The More Economic Recruiting Center (M.E.R.C.), A.I.M.'s bargain-basement competitor, is introduced in Jagged Alliance 2. It was founded by Speck T. Kline and Biff Apscott, both former A.I.M. operatives.
Description[]
Personnel initially offered by Speck are very cheap, but consisting of mainly amateurs and criminals with little to no combat-experience and varied skills. As the roster expands, so does the average skill of the mercenaries available. While most of the M.E.R.C. roster makes for poor soldiers in the short term, their low rates can make them very cost-efficient as they improve - Providing you can keep them alive for long enough. At least three mercenaries from M.E.R.C. are worth taking for their learning potential.
M.E.R.C. mercs work strictly under daily rates, with no discounts or options for long-term deals available. As Speck will tell you, however, payment is not required upfront, nor is it requierd to be paid by the day, but instead accrues on your M.E.R.C. account, to be paid when you are ready to pay. While Speck won't press the commander for their wages, he will eventually bring it up if enough time has passed. If a week passes without pay, the player will receive an email reminding them of their outstanding balance, and if several more days pass after that, the mercenaries themselves will voice their concerns, having been contacted by Speck. Any longer than that, and they will simply quit.
At the beginning, your choice consists of 6 mercenaries. Speck will expand the roster over time if you make use of (and pay for in a timely manner) M.E.R.C.'s services. As more money is paid to M.E.R.C., Speck will bring aboard more and better mercenaries to expand the roster. If you never make use of M.E.R.C., however, the roster will remain the same for the duration of the game, and Speck will complain about funds being worryingly low and eventually will dissolve M.E.R.C. due to lack of funds.
M.E.R.C. is disbanded by the time Jagged Alliance: Crossfire takes place, though several former M.E.R.C. mercenaries will be found in A.I.M.'s employ, having undergone extensive retraining to become properly able mercenaries.
List of operatives[]
Jagged Alliance 2[]
- Biff Apscott
- Frankie "Haywire" Gordon
- Doug "Gasket" Milton
- Bill "Razor" Lamont
- Florence "Flo" Gabriel
- Tim "Gumpy" Hillman
- Thorton "Bubba" Jones (after at least day 8 and spending a minimum of 5,000$)
- Larry Roachburn (after at least day 15 and spending a minimum of 10,000$)
- Tim "Numb" Sutton (after at least day 20 and spending a minimum of 15,000$)
- Jim "Cougar" Wallace (after at least day 25 and spending a minimum of 20,000$)
Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business[]
Unfinished Business adds two new mercenaries:
Jagged Alliance 2: Wildfire[]
In Wildfire most mercenaries from Jagged Alliance 2 have returned, however some A.I.M. mercenaries have been replaced by new ones. The replaced ones either died, resigned or moved to M.E.R.C. (notably Blood, Hitman, Scope and Stephan).
Notes[]
- M.E.R.C. is a parody on start-up businesses, especially those founded by tech people. They suck up to their clients (or rather, their only client, you) and their website bears typical traits of amateur web pages of the 90's, with poor design, technical problems, the owner boasting about minor improvements and themselves and using "fancy" tricks (Javascript was all-new back then) without regard to user experience. M.E.R.C.'s site design is a laughingly poor imitation of the old A.I.M. site from JA1.
- The mercenaries worth hiring are: Flo (due to learning potential, training skill and bonuses to buying and selling stuff), Gumpy (learning potential and Explosives skill), and Gasket (for his Mechanic skill and possibility to improve Marksmanship). Biff is only useful for boosting Flo's Morale, training militia, and as a pack mule.
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