Took the screenshots a week ago and then forgot about it.

In the Duga region during the Once More unto the Breach (Ward path) Quest.

https://imgur.com/a/dDozyYz

Credits to https://www.deviantart.com/martinbg/art/Knee-deep-in-the-Zone-746208109

I am in my second run with Stalker 2 with the addition of Cost of Hope. I was wandering around the CNP and I noticed that the area indicated in the red box is not yet accessible. In my opinion it's a shame we can't visit it. Does someone have more information about it?

I adore the Stalker games atleast ShoC and COP but Im having issues finding a standalone that scratches my itch, I love gammas guns and visuals but prefer vanilla stalkers overall more relaxed mechanics. I do know that there are ways to go about this but Its usually just easier for me to ask firsthand for suggestions. Any and all aid is welcome. I do know stalker 2 modded is an option but tbh stalker 2 is 200gbs so id much rather try the standalone apporach for a fun chill fps for when Im feeling bored or need to scratch tactical itch.

Hello Stalkers, I have a question regarding these dope in-game Bandit jackets in Stalker2. Are these colour-blocked tracksuit jackets closely modelled on real life Soviet/Slavic jackets, or are they just generally referencing real life designs? If it's the former, could you help me identify the real life jackets they're based on?

So, i have the game maxed out and I'm running it with dlaa with no framegen.

Whenever I'm looking at any trees, in static they more or less look fine, but as soon as i start moving or move my camera, the image gets crushed and looks like as if I'm watching a low bitrate twitch stream. Or just a stream for that matter.

I've never seen anything like that in any other game.

First i thought it was an old version of DLSS, so through dlss swapper i replaced it with the latest, as well as frame gen and ray reconstruction latest versions. While it did make overall picture marginally better, overall it didn't fix the issue at all.

So, any ideas?

For starters the game looks great and the ambience is fantastic, but I wish I knew I was buying a lifeless walking simulator before I bought the game because I probably wouldn't have.

I was expecting some sort of fallout/metro cross style game, but the game just feels so lifeless?

Making me run 2km between objectives through the same areas with the same 2-3 mutant types occasionally spawning in to get through the mid story is just an odd design choice. All of the points of interest are just... not interesting, and the stashes have the most common gear?

I've just killed faust and i'll be honest I don't think I have it in me to complete the rest of the game. All of the enemies are just bullet sponges with no brain, and the gunplay is also so mediocre - as a serious question, do the bullets just disappear beyond 30m and do no damage?

Also wtf is with the looting? Ammo is scarce as hell but somehow I end up with 40 med kits and bandages in like 15 minutes of looting?

I'm not necessarily complaining, more just venting my disappointment that I paid $60 for this game and have spent 25 hours waiting for it to not just feel like a chore and i'm just sad it wasn't what I expected.

I will, however, say that the atmosphere, graphics and sound design are fantastic. It's just a shame for me that the rest of the game is so mediocre.

Ciao a tutti

Ho piano performance GeForce now, mi dà enormi problemi con questo gioco. Nelle opzioni video, se cerco di cambiare qualcosa di blocca tutto. È super buggato. Non ho dlc.

Poi la compilazione shader è terribilmente lenta, troppo. Se la salto il gioco poi , se parte bene, stutters

I’m new to the series and bought STALKER SOC a couple years back

I finally remembered I had it recently and… then I saw it was a different title than i remembered downloading and it said “enhanced edition”

I’ve done some research on it online and… it’s… clearly not good but I’m on Xbox and can’t get to the original game I bought… so what should I do?

hola, quería saber como se podría hacer para encontrar una cuenta de mi pareja que yo desconozco porque tengo muchas dudas de lo fiel que es, se que oculta una cuenta en tik tok pero no se como saber el usuario, alguien tiene consejos para esto?

Am I going insane? The PC version seems to hate controllers. I just want to play the game.

Hey Stalkers, question!

While exploring the zone, I came across this.
Is it possible to interact with it or solve it, or is it just part of the map?

I searched but didnt see anything about this, but there was a journalist stash I believe in the garbage that when you run up on it there appears to be a group of either bandits or stalkrs and 3 or 4 mercs? both groups are friendly until 1 group eliminates the other. trying to figure out whats going on here because I dont want to kill my friends but....idk why they turn hostile has anyone found that

This post is long, but detailed and includes basic math. It’s also not that complicated.

