As an old-school Jagged Alliance 2 player I found Rage! to be a nice little game reminding of Ja2: Unfinished Business. I'd call it UB with stealth.

This article is merely an English translation of my original guide. If you find grammatical or factual errors, please inform me in the comment section.

Note on healing. There are five health problems your mercs can possibly face:

• Health (hit points) loss, caused by direct damage like bullet hits, explosions, etc. Treat with first-aid kits while in combat and surgical kits when resting. Generally speaking, you can have a medic in your team (Dr. Q. Huaong) for unlimited heals during the rest or rely on surgical kits. Any mercenary can consume one for a full heal. Surgical kits are fairly common.
  
• Bleeding - random bleeding wounds as a possible side effect of direct damage. Treat with bandages.
  
• Shrapnel - random srapnel wounds as a possible side effect of direct damage. Treat with a surgical kit or a knife. The latter causes immunity loss.
  
• Fever - side effect of immunity loss, caused by thirst and (or) drinking dirty water. To get rid of fever you'll need to rest, while keeping hydration level above 6 and immunity level above 50. Antibiotics can be consumed to restore lost immunity points.
  
• Bliss effect. Bliss is a local drug, used in combat. Bliss shots (syringes) give rage points, but may cause a bliss addiction. This gives you debuffs that pass over time. Bliss grenades cause a temporal loss of control over a merc.

Note on mechanics. You can either have a mechanic (Victoria "Vicki") in your team for unlimited repairs or rely on found weapon and armor parts (goes from rare to often find over the course of the game). During the resting stage any mercenary can use one weapon part to repair all their inventory, so you may put all your squad's guns into one merc's pocket. At the beginning of the game, when you don't have weapon upgrades installed, it is cheaper to throw broken guns away.

Any merc can use weapon/armor parts during the resting stage to craft a random weapon upgrade. But only Victoria aka "Vicki" can use armor parts to craft random armor upgrades.

• The game starts with 2 mercs available for hire.
  
• At the beginning of the second phase (one-third into the game) Fidel Dahan can join your team. See location Jungle.
  
• At the end of the second phase (two-thirds into the game) you can hire one more mercenary. See location Radio tower.

All mercenaries can be divided into three unofficial cathegories: assault, support and specialists.

Assault shines with heavy automatic weapons and explosives. The group includes Ivan Dolvich, Helmut "Grunty" Grunter and Fidel Dahan.

Supports provide additional abilities when resting or during a fight. Here we have Dr. Q. Huaong as the Medic and Victoria "Vicki" Waters as the Mechanic.

Specialists are built around unique combat skills. Kyle "Shadow" Simmons is the Stealthy Guy and Charlene "Raven" Higgens is the Sniper.

It's all fun and games assembling a team of your own preference. But for your first playthrough I recommend hiring at least one mercenary from each group.


Ivan Dolvich
Pros: Huge inventory, skilled with automatic weapons.

Cons: Alcoholism - requires alcohol to drink, otherwise suffers a set of debuffs.
Alcohol can be found literally everywhere, to the point of becoming a more frequent find than clean water.
Wounded knees - receives 1 hp of damage jumping from a 2-tile height. Just be careful about his route.
High visibility - the only real problem. Make him go prone or hide his body behind a corner. This doesn't affect stealth kills.

Rage ability: Focuses enemy agression on himself. Normally this happens anyways, so increased aggro is hardly useful. But keeping his rage bar full grants Ivan endurance bonus and additional action points, which is very handy.

Helmut "Grunty" Grunter
Pros: Skilled with machineguns, doesn't require a night vision device to see in the dark.

Cons: Less health than Ivan. Penalty for shooting in a single-shot mode is forgivable, as Helmut is competent enough with full-auto.

Rage ability: Generally useful.




Fidel Dahan
Pros: Skilled with automatic weapons. During the rest Fidel is able to craft explosive devices, requiring one weapon part and one grenade. Has a bonus to grenade throwing accuracy.

Cons: Nothing to worry about.

Rage ability: Spray and pray! Somewhat useful when the enemies swarm you, but that's about it.





