JA3

[ShadySands]

I figured I'd start a thread on this since it seems like there are several of us playing this at the moment.

I'm starting a new game now as I type this. I downloaded the Show Chance to Hit mod from the Nexus but other than that it's vanilla.

[HoonDing]

Didn't know Jedi Academy 3 was made

[Hurlshort]

5 minutes ago, HoonDing said:

Didn't know Jedi Academy 3 was made

Boo.

I just started my second squad and have them working in the south, while my main squad heads north. Quests are very well done so far and I'm enjoying a fair amount of the characters I meet. I had a brother ask me to save his sister, and when I found her, she had already stabbed one of her captors and was fighting back. I helped her finish them off. When I returned her to her brother, Nails commented that the sister has much bigger balls than him.

As I said, the map is much more dynamic than JA2, so that's a pleasant surprise. My second squad is Omryn (don't recruit him!), a Ukrainian mechanic I can't remember, Dr. Q, and I sent Hitman with them to keep them somewhat safe.

My main squad is pretty effective now. My custom Merc is the sniper, Red is on the machine gun, Thor is my medic and sneaky guy, Nails and Livewire round it our with decent rifles. 

[Malcador]

One of you should want me to play this so much you'll buy it for me.

[Humanoid]

Heard there's a mod to enable forcing turn-based mode which is good progress, hopefully it becomes an official feature though. The biggest complaints I've heard so far are that and the stealth implementation in general.

[ShadySands]

I just got wiped out trying to take an underground bunker but I enjoyed it. Don't remember the last time I enjoyed a fight that I lost, maybe because I was way outgunned but still nearly pulled it off.

[Keyrock]

3 hours ago, ShadySands said:

I downloaded the Show Chance to Hit mod from the Nexus but other than that it's vanilla.

I like it better without the % chance to hit. I somehow feel less frustrated when I miss an attack that vaguely seems to have more bonuses to hit than penalties than I do missing an attack that's 80% chance to hit. It's a weird psychological trick that keeps my brain more satisfied.

On the subject of modding, Haemimont Games stated that making the game moddable was very important to them so there should be a ton of mods heading down the pipeline. I'm mainly interested in custom maps/campaigns and modding some old favorites into the game, assuming they're not in it. I'd love to try a run with "Unusually Ruthless" Reuban, but the modder needs to make his stats $#!+, make almost everyone else hate him, and make him leave if he doesn't get enough kills, just like in JA1.

I took over my first diamond mine without too much trouble. Dr. Q was the only one to take damage and he suffered 2 wounds. No big deal, I'll have him patch himself up while I have my other 3 mercs train. I felt kind of bad having to kill hyenas, that didn't stop me from throwing a grenade into their pack, though. I felt really bad while the grenade was in the air, though.I see 2 enemy squads next to Fleatown, one directly on my way and one a square out of the way. I plan to take both of them out before assaulting the town.

Edited July 19, 2023 by Keyrock

[ShadySands]

I think I hate all the recruits I've trained. They keep running through a gunner's overwatch and getting everyone killed.

[Keyrock]

I captured my first section of Fleatown. This was my most successful stealth assault. The firefights were few and short because the enemy numbers were whittled down and once alerted they walked straight into crossfires I had set up. Having Vicki slap a couple of oil filters onto the ends of her pistols was a good move.

I took hardly any damage and zero wounds, which means I can immediately move on and not waste any time. I'm contemplating hiring Red to fill in my glaring explosives expert gap. It will take a while to get him to my team, though. Probably worth it in the long run, though.

Edited July 19, 2023 by Keyrock

[Gorgon]

soooo.. this or baldurs gate 3 ?

Is it essentially an xcom type thing. 

 

[Keyrock]

4 minutes ago, Gorgon said:

Is it essentially an xcom type thing. 

 

Kinda sorta but not really. Both XCOM and JA are similar in that they have turn-based tactical combat and management, but both combat and management aspects are a bit different.

