i don´t know if anyone is still playing jagged allliance wildfire, i know the JA2 came out almost 7 years ago, and wildfire 3-4 years ago, but i was not aware that the sequel toJA2 had come out until this summer, when my son pointed this out to me in a computer store in Krakow, Poland, and since he knew that i had been addicted to JA2, he did me no small favor by pointing out that JA2 has a sequel. well, i have become addicted to Wildfire, and since i have not been able to find an online guide to the game, i have made my first venture in posting an online guide, hopefully, there are at least one other person in the world playing this game.

Here are my suggestions for playing the game, i am going to assume you are playing on expert difficulty level, science fiction level and tons of guns.


Tactics

I find that these tactics work well both in JA2 and Wildfire.

1. Travel at night, except where there are lots of buildings to hide behind, most sectors are much easier to beat at night. I usually have my mercs sleep or repair weapons during the day and do the travelling and fighting at night.

2. Fighting in cities, my first priority is to try to station a merc on the roof of a building then let the opponents come to me. Where this is not possible, i station the mercs behind a building, fire a shot and let the opponents come running, then pick them off as the come around the corner.

3. Breaklights, throw the breaklights out, fire a shot and let the opponents come running into the break lights, they are easy picking.


4. Be careful with explosive weapons, if a civilian is injured when you use an explosive, the entire civilian poplulation in that sector will turn against you.

5. Save on multilple site, Wildfire has lots of bugs and can freeze up at unexpected times, i usually have 4 save files going, one for when i finish a sector, one for when i enter a new occupied sector and two files going which i alternately save as i am clearing the sector.


Wildfire differs from JA2 in a number of ways,

Break lights

break lights are a major part of the game. i usually don´t move my mercs except at night, in JA2, as long as the merc night vision goggles, that sufficed. in Wildfire, breaklights are essential. when entering a hostile sector, i throw out 2 break lights, then have one of the mercs fire his weapon, and wait as the opponents come into the lighted area, like moths drawn to light.
No rocket rifles.

Wildfire does not have rocket rifles, but the game does have other great weapons, which can be had earlier in the game than in JA2. in Cambria, you can find anywhere from 1 to 3 5.56 mm machine guns called the FN Minim, they fire 6 bullets on rapid fire, killing just about any opponent with one shot. Later on the SVU and SVD cause 47 units damage, a single shot to the head, or two body shots will kill just about any opponent. Also, the V-94 fires antimatter bullets causing over 80 damage, usually one shot will kill an opponent. Since there are no rocket rifles, there does not seem to be much of a reason to attack Orta.

Laws

in JA2 the law was a one shot weapon. in Wildfire, they are reloadable. After the law is used, the Rocket Law can be loaded into the law and shot again. Mercs with high mechanical ability seem to be the best at reloading the law, so magic or trevor seem best at this task.

Money

Money can be a problem because many of the mines you take over will not pay out at all until side quests are undertaken, also it is more difficult to get 100% loyalty, so mine income is reduced compared to JA2. To make up for this, there is a great deal of money to be had in San Mona. After rescuing Maria from the brothel, the gay tatto man will have $10,000. In my game, every time i give him the deed to the leather shop, the game freezes up, however, there does not seem to be any penalty for killing him and taking the money. Fighting in Kingpin´s ring can net $15,000. Raiding kingpin´s mine nets $30,000. Finally, killing Kingpin and the rest of his crew in sector D5 yields over $40,000. And killing Tony, the gun dealer also nets aroung $20,000. So by fighting, stealing kingpin´s money, then killing kingpin, his crew, tony and everyone in D5 and C5, you can net $105,000 to $110,000.

