The best mercs to start with (and not to start with).

[kampfturke]

Luckily there are many mercs that are amazing.
So I will start with ones that people seem to advise, but that suck.
Kayla sucks. Steroid sucks. Do not hire them.
There are so many other better ones. Agility and Dexterity actually matter and wisdow increases the chances of them improving (not sure how good wisdom is, ie in raw numbers).
I repeat, Kayla is trash and expensive. She costs 600 a day! And low growth potential.

Livewire is op. Best mechanic and cheap. She will make you money.

Fox is op. Amazing fight starter and sniper. Her marksman skill will go up if you use her. She is also a decent medic.

Barry is op. Best dem expert and cheap. I have only heard bad things about Fido and he is more expensive. So take Barry.

Make sure you take your imp. 0 med, exp, mech. 40 health. max everything else. Go with psycho, as it will give you conversation options. I like the night (but you get googles later) and sneak skill.
Other people might build him different. I like high strength for carry weight.
I max wisdom, but, as stated, not sure how well wisdom scales in JA3.
I use them as the leader, so I max leadership.

This is a starting team of 4 and will easily get you through the game.

Extra mercs:

I like Buns as merc nr 5. She has the negotiator skill. Again, not sure how vital these are, but they open up conversation options. Also an amazing marksman/sniper. Stupidly cheap.

Dr Q as merc 6. Boss killer. His skill stuns even bosses.

MD. If you prefer him over Q and he is cheap as hell. I am not a fan though and prefer Q.

Mouse is underrated. Amazing dex and agi. Trrash marksman, but if you take her early it should go up. I took buns for her "negotiator" skill.

Blood. People love him. Not tried him, but I can imagine he is a beast. Stealthy knife "sniper". Go for the head blood, go for the head.

Ice. Great. I'd take him later if you make a B team.

Raven. Amazing. Not tested it, but her skill seems wild and I can imagine her and blood working well.

Legendary mercs are not worth it. Too expensive. They are also not that great. Maybe Sidney, but again he is expensive. Magic is awesome. AgaIn, expensive. Not tried Reapers skill. He could be a best, but, again, expensive as hell.

Ivan is amazing, but he isn't so cheap. But if you want to splash out, then get him.

I hope that helps.

TLDR.: Fox, Buns, IMP, Livewire, Barry are the best for day 1.

[Cornuthaum]

I absolutely swear by IMP (40 health, 85 everything else, 0 expl/mech/med), barry, igor, mouse, livewire and MD as the starter squad, a group that can and will carry you through the rest of the game. all the ones with poor marksmanship have great wisdom and learn quickly (and can be taught quickly too). cheap as chips, full squad for nice concave ambushes with overwatch

[kampfturke]

oh and to add.
If you take Fox and Buns. HIRE BUNS FIRST. She doesn't like Fox.
Buns will want more money when you renew her contract next time (due to Fox being in the party), however she is still stupidly cheap for her talent.

And if you have the money. Hire Kayla for 3 days at start. Take her rifle. Mod it with a silencer.
Give to Fox. Let KAylas contract run out.

[kampfturke]

Originally posted by Cornuthaum:

I absolutely swear by IMP (40 health, 85 everything else, 0 expl/mech/med), barry, igor, mouse, livewire and MD as the starter squad, a group that can and will carry you through the rest of the game. all the ones with poor marksmanship have great wisdom and learn quickly (and can be taught quickly too). cheap as chips, full squad for nice concave ambushes with overwatch

See I prefer Q for his boss one shoter skill. And Q isn't expensive. Bosses can be terrifying.
My team is built around sniping and range. Just sneak and snipe their heads.
That is why I didn't add Igor. Yes Igor is amazing for other playstyles.

[ahsanford]

In your main party to start, you need:

A hacker / mechanical / lockpick person
A combat medic / after-action healer
A demolitions guy (absolutely vital in JA3 vs. JA2)
Two people* with high action points / marksmanship to consistently drop people

*One is free, another is expensive

In order for me, that was:

Livewire (that PDA hacking + showing enemies on an intel'd map is huge)
MD
Barry
Ice (pay the money)
IMP character

- A

[Megla]

Fox and Buns are hate each other. They will refuse to be hired if another in team or demand more money for resign the contract. Buns also will get morale penalty which means -1 AP. Livewire also hate cops so no Raven.

