History VideoGame / JaggedAlliance

** Unfortunately, near the mid-game (depending on the player's editing of the data files), this applies to many of the game's weapons, such as pistols, shotguns, bolt-action rifles, or submachine guns.

** Biff and Flo, although they're less a BattleCouple and more a 'Whimper Pathetically And Run Away At The First Sign Of Trouble' couple (their low wages and good teaching skills make them extremely good militia trainers when working as a team, however).

The second game, ''Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games,'' has you working for Gus Tarballs and accepting small-time mercenary missions. Either by playing longer campaigns, or reading the sequel's dossier on Gus, the stand-alone missions tie together into thwarting the DFK, a high-tech organization whose plans involve using satellites for orbital superiority. This game was made specifically for multiplayer complete with map editor. All strategic elements were sacrificed for tactical ones; instead of overworld management, the campaign is a series of one-sector scenarios.

* AllThereInTheManual: Scully, when you first hire him, pretends he's not on the phone. When he demands a raise, turns out he's paying child support. [[FridgeBrilliance Put two and two together.]]
** If you've got the time, you can go and read the reasons why some mercs have been dropped from the AIM roster in the "Alumni" section. Some are tragic, some... aren't. Better yet, you'll also know why [[spoiler:Mike]] dropped out (if Gus Tarballs' exposition after killing him doesn't clue you in).
** Since mercs obviously aren't keen on revealing much about their personal life, Sidney complimenting Scope reveals she's married. Ice's answering machine shows he's also married. Some of Grizzly's dialogue reveals that Bull is married with children. In fact, quite a few of the mercs on AIM's roster are apparently married.
** Reading between the lines shows that apparently the main reason Flo even got a job with M.E.R.C. was because she and Biff are together.

** As of July 2012 Beta, ammo belts can be used to externally feed the machine guns, either from the large ammo packs on the gunner itself or another merc holding the belt, providing more lead without the need to reload.

** As of July 2012 Beta, ammo belts can be used to externally feed the machine guns, either from the large ammo packs or another merc.

* ChildSoldiers: Discussed by Deidranna when Elliot suggests it, but never actually used - apparently they're [[PragmaticVillainy not combat-effective enough to justify the inevitable international outcry]] (presuming the Queen lets word get out -- no one seems to care about her sweatshops or underground generic experimentation).

* CommonplaceRare: A lot of items, such as glass jars, batteries, and [[BlandNameProduct LameBoys]].
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Later enemies have perfect accuracy with grenades and while crippled can make shots standing with unaugmented assault rifles that an uninjured crouching 99 marksmanship merc armed with a long range rifle with scope and LaserSight will miss most of the time.
** And have you noticed that the enemies' weapon NEVER jam no matter how beat up they are (and if you steal it, chances are it will jam the first time you try to fire it).
** [[EliteMooks Elite soldiers]] seemingly will never run out of grenades/break lights to throw at you. If you're lucky, you get dud grenades thrown at you.
** The cops (or, at least, grunts with no body armor and with handguns) are an annoyance in the first few battles. Yes, they inflict little damage (especially if you're a dirty cheater and ordered EOD and Spectra armor), but it's frustrating when an aimed shot misses, you run out of AP, and the cop with a shitty handgun manages to hit you, resulting in a waste of bandages.
** Round a corner with an enemy holding an SMG or assault rifle. Chances are, no matter the level, you ''will'' get interrupted, and have a whole mag dumped on your merc, either killing him or her or wasting valuable time and medkits on them if you scraped up the cash for the armor.

* CoolGuns: And how!
** To elaborate, nearly every single gun on the CoolGuns page appears at least once in the game. There are only seven that don't.
*** It only gets crazier in v1.13, in which ''all'' the listed guns appear.

* CoupDeGrace: Shooting the dying enemy.

* DeathbringerTheAdorable: "Spider" is a female medic with a nice personality and even a southern drawl... and is one of the worst aimers in the game. (Her nickname comes from her sibling, who kept teasing her all the time with that name, as she was deadly afraid of all insects.)

