S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Series Megathread: "A Typical Day In The Zone" - Games

I'm working on a new (edited from existing GSC work) stalker model I showed off a few months ago and took a break from. I am attempting to get the stalker skeleton rig working on him but its very temperamental. Either it majorly fucks up like that, or mildly fucks up like his fingers, wrist, and parts of his torso.

Dunno if we're allowed to crosspost franchises here, but I kinda hope a STALKER 2 takes hints from how Fallout handled the power armor. Granted, STALKER only deals in Exoskeletons and similar frameworks, but the weight was carried across really well in the unique animation sets, the sound effects and the size changes when you got in. Bethesda handled it pretty well for being, you know, Bethesda. GSC could do something amazing with these ideas.

[QUOTE=MrHeadHopper;49206060]Dunno if we're allowed to crosspost franchises here, but I kinda hope a STALKER 2 takes hints from how Fallout handled the power armor. Granted, STALKER only deals in Exoskeletons and similar frameworks, but the weight was carried across really well in the unique animation sets, the sound effects and the size changes when you got in. Bethesda handled it pretty well for being, you know, Bethesda. GSC could do something amazing with these ideas.[/QUOTE] Exoskeletons aren't really power armor, though. You could argue that maybe, but exoskeletons don't have massive plates that envelop you from head to toe. They have heavy ceramic plates and a hydraulics system that lets you haul it around and optionally in Call of Pripyat you can get titanium plating in there, but it's all under fabric. You can easily expose your skin with a tear and such, not to mention that there's not a whole lot of electronics involved. It's mostly really mechanical. You're gaining some mass, but not much volume. Maybe if they had some experimental X-lab armor like that, I might have that idea, but at the moment the thing GUNSLINGER is doing with footstep sounds is as far as I think you'd really have any incentive to go.

There's a difference between power armor and a powered exoskeleton (as least in the context of most fiction). Power armor is typically an enclosed/enclosing system, while an exoskeleton is just worn and doesn't necessarily need armor (or can be worn with any armor). Exoskeletons don't even need to be powered to work, but you can't have power armor without power. STALKER's exoskeletons can be worn on pretty much any suit, as long as it's adapted to it.

Maybe if somebody taped a Radsuit, a bunch of metal plating, and an extra Kevlar overlay over a SEVA and enabled the wearer to walk around with some cutting edge, Matt Damon-tier exoskeleton. Not exactly something that you'd see outside of a really rare occasion, anyways. Much rarer than the power armor in Fallout. [editline]29th November 2015[/editline] But hey, if you can't afford the exoskeleton, you can always roll your stalker-tank into battle in a trolley! He'd move faster downhill than the exoskeleton user, anyways.

There hasn't been loads of news in the stalker world on the surface, but below it there's so much good stuff going on that it's seriously hard for me to keep my excitement to myself.

tbh that kinda power armor would just suck dick in the Zone. As if an exo isn't limiting your movement already, how are you expected to lurk around and avoid anomaly fields in a bulky tin can of power armor? That's the same reason why vehicles aren't really common at all. It's better to be agile than overprotected in a majority of cases in the Zone, although exos do have their place as the RPG of armor; the best thing you can have in a handful of situations.

Wormwood Status Report for November is up :) [url]http://alexkane.co.uk/wormwood-status-report-november-2015/[/url]

[QUOTE='[Green];49214528']tbh that kinda power armor would just suck dick in the Zone. As if an exo isn't limiting your movement already, how are you expected to lurk around and avoid anomaly fields in a bulky tin can of power armor? That's the same reason why vehicles aren't really common at all. It's better to be agile than overprotected in a majority of cases in the Zone, although exos do have their place as the RPG of armor; the best thing you can have in a handful of situations.[/QUOTE] Yeah, generally the highest up I'll go is a SEVA suit or something like the CS assault armor. I prefer to not get hit at all by picking people off with stealth or long range than tanking damage.

[QUOTE='[Green];49214528']tbh that kinda power armor would just suck dick in the Zone. As if an exo isn't limiting your movement already, how are you expected to lurk around and avoid anomaly fields in a bulky tin can of power armor? That's the same reason why vehicles aren't really common at all. It's better to be agile than overprotected in a majority of cases in the Zone, although exos do have their place as the RPG of armor; the best thing you can have in a handful of situations.[/QUOTE] Most anomalies in game are stationary or follow patterns, right? You could bolt strat everything, you wouldn't neccessarily have to take damage if you're bolty enough. I do think it'd be a nice thing though to buff up an Exoskeleton somehow. Games with properly done heavy armor are really nice and while STALKER doesn't have to be one of them, it'd still be neat.

