JA2 - random enemy patrols - avoid or kill?

[Varn]

I've just started playing JA2 for the first time given the rave reviews it got on this site. I've taken Drassen and Chitzena and am working on building up militia in both those towns, and am now going to go back and try for the SAM site near Drassen, where I was previously demolished by enemy grenades. Was playing with Razor and Haywire but sadly, Razor was killed by an enemy sniper at the Chitzena graveyard and Haywire will now have to walk this road alone.

However on the way back from Chitzena I've encountered like 4 separate enemy patrols with at least 8 guys in each patrol. Each battle takes quite a bit of health out of my mercs as well as depletes my ammo. My mercs seem to gain a bit of experience/skills from each battle but they lose tons of ammo and I use lots of health packs. I haven't found a way to get more ammo or health packs reliably yet as Bobby Ray's doesn't sell much rifle ammo or health packs yet. And all my mercs' inventories are full with items from the battles but I have nowhere to sell them so the battles waste a lot of my money.

I was wondering if I should take on the enemy each time on the assumption that sooner or later, Deidranna's forces are going to run out? Or does she have a never-ending amount of troops so I should just retreat unless I can afford to trade-off the ammo/health for increased merc skills? Apart from the obvious issues with the battles they also take a long time to finish as it's ordinarily a drawn out shoot-out between either side hiding in the trees and missing most of the time as my mercs are still low-level. Each battle can take up to an hour. Ideally I wouldn't have to be fighting all the time with such little reward or this game is going to take 100's of hours to complete.

 

[someone else]

From what I know and this knowledge is dated: Troops spawn periodically in 2 locations. I suggest avoiding patrols and concentrating on liberating. That is, if your militia can handle the patrols.

 

[RK47]

You shouldn't fight if there's nothing much to gain. The chance of avoiding wounds when your mercs are equipped with mostly pistols and smgs aren't very good. I'd say avoid them. Eventually, you will want to take them out since Deidranna will start sending out attack force..and if they encircle your town, they can combine groups into one assault.

As for ammo and places to sell your junk. Try San Mona gun store. The rest, try to discover it on your own. Cities have unique stores and sometimes side missions to complete. San Mona is one prime example for optional side content that could be rewarding if completed correctly.

 

[spectre]

Don't dawdle in the woods, get on liberating, as said.
Soon enough, you will get your hands on some good hardware.
You should get your first rifle and some ammo right after liberating the first town, you should get some more after defending the first counterattack and clearing a SAM site.

Afterwards, you should have enough hardware to consistently take on and kill patrols.
Don't rely on Bobby Ray's too much. Util you liberate a few towns, he won't have much.
In fact, you may consider going for Chitzena first and trade with Tony in San Mona.
If you find and kill the terrorist in Chitzena, you will also get a nice gun as a bonus.


Regarding patrols, don't bother with them if you can't take them. They just walk their beat and only obstruct your movement. You may want to clean this up later on.

Apart from the obvious issues with the battles they also take a long time to finish as it's ordinarily a drawn out shoot-out between either side hiding in the trees and missing most of the time as my mercs are still low-level. Each battle can take up to an hour

You may want to reconsider your tactics then. In the begining, your starting mp5 should outrange most enemy guns by a bit, giving you a much needed edge in firefights (you generally shouldn't shoot outside the gun's range, cause it halves chance to hit).
Always try and flank (once the bad guys go prone, they become really ssceptible to this) and always take your time to aim, and if you get bogged down this way, try hiding behind corners or fighting at night (get Night Ops and NV goggles for it).

One silly question, you know that you can aim your guns by right clicking a few times? This may be the reason you can't hit shit. I know many people (me included) missed this on their very first play, so just asking. You seem to use spend too much lead for just a bunch of redshirts here.

If the problem is that your guys are low on marksmanship, reconsider your squad composition. Don't take on weaklings in hopes of training them up. 1-2 points in a stat won't make too big a difference.
You should have your IMP merc with ~80 marksmanship, and unless you're playing on Hard, you should have enough money to afford a 2-3 mid-level mercs for a week or two (Len, Stephen, Meltdown, Buns, Buzz, Wolf), all of them have MRK around 80 and that should be enough to consistently hit the broad side of the barn. Of course, they won't hit shit with pistols, but you should find a few range 20+ guns with little searching, and some of these mercs should bring their own (Len is fairly inexpensve and comes with a M4 , IIRC - 2-3 shots will drop a man at medium range).

Also, this belongs in Strategy Gaming, mang.

 

[Gregz]

I've just started playing JA2 for the first time given the rave reviews it got on this site. I've taken Drassen and Chitzena and am working on building up militia in both those towns, and am now going to go back and try for the SAM site near Drassen, where I was previously demolished by enemy grenades. Was playing with Razor and Haywire but sadly, Razor was killed by an enemy sniper at the Chitzena graveyard and Haywire will now have to walk this road alone.

However on the way back from Chitzena I've encountered like 4 separate enemy patrols with at least 8 guys in each patrol. Each battle takes quite a bit of health out of my mercs as well as depletes my ammo. My mercs seem to gain a bit of experience/skills from each battle but they lose tons of ammo and I use lots of health packs. I haven't found a way to get more ammo or health packs reliably yet as Bobby Ray's doesn't sell much rifle ammo or health packs yet. And all my mercs' inventories are full with items from the battles but I have nowhere to sell them so the battles waste a lot of my money.

I was wondering if I should take on the enemy each time on the assumption that sooner or later, Deidranna's forces are going to run out? Or does she have a never-ending amount of troops so I should just retreat unless I can afford to trade-off the ammo/health for increased merc skills? Apart from the obvious issues with the battles they also take a long time to finish as it's ordinarily a drawn out shoot-out between either side hiding in the trees and missing most of the time as my mercs are still low-level. Each battle can take up to an hour. Ideally I wouldn't have to be fighting all the time with such little reward or this game is going to take 100's of hours to complete.

Let your militia deal with patrols, they will train up to veteran and any killed are easily replaced.

Claim Drassen one square at a time working south. After you claim the far north square, train a militia to the full limit for that square (I think it's 30 or so). Then when you move down into the 2nd square, you have the option of letting the militia 'join the fight'. There's also a way to have your mercs retreat back to the 1st square before combat begins. Then do quick-combat, and your militia should win the battle. Then retrain both squares back to full capacity, and repeat for the 3rd southern-most square. Fill all 3 with militia, and use them liberally for the counter-attack (I assume you are playing 1.13) in the same fashion (retreat your party) to the previous square. After you have secured Drassen, train mobile militias. The mobile militias should be able to span into the SAM site. Then you can repeat this trick again.

Barring the initial north square battle, you can take all of Drassen and the SAM site without your merc party firing a single shot.

Be advised that 1.13 implements a recurring cost for militias that adds up fast, this strategy works fine early, but if you keep adding too many militia, you will run out of cash.

(you can edit the .ini to reduce or completely remove this recurring cost if you want)