When should someone bump up to stalker from voyager?

[ZorTheCruel]

After exploring most of the maps? Or when feeling very familiar with the game mechanics and little challenge in voyager? Or both?

I havent even stepped foot in half of the maps, but voyager is starting to feel really boring. I think a lot of it has to do with my skills like cooking and corpse harvesting being maxed and firestarting and archery being level 4, etc. It makes such a huge difference. And once you understand the afflictions and how to cure or avoid them, and have a stock of cures waiting, they arent scary at all.(aside from seemingly incurable frostbite) I have a tendency to find a safe haven and just hunt/fish around that until i start to run out of something major (like arrows or bows).

[Xeph]

If you are finding it easy / boring you might aswell give stalker a try, just be ready for lots of wolves. Only one way to find out :)
Just be extra cautious on new maps as you might run into a pack of wolves.

[H34VY_R41N]

You are ready at the moment you thought of it =)

[IFIYGD]

Originally posted by CBF RAIN:

You are ready at the moment you thought of it =)

:)

[H34VY_R41N]

Originally posted by IFIYGD:

Originally posted by CBF RAIN:

You are ready at the moment you thought of it =)

:)

<3

[ZorTheCruel]

thanks all, ill give it a go today :)

[Nogen]

From what you said, it's look like that you're ready.

Personally, I changed to Stalker when I feel that, except from being caught in an unexpected encounter with a bear around a rock, I couldn't die anymore. Didn't say that I couldn't die, but that how I felt. At this moment, boredom start to make it place and I knew that it was time to go Stalker.

For me, one of greatest game changer in Stalker was that fire do not warm you instantly. At Pilgrim and Voyageur, when you start a fire, the ambient temperature automatically go to 0°C and any °C higher warm you. This means that even a fire with 1 stick is enough to warm you.

From Stalker, you need first to overcome the ambient temperature. So if the temperature is -20°C, a fire with 3 or 4 sticks won't do the trick.

It's a subtle changes in mechanics, but which have a great impact. At least, when you're new to Stalker difficulty. Add to this that the weather is generally more harsh and the fact that you start with less clothes and you're in for ton of fun!

But believe me, it is. 😃

[ZorTheCruel]

Originally posted by Nogen:

From what you said, it's look like that you're ready.

Personally, I changed to Stalker when I feel that, except from being caught in an unexpected encounter with a bear around a rock, I couldn't die anymore. Didn't say that I couldn't die, but that how I felt. At this moment, boredom start to make it place and I knew that it was time to go Stalker.

That is exactly how i felt. So i tried Stalker the past several hours: I died the first two times within 24 hours in stalker,(first was from trying to hand harvest a whole wolf carcass at once. Weather changed and i got frostbite and died. 2nd was due to the really nasty wolves) but my 3rd try is going well so far, aside from being completely screwed by RNG. (6 days in, scouring ML, still cant find any tools like knife/hatchet/hammer/hacksaw and no rifle)

The wolves and the fire warming are the biggest differences, I agree. Wolves are *so* much nastier than in voyager. All in all, im having a lot of fun again! Thanks for the input by everyone.

[Xeph]

I don’t know, I’m still playing a vanilla stalker game from before the custom update and I’m on about day 95, I do wear more protection than most other modes. Nearly always use hatchet which drives them off pretty fast, if they get that close.

[ZorTheCruel]

i finally got basic tools (started finding axes and knives everywhere once i complained about RNG with finding them, lol) and fighting wolves off in stalker with a knife is pretty much the same as voyager, but the wolves do seem to do more raw condition damage in the attack than in voyager, which is brutal early in a run when you dont have decent gear yet to give protection. And the bigger thing for me is they can smell/sense me from further away and are more often in packs than they are in voyager.

Each piece isnt too big of a deal by itself, but all together it is a really big difference for wolves in stalker.(compared to voyager)

I'm really enjoying stalker though :)
(day 16)

[Metro]

I initially went from Voyageur to Interloper because I had read Stalker wasn't necessarily harder from a survival standpoint just that there's a ton more wolves. And that's basically true. There's actually certain aspects of Stalker that is easier than Voyageur like calories burned, etc. Dropping down from Interloper I found it a walk in the park. If you're not used to dealing with wolves, though, I imagine it can be challenging. Best way to deal with them is to carry some kind of meat/guts, bait them, then shoot them while they're going for it. The AI isn't very sophisticated so it'll ignore you and go for the meat so long as you're a few yards out.