Dr. Q. Huaong
Pros: The Medic, has a built-in infinite-use surgical kit to heal his allies during the resting phase (see Note on healing above). Doesn't require a night vision device to see in the dark. Hand-to-hand combat ability can be somewhat useful early into the game, but it doesn't affect stealth kills.

Cons: Bad shooter - receives an accuracy debuff when shooting. Not a problem if you arm him with a precise weapon such as sniper rifle or the crossbow.
Sidenote: Q is very good with the crossbow, acting as a silent long arm for your team.

Rage ability 1: Restore half the action points on himself. Fairly useful to squeeze in an additional shot.
Rage ability 2: Heal an ally (not self) for 2 hit points. Pretty useless.

Victoria "Vicki" Waters
Pros: The Mechanic, see Note on mechanics above. Has a built-in multitool for lockpicking and cutting through fences. During the resting phase fixes her and her allies weapons and
armor for free. Able to create random armor upgrades from armor parts.

Cons: Claustrophobic, looses accuracy when standing inside. Effective after crossing the doorstep. Save for the last level of the game (located underground), Vicki can easily avoid indoor positions.





Kyle "Shadow" Simmons
Pros: Stealth master. The best at cloaking. Stealth kills are completely silent. Performs an automatic stealth kill if an enemy approaches his hideout regardless of action points count. Able to throw knives, providing the only alternative to the crossbow in terms of ranged stealth attacks.

Cons: Weak immune system - requires antibiotics to support Immunity level.

Rage ability: Teleportation through enemy sightlines. Insane for stealth missions.


Charlene "Raven" Higgens
Pros: High accuracy for sniper rifles. Doesn't require a night vision device to see in the dark.

Cons: Looses morale upon witnessing civilian casualities. The game has only one place in which this trait comes into play unavoidably.

Rage ability: A shot that ignores all armor. For the fattest targets.

The game has no shops or traders, so there is absolutely no need to stock up on items. Take whatever you need, but nothing extra.


Rubberduck
Carry it to the endgame and receive an achievement (see Achievements - Way of the rubberduck). Otherwise it's completely useless.
The game has convoys in it too, so I deduce the whole thing may be a reference to the Kristoffer Kristofferson's movie "Convoy".

Utensils (Fork, Spoon, Frying Pan, Rolling Pin)
Melee weapons. Bad melee weapons. See Achievements, the game has two utensil-related badges.
Shortly put: you need to find and collect four types of utensil and use it to kill (finish off) an enemy.


Clean bandage, Dirty bandage
Stops bleeding. Early into the game dirty bandages can be combined with alcohol to produce clean ones, but later on clean bandages become too common to bother.

First-aid kit
For healing in combat, restores 3 hit points. Becomes useful in the third phase, when supersoldiers come.
The last stand at the Elliot's hideout deserves a special mention here.

Surgical kit
For healing during the rest. Every mercenary can completely heal himself in one "turn". Doc Q has an infinite surgical kit.


Adrenaline syringe / Bliss syringe
Immediately gives mercenary one point of rage. Adrenaline shots become common in the second phase, so don't bother with Bliss. One shot won't harm tho.

Antibiotics
Used to restore immunity level. Required for Kyle aka "Shadow" due to low immunity level, but you don't need to waste more than one inventory slot. Other mercs don't really need it under normal circumstances.


Alcohol
Can be used as a substitute for water. Ivan requires a bottle from time to time. Can be looted at every stage of the game.


Clean water, Dirty water
Clean water can be scarce at first, but after capturing Water reservoir (see Locations), it stops being a problem. Two bottles per mercenary is usually enough.



Weapon parts
Used to repair weapons during the resting stage. A mercenary repairs all their inventory with one weapon part, so you can put all your squad's guns into one merc's pocket. Weapon parts can be found in crates on enemy bases and looted from "black mercs" and supersoldiers.
You can use one weapon part to create a random weapon upgrade. Savescumming is possible here, but the game gets pretty generous with them on later stages.
Fidel is able to combine grenades and weapon parts to produce explosive devices.

Armor parts
Used to repair armor during the resting stage. See weapon parts above.
Victoria "Vicki" is able to use weapon parts to create random armor upgrades.

