[Titan]

... and promptly installed 1.13.


If you'll pardon the expression.

I just hope I got the settings right so I don't get raped after taking Drassen  I only had enough time to assemble my team after getting the mod installed. Going to play some more tonight.

Perhaps if somebody wants, I could do an LP like the Xcom one's we've had here.

[TrashMan]

PPfftt..you disabled Drassen Counter-attack? Pussy!

That's the best part of the game.

The trick is to capture 2 parts of drassen, train milita to full, then captrue the last..and preapre as much as possible. Place mines..set up mortarts...you can order milita around to position them.. Also ask for support from adjecent sector, who come in the enxt turn (but so can the enemy)

It all turns into glorious, GLORIOUS carnage as 80+ enemies converge on you and 40 milita!

Here's a little guide to survive:
http://www.ja-galaxy-forum.com/board/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=156862

[Titan]

Turns out I didn't change the settings, and the counterattack did occur. My stategy worked rather well, considering I'd set up the options so the best weapons I could get at that point were some crappier AK variants and such; not even M16A1s, etc, and also considering it was my first play through. I first took Drassen airport straight out of the start; I had my IMP merc, Ira, Grace, and Rudolph w/ his Mauser, which was the best weapon I had for the duration of the engagement. Unfortunetely the AI decided to counter attack w/ ~20 soldiers (dunno where they came from) and I couldn't defeat them; Rudolph was running out of ammo. Eventually I loaded a save and moved west and took Chitzena, leaving the airport in Deidrianna's hands. I had 4K coming in per day via the mine there, and I hired Flo from MERC, brought her over, and trained her leadership so she could maintain the militia there. Then I moved back to Drassen, and took the airport and the mine, circumventing the middle. I fully trained militia's in both sections to veterans, and got a bunch of mobiles that I locked into the adjacent surrounding zones. Finally I took the middle section w/ Dmitri, with the Mauser still my best gun. When the counterattack came, I let them take the mine sector. They left 17 dudes in the mine, and the rest of their forces in the surrounding tiles. I knew that they could reinforce from surrounding tiles, so me and the mobiles attacked the surrounding tiles in skirmished, which eventually removed all of the mine's reinforcements, as well as scoring me 2 AKMs and a Steyr Scout. Finally I took Drassen mine back and reinforced with Militia.

What should I attack next, by the way? This is still my first play through, and I don't know what's best to attack: Cambria, Grumm, or Alma. Each is within range for me to attack.

I would enjoy a Let's Play series of you figuring out that 'rape' is not a synonym for 'lose a video game'

Rape can be used as a figurative term; I used it right in context, particularily as I was referring to my in-game forces getting 'raped' as opposed to myself IRL.    Sorry, did I offend?

[TrashMan]

Unfortunetely the AI decided to counter attack w/ ~20 soldiers (dunno where they came from) and I couldn't defeat them;

They called reinforcements from the adjecent sector. In other words, the soldeir from the central Drassen sector came to help them.
Once oyu have milita, you can also call them to help if they are next to the sector you are about to fight in.
I'ts a snazzy new mechanic that enables a lot bigger fights than before.

What should I attack next, by the way? This is still my first play through, and I don't know what's best to attack: Cambria, Grumm, or Alma. Each is within range for me to attack.

IIRC- Cambra has got a hospital, good income from the mine and some shops.
You can also hire Vincent (ambidextrous doctor) for 500$ a day from there.

There's a SAM site right above it as well as Tixa prison (well defended, but you can very cheaply hire 2-3 ex-prisoners there.)

There's also a yunk yard between Camria and Grumm. You cna get Maddog there for free IIRC.

Alma is a miltiary town. You get bonus to trainign milita and warehouses with weapons and ammo. It's well-defended tough.

[Titan]

Rape can be used as a figurative term; I used it right in context, particularily as I was referring to my in-game forces getting 'raped' as opposed to myself IRL.    Sorry, did I offend?

You didn't offend, you just showed that you've got some growing up to do.

Since when do have I done that? 

Unfortunetely the AI decided to counter attack w/ ~20 soldiers (dunno where they came from) and I couldn't defeat them;

They called reinforcements from the adjecent sector. In other words, the soldeir from the central Drassen sector came to help them.
Once oyu have milita, you can also call them to help if they are next to the sector you are about to fight in.
I'ts a snazzy new mechanic that enables a lot bigger fights than before.

