Community Wishlist

Community Wishlist Section

Welcome to the Community Wishlist 

Here you can post about your wishes for JAF as well as comment on the features of the game during its development. 

Dear santa AKA The jolly fat man, for christmas I want an M60, plenty of ammo and...

The stuff you guys posted about the game so far sounds good and the new artwork really tickles me. =)

Here's a few things I really like to be put into flashback, that I found wanting in the old JA2.

-An M60: it might be my inner 8year old seeing Rambo for the first time that's branded it into my brainstem, but there's just no SAW like the Pig =) (and if you want proof, pick up The Punisher: long cold dark. and watch him and Barracuda duel with a pair of M60s and look no futher ^^)

-Improved stealth: I found the stealth system in JA2 horribly lacking. I could lie behind a tree, dead of night all camoed up, nice'an pretty. And the damn guard standing smack in the middle of a lamp post who ought to have be utterly nightblind spots me straight away. Very, very fustrating.

-Instant stealth kill: a neat segway from the stealth wish above, the few times I did manage to sneak up behind some enemy and take a bowie to his backside, he took a fair amount of damage and then proceeded to run a few steps, turn and shotgun my Merc in the face. VERY fustrating! It'd be nice if there was an insta kill mechanic, that if you're enemy is unaware of you and you make a closecombat attack he dies; Put a knife through his bloodpump, slit his throat, take a crowbar to his skullcap. I don't care how tough you are, you go down. Same should go with headshots (unless the man wears a helmet) you make a clean headshot on a enemy unaware of you, he goes down permanently. The old JA2 veteran enemies could take a freaking shotgun slug to the face and still keep coming, While challenging, it severly hampers the game immersion. I imagine it could be worked into the shooting mechanics with a TOHIT threshold you had to get over. Fair is fair, you take the man between the eyes, he goes down. you take his ear off, I'm pretty sure he'll sound the alarm. 

-Territory improvement: I'd like if in addition to the stuff you've already mentioned about various locations being able to be improved with bars, brothels, drug lab and so forth. If you could in addition to arming a militia (here it could be nice if there was a variable scale how how much cash you'd put into arming and armouring the militia) you could also mail order some browning 30cal and fortify the entry points to the town. Like if in addition to the regular militia gear, you could get them special equipment like machineguns, mines, grenades, sandbags and barbwire for fortified positions and such.  

That's what right off the top of my head. 

and yay for the page being back up ^^d

   

 

Dev-headshots

First-off, congrats on the sweet site!

The new artworks look great, too.
Can't wait to have a look at the more urban sectors.

My idea would be that, when you are creating the artworks for the new and old mercs, their 'profile pic' on AIM if you will, could you make the first mock-up series modeled on the development team.
The community could check out the new look and you guys would have some sweet as avatars.

best,
frab

 

Addon Shop (Outfits!)

Here's one of my wishes: I'd like to be able to buy the special outfits from the kickstarter campaign with PayPal! Any chance?

XCOM - Take some of the good concepts

Hi All,

There are some concepts in the new XCOM game that make the combat really fun.  I find it hard to put my finger on exactly what it is, but when I now go back to playing the original xcom or xenonauts, or even JA2 (sorry!) I just find the combat drags and is a bit boring.  The things missing from XCOM are the lack of depth or strategy - its all about getting behind cover and trying not to be flanked (which is somehow still very fun!)  Its very linear, and there are not many gear/loadout choices and certainly no "character" to the characters.  But it plays great! 

Will Full Control be taking any inspiration from XCOM?

Cheers,

Steve

Diminishing stats

Hello!

I'm guessing you have already oogled JA 2.13 and its extensive customization, my suggestion is that you actually make it an option if you want a critical headshot to lower wisdom (similarly dex when hit in the arm) To me, it was sacrificing functionality for "realism" since i pretty much always reloaded at those times (even if the stat was only lowered one point). You can make it a non-option in hardcore-mode however.

This raises another question - are you going the classic JA - style with use-stat or are you doing XP? The reason i am asking is that besides training (wich was pretty flawed in many ways, there really wasn´t many situations that increased your stats in anything other than Marksmanship. I LIKE stat-use, but i also like the idea of developing early recruits to compete with the later, more expensive ones.

Side Stepping

A couple of things I would like implemented are side stepping while crouched and jumping over a prone character. Side stepping I eventually worked out only worked standing up and jumping over a prone character I would get the icon but I never got to work in JA2. Both would improve on tactical gameplay.

The Santimental Value... of Items

Something I have experienced in real life regarding weaponry (or other items of high value) is the sense of ownership and attachment. While in most games you walk around stepping on guns and you would just pick up whatever looks fancy, in reality you would have your own weapon or a favourite weapon.

For example you are a merc and you have preference to (or are skilled with) bolt-action rifles. You have tested some rifles and you really like the classic M24 so you buy it. It is now your weapon - you like it, you are good with it and are getting better the more you use it. You spent money, time, parts to improve it, have a set of attachments that works best with it, maybe camo paint. You know exactly how reliable your weapon is, you clean it, keep it dry and so on. I would love to see this kind of match making for mercs and specific weapons. Even in the event of finding a slightly better rifle the merc should perform better with his familiar weapon. A very cool feature would be for weapons the eventually get their merc's name like Raven's Remington M24 and even if Raven gets killed the item would keep the name until someone else wields it better.

This sounds really cool to me, but I realise it would also require big scale, very detailed weapon models you can review, rotate, etc. The changes you make on attachments and improvements should also be visible. That's pretty much what I have for the wishlist :)

Audio

Hello!

Because a lot of games using the Unity Engine have severe sound issues coupled to HD/CPU activity, apparently related to a crappy threading model, I strongly wish for the devs to pay special attention to this part of the game experience!

Thanks :)

samm

Logos with shadow

Hello Full Controll

I have a special request. Would it be possible, that You do your all official logos also with a shadow. I can do this with a proper program, but when it will be done by You, it for sure will look max professional.

 

 

Demo Version

I know that it could be a bit to early to ask about it, but it's really important, do you have any plans, to release a demo version for everybody, several weeks before a proper full launch of the game?

A mechanics/immersion thread - Suggestions for pause-play and movement animation.

The semi turn-based play of the JA-series has always been a strong suit to me, but what the RealTime part of the game was always missing was some sort of "create orders - carry on". Usually, it meant a few soldiers trailed behind, making it difficult to execute triangulation tactics effectively. A pause-play order system could be a way around that.

This leads me to my other suggestion wich is about immersion/animation. Whenever i played JA2, and set up mercs during turn based mode. I made incremental moves, but after each movement, the merc went back to "idle", unless i gave a "aim here"-order. What i'd like to see is that the old "in movement"-stance is still in effect when i issue no other order than move. I still have to properly aim to benefit in interruptions right? It has no practical weight, but it does make for a more immersive experience to see the soldiers still "on the move" while i set them up. 

Learn by doing - NOT point buy

I made this thread before, but the website reboot killed everything.

JA, JA:DG, and JA2 all had "learn by doing" stat increase systems.  You gained Mechanical by fixing things; you gained Leadership by training militia; you gained Agility by moving around a lot; you gained Level by ... actually I'm not sure what the mechanism was!  But after participating for a while, you'd get a Level.

Back in Action had a horrible, traditional experience point system, where you levelled up predictably like clockwork, and every level just gave you a bunch of skill points to spend however you wanted.

The reason this sucked is that it made me less involved with what my guys were doing.  If I wanted to improve my Medical, I just stood around and shot bad guys until I levelled up, then spent points on Medical.  Lame.  Nothing was a surprise and nothing really felt earned.  Whereas in the original games, every time you gained a point, you really knew that that character had been exercising.

The character development system is a very important part of any RPG (or RPG hybrid).  Please preserve the classic system that made Jagged Alliance so involving and forget the pandering "just let the player pick whatever".  Thank you.

Map Editor

Hello

Thanks for the video about map making. Everything is based on tiles like in the old JA2. Memories are back :)

As I remember, you will release a map editor for modding the game after full launch of the Flashback. Will this be that editor from video or it will be something else?

merc survival / reloading

I made a similar thread before the forum reboot. As much as I like JA2, it bothers me that it's the kind of game, which is more or less unplayable without frequent reloading.

Reloading kills the thrill of a game and makes playing smart pretty much unnecessary. I don't want the game to be easy, just playable. The punishment for losing shouldn't be as devastating IMO.

 

Maybe it would be enough to

- make enemies ignore your badly wounded and unconscious mercs, instead of shooting them while passed out on the ground.

- give you more time before mercs are bleeding to death.

- create a kind of health buffer between incapacitated and dead (like from 0 to -50 or something).

(- and keep the imprisonment from JA2)

 

Back in the day, I used to play JA2 with reloading after pretty much every missed shot and every taken injury. Don't blame me, I was young ;)

I just don't ever want to play a game this way again. I've even come to enjoy rogue-likes like FTL, where reloading isn't an option. Please don't make it easy, but forgiving, so you don't have to cheat.

useless items!

hello guys

It just crossed my mind that there were a bunch of useless items in JA2. I would like to remind you not to forget to bring these into the game as well, since it meant something to the fun playing the game too.

The first useless item we all might have seen was perhaps in the demo version for Ja2: the porn magazine! Totally useless, even the description text confirms that, noone wants to have it, yet it had a sexy chick on that cover and back there in 99 or so I spent 2 minutes (and even more) to figure out whether and how I can take a look into it.

So at least that one has to be in the inventory, also other stuff like a spring or similar things where it may not be thaaat obvious that one can combine it with a rod or something to get new items to attach to guns. Further examples are e.g. portable TV, golf clubs, cigars, walkman (also usable to increase the morale while doing long trips when put on). This also creates a minor mistery making the player ask whether that item might be good for something, perhaps some civilian wants to buy/trade it (enabling some quests perhaps?), ... and so on

JA2 v1.13 Sight Cones, Snipers and Spotters.

In JA2 I found sniper rifles useless I got better results with my snipers when I equipped them with Steyrs with extended barrels. But with the Sight Cones in v1.13 using sniper rifles really came into their own and to a lesser extent any scope mounted weapon. So the first thing I will ask for is to use a similar system to v1.13 or at least a system where scopes increase visual range but a sight cone is good balancing. Now if scopes increasing visual range but limiting peripheral vision with a sight cone is implemented, I would like to see spotters used. Correct me if I am wrong, but spotters have three major functions. In the case of a targeted assassination type kill he is to assist the sniper in making the shot calling out changes in the environment that could affect the shot. Another is in the overwatch scenario (which is most likely to be in game) is that the spotter points out the targets for the sniper and lastly watches the snipers back.

In game a character acting as a spotter must have a spotter scope (or at least a good pair of binoculars at a lesser efficiency), be beside the sniper and (if the game permits) have some form of sniper training as well. Adding the spotter would increase the width of the sight cone of the sniper and improve the likelihood of the sniper seeing a hard to spot target in the sight cone. The spotter is also more aware of his immediate surroundings then the sniper. When acting as a team they share XP for the kills.

The mercenary portrait's. Differences

How much will be diffrent images mercenaries (A.I.M) in JA: Flashback from those in Jagged Alliance 2 and Jagged Alliance: Back in Action?

You can at this stage of production to present an example image of a selected mercenary?

Jagged Alliance Essence

to the developers of the game

Guys... stop doing what you are doing and read my words. You have undergone a path that leads to a cliff from which you WILL fall like the many before you. If thats what you want, go ahead. I dont mind.

I suggest you all go and replay Jagged Alliance (the first game) once again. Then you go and replay JA2. After you do that ask yourselves the questions: "What I liked?" and "What I did not liked?". Answering this questions might push you in the right direction. Also see how a true sequel is made.

i am very sad about how Jagged Alliance's glory is being washed away by every single ... whatever. you feel me, right?

HA-HA! Edit! (you know Claptrap?)

Coop Modus

Coop Modus to play the campaign together with friends.

I don´t know if it is possible, but i like the idea.

I remember my friend an i, playing the old JA2 taking turns. We just shared the mercenaries.

 

Jagged Alliance 2 v1.13

Hoi Chummers,

as Jagged Alliance 2 v1.13 is undoubtly the best ever made extension to JA2 Vanilla, I would like to know if the developers of Jagged Alliance Flashback are cooperating with the developers of this great mod?

An intensive crosstalk between both groups should have a very positive outcome to the final JA:F game.

So ka, Faramir

Alternative ways of hiring mercs, random weapon stashes

Hope this is kept from previous JA games! :)

I enjoyed running into random people who could be hired in game.  Side quests that lead to meeting a new merc, the scientist who creates a robot buddy in JA2, etc.

Also secret weapon stashes in random sectors!  

 

Surender!

Hi all!

 

What I seriously missed in JA as well Silent Storm was enemies that were smart enough to realize they had no chance to win because they were

1. badly injured

2. completely outnumbered

3. otherwise no match for your team.

In most games they still would go on and fight until they end lying in a puddle of blood. What I would like to add to the wishlist is enemies that actually surrender. Maybe they offer you cash if you let them walk or even switch sides and join your team. Either way it might offer some nice opportunities and add even more realism.

