PATUSCO'S

Version 1.0

Finished reading the manual twice and still have that creepy feelling that "The truth is out there"???

Bought the Official Strategy Guide, and it didn't include a zip of you wanted or needed to discover all the features in this fabolous game? Or simply to finish it?

Then this Guide is for you!!!

DISCLAIMER

This Guide is a compilation of the hints that the gamers were giving at the several JA2 discussion boards, so my thanks go to all who contributed to this guide, in that way. (Specially To Matthias Noll - man, you rock!!!)

So, I have not written all this stuff, what I have done is edited & changed the posts to fit this guide & added some of my knowledge here & there.

Consequently, I can't guarantee that what is written here corresponds to the actual truth of the game, since I'm no God, nor I'm one of the programmers of this awesome game. (Congratulations, Sir-Tech, you did it !!!)

I'm willing to continue to update this Guide, so I would like to have feedback from all of you guys, expressing your opinions, ideas & other hints as well.

For this use the following e-mail, contact me via ICQ, or leave messages in the Terravirtua / Talonsoft / Tactical Planet boards.

E-mail: helioa@hotmail.com

ICQ: 42954468

If anyone wants to post this Guide in any JA2 Website, I just would like the credit for making it.

Enjoy this great game as much as I'm doing right now.

See ya...

H'lio "Patusco" Andrade

INDEX

Generic Strategy Hints 4

Other Hints 6

Sorted Questions 8

1 - MERCENARIES

1.1 - Merc Incompatibilities 9

1.2 - Merc Skills 9

2 - WEAPONS & AMMO

2.1 - Weapons Attachments 10

2.2 - Weapons Ammunition 11

2.3 - Talon Grenade Launcher 11

3 - STRATEGY ISSUES

3.1 - City Conquer Order 12

3.2 - Militia 12

4 - TACTICAL ISSUES

4.1 - Opening Doors 13

4.2 - "Heads Off" 13

4.3 - Stealing 14

4.4 - Stealth 14

5 - MONEY ISSUES

5.1 - Selling Equipment 14

5.2 - Mines 15

6 - VEHICLES

6.1 - Tanks 15

6.2 - Other Vehicles 15

7 - CITIES (INCLUDING QUESTS)

7.1 - Dressen 16

7.1.1 - Father Walker 16

7.1.2 - Chopper Pilot 17

7.2 - Alma 18

7.3 - San Mona 18

7.3.1 - Kingpin 19

7.4 - Cambria 20

7.5 - Chitzena 21

7.6 - Tixa Prison 21

7.7 - Orta 22

7.8 - SAM Sites 22

7.9 - Meduna 22

8 - OTHER QUESTS

8.1 - Bug Caves 22

8.2 - Bloodcats 23

9 - MIXED ISSUES

9.1 - Flowers 24

9.2 - Merging Items 24

9.3 - Night Goggles 25

9.4 - Difficulty Levels 25

9.5 - RDX 25

9.6 - Game Limits 25

9.7 - Miguel 26

9.8 - General Locations Of Items & Stores 26

9.9 - Gun Shipments 26

9.10 - Scientist 26

GENERIC STRATEGY HINTS

First and foremost, your main character only has to be good at killing people and picking locks. Reduce Explosives and Medical to zero, because you are going to hire in people to do this for you.

Anything above 60 health points initially is wasted points that could be better spent on Marksmanship and Agility. This is because your are not PLANNING to get shot. You are going to make better use of cover. Those two stats (Marks/Agil) coupled with an 85 strength and 70-75 in all other stats (except leadership--you may SAFELY drop that to the minimum 35) will ensure that you are lean and mean enough to do that job.

Aim at setting Marksmanship to 85 and move Mechanical up to 60+. The combined 85's in Agility and Marksmanship will let you kill and not be killed.

Make the decision from day one that you will NOT get wounded and need the medical supplies. My game in on the Experienced level. I am presently assaulting Meduna Airport (already own all other cities on day 65 with almost 100% loyalty). I have been wounded three times since I started and it was not until today that I allowed my Mercs to suffer the occasional wound. These latter sectors of Meduna are RIDICULOUSLY difficult. Remember all those Rocket launchers you could not find? They have been stock piled in Meduna and you will come under heavy fire when you get there.

COMBAT

Combat is a thinking man's (or woman's) game. Look at the lay of the land and decide--where is the best place to stage this attack from?

NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER allow

the computer to Auto Resolve incidents involving your Mercs. You can always do better. Nighttime (between 0100 and 0400) is the most exceptional time to make your assaults. The enemy seems more sluggish (hell, wouldn't you be at that time of the morning?). Remember that line from Lethal Weapon 1, "Noses in the dirst, assholes!"? There is your greatest safety. Get down on your belly and turn on the stealth mode (Alt-Z) for your whole crew. Take your time. Hold down the Alt key when moving around a corner. It makes your Merc more cautions (will cost an extra point or two of movement, but you can toggle stealth on and off as you need to gain a point to get back behind cover).

When you hear your Merc say he/she heard a noise, let him lay still for a few seconds to see if the enemy will be stupid enough to walk right into your arms. Sometimes, you can lure them into a trap--Lay your assault team down in prone position and in stealth mode. And always behind some form of cover (Cover: something that the enemy cannot shoot through. Concealment: Something that sort of hides me (grass), but will not stop bullets). Have one of your Mercs fire a random round out into the sector to get the attention of nearby enemies. LET THEM COME TO YOU. They come into sight, make your shot and move to other cover.

If the enemy cannot see you, he cannot shoot you. Ease around a corner, get off a good clean shot and get back behind cover. Idiots and dead people stay in the open and use every movement point to fire the weapon dry..

You should only use two Mercs to make your assaults in the first 4-5 cities and then only increase it to one or two more until you get to Meduna. I only have a crew of 5 making that assault. Three of those are just for support fire. Two Mercs travel more quietly than six. Easier to control.

SAVE AFTER EVERY SUCCESSFUL round of combat. If you go through two rounds without seeing an enemy, you will return to real time movement. ALWAYS SAVE here.

As someone mentioned in one posting, roof tops are EXCELLENT. Peek over the edge, rack off a round or two and move back out of sight. Lay down on the roof, wait two rounds to get back to real time movement and then sneak forward again with all available movement points.

Don't think "how much damage can I take and still survive?" It is entirely possible to get through, at the very least, the first 2/3s of the game without taking a single point of damage. That is not always the case when you have to take on the two tanks with a single rocket launcher and four hand grenades. Not if you are keeping your sanity.

