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See also: Steve

Iggy
Usually in San Mona, the bar above the Shady Lady (C5); $1,95K/day
He appears after your encounter with Mike. Apart from the rocket rifle he also
has multiple abilities. Iggy is a HW expert, an average mech and a mediocre
medic. His other assets are high MRK, LVL5 and top vitality.

Maddog
Wandering around broken fuel pumps in Estoni (I6); free
He has a CAWS shotgun. Maddog is a good mech with top vitality, but his poor aim
makes him hopeless in battle.

Dynamo
Tixa prison dungeon (J9); asks for $50/day, but if refused joins for free
His brother Matt in Alma will ask you to rescue him (see: DRASSEN - Head miners)
You may need to try a few times until he agrees to join. Dynamo is an average
mech, but slow and a poor shot. If you decide to keep him, you'd better do
something about his health.

Shank
Tixa prison dungeon (J9); $20/day
Bring him to Estoni and talk to Jake. Now you will be able to buy gas and refuel
the chopper here. Shank himself is absolutely worthless.
See also: Jake, Skyrider & SECTION 7

Conrad
Alma training building (H13); asks for $5,5K/day, but if refused drops his price
to $3,3K
Hiring him is tricky; he may even get mad and attack you. A multitude of talents:
top training and explosives, excellent MRK, average medic and LVL5 to boot. Only
his price...

Robot
Random sector generally in the upper half of the map; free
In order to get the robot you must find the missing scientist and bring him a
rifle and a video camera. The robot can move and shoot like a human merc (it
cannot reload) but it is slow and its stats are poor. However, it has a decent
MRK (80) and high HEA. It also takes much less damage than your mercs when shot.
A battered robot can be repaired by a mech. When employed properly, the droid
can make a valuable addition to your team. The robot is only active when a merc
uses its remote control, which excludes using any other headgear.
See also: Madlab



Section 7: VEHICLES

Using vehicles will notably shorten the time of movement from one location to
another. Not only will you get there faster, but also your team will be less
tired after the journey. This aspect is very important in combat, as the mercs'
condition is reflected in their APs. However, not all vehicles come free and
some cannot be used to reach certain areas. Up to 6 mercs (a full squad) can be
accommodated in any vehicle. This is done by assigning them to a specific means
of transport in the strategic view. After reaching your destination assign the
mercs to a squad again. Three vehicles can be found around Arulco:

Helicopter
To use the chopper you have to find its pilot (see: SECTION 6 - Skyrider) and
clear the airspace by capturing (or destroying) the SAM sites. Once you achieve
this, you can dispatch your team just about anywhere by air. It takes only 10
minutes per sector to travel. For his service Skyrider charges a fee which
depends on the distance. Also, the helicopter needs to refuel after each journey,
either in Drassen or later in Estoni (see: SECTION 6 - Jake & Shank) This
operation is performed automatically. While airborne avoid travelling thru
unsafe sectors. The helicopter will get hit and eventually shot down by SAM
missiles, which additionally induces a bug (see: SECTION 9) Flying the chopper
is definitely the fastest way to move a squad over long distances, though not
precisely the cheapest one.

Ice-cream truck
The truck can be found in a random road sector between Drassen, Cambria and San
Mona. To get hold of it you need to hire its driver (see: SECTION 6 - Hamous)
Driving is restricted to roads, but it takes just half an hour per sector. This
vehicle only shows up once, so don't waste the opportunity to acquire it.

Hummer
This civilian version of the famed military Hummvee is every man's dream :). And
it is waiting for you east of Balime, in L10. All you have to do is pay $10K to
the guy there and pick up your car on the next day (see: SECTION 6 - Dave)
Unlike the real Hummer, this one can travel only along roads. And I certainly
*don't* like this! Driving takes half an hour per sector.

The truck and the Hummer need gas, which is scarce in Arulco. Several cans can
be found in non-town sectors and more can be bought from Jake after rescuing
Shank (see: SECTION 6 - Jake & Shank) To refuel the car put a can into the
merc's hand, then right-click and left-click on the vehicle. You can check how
much gas there is in the tank by moving the cursor over the two bars in the
vehicle's picture. One of the bars represents the car's condition (can be
repaired by assigning a mech), the other shows the amount of gas left. When you
run out of juice while traveling, you will have to abandon the vehicle (you can
still pick it up later) To avoid such surprises always fill 'er up before the
journey and have a spare can on hand.

Enemy encounters while in a vehicle will proceed in the normal manner. But if
you withdraw your team from the battle, the car will be left in that sector.

Ground vehicles can be also boarded in tactical by "CTRL"+ left-clicking on them.



Section 8: MISCELLANEOUS TACTICAL TIPS

1. Unless you have a specialized well-equipped night-ops squad, avoid
attacking by night at all costs. These encounters are very hard, especially in
the beginning of the game.

2. Always shoot prone taking a good cover, thus minimizing the enemy's chance
to hit you.

3. Always finish off those "critical" enemies. While they don't seem
dangerous, they can still make a very lucky shot or even surprise you with a
LAW!

4. If after movement you don't have enough APs to shoot, don't forget that
you can always run in combat. Running uses less APs (and more energy) than
walking, which can give you the chance to make that crucial shot.

5. Always remember to quick-save and to reload your guns whenever the game
enters real-time during a battle. This can save your ass on many occasions.

6. In an enemy sector move on stealth mode to avoid being spotted (especially
in real-time) Crawling, camouflage, high LVL and the stealthy trait add to
your sneaking skill. Make a good use of smoke grenades. When you discover the
enemy's position, most of the time you will also gain AGI.

7. Keep everything in perfect shape. Use only top condition guns, attachments,
equipment, etc. This does not apply to explosives and grenades (they can also
be repaired!), although beat-up items may not go off at all.

