S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly Help

[Stake From JateFarm]

So this is my 2nd (or 3rd) venturing into this mod. For several year now I have been trying to interest myself in to STALKER series. Initially the game seemed too dated to putforth the effort but I bought it anyway. I got the Complete 2009 pack and it was good for a while but I lost interest. Years passed and I checked out several overhauls (including CoC) mid 2018. None of them scratched that itch. They either needed a bunch of mods ontop of them to get the game where I wanted it to be or too unstable. I found Anomaly and Dead Air around the same time. Each with similar problems for me.

I am no stranger to a difficult FPS but what I am not able to grasp is the needless difficulty and tedium that seems to be injected into both of these. Let's take Anomaly for example. Weapon repairs require your weapon to be at a certain condition to use certain kits, you must break down weapons for parts that might be in good enough condition, you have to keep in mind which parts go with which weapons, you much manage 10+ types of ammo pools for each cartridge which damage the gun more quickly if your not careful, etc. Even after watching a video on how to accomplish all this, I did it once and decided from then on I'd pay the extra rubbles to have someone repair it for me. Through this whole process and more, I realize that I spend more time at a vendor screen than actually playing the game.

Another example, after starting it up Anomaly again since a few days ago, This is a new playthrough and I have little money. I discovered that night time sucks and that I must go to bed. I was hungry and ate some bacon. The hunger symbol went away but I gained some radiation. I lit up a smoke to get rid of that but the matches bugged out so I reloaded. Got rid of my rads and fell asleep. Woke up starving and thirsty with my health draining rather alarmingly. I ate again and drank a soda, smoked another cig. This resulted in me using a medkit which aren't cheap. From what I can tell, there is no way to predict how hungry or thirst you will be after you sleep or how hungry/thirsty you are at the current moment. These are problems you may encounter at several points throughout the day (managing a status) and wind up losing health because of the lack of information. Then regretfully resorting to a medkit which could have been avoided.

tl;dr There are so many things you must account for (weapon/armor maintanence, cooking food, radiation treatment, health treatment, ammo types, etc.) that I spend waaaay more time looking for solutions to these than I do the rest of the experience; the exploration, artifact hunting, and combat. I feel unprepared for every instance because the game does little to inform me of the impending doom of "not eating enough before bed" or "you have some rads, more than last time, and are dying quickly." Yet, this modpack (Anomaly) has great graphics relatively speaking, weapons mods, and a bunch of other enhancements that would take hours to get everything working cohesively. To top it all off, its got a x64 engine which is extremely attractive performance wise. Can any veterans weigh in on this? Is there a better way to achieve what I am searching for? Is there an easier way to digest the Stalker Anomaly mod??

[Reversed Front]

I get you. I'm the one who's asking a lot of questions on Anomaly's mod page recently. Fortunately some good guys there gave me some advices. I just realised that even the game seems so "unfair" to the player character, there are still ways to exploit. For example you can take some mutant eliminating quests from the clear skies at Great Swamp before sleep, when you wake up the next day you have a chance to get free cash because the mutants are already dead. I also hired bodyguards at Rostok for less than 3000RU/day which helped a lot since they did most of the killing for me lol. Last but not least merchants buy/sell stuff at different prices so use it to your advantage. Nonetheless I think I'll quit playing soon cuz like you said progressing takes too much time. It's not a game like others that you can just jump in and have fun right away.

[Stake From JateFarm]

Those are some good tips. I've been poking around for the forums looking for what some good rules to live by are. This dude "Heresey" replied to my other threat (I shamelessly copied this one to Shadow of Chernobyl because I had no idea which one got more traffic) and he kinda leveled with me about what is important to focus on if you're interested in. Definately this mod seems like its got longevity. Dauntingly so.

[Heresy]

It has very good progression for an fps game with no rpg elements. You have to work your way up from nothing which is appealing to some and a turn off for others. Its about inventory management and survival. Sure you can become pretty buff later with good guns and gear but even with the very best possible items in the game you can still get absolutely rekt if you dont respect the zone.

Every time you venture into the zone you will learn something new and it will be different every single time.

[Draescan]

Actually less, don't focus so much on the progression and just focus on playing a role. Treat it like a rogue like where you create an idea for your character and run with it. If that means you work for clear sky trying to make enough money to buy a real stalker suit to push to the north and join duty, then go for it. It'll keep you focused on particular factions, narrow your vision a bit and make things more digestible.

[Reversed Front]

I'd like to clear things up before moving on... What's the best armor / mask early game? I'm still wearing those broken armor pieces from the soldiers I killed. The armors sell by the traders are so expensive and I doubt they really worth the price. Are there benefits to joining Clear Sky as a loner? Is it fine being a loner all the time? (Copied from the mod page since no one has answered yet)

[Draescan]

Originally posted by toto:

I'd like to clear things up before moving on... What's the best armor / mask early game? I'm still wearing those broken armor pieces from the soldiers I killed. The armors sell by the traders are so expensive and I doubt they really worth the price. Are there benefits to joining Clear Sky as a loner? Is it fine being a loner all the time? (Copied from the mod page since no one has answered yet)

Well joining a faction obviously comes with everyone in the faction liking you a bit more, which means any associated traders will possibly offer you discounts, however I think item unlocks are restricted to stalker rank ( can't be sure as I never spend enough time as a rookie to make note of it ) you can be a loner the entire time you play if you want. Won't change anything at all. Just play whatever ideology you synergize with.

As far the best armor and mask early on....honestly whatever you can bloody well get your hands on. Just compare things you find and pick up to get whatever you can wherever you can. Early on radiation protection is difficult to come by, and the radiation is a lot more subtle. Stay away from any areas that " look " like hot zones, keep some kind of anti rad on you, whatever it is, and try to look for simple jobs. Mutant killing jobs are normally easy in the swamps and cordon BUUUUT you run the risk of them running off to god knows where in the swamps. Try to look for territory missions and deliveries.

[Stake From JateFarm]

Mutant killing jobs in the swamp are the worst. Not impossible but you might as well be navigating a minefield with all that goes on there.

[Reversed Front]

Hi guys! How do you reach Doctor? The marker shows that he's on the top left corner, near a broken bridge of Great Swamp but I can't seem to get there as that place is surrounded by barriers and a river. Is it a bug?

edit: I think I found it... after a few tries on google I realised that he's inside a secret cave...

[Bonko]

you didnt get radiation, you got radiation reduction, if the rads symbol is flashing thats radiation, if its just normal then its radiation reduction

[Rautamies]

Originally posted by TryNoob_BonkoMcBonkinos:

you didnt get radiation, you got radiation reduction, if the rads symbol is flashing thats radiation, if its just normal then its radiation reduction

Did you really have to necro this old thread from early 2019... c'mon.

[Stake From JateFarm]

Originally posted by MISE | ミセトイ:

Originally posted by TryNoob_BonkoMcBonkinos:

you didnt get radiation, you got radiation reduction, if the rads symbol is flashing thats radiation, if its just normal then its radiation reduction

Did you really have to necro this old thread from early 2019... c'mon.

lol his advice isn't even valid on the new version of Anomaly