BASIC RULES OF PLAY

Create the character mentioned above, hire one additional GOOD Merc (like Igor or someone close in stats), and one average joe. The two of you will go kick butt in the first city. Make your lead Merc do most of the work so he/she will advance faster. After taking over a city, hire two cheepo Mercs to come in and train Militia. Take over a couple of Mines (about three cities) and then sit back on your laurels for a few days (2-3). Start training Militia in the city's mine sector. You can have other Mercs taining on other sectors of the city. This will increase militia faster. Train them all the way to aqua before going to take over a new sector.

I have 16 Mercs employed and until recently, only had four members on my assault team (Igor, Spider, Shadow, and my design). I recently added Ivan just because he was in the Demo. All others are permanently assigned to cities. When not training militia (meaning that the militia is at full force and strength), my city mercs practice Marksmanship. Once that reached 85, I picked another random one for each. They do not travel, but they get paid every week.

Hope that this is of assistance to those of you who are fighting the good fight. If you are encoutering an especially difficult area, let me know and I will try to walk you through it.

Keep your heads low and your powder dry.

OTHER HINTS

1) Game's too hard? Try novice, it ain't novice.

2) Start up the game and before doing anything make certain AIM has the Mercs you want available (not hired elsewhere). Save now. Then get custom Merc. Don't like him/her? He/she doesn't have the special abilities you want? Restart and try again. And when it comes to stats, allocate point to those that don't go up regularly during play. Marksmanship, agility, meds... all tend to rise. Others move more slowly. And some, like wisdom, apparently not at all.

3) Buy an expensive Merc with great equipment to begin. YOU GET TO KEEP EQUIPMENT! Everyone complains about pistols and low rifle supply at first. So buy Lynx, for example, for just a day, use him to his fullest, keep his armor and rifle, then give it to a cheaper, less well initially supplied merc.

3a) At the beginning, after getting the best equipment from great, but expensive, mercs, buy some cheap quick-learnin' rookies, like Barry or Igor. These guys will rise fast and furiously, yet will charge you a fraction, even once they reach high levels, of the big boys.

4) Save games in Save menu at critical points. Fast save (alt-s) after small "victories".

5) Talk to the locals. They tell you all the quest info. you need to know.

6) Tired of looking for the enemy? Let them come to you. Take a defensive position and fire some shots in the air. They'll come running.

7) Never stay too long in a bad position. The temptation is to keep firing with a long distance rifle, even out of range, at some guy who is well-bunkered in. This wastes time and ammo. If it don't work, fix it. Leave the position and take a new angle on him. Resist the urge to stay put.

8) If you enter a sector with enemies and are getting cut to pieces, check the map. It may present a far superior entry point. Leave, sometime this means taking just two steps, and re-enter from another side.

9) Leave points for next turn. APs accumulate... to a point (excuse the pun). I believe you can add up to 5 points from a previous turn to the next. If you need that aimed shot, but don't have the points, don't waste the ammo in frustration. Wait for next turn and take two well-aimed shots. Oh, and then there's interrupt, nothin' like it.

10) Throw stuff between guys during combat. What a sensation: Lynx just nailed a guy twice for serious damage from a ridiculous distance with his long-range scoped rifle (the best weapon on the team). But he's got just five points left and the bugger is still standing firm with a wicked shotgun ready to end the-guy-on-your-team-who-snuck-up-near-him-and-ran-out-of-point's life. Toss the rifle to Raven! (Or some other sharpshooter.) The MP5K she's currently carrying won't go the range or do the damage, but she's got plenty o' APs. She catches it, takes careful aim, and plugs the sucker for a critical hit before he gets one off. "That enemy breathes no more."

11) For information on whether quests have been completed, look at your history file. Uncompleted quests appear in red. Once they're completed, they turn black and another notation appears.

Am I missing something?

Can somebody tell me the levels of armor in this game? I'm on day 8, and I have one Kevlar vest, and the rest of my mercs have flak jackets. It's only day 8, and the enemy is taking very little damage from my weapons, and I'm getting nailed for 35-60 points by these guys. I'm using automatic rifles and such, but they only do about 20. What armor do the enemies have, and is there somewhere I can get it? I know the enemy should be stronger, but it seems to be unfairly so for the novice level setting at this point in the game. (What I mean by unfairly is that on Day 8, I don't have the resources to hire really top-notch mercs, and I don't have access to the really good weapons or explosives, which I seem to need defeat the enemies I am facing. Just sitting around saving up money leads to attacks by the queen's forces.)

Here's a little bit of friendly assistance.

1) Buy better Mercs at the start. I chose Lynx to begin with because he's one of the best sharpshooters in the game and because he's one of the only semi-affordable ones with a red-hot, long-range rifle. This will help you immensely in the beginning. Of course, you have to grab those mines fast to be able to keep on affording him or one like him (also started with just one other hired Merc, Danny for Meds).

2) The enemy militia slightly North of Drassen that guard the roads and territories between towns have longer range weapons. This makes them tougher to defeat, but a few good battles might score you a couple of decent range weapons.

3) You're on the 8th day, Gun's & Ammo store should be getting in a few new, better-than-pistols items by now - order a few.

4) Use the right ammo for the job. Some of those enemy bad boys have the tough armor (enemy types are defined by color, see the manual - elite troops are badddd). Go for the head or, alternatively, use that AP ammo for a bit more damage (though it might not score you the 40+ point hits).

SORTED QUESTIONS

What's the most effective way of scouting in a sector where you have no idea where the enemy is? (I tend to get sloppy and walk right into them because I can't muster the patience to proceed slowly and methodically through every square foot.)

Patience, several routes. Or move into good defensive positions and fire into the air. Also cool is attracting the enemy with a sniper team in ambush in an right angle to his approach.

If you stash an item in a sector you hold, will it remain?

Yes. If you lose a sector items might get taken by the enemy.

What are the SPECIFIC effects of alcohol (seems to make morale soar for moment, then plummet)?

Dunno.

What PRECISELY cuts down action points in combat? Unbandaged wounds certainly, but what about bandaged ones? What about energy? I hate when guys with 23 points perfect only get 15 at other times!

An interrupt with not the full action points left from the previous round. An interrupt after an interrupt. A hit. Running, using full APs for some rounds. Bandaged mercs have less APs. If your merc is not hurt (bandaged of not bandaged) and not tired (blue bar) he should get the full APs all the time

Is it worth searching the non-obvious places? I did find a key once in a medicine chest that seemed like all the others, but searching everything is such a bore in broken down town.

