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Jagged Alliance

FAQ Version 2.1

by: Dzwo-Ren Li

I think this document should worth the name "FAQ" now. I think
most of the information are what I want to know when I played "Jagged
Alliance" first time, maybe other people want to know these too. So I
creat this document to help whoever needs help.



Table of Content:

I. Introduction
II. Suggestion for Novice Players
III. Trouble Shooting
IV. Items Information
V. Sectors Information
VI. Q & As
VII. Miscellaneous Information
VIII. Suggestion for Veteran Players ( Later, see explanation )




I. Introduction:

"Jagged Alliance" is a game created by "Madlab Software" and
distributed by "Sir-Tech". The technical support line for "Sir-Tech"
is (315) 393-6644, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm ( USA, EST ). If you
have any trouble in getting this game to work, this is the number you
should try. Any attempt to find the answer in this document might fail.
If you have e-mail address and you have any question ( or suggestion )
about this game, you can try to mail to:

Brenda Garno < 76711.33@CompuServe.COM >

She or someone else will be glad to help you. If you have any
suggestion that you wish to see something, say, in Jagged Alliance 2,
then this is the address that you should send the information to.

"Sir-Tech" has provided a patch for this game. The file name is
"Ja111.zip". Version is 1.11, please do not use version 1.1 because
they said it is not a good one. You can find this file by:

http://wcl-rs.bham.ac.uk/GamesDomain/patches/ja111.html

or get it directly from FTP sites:

ftp.cdrom.com:pub/dresden/games/patches/ja111.zip
ftp.inf.tu-dresden.de:pub/ms-dos/games/patches/ja111.zip
ftp.cis.nctu.edu.tw:Games/dresden/patches/ja111.zip

According to "Sir-Tech", the version 1.12 is the same one as the
version 1.11. The reason for them to put the 1.12 instead of 1.11 is
a little bit hard to understand for me ( commercial reason? ).

This game is only available as a CD version by now. The system
required to run the game is:

IBM compatible PC, 486DX-33 or better
4MB RAM ( minimum ), 8MB ( recommended )
CD-ROM driver
15 - 25 MB HDD space, 38 MB ( recommended )
( I personally recommend 50 MB if you want to keep all the
animation and other stuff. )
DOS 5.0 or better
Mouse
256 color VGA
Sound Support: Ad-Lib, Sound Blaster family, Pro Audio Spectrm,
GUS, Roland LAPC-1/MT-32, MPU401-interface General
MIDI

Rumor ( just rumor ) has it, "Sir-Tech" might release a disk version
which will not have all the speech ( from Brenda Garno ). Also, someone
said "Sir-Tech" is working on a "modem" version ( Jagged Alliance - head
to Head ) sequel which can let you play with your friend ( Charles,
Sir-Tech Software ). I don't know much about these rumors now.
( Someone said in Swedan, there is a Disk Version couple weeks before the
CD version get there, I don't know whether the Disk Version is authorized
by Sir-Tech or not. )

There is also a DEMO in the net. "GamesDomain" and "HappyPuppy"
( WWW ) both has it. Also, several major FTP sites have this DEMO.
The DEMO version has an unique sector ( other than our 60 ) for
you and only six fixed mercenaries for you. There is no speech but
has the "OK" response. If you don't have the access to either WWW or
FTP sites, I do believe "PC Gamer" ( the one with a CD-ROM in each
issue ) has this one in the CD-ROM in July, 1995.


I created the first version of this document on July 4th ( Ver.
1.0 ) which contains only 3 parts: Sectors Information, Items list,
and the Encrypted Codes. Then, Peter Kuesters < UZS240@IBM.rhrz.uni-
bonn.de > started to provide his information about this game. Then I
had the modified version ( 1.1 ) on July 9th which adds 2 more parts:
Q & As and Miscellaneous Stuffs. Version 2.0 has been re-organized and
adds more Q & As and an advice for novice players. This is the version
2.1 which adds a Trouble Shooting section, more Q & As and modify some
information ( please check by yourself, just a quick browse ). And, I
decide to take out the "mini" because this document is no longer a
"mini" one.

For the record, I did not take out any information from old version.
So, you can just keep the latest version and throw those old version
away.


I still lack the information about the trouble shooting. This part
is difficult to build because most of the players did not have problem
in getting it to run. Whenever there is a player who can not make the
game to run and can't get it to work even after following the instruction
in the quick reference, most of them can not be solved. I really can not
help here. I had problems in getting my game to work too. All I had done
was merely "by-passing" every possible problems. I don't know whether
this will work for everyone, but it works for me. Please check it out
in section 3 ( Trouble Shooting ).

From version 2.0, I intend to separate those spoiler information
from the general non-spoiler advice. So, if you are the person who
doesn't want to watch those spoilers before you finish your game, then
you can just look at those general advice then stop at the "Warning"
sign.

Special Note: Peter Kuesters is currently the best player of all.
Just check his record then you will agree with me.
He promised to provide an advice for the veteran
players, but unfortunately, he will not be available
until mid-October ( Business, I guess ). So, that
part will be delayed till he comes back.

