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NPCs & recruitment

Not every gun in Arulco comes from the AIM or MERC websites. Scattered around the country are locals and stranded professionals — the community calls them RPCs (Recruitable Player Characters) — who will join your team for little or no money, plus a cast of service NPCs you'll want to find early: a helicopter pilot, repairmen, and traders. This page lists who they are, where they live, what it takes to recruit them, and what 1.13 changes about the whole business.

Spoilers

Like the rest of the walkthrough section, this page names names and locations freely. Stats, salaries, traits and spawn locations below were checked against the current MercProfiles.xml and the 1.13 source code; where only the community-maintained Jagged Alliance Wiki covers a detail (dialogue conditions, recruitment tricks), the text says so.

How local recruitment works

Most locals are recruited through dialogue, and your talker's Leadership score is usually what decides whether they say yes (and sometimes what they charge). When a recruit is described below as needing "leadership", send in your best talker — an IMP built with high Leadership, or a leader-type AIM merc.

A few general rules from the base game:

  • Local recruits are cheap: several are outright free, and even the paid ones cost a fraction of an AIM veteran.
  • Several recruits sell goods or provide services until you recruit them — buy what you want first, because their shop inventory disappears once they join.
  • The Omerta rebels are loyal to each other: if any of your non-rebel mercs intentionally attacks a rebel, every rebel in the sector quits your team and opens fire on you.

Free and cheap local recruits

Who Where Requirements What they bring
Ira Smythe Omerta rebel hideout (A10) Offered by Miguel at the start of the game Free. Field medic and expert Teacher; high Wisdom (83) so she improves fast; comments on locations as a guide (1.13 traits: Paramedic, Teaching, Scouting)
Dimitri Guzzo Omerta rebel hideout Complete the food-delivery quest for Omerta (via Father Walker in Drassen) Free. Better shot than Ira (Marksmanship 77), good mechanic (Mechanical 71), expert Throwing (1.13 traits: Throwing, Stealthy)
Miguel Cordona Omerta rebel hideout Liberate several towns (see note below) Free. Rebel leader with Leadership 98, Marksmanship 85, Knifing and Night Ops (1.13 traits: Squadleader, Melee, Night Ops). Superb trainer
Carlos Dasouza Omerta rebel hideout (A10) Joins together with Miguel Free. Solid all-rounder who arrives late (1.13 traits: Stealthy, Throwing, Scouting, Deputy)
Greg "Dynamo" Duncan Tixa prison (J9) Free him from Tixa (his brother Matt, the Alma head miner, gives the rescue quest); nominal leadership $50/day — or free if you refuse his first offer with enough leadership. Expert Lockpicking, Mechanical 67, Psycho (1.13: expert Technician, "Engineer")
Breeham "Shank" Druz Tixa dungeon (J9) Free him; nominal leadership $20/day (no free option). Expert Throwing (1.13: Throwing, Demolitions); weak fighter but high Wisdom (80). Send him to Jake in Estoni to unlock fuel purchases for vehicles and the helicopter
Kevin "Maddog" Cameron Estoni (I6), by the gas station Approach with a female merc with decent leadership — he refuses low-leadership and male mercs, and a bad first impression is permanent Free. Comes with a CAWS auto-shotgun and a tool kit; expert Lockpicking, Mechanical 68, great physical stats, Psycho (1.13: expert Technician, "Engineer")
Hamous Random road sector, generally between Drassen–Cambria or San Mona–Cambria Sufficient leadership; AIM mercs reportedly have better luck than IMPs or RPCs $250/day, and he brings his Ice Cream Truck — an extra vehicle. Marksmanship 78, Stealthy (1.13 also gives him the Primitive character)

When do Miguel and Carlos join?

The Jagged Alliance Wiki states Miguel and Carlos join after you control five of the nine conquerable cities (Omerta and San Mona don't count). The 1.13 INI comments describe the vanilla behavior as "3, 4, 5 towns liberated including Omerta", depending on the RPCs' .npc files. Either way it is a mid-to-late-game event by default — unless you change it in 1.13 (see 1.13 recruitment options below).

Rebels fight better together

The Omerta rebels (Ira, Dimitri, Miguel, Carlos) all like each other and cheer each other on in combat — keeping them in one squad is great for morale. The flip side: harm one rebel and all nearby rebels leave your team and attack.

