Jagged Alliance is fairly limited in the number of different types of enemies you will face. Most of the time it's just ordinary humans in various uniforms. You might face giant cats and ugly bugs, but those are few and in between (and not as dangerous as they once were, as the amount of damage our mercs can dish out is a higher than in vanilla). It would be kinda cool to occasionally face tougher enemies, who require different tactics (or at least a lot more dakka).
anv offered a possible solution to this by allowing tanks to move in tactical and join enemy patrols and attacks. However, the step from infantry soldier to tank is somewhat... steep. A tank can only be damaged by explosives and very special ammo, so it is possible that the player forces don't even have the means to destroy the tank - even if it would stop blowing them up from afar or driving over them.
As an intermediate between infantry soldiers and full-sized tanks, we (smeagol, DepressivesBrot and me) have now added combat jeeps as a new enemy type. They fill a similar role to tanks:
they can appear in enemy patrols and assaults, jut like tanks nowadays can (if one allows this in the ini of course).
As combat jeeps are less armored than tanks, they are easier to damage (but still a lot tougher than infantry). With stock settings, AP and SAP anti-material ammo can damage them.
Tanks have a main cannon (item #60) and a Minimi (item #28), combat jeeps only have the Minimi. Note that both have unlimited ammo.
Combat jeeps can destroy structures by driving over them just as tanks do - but can't drive through tough structures, like solid walls.
Combat jeeps can also appear in autoresolve. Jeep pictures by CVB, thank you!
Just like tanks, any enemy formation containing at least one combat jeep will categorically refuse to surrender.
Most tank ini settings are now also used for jeeps - unless explicitly stated in the ini:
;----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------
; Settings related to enemy armed vehicles (tanks and jeeps).
; Tanks have superior armor that can only be breached by explosives or special ammo. They are armed with a powerful cannon and an MG.
; Enemy jeeps are smaller than tanks, easier to damage and only have an MG, otherwise they perform similar to tanks.
;
; Unless there is a separate setting, tank-settings also govern jeeps.
;----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------
; If set to TRUE, vehicles can be driven around tactical maps.
ALLOW_DRIVING_VEHICLES_IN_TACTICAL = TRUE
; Deduct APs from passengers when vehicle is moving to prevent exploits (default = 3).
; 0 - No change.
; 1 - AP deducted from vehicle are also deducted from all passengers.
; 2 - AP deducted from vehicle are also deducted from all passengers, but adjusted to initial APs of any given passenger.
; 3 - AP deducted from vehicle are also deducted from all passengers, but only to the certain threshold (default).
AP_SHARED_AMONG_PASSENGERS_AND_VEHICLE_MODE = 3
; If AP_SHARED_AMONG_PASSENGERS_AND_VEHICLE_MODE is set, adjust how much APs will be deducted (0 - 200).
AP_SHARED_AMONG_PASSENGERS_AND_VEHICLE_SCALE = 100
; If set to TRUE, tanks can move around in tactical.
ENEMY_TANKS_CAN_MOVE_IN_TACTICAL = FALSE
; If set to TRUE, cars can run over people.
; Note feature won't be very effective without ALLOW_DRIVING_VEHICLES_IN_TACTICAL set to TRUE.
ALLOW_CARS_DRIVING_OVER_PEOPLE = TRUE
; If set to TRUE, tanks can run over people.
; Note feature won't be very effective without ENEMY_TANKS_CAN_MOVE_IN_TACTICAL set to TRUE.
ALLOW_TANKS_DRIVING_OVER_PEOPLE = TRUE
; When shift is pressed cars can ram through structures, but only those with armour lower than specified value (0-255).
; 0 effectively disables the feature. Default 30.
; For reference: cactus - 10, wooden furniture - 20, trees - 30, sandbags - 40, stone walls - 55, reinforced concrete - 70, rock - 85, indestructible - 127.
CARS_RAMMING_MAX_STRUCTURE_ARMOUR = 30
; When shift is pressed tanks can ram through structures, but only those with armour lower than specified value (0-255).