Crossbow / Crossbow bolts
The only crossbow in the game can be picked up from the Crash site. Upgradable with a sniper scope. Doesn't break. Crossbow bolts can only be found during the first part of the game, and completely disappear after some point. Be sure to always remove bolts from dead bodies (bolts never break, too). Crossbow is your first and the most reliable source of ranged damage for stealth missions.

Glass shard, Combat knife
Useless in actual combat, as stealth kills are always bare-handed. A theoretical non-stealth knife fight is just as impractical as it sounds. During the rest a knife can be used to heal sharpnel wounds.
Kyle "Shadow" can throw knives with great accuracy, allowing for ranged stealth kills. During the third phase of the game knives become a very rare find, so collect them while you can.

Grenades
A powerful weapon, even more so during the first phases. A throw takes only 4 action points and can be done from the cover and doesn't reveal your position. You can "stealthly" throw grenades while hiding in a bush. Good to have in any merc's inventory.

Explosive device
A radio detonated bomb. Cannot be picked up after activation. Goes well for levels with known enemy spawns and narrow paths. Fidel can craft it using one weapon part and one grenade.

Land mine
Explodes when an enemy steps on it. Can be found during the first half of the game, later disappear completely. Enemy troops never use them and have no minefields.



Night vision goggles
Removes night time accuracy debuff. Conflicts with a helmet (uses the same slot).



Gas mask
Conflicts with a helmet. Basically useless, as I have found only one map where the enemies may try to use gas against you.


Multitool
Allows to cut through fences and break locked doors. A useful item to have for the whole duration of the game. Victoria "Vicki" has a built-in multitool.


Holsters, backpacks, etc.
Increase armor and add more inventory slots. Can be found everywhere, never break.

The game divides all its levels into three "phases". Locations from the first phase (marked with white) are generally straightforward and simple. At the same time your options are very limited and there is not much you can do in terms of strategy. So don't expect anything groundbreaking in this section. Tho I firmly suggest you to follow the same map order as presented here.


Transitions between neighbouring locations and the resting cycle take one hour of in-game time. The night starts at 18:00 and ends at 6:00.

Sewer exit
Your first "real" map, containing a bunch of clueless enemies. After you kill everyone, a new squad will emerge from the sewer. You can either fight back or leave the map.

Clearing
A tiny piece of jungle just enough for you to talk to the NPC.

School
Kill the soldiers and talk to Veronique. This gives you two new points on the strategic map: Crash site and Military camp.

Crash site
Here you can pick up the only crossbow in the game.

Military camp
When attacked through the main gates, enemy soldiers will try to get on you from behind, descending from the water tower ladder.



Plantation
Spacious, yet simple level. Most enemies stay in one place and don't patrol around, allowing for stealth takedowns. The crossbow is especially useful. Hide in the labyrinth and move to the watchtower.



Next you have a small indoors area behind the fence.



From there move on to the gates for the final standoff.




Bridge
Witness the execution and wait for soldiers to start looting the bodies. Circle around the hut and quietly dispatch both from behind.



A few turns later a squad of black mers enters the area. They see dead civilians and confront the bridge brigade command over radio. I tried hiding the bodies beforehand, but the script works anyways. Kill the black mercs and continue alongside the bridge.



If you fail a stealth run, a new squad of soldiers will enter the map from the same spawnpoint. I do believe stealth is impossible without Kyle "Shadow" in your team.

Second phase (marked with yellow) is described from the "half-stealth" point of view. That means keeping stealth for as long as we need (or can) and then switching to noisy weapons to finish off any survivors. Most maps in the game are designed with only one "correct" route, more or less suitable for both modes.


Transitions between neighbouring locations and the resting cycle take one hour of in-game time. The night starts at 18:00 and ends at 6:00.

Jungle
Enemies are preoccupied with Fidel, allowing for easy picks.



Let one merc help Fidel and the other turn around and clean out the snipers. Fidel cannot completely die, but if he gets knocked out, use an Adrenaline or Bliss shot on his body.

Water reservoir
If you manage to clear the sector before all four water reservoirs get infected, you will be rewarded with an achievement. This is why we are going to start this mission quietly.