I would search every corner. Depends on what you are willing to endure to get a health booster or another grenade.

At what point does bobby rays. start offering grendades and explosives (if at all)

For me, it was about the time after I captured Drassen, Chitzena, Cambria, and Alma.

Is there any safe place to store items without haveing a significant risk of theft?

In a sector where you have militia. they'll keep it safe for you.

Anyone else hire that high wisdom guy who says he is good with throwing knives(i think it was throwing knives, cant remember) downstairs? I did and he said to take him to some town that starts with an E, cant remember, and he will give me a good deal on gas :-)

Shank is his name. Take him where he wants to go.

I know grenade launchers can be attached to rifles or shot normallly, however mortars and the LAW are different stories for me, i seem to have had bad luck finding ammo for them, really wish i could so i could blow up stuff.

The game would be too easy if this stuff was just lying all over the place.

Last of all.... i found this RDX stuff in tixa dungeon, some kind of explosive, wanted to use that too, as well as tranq darts(gotta try those out).

RDX is a powerful explosive. Tranq darts require a dart gun to use.

Where do I find a camera in Ja2?, in a certain sector there is a guy who says you need a rifle and camera to get his robot to work, he says that you can find it in Balima but i've searched that whole area and haven't found a camera anywhere.

Check Balime eastern sector. Three stores there. One sells electronics. By the way: It‹s a video camera.

1. MERCENARIES

1.1 - MERC INCOMPATIBILITIES

The best mechanic from MERC and Steroid won't work with Ivan and Igor. Dimitry - Stefan, Static - Stefan. Surely, there are much more.

Just for laughs I restarted the game trying to put together a team that would dislike each other more than they did the enemy. I hired Lynx, Buzz, Buns, Fox, and Steroid. They argued for so long in the DZ in Omerta that the enemy managed to sneak up on them before I could move them.

1.2 - MERCS SKILLS

What does Dexterity effect exactly, as opposed to Agility?

I'm not 100% sure. Sneaking (chance you‹re making noise), marksmanship ... ??

Does the skill of the Doctor determine the speed of healing of "patients" when in "doctor" mode (not bandaging in battle, but actual health point recovery)?

Yes

Is training worth it? (Seems to take long time.)

No

What does the teacher skill SPECIFICALLY do?

Bonus for the speed of training others (including militia)

When you are "skilled" at something, what PRECISELY does that mean? (My guy is ambidextrous and martial artist.) For example, will someone skilled at knife throwing hit or kill nearly every time? (As opposed to someone with simply a very high dex/agil.)

I would say there a much bigger chance he‹ll succeed with any task that belongs to this skill.

For those not ambidextrous, bad idea to use two pistols at once?

Yes, low chance of hitting.

For soldier types you can save an incredibly amount of money by using guys like Igor (with high wisdom) early. They have very comparable stats to the more expensive soldier mercs later, because Marksmanship goes up fairly steadily.

But for Mechanic, Explosive, or Medical skills you're probably better off buying experienced guys. Those skills go up much slower than Marksmanship. Fox and Barry were my early doctor and mechanic, but compared to Danny and Trevor, their skills aren't even close even though through experience their combat ability is comparable.

Where do Mechanic skills really come in handy, beyond fixing items? (For example, I tried wire cutters on barb wire fence in trees in Alma sector, I believe, and though they turned gray, as opposed to red, they didn't cut squat - maybe mech skill too low.)

The wire cutters will only work when the symbol is red. You need to fiddle around a bit until you find a spot where it works. There‹s no link between tech skills and using the wire cutters.

2. WEAPONS & AMMO

2.1 - WEAPONS ATTACHMENTS

Can anyone explain what exactly all of the weapon attachments do? I can guess what some of the benefits could be, but I am looking for a exact explanation. I know that you can target more accurately with the scope by taking more action points to aim until the circle becomes yellow, but what about the laser sight and the bipod? Do you have to activate these in some way, or are they always in affect once attached?

The laser sight as well as the bipod should improve our chance of hitting the enemy (no need to activate anything). I'm not sure if the bipod works in every position. Logically it should only work in crouched or lying position.

The way the aiming works is not different if you have scope, bipod or laser sight or nothing at all.

Attention: There‹s also a way to decrease the APs and another to increase the range by attaching permanent modifications.

Does the bipod make any difference to shooting?

Try firing a burst prone w/o the bipod, and then with...

How to modify wapons?? What is the exact procedure once you have the parts?

It's more complicated then in JA1, the steel pipe needs to be combined with duct tape and the quick glue. I also noted that the condition of the barrel extender affects the increase on range, so you should probably repair it before you put it on the gun. Oh yeah and failed attempts to put it on the gun will damage the gun and the barrel extender.

I had no luck. I mean that i tried putting glue on the bar, then putting tape on bar, then i tried putting glue on tape, then tape on bar, and so on. With no luck

use a merc with good tech skills to do that.

Well the way I made the barrel extender was by first putting the steel bar in my hand, then I put the duct tape on it,like putting a sniper scope on a rifle, just right click the bar and place the tape in an accessory slot. Finally I put the quick glue in a second accessory slot of the bar and voila, a barrel extender.

2.2 - WEAPONS AMMUNITION

I recently captured the military base in Alma, and when I searched the sector inventory, I came up with a really good rifle, the H&K G11((not sure if that was the right number..)) Anyways, it uses 4.7MM ammo, and I also found another 50 round drum in the sector, but so far, I haven't found any other places with that type of ammo, even at Bobby Ray's. Will Bobby Ray's eventually sell it, or is there a place in Arulco where I can get it?

I found some clips for that weapon once when I went to the gun shop in San Mona, he had 5 clips of the 4.7 mm ammo which I quickly bought. I also managed to buy some 5.7 mm ammo which I have no clue what weapon it is for.

Where to get 7.62mm Ammo? I have the weapons but zip of bullets.

I got 3 of those rifles plus Ivan carries some super sniper rifle that also uses same ammo...It's almost impossible to come by with armor piercing bullets (red ones) but the blue ones are sold on the Bobby's ray's website on the first page of ammo page...but still those blue ones are practically useless because everyone wears armor. What I do is take some guy like ME or ICE with AKM loaded with red bullets do the first shot then with Ivan I finish the guy even with a blue bullet because armor is down...

