The only thing missing is the fact being Afrikaner and in Grand Chien is going to have him be smug about coming here and thus butts heads with the local population.

Can you please make IMP version?

Update:

- No more perk icon duplication on mod reloads
- Moved the needed pics/icons to the UI folder to eliminate some warnings

https://discord.com/channels/700297743490351184/1129068732992458792/1183146090321690624

I'm there what's yur handle? also key?

Orient 100% at vanilla. It is the basis for everything and still better balanced than most mods. Other mods should patch to make yur mercs (fit) honestly.

Yeah, who doesn't like his Commando style from time to time? :)

Actually, the JA3 Discord is a nice place to discuss topics, you could check it out (if not already).

Very nice thoughts. It'd would be awesome if we'd had a place where we could post pics (of possible builds) - to not only critisize but maybe even add positive ideas. I get the marksman/doc idea in Cliff, lemme think about it...

Btw you forgot AR friendly playstyles (like mine) who like to do everything with MGs, MPs and everything that makes ratatatat like in a overboard 80s action movie

... and there are different playstyles :)
- some would go the always headshot route and any perk that takes more than 1 turn to kill Faucheux and his 30 bodyguards is luckluster. So even if you add Bleeding/Knock Down/Voodoo Curse etc status effects this is not interesting for this playstile. This might be/might not be fun for all.
- Others like the stealthy approach, silently taking out the whole camp - so certain perks are not even getting playtime for this
- Again others compare everything to Barry's shaped charges ...

Just some of my thoughts on balancing ...

Some other thoughts on Cliff: his Agility and Dex are relatively low, that hinders his AP and shooting potential, so his perks would work ok. So he needs to plan ahead, sacrifice some APs in a given turn to realize a much bigger potential next turn with the golden perk. The grit on bandage, while golden, I don't think matter that much, if you are relying on grit from bandaging in a battle, well, this is not going to change that much in the grand picture.
In Vanilla, it is too easy to level up Agility/Dex or anything really with training, and *BAM* you've got yourself an overpowered build. But there are other mercs with similar or bigger potential in Vanilla already, some already from Level 1. Secondly, while I've enjoyed my walkthrough with Vanilla, next time I'd like to limit the training possiblities/speed for myself, because it potentially quite quickly ruins the differences between mercs.

Balancing is anyway a fine art, and even with best intentions, it's very easy to go off - not to mention it is almost virtually impossible the get it perfectly right across different difficulties AND potential mods.
You might just take Vanilla as basis, but considering that JA3 is luckily very mod friendly, there are limitless possibilites in the end. And some mods are almost mandatory, or just plain too much fun to exclude, which in retrospect might heavily influence the power level of a perk. So which audience should you try to please?
Hence, I am trying to keep an open mindset, take current stuff (Vanilla+mods) as baseline as much as I can, and also rely on player feedback.

Hey, no offense taken, actually I welcome cultured challenges: "I see you are a man of culture! :)

I am aware of such nuances, don't worry. As I wrote before, here it was intentional, because:
1) Didn't want to add Cliff any non-canon perk (Stealthy, Night-Ops), etc. - simply because his Ja2 perks are non existant. Hence I took a "lesser evil" route and deliberately broke the rule for Golden Perks.
2) Still, Cliff needed to fill a specific role of being an Elite Doctor/Marksman
There is always a theme with a merc, that should also fit the character. Here with Cliff I've gone with the sharpshooter doc who can shoot so precisily, that if he hits some vital parts/organs, you are dead. If not outright, you'll bleed to death.

I might have gone slightly overboard here, no denying - as I am also doing much more modding then actual playing. My approach here was to start high, and lower based on feedback, which I welcome.

I am also ok discussing here, hope it does not bore the general audience ;)
But I am also ok via private chat, no prob.

I have done a bit of work around (AIM merc) builds for my two mods Only 2 Perks To Top and Starting Mercs Done Right! (Which Im just reworking). Therefore starting perk composition, its pros and cons and handling the overall balance is kinda ma thing. Sry if Im a bit ott on this. But I don't need actual playthru exp to see that your builds are in many cases op (the urge for which I can understand). Happy to join the discussion, is this the right place? For now just this: All Vanilla mercs have at least 2 Perks in the respective tree if they have a Gold perk and only 2 Mercs have a perk that they don't have the skillstat for: Len (LightningR with Agi78) and Red (Breach&Clear w Str68) - each being 2 points short. So Cliffs 3 Goldperks w/o stats or required perks is just way outta line. Fact. (Sry bro;)

Update:
- Modified Cliff's perk: it now has 15°% bonus chance for Criticals hits, and causes Bleeding only on Critical hits

Again, feedback is welcome (actual playthrough)

@Jagr: I like your passion, that's cool. If you are interested, there has been discussions about the build in this thread, I literally started with it, and several other posts.
Just to summarize, I was/am looking for actual playthrough feedback.
Nevertheless, I believe I will do what I proposed to hopefully better balance it - again, feedback will be welcome (actual playthrough).

