. . .Shadow . . . overpriced and not necessary

Kensuke

. . .Shadow . . . overpriced and not necessary

Blasphemy!

Of course Shadow isn't necessary to win the game (no one is), especially since his camouflage ability has been nerfed in v1.13, but he's absolutely necessary to have the right 'ambiance' for a great team

Also, if you check out Proedit, he dislikes nearly everybody (especially the Russians) and has the loner trait.

Fox (an ambi field medic who can actually shoot worth a crap, plus her personality is legendary around these parts, and she's a cheap date).

Later on down the road I'll almost always get Wolf, Lynx, and Ivan (in that order, from least to most expensive). From MERC I'll go with Biff and Flo so I can sell weapons in San Mona, and give money to Speck so he can hire more people). I've never tried Blood. I might give him a whirl. Magic and Shadow are overpriced and not necessary if you play the game right and level your people.

BTW, was anybody else pretty disappointed with Hitman? The official JA2 manual says he's a good starting merc, but I wasn't really impressed (especially his low Dexterity which makes his throwing skill less than stellar). I suppose his best asset is that he's optimistic and can contribute to morale.

I should clarify. He doesn't hate, but he does dislike. If you look at the Opinions column, there's a lot of negative numbers. You don't "hate" until you get -25, but it does affect morale depending on who he interacts with. I think the developers wanted to drive home the point that people with the "loner" trait like Shadow, Reaper and Danny work best alone or in select small groups. When I had Danny in my team, his morale seems to rise the slowest and fall the fastest. I don't know what the hated nationality thing does exactly, but it does correspond to who people dislike or hate the most.

There's so much crap surrounding Buns I refuse to hire her anymore (even though I like Grunty).

Been trying Blood. He seems pretty cool. I might end up switching him out as my grenade chucker instead of Hitman. His martial arts also works pretty cool in the EFC.

So yeah, if I got to pick starting out, it would probably be:

Igor (night assault and pointman)
Grunty (same, but with HW capability)
Barry (explosives and mechanic)
Fox (field medic)
Blood (token black dude, grenade thrower, backup medic, and EFC champ - subject to revision ^_^)

The sixth slot would be filled after I dump Ira off in Drassen. Probably with Wolf (as designated marksman, backup to Barry, and a third backup medic). I'd use Lynx occasionally for long range sniping (appreciated in certain sectors) and use Ivan later in the game. Maybe some others depending on the situation. I don't really like MERC guys (never gotten Couger though).

- John

I always bring Red along. The only good demolitions man for the first half of the game.

Here's some of my favorite combos:
http://www.ja-galaxy-forum.com/board/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=9&Number=158658&Searchpage=1&Main=2446&Words=fidel&topic=0&Search=true#Post158658

Here's another related thread:
http://www.ja-galaxy-forum.com/board/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/159820/page/1#Post159820

Barry can

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HtH skill is now useless thanks to drop-all.

Kensuke

HtH skill is now useless thanks to drop-all.

Then turn drop all off. I love using my hth and stealing skills, it's also good for buffing stats. I now enter Omerta with mercs with no equipment, then proceed to clear the sector using nothing but fists and stealing to get all my starting equipment, usually on expert difficulty.

I've been mixing up my mercs nowadays. I'm staying away from the rebels lately. I used to always take Thor and Wolf however. But no matter what, I must have Maddog.

for my core guys its team awesome:
Razor, Ira, Hamous, and Maddog.

The only question is which merc do i want to handle the explosives: Razor or Hamous?

The two I always hire at the beginning and keep until the end (or their end, whatever happens first) are Thor and Wolf, sometimes also Ice and Igor (best guy you can get for your money) and my HtH expert IMP (don't try to tell me, HtH is useless... it's great fun, if you don't use drop-all and can bring greyshirts down with two well-placed punches or one hit with the crowbar)

I generally like to keep my guys from the beginning until the end, even if I could afford much better mercs... I just get kinda attached to them and it seems, that a team that worked together for weeks is simply better than some random mercs, who don't even know each other. Yeah, I know it has no influence on any game values at all, but it feels right to me.

That's about his only failing IMO (along with low initial MEC, which can be raised fast). And it rarely comes up anyways. It's a fair trade off for all his other stats and very cheap price.

Actually, I think Claustrophobic is more annoying than Non-Swimmmer. As a matter of course, you do more underground sectors than water sectors. "Nervous" can be a PITA too (don't leave Flo in San Mona alone).

- John

I know we had a thread like this, but I can't find it.

Your favourite team that you hire every time? I know everybody has a few favourite ones.
List them here.

AFAIK, Barry can go in water. He's just not a very good swimmer and he'll run out of energy faster. Swamps should be okay because most swamps are pretty shallow (at least in plain ole JA2), and it's not a good idea to go in deep water anyways (vulnerable to enemies, damages equipment, ect.)

- John

Core team from day 1:
Barry (smart, okay shooter, demolitions, lockpicking)
Igor (smart, good shooter)
Bull (Boxer, backup)
Malice (I just like the 'joual' Han? ) Great shooter and good morale. As an added bonus/minus, Ira hates him. "I can't stand that Malice person!"

Possible Extras:
Grizzly
MD
Grunty
Fox

Post insertion:
Flo (gun sales and training)
Gasket (repairs, if you're desperate he can be a decent fighter)
Haywire and Razor (too much fun to pass up!)

Freebies:
Ira (almost unavoidable but a decent medic and good trainer)
Dmitri (although he's not such a great recruit he's got decent repair skills and can shoot a bit)

If I feel like spending money after a week I hire Wolf and maybe Raven and later on Buzz. I can't think of any 'high end mercs" I've hired for more than a day or two. I find the low end mercs more entertaining and they usually progress fast enough to outstrip their betters.

I like a team with high wisdom so they'll improve alot faster!~

Main Assault team:
IMP (High Wisdom)
Thor (Wisdom 97, nice physical stats and a good shooter at the start)
Barry (Wisdom 91, Okish physical stats, Top explosive guy, With a little training a good mechanic, Ok-shooter)
Danny (Wisdom 91, Medic, Very nice phyiscal stats (shooting should be trained))
Dr. Q (Wisdom 91, Ninjaguy, Medic, Okish physical stats(shooting should be trained))
or Stephan (Wisdom 94, Nice physical stats, good shooter when starting with)
Later Trevor is added to my main squad (Wisdom 97,Super Mechanic, Top Explosives, Overall top stats)

2nd (backup squad who kills roaming enemy's and retakes city/sams etc)
Conrad (pointman)
Iggy (sniper)
Ira (with a little training nice backup-shooter, should be muted all times )
Miguel (pointman)
Maddog (HW-guy)
Vince (medic, High wisdom, later on explosive man)

Squad 3 (militia trainers and town defenders, pack mules etc)
Carlos
Dimitri
Devin
Dynamo
Shanks
Robot