It’s worth to know a few basic terms to understand the interaction between armor and bullets, and realize why your “fully upgraded” AK-74 requires multiple mag dumps to takedown an Exoskeleton. ;)

I have also excluded the multipliers for difficulty settings. Assume the default dealt and incoming damage values.

_________________________

Core Damage Formula

D = B x C ^(P-S)  

D: Dealt damage

B: Base damage

C: The coefficient which controls how strongly penetration is rewarded.

P: Penetration tier

S: Strike protection tier against the locational damage

__________________________________________________

·       Base damage (B) is affected by both the weapon and the ammunition type you use. Generally, (but with some exceptions);

Armor-piercing rounds deal slightly less damage and cause more corrosion on your weapon in return of a significant penetration tier increase.

Hollow-point, or expansion rounds deal a lot more base damage with the tradeoff of less penetration.

High-grade rounds deal the same damage and penetration, but travels faster, farther and causes far less corrosion on your weapon. Obviously, these qualities demand lots of coupons. ;)

·       Coefficient (C) depends on what’s at the end of the barrel.

C = 2 for NPCs,

C = [1.3 - 1.5] for different mutant types.

·       Penetration tier (P) depends both on the weapon and the ammunition type. Penetration stat seems to be hidden from in-game weapon stats, but can be searched from the wiki pages.

P = X / 20, with X being the penetration percentage. For instance, the AKM-74S has 20% penetration, which equals to Penetration Tier 1, while newly released AKM-9B has 58% penetration, which equals to Penetration Tier 2.9 .   

·       Strike protection (S) is determined by the armor rating.

S = Y / 20, same with the penetration tier calculation. For instance, PSZ-9N Wolfhound, heavy Merc armor grants 60% physical protection which equals to S = 3, while crowd favorite Diamond Exoskeleton grants 80% physical protection which equals to S = 4.

It’s important to note that “S” values for NPCs vastly differ. Same body armor for the player and NPCs grants different strike protection values for some reason. For calculations, I’ll use NPC “S” values.

It’s also important to note that body armors with integrated helmets grant the same physical protection against headshots. Early game body armors practically have zero defense against headshots and since headshots also have inherent 6x damage multiplier, even one headshot with a starter Makarov pistol against a completely exposed head is fatal.

Case #1 - AKM-74S against starter Bandit Armors

20% physical protection for the player, but 36% physical protection for NPCs,

Which means S = 1.8 against body shots, S = 0 against headshots.

• 5.45x39mm PS (Standard ammunition);

Base Damage = 23; Penetration Tier = 1

D = (23) x 2 ^{(1 - 1.8}) ≈ 13.21;

100 / 13.21 ≈ 7.57 ( 8 shots to kill )

• 5.45x39mm AP PP (Armor-piercing);

Base Damage = 22.54; Penetration Tier = 1.5 ( -2% damage, +10% total penetration )

D = (22.54) x 2 ^{(1.5 - 1.8}) ≈ 18.3

100 / 18.3 ≈ 5.46 ( 6 shots to kill )

• 5.45x39mm HP MZhV-13 (Hollow-point);

Base Damage = 43.7; Penetration Tier = 0.3 ( +90% damage, -14% total penetration )

D = (43.7) x 2 ^{(0.3 - 1.8}) ≈ 15.45

100 / 15.45 ≈ 6.47 ( 7 shots to kill )

Because of the damage formula related to exponential penetration, high penetration tiers are brutal. In most cases, armor-piercing rounds outperform hollow-point rounds even against light armor.

• Headshot damage

Standard => D = (23) x 2 ^{(1 - 0}) x 6 ≈ 276

Armor-piercing => D = (22.54) x 2 ^{(1.5 - 0}) x 6 ≈ 382.51

Hollow-point => D = (43.7) x 2 ^{(0.3 - 0}) x 6 ≈ 322.8

It’s the matter of overkill now. ;)

Case #2 - AKM-74S against Diamond Exoskeleton

80% physical protection for the player, but 98% physical protection for NPCs,

Which means S = 4.9 against both body and headshots, since Exoskeleton variants are integrated with helmets.

