I want to start a new 1.13 game on INSANE difficulty and i'd like to try out a few other mods as i've only ever used 1.13 before. From previous experience with mods in other games i would like some advice on this instead of spending hours or days to make it work through trial and error.

I feel i lack info on what some mods do and i'm not sure about the compatibility these mods have with 1.13 or each other. What i want to do is play the original campaign in 1.13, but with mods that add weapons, armor, ammo types and other cool items. I also want to add new npcs both recruitable and questgivers, and i want to make more of the original npcs reacruitable. Mods that add more interesting stuff to the sectors in the game are of interest to me. More crafting recipes would be neat and so would more facilities that let's me do stuff.

These are some of the mods i consider trying:

Urban Chaos
Arulco Revisited
Aimnas
Arulco Vacations
Alrulco Folding Stock
Deidrianna Lives!

Several of these i've had problems find out exactly what they do tho, as i run into a lot of "page not found" when clicking links (especially on Bear's Pit forum). So if someone wants to tell me the major features of these mods, or point me to pages that explain them in detail, i'd be grateful.

I also wouldn't mind people recommending mods that are in line with the things that i'm interested in.

Then there's the question of compatibility. I'm running 1.13 7609 (are there newer versions that are better and stable?), and i'm wondering if i could run into problems installing them and if i should install them in any specific order. Would really appreciate some help and good advice.

Have a few questions that i may as well ask since i'm already writing this post:

1. I can't get the IMP gear selection screen to work and this is a feature i'd really like to have

2. Sci-fi game mode doesn't really add much to the game. Is there a way to make it more interesting?

3. Saw something once it wasn't recommended to have more than 32 mercs. Is this still true or could i edit the ini file to allow 50 mercs for instance?

4. Seems there's a way to equip your own militia with guns and armor. though i still haven't figured out how yet. Would militia become much more efficient if i equip them with high-end assault rifles, LMGs, snipers and armor? If so it would be neat to be able to do that. If using this option tho, there would be some sectors where i store all the gear for my mercs, where i don't want the milita to touch any of the gear. So if specially equipped militia are a lot better than ordinary militia there are some sectors i would like them to leave gear untouched.

5. When militia and enemy patrols fight each other and none of my mercs are there, the ones that die don't seem to drop their gear. Any way to make them do that?

6. How much micromanaging is required with the food system? Will my mercs eat automatically if there is food available in the sector they're in or do i have to feed each of them individually when they're hungry? And can food give you temporary bonuses as in some games or are they purely to avoid hunger?

7. Tried to edit mercs with PROEDIT.EXE, but it didn't work. i used the one in data 1.13 folder. should i use the one in data-1.13\binary data folder or the one in data\binary data folder, or was there something i did wrong?

That's all i have for now. would love some help, advice, info or just general comments. :)

I think Arulco Vacations may fits most to what i believe to recognize as your preferences,
best played with sevenfm's enhanced ai exe, both have their own subforum on bears pit.

To get latest main trunk 1.13 version, check "Depri's builds and packages" thread,
latest sci may have minor bugs, rarely major,
however I recommend to make hard saves after major steps in case gamebreaking stuff happens.


1. should be a setting in ja2Options.ini

2 make bugs/aliens stronger?

3 afaik 32 mercs is max

4 again check ja2Options.ini,, dunno whether they get better,
i think battles with militia are utterly boring and dont fight with them, unless for artillery strikes from other sector.

5. Its not insane difficulty if enemies drop all, even if its "on" in a mod by default,
as it destroys financial balance if you sell these items
and item balance when you play with the recommendable "minimum item progress".

6 too much, i dont play with food, ja2 is not a restaurant simulator ;)

7 mercprofiles.xml contains all data, btw its only insane if you make them worse, not if you improve them.

2cents:
"only ever played 1.13 once before" will probably end in quick party wipeout on insane,
or a savescumming orgy aka playing vs rng, not the game itself, which isn't difficult at all, only very boring.

However to make the game even more insane, my additional recommendations for ja2options.ini:
dynamic_imp_profile_cost = TRUE
sell_items_with_lmb = FALSE
enemy_ambushes = TRUE
increase_aiming_costs = TRUE
trigger_massive_counterattack_at_drassen = TRUE
aggressive_strategic_ai = 2
no_enemy_detection_withput_recon = TRUE
new_aggresive_ai = TRUE

Make sure to have a scout in every travelling group, perhaps also radio operator, a spy, Manuel asap ...

I have not actually played for years, but I regularly read Bear's Pit, so there just so much I can say.

32 mercs is game code limitation. Flugente have increased team version done, but it is not part of main trunk, but stand alone version not compatible with anything else. From what he said, charges to do that was massive, touching literally every file in the code base. Why he do not advance that further, I have no idea, maybe there are some serious problems left still.

In regards to difficulty, what i wrote about 1.13 may not have been entirely clear. I've played 1.13 many times before. I've won an expert game, and now want something different. Not necessarily the most difficult game possible tho. I want to play on insane because i want more enemies and a long game, but i plan to edit the game a lot to make some things easier and others more difficult. Overall tho i suspect i'll end up with something akin to expert in difficulty.

When it comes to making people drop items i'm aware that would affect the balance a lot, but there are ways to correct that, like editing the game to not be able to sell items for instance. Not even sure yet if i'm gonna play with enemies drop all, but i'd still like to know how to make enemies and militia drop their gear on auto resolve if it's even possible.

That goes for editing coolness on Bobby ray's used section as well that i talked about in a previous post, not sure it's something i'm gonna do, but still like to know how. To have that option available to be.

I'm pretty good at not exploiting changes i've made to the game and many things can be altered altered after a game has been started anyway.

Anyway. thank you to townltu and Enneagon for your help :D

Hello.

You can get some idea of the chances for basic 1.13 from Flug Entes Youtube channel.

In Arulco Revisited 1.13 nothing is like it used to be. Bobby Ray won´t be available as early as it used to. Gameplay is more "living of the land" type.


I haven`t played much of Urban Chaos 1.13 but it´s like Revisited, all is new. All is totally revamped.


You can use newer unstables without problems if you want to. I haven´t had much problems with them.Mostly some bugs.





New forum is at :

thepit.ja-galaxy-forum.com/index.php