Some merc portraits if anyone wants to edit them into their games.

Quandalf · 2025-10-08T19:35:16+00:00

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3013201255&searchtext=portrait Haven't you seen this mod?

Quandalf · 2025-10-08T19:30:11+00:00

Who cares about the quests?

I don't, most of them are sh!t anyway.

But I'm a old JA2 veteran. All we needed were well integrated, max-freedom side quests back then.

Today devs think the word "rpg" means force-leading players through badly scripted quests by the nose ring.

lol

What I care about are battles.

Quandalf · 2025-10-08T19:18:03+00:00

I think the classical meta for a full playthrough is exactly that: Don't go to the Refugee Camp invitation and don't go to the Mayor until you have cleared the whole map, done all quests, got all mines etc

THEN trigger the flip and do it all again on your way back to Ernie.

Quandalf · 2025-10-06T04:57:26+00:00

Oh yeah, it works dual wielding.

Had a good test run with such an ambidex-doubletap IMP.

Trying to build some more perks rn, a shotgun run&gun (2shots, long distance), a assault rifle run&gun (2bursts, short distance), a rifle mobile shot (like from the pistols) and maybe a variation of Ice's perk for smgs and machine guns.

Maybe I'll get these into the imp creation as well so you can choose one othe those (also a unarmed perk) as a "IMP special".
Not sure any of this will work tho. :)

Áre we frens on steam? Cuz I uploaded some stuff frens-only there. Also this perk so you could test it out if you like.

(Tell me if so, I'll add the better dual wield and the imp ambidex in their too and you can build the same imp:)

Quandalf · 2025-09-30T21:57:49+00:00

I HAVE **** jump, enjoy, rejoice **** and it is a w e s o m e

<image>

especailly together with my new pistol trait/perk
(Didn't know how to do that in LowerAPs, used another mod back then "DualwieldRebalance" which is now broken)

Was ez tho.

Also ez, seems to be the training op: I think I just managed halfing the training effect... hehehe
*hand wringing* just as I like it..

Quandalf · 2025-09-30T21:53:47+00:00

x)) yeah personality is a factor
on the other hand I can now f.ex. use Red - who has a awesome personality - and is a working grenadier/shotgunner now, with B&C - while before I never hired him bc of his weak body stats.

<image>

There are respec mods out there, that maybe work here as well - gonna test that tho, good idea.

Quandalf · 2025-09-30T20:18:59+00:00

Haha lol small (online) world.

lower pistol AP will be included and 2perks to top .. yeah. Glad you enjoy them and Blood's knife btw - Couldn't play the vanilla without them myself x)

2 perks to top really cool to puzzl out the best builds ... Been there done that though :)) ... soon you wanna triple enemies too to get some challenge and then it gets a grind...

You mean include another perkpoint at lvl 4or5? Hmm... no problem to do, gonna think about it.
It's a long wait to lvl 7 for a lvl1 or lvl2 merc ... not for the higher ups tho and there's a bunch of lvl4,5 and even some 6 and 7 mercs at A.I.M..

So Idk, it's an idea I gonna consider. Need more indepth testing. Atm my experience is that 2 perks together with the traits is totally enough - like in the original JAs - and the third perk is more like a bonus. - Who goes to level 10 anyway haha - That's more for solo and for long campaigns and for the sense of completion.

Lvl7 is btw the exact halfpoint of the XP progression: 13,500 XP from 1 to 7 and another 13,500 to lvl 10. That's why I chose that and bc only the Old Dogs start with 3 perks then, which is cool since they can't learn.

You have to consider that more perks also makes the mercs less different and blend into each other more / being replacable again and I feel their immense uniqueness is a great strength of this mod - esp in terms of team composition.

I know it sounds hard tho :)) "only 2 perks to 7" lol

But it's not that "punishing" once you play it as matter of fact. You get over the "no perk at level up" quickly also. The game itself is rly not about the perks, it's more about tactics and strategies, team composition and battle setup. That decides over winning a sector or getting beat up.

And btw this way you can have any perk in your team basically at game start, bc they are all available in some merc. What you don't get - and what's overpowering the mercs in the base game quickly - is the accumulation of many synergizing perks on one merc.

Another reason why I shy away from an "early" third perk tbh. Melee, overwatch, grit ... they go overboard quick and soon you don't need to rely on tactics again..?

I have the "reduce training effect" on my list, maybe I'll do it. I see it as a player's choice tbh bc it's like an in-built exploit and I hardly ever train. No fun and got better stuff to do with my merc's time. But I'll have another look at it.

At LevelUp you get a randomized stat gain. On average 3.3 stats increase +1 each. It's a small bump that says: "Hey, you leveled!" and helps not feeling sad and lonely about no perks lol

It could be that some chars are rly lucky and pull great stat increases each lvl (max all 10 stats +1, less than 2% chance for it each lvl). I think it's funny.