Naw, I meant my IMP merc had the Scout trait, and yet I never saw them coming. I think it might have just been the garrison from the other parts of Drassen; can they move around freely between town sectors like militia?
I'd never attack without militia to back me up if I can avoid it. I'm sorta roleplaying this, and it makes sense that they'd be able to get enough militia to support attacks in towns.

What should I attack next, by the way? This is still my first play through, and I don't know what's best to attack: Cambria, Grumm, or Alma. Each is within range for me to attack.

IIRC- Cambra has got a hospital, good income from the mine and some shops.
You can also hire Vincent (ambidextrous doctor) for 500$ a day from there.

There's a SAM site right above it as well as Tixa prison (well defended, but you can very cheaply hire 2-3 ex-prisoners there.)

There's also a yunk yard between Camria and Grumm. You cna get Maddog there for free IIRC.

Alma is a miltiary town. You get bonus to trainign milita and warehouses with weapons and ammo. It's well-defended tough.

K, I'll prolly focus my axis of attack towards Cambria/Estoni, then Grumm/San Mona, and finally Alma. Leaves... Balime and Meduna? Right? At school, can't see map. Ugh, wish it was bigger. Campaign lacks sufficient epicness if I can list nearly all the significant locations in one sentence.  Aren't the hicks near Cambria? I've played Back in Action (preordered on Steam; was hedging bets on modding saving it. Plus a friend gave me $10 in exchange for the TF2 preorder items) and the hicks are to the west of cambria, but that maps are different between the games.

[Titan]

New patch for BIA.
Sector inventory, LoS, milita managment and a few otehr big changes.

Yeah, I saw that. I hope FinnBat continues work on Ultimate AIM Professionals, between the two we should have something enjoyable soon.  Don't get me wrong, I have 50+ hours logged in BiA, it's just afterwards I tried JA2 and liked it a lot better. I will say that I much prefer 3D environments to sprites though; easier for me to work with.

[Titan]

EDIT:
@Titan - I heard they have no plan for brinign back the IMP. Something about causing problems with the rating?????

Yeah, I saw that too. No freaking idea why, but if I recall Germany is really weird about video games, and bitComposer is a German studio. I think that might have something to do with it. Also saw somebody asking how long until they release the source code; they thought it would be in the next couple months 
Honestly, I think it's amazing the level of post release support bitComposer has given us. A lot of companies would just fix bugs and be done with it, these guys (Or perhaps more appropriately, Coreplay. Credit where credit's due) are actively trying to respond to the community. Only problem is that I don't think they've necessarily been given the free reign they need; most of these decisions are still being made by accountants I think.
Adding Fog of War will make it an entirely different game, for the better I think. Right now it's too easy, you can take drassen just by running around with an assault rifle; I'd really like to see more dynamic AI that actually has 3-5 man patrols, etc. If you didn't know, the AI is coded entirely around those silly little flags on the minimap. They just sorta walk around those, or a couple pre-planned patrol paths. One of the advantages of this engine is that modders can work with much more realistic weapon ranges and such; the map size and engine limitations in JA2 are what's really holding it back now.

[TrashMan]

EDIT:
@Titan - I heard they have no plan for brinign back the IMP. Something about causing problems with the rating?????

Yeah, I saw that too. No freaking idea why, but if I recall Germany is really weird about video games, and bitComposer is a German studio. I think that might have something to do with it. Also saw somebody asking how long until they release the source code; they thought it would be in the next couple months 
Honestly, I think it's amazing the level of post release support bitComposer has given us. A lot of companies would just fix bugs and be done with it, these guys (Or perhaps more appropriately, Coreplay. Credit where credit's due) are actively trying to respond to the community. Only problem is that I don't think they've necessarily been given the free reign they need; most of these decisions are still being made by accountants I think.
Adding Fog of War will make it an entirely different game, for the better I think. Right now it's too easy, you can take drassen just by running around with an assault rifle; I'd really like to see more dynamic AI that actually has 3-5 man patrols, etc. If you didn't know, the AI is coded entirely around those silly little flags on the minimap. They just sorta walk around those, or a couple pre-planned patrol paths. One of the advantages of this engine is that modders can work with much more realistic weapon ranges and such; the map size and engine limitations in JA2 are what's really holding it back now.

There's actually a tool out there to create your own IMP. Alas, you are limited in that it take one AIM slot, so you loose one AIM merc. It basicly turns a AIM into a IMP.

The IMP was actually in for a while, but it got removed before the gmae shipped. It's obvious the developers were thinking big and we got is only part of what they wanted.

[Titan]

It was always obvious that it was unfinished. I don't care, I'd just replace someone I hate like Meltdown.