Jagged Alliance 2 Expert help!

[Burning Bridges]

No, Lynx has a M-14 (7.62), the Mini-14 is smaller (5.45), and more common in the beginning.

I sometimes hire Lynx for his M-14, but 7.62 ammo will be scarce. It may not work out if you don't know how to best use a rifle.

Mini-14 is the Ruger, and the first one can usually be found in the San Mona police station. You can also enable all M.E.R.C mercs from the start, some of them have it (Stogy, Biggins). The Hillbillies and Kingpin gangs also have some.

Thx, but my Lynx (I'm not playing the 1.13 version) has the Mini-14 (5.56). And I can't enable M.E.R.C. I'll try and hopefully won't get raped.

I'm stuck with 1.13 since I discovered it, but hats off to the bro who still plays vanilla in his first run

The Ruger Mini-14 is also very good, one of my favorite weapons for most of the game actually, but you better get the one in San Mona instead of hiring an expensive merc just for that (helps in the first days but money not well spent).

If you look at the stats for the Ruger and compare them to assault rifles they are very, very good (1.13 again). Another advantage is that it has the very common 5.45 ammo and can fit many useful attachments (folding stock, laser pointers, scopes ..). With the trigger group that Tony sells after a short time it becomes a real assault rifle. Unfortunately it's just a little heavier than it looks, so if you optimize weight it may not be that good for female mercs like Ira etc.

 

[potatojohn]

I tried to figure out which merc is the best to hire for his weapon, and I think it's Wolf. He's got the Steyr Aug Para, which is a great 9mm AR that comes with a 2x scope, and accepts pistol silencers. Great for night missions and there's tons of ammo for it.

Scopes have large penalties if you don't use them at their optimal ranges (7 tiles * scope magnification). Luckily, changing attachments costs 0 AP (?)

 

[zeitgeist]

Would anyone happen to know why I'm getting a black screen with the latest 1.13? I just reinstalled JA2 on a relatively new computer (with Win7, 64bit) and it doesn't seem to work with it at all. It works just fine on the old computer with WinXP, and on this one I'm simply getting a black screen on all monitors that I can't get out of by doing anything except for a hard reboot. This happens no matter what graphics settings I change in the .ini (windowed mode doesn't actually start in windowed mode, it does the same thing). Some people on the Bear's Pit and GoG forums seemed to have a similar issue, but nothing that was suggested in those threads helped.

 

[spectre]

I think I've managed to run 1.13 on Win 7 64 bit some time ago, so they may have fucked something up in the recent build.

Good rule of thumb when 7 gets finicky with an XP game is, first, run the game as admin. This actually solves a whole lot of problems.
If that won't do the trick, check the various compatibility settings in the executable. Win XP with SP 3 compatibility mode is a good start, but sometimes you have to check if ticking on/off all the other stuff in that menu does anything.

 

[zeitgeist]

I think I've managed to run 1.13 on Win 7 64 bit some time ago, so they may have fucked something up in the recent build.

Good rule of thumb when 7 gets finicky with an XP game is, first, run the game as admin. This actually solves a whole lot of problems.
If that won't do the trick, check the various compatibility settings in the executable. Win XP with SP 3 compatibility mode is a good start, but sometimes you have to check if ticking on/off all the other stuff in that menu does anything.

Tried running it in all compatibility modes, as admin, the game dir is not in the Program Files, all the permissions are set, and so on. I suspect it might be a graphics card thing. One of the posters I've found complaining about the same problem apparently solved it by disabling Crossfire (he had two cards) for example. I don't have that though.

 

[Father Walker]

Win 7, x64 here. I run the game without any problems. Have you tried running unmodded game just to check if it's working?

 

[zeitgeist]

Win 7, x64 here. I run the game without any problems. Have you tried running unmodded game just to check if it's working?

I just reinstalled and tested the vanilla game, and it works just fine. So it's the same issue as this it seems.

At this point I'm pretty sure it's related to

New Feature: ARSP - All Resolution Support Project
o Support any kind of screen resolution. This works by choosing the matching full supported resolution (640x480, 800x600, 1024x768) and then centering the graphics

this thing, since an ancient 1.13 install I found in a separate directory works too.

 

[potatojohn]

JA2 svn now has a food and drink system o_O and zombies o_O

 

[Father Walker]

JA2 svn now has a food and drink system o_O and zombies o_O

But to be honest, it was all to be expected. Modders' creative energy will turn anything to shit if uncontrolled.