** And can't forget when [[AxCrazy psycho]] mercs gone berserk. *cackles*

** Gus Tarballs fills in Mike's role - hideously expensive and arguing with AIM over salary, but extremely good in nearly everything.

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: The Squad can be like this if you hire the "right" mercs.
** Played straight and subverted - a diverse unit can work together, but as noted in MultinationalTeam, some members ''will'' not mesh, causing a drop in morale for everyone and shittier combat performance - some will even leave on the spot.
** And slightly [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] - Talk to the mercenaries. It turns out they all hate each other, especially if you've hired a large amount of mercs and are having them fight in one big platoon, bitching and complaining about how they're the OnlySaneMan in a team of disorganized pricks. In addition, they'll reveal biases - for example, Scope dislikes the French and Gaston hates America (mostly due to its lack of culture), but Scope works with Gaston fine and Gaston doesn't mind American mercs. Tex and Lynx are really, really sexist (really), but have no problem fighting alongside women.
** In the first games, if you wait long enough at the recruitment screen the currently selected mercenary will say something, like Ivan saying bad things about Mike, though he has no problem working with him.
** By late-game, you team can consist of everything from professional mercenaries, locally-hired troops, and rebels. Within your own mercenary force, your troops will consist of everything from professional soldiers to ex-bouncers to paramedics to professional surgeons to ex-SWAT officers, and also includes a bevy of criminals and self-trained specialists, many of whom are criminally insane to one degree or another. And this is before you start bringing in the comical assortment of MERC personnel....

*** Players can (optionally) even send flowers to Deidranna, resulting in poor Elliot to get even more slaps.

** On a side note, the AI (enemies or militias) have much trouble fighting non-human enemies (bloodcats and crepitus). Which you can use to your advantage if, for example, you're under attack by a large enemy force and a pack of bloodcats moves into the area. Pull back, consolidate your defensive position, and wait for the cats to run around killing all the hostiles, than mop up the surviving cats.

** Bobby Ray from JA2 is a shady Online Gun Shop Owner (although many of the guns he sells could not possibly be legal unless he sells primarily to governments - he even sells ''mustard gas'', although the item description says it is to be used strictly for pest control).
*** This gets even more ludicrous in ''v1.13'' due to the vastly expanded arsenal.
*** The last version of 1.13 lampshaded this for experimental weapons - "We found a shipment of G11s in a warehouse somewhere. Please don't ask."

** Raul in Unfinished Business.

* AscendedExtra: Hamous is a native guide in Metavira in the first game. He becomes a hire in Deadly Games, and by Jagged Alliance 2, he's a recruitable extra who comes with his own transportation.
** An Ice-Cream Van, no less.

** Unless you're in CQC (close-combat) and those using the rocket rifles are proficient in heavy weapons. Of course, even with High-Explosive Armor-Piercing rockets, your merc's going to need two shots to knock down the Queen's black shirts.

* AxeCrazy: Several of the mercenaries you can hire in all three Jagged Alliance games will tend to enjoy killing a little too much, fire on full automatic even when you tell them not to, or get very cranky if you try and give them orders before they've finished killing someone. Some of them will even kill other squad members between missions. Strangely the baddies never seem to have to deal with this kind of problem.

* BattleCouple: Raven and Raider, little game effect besides sharing morale gains and mourning each others' deaths if something bad happens. Caution: Don't let Hitman near Raven.

** Also Biff and Flo, although they're less a BattleCouple and more a 'Whimper Pathetically And Run Away At The First Sign Of Trouble' couple (their low wages and good teaching skills make them extremely good militia trainers when working as a team, however).

* BoomHeadshot: With the occasional exploding head.

* BottomlessMagazines: Played straight [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard for the enemies]] in the first game where reloading itself costs no AP. Averted in Jagged Alliance 2 where the enemies still have to reload, and if you let them live long enough, they will run out of magazines too (in which case they will start running).
** In ''v1.13'' (at least), enemies will pick up a new weapon if they can find one. Often leads to annoyance, if you were intending to pick that weapon up for yourself after the battle. Cue new mod features that make all enemies drop their weapons when they die.
*** Actually if they pick it up (note this also applies to unpatched game, not just 1.13 or even 1.12) they will always drop it if you kill them. However, keep in mind that sometimes enemies may choose to flee instead, this way you WILL lose it. They are only smart enough to pick up guns (and armor if they are not wearing one), and will not pick up magazines or grenades.