 

Cheers

Midwinter

Pick up and carry unconscious/wounded mercs

Just like the title says, will we be able pick up our fallen Mercenarys and carry them to safety?.

Also could be the same for the enemy, you see them carrying there wounded off.

Weapons and inventory system
Hi! I haven't seen someone mentioning this here yet, so: What are the plans for the inventory system and the number of weapons/available in the game? A big part of the fun in JA2 1.13 (at least for me) was browsing through the huge selection of Bobby Ray's store and ordering items eBay-style. I would spend a huge amount of time comparing the guns, stats, reading the flavor text and figuring out which attachments to use. Coupled with the inventory system of slotted backpacks, belts, legwear, etc it really felt like I was outfitting a real soldier to go into battle. I know that in a 2D game adding guns is simply a matter of coming up with the stats and slapping a picture on it. It seems impossible and time consuming to model in 3D all the guns and attachments present in JA2 1.13, but still I wish there was some effort to mimick that whole gun-nut experience in JAF. As a side note: I am a milsim paintball player and I can say that for most players customizing our markers (paintball "guns") with all kinds of scopes, rails, grips, triggers, etc is a big part of the experience (even if the changes are mostly cosmetic) and a big market for manufactures. Implementing a robust inventory system in the game could even open up a chance for some nice item based updates/DLC in the future.

Please tell me this will be NOTHING like Jagged Alliance Online

No offense, but that free-to-play game made me more than a bit depressed.  Aside from being pay-to-win (or replay levels a rediculous amounts of time to get ahead) it was amazingly dumbed down.  Even moreso that JA BIA..

 

Really don't want to see that happen with Flashback.

 

Please tell me it won't!

Suggestions for improvement

Hey, i just play JA2:Wildfire again and want to make some suggestions for the mechanics.

1. Skills

Imo some of the skills in wildfire are quite well but some could be improved.

I mean the skills should be more important to the mechanic. An expert should really be an expert.

Sometimes i cannot differentiate an expert with an "other skilled" merc. An example:

- Knife (its frustrating to attack an enemy with a knife expert and after he arrives he has only AP left for one attack and dont hit. The answer is Headshot -> dead inc - I mean he should just cut in two the enemy :-))

2. Expolosives / TNT / Grenades etc.

- It has been very often i throw a grenade and hit the enemy but next round he just stands up and acts like it was nothing (this mechanic should also me improved whether it is a vakuum grenade or a normal etc.)

- TNT and stuff

I just had an enemy hiding in a room like a sniper and only 1 door with no windows around.

I tried different tactics to kill him without getting interupted or something. It was nearly impossible with my mercs and so i decided to blow the wall away (he was hiding right next to it at the other side. Well there was large hole in the wall but the enemy even didnt get damaged a little.

Improvement recommended :-)

3. Interupts

I know this is part of the game but some enemys are so hard hiding where its always a lot of luck needed to kill him bevor he headshots my merc to death.Like in the example above especially in closed rooms where u only are able to enter it trough a door or blow somethig away (what isnt a good idea if there are cuvilians in the room too :p

Any changes here welcome to me.

4. I dont know if this is intentional but:

Often Merc 1 detected an enemy and the game changes to turn-based mode and its my turn.

(Normal turn and no interupt)

So now i want my Merc 2 to kill that enemy even he still cannot see the enemy but he is near him. (around the corner or stuff) So i start moving around the corner with merc2 to kill him but suddenly the enemy gets an interupt while he is the hole time in eyeshot of merc1. Thats weird i mean isnt it possoble for merc1 gives merc2 an sign that around the corner is an enemy? wouldnt that be better? even for some tactical things? Imo it would.

Thats all for now - so good luck and thanks.

 

Fast Travel / Transportation

I really like the subway system in Urban Conflict. I always loved to put all the stuff I found into one sector and the subway made that way easier. In vanilla JA2 that would take forever. Same when buying new stuff and picking it up from the airport. Using the chopper/a car still took quite some time and manpower.
Of course a subway wouldn't fit in JAF, but I would love a way to be able to quickly transport items without having to get a complete squad just for that. Maybe the ability to send a convoy with your stuff, if the way from your current location to your base is secured. I think they shouldn't be too easy to obtain and there should be a possibility that this convoy might get attacked. In this case I wouldn't want the items to get lost forever, though. I think you should be able to get them back if you are fast enough by finding out where the enemy took them.
Any other ideas to implement something like this? Are you completely opposed?

Also I would appreciate keeping the ability to sell stuff in the sector menu. That made micromanaging a lot easier.

Tactical and Strategic Difficulty / Sandbox / Logistics

hello, in short iam quiet entusiastic about this, i just found out about it now, cause ive been away from computers and stuff for some time.

i sunk countles houers into ja2 vanilia, different mods of it and v1.13 wich is awsome...when it works :P

i had the tendency to make the game insanely difficult, v1.13 gives you lots of options there and i thought about a lot what actualy makes the game difficult, what is good difficulty and what not in my eyes. whatever, also i want to suggest or remind some random stuff that i consider very important for a JA2 style game. also right at this point most dear thanks to everyone in the team for makeing this.

 

 

first i want to talke about tactical difficulty;

i hope difficulty will be dependent on number of enemies and their equipment, not so much artificial magic that boosts their hp or accuracy or action points or such things.

this artificial boots are usually quiet frustrating, while additional enemies are usually fun, more mobile things shooting at you, more action points for the enemy in a beliveable way, more variables to calculate into your moves, artificial boosts to AI soldier stats dont give the same fun.

 

specific about AoE weapons like gas, hand granades, molotov´s or the legendary mortar. (plz dont take gas out and mortar out ;) )

these suffer often one of these two problems, throwing range gimped or damage gimped.

often the game has so few(but hard) enemies that when you see a group of 2 or 3 guys you need to quick save and sprint there to get you granade in while its still worth it cause your laden with granades but usually it is faster to shoot the enemy dead and granades become worthless. again more enemies fix that.

in the end maybe these game try to make a single enemy "meaningfull" but screw that, a won fight against lots of enemy is meaningfull, red shirts fall by the hundrets they are not meaningfull individually!

 

what i want to say with my bumpy english is when you want to make a difficult tactical fight dont work on the individuals makeing up the fight but think of the fighting AI soldiers more of like a mass of water swaping against the player. the individual is not important, its the mass that gives the rewarding battle. i dont say you should throw masses of sheep that are easy to kill, but you get what i mean i hope.

no artificial difficualy  but make fights harder with a measure that you can "see" and isnt so much under the hood.

 

 

Strategic difficulty;

i dont know how the strategic map will look like and if it will have any meaningfull number of sectors to visit and "liberate" to even talk about this but i hope it has and follows a similar approach like ja2 with sectors(unlike the JA BIA way to do it wich was just lazy i think).

that said, i hope the endless sandbox possibilety does not get lost on the strat map. v1.13 showed what the strategic game can be like in ja2. i dont talk bout the new features but the possibilety to modifie the troop pool and the spawn frequency of troops and how many per time incement. over the time of some v1.13 campains i killed literally thousends of red shirts, mercs where learning too fast for strat map progress but didn matter.

 

now i dont suggest adding some insane difficulty or so, but think about to give the new "deidrana" some bite. even in ja2 vanilia she would never come back at you, drassen counter attack disabled and a sector you once had she wouldnt touch. and thats good for "easy" mode but not good enough for some dynamic stategic map action where you have more then one team ( oh please dont cap at 6 man, keep the max 18), possibly airlifted around in a mobile defense against the strategic ai. the military "strategy" ja2 vanillia required from the player was minimal, "you" selecting the way through the squares and fight enemy as he poped up, that is quiet light on strategy, and i hope this can be expanded, even if only by uncapping some variables on higher difficulty settings to make ai more agressive and mobile on strat map. in ja2 vanillia the financial or economical strategy required with merc payment and needed income was "harder" then the actualy fighting strategy about how to deploy your teams.

again, i hope the required strategic effort on the strat map can be raised compared to vanilia ja2 without, and that is important, giving the ai some unfair advantages that are potentially very frustrating.

 

 

general difficuly;

this may have sounded like "i want more enemies" but in fact its fanboyish rave for one of two different shools of thinking, one makes "one" enemy harder, the other makes more of the same type enemy to up challenge, like many weak goblins in packs in RPG´s.

from my personal expirience and what i read of others in different forums, the "one superhuman" enemy aproach is more frustrateing, more unbelivable and less fun. however its light on CPU and maybe GPU, in short less to calculate for the pc so i guess that is the main reason why one would opt for the superhuman aproach.

 

what we want in the end is that when we set up the mercs and the AI is crashing in after battle has been initiated, the ai should force us to consider doing more then just shooting, forcing us to reposition, optimize and streamline to be more efficient in killing the ai. when the settings are to easy its just a move to good point, then set up and kill the sheep comming to the slaughter.

i hope the way to force us to do stuff other then shooting is not by presenting targets that needs several bursts to the head to get even exhausted (plz keep the blue bar and water bottles!!!) and do insane damage individualy but to present more targets, maybe even from 2 or 3 general directions but all with "believeable" strenght.

maybe consider giving us more then "one" difficulty setting for strat and tactical play, but give us 1 for strategic difficulty and 1 for tactical difficulty.

 

also no weird save restrictions please, is rarely saw people who like this :)

 

 

Sandbox

here i just want to say in short that i hope ja:f keep the sandbox feel of the game, the go where you want aproach(no tunnel strat map like JA2:UB). in ja2 "the way was the goal" in a way but it was also the "goal" to kill deidrana, and it was possible to go there directly no artificial borders, only thing in between was difficult fights and much sneaking and turn based trickery but doable and viable, same way as the slow and steady aproach to reach the goal.

 

the game could be and was secretive and cryptic, some locked doors it took me a long time to get behind, some puzzles i never solved myself but only read about them(like code card form junk jard guy).

it can be seens as a "merc manager" within a sandbox, where you can micromanage enverything down to the last bolt. i hope not much micromanagement is cut, after all it adds complexity and complexity is what made ja2 great if nothing else. if ja:f comes with to much streamline and reduction of complexity it can not  surpass ja2 especially on the strategic map and strategic play, in my eys.

i hope this most awsome scope ja2 came with is not lost in its new incarnation.

 

 

Logistics;

 

here i just want to put a reminder about one of the bigger RPG components that add to a rpg, item hording, the drive get better stuff. witht his comes lots of items that you need to tackle. in almost all my ja2 games i had alma as my base and item distribution center, 4 sectors 1 for ammo and explosives, 1 for weapons and their attachments, 1 for armor and their attachments, and one for the rest. i had 1 cheap speck guy hired only for fly around with the chopper and pick up items and stash them in the "base" so my fight squad is not bothered with item handling from a certain point on, mean you have air mobility(plz keep it!) and the cash to pay for it.

 

with that i want to say the v1.13 features that regard sector inventory, like more items per page, sortable and higher stacks are all good and make sense and should not be disregarded to ease the item hunt and stashing of the items.

 

 

Complexity vs Accessabilety

 

iam no def ovcourse but i game since quiet a time and it seems every def these days need to or is forced to ask himself the quetion, how can i make the game more accessible. PC game market is extremely contested and buyers are picky and easylie wraped in at the same time, weird combination, few want to spend effort to "learn" or get to know a game. complexity, something seen as good not long ago, is now a enemy, a enemy fircely fought against, every big series and many smal, suffers from the "we want to make the game more accesible" syndrom. they got to make more sales, sure, but price of victory is high.

 

anyways, what these games like to do is to brag about their heritage a lot, like its part X of the "good old" series of games, "what can go wrong, we streamline it a bit make it more accesible, you will like it. its a blast.". 

hype is created, screens throwen and the momentum takes over at a certain point. marketing knows its way around, they can sell you dirt for 69.90€

but over time, and that is the ironic point, these series have lost much of what they actually brag about. they made the complex so accessible, that there is no complexity left, but complexity is what made most of them 90ies and early 2k PC legends great. dont loose that sweet complexity in JA:F, not in strat map, not in tac map ... please, please, please. dont just bolt JA franchise onto something.

 

 

best wishes to the team and best of luck for the project! i and many others would love to see a worthy JA2 successor with true turnbased mode come into existence.

Main Outpost in the game

Probably you were playing in JA Online, there is a base that during our game we are building and upgrading. Is there any chance that this feature will be implemented in Flashback.

Our mercs will land in San Hermanos and the game begin, so there will be a need to create the main outpost for our stuff and everything similar. It could be nice when we would have everything arranged in one sector. There is an important topic about transportation in game, so this gathered weapons and items we must deliver somewhere to one safe place, perhaps main outpost, will be a good place for it.

This base (as it is in JAO) we could improve or upgrade during the game, there could be a main field hospital and workshop, shop for selling unwanted items etc.

Is this kind of feature is fitting to your plans, how the Flashback should looks like in the full release.

JA2 Soundtrack?

Hey guys,

I really wish you could use some parts of the old JA2 Soundtrack (it's awesome!). At least I think that you have the rights to do so (if i remember correctly you used the laptop theme in one of the dev videos).