2.3 - TALON GRENADE LAUNCHER

Where to find Granade Launchers?

I found two or three in Grumm and have heard that there's a lot of heavy duty weaponry in Alma.

Ok, Has anyone worked out how to use this yet? I have the talon as an addition to a rifle, and I get a little yellow star that tells me the rifle has it attached... Then when I click a 40mm grenade on the rifle to load it, it also adds as an attachment (one of the four spaces). But, I can only shoot the rifle as a rifle? How do I tell the merc to let rip with the 40mm???

When you open the merc menu (the picture plus the controls) you get that gun icon for burst fire. When the talon is attached there are three switch modes.

First click on the icon: Burst Fire

Second click on the icon: Grenade launch

Third click on the icon: Back to single shot.

3. STRATEGY ISSUES

3.1 - CITY CONQUER ORDER

The city conquer order by the Official Strategy Guide is the following:

- Omerta

- Drassen

- San Mona

- Chitzena

- Cambria

- Alma

- Estoni

- Grumm

- Balime

- Tixa Prison

- Creature Quest

- Orta

- Meduna

After Drassen, which city should I liberate?

I went to Chitzena immediately. Escorted the tourist to Drassen and then off to Cambria.

Any recommendations where to go after Tixa? Cambria looks pretty tempting to me.

Read the intelligence reports and figure out where the key locations are. Talk to people in each town to get quests.

3.2 - MILITIA

What advantage is there to continue training your militia after the initial training pariod ends?

They will become better. There are 3 levels of militia. When you first train them, they are "green". If you continue, they will up one level (experienced or something). The third level can't be obtained by training, only by combat experience.

When you look at the militia in a sector (using "show militia" icon), you can see something like 10/0/0. First number is green militia, second is intermediate, third is veterans.

Can any Merc train militia? Does the merc doing it make a difference?

Yes. Low leadership, long time to train.

When you train militia, does it ever stop (no more training required?). It keeps giving me the option to train for $750. I've done it several times and it seems to add men - is there an end point?

20 men per city sector. When you keep training them they can reach the veteran status. That‹s only possible when you have the maximum number of green units trained and keep training them. They can also reach the veteran status in combat against the enemy. After a number of battles they can even reach elite status (veteran - blue, elite - dark blue). Elite is only possible through combat, not training.

20 green guys will do in the beginning. Later in the game 20 greens don‹t stand chance against veteran attackers.

Can militia be trained anywhere or just in city sectors?

City sectors and SAM sites. In addition there are some hidden areas with large buildings/sites where there is no possibility of training militia.

Does who trains the militia make a difference other than the speed at which they train? Will a better mercenary with teaching abilities, say, train a more ruthless militia? (I'm using IRA because I can't stand to be around her.)

To my knowledge it doesn‹t make a difference other than the speed.

4. TACTICAL ISSUES

4.1 - OPENING DOORS

I seem to have the biggest problems opening metal doors and other things. I can shoot lockers open but am not sucessful shooting the metal doors open. I thought I was doing it before, is there maybe an option I checked? How does everyone else open a door if they dont have the key. I dont feel like wasting all my heavy explosives.

1. Use a merc with the lockpicking skill (nake sure he has a lockpicking kit)

2. Use a strong merc with a crowbar

3. Use the lock explosive (haven't found it myself yet, but I heard it's there)

4.2 - HEADS OFF

How do you cut off the head of the terrorists like druggist or the imposter because i already found them and after i kill them there is no head.

I‹ve never done it myself but as far as I know: When they are on the ground you should be able to chop the heads off with a machete. Simply attack the body.

I think there is a bounty hunter out there...And he buys heads ... not sure

- Yes there is a bounty hunter. He gives a list of people to kill about 6 and they all are worth 20,000 each. good way to get money! only one i know where to kill is the Druggist, hes in a bar in one of the western towns.the one under Chitzena.

- In the bar in Drassen, you will find a bounty hunter named Carlos. He will give you a list of subject who are wanted. If you take their heads to him, he will pay you anywhere from $10-25k (half the actual reward).

- The bounty hunter is named "Carmen". I usually found him in a bar (San Mona, Drassen). He does buy the heads.

As far as I know the terrorists locations are random.

4.3 - STEALING

As for stealing, my game didn't crash, it just appeared to do nothing. Am I doing this right. Will stolen items simply "appear" in inventory or will a selection screen come up? Can some mercs steal while others can't?

Again, I walked up to a living, breathing enemy who was still very much in on the fight and put the grabbing hand over him at close range, the stopwatch came up and, seemingly, nothing happened (but no crash - game simply continued). Should he be unconscious?

Same here (with the game doing nothing). Seems to depend on the speed of the machine because the program seems to calculate quite alot when you steal.

If you're succesful you should have the gun in your hand or receive a message on screen that says you haven‹t been succesful and even tells you which gun the enemy has. I tried to steal again from an unconscious guy from which I took a gun. The game just hung for a couple of seconds an then returned to the normal state ...

4.4 - STEALTH

When stealthy, how do you know EXACTLY when the enemy spots you? (I assume that you go into turn-based mode when you spot them, but have they seen you? How do you know whether to sneak further or start blasting?)

- When they see you they‹ll come running to you to initiate hand to hand combat, shoot immediately or use their walky talkies first before shooting. You won‹t know which effects the step to the next square will have.

Is it possible to knife or martial arts kill an enemy silently without a guard right nearby noticing? How stealthy can you get?

- Silencer is also an option. About a guard right nearby - not sure about it. 5-6 squares might be possible if he doesn‹t look into the direction.

5. MONEY ISSUES

5.1 - SELLING EQUIPMENT

Where can you sell all the excess equipment you pick up? Nobody so far seems to want to take it in trade or for cash.

One of the towns people mentioned something about someone named Tony selling guns in San Mona. I took a look around the town but couldn't find him. If you find out, I'd like to know too.

Here's how to get to Tony...get the Lesbian VHS tape and give it to the Lesbian in the video store, then be "direct" with the video store owner and he'll let you --through. The video tape is in a chest in a house a few doors north of video store.

5.2 - MINES

Do all mines run out of Ore????

Short answer: No :-)

Happened to someone else that the chitenza mine was tapped out? if so any idea's if you can do something about it?

In real mode one mine might tap out. Nothing to do about it. It happened to me with the Drassen mine. But it‹s random. Just a nasty little surprise to make the game harder.

