Bit confused. When I hire a new merc, where do I pick him/her up?
Thank you. :)

ij JA2 they will be thrown out in omerta (your starting location)

If you turn on your airspace filter on the map screen, you'll see a gold icon which represents where your mercs will land. You can drag and drop the LZ to anywhere in the GREEN areas in order to save time. However, if that section is occupied by the enemy, then the helicopter will drop them off in an adjacent location that's still in your possession.

Good tips all. :)
Any recommendations on a good mix of mercs to start with?
I've just been practicing the first 3 sectors just to get a feel for the game. :)

It's always a good idea to make sure most (if not all) of your mercs have at least one point of Medical ability. Even 1 point lets them patch somebody up. It's good to have one you has a high enough Med rating to qualify as sort of a team doctor, 1-2 with a good Mechanical rating for lockpicking and equipment repair...I usually have 1 explosives expert type (or at least 1 who's pretty good in that area). The most important stat, though, is Accuracy...the more top shooters you can get, the better, so off the start it might make the most sense to focus on shooters who have a really solid secondary rating to cover the other ratings.

Thank you. I built a team based on your recommendations and the game is much easier now. :)

Woot! Just won my first mine. Thing is I'm low on cash and by the time I get extra cash her people are trying retake the mine. Any suggestions on how to defend a mine?
Thank you. :)

One of the most important things on defense...DO NOT BUNCH UP. I find that, for me anyway, when I'm attacking I tend to do the right thing and keep my guys with some level of separation between then. When I go to the defense I find I have a habit of grouping guys too closely together...one well placed grenade, and you just lost 3 troopers.
The other thing is fields of fire. Whereever you place your troops, make sure they can actually see a decent enough distance to engage at range. Throwing them all right in front of a dense treeline where they won't see any target until they're 10 feet away isn't a great idea.

I prefer nightops automatic weapons I.M.P. char ( I play usually with one char, except insane), when i want to stay in town and defend, then get to the rooftop, you have better view and you are harder to hit, not mentioning, that you can anytime go step or two back to get out of LOS, two or three soldiers on different roofs with rifles and one secondary weapon (quick burst fire is good) can ceep sector well defended, in need you can retreat to the center of town on some roof and get them together, then you can have one spotter and other can snipe. I found out, that in 1.13 mod is night ops much easier than dayfights, in original JA2 is better to fight in day, until you have specialized equipement.

Great point about high ground, moonfear. Getting a few of your better shooter UP can be absolutely key when you're defending.

Seems I can also prevent or slow down attacks by training a milita. Unfortunately, the attack occurs before the miltia gets trained.
Couple of questions:
1) How long does it take to train a militia?
2) Is the Leadership skill the one that affects the time it takes?
3) If you have multiple mercs training a militia does it help?
Thank you. :)

training militia (time of training) is influenced by leadership and propably wisdom, some mercs have even specialization on training, and yes, two mercs train militia faster then one, you can train militia with two mercs in one sector.

Thanks!
I used gus and scope to train a militia. The milita is very helpful. :)

ira is good trainer :) scope is better in field with some nice scoped rifle

Ooh didn't know that. I will try IRA this time. So far I can only train up to 10 militia before the attack of 15 enemy troops arrive.
Is it leadership or wisdom that benefits training militia?
Seems even with 10 militia and 4 mercs I get wiped out by the enemy. Ugh.
When I order extra ammo and such, it never seems to arrive. Where am I supposed to pick it up?
Thank you. :)