A First Look at Jagged Alliance 2 Mod : JA2 1.13 (Version 1.0.0.687)
Had to find this mod for Jagged Alliance 2 (JA2) just when I finally liberated Arulco from evil Queen Deidranna’s regime after 6 months of weekend warfare. Oh well, back to the six hour Sunday JA2 sessions again :p
© Sir-Tech
The latest version (1.0.0.687) of the JA2 1.13 mod (98 MB) was in January 2007 which is pretty impressive for a game which was released in 1999. The original Jagged Alliance 2 can be purchased online from Strategy First as part of the Conquest Pack comprising 6 older strategy games.
This unofficial mod for Sirtech’s Jagged Alliance 2 fixes a few bugs to the official 1.12 version of JA2 and introduces a slew of new features to the base engine which can customized to your heart’s content by tweaking the .ini files. The default settings of this mod are pretty well-tweaked so you can play immediately after installing if you’re not interested in fiddling with the settings.
The most important thing that this mod fixes is to replace the Miles Sound System sound manager in the original JA2 with a brand new one which thankfully removes the annoying error message when you exit JA2 on Win XP.
Some of the new features which I have encountered - with screen captures as proof 
Extra 800×600 and 1024×768 resolutions makes the game look cleaner on larger monitors
Rainy and stormy weather are now available. (No screen capture because the resized screen capture was too small to be able to view the rain)
This mod also implements proper field of view meaning that you have to face the enemy to be able to see him. I could have sworn that mercs could see enemies behind them in my previous campaign using the 1.12 version.
The meter above the targeting cursor will fill up with red as the chance to hit increases - right now, the to-hit probability is neglible
A new to-hit indicator has been implemented which indicates the possibility of hitting the enemy. Very handy in the starting game when all your mercs come equipped with pistols
My I.M.P merc gets a retractable stock attachment in his inventory. Woohoo!
I forgot to select the ‘Tons of Guns’ option in my last campaign and all my mercs ended up with the same FN FAL and Diemaco C7 rifles. This mod adds even more weapons, attachments and equipment (700+). The Bobby Rays online shop gets the same treatment too (see below)
Bobby Rays now sells a lot of stuff including officer uniforms!
Rooftops are no longer sanctuaries in this mod 
The enemy tactical AI has been massively upgraded. Previously, my favoured tactic was to infilitrate one of my mercs on a rooftop and snipe at enemies. With this mod, the enemy will actually climb on top of the building and attack your lone sniper. And yes, there is now a hotkey J to climb or descend from a building.
Also the AI doesn’t always charge headlong into your waiting mercs and will try to outflank your mercs.
I foresee a lengthy siege ahead
The enemy attacks come in larger numbers now. In the above screen capture, 60 men launch a coordinated counterattack on Drassen from 3 adjacent sectors instead of the measly half-hearted attacks with 10+ men in 1.12 version).
The aftermath of the furious assault on Drassen
Took me 4 (literally) bloody hours to defend against the enemy. 30+ dead on both sides and lots of badly needed booty for my mercs - kelvar armor, SMGs and precious ammo. At least, you can call for help from militia in adjacent sectors to reinforce your defense or assist in major offensives.
Militia lending a hand as human shields during the assault on Drassen Airport
The militia can also be given orders but it seems to me that their strategy is still the same brute-force headlong advance into contact Perhaps this is due to their crappy weapons at the start of the game, maybe things will be different when the militia starts to be re-equipped with rifles later in the game.
There’s many more features listed on the features page of the official Wiki for this mod (especially the militia system) but I need more playtesting to be able to encounter the other new features. Expect a followup article next month or when I have spare time after playing with this mod If you’re interested in learning about the fixes and changes in more detail, you can read through the revision history here.
Oh ya, this will be the only post for today because I was too busy playing JA2 yesterday to write anything else 
