For JA2 veterans

[General Maxson]

Could you select the buff sprite in Vanilla? I thought it just came up when you were at a certain strength?

Sure, but read what I wrote. Not all portraits get the buff sprite, even if your strength is 85.

 

[20 Eyes]

The second one is much better Aerelian! I would play the game with that character. Wisdom could still be a bit higher, take away 10 points from leadership and put it into WIS.

1. You need at least enough strength to get the fit-looking character sprite.​

Eh, that is 85 strength. You dont need so much strength.

Do you want Dedriana's men to think you're some kind of punk that can't bench 700lbs or fire a crew-served weapon from the hip?

Yeah, go Dukem Nukem on them baby! :D

The thing is, you need 85 Str AND select an appropriate portrait to have a "fit looking" character sprite. Not just strength. At least in vanilla.

Interesting. I always took the Hank Rollins looking dude with the night background, so I just thought it was purely strength related.

 

[ManjuShri]

Is it recommended to play on Experienced on your first run? Also, is this the avatar that becomes this?

 

[General Maxson]

Is it recommended to play on Experienced on your first run? Also, is this the avatar that becomes this?

Experienced is challenging, but not frustratingly so if you play vanilla. Or do you play 1.13? I think normal is too easy. And as far as I know, avatars don't change.

 

[ManjuShri]

Yes, vanilla. By normal do you mean Novice?

Novice
Experienced
Expert

 

[Phelot]

Could you select the buff sprite in Vanilla? I thought it just came up when you were at a certain strength?

Sure, but read what I wrote. Not all portraits get the buff sprite, even if your strength is 85.

Read indeed. My bad!

Is it recommended to play on Experienced on your first run? Also, is this the avatar that becomes this?

No, that isn't the same person.

Also, Bottom is old drunken Gnidrologist!

 

[ManjuShri]

Also, Bottom is old drunken Gnidrologist!

I know, that's why I wanted to play with that avatar . Does anyone know who the beaten up guy is?

 

[villain of the story]

Minimise Leadership to 35 (can't zero that one). You don't need it. You can hire a high Leadership MERC for training and dialogue.

Here is my ideal vanilla JA2 starting IMP:

HTH  60
DEX  80
AGI  80
STR  70
WIS  85
LDR  35
MRK  70
EXP  0
MED  0
MEC  70

Also, DON'T pick Sci-Fi option at the very start. It's shit for a first time.

 

[Surf Solar]

You will only see him at the very end of the game IIRC.

 

[Phelot]

Also, Bottom is old drunken Gnidrologist!

I know, that's why I wanted to play with that avatar . Does anyone know who the beaten up guy is?

I would hate to ruin it, it's something of a surprise.

Don't look!

Spoiler

IIRC it's one of the terrorists you can try to hunt down

 

[Johannes]

Minimise Leadership to 35 (can't zero that one). You don't need it. You can hire a high Leadership MERC for training and dialogue.

Here is my ideal vanilla JA2 starting IMP:

HTH  60
DEX  80
AGI  80
STR  70
WIS  85
LDR  35
MRK  70
EXP  0
MED  0
MEC  70

Also, DON'T pick Sci-Fi option at the very start. It's shit for a first time.

I'd definitely lower the MEC and up the HTH. Not big on having a lot of mechanic skill anyway, there's enough cheap mercs who can do that job well.

 

[General Maxson]

Yes, vanilla. By normal do you mean Novice?

Novice
Experienced
Expert

Yes, novice is too easy, you'll have more fun at experienced.

Also I don't think sci-fi option is shit from the start. It adds a bit of a "questline" that's unavailable if you turn it off.

 

[villain of the story]

Spoiler

"Terrorists" "Targets". All wanted for something different. And the same goes for all portraits. You will be "disabling" one regardless but yes, Gnid one was fucking legendary IIRC.

 

[villain of the story]

Minimise Leadership to 35 (can't zero that one). You don't need it. You can hire a high Leadership MERC for training and dialogue.

Here is my ideal vanilla JA2 starting IMP:

HTH  60
DEX  80
AGI  80
STR  70
WIS  85
LDR  35
MRK  70
EXP  0
MED  0
MEC  70

Also, DON'T pick Sci-Fi option at the very start. It's shit for a first time.

I'd definitely lower the MEC and up the HTH. Not big on having a lot of mechanic skill anyway, there's enough cheap mercs who can do that job well.

Health goes up easily. But if you're gonna dump Mechanical on MERCs as well, you might just as well zero it, though it helps with preventing jams, IIRC.