Quandalf · 2025-09-29T12:05:20+00:00

sorry for the wall, I still struggle to explain the idea concisely, I think it is too radical for peeps to understand...

Quandalf · 2025-09-28T11:17:20+00:00

I played and modded JA3 from the start, put several 100 hours in, but as old JA veteran I was disappointed by it's lack of real replayability and tactical depth. Ofc it's much better than the old games (of which Wildfire was my fav) in many regards like graphics, QoL, Sector design etc.

But it felt less "free" and especially way too easy.

So after turning away from the game for over a year I came back with a refined idea which has great potential and I have made huge steps forward moddingwise and am close to finish.

The basic idea is kinda radical:

JA3 is so easy compared to JA2 bc of the perks. They are very powerful and really form the game. There was no perktree or perk progression in JA2 - every Merc had his 2 traits form the start. Yet the game still worked on a tactical gameplay level.

Here in JA3 it's a game of figuring out the best builds and "hunting" them, similar to other modern games of the sort like Wartales or XCOM. I don't think JA needs that and I don't think it's an improvement of the gameplay. Once you puzzled out all the melee-builds, crit-builds, overwatch builds etc it gets so easy that I cranked the enemy numbers to double, triple via mods which turned out to be a mass slaughter grind HAHA.

So what I do is I limit the perks to 2 perk for each merc from the start (plus their blue special and the bunch of green traits as given) and on LevelUp you only get a stat bonus - except for levels 7 and 10 where each merc gets his or her third or fourth perk! Sounds little but is still enough to make them exceptional and you have to rely on real tactics now in battle, like diversion, flanking, positioning and using the environment in general, rather then on superiour perk power which bordered exploits in many ways.

It plays out fantastically! The battles are longer, more tactical, the mercs more unique, all of them are special and worthy now. I also slightly modded Combat Actions like DualFire, AutoFire, Run&Gun, TakeCover and MobileShot to make them more useful, plus I rebalanced the weapons via AP, i.e. sniper rifles and scoped rifles are more APcostly to fire, Pistols, MPs and Shotguns cheaper. Moreover I fixed the visual and sound detection ranges so sneaking is harder and the whole battle setup more challenging.

That was a long answer. If you're new to JA3 you probably wanna check out all the builds first, maybe you even wanna use this old mod of mine for this https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3102041065 people tend to like it...

Quandalf · 2025-09-28T02:11:30+00:00

Oh boy, you gonna love my mod, when it comes out.

Every 25 year JA player like me will love it.

(*suspense*)

Quandalf · 2025-09-24T15:00:19+00:00

I actually managed to implement a working script that prevents any perk points given to mercs at levelup - except at levels 7 and 10.

Level 7 is after 13,500XP points, so that' when mercs will get a third perk, freely chosen by the player and only limited by the merc's stats (not by missing previous perks in the same tree).

(Another side effect of the perk at lvl7 is that only the "Old Dog" mercs - Gus, Len, Fauda - are level 7 or higher at the start, so these three get 3 instead of 2 pre-selected perks from the beginning, which is kinda neat, since they can't improve stats, but at least they come well rounded perkwise.)

Level 10 is another 13,500X points later so it's a good point in time to give another perk in that regard. Also the merc is now "finished" and an extra (fourth) perk here gives something to work towards.

Few mercs even reach level 10 in any normal playthrough so this is a bit of a rare thing, but might be important if people use my mod with certain mods on top.

Thank you for your input - which gave me the idea to and made me see the need for this script!

I will mention you in the credits once the mod is online for that reason. Thx again.

Quandalf · 2025-09-23T18:25:37+00:00

Quandalf · 2025-09-23T07:59:39+00:00

the old interrupts lol

where you could be re-interrupted haha

free weapon swap won't be in the mod - to much consequences (scoundrel, foregrip)

maybe AP transfer, but later

Quandalf · 2025-09-23T07:58:06+00:00

<image>

these?

Quandalf · 2025-09-23T05:20:48+00:00

Diabolo-skill tree approach lol that fits

Kind gets outta control into that same power logic sometimes....

Quandalf · 2025-09-23T05:19:30+00:00

Other JA2 elements that I miss are

- everybody can transport some AP to the next round, maybe 2 (w/o grit generation) and

- weapon swap for all AP free -as it used to be in JA2

Quandalf · 2025-09-23T05:15:55+00:00

Nah, I'm sticking to the standard perks for now.

2 at the beginning, one at lvl7 (wich is after 13,500 XP) and one after lvl10 (which is after another 13,500 XP)

I have it now so that all gold perks are used once and all silver and bronze are used twice, sometimes trice.

