Jagged Alliance: BIA Puts A Patch Over Your Eyes

I had very mixed feelings about Jagged Alliance: Back In Action and not the kind that make for the emotional equivalent of a delicious bourbon-based beverage. This was more like a draught of nostalgic ambrosia that someone had spilled kerosene in. That I still drank it and would do so again speaks ill of my character. The recent patch siphons in something sweet and much in demand though - a 'tactical' mode. That might seem a bit like if Battlefield 3 adding a 'shooter' mode months after release, but at least someone's listened to the complaints and JABIA is receiving decent support. The main addition is that enemies must be revealed through line of sight but there's plenty more. Full change list below.

The concession toward the pleas to let loose the fog of war is the main thing but other useful sounding tweaks include much desired UI changes that should make militia and inventory management less of a chore.

It's worth nothing that due to either a one in a million fluke or a sly numerical wink, this brings the game up to version 1.13, matching Jagged Alliance 2's most brilliant modification.

Added Features
• Added hard difficulty level as option on game start. Modifies enemy strength, income and starting funds.
• Added tactical mode as option on game start.
- Enemies have to be revealed via line of sight in tactical mode.
- Sound sources are marked in tactical view as well as on the minimap
• Added two new achievements for tactical mode and higher difficulty.
• Added option to level recruited militia up via the location UI on the world map.
• Added options to distribute militia via location UI (evenly across all combat zones, focused on a single combat zone)
• Added sector inventory, accessible via Character Detail Screen
- Always accessible in friendly sectors
- Automatically includes all containers that have been opened and all enemy drops that have been spotted by the player
- Accessible for militia recruitment and trading with NPCs
• Added item exchange via Drag & Drop in Character Details Screen. Illegible mercs are marked red. • Within hostile sectors mercs need to be within 5m distance to be able to exchange items.
• Stamina is reduced when returning to the strategic map when squads travelled great distances in the tactical view
• Current ammo saved for each weapon, weapons are unloaded when being handed over to militia. • Militia will hand weapons back unloaded to prevent players cheating ammo via the militia equip screen
• NPC Traders restock their inventory over time (rules can be modified via characters.txt)
• Targeting line indicates best range of weapon and chance to hit via color from green (good) to red (bad)
• Camera scrolling possible by moving the cursor to the border of the screen in fullscreen mode
• Added Sound FX for melee attacks
• Putting away a fire arm for non-combat actions (e.g. heal) will no longer reset the firemode of the weapon
• Added scrollbar in mail list window
• Added trash can icon to delete mail to mail window
Bug Fixes
• Fixed some exploits that allowed to duplicate items via item exchange
• Fixed bugs in squad selection via list on world map
• Fixed regeneration of HP on world map, HP lost due to wounds takes longer to regenerate
• Added missing text for Raider’s hiring dialogue
• Fixed Blood not liking Magic due to a typo
• Fixed MP53 weapon type not being specified
• Fixed Deidranna’s sending of troops based on the player’s income becoming less likely
• Fixed orientation of 66mm rocket shot from LAW
• Fixed issue when player receives several items of the as quest reward and has not enough space in inventory to hold all of them
• Fixed crash in tutorial
• Fixed several mercs that move as a group changing positions after reaching their destination if one of them with active guard mode receives a new goto order
• Fixed guard mode would prevent mercs from letting other mercs pass them
• Fixed mail list not being cleared when starting a new game
• Fixed item swap to player inventory for stacked items on rightclick and by "loot all"-button
• Fixed bug in loner trait
• Fixed bug in tough trait
• Added slight offset to grenade explosions to prevent explosions inside ground to prevent grenades damage to be reduced by terrain
• Changes to terrain to prevent grenades from falling through ground on machines with low frame rates
• Fixed explosions not destroying armor correctly
Balancing Changes and Tweaks
• Added grenade launcher ammo to containers in some locations in the world
• Added grenade launcher ammo to the stock of some local traders
• Slightly decreased accuracy of snipers when prone
• Tweaked enemy attributes to adjust aim time in combat
• Tweaked enemy perception to accommodate introduction of Line of Sight
• Enemies drop the amount of ammo they have left in their weapon
• Enemy area defenders swap random positions to make the game less predictable in tactical mode (interval can be modified via templatesAIdescription.txt)
• Reduced chance of friendly fire between enemies
• State of tanks is stored outside of levels
• Destroyed tanks only respawn if the location still belongs to the enemy after 24 hours
• Location of Limited Edition DaHonko Flakes is now randomized
• NPC traders item list is sorted by item type
• Tweaks and improvements to pathfinding and navmesh calculation, mercs should not slow down in narrow passages anymore
• Tweaked damage done to vehicles by explosives making tanks harder to destroy with grenades alone
Localization
• Polish language files added
• Added missing texts for French
• Added polish translation for game launcher