That said, it's pretty easy to find good gear and a rifle. Making bow and arrows is also quick since you don't have to bother forging tools.

[Trashe]

In all honesty, I feel like the Stalker difficulty is about the same as the prerelease "Voyager" difficulty. It's not so much difficult as there are just less supplies in the world. Depending on your spawn, you can set yourself up for relative success in the first few days. But yep, in general, as soon as you've had that thought that the game is becoming boried or you feel as if you know the game, it's time to up the difficulty.

I do recommend attempting the challenges before going to Interloper though. You'll learn a lot of valuable lessons from them that will save your hide later on.

Loving Interloper here as a Veteran though. The mindshift from "I can survive xx days" to "I'm probably going to die in 5 minutes" is wonderful and welcome. Nothing can prepare you for it <3

[Nogen]

Originally posted by Metro:

The AI isn't very sophisticated so it'll ignore you and go for the meat so long as you're a few yards out

It's not much that the AI isn't sophisticated, but it is pretty much what would happen in real world. If you drop meat to them, wolves will go for the free food and avoid unnecessary fight. Why fight and taking the risk of being hurt in the process while you can just grab the meat on the ground and go? In fact, you can expect this from any living beings.

[Pagan]

Originally posted by CBF RAIN:

You are ready at the moment you thought of it =)

+1

Just go ahead and dive right in. Hell, try your hand at Interloper while you're at it.

[IFIYGD]

Originally posted by Pagan:

Originally posted by CBF RAIN:

You are ready at the moment you thought of it =)

+1

Just go ahead and dive right in. Hell, try your hand at Interloper while you're at it.

*waits for @marbanno to step and suggest Hudless Interloper...*

[abonamente]

Originally posted by ZorTheCruel:

I have a tendency to find a safe haven and just hunt/fish around that until i start to run out of something major (like arrows or bows).

That reveals a kind of mindset leading to boredom. The 'official' level of difficulty is one set of parameters that can be adjusted. It establishes the kind of environment you prefer for your game, before you begin your adventure. However, any sandbox offers, by definition, only the framework and maybe one or two toys. What you play, how you play it, is up to you. I don't see the sandbox as my partner, to beat or worse, HIDE from, then find another sandbox/ level of difficulty. It is just a playground I chose, because it spoke to me.

Some of the games I play there:
- resolve the tactical situation of hunting a bear in Forlorn Muskeg; the hunt itself is just a lab test, the end simulation, validating (or not) my assumptions
- plan and execute mapping an unknown region; timeframe is important, so the challenge is to balance the risks, expenses and benefits, never losing sight of my objective
- come back home to the Desolation Point lighthouse during a blizzard, then simply enjoy the warmth and safety while the wind is howling outside
- walk in the park under the glimmering streetlights during aurora in Broken Railroad, and relive childhood memories
- run on thin ice in Coastal Highway and get that set of advanced tools; didn't need it, I just... liked how the red box looked on ice and I wanted it
- hunt rabbits with stones, just for the fun of it
- solve the problem of climbing back to safety on a rope from a dead-end area during a blizzard, while being tired, wearing wet/frozen clothes, no possibility of lighting a fire, low reserves of food/water, no shelter in sight... oh, and bringing up as much loot as possible, to make it worth the risks I took
- take risks and go break that green crate I saw yesterday, not because I need anything, but just for the fun of the lottery game, see what's inside/behind it
- throw arrows at crows because I am mad (don't judge, everyone is allowed... at times)
- hunt predators on Pilgrim (that never gets old)

I could go on, but I think that illustrates my point: how you use your toys is what makes most of the fun, because the joy of play is a state of mind. How sophisticated or deadly are the toys is secondary to that. Just beating the environment, if this is the primary objective and not the circumstances, should be expected to be short-lived. Changing the level of difficulty is a temporary fix. Facing its challenges while reaching your own goals (living your own fantasies) would be a longer lasting solution.