My initial crews.

because of the tight money situation, i start hire mercs so that i can sent one crew to san mona and collect the above moneys, and another crew to go off to drassen and alma. in wildfire, scope by far has the best weapon, she has a gun with 30 range and a laser sight, so scope is essential to hire. i also find that you will need someone with decent lockpicking ability right away, so i either hire magic or trevor. if magic is available i will usually take him, however, if he isn´t, or for a change of pace, i will hire shadow and trevor. in addition, i like to hire blood, he is the merc who will be doing the fighting in the ring in San Mona, as he is a good overall fighter and he is not very expensive. In JA2 i used to always use Bull, but the game locks up in Wildfire with him, i have not had any problems with Blood. I will also hire a number of cheap mercs for two reasons, one to drop off in cities i conquer to train militia, and a couple of strong mercs who can carry weapons, granades, laws, mortars and other heavy items for the team.

I also like to create a merc, i find the most important feature of the created merc is leadership and wisdom, so i give him/her 85 leadership and wisdom, i usually max out marksmanship as well.

After taking the initial sector and recruiting Ira and Dimitiri, i send Scope and Blood off to San Mona and the rest of the team off to Drassen. The team sent off to Drassen will arrive first, so i conquer this area while the other team is still travelling.

Drassen

I find it best to skip the airfield at B13 and take the other two sectors, and come back and do the airfield last. Sectors C13 and D13 (mine) are relatively easy, simply station your best merc equiped with a long range rifle and the laser sight on the roofs and pick off the opponents. Don´t forget to have ira talk to the priest to have him gather food, the priest can be found either in the bar in C13 or the church in D13. Come back and do the airfield, this is one of the hardest sectors in the game, try hidding behind the dumpsters and gradually work your way to get on the roof, there are at least 3 opponents on the roofs of the two buildlings, so this is not easy. You could wait until dark to take the sector if you cannot beat the sector during the day.

After you conquer the three Drassen sectors, have your merc with the highest leadership talk to the miner to get him to turn over the mine income to you. Also talk to the man in the airfield to get him to tell you about Skyrider, the helicopter pilot. in wildfire, having access to the helicopter seems more important than in JA2, one will need the helicopter of ferry mercs and equipment as the game goes along. Skyrider can be found in a sector near Drassen, the sector varies, it is just a matter of trial and error finding him, save the game before sending mercs out to retreive him. Also take over the SAM site in D15 and station a merc there to begin training militia. Leave two of your mercs in Drassen Airport to train militia.


San Mona

When the other crew arrives at San Mona, have them first rescue Maria, talk to her brother in sector C6, buy the leather jacket, get him to tell you about his sister, rescue her from the brothel in C5, then after you return her to her brother, he will give you the deed to the leather shop and tell you about the money kinpin hides in the mine.

Go to sector C5, this is where the tatto parlor is and the X-rated Video shop is. In the video shop, you will have to kill the woman patron so that the store keeper will let you back to see Tony. in JA2 there was a video tape you could find to give to the woman, however this tape doesn´t exist in Wildfire, so just shoot her. Go in to talk to Tony. What i do is the following, i send scope in to talk to tony and station blood on top of the roof of the brothel. after scope talks to tony, she then throws a granade at him and then kills him. collect his weapons and then fight your way through the sector killing the rest of the opponents including the brothel keeper and the gay tatoo man. Collect the money and any good weapons you find. while scope fights her way out of the video store, blood can help by picking off opponents from his vantage point on top of the whore house.

Head over to sector D5. Arrive after 16:00 and have blood fight the three opponents, bet $5,000 on each fight, after winning the three fights, go and talk to kingpin and have him tell you about the chalice. At this point, you can station your two mercs on top of the roofs of the sector and begin picking off the opponents. By killing all the opponents, you will get $40,000 from kingpin and his men. Go into sector D4 and enter the mine, collect the $30,000 kingpin had hidden there in trunks under sector D5.

By this time you should have over $100,000 dollars, sign you mercs up to long-term contracts at this time.

After this, i have the mercs see if they can find the ice cream truck in one of the sectors to the west or southeast of San Mona. If they cannot find the ice cream truck nearby, i would suggest letting scope go when her contract expires.

