I couldnt get into this game a while ago and now i am giving it another shot. I decided on how i will play the game this time and this time my main guy will be a melee specialist with knives. I rolled up a character with ambidexterity/knifing. I am wondering if anyone knows of a guide or something that can tell what skills do? I wish that the manual would have shed some light on this as i find this game to be very interesting.

i really want to use this character in melee and sometimes (when its crazy) ranged. I would also like to use maybe 3 other people at most so i have a mini power team that can get through almost any scenario. I dont like using a large amount of guys in a turn based game as it makes the game way too long and tedious. Still this game is much faster than others of the genre.

Hi, this may help you. For a knive specialist i would prefer a different second skill, as ambidextrous helps with firing two guns at the same time, only.
Night ops is cool with knives, as you can get very close to the enemy at night. Or stealth, that would help getting close unnoticed in daylight as well.

Ok, i redid the skills and i got knifing (expert). Would that mean that i do a lot more damage with that. I'm not sure what would be better, stealth + knifing or knifing expert.

Edit-I tried using a melee character with knifing expert and having him stay close to my characters but it failed miserably. I am beginning to wonder if kniving has any use at all in this game. I just rolled a throwing/stealth with throwing knives and will try that out later. This game is brutal. Im used to regular rpg/strategy games where everyone goes to get in melee and get a few ranged shots before melee closes. In this game, its the complete opposite and the defenders lose. I need to reformulate my tactics, does anyone have any ideas on any of this or is melee worthless and should i go with throwing knives?

I just decided to go with a stealth expert. That way i can use any weapon and get the bonus to not being seen. By the way are there any other automatics that you can use like the m5k cause that works but im not sure if its going to be the end all be all for my main character. He is the stealthy type. Thanks again guys for the help.

I usually go with night ops and auto weapons. It's just a personal preference though.

I never bothered with melee weapons or throwing knifes. You get pumped full of lead before you can close in with melee weapons and I always though damage from knifes was pathetic.

theres about 60-odd guns in vanila JA2 (a few are only available in sci fi mode) and frikken hundreds in 1.13. Rifles and heavy weapons will get introduced into the game as you progress, Bobby Rays also gets more weapons to buy.

Hey, ive been away for a while and decided to upload this patch. It definitely makes the game go faster. I heard someone mention that you get to read the skills from a menu. I have 2085, which patch do i have to download to read the skills. I want to try and use melee now that its been overhauled.

The ai is a little too good by the way, is there a way to change that?

2085 is the stable version from way back in 2008, I'm right now using build 3821. I dont think you have the overhauled skills (you should see some new skills such as Paramedic, Gunslinger if you do have the overhauled skillset).
You can download the latest 4057 beta build from here or you can just wait a week or 2 for the next "stable" version to be released in April (assuming its on schedule) :D

Im sorry but how do i open the 4057 and install it? Ive extracted it into my folder but cant seem to find the whereabouts of the installation drive.

Edit-I had to delete the whole game directory because the game wouldnt load. Guess updating is not going to work. w/e, if the game is going to be ridiculously harder than i might as well play the original. I still would like to use the new features though. Im going to try and install it again and try it with just adding it from the gitgo.

Edit-Just got it to work and have been playing for a little whie. I have a few questions from any that know it well. I want to make a stealthy character that uses blades, but the problem is that you dont get to choose 2 perks on your minor traits. All there is on the 1st perk page is guns. I chose gunslinger. There is also no camouflage in the new version, but stealth is much better. Im not sure what to do. I also thought of taking throwing as a perk, but i want to take stealth with that. Is this version set in stone or are they still working on it?

You don't need to take major perks, you can trade a point in major for a minor (or more stat points if you don't take either). Run around with 3 minors (or no traits) if you like :). Camo is part of the Hunter/Ranger skill (-50%/100% camo wearout).

