Advice for playing STALKER Anomaly

[Cyber Von Cyberus]

Hello stalkers, recently I've started playing the Anomaly mod. Had a couple of failed runs playing as a Merc and then a Clear Sky at first just to familiarise myself a bit with the mechanics and then I finally started as an Ecologist for my real first attempt.
So far so good I managed to make a bit of progress and to acquire some decent gear (Freedom SEVA suit, Veles detector, Spas12 and an MP5) however there are a few things that still bother me:
1. Where should I look for artefacts ? I know I should search anomaly clusters but so far I've only found the useless ones and in very small quantities.
2. How can I get better loot from enemies ? I understand their armour is busted since I did just shred them appart with a shotgun but their guns seem to literally self destruct, they're always below 50% condition so I can't even use the heavy repair kits to fix them, I always have to pay a technician an exhorbitant price.
3. According to the tips, old and damaged ammo degrade your guns faster, is that all they do ? Or does it have other effects like reduced damage or accuracy ?
4. Got swindled by Hip and she's now following me, I sort of hate her AI and think she's evil letting me die on purpose but I'll admit she is somewhat handy to have around and I'd like to at least have her using guns that work instead of broken ones she looted off a bandit. How much control do I have over my companion's weapons and what they're using ? Do they use consumables in their inventory ?
5. What is the point of giving Hip medkits (fourth dialogue option "could you carry this medkit for me ?") or giving her a detector ?

I will also appreciate any additional advice you might have.

(A bit off topic, but I HATE the great swamp. It's a horrible place and the area in which you have to search for Doctor feels like it is unfinished and out of bounds considering how there's radiation everywhere and you keep sliding off th hill for no bloody reason)

[Gorgeous Freeman]

1: That's about all there is to it, search clusters of anomalies marked on the map and hope you'll get lucky. Sometimes you'll get nothing, sometimes you'll stumble across a goldmine. Just gotta keep searching anomalies.

2: Again, you've pretty much covered it there, most equipment dropped by Stalkers is near broken, though there are some mods which make higher ranked stalkers drop loot in better condition. Aside from that tweaking the progression difficulty to be easier makes loot drops in general better.

3: Never used old or damaged ammo so cannot comment, I believe it just degrades your weapon which then results in lower accuracy and possibly damage, but don't quote me on that.

4: Never bothered with Hip, she always dies to military in my playthroughs. Companion AI in general is pretty poor so I don't bother with them.

5: See above answer.

[Redrick]

You only need 1 tip, one golden rule of the Zone: Come back with swag, a miracle; come back alive, success; come back with a bullet in your a$$, good luck, and everything else - thats fate.

[Cyber Von Cyberus]

Well thanks for the advice, I started learning how to use the repair system and it makes the broken guns berable, I also found an addon which allows me to modify my companion's inventory as I wish so now they are using proper weapons instead of carrying junk and I still have poor luck with my artifact hunting, I guess it's time I start moving to the red forest and Pripyat.

[Heresy]

Companions would be more of a hazard in Stalker than anything. I do not recommend using them at all.

They will:
-Push you out of the way wherever they are going
-Aggro on random crap
-get stuck and or lost
-Give away your position
-Ruin your plan of attack
and the list goes on but my personal favourite is
- SHOOT THROUGH YOU.

Thats right.... Know those times where you seemingly die from a headshot from nowhere? Then you rage out and have no idea what happened? Thats Hip shooting point blank through the back of your head killing you because you got in her line of fire.

I know all this from never personally using a companion. I know all this because thats how friendly NPC's are in this game and they are trash.

as for other Anomaly advice its all about Inventory management similar to misery. Learn the economy, get rep with different traders. Know the value per weight ratio of most items through trial and error then only keep the most profitable loot. THings like armour attachments, ammo, and high value low weight junk.

Several of the systems introduced through misery are tedious and pointless. Cooking, Manual gun repair, Drug making kits, Dismantling of every weapon for parts. Are all a waste of time and sanity. I mean if you enjoy any of those mechanics then thats cool and all and you should use them but they are not efficient by any means compared to what you could spend your time on.

Also in Anomaly talk to every single faction member you come across and do missions for them ( if they are reasonable) to get your reputation up for better goods at traders. It can be hard to find enough quests to get your rep up with some factions such as Military or Mercs.

[Cyber Von Cyberus]

Thank you for the extra advice, so far I haven't really had companion shoot me in the back (although Hip gave me a few close shaves with that RPG) and I'll admit she did grow on me so I personally like to keep her around just for fun and because I like having pack mules.

I don't mind the weapon part system too much and I like the glues and oils to keep your equipment in good condition, personally.

Right now my only issue is the rate at which armor and gun's condition degrade. I like using proto exosuits but their durability is schiess, unfortunately I haven't found any addons that reduce the condition degradation.

[Heresy]

Originally posted by Cyber Von Cyberus:

Thank you for the extra advice, so far I haven't really had companion shoot me in the back (although Hip gave me a few close shaves with that RPG) and I'll admit she did grow on me so I personally like to keep her around just for fun and because I like having pack mules.

I don't mind the weapon part system too much and I like the glues and oils to keep your equipment in good condition, personally.

Right now my only issue is the rate at which armor and gun's condition degrade. I like using proto exosuits but their durability is schiess, unfortunately I haven't found any addons that reduce the condition degradation.

Yes the weapon and armour repair system with the oils and glue and sewing kits are all essential and normal. I was refering to the weapon dismantling where you "break down" each broken gun for little springs and parts to further reduce repair costs. ( which is just pointless alongside the conventional repair means).