Occasionally and in no necessary order one mine or the other might stop working in "real" mode (not sci-fi). There‹s no way to start producing there again. There‹s just no more silver.

They say you have to convince head miners to start getting mine profits. I didn't have to convince anyone in Drassen, I just talked to the head guy, he turned it over to me and I seem to be making money. Are there multiple people to talk to for each mine, or just one?

- Just one - no convincing necessary. They were always happy that I wanted their money. Some might require a couple of "talk" sequences.

6. VEHICLES

6.1 - TANKS

Can you steal tanks? I just blew 2 to pieces.

No, they are stationary and cannot get stolen. I read somewhere that it‹s possible to steal weapons from the tank.

6.2 - OTHER VEHICLES

There‹s a hummer in L10. Will cost you 10.000.

Gas can be obtained in The "E" city after you escort Skank (something like that) there. He is rescued from the basement of Tixa. The Hummer is located in the sector just east of Balime and will cost you $10,000. If you drive the Hummer into a sector occupied by any other mercs on your payroll, it will replicate and you will then have two. I presently own three.

The guy in the sector where you buy the Hummer will also refule it for free.

I found a truck on a farm but can't get anyone to use it, either with the hand icon or to assign them on the map screen. My merc won't fix it either, so I assume it must be working. Is it out of gas or something, and how can you tell if it is out of gas?

Pretty sure that's not one of the vehicles you can take, so far from what I've seen and heard the two vehicles you can get are the ice cream truck and a HMMWV.

I can't for the life of me figure out how to put the fuel in the truck. Any hints?

(Tried putting fuel in hand, right clicking - get special cursor, but can't affect the truck, etc.)

It only worked for me, if the merc had to WALK towards the truck, and refuel it. If the merc is just standing next the truck, and you say "refuel" he will do nothing. So, go away some steps. And then try it again.

Where to find the Ice Cream Truck???

It‹s a random encounter on the Drassen/Cambria road (maybe also San Mona/Cambria). Just follow the road sectors and you should meet the truck and driver.

The ice cream truck and the Hummer are good, especially when the enemy still has SAM sites, because they can move into territory where the Helicopter might get shot down.

Also: If you‹ve got more than one team, operating in different parts of the country the Heli is very expensive and as long as you‹ve got not other airport than Drassen he has to return for fuel. The ground vehicles are also pretty useful to transport weapons to the store and back.

If you encounter enemies in a sector while riding in the Ice Cream truck and you sneak through the sector into the next without taking them out, will you still have the truck? Could it be stolen if it is, in fact, left behind? (I wonder about this with running out of gas too.)

If you encounter enemies you‹ll have to go the sector (you‹ll get the menu if you wanna flee or fight) tacitical map. In case you rode a vehicle your team will be dismounted but close to the vehicle. In tactical mode the vehicles can‹t move. So if you decided to fight but than try to leave you‹ll have to leave the vehicle behind.

7. CITIES (INCLUDING QUESTS)

7.1 - DRESSEN

7.1.1 - FATHER WALKER

I've restarted with another char and Father Walker is not in Drassden. I've seen him before and know what he looks like (and anyway he's a named NPC, easy to spot) and i've searched the entire mine sector of Drassden.

Is my game completely shot now? Should i restart from the very beginning? I went to an old save and took over the town AGAIN and he still wasn't there.

- He can be in two locations. One is in the middle sector of Drassen (middle from north), one is in the northern sector. In the bar in the middle sector or in the churchin the north.

- He is in the bar in sector c13 I believe, one tile south of the functioning Drassen airport. Be advised that he is only there during certain hours; to pass time I trained militia, repaired jammed guns, trained my custom merc,ect... Soon enough he showed up, try checking the bar every hour or so until he shows.

Where the heck is that priest (Fr. Walker?) hiding in Drassen? Checked the bar and the church --- no go!

Did you try during the day? I couldn't find him at first because I decided to make a night time assault on Drassen. I waited around till morning and found him in the church.

Where do i get the food for the people hiding in the basement hideout?

Talk to father Walker at the mine sector of Drassen. He's in the church or the bar. You may have to check back every other day to find him, tho...

I've heard that finding the Priest isn't a big deal, is it?

The priest is going to organize the food transport for the rebels. It will give you a raise in loyality.

7.1.2 - CHOPPER PILOT

How do you contact the chopper pilot after you found him?

- Take him back to Drassen airport. Sorry for being dumb, but I do not know where to find him when I go back to the airport he is not there? Any help would be greatly appreciated

- On the large map screen, click on the helecopter Icon. He will ask what you want. Then you can move the helecopter like your mercs. To load mercs in helecopter, used large map screen, select merc squad and select vehical, select helecopter. Moves mercs very fast, cost $$$ though.

I've seen the helicopter and talked to the guy but i dont know where to look for the pilot. He says swamp but where is that?

Swamp House at B15: Name's Skyrider.

I still can't find the damned pilot. I checked the swamp immediately around Drassen. Even walked through it in tactical mode. However, I did this late at night (maybe he's like the Father and only around certain hours). I heard his placement is random from Talonsoft guy. So, one, where might he be? Is his placement limited to Drassen swamp area or others as well? And, two, do I need to physicaly check each sector in tactical or will it be like finding the Ice Cream truck where I am prompted in map movement mode that someone is there? Will he only be in a house? (I found one house near Drassen on the shore of the lake (B15, I think), but he wasn't there.)

There are three swamp sectors around Drassen (around means they can be two or three sectors away and don‹t necessarily have to border on Drassen). He‹s in one of them. You don‹t need to go to the tactical map. When you enter the sector where he is you‹ll get a message telling you that your team has met someone (Same with Ice Cream Truck and other quest related NPCs).

7.2 - ALMA

Any hints about Conrad, the guy inside the Military complex in Alma???

Speak to Conrad using direct, I've heard that has a better impact when speaking to soldiers.

I went back to an earlier save and talked to Conrad AFTER the battle. He was much more sympathetic to my cause at this point :). He's got pretty good stats though he is extremely expensive...approaching Mr. Tarballs' salary range and Gus is much funnier. Anyway, I havent been into a game this much since Ultima VII... and I thought all the good games were made years ago :)

- I didnt talk to him till after the fight. Then afterwards i talked once or twice friendly, then hit recruit, and boom, he was on my team. Of course u have to do so with a high leadership person.

I killed a wounded soldier after healing him...with my team I don't even need extra men .... plus i got a kewl rifle from him...

