STALKER Clear Sky beginners guides

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1.10 mines: home of the poltergeists

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when i arrived at the mine everyone (except the poltergeists) was dead.

The red forest underground contains a shedload of loot. There are ac96/2

rifles everywhere. Also several artifacts including the compass. It's worth

50000ru but you can't sell it ( part of the main quest). I walked straight

inside, turned right, and there was the compass artifact jumping around on a

table. Didn't even need to use a detector.

> the poltergeists here are a pair of mischievous spirits that throw stuff

around. You get hit with a crate or a gun it'll take two/three bandages to

heal! Thanks to ricoblack for putting me on the right track here. Climb down

the ladder then back to the top. This will trigger the two ghosts. Use one

of the ac96/2s to shoot them from above. I used ten save points, 10 medikits

and 30 bandages before i killed them. Collect the stash over head, then go

down the ladder for an artifact. There's a passage back to the main tunnel.

> when you finish the mine and have all the red forest stashes, follow the

main mission again: 'talk to the freedom outpost commander. ' you now have

a short excursion to the military warehouse map. The outpost commander tells

you that the army has lost control.

> see the mercenaries in the village. They have 'misplaced' a squad of

stalkers during the last emission when they became trapped in a

space anomaly'loop'. First kill some bloodsuckers, then climb a tower to

receive a radio transmission giving the mercs' co-ordinates. When you climb

down from the tower, leap onto the lowest ledge and clean up the pseudo-dogs

waiting to ambush you.

> talk to forester. He requires the compass artifact to lead the mercs out

of the space anomaly bubble - loop thingy. If you haven't already done so,

fetch the compass from the mine. Restart the conversation with forester to

complete the objective.

Your bonus is a vintar with upgrades:

magazine +5

flatness +50%

accuracy +50%

recoil -50%

weight -10%

not bad! =)

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1.11 army warehouse

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aka military warehouse.

> talk to the mercs in the little village again. We need to get a radio

transmission to the trapped squad with the co-ordinates forester found using

the compass artifact.

> see kostyan. Freedom will help you reach the radio transmitter in the

centre of the military base. Clear out the military with the vintar and

climb the tower to send the transmission. Pick up a tunder s14. Near the

tank at the entrance is a stash with an rpg-7u, which fires og-7v grenades.

> easy mission, fight off dogs at the sports arena.

> after the co-ords are sent and the guys rescued, go back via red forest

to the limansk bridge.

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1.12 limansk: war on the city streets

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this map reminds me of mohaa, but here the snipers are not static, they will

hide/circle/advance etc.

Note: once you enter limansk, you are unable to return. You are unable to

collect rewards in previous areas, trade, replenish ammo, upgrade, repair,

... Nothing. This is a serious shortcoming in the game structure, probably

due to the devs running up against a publisher deadline.

Note: the way ahead through limansk is totally linear.

> protect the clear sky stalkers lowering the bridge with the mechanism on

the other side of the river. Just a case of shooting more bandits, plus a

couple of snipers who appear on top of the hill.

You'll find the sa "avalanche" on the dead bandits. Clear sky and lebedev

make a reappearance.

Various interesting bugs have occurred here, including the bridge only

partially closing, and dozens of mercs guys creating a traffic jam on the

bridge. With 1.5.05 patch, no such excitement.

> talk to lebedev: "scout the road through limansk to ensure safe passage of

the main cs squad. A war has broken out on the city streets, so proceed with

caution. ".

If you are quick, you can save some bandits from execution by cs. Hand them

a medikit and they will warn you of a booby-trapped car ahead. Now i've

warned you, save your medikit and just hug the right wall to avoid the

tripwire.

> clear the city of ground troops and rooftop snipers.

> cs ask you to take out a machine gunner ahead. Duck in a doorway on the

left and clear the building. You will get some assistance from cs, even if

you are playing non-aligned to any factions. This is where you find some

nice weaponry: there's an rp-74 light machine gun (7.62pp ammo) and a

bulldog 6 (vog-25) revolving grenade launcher up near the machine gunner

on the balcony.