If anyone wants to provide any information about this game which is
not included in this document, here is my e-mail addresses:

< li@chem_petro.engr.ukans.edu > ( preferred )
or < ren@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu >

I thank all the following persons for providing information about
this game ( though some of them might never know about this ):

( In random order )

* Peter Kuesters < UZS240@IBM.rhrz.uni-bonn.de >
Torbj|rn Lindgren < tl@ae.chalmers.se >
RICHARD KENAN < eefacdk@prism.gatech.edu >
Laurant Pierre < lxp@wg.icl.co.uk >
* Carsten Engelmann < engel@yacc.central.de >
Eugene V Kalinin < ekalinin@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu >
Jean-Marc Tanzi < jmt@legend.cma.fr >
John Abel < J.Abel@az05p.bull.com >
C.C.C. Leung < leungccc@eee.bham.ac.uk >
Susi < Eugene@Susi.TU-Chel.ac.ru > or < susi@RS6000.TU-Chel.ac.ru > (?)
Franz Pestenhofer < pestl@cublx1.cube.net >

And, also for those who has posted the info in the news that I saw
it but forgot to keep it ( I just remember the content ).

Mr. John Abel had made real nice Mercs' tables in Excel 5.0 format.
I think he will be glad to share this table with all of you. I decide
to use Mr. Tanzi's table in Section 7 ( Miscellaneous Information )
because I am a little bit lazy in converting Mr. Abel's table into
text ( sorry, John ).


Because I don't know what to do, I could not make this document
available in any FTP sites. If you know what to do, any help will be
welcome. For the WWW, Hakan Tandogan < hakan@speedy.franken.de > has
kindly provided his homepage to carry this document at:

http://www.franken.de/users/speedy/hakan/hobbies/daddel/ja
( There is a pretty good, user friendly, editor in this homepage.
If you are frustrated after many tries, "jaedit15" is the program
you need. )

Other WWW sites ( GamesDomain & Gamer's Ledge ):

http://wcl-rs.bham.ac.uk/Gamesdomain/faqs
http://www.medio.net/users/mgodsey/games.html

Other than this, you can either download it from NewsGroups or
send me an e-mail requesting for this. You will be welcome to send this
document to whoever wants it as long as no $$$$$ is involved. If you
really feel this document helps you solve your problem(s), an e-mail
to me will be glad. I will try to send the newer version ( if any ) to
you when it is available.

There is a Strategic Guide ( not FAQ ) in CompuServe. The author is
Wade. D. Glasscock < 76153.2466@Compuserve.com >. If you have access to
this network, you may want to have a look at it. If you have the WWW
access, then you can try GamesDomain:

http://wcl-rs.bham.ac.uk/GamesDomain/faqs/ja.html

I had reviewed this guide. The spoiler and non-spoiler information
are all mixed together. If you don't want the spoiler, please consider
carefully before you look at it. There are some mistakes, especially
like "Spectral Shield too heavy" stuffs. But, generally, the suggetions
in this guide are good for Novice Players. You may have different
oppinions after you gather some experience for yourself.


Finally, some announcement:

"Jagged Alliance" is a registered trademark of "Sir-Tech Software,
Inc." The application software and logos, etc. are all Copyrighted by
"Sir-Tech Software, Inc."




II. Suggestion for Novice Players:

Congratulation you just got a good game ( in most people's opinions )
for yourself. Before you start, let's talk about something that might
not mention in the manual or not emphasis in the manual.

The Final Goal of this game is to win the island back for Jack.
Base on this, you have to make a lot of choices to run your campaign.
The way you run this campaign will definitely influence the outcome. So,
you must decide what do you want to do before you really start it.

The first thing I will suggest you to do is studying the "Mercenary
Profiles at a Glance" which is in game manual pp. 46 & 47. This is the most
important part of the document ( no kidding )! There are always some mercs
who suit your game playing style. Don't ask any people about "what is the
starting team of yours" stuffs, the best combination is purely based on
your style. Some mercs can let your team works fine, some might just waste
your money and contribute nothing. The choice is yours. Here are some tips
in choosing your team ( base on the priority ):

(1) Marksmanship: You want to finish your enemy as soon as possible,
so a higher marksmanship merc is more useful than a lower one.
Higher than 90 is the best, 80 - 90 is good, 70 - 80 is OK, 60 -
70 is still acceptable, and below 60, you had to think about it
for more than once. Once you start the game, you can tell the
difference. According to this, you should consider Ivan. Fidel,
and Ice at the beginning. For others, you must consider their
other skills ( versatility ).

(2) Agility: This is the main factor to determine how many APs he/
she can get. Usually, the older ones will have lower Agility,
so I never consider them. Best choice is over 88. If not, over
80 is still OK. You must reconsider when it is below 80.

(3) Salary: The fund at the beginning is limited. If you can not
do the things well, you will face some financial problem couple
days later. So, make plan on Day 1 is very important.