I've wanted to play a game of this type for a good while and this one looks very interesting. But I can't tell from the ads and posts how replayable it is. Is the game a series of specific missions that, once played, can't be played again or is it more open ended, with one overall mission to overthrow the evil dictator? Also, does the game have a time limit? There is nothing I hate more in a game than to be having a really good game and suddenly - Last Move, Game Over. Is there a set number to turns to each game?

Thanks

I'm pretty sure they're all relatively open-ended, but as I have only played JA2 I can only fully vouch for that one.

In JA2, you are always in full control of everything:
- which mercs to hire.
- which mercs are available at any given point changes.
- which sectors/cities to attack, and when.
- which side missions to do, and when.
- which mercs get killed can vary (not just ones you control either).

So you can get to the final mission as fast or as slow as you like.

On top of that:
- at least two of the side missions have random elements to it, and will change every game a little bit.
- there's one merc + vehicle whose location changes every game (also random). So when/where you find him will vary.
- one of the mines will randomly run out of resources. The mine chosen and exactly when it runs out is also random.

So there's both variation caused by the player and variation built into the game itself, so no two games will be exactly the same even if you use the same overall strategy. Naturally once you've played the game once there will be things that will stay constant - so you'll know in advance which places are worth taking over, the shops that are there, the likely quests etc. - but it'll still have variety.

Thanks for your answer. It is very good. This is enough open ended for my purposes.

Since this forum is for several games in this series (and I wish GOG wouldn't do that, or at least make subforums, since it can be confusing at times), I can't be sure what you mean by "the game", I'll answer for the ones I've played.

JA:
In the strategic game. there is no time limit per se, but there is employer approval. If you don't take any sectors for a few days in a row, your employer will start to complain, and you may be eventually fired. As long as you're actively playing, it is rarely a factor. Effectively, this is to prevent you from just sitting on your butt for months on end to accumulate a million bucks, then hiring all the best mercs.

For the tactical game, each day ends after a certain amount of time, and you cannot fight at night. IIRC if you're in the middle of combat when night falls, you may be forced to retreat and take casualties.

Deadly Games:
Only JA style tactical missions without any strategic elements. Each map has a time limit in turns.

JA2.
In the strategic game, the time requirement is similar to the original Jagged Alliance. However, major differences are that no time passes while in the middle of a firefight and you can fight at night (in fact, many players believe that, with the right mercs (Night Ops/Stealthy) and equipment, you should prefer to fight at night and avoid daytime fighting when possible). So there is no time limit for tactical combat.

JA2 1.13, a popular mod for JA2.
Employer complaints are still there, but getting fired has been disabled (it can be reenabled by changing some settings in the .ini file). In short, no time limits.

Thanks for your very complete answer. I'm sorry for not putting which game. I was asking about JA2. Sometimes I forget that on the GOG forums all the different releases of the same title have the same forum.

JA2 is replayable and it might actually take you a few runs to find all the missions and secrets.
On top of that there are a lot of mods available to extend gameplay even more.