Militia

Militia are units in Jagged Alliance 2 trainable by player’s mercenaries in most towns and at every S.A.M. site to defend the captured sector from enemy counter-attacks. They consist of the local townspeople of Arulco, who are given basic training and equipment before being assigned to a sector.

Each sector may station up to 20 militia troopers. Apart from providing defense to a sector, the presence of militia also raises loyalty in the town they’re stationed at, depending on their number and proficiency, and provides some limited intelligence information, allowing a player to see the exact number of enemy soldiers located in sectors adjacent to the one guarded by militia. Militia troopers can be both male and female.

Training

Several requirements are to be met in order to train militia:

• Loyalty in the town must be 20% or above (shown in green font on the tactical map).
• An amount of $750 must be paid for each training session.
• The trainer mercenary must have a leadership skill greater than 0.
  • v1.13 a trainer mercenary must have a leadership of greater than 20

Training militia takes time and tires a mercenary, just like any other activity (repairs, etc.). The speed at which a training session is completed depends on the trainer mercenary’s leadership skill (which also develops in process), and how long the trainer is able to stay awake. The “Training” skill also speeds up the session. In order to make training even faster, two mercenaries can be assigned to train militia in one sector at once.

When a training session has been finished, up to 10 rookie-level militia troops will appear in the sector they were being trained in. If a maximum of 20 militia troops per sector has been reached, troops will be deployed to another sector of the same town. Having achieved the maximum number of militia, further training sessions will upgrade 10 rookies into regular militia troops. When all troops are upgraded to regular militia, no further training can be done.

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.

Types of militia

There are three types of militia in the game, different in their combat skills.

• Rookie militia troopers wear green colors and possess minimal combat training, which makes them into cannon fodder. Considerable advantage in numbers over the attacking enemy force is the only way for a rookie militia garrison to achieve a victorious outcome. Their equipment is usually inferior.
• Regular militia wear light blue colors and are better trained and equipped than rookies. They are roughly equivalent to the enemy regular troops, in terms of skill and equipment. Regular militia may be trained from rookies; a rookie militia troop that has performed well in battle and survived also has a chance to get enough experience to be upgraded without additional training.
• Veteran militia troopers cannot be trained and are only obtained when a regular militia unit survives in battle and gets enough experience, though sometimes lucky Rookie militias may get promoted to Veteran. They are recognizable by dark blue clothing and usually have the best equipment and better combat skills than a regular enemy soldier (though they still aren’t as good as the enemy Elite forces). Veterans aren’t as numerous as other militia troops and it is often reasonable to move them away from a sector which is about to be attacked to preserve them (unless that sector has a high importance and is threatened by a significant enemy force).

Control

The player is given minimal control over militia, apart from actually training them. Militia cannot be used to attack adjacent sectors, even when they are located in the same town. Militia troopers can, nevertheless, be moved between those sectors of a town, which are under player’s control. Player also does not affect their equipment, though in combat a militia man may pick up something lying on the ground. In battle, control over militia is given to CPU.

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 an attack on a sector of town is expected, it is a good idea to redeploy the town’s militia. The number and experience of the defending garrison depends on the size of incoming force – in some cases it is better not to risk veterans, for instance, and redeploy them to another sector, letting more regular militia troopers take their place, since light blue militia is easier to restore and may provide additional veterans after the battle.
• In combat or before an attack, a player might consider placing excess weapons, ammo and armor on the ground in sector, so that CPU-controlled militia could pick it up before engaging in battle. This can be counter productive as well, since militias may pick up weapons and armor on the ground, so collect what you want before the battle start. Items picked up by militia may be lost forever, since it only be dropped again if the militia is killed.
• While it is not possible to give orders to militias, you can 'move' militias around by using the displace function, by pressing X on the militia with a selected merc on the adjacent square.
• WMilitia are automatically given first aid once a battle is finished. The exception to this are dying militia, and these must be tended to manually, or else they will expire. Militia also do not tend to each other's wounds in battle, and wounds they sustain will be left to bleed until the battle is finished - if you think a particular militia would be better served patched up rather than bleeding out, you will have to do it yourself. Unfortunately militia are generally unwilling to sit still and let themselves be given first aid.
• When preparing to defend against an attack, position the mercs you have in the sector strategically, so that they might flank the bulk of enemy squad while it’s engaged in head-on battle with the militia.
• The equipments used by militias are determined the similar way as the equipments by enemies, and depends on the progress you make through the game and the militia's rank. Higher ranked militias tend to spawn with better equipments.
• 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 reoeated 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.