The contract thing kind of makes me feel rushed.

[Viper]

It kind of puts a clock on things until you get some sources of money.

[Katheb]

You mean merc contracts?

If so it's cheaper to hire them for two weeks at once instead of one week at a time.

[Nuee]

So it seems. But then JA2 did the same. You spent all your money on 5 mediocre combatants with pistols that never hit. Or you spent more on 2 or 3 excellent mercs for lesser time.

But until you took over the first town you were tapped for currency.

[[J4F] Sentinel]

Originally posted by Viper:

It kind of puts a clock on things until you get some sources of money.

That's the whole point of the game. Mercenaries don't work for free.

[stretch]

I don't know about rushed but something just then makes me think there might be a bug to exploit. I have not yet looked into it and I just came looking for any posts to see if it is bugged or not.
The gist of it is so far that I just hired 2 mercs for their default offered time period which has usually been about 6 days. Then while doing that I realised how jack I was of having to do this bollocks so often and noticed the slider to hire for longer...oops. Anyway, I hired the other two for 14 days each. Now the bug or possible exploit - whichever it ends up being - is that all 4 of my mercs just had their times expire at the same time. I just don't know if it was 6 days and I got ripped or 14 days and I got a bargain for 2 of them. Because whatever it is all 4 contracts could NOT expire on the same day if they did the time they were contracted for.

[HozzMidnight]

Always higher them for 2 weeks. Also, the game doesn't tell you this but if you let them walk after their contract expires you get their medical deposit back (maybe depends on their health when they leave). Also any gear they have is dropped into your stash where they are when their contract expires.

Finally, I think the biggest issue new players will face is thinking they need to fill out a squad of 6. On the starting island you absolutely don't. 3 AIM mercs + your IMP merc is fine until you get to the mainland. I recommend your IMP merc dump medicine/explosives/mechanics. Hire for those 3 roles. There are 2 good options on the cheap tab for medicine and mechanical. If Barry is AFK to start the game that sucks but explosives on the starter island is by far the least important out of mechanics and medical.

[Multihog]

It's intentional design. I like it because it makes money feel highly valuable and not just a number you inflate for fun. It gives weight to the management overall because everything you do costs money. Time = money.

[Cutlass Jack]

Isn't that why they added Forgiving mode?