Militia

Militia are the townspeople of Alruco organized into an armed, irregular force of fighters to defend towns and

The people of Alruco have had enough!

installations the player liberates in Jagged Alliance 2.

Militia are armed in a variety of ways from pistols and revolvers to rifles and SMGs. Some militia also have grenades and knives.

Training

Militiamen can be raised in towns and SAM sites by having a mercenary assigned to training> militia on the map screen. They cost $750 per training session and the trainer merc must have a leadership stat greater than zero. Up to two mercs may train Militia in the same sector. Training generally takes a day or two per session depending on leadership. Militia can only be trained if the town’s loyally is 20% or higher.

High leadership and the teaching skill accelerates the militia training. One session of training results in ten Rookie Militia. Continuing training after the town reaches its maximum of 20 Militia will upgrade the Militia from Rookie to Regular. Once the town reaches 20 Regular Militia, no more training can take place.

Militia cause any enemy troops that enter sectors adjacent to the town they are in to appear on the map. They also raise loyally in the town.

The equation for Training Militia is:

(LDR + WIS + (LVL * 10)) / 2.5, rounded to nearest integer, for Teaching add 30% (times 1.3) before rounding, for Teaching Expert add 60% (times 1.6) before rounding.

Militia Combat

Militia will enter combat whenever an enemy force attempts to invade the sector.

Auto Combat

A typical autobattle.

If your mercs are not in the sector the battle will be decided with auto combat. Both the enemy and militia will appear as a series of mugshots and the battle will be simulated with the mugshot’s health dropping as the battle continues. There is no way to influence this battle.

Battle

If mercs are in the sector when it is attacked, the game will zoom down to the sector for the battle like any other battle, except, of course, the addition of the massive force of militia on the field. The militia will be computer controlled, but the player is free to move their own mercs. This can be a great opportunity to collect a lot of loot as both slain militiamen and killed enemies will drop plenty of ammo and other items.

Militia Ai in general isn’t bad, but they routinely make stupid decisions like charging at enemies across open ground to get blown away and engaging targets they have no hope of defeating. They do move away from Teargas Grenades however and since there are so many Militia they usually wear down enemies through numbers.

Rookie Militia AI is noticeably stupider than other militia, since they are Rookies with no combat experience. They often run around aimlessly or suicidaly charge the enemy.

Healing Militia

Militia do not heal each other during battle. After an auto battle any surviving militia are healed, but if your mercs are personally involved in a battle, no militia are healed. Wounded militia will bleed until they die and dying ones will be worm food soon enough. If you have a medic in the sector you can bandage up dying militia and heal bleeding ones, if you travel away from a sector the militia will be tended to after you leave.

Militia improvement

Militia come in three competency levels. The militia's clothing, mug shots and square representing them on the map will change colours to signify this.

Rookie (Green): The starting rank for newly raised militia. They wield pistols and sometimes weaker SMGs. Poor combat skills. Often make very poor tactical decisions in battle and die easily. Don’t use grenades. Rookie Militia can be promoted to Regular Militia if they gain enough experience or training.

Regular (Blue): Can be reached with merc training. Slightly better weapons, often have rifles and SMGs. A few unlucky regulars only have sidearms. Almost never use grenades. Noticeably tougher to kill than rookies and with smarter AI.

Veteran (Dark Blue): This rank can only be reached if Militia gain enough combat experience. Use very good weapons often top tier stuff, like powerful rifles. Tough hombres in a fight. Use grenades sometimes.

Tactics with Militia

Though no direct control over Militia is available, there are several ways to affect their performance.