Conrad is NOT the wounded soldier. If you kill the wounded soldier you won‹t get a loyality boost in the city.

My loyalty in Alma is 0%, what gives? I killed all those bobcats for that lady and my the loyalty rose, I created militia in all of the sectors in Alma, but eventually I lost the Alma mine to attackers, I got the alma mine back but when I tried to train militia, it said not enough people were willing so i tranferred all my militia in the other sectors of alma to the alma mine to protect it, now my loyalty is 0 :(.

Not sure about that. I never lost a sector (thanks to savegames not my exceptional skills). You should try attacking some enemy teams close by.

7.3 - SAN MONA

In San Mona there‹s a hidden weapon store. You need to execute Kinpin‹s guys at least in that sector to get to the shop.

Where might this store be? I thought I had snuck into all buildings in San Mona... but guess I missed something.

Hans (the tattoo shop owner) has a door behind him. He'll only let you through if Brenda (the annoying punk freak woman) is gone from the story. I'm told that she eventually leaves on her own, or that you can give her a videocassette to make her leave, but I've never accomplished either objective. I just shoot the p*ss out of her and move on.

Talk to Hans when she's taken care of, and you'll have access to Tony, the arms dealer.

I've killed kingpin, cleared hostiles out of the town, and agreed to escort Maria to her brother, but after I've assigned her to a squad I can't move them to take her to Angel... I get a message that "Maria can't be given movement orders at this time" -- WTF?

You can't move via the map screen with her. You have to manual walk from the tatical screen. Take her and the rest of the squad that she is in and walk to the far right side, when the walking man icon appears click on it and you will manually walk to the next sector. That's the only way to travel secto rby sector with maria.

Hope that helps unless you had that problem doing it that way as well...

Woulnd't surprise me if your stuck. Seems to be a lot of bugs in the game. I once was stuck in an entire battle where my merc would only either walk backwards or sidestep. Talk about a pain in the ass..

7.3.1 - KINGPIN

Are there any consequences to stealing the Kingpin's money from his mine? And what is the deal with his house? I came up from the mine in that room, but I took a step, and the alarm went off. Do I need to do something with this kingpin guy?

- So, if you steal that money Kingpin will send you an email after a couple of days and ask for his money. He‹ll send killers if you don‹t bring him the money back. So if that‹s happening you ‹don‹t have any choice but return to San Mona and kill him and the complete gang (be prepared .... I wouldn‹t do that without having weapons with range 30 and explosives and ...)

A better idea might be hiring a merc with good fighting skills and getting some more money from Kingpinn first by winning the fistfights in Kinpins bar. Then go and steal the money but take care that your team(s) is good enough to kill everything in the two San Mona sectors when Kinpin sends his killers (they are tough, so it‹s no option to just ignore him).

If you come to kill him don‹t come from the mine but from the sides of the sector on ground level. Attacking him at night can be a huge advantage if you already have night goggles.

- He‹ll send killers that will appear "out of nowhere" and attack you wherever you are.

You should at least have Drassen and one other city. Another good choice to have more weapons is interdicting the enemy teams. By day 10 or 15 you should have some guns (it has not be range 30. Range 25 will do too). If you come at night and you have night goggles plus night skill it might be working with short range weapons. But you should have better stuff than pistols.

It‹s a question of balance. If you manage to time the stealing of the money well, you might have no problems but it can really suck bigtime if you‹re too weak to attack Kingpin and he‹s already sending killers. In the last game I had to wait long and he sent one killer. Was only able to avoid deaths in my team by loading a save. What you should also evaluate is the distance to San Mona. It might get nasty if you have to travel through 10 sectors to the other side of the country just to finish Kinpin off.

You need to kill all the enemies in San Mona sector C5 and D5 (careful, there are civilians in C5) if you fight Kinpin. There‹s a hidden weapons store in C5. There‹s also Carmen the headhunter and an explosives dealer plus a NPC you can hire in the bar (occasional). San Mona C5 is one of the sectors I was returning to all the time.

How many killers will Kingpin send after you kill the first? Does he continue to send them until you return to San Mona, or are you safe once you dispatch the first one?

After killing the first one you should be safe for a couple of days. I have no info on how many killers there are and I do no know what the cycle is in which they are getting sent.

Will he continue to send the killers throughout the game until I go back to San Mona and kill him?

Yes. Killing off Kingpin will help take the heat off your team. Of course, you'll have to get to him. San Mona, what a town!

Take your best mercs and slowly make your way into the sector where the Kingpin lives. Make sure to look into buildings from different windows as a majority of your opponents will not be outside, but inside, hiding behind windows and such. It's classic urban combat, house-to-house, room-to-room. The fun will most likely start when you enter the sector where the brothel house is located. Here, you'll start to meet the six or seven "named" henchmen. There's also an unspecified number of generic goons. It was a little tough because only the named henchmen dropped anything when they died, the generics didn't. Good luck.

Is there a real cost to taking out the Kingpin without talking to anyone in town? Before "escorting" Maria out of town I put a few knives in the head of the bordello manager and her dumb henchman. This basically set all of Kingpin's men against me before I could figure out what quests would occur in his sector of town. I understand that the game suggests sneaking Maria out without getting caught. However, I got great weapons, big cash and much experience in week one for doing it the hard way (also the fun way). I also worry that, with all those "named, talking" henchman I took out, I may have executed one of the wanted list characters without knowing it!

About San Mona. Kinpin has a bar where you could bet money on fights as long as he‹s still alive.(One of your mercs against Kingpins fighters). These fights can get won and you‹ve lost some money if Kinpin is dead already. Second: In San Mona there‹s a hidden weapon store. You need to execute Kinpin‹s guys at least in that sector to get to the shop. I‹m not sure if they‹ll respawn as long as Kinpin himself is still alive. The wanted list characters are not in Kingpin‹s gang. When you or they have initiated a fight their name will change to the "Real" name and you should be able to figure out if it was one of the terrorists by comparing the name to the disc you got from Carmen.

More of a tactical question here. I don't quite understand how, since I took out the bordello manager and her dumb henchman silently and in just one tactical turn, the whole sector and the next (with Kingpin in it) knew I was now "enemy." The manager did say "wait til Kingpin finds out," but this seem unrealistic. Is this throughout the whole game? If I enter an area that perceives me as non-threatening like San Mona (as opposed to invader) and move about silently killing thugs, will others somehow magically sense my new "enemy" status?

