Jagged Alliance 3 Speedrun 1h40m Solo Ironman Melee
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- Опубліковано 23 сер 2024
- Jagged Alliance 3 speedrun done in 1h40m with a single melee merc on the highest difficulty.
Difficulty: Mission Impossible
Game Rules: Dead is Dead, To The Bitter End, Lethal Weapons, (Active Pause)
Mercs: IMP
Timed using the game's internal playtime shown in the "[AUTOSAVE] ENDGAME" save file created after talking with Corazon.
The melee build used in the run took inspiration from @hexxatgaming's fantastic guide (without the 90+ health req. perks).
Requirements to finish the game:
1) Deal with the Major
2) Kill Colonel Faucheux and clear the sector
3) Deal with Corazon Santiago
The run:
Ernie island is all about not getting hit (much) while ranking up enough XP for a level up. Enemies using AKs can very easily take you out even before getting out of the island. Even the pistol enemies are super lethal for a single melee merc.
After Ernie it's all about finding a Machete, or just trying to push through to Ille Morat to get the Composite Machete from Wlad. I got VERY lucky finding it straight away from Pantagruel Outskirts (D6). Sure, you could clear Major with a knife, but it's much safer with a bit beefier melee weapon.
Protip: Accept cookies from your grandma! 👵🍪
[40:40] A20 The Eagle's Nest / Major
You have 3 instances where you can get yourself in a pickle here: You have to get 3 non-MISHAP Mustard Gas Grenade throws. After one runs out you have to throw another one to keep enemies flowing down the ledge. If you don't have anything smoking on top of the ledge enemies will just stand there and shoot you from above.
You can even save the president by doing this!
[59:50] K16 Colonel Faucheux
This is always a bit more messier sector than A20, as sometimes enemies get alerted too often. I do a bit sector-hopping here to reset enemies until there is enough free space to go and pick the leftovers without alerting everyone around you. It got a bit toasty in the second floor of Faucheux's bunker with multiple melee Troopers around... Their machetes hit HARD.
[1:31:10] H4U Corazon Santiago
(success after retries at [1:43:03])
Loading the autosave before placing your merc will set enemies in a specific triangle-like-pattern. Otherwise they'd sit behind the sandbags making your life difficult. The last sector was a bit of a mess, because the enemy AI didn't act like they usually do in the second "long room". Usually they just sit down for a couple of turns (for some reason 🤷♂️) so you have time to clear most of them out before they can even react. That's why I had to reload a few times before the save file got overridden by the game rules set in the beginning.
I got surprised how many enemies showed up for Corazon, but a well-placed Mustard Gas Grenade did the job!
Alternative route: get blessed by RNG for a crowbar, get The Thing and only then head for Major, Faucheux and Corazon.
And here I am, doing a slow play. Gathering money and wishing I could hire more than 15 mercs to counter the "world flip" event. Very eye- opening and amazing playthrough, thanks. I clearly need to pay more attention to perks choices and synergies.
Thanks! ...and I feel your pain. My first playthrough was honestly a mess of bad perk choices and non-optimal builds for my mercs. Too bad you can't reset perks after confirming the decision...
I fought 5 squads in lys rouge with 6 mercs. 40mm fun time
What a proof of concept and actual understanding the mechanics of the game. I guess the side quests on D6 and D8 are only for xp values. You said in the comment section there are a few strategies you tried out. Interested in seeing more of this beautiful game. So far you nailed it :)
Thanks and yes! D6 and D8 quests are purely for the XP. The run could maybe be done quicker by leaving out D8 (AI turns really slow down the pace...), but I didn't really figure out if you'd just have enough levels and perks to face A20/Major afterwards... 🤔
Most of the different strategies I tried ended up the solo merc being too low lvl, just taking too much time or being more dangerous overall compared to this path shown on the vid. My first idea was to split up multiple mercs across the map and hit the key points as fast as possible. But it was actually harder to run multiple low lvl mercs equipped with weapons than a single melee merc. "Too many moving parts to figure out", so to say 😁 I don't say it couldn't work, but the time I spent getting it right with a single merc... I can't think of how many hunderds of hours it would take to get multi-merc run done "safely"!
Good work, good work. You see how a well thought through melee player is better than all beefed up sniper with beefed up rifle I guess.
Like watching a Terminator mauling everything in it's path.
Unstoppable force 💪
That was a great play.
I'm very impressed, and I learned different ways to play. Thank you for the video.
Феерично, смотрится на одном дыхании
(translated: "It's fantastic, it takes one breath away.") - Thanks!
I thinked that Ivan come's back :)
While I get the cadence and strategy can be pretty straight forward in most places, it's interesting watching this run because there was a number of times you could've gotten RNG'd pretty badly.
...and oh boy did I got RNG'd pretty badly before making this video! Many times. Too many times. There were many other routes I tried multiple times before settling on this one being the most stable one (even though this one is still too high on RNG). I kind of hope someone would find a more reliable and stable route or an overall strategy to run this game in under 2 hours - be it solo or not.