[ShadySands]

Took my first mine. Well, it was the second mine I tried. The first mine(somewhere to the north a bit) that I tried was way too tough for me to beat right after starter island. Or maybe I just suck, either way, I can't wait to play again tomorrow. 

[Gorth]

10 hours ago, Humanoid said:

Heard there's a mod to enable forcing turn-based mode which is good progress, hopefully it becomes an official feature though. The biggest complaints I've heard so far are that and the stealth implementation in general.

Going to get the game tonight... first major patch or no. One of the things I liked about JA2 was the real time until engaged in combat. You could move your squads around a lot faster than if you had to start in turn based mode when entering the map. Curious to see how the pacing works here.

[Humanoid]

4 minutes ago, Gorth said:

Going to get the game tonight... first major patch or no. One of the things I liked about JA2 was the real time until engaged in combat. You could move your squads around a lot faster than if you had to start in turn based mode when entering the map. Curious to see how the pacing works here.

Yeah, I'm not saying to go full-time turn-based like XCOM, but more allowing us to manually toggle it, especially since enemies in this game are very fidgety and move around a lot when idle. That can make setting up ambushes annoyingly RTS-like.

I welcomed the addition of the toggle in JA2 Strachiatella. I believe the same feature also exists in 1.13 but I have no desire to play 1.13.

3 hours ago, Gorgon said:

Is it essentially an xcom type thing. 

The most notable XCOM-like element is that the game is now cover-based. But it retains action points and aiming mechanics from JA2, so it's probably fair to say it's roughly halfway.

[Gorth]

First observations, I see the country is named "Big Dog"

Gus Tarballs has retired... aww. Most of the old familiar faces seems to be there though. Looking to start a campaign over the weekend

[Azdeus]

14 hours ago, Humanoid said:

Heard there's a mod to enable forcing turn-based mode which is good progress, hopefully it becomes an official feature though. The biggest complaints I've heard so far are that and the stealth implementation in general.

Yeah, that mod didn't work as well as I had hoped. Atleast modders are starting to release mods outside of **** workshop. I wholeheartedly agree with the poor stealth system, I think it's worse than Jagged Alliance 1.  Why they haven't kept cololur coded ammo counters is beyond me, not to mention the extremely lacklustre inventory system. Having my mercs deploy in the middle of the map all of a sudden instead of where I left them, at effective firing positions, and being forced to run to meet them feels very bad to me. And for some reason that is beyond me armies and mercs have started tig welding accessories to their firearms. Why I can't have two mercs teaching different things with one student is really annoying, but not as annoying as only having 10 "slots" in the repair queue so that you have to renavigate the operations menu every time they are finished fixing up their current things, just have the same kind of popup as when you train militia. Atleast the AI seems somewhat improved, atleast once better trained troops turn up.

But I got some biscuits from Scope, so it's better now

[Hurlshort]

11 hours ago, ShadySands said:

Took my first mine. Well, it was the second mine I tried. The first mine(somewhere to the north a bit) that I tried was way too tough for me to beat right after starter island. Or maybe I just suck, either way, I can't wait to play again tomorrow. 

I did the same thing. That northern mine looks isolated and tempting, but that is a deadly crew guarding it. I might try it now that I have better gear and some levels under my belt.

14 hours ago, Keyrock said:

 

I took hardly any damage and zero wounds, which means I can immediately move on and not waste any time. I'm contemplating hiring Red to fill in my glaring explosives expert gap. It will take a while to get him to my team, though. Probably worth it in the long run, though.

Explosives experts are pretty dang important. There is a lot of stuff rigged to blow up on the maps, plus a few minefields. Red is solid for the price. 

I'm trying to be nice to a bunch of communists in the northern part of the map, since they are helping me fight the Legion, but they are a bit annoying. Kind of like our forum commies.  

[Keyrock]

1 hour ago, Hurlshort said:

 

I'm trying to be nice to a bunch of communists in the northern part of the map, since they are helping me fight the Legion, but they are a bit annoying. Kind of like our forum commies.  

