Herry's Guide to Stalking - By your's, Truly complete Edition
So, you're interested in becoming a professional S.T.A.L.K.E.R, eh? You've come to the right place!! For starters, you might want to get more educated in what stalking actually means in The Zone. It means hunting artifacts for money. If you don't know what an artifact is, don't worry! It's only further down the page!
Which game do I start with???
First of all, some people might wonder which S.T.A.L.K.E.R game is the best for a starting point... And to be honest, none are. It is a matter of taste. Chronologically, the games go in this order:
1. S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Sky
2. S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl
3. S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Call of Pripyat
But if you want to play them in the order of what came out first, Call of Pripyat remains the last, while the first 2 games switch spots. Many people recommend this approach. Another good approach is to start with Call of Pripyat and then play Shadow of Chernobyl. It really doesn't matter much, since there are no major differences between these games, but if you play Call of Pripyat first there might be some minor spoilers...
What should I know about this series???
Well, you should know that the game takes place in the Chernobyl exclusion zone from the title, that's it... Just kidding . You should know that while these games are mainly just atmospheric, they might give you a heart attack, but in a different way from most horror games. This game has some really, and I mean REALLY random moments, such as this:
I bet none of you had seen that coming. Yes, it might give you a heart attack out of pure randomness and surprise, but other than that, this game isn't scary. You should also know that this game is one of the few FPS games that need you to actually use your brain(apart from the multiplayer part of the game ) in order to succeed. Anyways let's not keep doing this and get to the main event.
What exactly is this game about???
This game is about the Chernobyl disaster, and consesquences the creators of the game imagined. This game has mutated animals, dangerous spots known as Anomalies(I suspect that they are given this name because most of them, in a way, defy some scientific rules), radiation, misery, and one hell of a storyline. This game is kinda realistic if you look at it, especially how the government was so corrupted it wasn't evne funny.
OK, enough of that, now I will cover the basic parts of the game:
1. User interface:
-For SoC: The HUD consists of many parts. See the following image:
We will examine the various parts of the user interface in this image. Let start with the one at the bottom-right corner of the screen:
The blue bar is the state of the armour/protective suit you're wearing. Being full, this means the suit I'm wearing is in top-notch state(although that doesn't mean it's a good suit , it just isn't broken.) This is also clarified by the shield icon to the left of the bar
The red bar signfies how much health you have(or have remaining, the zone is a dangerous place ). This is also backed by the plus icon to the left of the bar, an icon that's been used to signify health in many, many games.
Finally, under these two, there is a pannel that shows what weapon you're currently using and its name. For example, at the picture I was using a knife, so that would make the name "Knife" and the icon corresponding to this weapon appearing .
In this part of the HUD(which stands of Heads-Up Display, btw), information related to the movement of the player is shown. The bar to the left, with a sound icon above it shows how much noise you have produced when you moved, a factor that you must know if you plan on using stealth. When you produce some noise, you would notice that the bar starts to fill up with a pink colour, and how much Pink there is, is how much noise you produce.
To the left, you will notice another bar, but with a lightbulb icon above it. The more this bar fills up with white, the more visible you are to enemies. The shows how much stamina is remaining. The more you run, the more your stamina decreases.
That is the minimap. The number 9 at the bottom-right corner means that there are 9 NPCs(not including mutants) nearby. The white dot is the player, and the other dots can be: A friendly NPC, a neutral NPC and a hostile NPC. If it's green, it's a friendly one, if it's yellow, it's neutral, and if it's red, it's obviously someone hostile. Note that, for storyline reasons, in SoC not all hostile NPCs shoot you on sight, you might have a dialog with them. The "241.5 m." at the top-left corner of the mini-map shows the current distance to a quest target(side-note: the quest-target can be a NPC, a mutant, an area, or something else completely.) The faintly-white-ish arrow which can be seen at the bottom of the mini-map shows the direction where the quest-target is. For example, if the quest-target is at the left direction, that arrow's location will change to left, and it will point towards the left also.
That, gentlemen(and ladies), is how the inventory looks like in SoC. It consists of a backpack, where pretty much anything is stored(aside from equipped weapons and suits), some space that is used to show the description and name of any item you click on(it's in the middle), 2 weapon slots(primary and secondary, the primary is something large, like rifles and shotguns, while the secondary weapon is just a pistol), artifact slots(where you can equip artifacts to profit from their positive properties) and a suit slot, which shows the current slot you're wearing, it's parameters(protective properties), and even health, protective suit state and radiation levels. You can identify each individual bar of them with their respective icons. There is also a spot where the money you have is shown, it's right next to the yellow text which says "Parameters".