- Well, they know you‹re not friendly anymore (My explanation: someone saw you and informed the others). I think they‹ll attack you every time you come back to the San Mona sector until you‹ve eliminated Kingpin and his whole gang. See above: I‹m not sure about respawning as long as Kinpin is still alive.

7.4 - CAMBRIA

Can anyone answer a few questions on the hospital for me? Do I need the x-ray tubes and jars? If so, what for? Do I need to capture all the sectors of Cambria before Dr. Vince will help me, or is my leadership to low? Thanks in advance.

I'm also in Cambria. After a fierce fight to take the first sector (top right), I sent Ice to the hospital at night with night vision goggles and a silenced MP5K with a laser sight and cleaned out the sector. After doing that and killing the hicks, the town's loyalty was up to 22%. My guess is that either you need to clear out the whole town or get their loyalty up to a certain percentage before the docs will help.

7.5 - CHITZENA

There's a house southeast of chitzena (sp?) where i found ceramic plates and comp-18 stuff; also, marry flo off to Mr. Hick and in his supply shed you'll find a couple of "defence" vests (think "kevlar+")

btw, has anyone else used a tranq dart on a bloodcat and had the cat disappear?

7.6 - TIXA PRISON

What and where are Tixa?

Tixa is a sector close to the SAM site at Cambria. It‹s a prison which also has a cellar. You can find the location at Eki‹s JA2 site, sector tips/tactics section, if you don‹t want to go and look for it.

Someone found something to do with that black guy in tixa, that's very afraid and found in a cell next to shank? Anything to do with him?

Btw before i entered creatures lair in tixa i killed the creatures in drassen and their queen. and now there's no creatures in tixa, matters something to my game?

Btw is there sublevel3 in tixa dungeon?

I found another level below the cellar in Tixa. But only in Sci-Fi mode (it was infested with bugs). The black guy never did anything but whine and asked to be left alone.

He might be useful but that might depend on your mercs leadership value.

How the heck do I free Dynamo from Tixa? I opened his cell door but he doesnt wan't to leave, what can I possibly do to get him to come back to Alma?

I‹ve read on this board that if you approach him friendly he‹ll come with you. I never succeeded though. He always told me to leave alone. Might only work with a super high leadership value. If I missed anything because of that I can‹t tell.

Anyone find that cool looking greyish gun at tixa? It has range 50 and dmg 30, cant really remember what it is called. Looks pretty dang cool

Are you talking about CAWS? Pretty nice weapon.

Last nite i defeated the bloodcats and then cleaned out all floors at tixa. Had no trouble whatosever getting dynamo on my team. Was just wondering if i need to walk him back to Alma Mine to talk to his brother, or just saving him is enough to make it that his brother knows he was saved and the favor goes up in Alma.

It's enough to rescue Dynamo.

7.7 - ORTA

Do you mean the bloodcat research laboratory? I beat that sector. The biggest waste of medical supplies. What exactly is it there for?

I‹m a bit confused.... You‹re talking about Orta right? (don‹t have my notes right now, but it‹s K4 (or very near to that). Orta is not on the map initially. In Estoni (I6), junkyard, you can get a codecard from an NPC that opens the door to the cellar. In the Orta cellar there are loads of elite enemies and a whole truckload of rocket rifles. You have to talk to a scientist who can open the door to the room with the rifles. On the ground floor there is another NPC who did nothing for me even when I tried to briben him. I do think the general gives you the Orta location (the general thing is second hand info - he never told me anything useful, so I ignored him).

7.8 - SAM SITES

I took control of a SAM site, but the bad dudes took it back. Can I blow up the SAMS?

Nope. But, you can train militia to guard the SAM site once you've regained possession of it.

7.9 - MEDUNA

How do you take meduna... I mean, I sneak through sectors with the tanks (cause I dont have any law rocket launchers) but when I kill off all of deidrana's elite guards... I cant find her... I of course found elliot, and killed him... and I cleaned out her main room... but she is missing... a secret basement or somthing? maybe she hiding in Balime?:

Didn't she shoot Elliot? Thats what happened in my game.

She‹s in the basement of the last sector. There‹s a secret passage from the north (underground). I think you can only access the stairs by using the remote control. It goes down through one of the fireplaces in the western part of the palace.

8. OTHER QUESTS

8.1 - BUG CAVES

Am I supposed to go down with a certain number of mercs or at a specific time?

Well the consensus seems to be that the Queen only appears after 4am, so try waiting around until then.

Make sure you bring gas masks for all your guys because the bugs spit poison clouds or whatever it is. And bring A LOT of ammo, like, a crap load at least 100 + rounds for everybody. It might be better to equip your guys with submachine guns temporarily because a lot of the combat will be at close range and you do more damage to the bugs if you have two submachine guns on auto fire. The queen is not that bad, just make sure that you don't leave once you go down because once you leave, you will have to fight your way down all over again. The mine will be operational again once you kill the queen. I have heard that you need to blow up the eggs as well. But the mine is operational without you blowing them up and I didn't ahve enough TNT. Anybody know if I have to go back and blow them up?

The Queen Bugs blood makes your armor better

Equip your team with weapons capable of fire-burst.

Take lots (!!) of ammo with you + two cans of mustard gas.

Go into Drassen's mine. Kill the bugs. Go to the next sector/down a level. More bugs to kill. This will go on quite a while. You can't miss the bug queen. Kill her with mustard gas.

I assume you got a message from the leader of the workers in the Drassen mine some time ago. If that‹s the case Drassen mine is the location of the bugs. You‹ve to go down 3 level, sometimes moving to another sector on the same level. There are small holes, similar to the exit in the first level of the mine. This should lead you to the lair of the monsters.

I‹ve heard from other sources that there might be bugs in other mines but I have only got them in Drassen (and in Tixa, hidden location). They are not there all the time, so checking the mine at different times might be a solution. But first of all, you need to find the way down.

Question on the bugs.

Can I use HP ammo (like on the cats) or do I need AP?

You should use HP ammo. Just for the queen use AP. HP Does far more damage against bugs while AP might just go through them.

I always waited until the mine in Drassen stopped producing and the chief worker told me that the mine is infested with bugs.

you then have to fight your way down to the lowest mine level and kill the boss creature plus his offspring.

Btw: you can use the slime to improve your armor (like compound 18).

8.2 - BLOODCATS

Where to sell Blood cats pelts, claws, teeth, and what to do with the bugs remains?