8. HP ammo works wonders against bloodcats. Don't bother with other types of
ammo, unless it's a burst at a very close range. Use fast guns and don't
waste APs on aiming. Someone suggested tear gas as a defense barrier while
fighting the cats, with the masks on. It seems that the beasts attack only
squads traveling on foot (not in a vehicle) Large groups of mercs should not
have much trouble in exterminating the bloodcats, though it might as well
turn into their carnage. Small teams stand no chance unless equipped with fast
HP loaded weapons. Bloodcat parts can be sold to Micky (see: SECTION 6 -
Micky)

9. Some items in the sector inventory may be grayed-out in the strategic view.
This is either because your mercs can't pick them up (e.g. they were left in
the store that closed for the night) or because they are owned by somebody
else. If you try to take such things (in tactical) while the owner is near,
expect trouble (yes, they will attack you) The trick is to pick them up
while their holder is away and can't see you stealing his property. You
can block his way with other mercs or move him out by exchanging places.
However, this is not always possible.

10. Whenever you stumble upon a locked door, crate or locker, first check if
it is not trapped. The merc may not discover the trap on his/her first attempt.
Have your mech or explosives guy remove any traps before proceeding. Then
see if you already don't have a key for it. If not, have a merc with high
STR force it open or use a crowbar on it. Alternatively, a mech with a
high PICK rating can pick the lock. Also the bomb dude can destroy the lock
(but not open the thing) with a shaped charge. All these actions are
performed by choosing a proper icon from the "open" menu. The merc
attempting them must have the suitable items in his/her inventory. When you
are still not successful, you can shoot at the thing until the lock gives way.
However, this doesn't seem to work on all doors/crates/lockers. As a last
resort you might try explosives, the LAW or the mortar - with extra care not
to hurt anyone near (unless they are enemies) This only works with doors...
you guess why ;)
See also: chapters on specialists in SECTION 1.

11. Some advice on destroying the tanks. The LAW seems the natural choice, but
also the mortar works well against armor. The drawback of this method is that
the enemy will know the position of your squd the moment you fire. Another
very effective technique is to plant a strong explosive right by the tank
(the C4 is preferred here) This method requires superior sneaking skills
and/or luck. Move under the cover of smoke, stay prone and crawl next to the
tank. You may be attacked by its machine gun, so make sure to wear top armor.
Leave enough APs to place the bomb and to get the hell out of there. It is
best to use remote detonators; sometimes 2 explosives may be necessary. If
you have nothing else on hand, you might also try regular grenades. They
are far less effective, but will eventually do the job. And remember to save!

12. If any of your mercs are captured by the enemy, there are three locations
where they can be taken. Until you conquer Alma, they are held in the
Military Prison there (I13) Afterwards the POWs can be found either in the
Tixa jail (J9) or the army station in N7, known as the "LAW cache" (you
will know why once you get there :) This is also where they may be
interrogated by the Queen herself (see: SECTION 4 - WEIRD ITEMS). But of course
you will never surrender or abandon the battle, Commander!



Section 9: PROGRAM BUGS

NOTE: These bugs appear in version 1.03 US. I hope the patch will have most of
these fixed. Well, maybe not all of them... ;)

1. In the Extreme Fighting Competition in San Mona, while in the ring, your
opponent will sometimes start shooting at you in the middle of the fight. I
believe this was not intentional, but there is not much to be done about it.
You can either knock the boxer out the normal way (taking some serious damage)
or reload a game and try your luck again. If you use any weapon, you will
lose the bet and everybody will turn on you.
There is also another bug. Incredibly, it' even worse than the previous
one! It can happen that after giving your bet to Darren the fight will not
start at all. If you leave the ring, your cash is lost. When you talk to
Darren he acts as nothing had happened. Losing $5K this way is extremely
annoying :( I suspect it has to do with killing the opponents in an earlier
fight, instead of just knocking them out. This happened to me, and boy, was I
pissed off not seeing these 15 grand every second night!

2. In few non-town sectors items will reappear once more some time after
taking them. The respawning stuff seems to be random. This also happens in the
mines: after collecting the nuggets new ones will appear in few days, but only
once :( I don't know if this was meant to be.

3. After taking the items from a mine the town's loyalty goes down by 1% This
is not so relevant, but I see no reason why it should happen.

4. When you don't meet Carmen on the next day in Drassen after delivering a
bounty's head to him, he will pay you for this same head multiple times -
whenever you find him. Nice compensation for the screwed EFC ;)

5. If the chopper gets hit for the third time, the game will crash and kick
you out to Windoze(tm) It seems that there is a voice file missing. In order
not to encounter this bug, don't fly over unfriendly sectors, and if you
really have to, make sure there is only one en route (Skyrider will usually
take the same way back home!)

6. Sometimes the mercs will move in a funny way, sideways and backwards, as
with the "ALT" pressed. To remedy the problem, depress this key and quickly
double-click around them. After some attempts they will walk normally.

7. On some occasions you may end up with duplicated items while picking up
stuff from the ground. This happens when the merc's backpack is full and one
hand slot remains empty, while trying to pick up more than one item. I'm
not trying to suggest anything here, but... (wink-wink :))



Section 10: LINKS

If this guide did not answer your JA2 problems, I strongly recommend visiting
the following sites:

Jagged Alliance Galaxy www.tacticalplanet.com/ja-galaxy
Probably the best and most comprehensive JA site on the net, part of the
Tactical Planet network.

CW: Postcards from Arulco www.redrival.com/rakki/ja2
Excellent JA2 site with many funny accents throughout.

FREELANCER: Your tactical source www.freelancer.ag.ru
Very detailed stats of JA2 equipment and characters. Also lots of stuff on other
tactical/RPG games (Fallout, X-COM, etc.)