That, my friends, is the PDA. I don't really know how to explain the stuff, so I'll leave it, since it's actually better explained in the game.
The graphical interfaces in the other two games have some design differences, and for instance, in CoP, you can equip any weapon in any slot, i.e the slots aren't restricted.
2. Gameplay:
In S.T.A.L.K.E.R gameplay, there is a mix of survival horror/RPG/FPS. How the game works is actually quite creative, in my opinion. You do quests(both main and secondary quests, but secondary quests are more prominent in Call of Pripyat, where they actually have some good storyline behind them, unlike the really simple ones in SoC), get rewards(such as money, items, documents, etc.), scavenge hidden stashes and loot dead people to find the items you need, such as, but not limited to: food, weapons, and ammo. The choices you take decide the outcome of the main quest, so it's a mix of these three, but without some things. For instance, you don't level up and get skills/perks like in RPGs, and the game actually requires you to use your brain, unlike many FPS games today
However, in S.T.A.L.K.E.R, there are mutated animals, or as referred to in-game, mutants. Mutants range from common mutated dogs and rats to extremely dangerous ones, that are able to kill you in a short amount of time... Well, unless you decided to play on Novice difficulty. There are also things called Anomalies, which, like I said earlier, I think they are named that way because all of them in a way defy science. For example, Electrical anomalies, name Electro, discharge an amount of static elctricity when touched, except you can find these anomalies on dirt(as far as I know, dirt isn't a conductor, and I'm talking about perfectly dry dirt here).
I think they actually did a pretty good job on gameplay in S.T.A.L.K.E.R, in my opinion. I don't even know where they came up with the idea of giving the player a bolt(which activates pretty much any anomaly it touches, thus making it a really good tool for navigation when it's too dark or the anomaly is not in sight.
3. Anomalies:
In S.T.A.L.K.E.R, there are things called anomalies, they are kind of hard to explain what they are, really. Each anomaly has it's strong and weak points, and this section has a list of anomalies, and work-arounds for avoiding these things. Certain anomalies will barely hurt you, while others kill you on the spot. Anomalies are things that just stay in one spot, but once triggered(touched), they take full effect.
* Gravitational anomalies: Gravitational anomalies are anomalies that are gravitational in nature... There are 3 variants, and all of them are dangerous. The 3 variants of these anomalies are: Springboard, Whirligig and Vortex, in order of the least to most dangerous.
-Springboard: Compared to other anomalies, Springboard is relatively harmless. It does deal some damage, but it's enough to be fatal or cause instant death or even cause worry. The real problem, though, is when you try to avoid several of these anomalies which are in a group, e.g they are really close. Trust me, it's troublesome, sometimes you can trigger 2 of them at once, draining a good chunk of health(a little more than 1/2 if I remember correctly). Sometimes these anomalies make me change my path completely, or make a detour. Springboards are easily identifiable, and easily avoidable but varying locations and odd spawn points in the games can make them a nuisance in a firefight. Players have often died in the middle of a fight, forgetting or not noticing the anomaly's presence with all the distractions, then walking straight into it. Just like all anomalies, its best to scout the location and find a way around it.
-Whirligig: While this anomaly does less damage than a vortex(and in a way, it's less annoying), it's a bit harder to avoid and escape, since it basically pulls you upward and whirls you, then it releases a discharge, which is the finisher. The problem is, you can't sprint in mid-air, so once you get into one, prepare to load a new save . Note though, that if you are still alive after it does the discharge, try to run out, you might succeed in escaping, because according to my experiences, it's safe to pass through after the discharge, but I mostly fail because the interval is very, very short.
-Vortex: When triggered, the Vortex drags everything within the radius 10-15 meters towards the center. Now, what happens to you when you get caught in one is like what happens to water when a person puts in his mouth, spins it really fast and then spits it out, except you will be basically dead by that time, unless you have Top of the notch(even better than top notch ) protective suit. The difference between a Whirligig and a Vortex is pretty simple: size and strength. The Vortex has a much larger range, much harder to escape from than a Whirligig, and it deals a lot more damage. Escaping the Vortex anomaly, once dragged in, can range in difficulty from easy to downright impossible, depending on the strength of the anomaly and the difficulty level. The type of armor worn is also very important, as the odds are that you will take at least one hit. One possible method of escaping, once drawn in, is to wait until the anomaly discharges, taking the hit. After discharging, the anomaly has no pulling power for approximately one second, allowing you to sprint out and escape it. Now, avoiding one Vortex anomaly isn't a problem, but you might find whole clusters of them, and I prefer to change the route completely since it becomes impossible to escape when I get caught, and I almost always get caught . A little bit of fun can be had with these anomalies: The player can drag various corpses of Stalkers or mutants into a Vortex's vicinity. They'll be dragged in and the player can watch the full effect the anomaly has on the body, giving a testament to the game's impressive death physics. Note, however, that all loot in the corpses will be permanently lost.