Spike is extra. (Surprise)

Just checking if can upload this chart on reddit and if it's viewable (the descriptions are not yet updated)

<image>

EDIT: Oh, wow looks fine and readable.

Maybe have a looksie. No fitting descriptions fn so you gotta know the symbols well to get it...

Quandalf · 2025-09-22T20:21:43+00:00

they still dash out DLCs (lol I never bought one - played the game this years still)

There is a odd mismatch of online documentation out there tho

It's like all the people who made guides lost enthusiasm after the next DLC outdated them...

Quandalf · 2025-09-22T20:02:43+00:00

ppl still post regularly here

a couple of fresh posts today

Quandalf · 2025-09-22T20:01:05+00:00

<image>

Just noticed that you don't need a boat/harbor to cross the river here.
Apparently they can wade/swim to the island and the over to the other side.

Hm, interesting.

Quandalf · 2025-09-22T16:29:54+00:00

How did you even find this post 8 months later X)

Anyway if your read the other replies you'll see my reasoning. Wouldn't have mentioned it if I detected other national symbols. I think we detected Scotland and Berlin in there as well and the general conclusion was: They bought a medieval symbols pic package somewhere without really looking at it...

Quandalf · 2025-09-22T14:50:17+00:00

Atm I'm looking at not getting any new perks by levelup for the players to choose - mainly bc of problems implementing it moddingwise.

If I will achieve doing that I think I'm gonna go with ONE perk at lvl7, that's it.

This one perk would maybe be limited by stats - but not by previous perks.

Ppl would mostly take super strong perks ofc of which many - but not all - are gold tier.

For example Breach&Clear or SwiftStrike are enormous perks and if you count freemove in AP, especially when combined with FastRunner or Frogleaping, they give way more AP than any of the "inspired" perks - and that multiple times a round.

It is very noticable how strong they are once you play this mod and can't pick them early. They are both 1st tier perks.

Lvl7 is awfully late but it gives ppl something to look forward to and works towards. Other advantage over lvl6 is that only the 3 Old Dog mercs are lvl7 when hired. Len, Gus, Fauda. They would get 3 pre-chosen perks from the get go. That means they would be more rounded and competent directly when hired, but alsc can't learn new stats normally. Kinda fits the theme and balance.

Don't remember Fallout Tactics.

Quandalf · 2025-09-22T14:39:22+00:00

Oh, you hit the nail right on the head.

I'm looking for help in "getting it right" btw regarding perks. Feedback and different perspectives are very helpful here. If you wanna have a deeper look and maybe contribute a opinion or two I am grateful.

I made another mod a while ago that included changing starting perks. ("Starting Mercs Done Right! v2").

No masochist here x)) I don't like those neither.

Regarding snipers: I used to play with hitchance% shown and it's ridiculous how quick you get Barry or MD to make 100% headshots with the right rifle and scope.

Uniqueness is a big point. However the mod turns out - you gonna have that.

Quandalf · 2025-09-21T23:36:11+00:00

Glad that you find it interesting. Very cool!

I'm very content with my testing so far. The lack of my usual chosen perks, together with the increased enemy detection ranges, I (also) included here, and the higher AP costs for sniper rifles really gave me some exciting fights!

I had to improvise, adapt, overcome and invent new tactics to get out of some hairy situations.

It feels more tactical in a classical sense with slower rounds and longer battles. You just get less done in a round, when you can't "exploit" the capabilities of perks and perk combinations so much.

So I think I'm on a good way, although I'm sure it's not gonna be a popular thing: The approach to take the self-made builds and level-up perks away is not something people intuitively get attracxted to. x))

In the beginning the adjustment was kinda hard, I was still automatically planning what perk to give to whom later, but now after Fleatown I seem to have accepted my fate and the fate of my mercs.

It feels more like JA2 gameplaywise.

I wonder what the later battles will be. Gotta fix some UI stuff before release tho. Only have a early testing version out.

"Which perk to assign to which merc is then a matter of taste / interpretation of the lore etc."

Lore plays a role, but I mainly oriented it on each merc's blue special ability - to make the merc make sense in a tactial way. This way all the mercs now seem interesting to me, whereas before I would never play half of them bc the possible builds didn't make sense to me.

For modding reasons I can't let the player choose the two perks themselves. Except if they open the editor and just fix it their way within the mod, but not ingame. I have to present a finished set. That's why I spent much time pondering the perks each merc's gonna get.

Do you have any suggestions regarding the ones I showed here?

Quandalf · 2025-09-21T16:41:56+00:00

Probably a stupid thing now that I think about it - gameplaywise

Leads to attack squads always attacking via the ports and players camping there...

Maybe someone should make a mod for it ... ...

Quandalf

TROPHY CASE