Models & pictures r top notch rly. With the builds idk ... need some work.

I love his face'n everything, great to see Cliff back, but, dude, did you rly give him 3 level 3 gold perks from the start (Calm Under Fire, +50%Crit and the *Give grit while bandage*-perk) without him having either the necessary number of perks in that tree nor the overall stat to get'em?
Bruh, that is so monster imba, especially with his very strong special ab. Not even the top A.I.M. mercs are build like this! I have to look at yur other mercs, the looks are nice and so on, but u might need some help regarding the builds...

Small update: -improved head to body ratio in body picture

@skunow: Currently I don't know how to (gracefully) add these relationships to existing mercs, as soon as there is modding support for it, I will add

@feanture: Fair comment, let me see how easily I can change it

Head to body is 1 to 8 in standard height. 1 to 9 - tall, heroic type. In this this case it is 1 to 7. Consider to fix proportions. Head is to big on full body portrait.

Blood really disliked him in JA2

Well, that display is coming from the all nationalities mod

This could be sufficient.

I had no idea that Cliff is from South Africa. And this is very trivial, but can you please add a space in between "South" and "Africa"?

Thanks for your thoughts. I am on the fence here - thinking almost exactly along the lines how both of you are thinking, hence requested actual playthrough feedback.
Nevertheless, if a nerf will be needed, I am also thinking along the lines of lowering the critical hit % bonus (to 15% maybe) and then applying bleeding on critical hits only.

"Anatomical Precision" is defnitively too much but there is also another problem. The synergie between "Calm Under Fire" and Cliffs bleed-talent is imo OP. In every second round i can shoot enemies at least twice (if not more often) and ALWAYS give them bleed. Either you balance this by bleeding only on crit which is still quite strong or you make him way more expansive (like 23-27k)

I'm sure it's fine, especially considering that he has horrible agility and dexterity, aside from being expensive. Otherwise, I won't be tempted at all to hire him, and would instead just hire Dr. Q or Thor. After all, it's easy to increase marksmanship. These perks somehow compensate his stats.

@Briggadoon: Thanks. Don't worry, it's not asking too much - however I also like a balanced campaign. As I wrote, I gave Cliff the 3 Gold skill perks to compansate for the lack of any other significant character quirk/perks. Nevertheless, it might prove to be too much, especially with his personal +20 Crit chance/ bleeding. That is why I need all your actual playtesting feedback - so if you tell be that Cliff is the new terror from South Africa and mowes down the Legion as a Superman, I will weaken his perks.
(I feel two of the golden perks are not gamebreaking, but the +50 crit damage coupled with his personal perk might be - please give feedback)

Hey key,
great mod. Is it possible to make a version of this mod where Cliff got only perks the vanilla game would allow (for example 2 bronze; 1 silver). He seems quite OP with the 3 gold perks and i really want him in my team but i also want a balanced campaign. Thanks and i am sorry if i asked too much.

Thanks!
@ Ciaran_S: Yes, so actually I was experimenting a bit more with his previous pictures I made after your comments, and then couldn't stop :) Hope you'll like it.

very nice, thank you

Bloody impressive! *clap*

Nice, you actually made Cliff availble for JA 3. He was usually on my midgame roster in JA 2.

Some thoughts:
- As I like to keep to original JA2 stats/data, Cliff is pretty straigthforward: he has no personal friends/dislikes, and no special skills from JA2.
This also made it a challenge, because Cliff is to fill the role of an Elite doctor/marksman, and it would feel pretty lucklustre compared to others mercs.
So I did break the JA3 skill perk rules a bit, and gave him 3 gold perks, one of which synergizes with his personal perk. So now he should be a formidable Elite level marksman/doctor as intended.
- He has an amazing South African accent - which is beyond the current AI voice syntesis tool capabilities/my capabilities with them. So besides some sound editing, it's only stock JA2 voices this time.