[kampfturke]

Originally posted by Megla:

Fox and Buns are hate each other. They will refuse to be hired if another in team or demand more money for resign the contract. Buns also will get morale penalty which means -1 AP. Livewire also hate cops so no Raven.

this penalty goes away.
I use them as snipers.

And she only wants more money once. It is a trivial amount.

[😊 CrazyCommander 😊]

As someone who beat the game recently on Ironman/Mission impossible difficulty with only 1 merc the entire game. I'd say your best starting squad is your custom merc as you don't really need more than 1 merc unless you want quality of life and convenience for operations and sector defense during your play through. Here's the build/perks/traits I used for this character.

Traits: Scoundrel, Martial arts, Hand to hand

Stats: Health: 85 Agility: 80. Dexterity: 70. Strength: 85. Leadership: 30. Wisdom: 80. Marksmanship: 30. Mechanical: 30. Explosives: 30. Medical: 30.

Perk order as you level: Fully body contact, vanguard, hit and run, killing spree, sudden strike, ironclad, true strike, calm under fire, beefed up.

Your weapons are gonna be knifes/melee weapons and any explosives like grenades or smoke grenades, etc.

[kampfturke]

Originally posted by CrazyCommander:

As someone who beat the game recently on Ironman/Mission impossible difficulty with only 1 merc the entire game. I'd say your best starting squad is your custom merc as you don't really need more than 1 merc unless you want quality of life and convenience for operations and sector defense during your play through. Here's the build/perks/traits I used for this character.

Traits: Scoundrel, Martial arts, Hand to hand

Stats: Health: 85 Agility: 80. Dexterity: 70. Strength: 85. Leadership: 30. Wisdom: 80. Marksmanship: 30. Mechanical: 30. Explosives: 30. Medical: 30.

Perk order as you level: Fully body contact, vanguard, hit and run, killing spree, sudden strike, ironclad, true strike, calm under fire, beefed up.

Your weapons are gonna be knifes/melee weapons and any explosives like grenades or smoke grenades, etc.

You are insane.
Thanks for sharing.

[ClancyDamon]

Blood. From now on, I will keep restarting the game until I can get Blood as my first guy. He has insane AP starting at 15, the throwing knives run (6 movement, 3 AP cost, 2 knife throw attacks) and then melee or thrown are just 3 a pop. Not to mention constant grit building abilities and the simple fact that since he has infinite personal throwing knives so he'll never use ammo.

The man can and has entirely solo'd maps of 8 enemies in 3 turns! Granted, after a few weeks the shotgun interrupts will ruin your day, but I consider him absolutely essential, especially paired with any sniper merc who has learned the disrupt shot ability.

If you can find a Machete or just get The Thing to add to him as well, he's a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ storm of murder.

[pascal.difolco]

Take these :
Limewire (mechanics+special hack/some med) and Barry (Kaboom)
Then add Blood, he soloes the first island with knives...

[Lightning]

Seems your initial 4-5 should be atleast

IMP
Barry
LiveWire
Fox
Igor

[kampfturke]

Originally posted by pascal.difolco:

Take these :
Limewire (mechanics+special hack/some med) and Barry (Kaboom)
Then add Blood, he soloes the first island with knives...

Yes, this would be the pure budget version. 10/10.

The reason I added my team, was due to being a perfect sniper team and a RP team.
You have a scoundrel, a psycho (your imp) and a negotiator.
Plus they have all the skills needed. This way you experience everything the game has (I hope).

[kampfturke]

Originally posted by Lightning:

Seems your initial 4-5 should be atleast

IMP
Barry
LiveWire
Fox
Igor

IMP, Barry, Fox, Limewire. Yes.
Igor. No.

[Lightning]

Oh no Igor I heard he was pretty good hm

[pascal.difolco]

Originally posted by kampfturke:

Originally posted by pascal.difolco:

Take these :
Limewire (mechanics+special hack/some med) and Barry (Kaboom)
Then add Blood, he soloes the first island with knives...

Yes, this would be the pure budget version. 10/10.

The reason I added my team, was due to being a perfect sniper team and a RP team.
You have a scoundrel, a psycho (your imp) and a negotiator.
Plus they have all the skills needed. This way you experience everything the game has (I hope).

Should add that my IMP is the sniper, with Scoundrel ^^
Else adding Fox is fun anyway even only for her dialogues!