As far as I know, this is the final version for skills - besides balancing changes. I read chat about expanding on the traits by letting the mercs learn new traits during the game, how many traits they can learn depends on their exp level. And more "levels" to each of the traits (like the major skills) and do things, like for example: if a merc doesn't have paramedic or doctoring - if they try to doctor a patient there is a small chance they'll hurt and further injure them, on top of the usual slower healing speed, using up more of the kit etc.

Basically, I kinda got the impression that they want to go with a sort of:
Tier 1 of Skill XXX (everybody has all skills here, any of the skills they specialize in would be higher) = penalties when performing actions related to that skill (in some cases cant even perform the actions)
Tier 2 = use/perform actions as a person without the skill in JA2 vanilla could
Tier 3 = bonus
Tier 4 = big bonus

BUUUT I don't know if they're going through with that.

Thanks for the info. Do you know how to steal items, i might want to specialize in that if i am going to melee.

I don't steal very often so I'm not exactly sure how it works, I think if you hit somebody and they collapse to the ground out cold for a turn or two then you can grab a few items of them before they recover.

Edit: I went and checked the Bearspit forum, this is what it says about close combat:-

"ENHANCED CLOSE COMBAT SYSTEM

Ini option:
ENHANCED_CLOSE_COMBAT_SYSTEM = TRUE/FALSE

This ini option consists following features enhancing the close combat system in JA:

* Attributes used for HtH attacks or stealing slightly tweaked.

* HtHand hit to head deal more damage. There is a -20% chance to hit to head but +30% damage bonus there. Also reduced slightly the overall HtH damage (by 1) as you now have this possibility.

* HtH hit to legs do half damage but has much better chance to hit (+30%).

* HtH damage on lying enemies increased (by 30%).

* HtH damage on surprising attacks(from behind, when enemy didn't seen or heard the merc) is increased (by 30%).

* Aimed HtH/blade attacks revamped. Now they cost less APs(can be set in Traits_Setting.ini). They gives you +20% chance to hit, but if you have Hand to Hand/Martial Arts or Melee traits, this is converted into "focused punch/stab" - martial artists perform their spinning kick then. Focused Punches or Stabs make much more damage then.

* Experience recieved for certain actions changed. Exp tweaked to be more logical. Like.. for successful dodging, you gain exp mostly for agility (was dexterity), beating a guy on ground gives more strength exp, stealing gives more exp overall and mostly to dext/agility (was strength), focused punch(Ma/HtH traits) gives you more exp.. etc.

* Stealing all items is now possible only when the enemy is knocked down. The APs you need to steal items are now based on number of items you want to take. The standard APs for pickup item are charged for every item you selected to take. If you select more items to take from the enemy than you have APs for, the rest will remain with the enemy and a message occures that you haven't taken all you wanted. Note that this action will give you almost no experience, while tearing gun from conscios enemy hands gives you a lot of experience in str/dex/agi.

* Reduced AP cost for stealing items if the enemy has no item. Your merc will probably see, that the enemy is naked so will not spend so much APs fighting for things that do not exist.

* Always notice a character after stealing. The enemy will always notice you after you have tried to steal his gun. (If you are behind him.) It's rather a fixed bug, when you were able to take a gun from an enemy and he just walked away without noticing his 9kg-heavy weapon is gone.

* If a character fights hand to hand, got hit or dodged an enemy melee attack, he will turn to the boxing stance (ninja stance for martial artists or knife stance with knife). This is cosmetical, but very nice. The hand to hand battle now looks pretty cool as they don't stand there like idiots now.

* Several minor tweaks included.

Other features may be added into this in time.."

my 6 imps were:
Lenriak - Sniper, Scouting (loner)
Chuck - Squad Leader, Teaching (assertive)
Grunt - Auto Weapons, Hand to Hand, Body Building (Aggressive, Psycho)
Angel - Gunslinger, Hand to Hand, Athletics (Optimist)
Karebear - Doctor, Night Ops (Intellectual, Nervous)
Boomtime - Engineer, Demolitions (phlegmatic, non-swimmer)

and a whole bunch of others that I sometimes choose from :)