First things first, get downhill and go prone. Reach the fence and cut a hole in it, patrolman won't see you. Get outside.



Get to the bridge and cross it, then cut another hole in a fence and kill the guardian. This is how we get to the water reservoirs.



Patrolmen follow the route marked on the screenshot below. One merc sits in a dark corner shooting crossbow bolts, another one hides the bodies. Rinse and repeat until out of bolts, patrolmen or patience.



Meanwhile another mercenary, Fidel in my case, kills the patrolman who deliberately enters this isolated area. Fidel walks downhill and gets behind the building. He'll get the chance to strike later.



After killing every remaining patrolmen (the ones who actually move around, patrolling the area), we get our guns out. Soldiers start running towards the mercs one by one, posing as good targets. Amongst them there will be this unique unit, attempting to spoil the water. Water supply quest is done after the unique soldier dies.



While enemy soldiers are still looking at the water reservoirs, Fidel has a nice chance to drop a grenade under their feet.



Kill the rest and collect the loot. Mostly clean water, which becomes a much more frequent find after this map.

Prison
If the enemy spots you, the black merc will execute caged civilians. So in order to save lives and get an achievement we'll have to assassinate him before alarming the sector.

Walk between the fence and the wall, take out a patrolman standing upstairs.



Continue alongside the wall, clearing enemies behind the wall parts and inside the yard.



After hitting the corner get upstairs and turn right. You should now see the black merc. Make sure he dies first.



Now that the people are safe, finish off remaining guardians. Your mercs position is well-suited for defence, as the enemy casually attempt a direct rush through an open area.



Guard base
Take down the guardian next to the main entrance, then kill his colleague from the second floor, under the camouflage net. Cut the hole and get inside. A few guardians can be stealthly picked from the inner yard, but after some point you will almost inevitably start shooting.



Water reservoir tower is a good sniper position tho.

Radio tower
Kill the guardian and the walking guy. There is another partrolman high up the mountain, who can randomly notice the bodies, so you better hide them.

If you have mines or explosive devices, plant them alongside the fence and in the gateway. This comes into play after you clear out the map for the first time.



Quietly kill eveyone on the lower yard. You can sneak on people using the shack on the edge of the map. Slowly move up from there, clearing one building after another. After the last enemy dies, you get a chance to hire one more mercenary.

Two enemy squads spawn on the map immediately after. The first spawn point is behind the hut (see below), the second one is next to the fence downhill.



Enemies attempt a suicide run and are vulnerable to grenade spam.

Rebel hideout
After you speak to Alvita, gather everything you can and prepare for battle. When you speak to her again, three squads of enemies emerge on the map (see spawn zones below).

Put in place epxlosives and merceries in advance. Kyle "Shadow" works well at picking snipers while hidden in tall grass. You will encounter both black mercs and a new "supersoldier" type. Aim for the head.

The third phase of the game from the "mostly stealth" viewpoint. Most map descriptions, including Elliot's castle, Research lab and Harbor contain useful triggers descriptions.


Transitions between neighbouring locations and the resting cycle take one hour of in-game time. The night starts at 18:00 and ends at 6:00.

Black mercs base
A fairly simple map. First take down the tower guardian, then cut a hole in the fence. Careful not to be seen by the walking guy. Get inside the base and move upstairs.



Clear out buildings, picking enemies one-by-one. Move to the cage. Remaining picks can be difficult for stealth, but by this time there won't be enogh soldiers to fight back.



Inside the cage you will find a bunch of bloodthirsty "bliss zombies". My advice: don't touch it.

Research lab
Quite a simple map as well. The enemies are grouped by two or three men and the groups are mostly isolated from one another.

After the last soldier dies, your squad gets teleported inside the lab. If you were prone or something at the moment of teleportation, you stay prone after.

The Mad Scientist trash talks you and sends a bunch of supersoldiers to fight. Kill them, but leave the scientist be (see Achievements). Also be sure to check out the papers (below): this marks a secret location on your strategic map (see Secret place).



Harbor
We need to stop the black mercs before they leave (achievement). Quickly kill the first two guardians, as one of them is going to leave. Another pair of targets stands next to the hut.



Walk along the edge of the map. Kill the guy on the inside yard and move upstairs to the damaged shack.