So basically my question is if we can enjoy JA2 Soundtrack in Flashback?

Thanks!

Btw.: I'd really like the old laptop interface to be reintroduced because it fit perfectly into the game (e.g. websites to hire your mercenaries/weapons/insurance and not just a list).

There should be a good chance of us bringing it back, especially because of the Radio function we want to add to the game - JA classis channel :)

For the interface I'm a bit unsure how it's going to be, it also depends on the period of time the game takes place. Lets see what the designers end up with. 

 

 

Jagged Alliance Flashback Player Economy

In Jagged Alliance 2, players could only secure financing either from Enrico himself and his periodic deposits of money. Or by finding money along the way or the main source of independent funding of acquiring silver/gold mines. By securing these sites, we could enjoy a steady income stream.

However there was always the potential of expanding this game mechanic more. With the introduction of new base building mechanics which were hinted upon by the devs and the kickstarter, I was wondering how far that might actually extend?

1. Building Captures and business takeovers

Initially I began brainstorming and saw some JA2 instances were there might of been opportunities to make more money or allow for expandability. One of these was the Deidranna sweatshop ran by kids. I always felt once this building was captured, it would of been cool to setup shop for some other operation. Employing the local populace in much the same way it happens in games like Tropico. And setting up some sort of supply line to getting cheaper ammo or something functional for the player to capitalise on. 

2. Upgrading services and captured building expandability

Other ideas, were the brothels in San Mona. If one could liberate that town, perhaps depending on your moral disposition, you could potentially take a cut. Or outright muscle your way into being the next sole owner. I feel the possibilities in other buildings or structures are many. Ranging from the airstrip around Drassen and the hospital at Cambria. These could guarantee some sort of income from hospital fees (installing a doctor or 2 could facilitate a bigger service and earnings - allow quick surgery to injured mercs - expanding the hospital would require money but allow further perks like new equipment to improving merc recovery) or a steady supply line secured at the airport for some illicit gun trade or what not our player might want to initiate. These are just examples as we know the game won't take place in Arulco.

4. Creating rural businesses

Some other controversial ideas that came to mind was to use plantations or farms around the provincial areas as a form of securing more capital. It could be illicit drugs or to be politically correct some innocuous tabacco plantation. But the main feature being the ability to acquire such assets at all. Or fisheries and wharfs that could be turned into ports of call.

5. Privatization and Supply chains

Estoni gave me another idea about privatizing the junk yard (setting up a garage for repairing broken or breaking player owned or found vehicles) or gas station (cheaper gas, income from surrounding townsfolk using cars again as you gradually restore order). One could set up a continuous freight service (guns, more mercs, food for surrounding towns) at an Estoni type town and fix vans and jeeps there in order to keep a convoy of freight freely flowing as long as your mercs could secure the area. Of course acheiving these milestones would also build upon your infrastructure and earning capacity, it would allow things to get easier, such as more merc penetration into enemy territory, as well as faster modes of transport and defensive response times to counter attacks.

These types of buildings and facilities could always be recaptured or sabotagued. Meaning any improvements you made could be potentially used by the enemy making them stronger or delaying your campaign significantly.

Some of you may ask why would you need more ways to increase cashflow? The simple reason would be that unlike JA2 whereby you could easily keep your campaign going on basic mine operations. In JA:Flashback you would need more money in order to upgrade structures, purchase vehicle parts. Hire lower tiered NPCs (work for you indirectly ie teamsters, construction workers, sweatshop labor force, militia in securing supply lines) to get other jobs done. It would definitely be a much more in depth economic model.

All in all, this would provide a dynamic and reactive economy with the gameplay mechanics in place to make it a truly compelling subset to an already amazing game.

A sandbox mode!?

hi,

in my opinion has the game concept of JA great potential for a sandbox mode!

I'm always looking out for heavily sandbox driven types of games such as civilizations 5, FTL Faster Than Light (Infinite Space Mod], Prison Architect, The Movies, Star Trek: Birth of the Federation, X- Com or Armageddon Empires... 

Such games (some more, some less) shuffle the cards (or basic starting setup) every time you start a new game like for example a randomly generated world map, location & amount of resources or skills and traits that are available to you from the beginning!

I think we all agree that the RPG element of JA was and still is something awesome and a sign of quality -games nowdays do not add additional features anymore like rpg elements in a tactial round based- but after a certain amount of playthroughs you eventually skip the cut scenes & dialogs...

Sandox modes instead are there forever. The idea makes me still play games like star trek: Birth of the Federation (1999) nowadays or civ5 (more than 1.3k hours according to steam) because evey single time I start a game I'm confronted with new situations, problems and decisions.

I believe sanbox mode is perfect as an additional feature besides the story mode!

Godspeed, guys!

BTW:

I've just read an older article claiming you were working together with the v1.13 guys and even with some of the original JA devs? I'm srly excited to hear that !!! I missed the kickstarter but because of the good news I've just become a bloody slacker : P

New skill trait
Hi I'm very glad to hear that your team is developing JAF I think JA2 1.13's new skill system is very awesome I wish your team apply new skill system to JAF

synchronizations by fans (in addition to the english one)

I know that the budget isn't big enough for synchronizations other than english, but would you support fans doing that? The german community should be big enough to find enough good voices and probably other ones, too. For example german fans could also do voices for german mercs in other languages.
Having not only the text, but also the voices localized in more than one language should also help selling the game in more countries and gain more new fans.

Making stuff from random items (like the XRAY device)

What I liked about vanilla JA2, though they could have gone a little farther with it to my taste, was the possibility of making handy, funny or really awesome stuff by putting some times together that did not seem useful at all.

Especially the rod & spring was a useful thing to have, or the gun barrel extender.

Are you guys planning to put in this kind of stuff, if only for giggles? Some molotov cocktails, for instance, or home crafted contraptions. It could definitely add some depth to the gameplay... especially when it has the possibility to backfire.

Throwing gear

You can throw knives, and you can throw grenades. What I've missed in many games (turn-based or not) is the ability to throw gear at my team mates.

It's not a rare situation where my merc runs out of ammo, or starts bleeding in a position where I can't just send another merc to save him (due to risking lives of both or even the whole squad). And I'm not talking (writing) about long range item switching between inventories, but an actual throw which can end up in the wrong place if the merc throwing was the last kid to be picked for baseball team in gym class.

Just an idea, which could be quite easy to implement while "this early" into development?

interrogate & interaction with enemies

A) When an enemy soldier lies bleeding on the ground and you decide to bandage him maybe make him stand up after the sector has been cleared so that you can interrogate him which then again could lead to extra items, secrets, map information, special quest and so on ?

To add some risk, if you leave him at his spot to kill the rest of the enemies maybe some could recover to stab you in the back? Therefore handcuffs for example might do the trick which also aren't always 100%ly secure (condition/chance).

B) If you add ranks like sergeant, lieutenant, captain, general etc to enemy soldiers maybe make it so that you can take them as prisoner for ransom? Maybe one of those would even join your team as an additional secret merc?

 

Ninja Merc

Was watching American Ninja the other day and just thought could you include a Ninja mercenary in JA:F, complete with throwing knives, shurikens and a katana,

He could be useful for night missions, if theres day/night maps.

A mirror on a stick?

also referred to as inspection, tactical or telescopic mirror.

Tactical Mirros are easily carried in the pocket and may be rapidly attached to an ASP Baton. They are ideal for drug search and room clearance operations. The mirror allows an officer to see around corners without presenting a target. In addition, it is an ideal means of looking into areas without risking exposure to hidden needles. The Tactical Mirror is available individually or with a fitted case.

quote from: http://www.securityprousa.com/52471.html

Pros: See around corners, allows you to shoot first 

(depending on planned game mechanics, circumstances like enemy count and enemy's viewing angle, ai's skills/difficulty etc., for example)

Cons: One has to hold it

(depending on planned game mechanics)

Some thoughts

Below I have summed up a few thoughts. Of course some have already been mentioned. I realize that there are budget and time constraints, so none are essential. Some could be general preference options (like an injured merc shoots less accurately). The game first!
I apologize for the long post.

Graphics :
The first looks clear and well suited. As other as said, I would prefer darker color. I also prefer a less cartoonish style for mercs, civilians and enemies. One of the strength of JA was that the player felt that he was immerged in a consistent real world. But again, my personal taste.

Missions :
I’d like to have diverse missions such as rescuing  hostages, helping locals to defend a position, blowing up a bridge, finding a hidden contact, infiltrating an enemy base (without being spotted if possible),  …  instead of a pure sandbox where it’s always a matter of securing areas after areas. I think JADG did it well. A few timed missions would be welcome too.

Areas :
Not too small, as a mastered approach could be key. Not too large, it could get boring.  For instance some JABIA were not that equilibrated.

AI :
You may consider waypoints. It’s a relatively easy and efficient way to simulate a coordinated move. Having a random choice among different series of waypoints when entering an area might make the opposition less predictable.

I really like XCOM panic feature. Low level mercs may panic much more often than experienced mercs. Proximity of a high leadership merc decreases the likelihood of panic. Admin foes would panic more often that veterans and of course elites. Panic would be triggered by a severe injure, a mate’s death, many enemies in view. A panicked merc may run away blindly, run away for cover, stay stunned or fire full auto randomly.

Withdrawal : opposition may decide to withdraw if obviously outnumbered or when odds definitely turn against. Remaining foes start moving toward an area exit. This may prevent some cumbersome search for the last enemy in large areas. Surrender is another option, already covered in another topic.

A severely injured merc or foe should have his stats temporarily decreased, at least during the time of the battle. Shoot less accurately, move more slowly, … It somehow enhances the tactical richness as the player can try to assess the enemies condition and select targets accordingly.

JA 1.13 has brought many features among  which my personal preference goes to the specialization. For instance, a sniper handles better a sniper rifle.   

Editor :
It’s probably too early to talk about and I’m too much influenced by the NWN2 toolset. Anyway a few thoughts :

From the video, the editor looks handy for designing an area.

I just played a bit with, but I think that the JA2 editor is efficient for defining enemy behavior, (cunning, helpful, …), equipment  and location.

However it seems very difficult to design NPCs, conversations and quests.  Any improvment about it would be welcomed!

Mibo

A Jagged Alliance Forum without a Mibo Thread!!

Impossible!

Here it is!

Feel free to fill it - old Jagged Alliance Veterans will now this thread :)

First Question for this thread:

Will there be a hidden Vampire Quest in JA: F?

So ka, Faramir

JA2 - Ranks

Hello FC!,

Love JA2, and I am glad to be a slacker backer as I missed the original launch by a few months, was totally in the dark until I got back on forum after 2 years.

I would love to be able to have ranks & patches like in Urban Chaos (JA2 UC).

Would love to have a set of ranks that could be added to items.  I am attempting to add my own set soon to v1.13.

Playing with Ranks just makes the whole RPG thing even more fun.

Cool things was the Medic patch that when applied to helmet just added the logo to the helmet, making the helment look like a Medic.

In JA2 UC, the ranks take up a slot, which would be just as cool in JA2 FB intially. But if your funding does go over the top, it would be cool if those items could somehow be mergeable into uniforms, and of course updated when a player advances by applying the next rank patch.

And of course, if you allow modding, then we can do that anyways.

PAW

 

 

 

 

Camera Angle (3D/Viewpoint/Isometric/Zoom Level)

Well, I wanted to start by saying that I like the artwork that has been provided so far. I also like the 3D Panorama.

This has also brought up certain 'concerns' about the camera, it's viewpoint, and how easy it would be to move around and such.

JA:BiA Camera = AWFUL. CONSITENTLY ANNOYED at the camera angles, couldn't zoom out enough to get a good scope of the field and where all the mercs wereand the enemies, and when you zoom in, you get that ridiculous pan that is so frustratingly irritating.

I am not certain if I speak for the majority, or for myself, but I would rather you guys focus on teh mercs, their personalities and the gameplay mechanics and proper weapon "stats" over a fancy camera that will just get annoying to always move around.

Personally, I have ALWAYS loved Top-Down Isometric views; I have always considered Jagged Alliance 2, Baldur's Gate, Planescape, Starcraft (a different scale, but still), etc.. to be perfect! Naturally, being modern and all, and nice range of zooming is much wanted as well as a simple free rotation camera so I can rotate the Top-Down view.

And I am not certain how you wish to implement such thigns as spotting enemies and stuff like that, but again, unless you deactivated the option, JA:BiA, I feel was annoying. Everytime you spotted and enemy, the camera would just jump to it at the speed of light. Brigade E5 and 7.62mm High Calibre also had annoying camera perspective zoom-ins that we're heck of annoying unless deactivated.

Is there any sort of info Full Control would appreciate to share concerning it's ides of "Point-of-Views"? Would be much appreciated..

Thank you and keep up the good work, anxious for the next updates!

Militia Training system

So I have been thinking about some of the aspects of JA2 that I feel could use a good tweaking. Specifically the militia training. I have always found it kind of 'iffy'.. just go into any town and train.. I feel training militia, should at least require a sort of training ground, or at least a form of training 'location'.

In JA2, any city sector can accept you training militia.