* BreakableWeapons: Almost all weapons, armour, and other items in the game have a percentage 'status.' Rather than going from perfect to useless, weapons slowly degrade, lose range, and jam more often. Armour protects you less the more damaged it is. Aside from a few items, almost everything can be repaired back up to perfect condition, no matter how heavily damaged. Fan mods may adjust the speed of item degradation (as well as the odds of a jam).

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: In ''Jagged Alliance 2'', you get to recruit various local rebels. Three out of four are varying degrees of useless (although they can be trained up, if you can be bothered -- and if you use their skills they have quite some potential, at least you don't have to pay them); the fourth, the rebel leader, however is something of a hardcore badass. More importantly, the Evil Dictator in JA2 is a skilled markswoman with heavy armour and an ''automatic rocket rifle''. Subverted with pretty much everyone else - the vast majority of high-ranking enemies can often be taken out with just a few well-placed shots, sometimes before they even get a chance to shoot back.

Kalypso Games and [=bitComposer=] Games released ''Jagged Alliance: Back In Action'' in February 2011, a real-time remake of JaggedAlliance 2.

** On a side note, the AI (enemies or militias) have much trouble fighting non-human enemies (bloodcats and crepitus).
*** Which you can use to your advantage if, for example, you're under attack by a large enemy force and a pack of bloodcats moves into the area. Pull back, consolidate your defensive position, and wait for the cats to run around killing all the hostiles, than mop up the surviving cats.

* BlandNameProduct: Oxxen in BIA.

-->''Buns:'' "This is Monica Sondergaard, please leave me a message. And Gumpy, if this is you, leave me a message like the last one, I will send you a reply that explodes on impact. I am not kidding."

* WithThisHerring: Subverted (or whatever) and played straight. The mercenaries you pick have starting weapons - usually, the more expensive, the better, although there are exceptions (for example: Ice's Tommy Gun [or, in V 1.13, the Colt Commando] is especially useful for clearing rooms). They're much better than whatever the initial enemies of cops and random soldiers use, but you'll either be purchasing weapons or fixing up stolen gear later on in the game.

* DueToTheDead: You can pay for proper funerals for dead mercs. The alternatives, like dumping the body into the river in the first game, is bad for your reputation. The mortuary website in JA2 is a shout-out to this.

* CombatMedic: Anyone with decent medical skills. Highball is an example of the few ''[[DressedToHeal doctors]]'' (judging by their profile photo) with decent marksmanship, however, and Danny ''was'' a combat medic in Desert Storm. Many of them are good at melee combat and highly dexterous, if that's your bag.

''Jagged Alliance 3'' has had a troubled past, being announced, shown off at E3 '07, then dropped by Sir-Tech. German publisher bitComposer [[http://www.gamestooge.com/2010/03/09/jagged-alliance-3-enters-development-again/ has purchased the rights]] to the IP, and have begun preliminary development. The game is targeted for a 2011 release. [[http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://www.gry-online.pl/S013.asp%3FID%3D53201&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhgOjzqFTU_xp_2gkVeOhC7e4J77DQ There will also be a remake of the 2nd game on the engine first, but in real time instead of turn-based, as the original was made on and will be "less complex"]].

* ItemCrafting: Limited combinations in all games. The ''1.13'' June 2012 beta has new drug crafting system.

* TakeCover: The staple of the series, most evident in the first game with its impenetrable Kevlar bushes.

** On the other hand, the ''magazines'' are practically still universal, as ammunition is bought by caliber. For example, if you grab an AKM magazine and feed one into your SKS? You'll have a fully-loaded SKS, and a partially-depleted AKM magazine.
*** Well duh, SKS uses internal clip, unlike AKM. You only pluck your rounds into it by hand or with a stripper clip.