From here we have a nice view on the two black mercs and the worker guy. If you silently kill the worker, the black mercs send the guy from the other side of the damaged shack to continue his job.



So instead kill the black mercs first, and the worker won't have enough action points to walk in and see the bodies. You can take him out next turn.

If done correctly, this leaves us in stealth condition and with a side objective completed. You may choose to continue a stealth run or break it and shoot everyone standing.

Village
Alvita wants you to find her sister here. All that with "how terrible, someone else has to suffer for my choises!" type of speech. I am glad Miguel Cordona died during Unfinished business and won't see this, as he'd be real pissed.

Fortunately Narcissa is not in danger and patiently waits for you inside of one of the huts. Hovewer, all other civilians on the map are already zombified and hostile to you. After the enemy soldiers see you, this radio guy (below) starts asking for help. This spawns a squad of enemies (4 black mercs) each two or three turns.



There is not much you can do aside from killing him between the waves.

Secret place
The point appears after you see the map from Research lab. No enemies here. Visiting the map rewards you with an achievement.



Ambush
Our options are limited here. Hide behind the rocks until the enemy squad reaches the other side of the map. Then quietly get on them from behind.



Elliot's castle
Stealth run takes a bit too much time, but feels good. First take out two guys next to the truck, the clear the wall. Two patrolmen come from both left and right sides of the map, you can easily ambush them. This leaves us with two groups of three soldiers guarding the outer yard. Those can be quietly dispatched with crossbow and knives.



Move on to the inner yard. This is where the game starts playing dirty: it has a script that prompts whenever all of your mercs cross the ladder between the two yards. This immediately sets off an alarm resulting in outer yard filling with bliss smoke. Additionally two supersoldier squads spawn nearby.

But if you leave one mercenary standing down the ladder, the script won't trigger and you can continue with stealth.



Here we simply cut everybody out and move in.



This guy is kind of tricky, as he seems to be occupied with the crate, but is still very good at calling out your stealthy mercs. Wait until his mates leave him alone and hide his body in the gallery.



The last guardians stand here, completely exposed. Elliot sees you and runs away.



Elliot's castle underground
Stealth ends here. Jump to the room right to your spawn point and defend from inside. "Area control" order for your mercs proves very useful here. Beware of grenades tho.



After finishing off the first wave, move upstairs. This triggers another enemy spawn: two squads of soldiers appear from left and right.



The last stand happens inside the Elliot's room. The black mercs seem to stay defensive at first, but quickly switch to old-good suicide rushing. A few supersoldiers enter the room through the wide door to help them out. Fidel's explosives can be of great use here.



Don't waste time collecting supplies, you won't need them past this point. If you have the rubberduck with you, don't forget to use it (see Achievements - Way of the rubberduck). Then leave the map to complete the game.



A note from developers: the fallen statue breaks the floor and opens a hidden gold stash. Elliot was sitting on a literal pile of gold the whole time. A stupid joke on Elliot and a pretty cruel one on locals, if you put it into the game's perspective ;-)

Achievements in Rage can be divided into plot-related, the ones inevitably given during the course of the game, and specific, tied to particular actions. Specific achievements include a set of secrets, i.e. achievements with hidden descriptions.

Obtaining instructions are included for every specific achievement.

• Escaped
  Finished level "Dungeon".
  
  
• The French Girl
  Met Veronique.
  
  
• The Rebel
  Met Alvita.
  
  
• Rebel grounds
  Enter area 2.
  
  
• Blissed grounds
  Enter area 3.
  
  
• Back at the castle
  Enter the castle.
  
  
• Triumph
  Finished JA Rage.
  
  
• First blood
  Killed first enemy.
  
  
• The Merc's lost clothes
  Found your clothes.

• Guard killer
  Killed 100 guards.
  Comes naturally over time.
  
  
• Blackshirt killer
  Killed 50 black mercs.
  Comes naturally over time.
  
  
• Raaaagggee
  Used rage skill for the first time.
  Use rage skill at least once.
  
  
• Water saver
  Killed the water poisoner in Reservoir before he could poison all 4 basins.
  See Water reservoir location. A stealth or half-stealth walktrough is recommended.
  