 

[zeitgeist]

Well, I downloaded the latest "unstable" SVN and now magically everything works.

So, New Chance to Hit, on or off? I don't think I played with it on yet. Same question goes for the food system and weapon overheating. And I don't remember there being an improved interrupt system when I last played either.

 

[Morkar Left]

They aren't in the last stable version.

What about the zombies? How do they appear? Are they incorporated in the story and do they only show up in scifi mode?

 

[zeitgeist]

They aren't in the last stable version.

What about the zombies? How do they appear? Are they incorporated in the story and do they only show up in scifi mode?

First time I heard about zombies. Just found this in the .ini:

[Tactical Zombie Settings]

;******************************************************************************************************************************
; In this section you can specify how the dead will raise from their graves.
;******************************************************************************************************************************

; How often is a corpse allowed to rise again as a zombie, if all conditions are met (corpse is free, has a head, there
; is still room for more zombies in the sector)?
; 0 - Every corpse spawns a zombie once
; 1 - A corpse can rise again forever. You'll have to find a way to permanently banish the undead....
; 2 - It is randomly decided if a corpse can rise
; 3 - A corpse spawns a zombie once, after that it's random
ZOMBIE_RISE_BEHAVIOUR = 0

; Should zombies spawn in waves, meaning that every few turns as many zombies as possible should rise (TRUE), or should
; every zombie rise individually (FALSE)?
ZOMBIE_SPAWN_WAVES = FALSE

; How often are waves of zombies created? 0 means never, 100 means whenever possible
ZOMBIE_RISE_WAVE_FREQUENCY = 60

; Can zombies climb roofs?
ZOMBIE_CAN_CLIMB = TRUE

; zombies made from corpses of civilians do not have a punch animation, which results in a deadlock if they try to punch
; TRUE: So instead, they blow up, dealing damage to everyone (setting TRUE)
; FALSE: Another option is a 'simulated attack' without animation. However, this is pretty simple and rigged up, only a temporary solution.
; This still results in deadlocks!
ZOMBIE_EXPLODING_CIVS = TRUE

; Damage is reduced by this percentage. Valid values from -50 to 95
ZOMBIE_DAMAGE_RESISTANCE = 0

; Breath damage is reduced by this percentage. Valid values from -50 to 95
ZOMBIE_BREATH_DAMAGE_RESISTANCE = 0

; Extra challenge: If true, only headhots will do any damage, hits to the body or legs won't. Only applies to bullets, though
ZOMBIE_ONLY_HEADSHOTS_WORK = FALSE

; Zombie difficulty level, determines hitpoints, stats and skills
; 1 - Night of the Living Dead
; 2 - Dawn of the Dead
; 3 - Resident Evil
; 4 - 28 Days later
ZOMBIE_DIFFICULTY_LEVEL = 3

; If set to TRUE, zombies will be equipped with armour if it lay at the corpse they came from
ZOMBIE_RISE_WITH_ARMOUR = TRUE
;******************************************************************************************************************************

Looks like it's an integration of this mod.

 

[Father Walker]

New Chance To Hit is weird. Better stick with vanilla one.

 

[Khor1255]

But to be honest, it was all to be expected. Modders' creative energy will turn anything to shit if uncontrolled.

Food and drink system could work really cool for some mods. The fact that you can switch it off means it doesn't turn anything to shit.

If they would have kept with the original idea by Madd Mugsy and made everything toggleable there would be absolutely nothing wrong with the 1.13. The fact that they changed globals without really even understanding their overall effects is beyond derp.

 

[Morkar Left]

If the zombies would be well integrated in the storyline I wouldn't mind with scifi only. The food-system sounds good but I guess it becomes too much additional micromanagement even for me. And it seems the mercs will fill water automatically even from poisoned water?
But both options together allow for some really great zombie TC! Stranded on an island full of zombies you try to reach the helicopter on the other side of the island. And when you are there, you need to find the pilot and some spare parts to make it functional. Could really work with that engine!

 

[Khor1255]

My goal with modding the game was always to create an entirely different storyline using the Ja2 game engine. With this in mind, new aspects were a very welcome thing. I love a lot of the new things the 1.13 added. But unfortunately they broke the game engine in the process.