* Electro Anomaly: An interesting type of anomaly which accumulates large amounts of static electricity.When triggered, the anomaly bursts into a storm of arcing electricity nearly always lethal to all living beings. Easily recognizable by the blue gas it emits, along with the endless arcing of small bolts of electricity in the vicinity, the Electro holds no distinction for what crosses its event horizon, be it a human, a mutants or an inanimate object, and discharges as soon as anything gets too close. There is a very particular technique players use to get through these anomalies when they are completely blocked: Throw a bolt and sprint right through. Since Electros actually take time to recharge after they are discharged, there is an amount of time where it's relatively safe to pass through, unless there is another Electro nearby which you didn't activate. Now the problem with these anomalies isn't actually how much damaged an individual one of them does, but the fact that you find a lot of these guys close to each-other. So if you get zapped by one, odds are, you'll get zapped by more in just a few seconds.
* Burner Anomaly: The Burner can be a bit difficult to see, even in daylight, as it's only revealed by a faint heat haze. Burners are very dangerous at high difficulties, and can be extremely dangerous even with top-tier armor. The Burners don't have a set spawn point like other anomalies do, or even a set trigger point. Simply being in the same vicinity can trigger a conflagration. A tactic for avoiding damage is to first throw a bolt into the anomaly, triggering it, then quickly running through the jet of flame. This tactic, if used repeatedly and without delay, can mean the difference between traversing a cluster unharmed and getting scorched at least once. This makes burners one of the most deadly anomalies. Some say that in Shadow of Chernobyl, only the initial burst deals damage. The pillar of flame itself is entirely harmless, and will at most generate a particle effect on whatever runs into it. I haven't confirmed this yet.
Fruit Punch Anomaly: The Fruit Punch anomaly resembles drops of acid, but if you were to keep loking at it for an amount of time, you would see that it sort of "bulbs" and makes a weird sound. It's probably an anomaly chemical in nature. If you were to make contact with it, you would get damaged, and the anomaly lights up more and generates a hissing sound.
Quote:Concerning its characteristics, it is generally accepted that it derives from the remnants of a highly radioactive spill of some reactive substance that gained its anomalous abilities from the Zone. Its corrosive properties are exhibited by its intense and rapid damage to all living tissue and inorganic matter, metal and plastic alike.
Now the thing with this anomaly is that it mostly spawns in in-door, underground or dark areas, and sometimes it's hard to see.
*I will add Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat anomalies soon*
4. Mutants:
Mutants are usually mutated animals, humans or something else. They are beings that were able to survive in the zone, and they have been mutated and given incredible abilities. They range from common, barely harmful animals to deadly creatures that are nearly unkillable. This also depends on the difficulty the player is playing on.
Blind dogs:
Blind dogs are, perhaps, the most common mutant in the game. They are relatively harmless... If you actually know how to deal with them that is. For first time-players, they might even kill you. While they are blind, they have pretty much the best smelling capabilities among dog species who managed to survive in the zone. While they are skinny and have only a bit of health, they are actually pretty hard to hit, and can over-run you if you don't stand on something they can't reach or stay on the move. While in theory second-weakest mutants in the game after the Flesh, packs of Blind Dogs should not be underestimated - like Fleshes they hunt in groups, but unlike Fleshes they are both small and fast targets, making them difficult to hit. They also have higher "morale" and don't run away as easily, and their constant attacks, though weak, will interrupt your sprinting as you try to run away. One of the major problems with these mutants is you pretty much appear in places you may not predict. One common way of dealing with them is, like I said earlier, finding higher ground. It doesn't have to be very high, as a large rock to stand on will suffice. From there, you can comfortably shoot and kill these dogs. It is preferred that you use a shotgun as to not waste other kinds of ammo. There are bad news and good news. The good news is that this kind of dogs don't attack unless they are hungry, the bad news is that they are always hungry
Fleshes/Flesh pigs:
They are mutated pigs, and you probably don't believe that, judging from their drastically different appearence. They are much harder to kill than normal pigs(which don't exist in the game btw) but are still the easiest mutant to fight. Fleshes usually go around in groups, and they are relatively easy to take down, moving quiet slowly, having a low amount of health and easy to hit. Now I mentioned that blind dogs have high morale - they don't run from a fight even if you terminate most of their group - unlike fleshes. Fleshes have incredibly low morale, and seeing them flee is a very common sight. They run when most of the group is dead or when they are heavily damaged(if alone). There isn't much to say about fleshes, not because nothing is known about them, but because they are really easy to deal with, and it's common knowledge among even people who didn't actually play the S.T.A.L.K.E.R games.