• The combat effectiveness of militias is strongly affected by the difficulty setting. In Novice difficulty, a sector full of regular militia is pretty much impenetrable. This isn't the case with Experienced or Expert difficulty where it is possible for 20 regular militias to lose a battle.
• When preparing to defend against an attack, position the mercs you have in the sector strategically, so that they might flank the bulk of the enemy troops while they are engaged in head-on battle with the militia.
• Auto-combat mode leaves the militia very little chance against an attack by the Crepitus, since they can't use automatic fire - this happens due to the way a battle is processed in auto-combat mode. Having a merc or two stationed at a sector not only allows the player to take part in fighting the attacking Crepitus force, but also greatly increases the efficiency of militia troopers during combat, as sustained automatic fire is one of the most effective ways of combating the Crepitus.

v1.13

The v1.13 mod significantly expands upon militia in both their use in tactical battles and the strategic map. Among the changes are options to command militia in combat, reinforce sectors being attacked by enemy forces, calling in reinforcements when attacking a town sector occupied by the enemy, and the option to train Mobile Militia squads to move along roads and fight enemy patrols.

• In tactical battles, a mercenary who can see a militia can issue one of several orders to that militia. These include Attack (default militia behavior), Come To Me (brings the militia to the merc), Spread Out (causes the militia to scatter) Hold Position (remain in place) and Take Cover (find a defensive position instead of attacking). Mercenaries with Extended Ears can issue orders to all militia on the map at once. Commanding militia will train Leadership.
• Militia will automatically reinforce adjacent town sectors when they are attacked, enabling them to beat back all but the most extremely determined and well-armed attacks if the adjacent sectors are well-garrisoned, though repeated attacks can wear the militia down if they are not retrained. Up to 80 militia can engage in combat at once.
• When attacking a town sector adjacent to a sector garrisoned by militia, reinforcements can be called in. They appear on the map edge approaching from the same direction as the adjacent sector. Up to twenty militia can assist in combat by default, with priority being placed on calling in veteran units over regular and regular over green. Militia reinforcements default to attack behavior and will aggressively seek out and eliminate enemy soldiers.
• Mobile militia can be trained by a mercenary with high enough Leadership (default required skill is 60). Mobile militia cost significantly more than town militia (default cost is $2250) but spawn as veterans. Mobile militia will move through the areas immediately around any town you completely control and any roads connecting these towns, as well as San Mona and SAM sites. The strategic map includes a special tab that allows the player to control where the mobile militia can go. Sectors marked as green are open to the militia to enter and move back and forth at will. Sectors marked yellow are accessible to the militia, but once they enter the sector they will hold position and defend it; this is useful for holding strategic crossroads to make foot and vehicle travel easier. Red sectors are forbidden for the mobile militia to enter, useful for keeping them from dithering about in sectors of little value. Town sectors are by default marked red, as mobile militia who enter a town sector or SAM site will not leave it and will permenantly reinforce the garrison there.
• Militia will now, by default, drop any equipment they picked up in combat. Militia who are injured and being treated by your medics will also hold still until bandaged. Using the Come To Me order followed by a Hold Position order will help keep them in place until the medic can get to them.

v1.13 Tactics

• Using the Come To Me and Hold Position or Take Cover orders on veteran militia is a good way to get them to a solid defensive postion. "Pulling" veterans with longarms onto rooftops and ordering them to hold position will make effective sniper posts. One can also order militia to take cover inside buildings in this way.
• The Come To Me command, coupled with a Hold Position order, can make for a good "bodyguard" for injured mercs, snipers or anyone else who needs a gun hand close by. The militia will remain in place and open fire on any enemy that comes close to the merc, though will need to be ordered to keep up if the merc moves.
• Spread Out is a good way to break up the "clumps" that militia form when they gang up on individual targets. It also works well when hunting down the last few enemy troops on a map.
• A general Come To Me order while in real-time movement can create what amounts to a flash-mob of angry, gun-toting Arulcan militia surrounding the merc in question and spoiling for a fight. This works well if you're trying to concentrate the militia on a single target, or if the militia start wandering away.
• Militia reinforcements can make for a good distraction if you call them from an adjacent sector that is different from the one you are attacking from. While the militia charge in and engage the enemy, your mercs can move about relatively safely and get into position to hit the enemy from their flanks or infiltrate buildings while the defenders are drawn away by the tidal wave of angry Alrucan citizenry. Keep in mind that militia will set off alerts on maps where the enemy is programmed to throw switches to trigger explosives or gas, so using them is inadvisable inside places like Alma where the guards will gas the prison containing your captured mercs or blow up the rocket rifle cache in their headquarters.