 

[potatojohn]

So, New Chance to Hit, on or off? I don't think I played with it on yet. Same question goes for the food system and weapon overheating. And I don't remember there being an improved interrupt system when I last played either.

On of course. Makes the game more interesting.

All the new features are worthwhile, except maybe the food system which seems to be kind of annoying.

 

[Father Walker]

If they would have kept with the original idea by Madd Mugsy and made everything toggleable there would be absolutely nothing wrong with the 1.13. The fact that they changed globals without really even understanding their overall effects is beyond derp.

Just curious, what kinds of globals did they change?

 

[Khor1255]

The pathing system (they talked about changing it back or fixing it so to date I'm not sure of the status since I stopped paying attention to that derp), the chance to hit dynamic (by allowing players to see their cth which was one of the only advantages the ai had), the AP system....I'll bet I'm forgetting a few but these were bad enough.

 

[potatojohn]

NCTH and the new AP system seem great. They greatly increase the variety in gameplay.

 

[GarfunkeL]

The NCTH makes the game more challenging since even the best mercs can't always pull off headshots. And pistols are very unaccurate now, as they should be.

 

[Khor1255]

That sounds good. If they just managed to do away with the miracle head shots from across the map thing that happened every so often even in vanilla that would be pretty cool. But since my interest has shifted towards modding the game a long time ago there is still nothing there for me.

Maybe one day in the future but not now.

 

[mondblut]

Dunno, I recently completed UC113 with NCTH, and it was headshots galore. Stuff like machineguns was completely redundant, who needs suppression fire when you kill an enemy the moment you see him? Give everyone a 6.3SPC rifle fully decked for AP reduction and watch the heads pop. Wilson Combat Recon was particularly ridiculous with accuracy 70, throw in a 4x reflex scope (the only scope without AP penalties) and even sniper rifles start getting outdated - they might have a little more range, but it can't beat 3 aimed bursts (w/trigger group) per turn.

Then I started AIMNAS using OCTH, and it was totally different experience. Other than my snipers who remain efficient, no one else can't hit shit at all. Stuff like M4 or Ares Shrike is useless at ranges beyond 10 squares. Serious oldschool machineguns like Browning are suddenly all the rage, burning through hundreds of ammo rounds per turn to keep enemy hordes pinned down while snipers pick their targets one at a time. I wonder if I should go for all-sniper approach now, since assault rifles seem to be nerfed to utter uselessness there.

Pisses me off really to see the shit from the Boer War routinely outclass the latest modern hi-tek masterpieces. Yeah, I know about all the stats to compare, weight, combat load, speed, whatever that has to be accounted in theory, but in practice, we have a single hard objective bottom line - which gun racked more kills in the encounter. And in OCTH, the range is pretty much the only attribute to pay attention to, everything else only comes into equation when ranges are equal. Lower range = shit gun.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Really? My experience is the polar opposite - with the old system mercs with 80+ Marksmanship could regularly score headshots with any sort of rifles. That's not possible with the new system, at least not by mid-game.

 

[mondblut]

Really? My experience is the polar opposite - with the old system mercs with 80+ Marksmanship could regularly score headshots with any sort of rifles. That's not possible with the new system, at least not by mid-game.

Dunno, maybe something is screwed with my frankenstein build. I dropped the relatively old (v20, before it switched to big maps which aren't nowhere near to being finished by now), pre-latest stable 1.13 release AIMNAS version into the most recent 1.13 build from svn. And tohit chances for everything but sniper rifles are abysmal. But all this stuff is supposed to be controlled from inside the modfolder's xmls, not the exe, so I doubt this lack of accuracy might come from version mismatch.

In NCTH/UC113, accuracy values are on a scale of 100, with around 50-65 for ARs and 70-90+ for sniper rifles. In OCTH/AIMNASv20, ARs and machineguns are all accuracy 5, and sniper rifles are 7-12. These two seem to be totally separate xml values, likely used in different formulae depending on what CTH system is at work. What's more, in NCTH shooting beyond the effective range is just a minor hindrance, I downed hundreds of enemies who were a few squares beyond the range, with only a little accuracy penalty. With OCTH, beyond effective range means you won't even get a single red pixel's worth of a CTH notch no matter how long do you aim, you can shoot 100 times and never get remotely close to the target. Then again, the same is mostly true within effective range, too

Maybe The_scorpion knows some secrets at work.