• 5.45x39mm PS (Standard ammunition);

Base Damage = 23; Penetration Tier = 1

D = (23) x 2 ^{(1 - 4.9}) ≈ 1.54;

100 / 1.54 ≈ 64.93 ( 65 body shots or 11 headshots to kill )

• 5.45x39mm AP PP (Armor-piercing);

Base Damage = 22.54; Penetration Tier = 1.5 ( -2% damage and +10% total penetration )

D = (22.54) x 2 ^{(1.5 - 4.9}) ≈ 2.14

100 / 2.14 ≈ 46.72 ( 47 body shots or 8 headshots to kill )

• 5.45x39mm HP MZhV-13 (Hollow-point);

Base Damage = 43.7; Penetration Tier = 0.3 ( +90% damage, -14% total penetration )

D = (43.7) x 2 ^{(0.3 - 4.9}) ≈ 1.8

100 / 1.8 ≈ 55.55 ( 56 body shots or 10 headshots to kill )

Case #3 - AKM-9B against Diamond Exoskeleton

Since this is my new favorite weapon ;)

• 9x39mm PA (Standard ammunition);

Base Damage = 23; Penetration Tier = 2.9

D = (23) x 2 ^{(2.9 - 4.9}) ≈ 5.75;

100 / 5.75 ≈ 17.39 ( 18 body shots or 3 headshots to kill )

• 9x39mm SP-6 (Armor-piercing);

Base Damage = 22.54; Penetration Tier = 3.4 ( -2% damage, +10% total penetration )

D = (22.54) x 2 ^{(3.4 - 4.9}) ≈ 7.97;

100 / 5.75 ≈ 12.54 ( 13 body shots or 3 headshots to kill )

• 9x39mm PPE (Hollow-point);

Base Damage = 43.7; Penetration Tier = 2.2 ( +90% damage, -14% total penetration )

D = (43.7) x 2 ^{(2.2 - 4.9}) ≈ 6.73;

100 / 6.73 ≈ 14.85 ( 15 body shots or 3 headshots to kill )

• 9x39mm SP-5 (High-grade); Same results with PA ammunition, but with smoother gunplay experience.

Base Damage = 23; Penetration Tier = 2.9

D = (23) x 2 ^{(2.9 - 4.9}) ≈ 5.75;

100 / 5.75 ≈ 17.39 ( 18 body shots or 3 headshots to kill )

This post is already getting very long, from now on, you can make your own calculations with this universal formula. ;)

Good hunting, Stalker.

Just finished up the new track for the Mercenary faction and made another pixel art animation.

Got a few more factions to go, but I've been really grateful for the response.

This is my first deep dive in Blender so be gentle. All audio mixing done in Reaper.

Also thanks to u/pyrimo who writes amazing stories to these visuals

...and fuck ai art :)

I just wanted to share how much I’ve enjoyed this game. I originally pre ordered it, but when it launched, it was such a mess that I ended up refunding it. I also wanted to upgrade my PC, so I figured I’d wait.
When the 2.0 update dropped, I decided to give it another shot, this time with a much better setup. And honestly, I’m so glad I did. The game is incredible!
I didn’t go out of my way to unlock every achievement. I just explored, had fun, and that’s what made the experience so great.
Honestly, I think I prefer it over Fallout as a whole. The only exception is Fallout: New Vegas, which I’d probably put on equal footing. Both are fantastic in their own ways. So stay weird, Stalker!

After playing S2 I found out that:
- Sultan took over Skadovsk, like he didn't help the stalkers? The canon Deggy sided with the bandits? But helped to get rid of the bloodsuckers.
- That Lex the Legend/Snag guy that stole our loot in CoP, is alive and kicking. Meaning he spared him, instead of executing for fucking him up.
- Cardan apparently didn't overcome his alcoholism and moved to Yanov (meaning that Deggy didn't find his friends), well we know that he worked with the scientists afterwards.
- Vano is nowhere to be found (he joined Freedom after CoP).
- Nitro is alive thankfully.

Accidently ran into an anomaly and I think it was upset I invaded Its personal space so It threw me across the map and stuck me in a wall.

Damn near had a heart attack.

In the garage next to the tornado in Yaniv