  
• The Good Guy
  No civilian was killed in a playthrough.
  The only civilian you might want to kill is the Mad Scientist from Research lab. Caged civilians from Prison also count, despite the fact that you don't kill them directly. Enemy soldiers who give up and drop their weapons are not accounted for and thus can be killed freely.
  
  
• Blissed!
  Under the influence of Bliss for the first time.
  Find a shot of Bliss and inject it.
  
  
• Convoy
  Intercepted a convoy.
  Achievable right after the rebels give you their first intercepting squad. Later on you can intercept convoys during the third phase of the game coming from Elliot castle.
  
  
• Rebel leader
  Use a rebel squad to stop an enemy troop.
  See "Convoy". Given to you after the rebels stop their first convoy.
  
  
• Modder
  Has modified a weapon.
  Install any weapon upgrade.
  
  
• Crafter
  Has crafted an item.
  Craft an explosive device, a weapon or an armor upgrade. See Items.
  
  
• Don't hit yourself
  10 enemies killed a guy from their own team.
  Let them do. Comes naturally.
  
  
• Tourist
  You've seen all maps in the game.
  Visit every location listed in Locations. Plus three different variations of mid-sector maps ("ambush" maps). According to Steam community topics, this achievement can break sometimes.
  
  
• Team player
  Finished the game with all mercs.
  Have to play the game twice.
  
  
• Master rager
  Used all rage skills in the game.
  See "Team player", play the game twice and use every mercenary's rage attack.
  
  
• Played a map in co-op
  With a few good friends.
  Complete at least one map on-line.
  
  
• Hard guy
  Finished the game in hard difficulty mode.
  Exactly what it says.
  
  
• Small team
  Finish the game only with 2 mercs.
  Fidel won't join you if you press him too hard.
  
  
• Lord of war
  Found all weapon types in the game.
  Find and put to your inventory every weapon from the list:
  AK47
  Steyr SSG 08
  M4A1
  VHS D2 K2
  FN SCAR
  HK417
  RPK74
  FN Minimi
  HK21
  MP-133
  AKS-74U
  Thompson M1A1
  H&K MP5K
  Steyr TMP
  KRISS Vector
  FN P90
  SKS-45
  Dragunov SVD
  SIG SSG 550
  M40
  SPAS-12
  Super Shorty
  Mossberg 590
  Jackhammer
  Beretta 92
  M1911
  Glock 18
  FN Five Seven
  Colt Python
  Desert Eagle
  Steyr SSG08
  Barrett M99
  Bliss Launcher
  Alien Pistol (Alien gun from Secret place)
  Crossbow
  Beretta 92
  Rolling Pin
  Fork
  Spoon
  Frying Pan
  Glass shard
  Screwdriver
  Combat Knife
  Machete
  
  According to Steam community topics, this achievement can break sometimes.

• Mercenary
  You have truly lived the life of a mercenary.
  Complete all other achievements to receive this one.
  
  
• Way of the rubberduck
  Carried a rubberduck through the whole game. (secret)
  The duck is unmissable in prologue. You can keep it in your squad inventory until the last point of the game, Elliot's castle underground. After you kill everybody but before you continue with Elliot himself, find the bathtub and put the duck in it.
  
  
  
• It's Dull, you twit
  Killed an enemy with a spoon. (secret)
  Spoons spawn in crates. Find one and use it to kill (finish off) an enemy.
  
  
• Blue Raja
  Killed enemies with each kitchen utensil in the game. (secret)
  Four utensils are the Fork, the Spoon, the Frying Pan and the Rolling Pin. Look through crates and buildings. Use each item to kill (finish off) an enemy.
  
  
• Alien
  Found alien weapon. (secret)
  See locations Research lab and Secret place. You need to read the map in Research lab and loot an alien gun from the UFO crashed in Secret place.
  
  
• People saver
  Most civilians survived in Prison. (secret)
  See location Prison. Requires a stealh or half-stealth walktrough.
  
  
• Bliss saver
  Killed the Black Mercs in Harbor before they could flee. (secret)
  See location Harbor. A stealth or half-stealth walktrough is recommended.