Pseudodogs:
Another dog species that manages to survive in the harsh environment of The Zone. According to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R wiki, they are actually "descended from wolf, bear and human DNA strains and only resemble dogs visually". Obviously, no aminal would naturally have this genetic make-up, so it's probably a result of expermiental breeding. It is said that the blind dog family is a relative to the pseudodog family, but the pseudodog family is faster, tougher and even harder to hit. Basically, blind dogs are kind of like the "cute version" of pseudodogs. If one sees you, it will lounge at you at breakneck speeds, and before you know it, it bites your crotch you. While they are initially hard to hit, once they start hitting you, they will keep doing it while maintaining the same place(if you don't move) and you can give them 3 or 4 buckshots to head. Otherwise, if you don't want to get hit, it is recommended that you side step when one attacks and then unload your shotgun on the pseudodog's sides. Dealing with more than 2 of these mutants at once can be dangerous, you have to always be on the move and avoid their attacks(which are mostly lunges).
Boars/Mutated boars:
Boars are troublesome to deal with. Not troublesome for someone who played the game some hours, but for a newcomer, they definetely are. Boars and fleshes are like pseudodogs and blind dogs. Boars can be found sometimes leading a group of fleshes, and if you see such a group and you have less than 15 shotgun bullets or two magazines of an assault rifle ammo, avoid them. Boars are more tough, fast and strong than fleshes. If you get stuck between some of them, odds are, they'll tear you and your protective suit apart. The best tactic is to shoot them and keep avoiding them. It's true that they are faster than fleshes, but they are still sloppy, it'll take as much as 4 seconds for them to reach you at medium range, which is more than enough time to avoid one. Running isn't a good idea because once one of these things see you, it'll follow you to the darkest reaches of hell, well, unless you enter a place where there are many S.T.A.L.K.E.Rs, or a base. Where you shoot them doesn't really matter, because even if you are constantly getting bull's eyes, shooting these mutants in the hand won't do much more than shooting them in the mid-section. In short, if you see any and you're not far away to avoid them, hit and run.
Snorks:
If you've ever met a Snork, you probably know that it's a damn pain in the ass, even if you know how to deal with it. They are pretty fast. Their means of travel when idle(e.g non-agressive) is running on all fours, which is slow compared to the leaps they make when these things attack you. One leap covers like 5 in-game metres. Your best bets to avoid getting hit by these leaps is to either strafe parrarel of their leap or get behind an object. If you can't do both, I'd recommend you crouch as low as you can and unload whatever gun you have on their faces. If you have no ammo, you needn't worry much, but you will have to get off the comfort-zone to kill one of them with a knife. You need to get into close-enough-range and knife it. Ideally use the right-click knife animation if you are in direct contact with them, because, thanks to the crappy knife hit-detection system, the other animation would probably not connect. If you are in particularly miserable or weak states, avoid snorks completely, if in the open. This can be done through waiting for them to pass, making a detour, or, if they caught you, just make a run for it.
Rodents:
Rodents, also known as hamsters/Tushkano/rats, are an annoyance, at the worst case. They are like RPG characters completely built onto agility and such, they are fast and they attack frequently, but they don't do a lot of damage. Unless you just stand there while they bite you, in which case they'll rip off half your health in less than 20 seconds. Just don't use a shotgun, buckshots are too precious to waste on simple Tushkanos. I prefer using a pistol/automatic weapon, because they take at maximum 3 shots to kill. I need to warn you, as long as you're moving, don't be afraid to take your time aiming, because if you don't, there is that small chance you won't hit them. They can be a bit hard to hit, but they die very easily. Just hit them with 1/2 shots and they're dead. Please not that I didn't test all of the following on Master dificulty, but it should work on Veteran. There isn't really much to say about them. They are mostly in underground/hidden/dark areas, you rarely fight them in the open. Just, you know, don't stand there like an idiot when they hit you.