Ive never actually used exoskeltons in stalker.

[QUOTE=Shirky;49216963]Ive never actually used exoskeltons in stalker.[/QUOTE] probably because they're total ass and disable sprint.

In CoP you can upgrade them not to

[QUOTE=cdr248;49217099]probably because they're total ass and disable sprint.[/QUOTE] except in Call of Pripyat where they decided "fuck it let's just make this objectively the best armor you can ever have in late game"

[QUOTE='[Green];49217322']except in Call of Pripyat where they decided "fuck it let's just make this objectively the best armor you can ever have in late game"[/QUOTE] STALKER's always kind of been like that though the FN-F2000 has always been objectively the best gun you can have in the late game the SEVA has always been the end-all be-all suit for most purposes etc

Can't really think about too many downsides to the Exo other than something like maintenance costs and power supply. In terms of maneuverability shouldn't it be not a complete piece of shit since the point of an exoskeleton is to remove the majority of the weight off of the wearer? [editline]30th November 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=Lyokanthrope;49217491]STALKER's always kind of been like that though the FN-F2000 has always been objectively the best gun you can have in the late game the SEVA has always been the end-all be-all suit for most purposes etc[/QUOTE] STALKER's never been the best at sidegrades tbh. Almost everything is either better or worse than something else. The only real sidegrades is just when stuff is totally better, but oh no the ammo is rare for a couple of hours.

yeah STALKER has always had a linear progression to equipment which I've always kind of disliked, but at the same time I hate weapon mods that make every weapon perform 'realistically' (read: exactly the same) which makes getting anything better than an aks-74u pointless

To be fair I can't exactly agree in a sense. In a sense that I feel the progression isn't as harsh as implied, and made sense. Things like weapon modification starved off the progression to an extent or even greatly if you really got into your gear and how it functioned. While weapons did progress, they progressed in groups that typically kept niches around. From Tier 1 to Tier 3 there was always multiple choices. But I suppose really, I guess the reason why I don't look at it the same way as a direct upgrade in some RPG, is because it pretty much makes sense. You go from using cheap shitty ass guns from some shitty soviet stockpile to top-tier equipment for serious missions and raids. Its very natural and makes logical sense as to why it happens and how it happens. It never really felt like I was arbitrarily going from level 1 to level 10, but instead realized that as my journey led me deeper into the abyss, my equipment would have to handle what faced me. So honestly I think Stalker had acceptable amount of side-grade weaponry per tier, the final two games added weapon customization which helped a lot, and honestly how you upgrade into newer levels of equipment makes organic sense on both a logical/story/setting level and gameplay level.

[QUOTE=Lyokanthrope;49217696]yeah STALKER has always had a linear progression to equipment which I've always kind of disliked, but at the same time I hate weapon mods that make every weapon perform 'realistically' (read: exactly the same) which makes getting anything better than an aks-74u pointless[/QUOTE] I like that because then I choose a gun I like instead of the one that has better stats.

[QUOTE=Teh Zip File;49217974]I like that because then I choose a gun I like instead of the one that has better stats.[/QUOTE] I guess another part of the issue for me is that the economy in the games is super easy to manipulate, you can get loads of cash super easily through artifacts and selling crap guns, which makes the higher tier weapons easily accessible early on.

[QUOTE=Teh Zip File;49217974]I like that because then I choose a gun I like instead of the one that has better stats.[/QUOTE] I like this, too. Also my precious immersion suffers something fierce when 2 weapons have very different damage with the same ammo, though this is rare in the better mods. Ammo availability is a bigger gate than price of the weapon in many mods. For eg, 7.62x51 is expensive and doesn't drop often or in quantity in this Misery 1 run. Hawaiian and Owl only stock a 30 round box at a time too. I want to use a Galil or the FAL I found, but unless things change in Pripyat, I may be using the AN-94 or Strelok's SIG forever depending on what drops more often.

[QUOTE=Lyokanthrope;49218059]I guess another part of the issue for me is that the economy in the games is super easy to manipulate, you can get loads of cash super easily through artifacts and selling crap guns, which makes the higher tier weapons easily accessible early on.[/QUOTE] Yeah but aren't you some STALKER Wizard with like 50000+ million hours in the game. I ain't ever done this manipulation shit, how did I fuck up so badly

[QUOTE=doommarine23;49218409]Yeah but aren't you some STALKER Wizard with like 50000+ million hours in the game. I ain't ever done this manipulation shit, how did I fuck up so badly[/QUOTE] well I mean just find artifacts and sell them you'll be swimming in rubledollars in no time

