Are there any genuinely effective strategies for early game combat?

[hermanJnr.]

I'm finding early game combat really annoying. The pistols you have as your only weapons seem beyond terrible (and what foreign mercenary squad goes into battle with just pistols? Seriously?)

Early game almost every gunfight goes like this:

TURN 1:
Merc A goes prone behind a cluster of big rocks or thick trees 15 metres from a bad guy.
Bad Guy A runs out into the middle of an open field with zero cover, stands up and takes aim with his pistol one-handed.

TURN 2:
Merc A misses 3 aimed shots at the torso.
Bad Guy A fires his gun from the hip, standing still, and his Merc A in the head twice for 60 damage.

TURN 3-13:
Merc A has no AP because he's injured. He gets shot in the foot for 10 damage.
Bad Guy A stands in the field pelvic thrusting and laughing as Mercs B, C, D and E fire their pistols at him for 10 turns straight. Anyone who tries to flank or advance gets shot in the chest for massive damage. Bad Guy A finally dies on Turn 13, and the bandages are all used up patching up Merc A.

All of the engagements are outdoors in large environments, where your weapons are constantly "out of effective range" and even 80+ Marksmanship troops miss point-blank shots to the chest with these crap guns quite frequently.

I've had success ambushing guys behind buildings (because my mercs can't miss when the bad guys are literally pushing their abdomens up against the gun barrels) but that's useless when enemies hang tight and don't run into the trap.

Is the game just awful until you get decent weapons?

[systemgod]

ur right, it's not very wise move to go in to the gunfight with a knife.

I can't understand how paid mercenaries can be such a bad shooters. They deserve to die for that.

[Schliemann]

awful = extra hard =cheating enemy = enemy more Action points = weapons stronger = headshot one kill
ok i started a game and did 3 maxd aimd shot with my 80mrk imp. to the standing enemy torso. i hit 2 out of 3 and killd him.

[MRTN17]

Yes, weapon matter a lot.

Hire one expensive merc with a good weapon for a day, optional some cheap extras. Leave the gear of that expensive merc after a day.

In one day you can easily take Omerta and Drassen Mine. If you play carefully whole of Drassen and the SAM.

Guarenteed shotguns on that hillbilly farm next to Cambria. On a crossroad to Drassen, I believe.

[Vektor T]

Wich version are you playin? Vanilla? Wildfire? 1.13? AIMNAS? Things may very between them.

[Sir Fluffykins]

I thought I'd give it a shot today. (Played original to death, never looked at Wildfire)

Created merc, hired team, all with highest accuracy, one expensive with good equipment and whoever was cheaper with good accuracy after.

What you typed is exactly what happened. 3 seconds after helicopter lands, two enemy find my guys and fire, both shots hit, one for 3dmg, one for 20dmg.

My turn. My guys all prone or crouching from the previous shooting. Take aim at these guys standing in the open. Miss, Miss, Miss. Next merc, Miss Miss Miss, Next Merc, Miss Miss, Next Merc Miss Miss Miss. I sit there dumbfounded. End turn

Both these enemies fire twice, both shots for heavy 20+ dmg, Buns is knocked out, two of my guys take dmg from a through and through hit.

2nd turn of the game, I'm 1 Merc out, 2 heavily injured and 1 minor and yet to land a single hit.

Quit. :/

[vukotlak]

Wildfire is indeed very annyoing at the start. Get mercs with aim above 80. Rather take 3 good mercs then 5 bad. Usualy the more expensive mercs come with better gear.

As soon as the chopper released youre mercs you can escape to the left. Wait in the empty sector for the night and return. Nightfights are ususaly a lot easier. You can only see what is in range of pistols. Which makes even pistols very effectiv.

If you have someone good at throwing knives you can even take out enemies without alerting anyone else.



Wildfire is a bit over the top. The original was a lot better balanced.

[buraggio]

I actually take two mercs: Lynx (high marksmanship), Steriod (ok marksmanship + locksmith)

Creating my own merc I totally ignored (0) mechanics, medicine, explosives and maxed marksmanship, intelligence, leadership and divided rest equally (over 70 to each)

In Drassen You can get few better weapons, but It's a good idea to visit Alma just to get some equipment (conquering it at the begginig of a game is painful and in order to make mine working You'll have to visit Tixa).

Money: those two mercs already costed something (You can save a bit by taking longer contracts) - as far as I remember both had contracts for one week. By end of this week two working mines would be great (Drassen/Cambira). Working for Carmen can really save Your budget at the beginning of the game.

In wildfire Queen sends really strong force to retake sam sites just after You took them, so took them later in the game. Also in Wildfire some enemies tend to hide behind closed doors preventing You to win in the sector (thats why locksmith/marksman is needed)

Combat: always get on flat rooftop when You can. It's better to lure enemies by shooting (they will come if they hear). Hiding behind the corner can give You break turn and make targeting with starting weapons easier

[Vukinchen]

Most doors in the game can be opened via shooting on its lock. So locksmithing is not required but still very usefull of course. A shotgun opens almost every lock with 1 shot.

[jarrad5jarrad10]

No real effective strategies on both Wildfire and Gold (at least to begin with), now I've gone through both games again and Gold is much better as far as time goes (the amount of time needed is much less!). Until you actually have at least one or 2 mercs with at least a sniper scope, your chances of hitting will not be great.

What I do to deal with constant annoyances like getting hit is to try to reload (the game that is) at a very minimum - I highly doubt ironman is worthy any time. I'm increasingly allowing my mercs to be hit but in Wildfire, your teammates die very quickly compared to Gold.

The best strategy lies with you, not with others. I tried so many beginning strategies, and your main problem is just inherent with the game itself. You are strapped for cash on normal and probably more so on hard. So, your options at the outset are extremely limited. However, what I found to be increasingly helpful and I did it to the T really on both my last games (both Wildfire and Gold) would be to start out with a decent team - what I mean is your mercs should not be the type you literally do not really want - so the middle-of-the- road type. Good examples are Scully (even if expensive he is middle-of-the-road due to mainly very poor medical skill which is so essential) with some other supporting mercs - for instance in Gold he would go well with Raider and one other, perhaps a mechanic or someone else like Hitman who you would have to more than likely fire later because Raider is better. On Wildfire, perhaps you pick Brain, Scream, and one other.

I would suffice it to say that, annoyances are just inherent even with a top merc like Henning or Gus T. because the game is just that way. However, reloads would be much less common comparatively (especially with Gold) because interrupts happen much more frequently with highest level mercs.

And, also, I essentially obtained an overall skill level of 80+ for one of my mercs on both games following this strategy I mentioned above (this is a real challenge, Skully on Gold and Brain on Wildfire)! Please make sure you have a lot of good medical skill (at least one great medic and one so-so, as well as the same for mechanical skill). I totally and fundamentally disagree that you need only one medic and one mechanic because what if you only have 1 each? Will they not be hit?

However, you also have the fact that no 1 merc has it all because even with Henning, we rarely improved with so much he did in the game. To progress to LVL 8, 9, 10, and 11, this is so hard because you essentially need the main merc to do ESSENTIALLY EVERYTHING - which is not really a good thing but how it is!