@@Teknikaali Even with some stuff getting sketchy for sure, I do feel like your video for the confines of a true Iron Man, with an emphasis on melee and speeding , this probably is how it more or less would go really anything else is just RNG(finding machete I imagine is a big one ). I do recall seeing hardest difficulty Iron Man solo Ivan guides that did dip into melee but often people would be getting other weapons, the playthrough would be like 7-8 hrs, a bit too much thought and conventional play involved for really speedrunning. Also it seems like most people who do a solo finds some spot to hunker down in and let the bad come to you especially on Fort Brigand and all that. Speaking of that moment of you surrounded at 1h 10 mins is so absurd, how you kept any composure when you're staring down a possible end is impressive. The gas grenades and that degree of AOE is always gonna be massive for buying you damage.
I get this game series is beloved more for building the team and all that so info feels a bit limited, but I feel like your efforts give some of the better if not best insight for doing the task in the confines. I've seen easier mode speed runs that go quick but I feel the sport is taking out because of how much is in your favor and generous.
At best I think it would be minor shaving time but the rng element is always gonna be there. It's all the reasonable parts. More chars, idk how much faster it would go and it could get annoying to worry about cash
Now that you mentioned it, finding that machete was one of "highlights" for me in the run. It really improves the likelihood of survival until you get the Composite Machete from Vlad. The other route of getting The Thing machete relies even more on RNG: you have to get lucky to get a crowbar from the docks. Otherwise you just can't bust through the cell door at the prison. Time-wise it was quite the same though... But it sure was fun to find a doable route in the end!
I noticed that splitting up the team with multiple mercs (hitting those key points as fast as possible) you really start struggling with cash, like you mentioned. It takes roughly 12 in-game-days to complete the run, so one would have to figure out optimal spending strategy also. Even so, you'd still be quite low lvl to survive the final showdown. I don't say it'd be impossible, but it surely requires more thought work to put in. Compromises, compromises... 😌
@@Teknikaali True true time with RNG(especially on hardest difficulty) can just throw a lotta wrenches in things and you're right, you end up being too low of level and you're really gonna be paying for it in the late game and you gotta do whatever it takes to keep RNG on your side. Even if you went best value mercs(praise be Barry Unger) or took the time to get Larry(which even then idkkk) that still is gonna require some money management and training that eats into time since you're not gonna have much of the natural level ups via just playing tons of sectors and quests, and more importantly gearing out people to keep up with the hardest challenge and speed in mind can be a pain and lead to some dead ends.
I again want to say I think what you pulled off is very impressive and close to how the general idea would go especially with keeping time on the low side and the emphasis on melee. If you had kept a non grenade weapon on hand and played the usual, idk how much would've changed given where the AP and RNG would be going.
I do like unconventional challenge and when I realized the added advanced rules when you can have Legendaries auto unlocked I kinda wanted to do a solo iron man with an Old Dog like Fauda and see how far I can get given the various challenge in play and how she functions with certain stuff.
thanx for the playthrouth)
Glad you liked it!
How do you that quick melee takedown. After marking the enemy and running up to them my character usually slowly repositions before executing the melee takedown and most of the time the enemy gets to reposition. Your melee takedown is instant. How?
Do you mean like in the first takedown at 1:08? It's the "Hand-To-Hand" trait I chose during the IMP creation. If enemy moves or attacks from melee range, the merc will automatically attack that enemy 👍 Other than that I sometimes smash "1" on my keyboard to do repeated melee attacks quickly. ...also if the enemy doesn't notice you before you attack, you get that "quick first swing" in before entering turn-based mode.
A game-changing guide, thank you.
A few questions:
1. Why do you set a Leadership to 85? Global map movement time seems irrelevant since you don't need to pay salaries.
2. Which stat is the best to increase instead of Leadership?
3. Why don't you heal between fights?
Thanks and good questions!
1. The 85 Leadership is exactly for that: To make the global map movement speed faster to finish the game in the shortest possible amount of time. It also affects how often you could get Morale events to gain extra AP for example.
2. I'd probably pick Explosives instead of Leadership (for this kind of run), if I didn't care about when or where rests happen or how many in-game days it takes to finish the game (12 days for this run). It's really important you don't MISHAP with the gas grenades when clearing the Major's zone. High Explosive stat helps there at least. You don't really need to fix anything (Mechanical), heal yourself (Medical) or shoot at anything (Markmanship), so that leaves Explosives as the only suitable alternative for Leadership.
3. It takes time to heal. If I wasn't doing a speedrun, I definitely would have healed to full health after each fight and taken it cool and easy 👍
@@Teknikaali Thank you much for the answer. You inspired me to run a new game with a single melee merc.
I just swapped Leadership for 20 Mech and 45 Expl. 20 Mech is enough to repair items, so you can always wear the best armor you got; and have no need to carry additional armor. 50 Expl is enough to craft explosives. I didn't find crafting useful yet (at least after taking Major and Fosh), but improved success chance and damaged are both very suitable.
@@Teknikaali I should add, I took down Major and saved the President without any grenades (also impossible difficulty). I have to kill as much as possible with stealth and then leave sector and go back, because of 3 shields and lots of people near the tent. Then I sneaked until detected, then run into the tent, and then just smash incoming soldiers.