There are some things you can do to reduce suit and weapon degradation. Use only quality ammo in weapons as bad and dirty ammo will cook your barrel pretty fast. If i weapon or suit is already damaged it will be less effective and degrade faster and faster. So its important to keep things in good repair.

Kevlar and Steel plates are recommended for all combat armours as they reduce damage as well as increase the durability of your armour. They also stack for layers of defence. You can put 4 kevlar plates in a leather jacket with 0 durability and have something with equal protection as medium combat armour. It works even better in actual combat armour tho lol.


Also about Anomalies i never found any usefull ones in this mod. Found alot of junker ones with 100% efficiency stat and idk what that does..... They are worth a few thousand at least. Im sure that new artifacts appear as blowouts happen and also when you get better detectors but idk. Oh also a fully upgraded seva suit with 3 of the high end Surge protectors ( reduce electric damage and are worth like 150000 each) And you will still get 1 shot by electric anomalies so i said ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ artifact hunting in Anomaly lol. Thats my experience with hunting artifacts in ANomaly and ill prob never do it again.

[Cyber Von Cyberus]

Oh.. good advice, I overlooked the fact that kevlar and steel plates increased durability.
I find the junk artefacts to be rather annoying, I agree. I recommend getting an addon that changes them.
And Electros are THAT deadly ? I never really noticed since I always run with 5 titanium frames for the carry weight

[Heresy]

I couldnt go through the tunnel under the train tracks in Cordon which is between the two stalker bases with maximum Electrical resist the game could offer so said ♥♥♥♥ it.

Whats the point of investing nearly 1,000,000 RU in a Seva Suit, all its upgrades and attachments if they dont even do anything? Lol kinda tilted me

[Cyber Von Cyberus]

Strange.... I actually haven't seen any electos in that tunnel, only burnt fuzz.

[Heresy]

Who knows i just remember it was one of those patrolling balls of lightning that moves back in forth and explodes if it comes in contact with anything. Maybe those one shot you no matter what like spring boards and whirly gigs.

[Idk how to live]

Hip is strong and very useful in the game. I just gave her SPAS and machine gun, she rushes forward and just annihilates everything on the map. All I needed to do is to lead her and loot dead bodies of poor souls who didn't manage to escape from this ultimate killing machine. She spots all enemies, distracts them, kills them, has infinite ammo and hp regen, and she carries my inventories. That's exactly a work that a woman should do for her teammate in the zone. She is immune to radiation and anomalies as well. I also wanted her to loot artifacts in anomalies for me and gave her a detector, but she is to lazy for that. Anyway, good job Hip

[Cyber Von Cyberus]

Originally posted by Idk how to live:

Hip is strong and very useful in the game. I just gave her SPAS and machine gun, she rushes forward and just annihilates everything on the map. All I needed to do is to lead her and loot dead bodies of poor souls who didn't manage to escape from this ultimate killing machine. She spots all enemies, distracts them, kills them, has infinite ammo and hp regen, and she carries my inventories. That's exactly a work that a woman should do for her teammate in the zone. She is immune to radiation and anomalies as well. I also wanted her to loot artifacts in anomalies for me and gave her a detector, but she is to lazy for that. Anyway, good job Hip

Ever since the update made the addon which allows to fully access companion's inventory outdated, I cannot bear to use Hip or any other companion anymore since they keep picking up broken guns that keep jamming from the ground and using them instead of the perfectly serviceable SCAR I gave them.

[Idk how to live]

Originally posted by Cyber Von Cyberus:

Originally posted by Idk how to live:

Hip is strong and very useful in the game. I just gave her SPAS and machine gun, she rushes forward and just annihilates everything on the map. All I needed to do is to lead her and loot dead bodies of poor souls who didn't manage to escape from this ultimate killing machine. She spots all enemies, distracts them, kills them, has infinite ammo and hp regen, and she carries my inventories. That's exactly a work that a woman should do for her teammate in the zone. She is immune to radiation and anomalies as well. I also wanted her to loot artifacts in anomalies for me and gave her a detector, but she is to lazy for that. Anyway, good job Hip

Ever since the update made the addon which allows to fully access companion's inventory outdated, I cannot bear to use Hip or any other companion anymore since they keep picking up broken guns that keep jamming from the ground and using them instead of the perfectly serviceable SCAR I gave them.

Well, I guess it depends on the version of the game and mods, I play default GAMMA modpack with a couple of extra mods. It provides options to disable looting by your teammates and (maybe) has enhanced companions AI. My Hip uses SPAS to kill mutants and machine gun to kill guys. very smart

[Cyber Von Cyberus]

Originally posted by Idk how to live:

Originally posted by Cyber Von Cyberus:

Ever since the update made the addon which allows to fully access companion's inventory outdated, I cannot bear to use Hip or any other companion anymore since they keep picking up broken guns that keep jamming from the ground and using them instead of the perfectly serviceable SCAR I gave them.

Well, I guess it depends on the version of the game and mods, I play default GAMMA modpack with a couple of extra mods. It provides options to disable looting by your teammates and (maybe) has enhanced companions AI. My Hip uses SPAS to kill mutants and machine gun to kill guys. very smart

I wish my own PC was better, can't play Gamma on it, Anomaly doesn't have that option.

Sadly the one I'm using atm is borrowed so I can't really mess around with a modpack as hefty as Gamma on it.

[FWÆH]

don't play it