But after reading your reply from this post: http://www.jaggedallianceflashback.com/forum/77/922
I also thought that maybe having a kind of a training yard, or training area could be something interesting. Instead of simply training militia using any merc with a basic leadership value, you would need a merc with good teaching skills. And there would only be a couple of them, so you would have to train militia from a centralized location, and once a certain amount of milita is trained, you could decide to send them to defend wtv other town you wanted.

And the amount you could train at any given time would depend on how well ppl on the overal country feel like backing your mercs. (Similar system as JA2, but instead of individual town loyalty from training mercs, you would take it from a global country-wide loyalty).. the more ppl in San Hermanos like you, the more will want to come and train to become Militia.

Animals in JAF

Hello

Do you planning to add some various animals and a connected tasks with it, like it was in JA2? Birds, lizards, tigers, snakes, bugs etc. What about special creatures like Crepitus, this will stay only the JA2 feature or you are going to revive this aspect of the game, in a special way in JAF. If you know something about that, maybe you could reveal some info. Thanks.

Falling coconuts

From what I can see there are a LOT of coconut trees in the area, so perhaps some of ripe coconuts could fall and cause some damage in case of nearby explosions or other events. That could add some fun to the gameplay =) Thanks for the viewing =)

Technical requirements for PC and Laptop

Hello

I know that maybe this is a bit to early to ask, but unfortunately I'm forced to buy a new laptop in this month (normally i would do it in august, but circumstances have changed a lot).

What I want to buy, is a machine, that will handle with this game with Full HD with all an Ultra settings with at least 30 FPS. Maybe you already know a bit, what kind of specification this game will require.

For example most demanding last year games like Battlefield 4, Crysis 3, Metro: Last Light or  Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag will go on this kind of laptop on HD with Ultra, more or less from 20 to 30 FPS.  Will this be fine for JAF or should I start looking for something better.

It will be around:

I7 4700MQ, 4x2.4GHz, 6MB Cache

GTX 760m or 2xGT755 SLI

16 GB RAM.

For normal PC it's not a problem, but in most of the cases, laptops are not upgradeable.

For any tips I will be very thankful.

 

Mines

I just looked through the stretch goals of the kickstarter project and noticed we couldnt reach the 375.000. if so you would place mines in the game and all that stuff relating too. Does is definitely mean there will be no mines in the game at all? Even is there some time left in the end of the production? Is there still a chance? I thought, because its an essential part of the game it will be in anyway...

Holding the Weapon - Animation

Hello guys!

Its only a small wish from my side, but I really would like to see it in the game and it would be nice if you have time for this.

I like in Jagged Alliance 2 the way the mercs and soldiers hold the weapons when theyre aiming at the enemy. They were kinda moving the guns slowly from left to right and back. That looked really cool I think. So do you have already exactly this or something similar in the game? Are there different animations for strong/heavy mercs and normal weight ones?

Greetings! :-)

Animated Character Portraits

I'm not sure if this has been talked about before ... I just want to make sure that characters will have animated portraits that pop up when they are talking.  I don't care about modern lip syncing or anything like that; I just want to see a face that blinks and has its mouth move when the guy is talking, just like in the original games.  Every merc needs a "living" face.  Please tell me you guys have been planning this all along :)

Spanish Names, and Spanish Language.

Sorry for being late at the party. 

I want to suggest something about the spanish names (Since my primary language is spanish).

The name of "San Hermanos" sounds somewhat broken to me. The word "San" (Saint), is for singular nouns. The plural form is "Santos" (Saints). So it's "Santos Hermanos".

Also the 3 of the 4 names from the brothers doesn't sound like spanish names at all.

García.

García is a surname. Not a name. There are composite surnames in spanish like "García Centeno", "García Lopez", etc. but it's not an indicative of name. Those surnames were created because "García" is very common, so you can distinguish two different García families.

Fraco.

Almost. The name is "Franco", also is a surname.

Sal.

By itself "Sal" is not a name (In spanish means "salt" or "get out"), maybe a short for "Salvador". But in Spain they usually call them "Salva".

Tori.

"Tori" can be a short for "Toribio"

If you want help with spanish words, names, phrases, ie. the names of the buildings "Hospitales", "Policía", "Bomberos" (Fire Dept.), etc. It's ok to use google translator, but also I can help you with that.

 

Items, inventory items, hidden items, merging items, guns & vehicles!!!

A lot of games these days don't have enough detail & effort in the inventory of a player the way the old jagged alliance's did. Making items was one of the best parts of the games. Also hidden items in the cracks of walls and so on was awesome. Also please allow players to merge items to create things like the other games did. This was what made jagged alliance more interesting than all the other games.

customizing guns for better accuracy would make the game a lot more interesting.

the option for using vehicles is needed as it pretty much expected in today's games and would make the game itself more interesting.

good luck guys! I can't wait for this game!

Night Ops
Are night ops on the radar? If so, one element I was thinking that was missing from JA2 was light sources such as flares, chem lights, flood lamps, or building windows and doors.

Beer for the crew

I suggest to supply the whole team some beer for the successful release of this pretty alpha!

Character

 Can we create our own character ?

(I do not find something about this in the forum...)

character relationships and humanity

what really bound me to JA2 is the tons of relationships the MERCs and NPCs have to each other. Steroid won't be in a team with a "communist", Grunty having a crush on Buns and so on. Also, there were a ton of side quests who depend on who is talking to whom - I remember this OMFG moment when I gave Flo to the rednecks to marriage in exchange for their guns.

So I wanted to ask if there is someone to develop human-like relationships, or a system where community can enter these deep thought-through humanity driven affectations. For obvious reasons this has to be developed BEFORE the synchronizations.

As I don't want to only cry for a deep game with nothing to give, I also wanted to ask if in the shop the Jagged Alliance (Flashback) item for 65$ also includes the final game?

Skirmish Multiplayer

Hey community and developer,

i'm sure, lots of you thought about an MP-Mode! Isnt it possible to implement that? A skirmish mode for PvP?

May be with different modes: e.g. Hostagerescue, Defend the Armory, Annihilation.

Maps with different sizes or limited moves to controle the matchlength.

Just an idea :)

 

---

Greetings from Germany

Oxymoron

---

The forum backdrop - Stay with me here folks

If the backdrop for the forums (The Snow level - With the supressors, nvg etc) doesnt become playable, there's going to be a riot. For sure. 

That tactical implications! footprints! Cold! Shivering! SNOW!

Crosshair for Aiming

Hi Devs,

I have a big wish. Please make a progressively crosshair for aiming at enemys just like in JA2 1.13 or JA 2. It feels like you aim by yourself and thats cool. For me thats really important. It feels natural to the series.

With a progressively crosshair it feels like you have a direct influence in the shootouts.

In the other gameplay elements (Movement and so on) i think the context menu is good but for aiming i definitely prefer a crosshair.

 

 

 

 

Clothes and footwear

What's the plan for clothes?

 

Streetclothes - jeans, t-shirts, Hawaaian shirt, etc.

Semi-militaristic clothes -  OD green, black, desert tan BDU-s

High level military clothes: woodland camo, multicam, marpat, desert camo, etc - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_clothing_camouflage_patterns -

Pockets on clothes? The BDU shirts have many big pockets. Big enough to hold magazines, estra ammo, pocket size gears even little pistols.

 

Fotwear?

streetshoes, sneakers, running shoes, hiking shoes, hiking boots, boots (many colors)
military boots, in desert tan and black

 

I'm not sure how the game designing works, but if you can change the colors, or add picture textures, maybe that wouldn't take too much work. It's only an idea though, I guess it depends on the structure of the game's system/structure.

Helmets, armour, armor carriers, vests

Armour plates

There are many different armour plate types, like soft plates, steel plates, ceramic plates, even something special plates that floats on water.

All have different weight, all has different features, level 2, level 2a, level III, level IIIa, etc.

There are bullet proof, stabbing proof, and both bullet and stabbing proof plates too.

Helmets

Same about helmets, different helmets, different armour protection. PASGT, MITCH.

Simple caps, and military caps, berets would be nice. Some could help the vision, since if someone wears a cap, it protects from rain and sunshine too. 

Armour carriers

These are also different, some protects only front and back with the plate, other ones have side protection too.

Vests

Crossdrawn vests has permanently attached pouches (magazine pouches, shotgun pouches) and sometimes pistol holsters.

Molle vests pouches can be configured and attached to them. ( MOLLE - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOLLE -

Most armour carriers also have MOLLE system. Some backpacks too. If it's possible all the armour carriers, the vests, helmets and military backpacks should have different millitary colors and camo. I think that would make the game look really professional.

I hope my ideas are useful. :)

About support Chinese language

Dear JAF Staff, Sorry to bother you, I'm a Chinese player. I would like to know, if you interest in supporting Chinese? As you know, on Steam, there's many games that support Chinese. But there's always one problem, that is the translation is very bad. In China, there's many players which love to play TBS games. So I suggest, if you want to make the game support Chinese, you may make a notice and get some Chinese players which have good English level to make the Chinese language patch. You could make the notice on your website or Steam. And if you do have this thought, I am one of the best persons. As I love this type of game, it will be my pleasure to do the translation.

Quick reload

I am in the middle of Crossfire, actually about finished, but what I totally hate is that there is no quick way to do a reload of the last save. Some of the physics of the game are way off (missing when 6 feet away) or the enemy seeing me from behind a wall... and that causes my guys to get hit for no reason at all. The only thing I can do is reload and hope the next goaround is successful. But there is no quick way to do it and I do it often. Maybe press F5 for a reload, that would be awesome.

Give us a map-editor as xtra-editor starcraft broodwar

We (i) really would love to see a good editor for own maps / storyline campaign.

Do you know the starcraft broodwar xtra-editor. That would be perfect.

That editor uses triggers for example
(if "enemy soldier" more then "20" are in Region "1" then "all soldiers in region 1" "attack region 2")

And you can choose a region so easy, so maybe for a room, or a area.

I would love to make a full campaign as the walking dead..

or something other.

 

dont forget the story!

In my opionion there should be a very good storyline.

I remember the Aliens in ja2, damn that was cool. Surprised. Never thought this part could happen in that game. I remember the lions. I remeber the crazy family who want to buy ira (dont know how she was called). Very cool.
Please make a long gameplay time. I would cry to buy this game and after 10 hours its done..
 

Sector Sizes?/ Missiongoals

Hi JAF Dev Team,

just saw the screenshot from the editor with the chicken and I noticed the red and yellow lines that limited the size of the sector.

- So my question is are there sectors with different sizes? or are they all the same? Because I played through the alpha and for me the sectors are great but a little bit too small. Will the later sectors increase in their size?

Wishlist:

- Please spread the different Missiongoals and NPCs in a sector so that the player automatically discovers it while playing through the storyline. So that you get the most out of the sectors size. Bad would be just one missiongoal in the middle of a sector and the rest of it is unimportant.

- Also spread items/loot and goodies all over a sector so it is fun to discover it. Maybe also cool easter eggs :-)

- Later sectors should be a little bit bigger.

What i missed in JA2 and would like to have in Flashback

Initially i wanted to make comment in the height lvls Thread but i guess a new thread is better for what i want to say.

I would love to still have accesible Rooftops in Flashback but there are also a lot of features that even JA2 didnt had. Multistorybuidings for example. Could be in one Level or every story could be an level for itself like in Fallout2 for example. I would also love the Game to be a lot like Fallout2. Meaning a lot Roleplay Elements.

JA Online has also some very nice rooftop levels. Maybe the best Levels/Sectors in the Game.

What i missed in JA2, very nice to have, to be able to climb trough Windows.

Will it be possible to have rooftop lvls? Will Modders have the possibility to make some?

 

And since Meduna is an Island how about Sectors/Levels on Boats? I missed Boats in JA2 a lot. Seriously whats an Harbour without Boats? 

A Sector completly in an Danceclub could be nice.(Thinking about Kayne and Lynch here)

And in JA2 there were are a lot Bars but no Motorbikes. I dont know about you but i would liked to see a Bike here and there. (Not to drive just for atmosphere)

Some heavy Industry could be Nice, Beachbars, Weapons Factorys. I know there where some in JA2, would be nice again.

 

 

I know, I know the budget is tight. Just Dreaming and hoping.

 

How about you what things and features did you miss in JA2?

Merc Skills

Hi JAF Dev Team,

as I played through the alpha i noticed that in the prison sector every door was open and I think thats a bit strange for an enemy filled prison, so my question is will there be skills like lockpicking to open doors? 

I think thats necessary for some levels and its fun to use special skills from the mercs. 

So besides the field medic my wish is that you implement skills that make every merc special.

Like lockpicking, safecracking, move silently, leadership and of course the abilities of assault rifles, heavy weapons, sniper rifles, close combat and so on.

But at the moment lockpicking is for the prison sectors really necessary.

Ass Grabbing

Who remembers when in the original Jagged  when you grabbed another MERCS butt they'd respond? I remember one time accidentally grabbing Fidels butt with Hamous (The local islander, I think his name was Hamous) and Fidel's response was "You and I, We meet behind the shed later tonight, no?" I laughed so hard! Who knew Fidel was gay? Or Buzz walking in the mines in the 2nd edition telling another merc "You wouldn't believe the MERCS I've been with". Great humor that caught me by suprise :0) Keep up the great work guys!. 

