Pierre. Useless??

[NoobOrFeed]

what is this guy, you run across the entire map to recruit him and he is absolutely useess? every rookie merc feels better than him. cant shoot, cant hit in melee, does 0 dmg in melee. so what is this guy good for? scouting and sacrifice only?

[Karmapowered]

Yeah, it's the mantra of modern XCOM games.

Fight an enemy as boss and they will be tough as nails : plenty of HP, OP weapons & skills, etc.

As soon as you get the chance to recruit them however, they turn into a wet paperbag version of themselves, or it's so late in the game that you already have a full team and don't need them.

This is why I no longer bother with stupid questlines such as the one of Pierre. Just kill him at the first opportunity, there are no downsides.

To be honest, there isn't a single valuable free recruit that I care about in JA3. Flay is the closest to being useful, but by the time I can get him I usually already have (much) better.

[Lightning]

I'm going to train my full roster to the max of all stats before I activate end game then he probably won't be useless hopefully lol

[HozzMidnight]

Originally posted by Karmapowered:

To be honest, there isn't a single valuable free recruit that I care about in JA3.

Larry is invaluable as an ammo crafter and mule.

[Cornuthaum]

Pierre has ok marksmanship and Auto Weapons, give that dude a machine gun and you're set.

[echoes222]

he's ok for a free merc. If you go for actual conquest, you'll go for that camp anyways, so it's not like you're doing something extra.

[['w']]

pierre has a horrible attitude and is as stupid as the ukrainian girl but also full of malice and spite

[RejectedByAnthonyDavis]

Its Kevin Durant.

[krd]

Agreed. Unfortunately it's another part of the game that went south, there isn't anybody useful to recruit in your exploration. In JA2 most recruits had some value, even if not being combat worthy, at least added some value like means of transportation or ability to train. And Miguel and Carlos, for example, had good enough stats to join combat teams. In JA3 they join too late and have too crappy stats to be of any use.

[stretch]

Originally posted by krd:

Agreed. Unfortunately it's another part of the game that went south, there isn't anybody useful to recruit in your exploration. In JA2 most recruits had some value, even if not being combat worthy, at least added some value like means of transportation or ability to train. And Miguel and Carlos, for example, had good enough stats to join combat teams. In JA3 they join too late and have too crappy stats to be of any use.

Not strictly incorrect but you can find them fairly early if you choose to and they are free so while I do agree with your sentiment I would say there are some reasons that might matter to some. Even if it's just like I did and parking them with a militia team in one town soaking up wandering attack teams. Useless? No but they probably aren't going to be one of your core team. I used Flay in one play just to watch his trophy count but I don't think I got him over 300ish so maybe the 1000 cap is wishful thinking on the devs behalf. I also failed to recruit a few too so I have no clue how some play. I am doing a solo run now so avoiding those guys is critical.

[Magni]

Originally posted by HozzMidnight:

Originally posted by Karmapowered:

To be honest, there isn't a single valuable free recruit that I care about in JA3.

Larry is invaluable as an ammo crafter and mule.

Larry also gets a good deal better if you bring him to the Sanatorium and pay for him to get a detox.

[RainmakerLTU]

Originally posted by Karmapowered:

Yeah, it's the mantra of modern XCOM games.

Fight an enemy as boss and they will be tough as nails : plenty of HP, OP weapons & skills, etc.

As soon as you get the chance to recruit them however, they turn into a wet paperbag version of themselves, or it's so late in the game that you already have a full team and don't need them.

This is why I no longer bother with stupid questlines such as the one of Pierre. Just kill him at the first opportunity, there are no downsides.

To be honest, there isn't a single valuable free recruit that I care about in JA3. Flay is the closest to being useful, but by the time I can get him I usually already have (much) better.

Welp, this playthrough, I decide to play on economy mode, so I hire all can be hired for free. So what they can't shoot at start. They fit for militia refilling squad. But I plan train them later.

[Dorok]

Originally posted by RainmakerLTU:

Originally posted by Karmapowered:

Yeah, it's the mantra of modern XCOM games.

Fight an enemy as boss and they will be tough as nails : plenty of HP, OP weapons & skills, etc.

As soon as you get the chance to recruit them however, they turn into a wet paperbag version of themselves, or it's so late in the game that you already have a full team and don't need them.

This is why I no longer bother with stupid questlines such as the one of Pierre. Just kill him at the first opportunity, there are no downsides.

To be honest, there isn't a single valuable free recruit that I care about in JA3. Flay is the closest to being useful, but by the time I can get him I usually already have (much) better.

Welp, this playthrough, I decide to play on economy mode, so I hire all can be hired for free. So what they can't shoot at start. They fit for militia refilling squad. But I plan train them later.

You can just use one extra merc to train all your weak free merc in parallel. I quoted players tend not think with multi squad perspective but the game is multi squad.

Myself I would add that even if they aren't good at combat, if they have a good enough STR, they can make a useful mobile main base which is already a very cool addition.

EDIT:
That said by reading the thread, I found some complains had a part of truth. But then it's a different design. Free mercs problem is you have them again and again at each replay, so give some later, is more a different design than a pure bad design. And still, one or two free mercs very soon, cloning JA1&2 approach isn't looking like a bad idea either.

[Colmaniac]

I use him just to create militia, saves me time taking my own merc`s to do that job and waste valuable time.

[ElvisDepressedly]

Originally posted by HozzMidnight:

Originally posted by Karmapowered:

To be honest, there isn't a single valuable free recruit that I care about in JA3.

Larry is invaluable as an ammo crafter and mule.

Exactly my thought, Larry is a decent medical/explosives/mule for a second squad being free and all.

[Ketsa]

Pierre ran away from home at age 13 to join a marauding gang, he's not the brightest kid. He also openly admits to just being a stupid bootlicker. "The Colonel will make me come back after you." That's why you just kill him, why go through the effort to recruit someone who A) isn't even written to be a likable character, B) isn't skilled. C) by the time you can recruit him you have hundreds of thousands of dollars saved up anyway to buy a squad full of elites.