However, this method is not so stable as yours, since the President is stupidly walking around and can be killed occasionally. And my merc was 9 level with a Strength-build which is too powerful for such encounter.
It's definitely a bit different way to play the game, but good to hear you're liking it so far!
Before my final run I also tried multiple times that "leave sector" strategy you mentioned for the President. I took out the enemy standing on the hill left side, then the enemy in the middle near the spawn zone and then the sniper next to him. But as you said it already, it isn't as stable as the gas grenade tactic which I ended up using.
I can't remember for sure, but I suppose you couldn't craft gas grenades? That is the only drawback I could think of about investing more into Explosives. But if you go the long route and capture some mines you should have enough $ to afford them from Bobby Ray's more than easily. Just if you feel like tossing them around every now and then in a pinch ofc... 😁
@@Teknikaali You can craft tear and smoke grenades, but not toxic. However, I have found that explosive's crafting doesn't worth its points.
During the game, I found only one piece of C4 and zero pieces of Dynamite. So you cannot actually craft common grenades - only smoke/tear ones or molotovs. Molotovs have some utility but I used them very rarely. When you play slowly (with quests etc), the character become powerful very soon.
I have finish watching your great run. The last fight is much more easier if you don't rush.
Just stay behind the first gates and slash incoming opponents. During your turn, you can run forward and kill approaching enemies, especially with knives. But, before your turn ends, you must return back and be behind gates again.
Ha! Actually I did that exact thing when I was originally planning to do my run with Blood+Raider. His special ability to throw infinite knives worked really well in that exact situation by switching from side to side behind the main doors.
Even the great Biff Apscott would be impressed! 👍
👍 If only there was a way to save him in the run though... [39:41]
Wow very impressive
I was looking for JA3 speedrun since it's release 😄Good job!
First I was surprised there was no speedrun done after a year of release. But when I realized you couldn't finish the game in under 5 minutes, I started to see why nobody else had ran it yet... 😂
Nice. But your run finished at 1h 34min 30sec.
What's the point of IronMan mode if you load a saved game just before you die? ;-)
"Lethal weapons" setting is also redundant now that I think of it: Nobody can save the solo merc from the downed state anyways... There is also a load even sooner at 1:31:12. I'll allow loading during Ironman runs if the game allows it 😉
@@Teknikaali why did you load the game at 1:31:12?
@@BuzzKirill3D The load repositions the first 3 enemies in a very specific "triangle" formation allowing easier entry to the bunker 👍 There might be other sectors where loading could reposition enemies in a similar way, but I didn't research that topic any further other than the bunker.
You just RP'd as Jason Voorhees, running around murdering everyone you come across with a machete and shrugging of hits through sheer willpower alone. Imagine seeing this from the NPC perspective, this isn't a coup it's just a stock standard serial killer.
Absolutely terrifying sight indeed. Oh. Make sure to have "Machete Kills" next up on your movie playlist... 😉
Machete kills!
Danny Trejo merc mod in Steam Workshop when? 😉
nice vid!
Thank you!
At 1:45:04 why don't the enemies do anything after you end yor turn? Looks like you are taking 2 turns in a row
That's a very good question I don't have an answer to - sadly... What I figured out is that they usually get "activated" if you advance further ahead into the room. Other times if you position yourself in the wrong place they'll get activated also. There is something strange happening for sure and it is surprisingly consistent. If you look at 1:33:59 I happen to move her to a "wrong" position and the enemies get instantly activated. Is it the door? Is it the healing? I'm not sure... 😅
@@Teknikaali at 1:33:59 they do their turn, what I do not understand why they do not move at 1:45:04 at all, as if they don't feel like moving in that turn
@@lawofthewest1983 I don't understand it either. Maybe opening up the sector in the included map editor could reveal some "trigger zones" or such...
@@Teknikaali all good. The run is amazing, keep up the good work!
Impressive!
London simulator
Still waiting for Fallout London... 🤭
ja3 has very strange balance/difficulty. its extreme difficult when u start u first playthrough, but when u understand basic mechanics/perks/builds etc - its VERY easy, even on mission impossible level. u NEVER have lack of money, u dont have ANY time limit. lone wolf is special case, which has nothing to do with complexity, only with u perseverance. nevertheless i absolutely love this game, already did 3 complete walkthrough.
I have very similar observations as you do! The most exciting part of the game must be the early Ernie island and the west side of the map when you don't have good perks or gear on your mercs yet. It's still a great game, even though balancing is a bit off here and there! 😄
bro JA2 gold 1.13 i never completed hahaha, i mean at least the game itself isnt broken or anything, just not hard enough i guess
JA2 was a good game. It's nice we got JA3 finally 👍 Too bad (in a way) the speedrun of JA2 can be so much faster than this one though...
@@Teknikaali ooh yeah i remember theres a short cut to kill queen D, something about being imprisoned with the shirt on?
I can't remember that far back, but maybe it is time for a replay then!
@@Teknikaali yeh i do remember there was a thing wheere you got caught with an "i love dedreianna" shirt on and you`d end up in prison, she would come to inspect you, and there was something youd do ie get in combat and you could get her in that prison and end the game early