Bloodsuckers:
The definition of a bloodsucker, in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R series is annoying, literally. As intimidating as that sounds, and trust me when I say this, your greatest weapon against a bloodsucker is the crosshair(unless you play without one like me), and I will explain why in just a second. Bloodsuckers sprint really fast, but that's not nearly troublesome, not when compared to the fact that they have optic camouflage. The optimum weapon to fight a bloodsucker with is a shotgun. Particularly an SPAS-12(otherwise known as SPSA-14 or Franchi SPAS-12), Eliminator or Chaser 13. Now, the bad thing about the camouflage is that it's very good and that a Bloodsucker will almost certainly use it if sees you. The good news, however, is that the camouflage doesn't work when a Bloodsucker is really close. So a general tactic is to wait for a Bloodsucker to get close, avoid the initial cut attack(which by the way deals quite some damage, unless you're on Novice difficulty ) and give it some bucks in the face. Or you can just shoot it when it's camouflaged, but without the experience you'll probably miss most of the shots.
Also, it is worth noting that once close, a Bloodsucker's eyes will glow(white most of the time, sometimes red), and you can see the general shape of it's body. That's often a nice time to shoot it. Just don't let one of these things too close, because they have a really annoying special attack. The image that I've used for the Bloodsucker description is when it's about to use the special attack. When that happens, the screen gets bloody, and then the ****er sucks your blood, deal two deep scratches and retreat. By the time it's finished, a good chunk of your health will be lost.
It's worth saying that you'd be in luck if you met one of them in the open, since you can still avoid the fight or run, or something. If you are dealing with a bloodsucker, and there is a swamp/patch of water near you, by all means go there. Why? Because any movement, including bloodsucker movement when it's camouflaged, makes splashes on the water. This gives you the precise position of the bloodsucker, and where it's going.
Psy dogs(otherwise known as Psy-pseudodogs)
Psy dogs look exactly like normal pseudodogs, except they have white fur. These dogs aren't too tricky to deal with. Psy dogs project images of themselves, making it look like there is a lot of them, but I've known them to not travel in more than groups of 2. This is the definition of a cowardly mutant, these guys let their clones(they look real, you can't walk through them but they aren't, in fact they don't even deal damage) overwhelm you, stay back for a bit, and then attack. Naturally, if you kill the real thing, all of the "fake gibberish" disappears. Just don't get caught in the middle, always keep moving. If you're a fair distance from them, attack the ones who you suspect to be the original. Just bear in mind that the original isn't always in the back. And if you don't feel like it, just tactically retreat, not that these mutants are the kind to chase you to the depths of hell anyways.
Poltergeist:
Poltergeists(pronounced as Polterguyst) have a very weird form that differs from all other mutants. They appear to be some sort of ball of electricity floating around. They don't appear to be threatening, but they are/aren't depending on where you find them. Poltergeist use Telekinesis against you - in other words, they will hit you with all sorts of junk -. If they hit you with something heavy, it's insta-kill. They also have some major differences between all 3 games, that which I must cover. In Shadow of Chernobyl, the poltergeist, after death, has a physical body, which looks a bit like a human body, but without the lower part of the body. Now, they will take some bullets to kill, but at least after killing them you won't have to worry about getting your head smashed with something.
In Clear Sky, there isn't much of a difference. Except the fact that they don't have a physical body, and that's the same with Call of Pripyat.
In Call of Pripyat, Poltergeists have much less health, but they have a much tighter hit-box(e.g It's hard to hit them). They also no longer see. Instead, they will know you are there by sensing movement. That being said, if you stand still, the poltergeist won't know you are there. That makes it a nice tactic to avoid or deal with one. And if you have your crosshair off, you can confirm that you've hit one by blood. Poltergeists bleed when they are shot at, which might mean that their "electric ball" form is merely a guise.
More will be added to this post soon, because for now I spent like 9(EDIT: now more than a day in literal hours) hours making this post and I'm tired, so I need to take a break btw, any mistakes will be fixed in an edit, since I can't PM myself messages with more than 10 KB of data ____________
This guide is being routinely updated/completed. Make sure to check so you don't miss any info! I'm guessing I'll leave the CS/CoP anomalies for after I complete the whole thread since they aren't that necessary.
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posted September 08, 2015 07:29 PM
. You should know that while these games are mainly just atmospheric, they might give you a heart attack, but in a different way from most horror games. This game has some really, and I mean REALLY random moments, such as this:
). This is also backed by the plus icon to the left of the bar, an icon that's been used to signify health in many, many games.
.
shows how much stamina is remaining. The more you run, the more your stamina decreases.
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