As you continue to clear the streets you will pick up weapons from various

dead factions, including monolith:

rp-74 light m/c gun

bulldog 6 grenade launcher

sg1 5k assault rifle (nato 5.56x45)

black kite revolver (.45)

svdm2 (7.62 &h14 ammo)

plenty of ammo for vintar and ft200m.

The ac96 has served well so far, and the svdm2 is very nice for picking off

the bandits from a safe distance. The bullet doesn't drop as it does with

the vintar!

> meet up with cs commander. The road ahead is blocked with anomalies,

but there's a gate on the right. Go through to the house.

> talk to the cs commander. Take out the defenders on the bridge over the

canal and in the house ahead. If your suit has a bit of wear and tear, see

vadik phantom (cs) for upgrades and repairs. I found him on the upper level

of the house. Downstairs on the right is the back door leading the way to

the canal and bridge.

> scout the road through limansk.

There are space bubble anomalies right across the road, but it's easy to

wind your way around and under them, and climb through the bus. Stand by the

giraffe in the children's playground to receive the next objective.

> find a way through the construction site.

There are a lot of crates here with nothing inside, and a lot of buildings

with locked doors. =( there's the occasional bit of loot, eg. Medikits

behind the three tin sheds here. From the giraffe, head upstairs to the

construction site.

The ai at the front are fairly aggressive, but easy to outflank. Ai on

higher floors are fairly dumb and don't even turn to attack. There's some

medical supplies on the top floor. You can see the sniper in the tower to

the north, and scope out the whole area. Go down to the floor with the fire

and scramble down to ground level at the back (north). Duck through the

hole under the back gate by the two cs stalkers.

> take down the sniper in the tower and generally help out the cs guys.

> report to the commander. Ahead is an electrified fence blocking the way.

> get inside the big institute building down the road on the right. This is

all linear. Work your way through the buildings and switch off the

generator. There's a bit of a puzzle here. Climb a ladder inside the first

building and work your way across rooftops and pipes to the next building.

This completes lebedev's task to scout the way through limansk: "good job.

The main cs squad can now move through limansk. The advance squad is to

find the entrance to the pripyat underground at the old hospital entrance on

the edge of limansk. "

> find a way to chernobyl nuclear power plant (npp).

> go to the hospital.

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1.14 hospital

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the hospital is a new section not found on soc. Cs are at the entrance and

only you can help them. They need you to outflank and take out a sniper who

is covering a machine gunner. Once you get the sniper, cover cs as they

advance. Vasgo lamer (cs sapper) blows a tin barricade and silences the

m/c gun with a grenade. He has also opened the passage to the next section

of the hospital. Vasgo lamer (cs) is standing by the exit and he can

repair/upgrade your gear.

> take down the military chopper. There is a red "health" bar at top-right of

screen. 'lean' from behind cover you can take it down with a couple of clips

from any rifle (novice level). Drop through a hole in the floor to enter the

chernobyl nuclear power plant (npp).

Major spoiler: all those roubles, artifacts, guns, ammo, etc that you have

collected throughout the game are now useless.

You only have a few minutes gameplay left! =(

comments on inventory: playing on novice level, the final battle at the npp

is fairly easy. I was carrying 125kg of crap most of which was unnecessary.

I had the sunrise suit duty gave me (free). Upgraded

it to 5 artifact pockets and carried a bubble (rad -6), wrenched (rad -4),

two gravis (+20kg) and a night star (+10kg). I played most of the game with

the trs301, then the ac96/2. My favourite rifle was the svdm2. At the end i

was holding a whole bunch dead weight: anti-rads, bandages, medipaks, grenades,

ammo, artifacts, scopes, silencers, flashdrives and pdas. So that's the

beginners guide finished. =)) i guess all that stuff is more necessary when i

try a higher difficulty level.

