What kind of stalker are you?

[EggChen]

Evil

I think we all knew that one Kany!!!

[Kanyhalos]

Evil

I think we all knew that one Kany!!!

I guessed that! Ah, and RUDE!

[MeanderingBeing]

I like lead. Lots of it. (M60e4 LMG and G36)
Need I say more?

[DARK TEMPLAR]

Give me a fully automated spas with selective fire and a clip of 50 shells and shitload of ammo, plus say the wrong word and I'll create a massacre.Rivers of blood shal run through the streets and yantar shal have a blood lake

[nandersen]

My loadout greatly varies with my progress and even more with the mods I install. Mostly I play with Greedy Trader Repair installed so I stick with unique weapons. Tactics? Just trying to have fun

My usual style at the beginning: don't rescue Nimble until I get enough rubles to buy the Groza 5.45x39 from Sid. This involves working for Wolf and either raiding the army blockpost to get the two jackets from the attic or a quick trip to Garbage for a few artifacts... hunting for mutant parts also helps with the budget.

I hate fighting with lousy stamina so depending on time of day I either wait in Cordon until midnight so that I can collect the two Sparklers and a Flash to improve endurance or I go to Dark Valley to get some sparklers at night.

Before Agroprom I sometimes clear the bandit base in Dark Valley to get equipped a bit - especially Fireballs are worth collecting at this stage.

At Agroprom I do the mandatory Mole thing and then talk to the deserter, and snatch the documents from the institute in a hurry. This normally involves killing 1-3 soldiers, a pseudodog and 4 boars - as a bonus I try to get a Night Star or two at the "shining" gate.
Then I return to Garbage to kill some bandits and get the "Duty word". There I usually establish my 1st stash - dragging the body of the "ambush" bandit to the blue chest location and using the corpse for ammo and other supplies.

Entering the Bar level I drag the permanent corpse along the fence on the right side and up along the wall out of the way of the kitties. Sometimes I get noticed and need to take out one pseudodog. I drag the corpse right next to the chest near the entrence to the Bar.

At the Bar I normally take the jobs from Snitch, Baldy and Hunter and go to Army Warehouses.
In AW I do the following missions:
- the missions I got at the Bar
- destroy the duty company
- deal with the snitch
- kill Scarecrow
- destroy the herd of boars and flashes
- get crazy's flash drive
- destroy the merc camp
- kill the bloodsucers for Murk
- kill the bloodsuckers for Skinflint (yes, I get twice the reward)
- help Cap / eliminate Monos' strike force

From AW I take a quick trip to Red Forest to collect the Goldfish, Spring, Battery and Shell. It costs a few bandages and a medkit or two, but it's worth it

About weapons: if I go "vanilla" I prefer the LR300+SUSAT since it is lightweight, accurate, fairly powerful and most of all: easy to get a replacement. I save the VSS for special occasions like the mission to destroy the military camp at Agroprom or the first trip to Wild Territory.
At the beginning I use the groza_m1 a lot because it's rather durable and very powerful, which makes up for the fact that it only holds 20 rounds.

If I use my repair mod I stick with the groza_m1 and the VSS since both are "repairable" as per the repair mod rules. I sometimes go with the LR300+SUSAT instead if I need to go light.

My favorite suit at the beginning is the Stalker suit (at night) and Wind of Freedom during the day (2kg lighter but no NV).
My favorite suit for late part of the game is the SSP-99M

To get weapons that are in perfect condition I try to wound the enemy. Strangely, when they collapse in pain they don't have the time to wreck the weapon and unload it like when they die!?

Favorite "repair kits":
- for SEVA and General Protection outfit: 5 Shells
- for SSP-99M: 5 springs
- petty much anything else: batteries or any of the above

[EggChen]

I'm going to make a shocking admission here... I never knew artifacts appeared at certain times of the day. I just thought it was random!

Now you mention it though, I've only ever found Sparklers and Moonbeams (in the open) at night....

DOH!!

[busetibi]

lol,
I always get to Agro Underground at night,for the goodies in the electro tunnel, and same thing for the underground garage in WT, I have been known to get the sleeping bag out and sleep to await the goodies

[nandersen]

I always go up the back stairs in agr_u a few minutes before midnight - then wait at the top of the stairs. For some reason this gives a few additional artifacts when I go through the electro-passage a second time.