; 0 effectively disables the feature. Default 70.
; For reference: cactus - 10, wooden furniture - 20, trees - 30, sandbags - 40, stone walls - 55, reinforced concrete - 70, rock - 85, indestructible - 127.
TANKS_RAMMING_MAX_STRUCTURE_ARMOUR = 70
ENEMY_JEEP_RAMMING_MAX_STRUCTURE_ARMOUR = 38
; If set to TRUE, tanks can use cannon even against single mercs and in perfect health.
ENEMY_TANKS_DONT_SPARE_SHELLS = TRUE
; If set to TRUE, tanks can ignore chance to get through and destroy enemy cover even if it probably won't hit anyone behind it.
ENEMY_TANKS_BLOW_OBSTACLES_UP = TRUE
; If set to TRUE, tanks can be noticed as soon as any part of them is visible.
ENEMY_TANKS_ANY_PART_VISIBLE = FALSE
; If set to TRUE, enemies can use launchables even against single mercs and in perfect health.
ENEMIES_DONT_SPARE_LAUNCHABLES = FALSE
; If set to TRUE, enemies can ignore chance to get through and destroy enemy cover even if it probably won't hit anyone behind it.
ENEMIES_BLOW_OBSTACLES_UP = FALSE
ENEMY_JEEP_RAMMING_MAX_STRUCTURE_ARMOUR is new here. 38 is just slightly beyond sandbags, thus the jeeps wont run over those.
; Depending on game difficulty enemy groups created during offensives can include tanks.
ARMY_USES_TANKS_IN_ATTACKS = TRUE
; Depending on game difficulty enemy patrols at game start can be randomly reinforced with.
ARMY_USES_TANKS_IN_PATROLS = TRUE
; Minimum progress required for tanks to appear.
TANK_MINIMUM_PROGRESS = 60
; Depending on game difficulty enemy groups created during offensives can include jeeps.
ARMY_USES_JEEPS_IN_ATTACKS = TRUE
; Depending on game difficulty enemy patrols at game start can be randomly reinforced with.
ARMY_USES_JEEPS_IN_PATROLS = TRUE
; Minimum progress required for jeep to appear.
JEEP_MINIMUM_PROGRESS = 30
Whether jeeps appear in attacks and patrols is set here, and what progress is required. It is recommend to use a lower progress than for tanks - after all, combat jeeps should logically show up before tanks do.
There have been a few changes in AmmoTypes.xml that are important to modders:
<antiTank> has been removed. It was a boolean that defined whether bullets would do no or full damage to tanks. There was no way to have a mediate between the two, so it has been removed.
There are now new tags for damage against tanks, non-tank-but-armoured-vehicle (like combat jeeps), civilian vehicles, and zombies:
These tags take values between 0.00 and 100.00. Note that when applying damage, these are then multiplied with the existing tags dDamageModifierLife and dDamageModifierBreath.
These tags allow creating special anti-tank (or anti-jeep, or anti-zombie) weaponry. If a xml-editor that is not updated to this change is used, these tags will be removed from the xml. This will result in weapons barely dealing any damage. You have been warned!
Whether the AI assigns combat jeeps and/or tanks can now also additionally be controlled by ASD. In this case, the AI has to buy and fuel the tanks, see [url=]here[/url].
The jeep animations were made at smeag's between late breakfast and vegan muffins coffee time. If you are not happy with them, provide better ones, and I might consider replacing them.
And no, the player or militia cannot use tanks or jeeps himself. Because, among other things, I say so.
This has been added to the trunk in r8114 & GameDir r2305.
This is savegame compatible.
Using a new exe without the appropriate GameDir will cause penguins to enroll in your local fire department.
[Updated on: Mon, 21 March 2016 20:01]
I know now that it could never work between us, as much as we wanted to, it could never be! Not because you're a rabbit, but because you're black.
If you want, you can donate to me. This will not affect how and what I code, and I will not code specific features in return. I will be thankful though.