Hire-by-circumstance recruits

These characters charge real money or only become available once the campaign reaches a certain state.

Who Where Requirements What they bring
Dr. Vincent "Vince" Beaumont Cambria hospital (F8) Cambria loyalty close to 100% and a high-leadership talker $500/day. Medical 94 — the best starting medical stat of any recruit — plus Ambidextrous and Teaching (1.13: Paramedic). Claustrophobic: keep him above ground
Lt. Conrad Gillitt Alma training facility (H13) Modestly high leadership; don't drag the conversation out — he gets bored and turns hostile $5,500/day, dropping to $3,300/day if a high-leadership merc refuses his first offer. Marksmanship 95, level 5, Auto Weapons and Teaching (1.13: expert Machinegunner + Teaching, Assertive). Nonswimmer
Devin Connell Wanders the bars of northern Arulco (C5, C6, D13, H2, G9 — he moves every few days) Free four cities; a merc with some leadership recommended $800/day. Explosives 96, Electronics and Knifing (1.13: Demolitions, Melee). He is also the only local explosives shop — buy his stock before recruiting him, it disappears when he joins
Igmus "Iggy" Palkov San Mona bar north of the Shady Lady brothel (C5) Appears once campaign progress reaches 70% (GAME_PROGRESS_IGGY_AVAILABLE in Ja2_Options.INI) $1,950/day. Deserter from the Queen's army; expert Heavy Weapons ("Bombardier"), comes with a Rocket Rifle. Miguel and Carlos distrust him

Two more join by circumstance: MadLab's robot (next) and Slay, who is also a wanted terrorist and gets his own section further down.

MadLab's robot

Dr. Nathaniel "MadLab" Kairns, a scientist who fled Deidranna's research division in Orta, hides in a barn in a random sector in southern Arulco (H7, H16, I11 and E4 are reported spawn spots). The barn is bigger on the outside than on the inside: find the switch in the house's cabinets to open the secret compartment he hides in. Talk to him with a merc whose leadership is above 10, hear out his story, and he asks for two parts to finish the robot he is building to kill the Queen: any rifle and a video camera (most easily bought in Balime).

The rifle becomes the robot's permanently attached weapon — MadLab strips any non-built-in attachments and drops them on the floor — and the nearest merc receives the control headset, which someone in the robot's squad must wear in place of an Extended Ear to issue it orders. The robot is slow on its tank treads, can't carry items, climb, swim or take non-combat assignments, and is repaired by a mechanic rather than healed. In exchange it is massively resistant to gunfire, has no breath bar (gas and stun grenades do nothing), and has no scent, making it completely invisible to Crepitus. High explosives, LAWs and rockets can destroy it outright. If it is destroyed, MadLab builds a replacement for another rifle and camera — but never dismiss the destroyed robot from the team roster on the map screen, or it is gone for good.

The six terrorists and Carmen's bounties

Carmen Dancio is an international bounty hunter working for Intercept. Each morning the game moves him to one of three bar sectors: C5 (San Mona), C13 (Drassen) or G9 (Cambria) — those three, and only those, per the current NPC scripts. Talk to him and he offers a deal:

  • He hands you a diskette with dossiers on wanted terrorists hiding in Arulco (the information is copied to your laptop) and a machete.
  • The targets are not wanted alive. Use any bladed weapon on a dead terrorist's corpse to remove the head, which becomes a unique quest item.
  • Bring Carmen a head and he tells you to meet him in a Drassen bar 24 hours later for your share: $10,000 per terrorist (half of the $20,000 bounty). The payout meeting is always in C13 (Drassen; CARMEN_GIVE_REWARD_SECTOR in Mod_Settings.ini). Be punctual — dawdle too long and he disappears with the money.

Heads can be destroyed

If a terrorist's head is blown off by a critical headshot, or the body is destroyed by explosives, there is no head left to collect — and no reward. Finish suspected terrorists with body shots or blades.

In vanilla-style campaigns not all six terrorists appear: the game always spawns Elgin plus 2–4 of the others, weighted by difficulty. In current 1.13 releases ENABLE_ALL_TERRORISTS ships as TRUE, so all six are active by default. Three of them have fixed homes in the current MercProfiles.xml; the other three are placed in a random sector from a per-terrorist list at campaign start. They walk around disguised as harmless civilians who look "vaguely familiar" — talking to them (or attacking) reveals the truth, and all of them are dangerous, well-armed fighters.