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1.15 chernobyl npp

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there's a cut scene while lebedev explains what is happening. With your help,

clear sky have pursued strelok to the heart of the zone (npp). When you regain

control you have the gauss (electro-magnetic) rifle and the ft200m. This could

send you over your weight limit! There's a battle at ground level between cs

and monolith soldiers. Cs are all neutral (yellow). No one will talk to you or

offer repairs, and the monolith enemy here are indestructible, but there are

few bodies to mug if necessary. Just stay on the top level!

You have trailed strelok all the way to the npp, managing to bypass the

brain scorcher by travelling via lemansk. Now you must incapacitate his

psy-protrection. The psy-field intensity at the station is off the scale, but

strelok is protected from psy-emissions by the prototype suit. Incapacitating

it will stop strelok. Only an electro-magnetic weapon can harm the prototype's

electronics.

So after a month of shooting and looting, you have about five minutes to go.

If you have 300 000ru and thousands of rounds of ammo, i'm sorry.

> climb onto pipeline and intercept strelok.

> incapacitate strelok's suit with the gauss rifle.

> find the teleport that leads to the heat pipeline.

> track strelok on your mini-map and try to shoot him before he escapes. If he

gets away, advance to each teleport and chase him. Kill the monolith soldiers

that spawn after each teleport.

You eventually reach a large teleport. As you approach it, a cutscene whisks

you up close. You may even spot strelok creeping in behind it. Just shoot at

the teleport until the red "health" bar at top right of the screen reduces to

zero. There's another cutscene, a panorama of the npp, and you see a room

full of dead/dying guys. Strelok lies there twitching, and the camera zooms

to the s. T. A. L. K. E. R. Tattoo on his arm. That's it. Finito! The credits roll.

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end of part 1: walkthrough.

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part 2: general guide

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contents

2.01 controls

2.02 system requirements

2.03 tweaks

2.04 display

2.05 the patch

2.06 tactics

2.07 bugs and other complaints

2.08 day/night cycle

2.09 npc missions, buying info, trading, upgrading

2.10 health

2.11 saving games

2.12 detectors (artifacts)

2.13 artifacts

2.14 suits

2.15 weapons

2.16 mutants

2.17 faction system

2.01 controls

***********************************

there's the usual fps keyboard controls. Learn to use wasd by touch

so you can move around while you wait for the shotgun to reload, etc.

An important combination is w + x + space for a long-running-jump.

F use, interact, talk, search

p pause to scratch or make coffee.

F5 quick save

f9 quick load

p pda map, missions, log etc.

I inventory

o detector for artifacts

1 knife

2 pistol

3 rifle, shotgun

4 grenade

5 binoculars

6 bolt to show anomalies

l flashlight

x sprint

spc jump

l ctrl crouch

l ctrl + l shft prone

esc main menu

f12 screenshot

q/e lean l/r

y change ammo

v grenade launcher

l mouse fire

r mouse iron sights

r mouse select unload/drop weapon in inventory screen.

N night vision

] quick bandage

[ quick medikit

shft + f drag (body)

2.02 system requirements

***********************************

recommended:

xp/vista

intel core2 duo e6400 / athlon 64 x2 4200+

1.5 gb ram. 3.5gb is better.

8800gt / hd 2900xt video card

installation is easier if you disable your firewall temporarily,

or hit alt+tab to exit any locked-up screen.

2.03 tweaks

***********************************

koroush ghazi cs tweakguide at http: //www. Tweakguides. Com/clearsky_1. Html

dx 10 dynamic lighting is only available with vista.

Turn grass density right down, makes it easier to see things on the ground.

Adjust screen resolution, object/texture detail etc for a smooth frame rate.

1440 x 900 seems reasonable.

You can reduce the options a fair amount. It will still look great, and may

reduce ctd frequency..

Leave npc flashlights on so you can find them in the dark.

2.04 display

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mini map in the top left corner has a blue arrow pointing north, red south.