Snake

I realize Snake is dead but man he was the best at stealth and using a machete. Is his illigitimate son/daughter old enough to Merc up for Flashback? Make her the coolest babe who has deja vu of her father evrytime she takes someone down from behind in the game and ally her with Ice maybe? Ice loved Snake! Uncle Ice ;0)

Shooting/spoting from corners

Hi,

I have just discovered JA flashback and was a fan of JA 2 so i would like to help if i can help/suggest a few things. I was wondering if it would be possible ( or planned ) to implement a way to shoot/spot from corners of buildings without having to get in open area ?

I mean it was really bothering in ja 2 to have to expose his merc to check/fire at the ennemis and most of time it leaded to being spoted/interrupted in an unrealistic way.

Field of vision of the soldiers indicated

Hey ho,

i have to admit, that i discovered the whole project just today but at least i got myself a early version immediatly..

So, maybe this was discussed before (something in that direction can also be found here: http://www.jaggedallianceflashback.com/forum/77/580) and i don´t know if that can be implemented:

Seeing the field of vision for every mercenary including the occlusion by nearby objects, walls, windows, etc.

This would allow for more complicated strategies based on zones covered by the vision of the merecenary and by that zones from which he could be detected and attacked.

This could be combined with other parts of the game:

Normal outside view: 180° with near zones, in which any oponent is detected. On the side just movement is detected, so an enemy not moving would not be seen. In the distance there are also zones were just movement is detected and even further nothing can be seen.

Binoculars/telescopic sight: 20° (i don´t know?), with zones far away getting visible 

Night mode: Sight in the distance is reduced drastically, zones in which just movement can be seen are enlarged.

Windows: the occlusion by walls is calculated, so if you step back one field from the window, the angle you can see outside gets also smaller.

Corners cut the view and you can see wich zones around the corner are covered and which stay unchecked

Enemies: the direction in which the enemies are looking could be indicated. Not totally like for the mercenary, but it would be easier to interprete.

 

I don´t know if that is realistic or would ruin the gaming experience, i am glad to hear your opinion or to get a link where something like that is allready discussed.

 

best regards

maddog

Let's talk attachments

attachments being included in one of the last milestone i thought this would be an opportune time to start to talk about what type of attachments should be in the game. which make sense from an era-standpoint and which game mechanics certain attachments should provide. these are some of the must haves i came up with:

first of barrel attachments:

• silencer/suppressor: the obvious one. should lower the sound of gunshots and hide the muzzle flash to avoid detection. maybe lower bullet speed or only allow effective usage in conjunction with subsonic bullets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suppressor
• flashhider: should hide muzzleflash https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_suppressor
• muzzlebrake: decrease recoil or burst/fullauto penalty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzzle_brake
• bayonet: allow the rifle to be used as an melee weapon

underbarrel attachments:

• bipod: give some sort of stability bonus; allow bipod to be deployed on cover
• foregrip: reduce draw cost/improve handling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foregrip
• underslung grenadelauncher/shotgun

rail attachments(i know back then there were no rails but for lack of a better name for this category i chose rails :P):

• laser pointer: improve accuracy for unaimed shots; infrared and visible variants would make sense
• flash light: allow ilumination before night vision goggles are avaiable. blind enemies in close quarters.

sight attachments:

• scopes of various magnification: increase vision range while decreasing field of view depending on the amount of magnification
• reflex/holographic sight: decrease ap needed to shoot; should be along the lines of an early aimpoint prototype nothing too fancy like an eotech although i would love too see it in game :p https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflex_sight#Firearms
• infrared/night vision scopes: limited magnification but allows increased visual range at night while decreasing the field of view

some attachments that would be nice to have are:
miscellaneous attachments:

• rifle sling: merc cant be disarmed/weapon cant be dropped to the ground by being shot in the hand http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sling_%28firearms%29
• jungle style magazine clamps: allow magazines to be mated together to decrease reload ap http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungle_style

so these are the attachments that i could think of off the top of my head. i think most of them make sense from an era standpoint except maybe for the reflex/holo sights. but to ensure future modability having a function in place to allow attachments to decrease ap to shoot would go a long way :D

edit: some further research showed that 1989 there was an aimpoint model available called "Aimpoint 3000" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aimpoint_AB#Discontinued_Aimpoint_models and a pic http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/album.php?albumid=1879&attachmentid=156195 so yay for inclusion of aimpoints :D

so what attachments do you guys want to see?

Camera angle and zoom level.

Would like to see the camera angle change to a variable angle instead of 4 preset angles. Would also be nice if you could zoom in farther. I just feel like I cant get in close enough all the time. Lots of other things id like to see implemented such as weapons, attachments, better inventory system, etc which im sure all these have already been mentioned and will be implemented. Just thought that the camera angle and zoom might get missed.

MODability

Please let the game be modable from the start! You guys are doing amazing work, but as already said, you can't do everything. Let the comunity help after the release. There are many talented and motivated modders out there (just looking at 1.13 and such for vanilla JA2 and modding comunities of similar games like 7.62 for example).

Skillsystem not purely represented by numbers? Stronger impact of specialisation?

The skillsystem tend to look a bit like an 80s pen and paper game, with a lot of numbers and points which might be distributed by the player. Of course, to advance the characters and specialise them is one of the main points of the games, but wouldn´t it look nicer if that is represented by a skill tree with abilities represented by little images rather than distributing numbers to other numbers?

So, i have something in mind like the system in Diablo 2 or far cry 3. I don´t meen to overload the game with active abilities like the magic ability of throwing grenades, but to create a bit more specialisiation. Dexterity for example could be raised to the sky giving you extremly good shooting results (i don´t remember if this was different for different gun types?). So i think it would be nicer to have ability trees like

Sniper I (Spotting of enemies --> Giving spotting ability to help a sniper and augments to the ability to find a hidden enemy), II (Breathing technique --> augments chance to hit), III (dont know), IV (night attacks)

Small arms I ("Nerves of steel" getting no interruption moving aroung a corner finding an enemy), II ("Lightning trigger" --> little AP to shoot is needed), III, IV

"McGyver" I (List of things which might be produced, also serving as a recipee what to look for in the maps), II (List of stronger things), IV (Building Katyusha-Rockets with steel tubes ans fertilizer :D)

So with that sending your Über-sniper into a short range fire battle would lead him with strong problems, because that is simply not his part of the battlefield. You could also block general superman-heroes by punishing training out of his skilltree a bit. So it costs more to learn something out of your profession.

Just some ideas, what are your thoughts on that?

 

 

Animator's suggestions

First off, thank you for making this game. I was a little dissappointed with JA:BINA and I don't even want to touch JAO, so I can't wait to see this game finished up. I'm a professional animator and one of my professors at school was an animator on the original JA2 (props!). So I know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, my suggestion is that you guys mustn't downplay the animations on your characters. What you have now is passible, but there are many ways in which you can improve the game just with animation! I've played a few other tactical RPGs like JA2 over the years like Arma Tactics or Man of Prey, but none more than a half hour or so. 90% of your game is the combat screen, and if you don't make that look good, your game looks cheap and worst of all, it will be boring. I'm not saying, reanimate the game as Disney animals, but take a look at Xcom: Enemy Unknown or the Banner Saga. The characters move around with weight and hunker into cover with such force, not mention kicking down doors, jumping through windows and even dying. When an you attack an enemy and his gets hit in Banner Saga, there is so much power and pain in the action, you feel like you're doing damage.

I give these examples because right now (I know you're not done the game, of course) your mercs just slide around on the grass, stop in front of cover. Shoot their gun, barely seeing the kick of it and worst of all, the enemies just stand their and let the bullets fly through them. It was limited, but remember in JA2 enemies would jiggle, flash and scream as they were being shot? It was rewarding and horrific! Plus you have the advantage of ragdoll and 3D, get them falling down, clutching their wounds or flying through your soon to be destructible environments.

If there is one more game you should take more modern cues from it's what I've dubbed the spiritual successor to JA2 and that is Silent Storm. Please take a look at that and how they treat skills, stealth and destrucible environments. Shooting through walls was also revolutionary back in 2003 when it was released.

Another animation suggestion, to liven up the combat, would be characters could have different stances based on a weapon stance or personality trait. You could have some of them using the standard Weaver stance, then maybe one is holding their gun angled like in Splintercell or Titanfall, then a guy hold a gun gangsta syle, then maybe one is crouched with one leg out like Spetsnaz did. Not to mention if the character was injured, they could hold the gun in one hand, clutching their wounds with the other. And like the original game, the big buff guys could hold a sniper rifle in one hand.

One last thing I can suggest, and it would have to be an on or off option, so purists didn't have to use it, but one other great thing Xcom: Enemy UNknown did to make the battles more interesting to look at was how they would throw in all these cinematic camera angles whenever a character fired a gun or used an item. Coupled with improved, kick ass death animations, you got some bad ass, intense combat going for you, and most importantly, not boring.

These little things are defintely something that will bring this game out of a niche market to a more mainstream audience, because boring doesn't sell.

Also, please don't take out the character creator. I hate it when sequels take out such an awesome feature as that. You don't have to do a questionaire though, that thing got boring fast.

Few must-change things

Hi everyone, this is my first post. 

I'm so hyped that finally a good JA game is coming out. Its been ages and BIA was such a disappointment.

Anyway I'm not here to praise (although you guys deserve it), I just watched this gameplay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lZkLdadxwY and got a couple of notes that it could be improved:

 

- That first character's voice is really annoying. Don't know who he is (he actually looks cool) but he constantly repeating "roger" and "copy that" felt terrible. His "kill sentence" sounds cool, though.

- NPC absolutely NEEDS to be dubbed. The world in JA2 is very deep and the voice acting from the NPCs helps building that. Not giving them a voice would hurt the immersion by a lot. 

- No crouching and proning? I may be wrong but in the gameplay the characters auto-crouch when next to cover, similar to XCOM. I must say I'm not a big fan of that. It works allright, I'll give you that, but it isnt realistic and it doesnt feel like Jagged Alliance. What happens when you're being fired from couple of enemies and your AP isn't enough to get you ass into cover? Prone! Or at least crouching. Don't know if anyone agrees with me but this is another must for me. (again, if you can prone/crouch anytime, disregard this suggestion)

 

Still guys, I'm point out the flaws because this game looks so awesome. I can't wait to play it! I'm gonna save some cash and help you guys, definitely! Because I want to play and because you deserve it.

Thanks for doing this!

Ideas and suggestions for the actual battle?

Hey folks!

What are your ideas and suggestions for the actual battle? Was there something you liked, that should be expanded a bit? Something that was overpowered? Something you missed?

I am really curious, what you think the actual battle should look like in JA.F. So being on the map, having your mercs out there, what should that look like in comparison...

Feel free to list all your thoughts in bulletpoints.

1) Actions in the battle

- actions to be changed

- actions to be added/removed

 

2) (Successfull) Tactics used

- Existing tactics to be maintained/rebalanced

- New tactics

World Powers and their Influence

I thought a backstory involving clandestine power struggles would be interesting. Do you get backing from the U.S. and call in air support?  Does MI6 need a hand and can they give you some James Bond type of gadgets?  Could China give you cheaper arms and equipment?  I was thinking there could also be an Oliver North (Iran-Conra Affair) contact for some of these groups.  

Make explosives important

Hi,

I think it would be realy awesome if you could make the placing and disarming of explosives important.

In JA 2 (and sadly also in 1.13) explosives and Demolition-Experts were realy kind of useless, so I realy would enjoy big and dangerous minefields, bobytraps and other mean things that shred your mercs apart if you dont have the adequate specialist.

 

I also would enjoy if there were a lot of safes, doors, and improvised obstacles you could only overcome with a lot of explosives (which can only be used by a merc with a high explosives-skill).

 

Sidequests and minigames

I would like to see a boxing match again like in JA2.

You could even boost your energy with medication.

The boxing match was a funny way of making money. 

Why do you want to replay the game and go to San Mona or find Maddog and get a reward? Will we get those sidequests and minigames?

What do you think?

Edit: Written (hopefully) more precisely.

 

Different terrain height levels

from what i've seen so far all the maps are flat..are you going to change that? and what happened to the luxuriant vegetation you've shown us in the diorama scene? that scene was awesome...

Interruption system

Not implemented yet, the system of interruptions will be really important to the game. What do you think the calculation of interruptions should be based on? What should be weighted higher, what lower?

I try to list everything which could be considered and to order it a bit. If you miss something, i´ll add it to the list. If you want to, you could make a suggestion of distributing 100% to the single factos or the headlines.