Alias on the diskette Real identity Location(s) Notes
The Druggist Sammy "Charlie" Elgin Always H2 — bartender in Grumm Poison specialist. After his death Manny Santos takes over the bar and drink sales continue
Matron of Mayhem "Annie" (real name unknown) Always G8 (Cambria) in current 1.13 data Nerve-gas assassin; throws tear/mustard gas grenades and shoots wildly when engaged
T-Rex Jasmin Rexall Random: B2, F9, G1, H2, H14 Militia-leader type with very high strength; at close range he steals a merc's weapon and beats them with it
The Imposter "Chris" (Kris Karver) Random: F9, G1, G2, G8, L11 "Master of disguise" with a meat cleaver and an unconvincing Canadian accent
— Tiffany "Joe" Eddie Always I14 (Alma) in current 1.13 data Mob hitman with a Thompson; his home holds a locked chest with extras
— Richard "Slay" Ruttwen, aka "Terry" Random: F9, G1, G2, G8, I14 Sniper — the only terrorist you can recruit instead of kill (see below)

(A terrorist whose profile has a location set in MercProfiles.xml always spawns there; only profiles without one roll a sector from the source's random lists. Mods can therefore move or re-randomize any of them.)

Slay — the terrorist who can join you

Slay is a deadly sniper (Marksmanship 93; old traits Professional Sniper and Auto Weapons, 1.13 traits expert Sniper plus Auto Weapons) and, unlike the other five, he can be talked into working for you. The wiki documents two routes:

  • Give him Carmen's diskette. In exchange for the evidence and safe departure from Arulco, he offers his services free for one week.
  • Alternatively, a convoluted dialogue route: threaten him, wound him in the leg, bandage him, then recruit him.

Consequences of teaming up with a wanted terrorist:

  • If Carmen sees Slay in your party he turns hostile and attacks. Even if you keep Slay elsewhere, Carmen "hears rumors" and refuses to pay any more bounties until you bring him Slay's head within 24 hours.
  • In base JA2 Slay leaves after his week is up. The wiki notes the community-known workaround: if you want both his full week and the bounty, strip his gear and collect the bounty on his final day. Mercenary work is ugly.

1.13 change: Ja2_Options.INI has a dedicated switch so you don't have to choose:

SLAY_STAYS_FOREVER = FALSE
SLAY_HOURLY_CHANCE_TO_LEAVE = 15

Set SLAY_STAYS_FOREVER = TRUE and he becomes a permanent squad member. If left at FALSE, the second setting is the hourly chance he wanders off when left alone in a sector. See Ja2_Options.INI for how to edit these.

Key service NPCs

These characters never fight for you, but the mid-game runs on them.

Who Where What they do
James "Skyrider" Bullock Hiding in a swamp sector near Drassen (location varies) Helicopter pilot. Escort him back to Drassen and he flies your squads anywhere: $100 per friendly sector, $1,000 per sector covered by an active SAM site. He reports enemy activity he overflies and won't land in enemy-held sectors
Micky O'Brien Placed in one random bar sector (C5, C6, D13, H2 or G9) at campaign start; he stays where he spawned Buys bloodcat pelts, teeth and claws — the only buyer for your hunting proceeds
Gary "Gabby" Mulnick H11 or I4 (random); Sci-Fi mode only Ex-regime scientist. Explains the Crepitus, trades in their parts, and sells jars and elixirs
Alex "Perko" Perkolopolis Cambria (G9) Repair shop. Cheap but sloppy — items are often not ready on time. Refuses electronics and sends you to Fredo. Hands items in shortly after midnight and collect one at a time for best results
Alexander Fredo Grumm commercial district (H1) Electronics repairman; the only NPC who can reset the locking on Rocket Rifles. Don't steal from his repair tables or he stops serving you
Arnold "Arnie" Brunzwell Grumm commercial district (H1) Gunsmith/mechanic; repairs anything non-electronic, faster and more reliably than Perko. Taking goods from his shop ends the relationship

1.13 changes for Skyrider: the helicopter is considerably more configurable in 1.13. Among other things, Ja2_Options.INI adds hot-LZ drops (ALLOW_SKYRIDER_HOT_LZ, values 0–3: from vanilla "no drops in enemy sectors" up to dropping your mercs at a spot you choose), payment on safe landing (HELICOPTER_PAY_SKYRIDER_IN_BASE), an optional fuel system, and a refusal to fly when seriously damaged. See the options tour.