I found the Irish guy ( the one that sold the items to you ) from JA Deadly Games in the bar in Dressan.

He said he was there hunting for bloodcats, so he will probably buy the teeth and pelts.

I‹m not sure if you mean the bugs in Sci-Fi or the Bloodcats. The bugs are in the Drassen mine. The bloodcats have their nest in one of the sectors in the middle of the eastern end of the map.

Someone knows what to do with parts of bloodcats like claws, teeth and pelt?

I ran into Mickey the old JADG gun runner. He is now dealing exclusively in animal parts. I met him in the Dressen bar. He should be around there or at least up north.

Ran into one Sabercat in westernmost sector of San Mona, is that the only place they are found? (please answer only yes or no, no specifics spoilers please).

No

To complete the bloodcat quest, you must return to Alma and talk to the NPC that sent you after the bloodcats. The same is true of some other quests.

9. MIXED TOPICS

9.1 - FLOWERS

Wondering what to do with the Flower Service link on the

AIMs website? Just pick out a bouquet, attach a nasty message and select Meduna as your destination. Pick overnight delivery, wait one day and get ready to laugh your head off.

Anybody found a use for send flowers yet?

I was experimenting sending them various places. To the Queen, to other memeber. But never got any indication that the stuff was recieved. Is there a point or just a way to blow like 200 bucks real stupidly?

You can send flowers to Deirdranna. This will initiate a dialogue when they arrive.

9.2 - MERGING ITEMS

I tried to combine the SPRING with the ROD, didnt work, i also tried the steel pipe with the duct tape or quick glue didnt work either.

btw: to combine you just take one and put him on the other?

or you need to do it with mechanics and toolkit?

I believe the appropriate thing to do is hold CTRL down to merge. I wish I could test this theory, as I've never been able to find the steel rod, only the aluminum one

What are Aluminum Rods for?

I've heard you need to combine them with a spring to make a modification for weapon firing rate.

Did anyone found use for the copper wire and rubber band cause i know what the other stuff is for except those two.

I don‹t know any use for the rubber band. The copper wire is part of the Xray detector.

9.3 - NIGHT GOGGLES

Can u please explain to me how your night vision goggles work, in mine it only makes light a couple spaces away my guy. It sucks.

The night vision goggles don‹t light the way for you. You‹ll see the enemies from farther away. The enemies, not the ground of other dead things. The range of the night goggles is not equal to the light radius and they don‹t suck at all.

I found some Night Vision headgear. Doesn't "appear" to do much. It mentions slot for AA batteries. Are these needed in its attachments area? Is there another way to "turn it on"? If I wear it all the time, will it only work when I want it to (at night)?

No batteries required for the headgear. You should get a bigger radius of lighted squares around your character if you got this option on. Might only be one or two squares but it‹s worth it (You can look farther than the lighted squares anyway). Especially if you equip someone with them who‹s got the night ability.

9.4 - DIFFICULTY LEVELS

Difference between difficulty levels please!

Been asking the same question all around too, so here's what I've learned until now :

- starting money goes down with each level (same as JA1)

- more enemy patrols as you up the level

- SHOOTING BONUS : slight penalty for enemies at easy level, no penalty at average, unknown (slight/heavy ?) bonus at expert.

9.5 - RDX

RDX is supposedly a highly explosive material. How do I detonate it?

I think you merge it with C1 to make C4

and It says its unstable maybe you through it

I have more merge possibilities.

9.6 - GAME LIMITS

Just 2 questions. Is there a time limit in ja2? i trained too long once and i got an email saying that i got to move on, from my boss? what happen if i ignore this?

2nd, can the mines ran out of money?

The game itself, I predict (since I have not finished it), does not limit the time taken per se. However, the mines DO run out of money and Dedrianna's forces appear to grow throughout at least the beginning of the game, so there is serious incentive to keep moving. Obviously, eventually her forces would become too strong and your cash flow too weak to sustain any kind of reasonable resistance, let alone take the country.

My advice: do not spend too much time training. I recognize the impulse to create a trained custom super-merc, but the game will penalize you seriously for days of training. Your best bet is to create your custom merc with an understanding that some skills improve far faster than others through action, set those that don't a bit higher and those that do a bit lower. Then improve through action, and always maintain the understanding that it is highly unlikely that you will ever be outstanding in all categories.

9.7 - MIGUEL

I am having a hard time finding Miguel... Where is he???

In the first sector you start in, go find a woman called Fatima. Talk to her nicely, show her the letter, and she'll lead you to Miguel.

9.8 - GENERAL LOCATIONS OF ITEMS & STORES

San Mona C5 - Weapons

Estoni I6 - handguns, ammo, more junk than everything else

Balime L12 - electronic equipment, medical supplies, general store (good for drugs!!!)

There are also a couple of locations where you can repair items (electronic and mechanic items depending on the shop)

Grunn H1 for example (two shops) and also in Cambria (don‹t remember the sector).

9.9 - GUN SHIPMENTS

Problem with Gun Shipments. I don't know where they went in the Airport.

- Are you looking in the crates in the building marked SHIPMENTS?

I find that if I bribe Pablo, usually with a hundred bucks, before opening the crate, I get all my stuff intact, and always assume a friendly posture.

- I find that if you talk to Pablo before opening the crate may help reduce the losses. Also need to use merc with high leadership.

- bribing Pablo works fine normally. If you rough him up that helps too but be careful with the violence. If you kill him the locals will turn against you.

- bribing Pablo works fine normally. If you rough him up that helps too but be careful with the violence. If you kill him the locals will turn against you.

I cut Pablo's throat because Ira told me he works for Deidreanna and we should kill him. He is replaced by a nice boy named Sal who's kind of stupid. Sal's not any better at shipping stuff either - he loses your shipments sometimes too.

I have not lost a shipment since I destroyed the SAM site near Drassen (which I did after taking Cambria). I have also found the previously lost shipments in warehouses in other cities!

9.10 - SCIENTIST

Hey man theres a locked door down there that I cant seem to find the key for. And there is no one down here. Do u mean ask teh guy up top?

There's somewhere a scientist (same level). Threat him several times, and he'll open the door for you.

The NPC‹s name is Ernest. Threat him three times and he‹ll go an open the door. I found him in the western part of the cellar. There are three or four small rooms behind a locked door. He was in the room in the south, standing in a corner. If you haven‹t entered all the rooms you probably missed him.

The scientist upstairs is quite ok for releasing stress through bullets.