Overall tactical situation

• Interruptions should be important to the game (+++maddog, +Hyrax)
• Number of attackers vs. number of defenders
• Enemy allready spotted by merc
• Spotting information about the oponent given by other team members (if implemented)

Position

• Position of the attacker/defender (Standing, crouching, lying)
• Cover of the attacker/defender (full (?), half, none)
• Direction of view of the attacker/defender (behind, side, front)
• Altitude of the position

Skills (+shadow 21,++Hyrax)

• Level/Experience (-woody, -maddog|++Hyrax, ++++Peal)
• Agility (including the effect of body armour, etc.) (+Woody)
• Dexterity (?)
• Marksmanship
• Special perks maybe in combination with different weapon classes (if implemented)
• Woody: Skills of the attacker (+Maddog)

Weapon used (+++Maddog, +Hyrax)

• Weight of the weapon (lighter weapons might be moved faster towards a target and therefore give the fraction of a second to be faster than the oponent)
• Weapon length
• Weapon class (if implemented as condensation of length and weight)

Other

• Noise made by the attacker (moving, shooting at another target) (+Andr)
•  

Actions to raise the chance of getting an interruption (+Ablomis)

• Weapon in aiming position (if implemented as action) (+Andr,+++Hyrax)
• Having another merc seeing that an attacker is coming around a corner
• Grouping up mercs overseeing the same zone/door/entrance
• Andr: Hearing that attackers are coming (+Hyrax)
• Andr: the interruption bonus of spotting (seeing/hearing) an enemy should decreasing over time if he is not attacking immediatly (+maddog|-shadow21)

Actions to reduce the risk of getting interrupted (+++Maddog, +Hyrax +Ablomis)

• Shadow21: Strafing (if implemented: around corners out of cover) (+maddog)
• Grenades (+Hyrax)
• Unaimed burst into a room (if implemented: merc can fire a burst through a window/door without looking, so he can´t be hit and enemies inside are forced into cover (and there is very little chance of hitting someone) (+hyrax)
• Fire curtain over cover of the enemy (if implemented: analogue to unaimed burst, but to cover bigger zones, like the facade of a house, should be done with machine guns/heavy assault rifles)
• Spotting enemies with mirrors, etc. before entering the room
• Adding another attacker before shooting (Merc 1 comes out of cover and discovers two enemies --> Solution A: he shoots immediatly at enemy 1, getting interrupted after his shot by enemy 2 firing back --> Solution b: Merc 1 out of cover, Merc 2 comes out of his cover immediatly afterwards and sees the enemies too, Merc 1 shoots at anemy 1 and after his shot he is NOT interrupted because Merc 2 might shoot at enemy 2)
• [Hyrax]: Supression actions reduce the amount of AP of the defenders, so they interrupt but have no capacity to do much. (-maddog)

Connection to the AP-System (+Loki)

• [Hyrax] Surpression actions to reduce the risk of interruptions could be subtracted from the AP (-maddog)
• AP saved in the round before the interruption happens increase the chance to interrupt
• If no or little AP was saved, but the interruptions was granted, some AP might be borrowed from the following round (Maybe for having a special perk or a merc with high experience) (--Hyrax)

 

In my opinion my tactics should get smarter during the game as much as my mercs do. So having better mercs should not allow me not to care about tactics anymore letting my superman jump into every room not risking an interruption due to its stats. So i was thinking which tactics might be used to clear rooms and reduce the risk of getting interrupted. My idea was inspired by the actual tactics in urban warfare and tactics of special forces to enter a room. 

It would be really nice if in the late game, enemies are really holding strong positions and i need to do some stuff, before i might rush into a room or i have to find a way to distract them or find another entrance route. With that a lot of items could become of good use and situations a bit different to the more normal fire battles would add to the game.

Stretch goals and special sectors

I just came across the special sectors and stretch goals mentioned on kickstarter and wondered if there is still a chance for the community to achieve them. The small island off the coast and the spanish fortress sound great. Hopefully the sales on steam are running well for you guys and maybe add the necessary funds that were missed on kickstarter before.

Sorry, if this is already outdated and I missed it somehow ;).

Free Strategic Progression!

The freedom in the strategic progression is one of the most important features of the game.

You should not force the player to be the most effective, if he goes like "city1 => city2 => city3"

The skill of the player should limit his freedom, this means that if you want, you can directly go to city3 and maybe gain an strategic benefit depending on your play style.

What if a NPC in city1 wants to deliver an item to another NPC in city3 but the player did go directly to city3. After city3 the player goes to city1 and the player has an new chat dialogue option because he already knows the NPC in city3 so he gains more trust at the NPC in city1 and gets the job more easily.

All those little things could make the strategic layer so beautiful complex without getting it confusing. Also it makes the world connected and this is so so important in an simple sector based driven story. You don't want to tell the player: "you have to visit sector x, or you have to talk to NPC y like now or the game will punish you.

Make new Story/NPC/Quest elements available with the sectors you conquer in an non linear fashion, without time goals and without forcing the player into any absolute necessary behaviour.

Something like this should be always possible:

"No I don't wanna conquer the missile bases and no I don't wanna conquer Drassen, I want to kill random enemy encounters and sell the stuff to merchants in San Mona in order to pay my mercs."

AI: What do you want your enemies to do/not to do?

Peal made me think about the AI and attacking/defense patterns of the enemies. I think we have a lot of experience here what tactics were fun and what was boring/annoying, because it was unrealistic or overpowered. So what is your opinion? I try to collect and organize the results a bit, so if you agree/disagree with something already in the list, i add your name and your evaluation (+/-) to the bullet points. Of course we are on the hardcore gamer side here, so if you have ideas how to implement learning curves or if your idea should be added more in the late or middle game, go on! If you have an idea what could be a trigger/a rule easy to implement, maybe it helps to understand your idea.

 

1) What do you want your enemies to do, to give you interesting battles?

• some enemies should stay in strong/superior positions, waiting for attacks out of inferior/dangerous positions, especially in cities with just a few spots which can be really defended. Defenders should build efficient groups to give each other cover [maddog, Loki]
• Enemies try to flee out of the sector, when they lost half of their fellows or lost control over important points
• Enemies are following "not under attack" routines: some walk patrol or keep strategic places looking out for enemies (towers, roofs, entrance points, sand bag, bunkers), some are in their barracks or working or sitting around somewhere [maddog| +Loki]
• Enemies have "under attack" routines: After first shots were made or alarm is given
  • some of the "not in action" soldiers run from their waiting point to defined defense positions, when they are attacked on that way they seek cover and try to form effecient squads  --> learning curve: mid/endgame bigger part of the soldiers wait in strong positions and block alternative entrance routes [maddog]
  • some of the "not in action" soldiers run from their waiting point to defined defense positions close to the first attacks --> learning curve: start/midgame bigger part of the soldiers run towards the attack making diversionary tactis more efficient [maddog]
• Enemies build efficient squads for counter attacks [Loki].
  • The members try to find cover within 5-7 squares around their fellows and they look automatically in different directions if not under attack [maddog]
  • They use grenades to attack mercs taking cover
  • they stay away from positions with corpses --> They don´t run into deadly positions in which their fellows allready died [Peal]
  • learning curve: In the beginning just one soldier in the endgame 4-5 [maddog]
• The level/behaviour of the soldiers increases/improves, this could be represented by colors of the uniform [Loki]
  • In the beginning enemies are over agressive and run into inferior positions, but run away fast [Loki]
  • In the midgame enemies stand their ground, but they flee, when the situation is lost [Loki]
  • In the endgame elite enemies never retreat and ignore pain/injuries [Loki]
• Enemies should have snipers, shooting out of good positions [Loki]

2) What was not good in the older JAs AI, because it was overpowered or unrealistic or stupid?

• enemies are running into light without any precaution [Peal || +maddog]
• enemies are not scared by dead bodies, so they run into the same trap based on high chance of getting interruption with a merc again and again --> dead bodies should be a warning signal to the AI where not to go [Peal || +maddog]
• Roof battery: mercs are concentrated on a roof --> lying --> on the knees --> shooting --> getting back in cover lying [maddog]

 

Eugene Goostman

we hope this will be in too  www.princetonai.com

:)) in the future ofcourse...:)

Easter Eggs

Being a 80's/90's action game:

Merc names... John McClain... Or just McClain for example for copyright issues... The name of Arnold's character from Predator... Or commando. Perhaps a mercy named Hanze (spelling) who hates McClain.

Villagers whose names are from the predator who on occasion mention something is out in the trees... Hell perhaps a modder can make a whole predator scenario :-)

Just some ideas.

Mercs with the guys name from Lethal Weapon who complain about being too old for this sh**.

Communications and C2 infrastructure to destroy

Idea: Guerilla tactics involve tearing down the enemies ability to communicate and do command and control.

Implementation: Sectors through out have radio towers or repeater stations. Could just be a simple building added to a base or outpost. Destroying tower will cause x number less of enemy to patrol that area (sector radius from tower). Or other targets within a certain radius won't trigger enemy forces to show up when attacked.

Reason: simple element that will allow you dark out certain areas. So if you attack a target that has commo they will be able to get a call out- this triggers a patrol to come investigate or attempt to take it back. If nearby tower is down that won't happen.

Its the 80's so SATCOM isn't out yet simple tower repeater stations would be on hilltops and at bases so the military can stay in touch.

Additional idea: rather than destroy you "capture it" giving a combat bonus to militia within a radius.

Rotating Camera

Hallo JAF Devs,

please implement a rotating camera to change the camera perspective.

In Wasteland 2 the player can change the camera angle by holding the right mouse button and to move left or right.

That is fast and easy to change the perspective.

 

Rooftops?

I'd just like a straight answer because last time mods made it seem as it was either a choice for night-ops or rooftops.. imho this is not really a choice at all as making a worthy successor to JA2 kinda means it needs both night-ops and rooftop acces for all its glory. (Yes I'm dramatizing a bit but I'm also super serial)
 

So, I know this question (request) was asked/made before, and I will probably look like a big crybaby but imo it seriously needs attention as mostly anything players are requesting is moddable, rooftops I'm guessing right now are not. But I'd like confirmation on this if possible.

Of course I also have to state what a great game you guys are making and although I really miss putting a sniper and spotter/backup on a roof and owning the fudge out of the enemy, I wouldn't mind this game not having it either if it was possible (without to much fuzz) to mod this in for the community though. Congrats on the update, will be spending quite some hours in it I'm sure.

PLEASE! Important request!

I am a JA2, 1.13, thousadns of mods veteran. I still play this game, actually, from time to time. There is one, incredibly important thing to me:  PLEASE get   Conrad Gillitt to be in this game. Hell, if you promise me that, I am buying prealpha the same second. He was one of the best crafted mercs, annoying stubborn and overally very effective. Me and MANY my friends love this guy!                                          Please get Conrad to appear and be hireable :)))

Degree of violence

Hello Everybody!

(Sorry for my bad english= Vive la France)

I love this game but something missing: personnality!

I discover JA2  after play JA Flashback and I found JAF so clean with cartoon color and this violence rated PEGI 12.

I wish to see heads explode with headshot, cry of agony of my enemies and more... (surprise me!)

I wish a game more badass, mature and fun.

Lords of JAF listen to me, I believe in you.

 

 

If only...

If only...

JA Flashback have multi level structures and visible desctructible environtment like you see on Silent Storm.

JA Flashback have all the wide numbers of weapon variations and customizability and combat related actions (rolling around, peeking from corner, ready up the weapon etc) like that in the brigade E series games.

JA Flashback have all the eye candy for the mercs and stuff on them.....

Adding all that up with the classic JA mercs personalities and quirks... Thats it.... JA Flashback would be decent enough to held up the name

(unlike the last supposed reboot I played... which sucks... its like playing simple chess with guns)

 

Movement Speed and Loot

Hey,

as an old Fan of JA2 there are 2 things i dont like on Flashback as they are atm:

At first, the movement Speed (especially out of combat) is to high. It doesnt feel good to rush through the sector..

At second the Sectors are not interesting. There is no interesting loot in boxes/tables/furnitures. Will that change in the next moths? I hope so! Exploring every single  metre after finishing the combats in a sector was a very good filling because you could always find a lot of interesting stuff that could help you in further sectors..

 

Pls dont forget that!

Weapons being hit

Hello,

In JA2 I didn’t feel the necessity of sidearm weapons as handguns if not for Hollywood style (and not as effective as an assault rifle) combinations.

Has anybody though to include the possibility of held weapons to be hit and damaged by a bullet thus need quick replacement?

It would be nice to be able to aim for the enemy weapon as well and leave him disarmed, but if it’s too much hassle we can make things simple. For example, allow for an x% chance (depending on held weapon size) for every hit at the chest or right arm to inflict damage to the weapon. The soldier should get reduced damage as its own weapon absorbed part of the damage.

Thank you.

Cover Animation

What I've seen of flashback so far is really promising and I've high hopes that you will capture the core of the old classic.

One thing that I would like to see in terms of presentation are animations that show when a soldier is in cover. I realize that there would be a lot of animation work to do as you would need to create dedicated animations for shooting/throwing and changing positions in cover too, but I think it would be a huge improvement in terms of immersion an give a modern appeal to your game. Also it would make the combat situation easier to "read" without relying too much on hud information.

I don't know if this is a goal for you after all but I really whould like to see that comming.