When I did the island fort assault I snuck in through a minefield. With no explosives experts in my crew let's just say I engaged in extensive save scumming to get through it with all my limbs intact.

[Hurlshort]

Man, Dr. Q is a stud. He can knock people unconscious, pummel them to death, and then still run away with free moves. Plus he's a doctor. 

[Keyrock]

I love the destructibility in this game. I was fighting some chumps in a dilapidated mansion and the raid leader was on the second floor. I threw a grenade at him which blew up the floor and caused him to fall, taking more damage. Somehow the guy survived both a grenade blast and the fall (he must have eaten his Wheaties that morning) but he was now also trapped in the corner of the house behind rubble. I took this opportunity to mop up all the other goons while he was effectively neutralized, then dropped another grenade on him to put him out of his misery. Good times.

Edit: Holy ****, I found a FN FAL! This makes me so happy.

My only gripe is that it doesn't have the Rhodesian FAL camo paint job.

A modder needs to get on that $#!+ like yesterday.

Of course, then I'll also need another mod for the character portrait and model so that I can rock the shorts in proper Rhodesian style.

Edit 2: I used up most of my parts to modify the bejesus out of my FAL. Worth!

It's on like neckbone!

Edited July 20, 2023 by Keyrock

[Azdeus]

2 hours ago, Keyrock said:

I love the destructibility in this game. I was fighting some chumps in a dilapidated mansion and the raid leader was on the second floor. I threw a grenade at him which blew up the floor and caused him to fall, taking more damage. Somehow the guy survived both a grenade blast and the fall (he must have eaten his Wheaties that morning) but he was now also trapped in the corner of the house behind rubble. I took this opportunity to mop up all the other goons while he was effectively neutralized, then dropped another grenade on him to put him out of his misery. Good times.

Edit: Holy ****, I found a FN FAL! This makes me so happy.

 

My only gripe is that it doesn't have the Rhodesian FAL camo paint job.

 

A modder needs to get on that $#!+ like yesterday.

Of course, then I'll also need another mod for the character portrait and model so that I can rock the shorts in proper Rhodesian style.

 

Edit 2: I used up most of my parts to modify the bejesus out of my FAL. Worth!

 

It's on like neckbone!

I'd like to see modders get on fixing things like magazine size and such before that, it bugs the living daylights out of me that the FAL has a 30 round magazine as standard. Overall I'd like to see a solid balance pass, the only real reason right now to have a 5.56 is ammo variety. And fix some other details.

Also, Grizzly with a shortbarrelled MG recks. Hard. Both the enemy and my ammo supply. I've had him chew through 120+ rounds of 7.62 Nato in one round...

[Keyrock]

18 minutes ago, Azdeus said:

I'd like to see modders get on fixing things like magazine size and such before that, it bugs the living daylights out of me that the FAL has a 30 round magazine as standard. 

You're right, they should have made a 50 round drum mag standard... /hides

 

[Azdeus]

18 minutes ago, Keyrock said:

You're right, they should have made a 50 round drum mag standard... /hides

 

That'd have fit perfectly as the expanded mag

[Keyrock]

I gave the FAL to my created merc Dethwish and he is now a murder machine. I gave him the perk that gives him an accuracy bonus from high ground, plus I have a longer barrel on the FAL that increases range to sniper distance and gives an accuracy boost, a scope that gives me a 3 levels of aim for free if I take a shot as my first action in a turn, a heavy stock that gives bonus accuracy with 3+ levels of aim, and a bipod that greatly boosts accuracy when prone. So long as there's a good high vantage point on the map, I can put him up there and he's got pretty much laser accuracy from there. Then it's just a matter of using the rest of the team to lure the poor suckers into his kill zone. I almost feel sorry for them.

 

Edited July 21, 2023 by Keyrock

[Hurlshort]

The most difficult part of the game, at least once you get some money squirreled away and a decent squad of mercs, is managing ammo, weapon condition and health supplies. That seems fairly realistic.

This map is huge though, with a lot of content. It is going to be immensely replayable.

 

Edited July 21, 2023 by Hurlshort