulf]

All I can say is you do get used to how the stealth works eventually, and it's a relatively minor flaw in the grand scheme of things. The way enemy encounters work does get annoying, but there is a fair amount of depth introduced with the 3D environments too. Destruction is somewhat more meaningful in JA3 especially since it's permanent damage.

JA2 also had permanent environmental destruction (and crows).

 

[Nachy]

I do wish night ops had been handled better in this game, though. In 2 it's a completely different experience, here it's barely an inconvenience.

Yeah, I even went with a night ops-perked IMP on my first go and felt it was a waste compared to how much it made a difference in JA2 for both you and the enemy. The weather system while neat on paper, also doesn't feel like they do enough to really make you consider your approach beyond "we're going to graze each other a lot here". Would be nice to see them get tweaked and expanded upon either through updates or mods.

All I can say is you do get used to how the stealth works eventually, and it's a relatively minor flaw in the grand scheme of things. The way enemy encounters work does get annoying, but there is a fair amount of depth introduced with the 3D environments too. Destruction is somewhat more meaningful in JA3 especially since it's permanent damage.

JA2 also had permanent environmental destruction (and crows).

My bad, I misremembered and thought whenever the crows did appear and got rid of the bodies, it was a similar timeframe where destroyed environments would also get refreshed.

 

[Beowulf]

My bad, I misremembered and thought whenever the crows did appear and got rid of the bodies, it was a similar timeframe where destroyed environments would also get refreshed.

I don't remember the environs ever getting repaired in vanilla, but I haven't played in a while, so I might be wrong. Paging the JA3 decline hater ArchAngel

 

[Nachy]

My bad, I misremembered and thought whenever the crows did appear and got rid of the bodies, it was a similar timeframe where destroyed environments would also get refreshed.

I don't remember the environs ever getting repaired in vanilla, but I haven't played in a while, so I might be wrong. Paging the JA3 decline hater ArchAngel

I might actually just be misremembering it too in general. I know cutting fences was permanent and when the locker room with the prototype rocket guns gets blown up on the army base it's blown up for good. But it probably was permanent for everything else too.

 

[Nachy]

I booted up JA2 and tested in Omerta by blowing up a wall with a body near it, and yeah, even after the crows take the body away the wall's still destroyed.