Further I would wish for a high degree of options in terms of hud (infos ect.) and gamplay (animation speed ect.) 

Community wishlist goals and priorities for JAF game

Hello,

First of all I'm really happy that modern JA is in production, I've played steam version and it is certainly going in good direction, congratulations to the team :)

And even in early acces state things like grapics, art style, sectors etc, are nice (and moddable).

However, in my opinion strength of next JA game should be in it's tactical turn based combat options, the more possible options, the better.

 

As community is proposing many different aspects which were in the original games (or modded after) the team will probably need to order them by it's possibility to implement within realistic timeframe/working hours budget etc.

Most likely there is an internal list which features are most welcome and other features which could be added later/modded and other which will be unfortunately dropped (or sequel? expansion? :).

In my opinion thread about AI itself, interruption system and modability of those features are most important ones because it's about core mechanics of the game and core of the game is hard to change afterward with mods. Anything like skins, animations, graphics, etc, this is something which can be changed later via mods and without much effort.

So what I'm trying to say, it would be best that if the team would put higher priority to externalize all AI and core mechanics of the game for modders and things like graphics, animations or generally "candy-things" have much lower priority.

And with those parts would be completely moddable, then anything else could be done at later time as expanstions or mods.

From current state I was able to see that adding new maps, quests, sectors is certainly possible, however I couldn't find anything related to modding AI.

Please try to make AI as complex and in depths as possible, if it's not possible due to time/budget constrains, make it exportable and modular.

So in short, small request from me:

- moddable AI (best if fully, for example some LUA scripts, but if not then at least many different behavior types

- moddable core mechanics of the game (not only combat-related)

 

I'm sorry for putting some things in bold, it's just because I usually make too long posts so nobody want to read it whole.

 

 

 

 

 

What about cut and uncut versions?

Hi,

will be there a cut and a uncut version, depending on the players country?

If you are planning a cutted version for germany (with his shitty laws), I please you to make it easy to remove this with an uncut file of an other version!

Cut-scene (video) triggering

I think it would be an easy, but professional and cool option in the editor.

There is something like that in the "FPS Creator" program. You walk, you turn on a button, you reach a trigger, you kill a badguy, and it triggers a video in the game. A cutscene or outro, a video message, etc.

It could put the modding on a new level.

And if it's not a cut-scene, or outro, it could be a version 2 video format. Maybe a little screen on the top or on the side. Explaining to the player what to do. Or maybe you find a videotape in the game. You could trigger it with a tape player. The video would show up in a little screeon.

I'm not sure how hard is to code an ingame wmv/mpg/mp4 player (or only wmv, since everybody using that format nowadays), but I think that would be a great option. Just imagine the possibilities. Animation outros, live-action cut scenes, videotape playing in the game, maybe click on the TV in the game and it could show a short clip, Audio message in video format, so if could work with an in game phone, radio, short wave radio or simple discussion too, popping up boss-head telling the player what to do in a live video, and so on. Endless possibilities.
 

 

Call Screen

Hi Devs,

it's later in the development so my question is: Have you created call screens for contacting mercs? In JA2 it's so cool when you contact a merc and hire him with your laptop. 

I know the game takes place in the 80's but have you found a way to contact mercs? The direct talk to the mercs is so cool so I hope that something like that is in the game. (Call Screen)

 

Some weapon suggestions (with pics!)

I'm just going to fire off a few idea that have occured to me over my years playing the JA series; as well as, a few idea that have been inspired by Flashback's 1980's timeframe. While I don't think it should be done to death, there should be some nods to 80's pop culture, especially since it was such a good decade for gun-toting action heroes. I'd love to hear what everyone else thinks about these ideas. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Underslung Shotgun: I already mentioned this in another post, but I might as well repeat myself since we're talking about weapons here. The game has had mechanics in place for underslung weapons since JA2 came out, so this seems to be a fairly easy accomplishment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. "Painless": The infamous minigun featured in Predator. Excellent for mowing down enemy soldiers, or for trimming overgrown folliage, "Painless," as it is refered to in the film, is the 80's mercenary's best friend.

3. Shuriken, AKA Ninja Stars: This is just a throwing knife with a different graphic. Make it happen. Such an easy addition, and it is so awesomely 80's!

 

 

 

 

4. M202A1 FLASH: The four-barreled rocket launcher featured prominently in the film Commando. This seems like it could be as simple as the launcher from JA2 with a new graphic, and a 4 round capacity.

 

 

 

 

5. Squad Machine Gun: This is an idea that I once discussed with some modders a while back. A heavy machine gun that requires multiple mercs to operate. I'm not much of a programmer, so feel free to help me understand the logistics here, but this was my theory: The weapon is essentially broken down into 2 or 3 individually useless pieces (Gun/Tripod/Ammunition, for instance) that are collectively impossible for a single merc to carry efficiently. It's been a while since I've looked over the game features, but I figured this could be done by making the individual components incredibly heavy, so that it was necessary for the items to be lugged around by 2 or 3 mercs. Once the mercs have found a desireable position, the items are then transferred to the "gunner" merc, who is then effectively immobilized, until the machine gun is disassembled.

 

 

 

 

5. Swords: I always wished that some of the martial arts trained mercs could bust out some cool decapitation maneuvers with their machetes, the way they get crazy with the roundhouse kicks. This would mean additional animation, but it would be very cool. You're probably going to hear a lot from me about how there should be ninjas in this game. This is really the ultimate weapon for those of us who really love using the stealthy characters to quietly dispatch enemies. Plus ninjas=80's action.

6. Chainsaw: I'm sure this is the one where everyone with any kind of programming experience starts looking at me cockeyed, and I completely understand, this would require all sorts of additional work to pull off; but come on, I dare you to name one video game where you could weild a chainsaw, and it wasn't the funnest weapon in the game. That said, this is really just a much louder, much bloodier crowbar. Open crates, unlock doors, dismember your enemies. Like I said, I'm aware that this is a lot of work, which is why I'm not going to mention my idea for an underslung chainsaw...

 

What will be moddable? What can/should/could be added after the release by the community?

Hello folks!

I kept reading around in the last days, a lot is happening and i like most of stuff, but the release date is rushing by even faster. So i guess the question is not so much, what should be in the game, but what could be added to the game later on?

I have no experience with modding, so i am curious what changes are possible and what is realistic? Are animations the main problem? What will be closed from the side of the devs?

• Additional campaign
• Third Dimension (animations for ladder, stairs?)
• Design of the UI
• Item system and blue prints
• Interruption system 2.0
• New Mercs
• New Weapons and new weapon classes
• AI of the enemies 
• What do you think?

I´ll try to keep that post updated, so i will blend in your opinion.

Are there any plans where this community, as it hopefully will gain some more members with the release, shall meet?

Played Wasteland2

I played wasteland 2 these days. What can we learn from wasteland?

For me it's a new franchise so the ui and the mechanics a completely new that is how jagged alliance 2 too feels when you come as a new player. 
In comparison to JA:F Tte UI is placed on the bottom of the screen. It is small enough to see everything the ja UI is to big in comparison. That is what I one tent for us to hope that will be implemented soon. I run into one problem I don't know at any time which character is Active as the name of the character is not display eight beneath the portraits. Only in inventory I can see that. It is important to speak with the right character to be and NPCs due to dialogue skills. 

In this pic you see the bottom ui, the mercs have no name. As they are small and hard to identify for new players, its bad. In JA2 we have the advantage to know exactly how IVAN looks like. The grenades throw is inidcated by the line and the blast radis...not really good but you can see perhaps if a tree is in you way?

Another thing that turned me off is the Wide use of icons which confused me more then text sometimes. 

The battles are quite nice you cantake cover and you can shoot with good animations also the death animations and sound effects are nice. The presentation is more mature then jagged alliance at the moment. They took time to polish fonts, loading screens sound effects music,  I can tell from playing an earlier build. But I liked their first approach (more sci-fi fallout look, clean like JA:F) more, honestly.

I can't really switch from one weapon to another without opening the inventory screen and drag and drop is really annoying. I miss an indicator for example a blinking box or Border around the slot so I know my item doesn't get dropped on the ground but moved to the intended slot. 

I think, this is an example of how we should not do it. Some pieces here a nice, but overall the functionlity in JA:F with the new UI seems better to me.

Let's see if we can get smaller UI, everything on the bottom, and the inventory like I decribed in the UI thread, with right click without the need to switch to a big inventory screen.

Little ones

I wondered if FC has already implemented such little features (list below) into the current build? If not it would add to some depth/immersion to the game with little effort.

1.  A chance that mercs trigger a cracking sound that could alarm the enemy (e.g. when sneaking) when moving over wood/rock terrain. 
    
2.  Mercs/enemies begin to limp when get shot in the leg.

• Limping, decreased movement speed

3.  Enemies smoking a cigarette when on guard and not alarmed.

• high AP cost for round based mode

        
Note: Only when not in fight... during a fight would be hilarious, but imo no :)

4.  Mercs/enemies scratching their heads or hitting for insects when idle.

• should accour on average basis

Note: The audio background implicates insects, so why not hit them when they try to get you? :)

5.  Don´t know about this one...could be bigger, but imo worth the effort.
A chance that mercs/enemies stumble or even fall over some wood/rock, trying to run on over it.*

• Drains AP and slightly hurting the merc/enemy.
• Bad agility stats increase the chance to stumble or even fall,but good stats decrease it.
• should be a very low chance though for gameplay reasons

Note: I think if implemented this could lead to funny and/or exiting gameplay moments. 

*Maybe it could work this way: 
A merc is at movement to its destination. The chance to stumble or fall hits when he enters a specific rectangle, so a animation plays that shows the merc/enemy first stumble (beginning in the rectangle the chance has hit) and stop in "crouch stance" at the next rectangle on its waypath. 
Similar to falling...the animation that shows the merc/enemy falling down at the next rectangle on its waypath. The merc/enemy is in "lie stance" then.

Final note:
FC has done a great job so far and keeping in mind that the fun stuff to create is yet to come (when you have a stable basis to build upon), it is killing me that they run out of money/release it at exactly this point. This game can become great when the community (or better FC themselfes) were able to add more small pieces on top of the basis. When the game is released, imo it would help a lot to be able to change and add animations...don´t know if this is possible though. 

greetz

Missing features (collection 1st post) after release

1. things that are not in
####################

- Quickload, quicksave, + hotkeys

- merc commentary when a sector is free of enemies

- sector inventory as JA2

- IMP 3 voices to choose from like in JA2

- Deactivate automatic time start in the strategic map. Its impossible to coordinate actions right now. Also it should be like in JA2 where you mark sectors and get ETA which is displayed near the squad until they arrive
- direct movements/action in strategic map causes user errors and is more a bug than a feature. You can't plan different activities for different squads right now.

- tree and palm tops cut out when camera hovers or give us settings in the menu
- our mind is free feature: SHOOT anywhere at anybody in realtime&turn based mode

- we also definitely need more shortcuts like b for burst etc.

- there also needs to be a key to select the whole squad and move them all at the same time. In JA2 it was click left and hold it, then click right. Visually showed through 2 cursor borders

- Therefore no right click menu as stance buttons are now in UI -> redundancy

- Sharper and better symbols for perks. You have such talented graphic designers. Use them.

- pre-battle setup on minimap (not the preferred solution of devs via twitch)

- option to retreat and option to retreat during battle

- Interrupt hotkey for all mercs going into interrupt

- balance sheet and daily income in strategic map

- Also pausing the game while having the menu (Load/Save/Exit) would be very useful!

- better intro that drives story (not CGI intros possible due budget via twitch)

- messages from your contact (Like the emails). Could be satellite telephone, memos, whatever is possible in that time with advanced CIA stuff

- show state of enemey when hovering above him like JA2: display Healthy, good, critical, dying etc. + 3 animations to support that. It also show that a healthy person has a bigger health bar than an average joe "good" soldier. 

- hired mercs do not appear after 1 minute in the sector -> time at arrival displayed in UI

- Mini scripted cut-scenes ale "Elliot you idiot" pushing the main story forward.

- Support for multiple squads in the same sector

- Externalised UI elements for modding

- soundtrack and battle music user moddable or in the audio settings I can deselect some tracks

- more retro JA2 music (e.g. laptop music) -

(no comments from JAF, mybe on a radio channel?)

- hire mercs with more interactoin (idle voice, etc.) see voice catalogue JA2

- enemy in the game, who can be recruited

- Opening and closing doors, locks, chests, + keys

- Lockpicking and crowbars to force through doors.