Something I just noticed in 1.13: if you don't pick a skill, you start with 100 attribute points (50 if you don't) + 20 if you pick a disability.

 

[Gnidrologist]

There are probably some differences in development between vanilla (guess UC uses all the same mechanics as original 1.12?), because unlike for Surf Solar wisdom never went up for anything but explosives griding for me. Here's my current IMP after taking over Atremo, Calisto, Troy and Galileo + two SAM sites and couple dozens of random sectors.

What i found out that there's cheesy and relatively fast way to grind agility by punching civilian and sneaking around him while he's in hostile ''hands over the head DONT KILL ME'' mode.
Still, Surf Solar's IMP seems to be unnaturally buffed for vanilla game even if he does a lot of soloing with him, because i also do that in most games and stuff like WIS, STR, DEX don't go that high without grinding in one way or another. For examples, DEX only increases while repairing/healing stuff and unarmed combat. As SS's MEC and MED stats are quite low and unless he did a lotof HtH combat, DEX couldn't even theoretically be that high. STR is also only increasing while crowbaring, hth/melee combat and being overburdened. I guess there is different stat development mechanics in 1.13. Haven't played it for years and last version was 3thousand something so don't remember anything.

Health doesn't seem to increase no matter what. Injuries do not help. Notice how SurfSolar's char has been wounded only 20 times and already has health increased by two points while i'm still with my default 85 after 90+ sustained injuries in much less battles.

 

[SCO]

Portraits do affect some stats.... you'll see

 

[PorkaMorka]

Raising stats is largely different between vanilla and 1.13, so a lot of the advice already posted may not apply.

In vanilla you had to use exploits to raise wisdom and agility, but they made them go up from some normal actions in 1.13 at some point.

Also, in vanilla skills set at zero can't go up. I always set my medical at 35 for this reason, but I never actually checked if you can perform first aid effectively with zero skill.

 

[laclongquan]

Dont worry about 45STR. My bootcamp method can raise it to 60 reasonably fast if you have enough heavy stuffs.
Also dont raise MEC too high like that. You dont want to waste your troop's time to repair shits. You got several cheap mercs to do so. 35 is reasonable.
Raise MED to 35 at least so you can bandage yourself. Especially if you intend to solo this guy.
Raise EXP to 35 at least to start training. If you have mines, then 35. If have only explosives, raise it to 50-60. Hire a great Explosive to act as your disarmer, so you only have to arm the mines/explosive.
Raise DEX to max, as it take slowest time to increase.

TO increase health, get yourself a bleeding wound. Just one HP is enough, walk around to see blood spurting. After lossing enough HP your HLTH will increase. Bandange when you are near death. Repeat.

 

[Gnidrologist]

Also dont raise MEC too high like that. You dont want to waste your troop's time to repair shits. You got several cheap mercs to do so. 35 is reasonable.

If you aren't going to repair stuff with your IMP, you don't need 35 either.

 

[laclongquan]

Sometimes when you are waiting in a zone, waiting for reinforcement, waiting for militia, waiting for your partner getting trained, you get the urge to clean your guns. 35 is for that. It's often enough that you get to 45 in the middle stage just doing minor repairs. You dont want your mechanic doing that because he's too busy repairing your mortar/SCAR/FNFAL/electronics for your whole squad.

 

[Phelot]

I almost never have my IMP have any skills other than marksmanship. I don't care much for jacks of all trades and there are plenty of starting AIM people to fill each roll. Normally I'll have Barry for mechanical/explosives, Igor, Grunty, Buns to help Ira with medical and for her leadership/teaching, and then Ira.

 

[ManjuShri]

I have an 80 AGI and 80 DEX, but when sneaking and crawling to a character with his back turned to me he knew I was there 10/10 times. Was the fact that I was crawling on grass the issue?

 

[General Maxson]

I have an 80 AGI and 80 DEX, but when sneaking and crawling to a character with his back turned to me he knew I was there 10/10 times. Was the fact that I was crawling on grass the issue?

No, it's probably experience level issue. When you reach some decent levels you will be able to sneak a lot better.

 

[Gnidrologist]

Sneaking doesn't really work in this game. Not to the extent in which you can crawl up to someone and kinfe/pummel him at least. If you want to be silent assassin, take night ops perk and attack towns after dark.

 

[Gnidrologist]

TO increase health, get yourself a bleeding wound. Just one HP is enough, walk around to see blood spurting. After lossing enough HP your HLTH will increase. Bandange when you are near death. Repeat.

Just tried this method. Instead of gaining health i lost two points of it after bandaging.
Though i did advance time through map screen. Do you need to specifically walk around the tactical map?