[QUOTE=Teh Zip File;49217974]I like that because then I choose a gun I like instead of the one that has better stats.[/QUOTE] Yeah, I don't think I've seen a mod where almost every gun handles the same. At the very least they divide by caliber, so the 5.56 ones might be more accurate but less damage still, while the Warsaw pact guns deal higher damage but might be less accurate, etc. I will say I'm not a fan of having like 15 AK variants that are all basically the same with different camos/skins, so if he means that then I agree. [editline]1st December 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=Lyokanthrope;49218059]I guess another part of the issue for me is that the economy in the games is super easy to manipulate, you can get loads of cash super easily through artifacts and selling crap guns, which makes the higher tier weapons easily accessible early on.[/QUOTE] I think there comes a certain point where you just have to accept that you know how to play the game, meta and all. Even if I play Misery or something with a lot of scarcity I'm usually fine after a bit, it just might take slightly longer to reach that next phase, because I know how to conserve my ammo, pick my fights, and loot efficiently. Short of playing something completely unfair and unbalanced, or purposed handicapping myself there's not really a way around it.

[QUOTE=Ghost101;49219417]I will say I'm not a fan of having like 15 AK variants that are all basically the same with different camos/skins, so if he means that then I agree.[/QUOTE] I find a fuck tonne of weapon variations to be immersive instead of everyone walking around with the same gun.

[QUOTE=K1ngo64;49219651]I find a fuck tonne of weapon variations to be immersive instead of everyone walking around with the same gun.[/QUOTE] It depends on how different they are Like if they're literally the same gun with a different appearance that's kinda lame. It'd be cool if you'd find cheaper/shittier/poorly maintained variants on banditos and newbies, that degrade faster, have poorer accuracy, etc [editline]1st December 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=Ghost101;49219417]Yeah, I don't think I've seen a mod where almost every gun handles the same. At the very least they divide by caliber, so the 5.56 ones might be more accurate but less damage still, while the Warsaw pact guns deal higher damage but might be less accurate, etc. I will say I'm not a fan of having like 15 AK variants that are all basically the same with different camos/skins, so if he means that then I agree. [editline]1st December 2015[/editline] I think there comes a certain point where you just have to accept that you know how to play the game, meta and all. Even if I play Misery or something with a lot of scarcity I'm usually fine after a bit, it just might take slightly longer to reach that next phase, because I know how to conserve my ammo, pick my fights, and loot efficiently. Short of playing something completely unfair and unbalanced, or purposed handicapping myself there's not really a way around it.[/QUOTE] and...yeah, sadly that's true. but that's what mods are for. Part of the issue with money in stalker is that there is really no way to spend it once you've upgraded your preferred gear. I still want to see a decently implemented mod for artifact containers. Having to buy (relatively expensive) containers to carry artifacts without hurting yourself would increase the difficulty of money-making at least a little bit. A greater variety in artifact/anomaly detectors would be nice too, imo. though in the end I guess it just delays the inevitable.

[QUOTE=Lyokanthrope;49217491]the SEVA has always been the end-all be-all suit for most purposes [/QUOTE] It was nerfed in Call of Pripyat, though. And I don't think it was all that good in CS either. [QUOTE=Lyokanthrope;49217696]at the same time I hate weapon mods that make every weapon perform 'realistically' (read: exactly the same) which makes getting anything better than an aks-74u pointless[/QUOTE] I agree, I like the feeling of progressing in gear.

[QUOTE=Lyokanthrope;49219687]It depends on how different they are Like if they're literally the same gun with a different appearance that's kinda lame. It'd be cool if you'd find cheaper/shittier/poorly maintained variants on banditos and newbies, that degrade faster, have poorer accuracy, etc[/QUOTE] now i'm not entirely sure how good this would feel in practice, but it would be cool if you picked guns based more on unique qualities and how they handle instead of arbitrary damage values. like taking a statistically inferior SMG into a cramped bunker so you can easily shoot dudes who all brought super huge machine guns. it would make for more viable end-game guns at least

I think a mod that devalues regular artifacts and requires you to merge different types of artifacts to create new ones that are worth a damn might be interesting

[B]MOTY 2015[/B] It's that time of year again! New media abound over the course of the month, but please make sure you click one of the images below to head to the ModDB page, hit the homepage and click to vote! [URL="http://www.moddb.com/mods/stalker-wormwood/images/sunken#imagebox"][t]http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/15/14909/2015-12-01_00007_WM.png[/t][/URL] [url=http://www.moddb.com/mods/stalker-wormwood/images/damp#imagebox][t]http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/15/14909/2015-12-01_00005_WM.png[/t][/url]