- Close open doors during combat as tactic (bulletproof)

- break lights and night vision

- sneak, walk (less noise), strafe

- soul: more commentary and speaking from our mercs
 will be in

 sneak with silencers -> enemy dies within one turn > other enemies not beeing alerted

- animated portraits, animated dialogue portraits
will not be in but modabble by community with FC support

- animated portraits with pause script (or mod support) so pauses are correctly. Otherwise it looks stupid like a robo

- humour like in JA2. In JA:F I have not laughed at any time (but cried sometimes :p)


- contextual quest dialogue voiced (e.g. when escorting someone)

- hireable NPCs with backstory and better dialogues/choices

- interaction between NPCs, hired NPCs, mercs

- flee out of sector while in battle

- traveling from screen to screen

- automatical first-aid pop-up after sector win

- enemy animations for battle variety: death animations = JA2, + enemies fall sometimes when shot in leg, enemy spins (arm with weapon rises) high impact,

- supression (enemy change stance when heavy fire) and loose AP, energy

- mercs comment new items on ground

- during battle indicate new enemies in fov (circle in middle of enemey from smaller to bigger + blinking? see ja2)

- UI with a better workflow, less space, like JA2 but more modern
will be in

- militia working like in JA2. Move to sector. Battle with them to defend town

- medkit small reusable instead of bandages

- small bar (indicator) for item degradation or status of itm

- ammo types, ammo displayed as in JA2
not ammo boxes

- ammo types which use JA:F feature of penetration calculation (blue ammo sticks in the body)

- fewer friendly fire hits

- UI: no drag/drop with mouse: Click on item then it sticks to cursor or is the cursor, move it now to other slots

- cutting wires, wire cutter like JA2
will not be in

- jump over small barriers, sandbags

- energy should't drop so fast, water bottles to get more energy

- Tactical AI as Shanga explained. AI should not be alerted completely after one enemy sees my. Then silence walking and silencers would make no sense at all in this game! Only the next enemies who hear a weapon shot in the sourrounding area could go forward and search this area. This is what in a movie or A-team the enemies would do even if it is a sniper trap. Black elite should behave differently.

- "stack items" and "merge items"
in quickslot, but for ammo not in bullets, count the magazines. MAX 4 magazines (2 boxes) of one ammo typo in a slot

- Missing weapon category: heavy weapons, bow

- Dual wield small weapons (imho: will not come as new animations are required)

- weapon and merc skins

- Weight and inventory space has influence on the gameplay (e.g. AP and movement speed) 

- gas masks and grenades like mustard gas

- old interrupt system (in discussion, now more a tweaking)

- death animations, more animations


 walls and gas tanks and oil barrels explode -> new tactical elements

- fire, weapons with fire

- wired and crazy NPCs with short dialogues or in need of help. Like helping one out of prison to free him
- mines


- roof tops


- grenade launcher


- rocket launcher


- leaning at corners


- crosshair again polished to JA2 standard

- fix crosshair calculation, add yellow inner circle, no 102% hitchance, etc.

- Martial arts animations

- cars and gas u can use to travel

- assassination sidequests with sneak in a house with special guardians

- bloodcats (imported from arulco in the san harmanos zoo)

- MISSED SHOTS not 45 degree when 1-3 tiles before enemy! As Chris explained

- viewcone in real time mode have no effect on NPCs or story NPCs!!!

- Respawn: When redeployed in a sector. See JA2 again.

- Choose which item is repaired first, visual bar helps you to see this in realtime in the strategic map inventory of the merc. Items in the two quickslots of ALL soldieres are repaired first to 100%. Than backpack gear. Log that tells you like in JA2 which items are repaired of whom

- training in sector or healing without beeing in the sector since, the mercs must be placed

• mercs that have moved here and are in training/repair: middle of map
• mercs that a free/sleep on their last position

- stop autofire when enemy is dead, save ammo and APs (tbd by community)

- fix burst and auto fire as JA2

- fixed sound effects (e.g. hit enemy "ohh"), more variety as JA2

- Usability fix http://goo.gl/Jf3evQ (is this now fixed?)

- interrupt as JA2 or changed interrupt system

- morale system fixed (more triggers)

- fix performance issues on all platforms EDIT: fix FPS drops ingame on windows at least. Otherwise we will never get militia fighting with us in sector.

- auto pause on events on the strategic map (healed, milita trained, etc.) with pop-up to run time further or stop

- voiced NPCs (ok will never get into JA:F)

- UI, UI, UI, UI, UI, UI

- weapon attachments and stats modifier (scope, laser pointer, silencer, bipod)

- Ammo types

Armor piercing, hollowpoint and other nasty pieces of lead

Additionally we want to add more content to the game. So

- Soviet weapon pack

As pointed out by the community, we added a lot of western weapons to the game. Its time to look at the old Soviet weapons and get a batch of them into the drop tables.

And lastly 2 features that didn’t turn out as great as they could have. So we will fix them up and polish:

- Shotguns:

Making shotguns look and feel more "blasty" - make them shoot multiple projectiles at once, so you get that great “buckshot” feel.

- Better shop interface:

A proper shop with images, stats and also ability to sell your items again

3. things that are partly in

####################

- ammo types the right way, stackable as magazines not counting bullets
- basic milita training
- merc commentaries (need more interaction and friends attribute (1-2 friends and dislikes per merc)
- crosshair with some missing elements
- German localization (but not voiced commentaries of mercs although they have the files in the voice catalogue of JA2/BIA
- Perk system with bad icons

4. things that are in
####################

- nice, really awesome looking 2D portraits of mercs and NPCs
- option (settings) to get rid of flies + some more options
- repair kit
- savegames
- IMP
- doctors bag
 - medic heals automatically all injured mercs of his squad. It worked for some in the forum (1.04).
- option in UI to unload guns and recover ammo
- good, solid turn-based combat
- booster for AP, energy, alcohol etc.
- squad inventory
- hireable mercs in bars/town
- IMP
- view cones (new and improved)
- sound indicators (great new improvement over JA2)
- Loot items in containers/closets
- melee, auto-walk to melee attack
- Real destructible environment (seen in twitch)
 - Explosives. There is an explosive skill but no real explosives related to this (TNT, C1, C2, C4, mines, etc)

Can you mod the strategic map?
Yes can be done! Already. json and images of the map.

EDITED after release, and twitch 
(list v1.2)

Leave units where you placed them?

hi,

I believe in JA2 with or without mod, I cannot remember, mercs were actually in the position where you left them once you reenter battle map. This allowed you to set up defensive positions to be ready when attacked..

Especially because of the current pathfinding issues would this option be very helpful like when you order several mercs to enter a door and instead of waiting some decide to run around an entire house to get shot down.

At the moment, you only have some vital seconds to set up defences, vital seconds where everything has to work out or man down....

Shanga's Camera Mod @Devs

Hi guys,

I saw Shangas mini mod where he changed the camera angle. This camera angle and zoom in and out levels are way better than the once we have now. 

http://steamcommunity.com/app/256010/discussions/0/613940109942179767/

So please devs implement them into the game.

Export Mercenary/New Game +. Also, revival mechanism?

It would be nice if there was an option to save your merc after a play through, to take it through user created content, or even replay the game.  I figure if you've already played through the game the way the devs intended, why not let the players go through overpowered?

I understand you can create your merc with customized stats through editing, but it would be nice if there were a system to take your merc through all of your JA experience.

On a similar tangent, it would be nice if you could save mercs that were downed, before they bled out, or maybe make it so the custom merc doesn't die.  You fail if the squad wipes, but always make the custom merc able to come back for action.

£5 extra funds for a community wish list adoption?

How many people would pay an extra £5 to FC to develop the game further from a community wish list?

All ideas put forward then graded in importance or even additions to game. The more people subscribe the bigger the wish list gets accepted, possibly graded on amount of requests for each item?????

Any ideas or thoughts please indicate in post, a simple Yes or No for support of funds would suffice?

Just an idea/thought but it might give the developers some much needed extra cash???

I’m for one to saying Yes

 

Some things I find tedious n' annoying

hi,

if any of my points have been mentioned before at some point in history, feel free to say so...

 

1)

I cannot switch to next merc during reloading my rifle. If you wish to reload firearms of your entire team, one by one, the waiting time can become very time-consuming...

2)

I cannot unload ammo of my recently found guns inside of the loot box. I find this feature necessary considering the fact that if I wanted to unload a new gun, 

- I first would have to make space in my mercs hands and backpack.

- Then putting new gun into hands and unloading.

- Now, after I unloaded the gun, I've to put the gun and ammo back into squad inventory.

- Now I've to search squad inventory for my stuff which I had initially in my hands and backpack...

I hope you've noticed how tedious this procedure sounds...

3)

Game should not move on when you press esc on strategic map

4)

There is no button for time fast forward, stop or normal. After militia got attacked the game immediately continues. With buttons I could pause the game faster to train new militia, form squads etc...

5)

Sometimes, but not always, starting a new squad by dragging one merc down on strategic map view forces time to go on even when it was on stop. Also time even continues when you transfer mercs between squads, occasionally...

6) There's no option to select all mercs in combat. If this was possible I would also like the ability to press once reload for everyone...

7) Instead of enemies forming a queue to get shot down one by one have you ever considered 'pack mentality' ? Fights would become way more challenging when the enemy would try to form up first in a fortified area once player squad has been spotted by AI This would force the player to attack or get attacked hard by a full team at once (depending on what AI estimates to be the best outcome) instead of only sitting at the edge of the map, shooting them down one by one ? If an AI squad would consist of marksman, sniper, heavy gunner etc AI could maybe use them accordingly instead of forming a line to die one after the other? 

8) Once in position i cannot see anymore what type of cover I got

Mercs and long-term effect of injuries

hi,

i find the way healing works at the moment too easy. Therefore, I would like to suggest that healing over time on strategic map only heals a debatable percentage of an injured merc's overall health. You do that until you reach the point where a merc barely recovers from wounds. If that happens the merc either

A) leaves

or

B) the merc stays but will die easily in combat due to low amount health. 

It won't be possible to fully restore merc's health anymore. Everytime you heal you can only restore a debatable amount of health.

The player will ultimately be forced to send the merc back home. From this point forward, the merc will be registered on hire screen as "injured" for several weeks. Maybe he will even lose some of his overall health or stats indefinitely like old injuries which hinder battle performance. 

 

 

 

Town loyalty...

The game is getting closer to JA2 than i thought it could be. With the new features promised for 1.06 there are not as many features left to implement as i thought, except for rooftops/height levels of course and some others. But rooftops/height levels are a dream of mine. So i was thinking what could be done with less effort and it came to me...

What about "town loayalty"? It was fun in JA2, that quests you finish, sectors you conquer or loose, or other factors did raise or lower the loyalty of a town. You need a basic amount of loyalty to your rebellion to train militia and you loose a town, if you totally suck or if you take too much time on the island.

It felt immersive and shouldn´t be too hard to implement. Also it counters the " i wait until time ends" tactic, e.g. just to raise money for more and more mercs or training them ....

What do you think?

Your most wanted (just your favorite 3) features for future patches...

If the game does well enough, we should talk about future improvements before another shedule is done (expept for bugfixes). What do you think about a kind of poll, how you want the game to be improved after v.1.12? I guess some features should be NOT in the poll: (reasons included)

NOT in the poll:

"height levels (more for a DLC imo, because you have to rewrite the whole game/maps)",

"weapon attachments (because 1.07 will include them)" ,

"shop interface (because its in 1.06 and it´s already in testing phase)"

 

So I ask you to post just your favorite 3 suggestions. Why only three? Because we have to do one step at a time. There would be no real outcome if thousands of suggestions would accure. My three suggestion are:

- Town loyalty (already a post there)

- Sector inventory

- Remembering placement of mercs in a sector, especially when getting attacked

Imo these points would improve the immersion and fun a lot. What do you think? I´m open for more suggestions.

greetz

 

edit: forgot about sector inventory of course, so i changed "multiple squad fights" (my second) to that... also its easier to do.

edit2: and another one changed. I´ll replace the 3rd one ( fighting together with militia) for efficiency reasons with "remembering placement of mercs in a sector" for defense especially. I want the old one to be in as much as you all, but the new one is easier to implement first. The old one can come later imo.

 

Little things to do for FC...

Hi, i´d like to talk about little things FC can do to improve the game.

1. The Quiksave/load

Explanation:

Most people on the steam forum complain about the missing feature to quicksave. We all know it IS there but the people seem to not recognize it. That´s because there is no response to the quicksave. The game stops for a second, but that´s it. You need a text mesage that says: "Quiksave saved", so people know that it happened.

Solution:

There is no "quicksave" or "quickload" text. Add it as a text when it happens at the top of the screen. Also add it to the keybindings options.

 

2.Quest dialogue

Explanation:

The quest text in strategic view (when it´s full of text) does overlap the merc display.

Solution:

The "quest display tree" should be not there, until you click on it. (also it should be more detailed)

 

3.Doing sidequests is unimportant.

Explanation:

Sidequest do nothing except giving you e.g. 1500 credits, you don´t need....or they give you a standard/useless weapon you can find or buy anywhere else.

Solution:

The reward should be at least x10. (after conquering half the island i had 130.000 credits). If the reward is so low (1.500) , you don´t feel rewarded.

 

4. Cover display

Explanation:

If you have taken a position, the cover isn´t displayed anymore. So you don´t know how to behave when stuck at this cover.

Solution:

Diplay the cover info/symbol when hovering over a stationary merc with the mouse. If you think it´s disturbing, then make it half transparent.

 

...

 

I´ve got some bugs to report, too, but that´s not the thread for this. I hope you can work on those meant issues. I like the game, and i´d like it to get better.

Seeya

No Igor and MD?