Shopkeepers at a glance

Full shop and quest detail lives in the town walkthroughs and the side quests page; this is just the directory. Per the Jagged Alliance Wiki's character index:

Town Shopkeeper Trade
San Mona Tony Firearms and weapons (the famous gun dealer)
San Mona Frank; Alberto & Carlos Santos Alcohol
Drassen Herve & Peter Santos Alcohol
Cambria Keith Hemps General goods
Balime Howard Filmore Pharmacy
Balime Franz Hinkle Electronics
Balime Sam Rozen Hardware
Balime Dave Gerard Gas station
Grumm Sammy "Charlie" Elgin (later Manny Santos) Alcohol
Estoni Jake Cameron Junk dealer; fuel after Shank's introduction
Roaming Devin Connell Explosives (until recruited)
Roaming Micky O'Brien Buys bloodcat parts

1.13 recruitment options

1.13 externalizes most of the hard-coded vanilla behavior above into Data-1.13\Ja2_Options.INI. Highlights from the current release:

Multiple IMP mercs

Vanilla JA2 gives you a single IMP character. 1.13 supports creating several: each profile costs IMP_PROFILE_COST (default 3000) dollars, and with DYNAMIC_IMP_PROFILE_COST = TRUE each additional IMP costs progressively more. In current builds the number of available IMP slots is no longer an INI setting — any slot in MercProfiles.xml with <Type>6</Type> is an IMP slot, and mods can add more (see externalization). Historic note: the old r7609 release had a "Max IMP Characters" (1–10) option on the New Game screen, which was removed around r8622.

The whole IMP creation process is also tunable — total attribute points (IMP_INITIAL_POINTS), attribute caps, bonus points for disabilities and unused skill traits, and more. See new game options and first steps for building a good IMP.

Merc backgrounds

With ENABLE_BACKGROUNDS = TRUE (the default), mercs have backgrounds that "can add a range of bonuses, penalties, abilities and more" — some cosmetic, some that matter for other 1.13 features. During IMP creation you pick a background yourself; ALTERNATIVE_IMP_CREATION filters the choices so they can't contradict your chosen skills/traits/disabilities, and REDUCED_IMP_CREATION narrows the list to a small essential set. Backgrounds are defined in Data-1.13\TableData\Backgrounds.xml.

More people to hire

Straight from the current Ja2_Options.INI:

RECRUITABLE_SPECK = TRUE
RECRUITABLE_JOHN_KULBA = TRUE
RECRUITABLE_JOHN_KULBA_DELAY = 14
RECRUITABLE_JA1_NATIVES = TRUE
EARLY_REBELS_RECRUITMENT = 3
  • Speck (the MERC webmaster) can be hired from his own website.
  • John Kulba — from the "escort tourists" quest — appears on the MERC site as a hireable merc some days after you finish the quest.
  • The JA1 native guides appear on the MERC website.
  • EARLY_REBELS_RECRUITMENT controls when Miguel and Carlos can join: 1 = immediately after liberating Omerta, 2 = after 1–3 towns (as set in the RPCs' .npc files), 3 = vanilla behavior, 4 = after Omerta is liberated and the food quest is solved.

And one 1.13 recruit that isn't an INI switch: Mike, the elite ex-AIM merc working for Deidranna. Once campaign progress passes GAME_PROGRESS_MIKE_AVAILABLE (default 50), the next elite soldier you fight in a defended sector is spawned as Mike — this happens once per campaign, so where you meet him depends on your route (community lore says "the third SAM site", but the code just picks the next eligible garrison battle). He can be recruited in 1.13 according to the Jagged Alliance Wiki — beat him down to Critical status, then talk to him with a very high-leadership character such as Miguel.

There are many more recruitment-related settings (merc availability, salaries, contract behavior) in the same file — the Ja2_Options.INI tour covers the file section by section.

Sources