If you have use of the helicopter, fly over to one of the sectors north of Alma, i recommend G14 and then have them travel down to H14 in Alma. I think the best way to conquer Alma is to start in H14 because this is the sector where you will find the wearhouses which contain weapons, armour and ammunition which makes it much easier to take over the other sectors. There are opponents on top of many of the roofs in this sector, so the going is slow. The sectors in Alma are much easier to conquer if you do this at night, you will probably arrive around 5:00 on Day 2. Use the buildings as cover and move slowly through the sector. After you are done, collect the minimi and attach the scope and laser scope. In sector H13, don´t forget to kill the general after you have beaten the sector, the colonel who you healed in JA2 does not seem to exist in Wildfire. Recruit Conrad, but don´t pay him his initial offer of $5,o00 a day, pay him $3,500. In the sector I14, Alma mine, talk to the miner, he will not turn over the income at this point but he will tell you about Dynamo who is in prision in Tixia (N7). Station 2 mercs in Alma to train militia.

In JA2 one could send the mercs over to defeat the blood cat lair. This does not seem possible in Wildfire, no matter how you enter the sector, you will be surrounded by dozens of blood cats, attacked and one or more of your mercs killed before you ever get off a shot. Don´t bother trying to defeat the blood cat lair.

Balime

At this point, if my team that went to San Mona has not found the ice cream truck, i will head down to Balime to get the Hummer. In Balime, after conquering L11, steal the chalice from the museum. What i do, after getting the chalice, immediatley go to the map screen and move the team to the west to L12, this is easier than trying to have the merc sneak past the guard. in L12, threaten the couple in their house, the husband will give you $10,000. Then head over to L10, if you arrive here during the day, you can talk to Dave, for $10,000 he will sell you the Hummer. Give him the money, when you come back the next day to pick up the Hummer, shoot him the get your money back.

If you have found the ice cream truck, you may consider sending you team to meet up at the truck, if this is the case, you would go and conquer Cambiria first.


Tixia

While waiting for the Hummer, i send the team to Tixia (N7). Beating the prison in wildfire is different than in JA2. There are so many opponents on the roof, that you cannot take the roof and pick off the opponents. Sneak into the prison, set off the gas and then station your mercs behind the door and pick off the opponents as they come for you. After beating the sector, rescue Dynamo. Then head down to the basement, this sector is much easier than in JA2, place you mercs to the side of the door, fire a shot and have them wait while the opponents come after you. After beating the sector, rescue Shank.

In the basement, you will find a room which contains bug elixir, there are usually 4 jars of bug elixir, make sure you grab the elixir, there is also bug jelly, use this to coat your armour.

After taking Tixia, i usually send the team to sector I8, which is a SAM site. Arrive here at night, sneak behind a building, fire a shot and let the opponents come running to you. Leave a merc or two at the site to train militia, then have the helicopter come to pick your team up and head back to L10 to get the Hummer. The hummer will be ready 24 hours after you first talked to Dave, Kill Dave, collect you money, then take the hummer and head back to Alma. Travelling at night is much easier as the roads usually are full of opponents. When you reach Alma, have Dynamo talk to the miner and he will turn over the income to you. Also, this is a good time to start to collect HP ammunition as the mine at Drassen will soon be overrun by bugs, and HP ammo is much more effective on the crepitus.

After passing through Alma, i head to Cambria, travelling at night. most of the sectors near Alma are occupied by opponents, so night is much easier than daytime travel.

Cambria

in sector G9, after clearing the sector, open up all the warehouses, there are three more oponents that need to be cleared. in the mine sector in cambria, as well as in grumm, there are trunks in a storeage room. there is a civilian who is standing infront of the room who refuses to move. rather than shooting the civilian, which would then cause all the civilians to turn against you, move to the outside of the building and carefully shoot the wall with a law, if you do this correctly, the wall should break creating a space for your merc to enter without damaging the trunks or the civilian, this may take a few trys to get this right, there is around $10,000 in these trunks.