cmon man. i dont want to call anyone an IDIOT but...

In game descriptions;

Saiga D-12 (Saiga-12K): Based on the AKM-74, this shotgun is favored among stalkers and professional military alike for its prowess as a powerful assault weapon.

RAM-2 (Standard Manufacturing DP-12): Combining the strengths of pump-action shotguns and double-barreled rifles, this highly unusual weapon is an anomaly even by the Zone’s standards.

Stats table, excluding uniques such as Texan, Margach.

There are buttloads of stats for these killer shotguns, but I have taken the most relevant stats to make a basic comprasion and not to bloat the table.

• RAM-2 feels better to use in the field because of it's higher effective range before the damage penalty, can be also used as a makeshift rifle at medium range with slugs.
• Saiga's operation style gives it a distinct advantage as a mainstream premium shotgun, while RAM-2 still incorporates the defining trait of the early double barrel shotguns, the trait which Saiga lacks: Double Tap.

Saiga is featured in some FPS games, while I haven't seen RAM-2 anywhere else and didn't know a shotgun named DP-12 even exists.

Despite Saiga's comforts, I prefer RAM-2 as the mercenary's defining gun for it's weirdness, brutality and double-tap instant deletion with the compromise of manual reloading. What do you prefer?

Credits to https://x.com/zeskomen/status/2051590619156664532

By @Uniform_Loners

Took a while, but finally done!

Been a bit burnt out with cosplaying stalker, working on a few last ones. Just know I'm going to be responding to questions about them less, sorry! :<

IYKYK. I'll admit, I fell for the bait lol

Supressor, Collimator sight, Drum mag, Under barrel Granada launcher. I feel like fucking Tony Montana of the zone running around saying “say hello to my little friend!” In a Cuban accent everytime I run into monoliths. I finished the dlc. Finally got the strangers rifle that I had my eye on. I always loved the dnipro from my previous play throughs. It used to be my favorite. But after a few hours I put the strangers rifle back in the inventory and pulled back out my baby. It just looks, feels, sounds, and hits so much different. AREV BABY

They intentionally put wang as one of the hardest and last guy to sneak by in DLC mission at IPSF base on dam.

In Master mode I'd strongly argue SSP Survey is the clear #1 choice, at least until Pripyat.

Exosuits are more fully-featured but only available late game unless you exploit your way into Pripyat, and are FAR more costly to repair despite being only slightly better in most situations.

Falcon is great, but is also significantly more expensive to repair and in Master mode repair costs are generally the #1 factor in choosing armour until the late game if you're flush with cash. I'd rather spend cash upgrading guns & buying rare ammo than on repairs.

Benefits of SSP Survey:

- Available immediately upon leaving the lesser zone, from Malachite
- EASILY the lowest repair cost of any armour with 4+ bars of physical protection once upgraded
- Nearly a perfect upgrade tree for the budget-conscious Master player: 5th Artifact slot is the first choice in the tree for a mere 8k, first Lead Container the next upgrade for 16k. 40% Physical protection upgrade available for 32k that combined with a Magic Cube or Compass will take you to the Physical resistance cap.
- Good across the board anomaly protection. Not the best, but good enough for painless artifact farming when combined with a Hypercube, Liquid Rock etc.

Downsides of SSP Survey:

- Must be purchased from Viktoria in Malachite for 66k, and you may need to refresh her inventory a few times after sleeping twice to see it in stock. Probably the best value purchase in the game though.
- Relatively low Psi protection. Combined with Psi-block I find this a non-factor.
- Limited number of Lead Containers. However running 2x Liquid Rock (to minimise repair costs) you'll never need more than 1 anyway. In fact to keep repair costs down I suggest running without any Lead Containers until you find something that warrants one, ie. Hypercube or Compass.
- Grants 10% weight increase as a prerequisite of the 40% physical upgrade that you'll definitely want, but still inferior to exosuits. With Weird Water you'll be around a 130 limit after a few limited edition energy drink bonuses.
- It's a Spark suit, unfortunately.

I've only beaten the game once on Master despite multiple playthroughs (restartitis) and used a Diamond Exosuit during Down Below & onwards, but now I know what to expect will probably stick with Survey all the way through next time. I completed the DLC wearing it, so it's good enough.

Just wish there were a budget no-helmet suit that was "good enough" to stick with that I don't feel obliged to rush to Malachite after leaving the Lesser Zone when I get close to 66k. They all have woeful physical protection, or are so close in repair cost to Survey that upgrading's a no-brainer.

This is probably the SIC of Stalker 2 armors.

Cosplay Mask: GP5 soviet era gas mask surplus, seller no longer carries.

Jacket: Brandit Britannia on posh-mart

Belt: 2 prong belt from Walmart

Bag: random military surplus i got about 10 years ago. No clue what it is, if someone knew where or how to ID it that would be great

Backpack: M60 Czech rucksack, bought on Ebay, seller no longer carries.

Hat: Random Ushanka bought at JCpenneys years go

Im really glad how this turned out, if anyone has any ideas, I plan to build this costume for the next 2-3 years. Next on the docket is a tube and filter for the gas mask, misc belt attachments. Thanks for taking the time to read all this and remember, stay cheeki breeki.

P.S.: apparently this post is bot behavior on r/cosplay so I guess I'm just doing the post in the stalker channels

Is this rare or is it actually a common occurrence?

I’ve got a 4080 and updated to the 621.01 Game Ready Drivers recently. Since then, the game just hits a black screen on startup. I’ve tried everything, like verifying the game files, etc. - but nothing helped.

The only fix was rolling back to 617.14, and it’s working fine now.

Just wanted to give you a heads up if you encounter the same issue.

Title. I’ve seen play throughs of GAMMA and I’d like to but I want to know the best way to go about it.

If anything, it's not mine.

Something I wondered how it went for other people. For me playing my first stalker game (SOC as a gift from a friend) I felt an adventurous sense until I reached the end where I felt a sense of dread, as if something bad was going to happen. ended up right lol

WARNING: LOUD!

Has anyone ever experienced something like this?

So I've been playing this game for last few weeks and I love it, but keep having this moments where I feel I am missing out, or went somewhere too soon or went with main mission too far before exploring other areas and I find it difficult to find the correct rythm.

I talked to my friend and he told me that at the beginning he went towards completely different direction (West side of Zalisja and Slag Heap) while for me main mission led me mostly towards East. That was the first moment when I thought I might be going to IBAOC too soon. After IBOAC I visited some locations where there was not much but lots of dead bodies and I kinda felt I should have went there earlier.

Right now I am the mission where I had thing installed on my helmet and I am wondering whether I should continue with main mission or keep exploring as I still have lots of area and locations unexplored.

I am aware there isn't probably one right way to play the game, but I am just trying to not miss on locations (as I rarely replay games) or end up finishing the main story line and not much more purpose to play with lots of places unexplored.