Oh, and about the question... what kind of STALKER I am? I'd say a proficient one ;)

[clavell101]

I never carry an RPG. Too heavy on your list and ammo is hard to find. An assault rifle with a grenade launcher is as same as effective IMO. it was until I started playing NEWSA-SIMBION, I wouldn't change FN2000NW with an RPG, in built missiles smoke eveything.
Do artifacts appear at selected times? Never knew it either I need to re-visit some places again then Thanks.

[nandersen]

I think that in vanilla game the RPG is your best chance of taking down a helicopter. If you choose to ignore them then you have little, if any, use for the RPG.

Personally I don't even go with grenade launcher - hand grenades are more effective, easier to find and easier to use - no need to switch to grenade launcher and reload after every shot. The range is pretty good too.

A cool thing about the launcher is that it automatically adjusts the trajectory of grenade for the distance to the object (NPC, monster, APC) that you aim at. This, however, only works with direct fire (if the object is behind cover the trajectory won't adjust). Another advantage is that the grenades are much lighter than hand grenades.

[Matt_B]

i'm a really crap stalker - i just load up on meds & energy drinks, then sprint everywhere, antagonizing mutants into fights with humans, maybe even occasionally shooting something...

[clavell101]

When on estart throwing grenades, they start throwing them back to you then and they're more crowded, I'm only one. So using missiles (when playing NEWSA) or grenade launcher other times easier for me. (but I see your point, if you thrown grenades good, you can smoke them) I carry good amount of food and medkits and two suits always, the best ones I can get my hands on at that time. Oh, BTW I like sniping a lot.

[MeanderingBeing]

I yell at the top of my lungs over the roar of my machinegun. Normally something like "DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA!" And I just loooooooooooooooooooooove explosives. I love the RPG, grenade launchers, and hand grenades. Now if only someone will mod in some others like NitroGlycerine, Thermite, Potassium Chlorate Clay, and some contact charges into the game. (No I am not telling you how, that is for you to find out. Plus, I don't want Homeland Security storming my house and saying I'm a terrorist or something. We do happen to live in an age of Big Brother anymore in America...)

[Nightwatch]

I tend to help the needy, and stomp on those who piss me off. That's the reason that I've flatten a few times Freedom base, also that veronin git's HQ. I must've been not a in funny mood.

[Verton23]

I try to get hold of a sniper rifle as soon as possible. Vintoez is the best choice as it has more ammo than SVD (did I write correct) and lighter. Taking out enemies before they see you works well. But you still need to be quick, coz in this game enemy AI is very sharp spotter. I don't carry a lot of stuff. Two armours, two rifles. One of them a sniper rifle as I said. No handguns. (vanilla ones suck) empty weight only. 2-3 hand grenades. about 10 medkits. No vodka, empty useless weight as well. carry anti-rad instead. A lot of ammo. I shoot single or triple if the gun allows it. You score better like this. lastly, a couple of cans of food.

but when I play NEWSA I go more offensive though, coz there are more enemies that you can't snipe easily. The others spot you quickly. And there are more weapons you can have for taking them out.

[ket]

OK, a (slightly) related question to the title of this thread.

Has anyone actually carried around an RPG or RG6 for any length of time. It occured to me while editing the weapons recently, that the only time I carried the grenade launcher was to take it to Petrenko, and I picked up and fired the RPG found in Rostok once, sold it, and never carried either again!! Neither does anything a good assault rifle with grenade launcher can't do just as well, of course those fire bullets as well :lol:

Modded game or not, anyone use these weapons?

I do. In later parts of TK and some specific parts, if you don't carry a RL and \ or GL, you are going to see yourself die, many, many times

[DARK TEMPLAR]

Walking a more calm path, usualy won't shoot anyone on sight(including wildlife), keeping more to my own less travelled routes, only shoot when shot at, tho on a bad day i wouldn't recomend being a merc or a bandit as they will get shot upon detection. Eq depending on the mission and area either a scientific suit with slightly increased combat def or an exo with increased sligtly enviromental def, usualy no handguns tho mainly a silenced berreta, a medium to high-range rifle with scope mount possibility and a silencer if found, high range sniper rifle for day time and low noise (minimum medium range) sniper rifle for night time ops, a minimum of 2 medkits and bandages, an antirad or two, tho usualy med supplys are wasted on random injured ppl I find, one can of food (ppl die everywhere anytime, so supplys aren't that scarce), a flask full of pure water(ain't tellin how I get that in the depths of RF). All things I have no use for I bring to either Zoners and Loners or Backwater bar for rookies to use

[ket]

One thing I used to do a lot was go on a massacre and hand out AK74s or abakans to all the rookies so I didnt have to constantly protect them from the never ending bandit invasion at the garbage