[Talkie]

Hello,

I finished Jagged Alliance about 2 weeks ago, and promissed myself to come back here and add my own verdict/hints to the topic. Here I am.

I very much enjoyed JA overall, and can understand how it was perceived as groundbreaking back in 1994. However, some players might find a bit tedious that you have to fight the same type of enemy (generic redshirt mercs) all throughout the videogame, and the slow-paced fights get a little repetitive when you reach the late sectors of Metavira.

Also, not enough clues are given about important aspects of the videogame, but I'll come back to this as I want to proceed by listing various remarks that I have about Jagged Alliance that I haven't seen mentioned much in the couple strategy guides available online.


1.) There is no time limit, it seems, to complete Jagged Alliance. The main reason why people push you to do 3 sectors a day is because you need to secure a rolling economy fast, and also not disappoint your boss. So it is important in the early sectors to move fast, but once you reached halfway the map (and after a couple important speed-involving quests are completed, one involving Brenda), you can very much take your time (though in Hard mode it might be possible your sectors get attacked too much for you to relax). I ended at day 45 because I wanted to increase much of my mercs' skills (see below).

2.) People seem to forget at times that Jagged Alliance is ALSO a role-playing videogame. By that I mean that the strategy guides regard as quasi-cheating the fact that your crew can stay at home to rest or train for a few days, improving your economy, when this typical role-playing behavior would be normal even in a real context with such a reduced personnel. So, when you take time to rest or train your whole crew or most of them, you actually make a good amount of profit. If you fear so much that Tappers or Guards might be upset by your idleness and leave their post, you can always let you more healthy merc travel around while the others rest. In the worst event, you can also offer slight augmentations to attract workers. Resting improves health tremendously after a couple days, and training is neat to improve skills. Generally if you use a couple days once in a while to train or rest from halfway the Metavira map up to the ending, all will be fine. The more your economy is rolling, the longer you can take pauses, and this brings me to the next point.

3.) Role-playing involves exploring terrain, and typically after long days of fighting, you don't necessarely have time to search all terrain and loot all you can find. This is why it is good when you get advanced on the Metavira map (and starting to miss readily in-your-face available ammo), to take a day off or two for the whole purpose of exploring previously conquered terrains and search every piece of furniture you can find, safely away from the stress of war. Your home mechanic can now be useful as your primary lockpick. Also, metal detectors are a must.

4.) Obviously, Jagged Alliance was designed for your mercs to die, and I suppose the standard player is expected to try out up to 20 mercs per playthrough. But sticking with the role-playing ideal, I preferred to stick with the same 8-staff crew from beginning to end (Grunty, Vinny, Fidel, Hector, Elio, Fox, Ivan, and Ice (not all hired at the start)), attempting to improve their best skills and, well, perhaps cheating a little by reloading during battle when things got too rough (but that is the whole premiss of the Quick Load feature). When you do this, you can play 8 times Jagged Alliance without ever playing the same characters (that includes the 4 Natives, but these characters must be employed and fired one after the other to get the next one available). Of course some mercs are not meant to be played together, but you will apparently miss fun narratives if you don't try them out together. Personally all my crew was fine working together.

5.) Some sectors are best conquered using silencers, and I take gripe that no clues are to be found anywhere about this in JA's manuels or within the videogame world. I am assuming this is because you are supposed to "botch" your first manufacture conquest but then learn from your mistake. Also, Sector 1 was a nightmare for me because there is no way to know until you read a strategy guide that enemy mercs are quasi "infinite" in that sector until you do something perticular. Apparently, there is actually a maximum of 800 enemy mercs in Jagged Alliance. That's good to know. But the first time I attempted Sector 1, I was in that burned building in the corner, attempting to lure the enemy there and destroy them all. It was an endless fight, and at some point I thought there was a bug, because typically you are supposed to "clear" a Sector in JA, right? So something hitting at the very large number of enemy mercs in Sector 1 would have been welcomed.

6.) I expected to see more animated sequences like the splendid opener while playing, mostly at key plot points, and was disappointed by the lack of any. This is why I think Elio was hugely important in my playthrough as a "plot enhancer", as he describes the function or strategy tidbits for almost each sector in a manner that makes you feel you are really part of an adventure, not just on a shooting hunt (on a sidenote, Elio is the only character able to do certain things, like, "translating" a letter... Ohhh major hint there!).

7.) The keys.... This is not mentioned anywhere much, but there is no need to try out every key at every door. Get one person carry all the keys, and ask them to open any door. If they have the right key, they will automatically select it. But doesn't it always feel like you never have the right key? This is because keys are spread all over on the maps. The right key to a door may be 3 sectors ahead that you haven't yet conquered. This is why I believe it is better to come back later on in a few "adventure-role-playing" days, where you just move along conquered terrains and search everything THEN, not right after battle. Also, some doors are simply meant to be opened by other means than keys.

8.) The obscure letters you find throughout Metavira are either codes that give you clues about the various "quests/missions" that you will get from Jack and Brenda, or there are indicators to places and times where you can get extra loot, generally above average loot. Any letter mentioning a "Stork" (which is that bird that brings babies at your door) means there is extra crates to be found on a certain time of day on a certain sector, and that is only valid if the sector is yet to be conquered. If you miss the rendez-vous, the crates will be gone or empty. There is one letter about Sector 4 which warns you of booby traps after a certain day. I mention this one because every strategy guide say to NOT wait THAT certain day and conquer that sector fast, like if to prevent an earthquake. Actually, if you wait, you will get extra crates, just that everything including the terrain is more dangerous. With a skilled explosive guy, a metal detector, and using quick save and load, you can deal with Sector 4. If you manage to find 3 pieces of paper that are obviously part of a whole, I suggest your lockpick guy to carry that around in all the west Metavira Sectors, because nowhere it is mentioned how helpful (though not essential to succeed at Jagged Alliance) this paper can be in a perticular spot.

9.) Do not desparate: Jagged Alliance becomes, if not easier, more manageable as you get half through, get better weapons, and learn to rest your mercs to gain back important Action Points. The general strategy is to move forward your stealthier characters, and have the best markmanship mercs around everyone (front and back). Having everyone in a cluster is not recommended. It is dangerous for grenades attack, and it will be too slow to assess enemy position if mercs do not all participate in browsing terrains. I like to lure enemy by using rocks or a fast walking merc, or wait outside doors with much reserved points. Later on, the best shield vests possible are a must. Do not forget to add more guards than you need in sectors bordering those you intend to conquer. Leaving an enemy-bordering sector unguarded will lead to frustrations.

10.) Opening crates is NOT a task for every merc. Find out who can do it best, and generally he/she will require: a working crow bar and lots of water.

11.) Whoever drew the sleeve art for Jagged Alliance never consulted the designers about the outlook of Brenda. At least Lucas Santino is not too different (and if they thought that was Jack, slap them).


I....think I covered all I wanted to say. That's mostly a list of
information that I thought was missing when starting Jagged
Alliance. To resume in a sentance: it's not just strategy.
Allow yourself some role-playing time.

Cheers!


Talkie