Grey arrow points to current task location/secondary objective.

Yellow arrow points to primary objective.

Friendly npcs are green.

Neutral npcs are yellow.

Hostile npcs are red.

In the bottom right corner are health and armour bars,

keep an eye on the red health bar in case you are bleeding to death or

have radiation sickness.

Ammo type and quantity, and the geiger counter. And pictograms for psy,

chemical, heat and radiation exposure.

2.05 the patch:

***********************************

problems with early patches are history now, and i have deleted that

information. This guide was made using the 1.5.05 version. This patch allows

the game to play correctly, though minor bugs still exist. Objects such as

weapons, ammo, artifacts, health items and npcs may be missing, in different

locations or in different quantities according to which patch you are using.

People also have different experiences according to their system specs.

Patches are not cumulative. Just install 1.5.05. (variations for steam and

retail cd).

The 1.5.06 patch is out (30oct2008). It is cumulative. Save games from

1.5.05 still work. The bug with the locked door at yantar scientist bunker

is still there for some people. =( this was an "unofficial" patch.

The 1.5.07 patch is compatible with earlier save games, but you are well

advised to start over from the beginning. Anomalies remain in constant

locations but but the artifacts they contain are different. The veles

detector in nw corner of swamp is still available with this patch. A cs-1

suit also becomes available in swamp with this patch. (thnx peetz).

2.06 tactics

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> if you missed any dialogue, all conversations are in your pda

message log.

> seek cover, use crouch, low crouch before attacking. This is not

your typical run-and-gun fps.

> stand on a rock or crate to shoot attacking dogs, boars etc.

> talk to everyone.

> search/explore everything. Smash crates with the knife.

> select a cache in each area to stash your loot, medicine,

and remember/record its location.

> trade frequently and keep your inventory small. Low weight allows

you to outsprint (hold x) boars, to run-and-gun, seek shelter from

emissions, beat the m/c gunner, etc.

-before trading a gun, go to inventory and unload it first.

> accept multiple tasks, then complete them one by one, to save

a lot of travelling back and forth.

-repair/upgrade weapons and armour at every opportunity.

> there is more time to complete missions than in s-of-c.

You will miss out on a bunch of missions, don't stress over it.

Failed tasks are recorded in your pda but cancelled tasks don't give

a penalty. Tasks are only cancelled when all attackers are dead.

If you miss seeing a mission, it will be written in your pda log.

> pay for information about stashes, it's worth it to find those hard to

get weapon upgrades.

> always make headshots. Weapons aren't particularly powerful unless you

make headshots.

> no animal parts in this game, don't bother searching for tails lol.

> bloodsuckers are different to cos. They are invincible while invisible.

Say that ten times! Shoot them in the face when they become visible,

and then bandage yourself.

> items you place in stashes may disappear, though they seem more permanent

than in shoc. Upgrades can disappear. I put my guitar in a box near the

mutant zoo and later it disappeared. I also dropped a bunch of shotguns in

the middle of the road at garbage and they stayed there for the whole game.

I dropped another bunch of stuff on the floor in the agroprom loner base

and it was pinched after just one mission! Metal boxes that constantly

spawn more health items and ammo seem to be the most dangerous for storing

your loot, avoid using them. And remember it's no good hauling a ton of

ammo and roubles to the end, they aren't needed.

> removing your own loot from a stash may be considered 'stealing' by

nearby npcs, who might become hostile. Check this with a quicksave before

stowing loot in a box or stash. Might be a function of faction relations.

(thnx speedcanhurt)

> escaping emissions-run towards the marker on the map for shelter.

> repeatedly mouse click to move bulk items quickly around trading screen

and transferring items to stashes/boxes.

> use drag (shift + f) to place bodies in a pile once you have mugged them

so you won't have to keep checking them over and over.

> you see a dude waving to you, he's either a guide, or he has a mission

or information for you. Anyone waves, you should talk to him.

2.07 bugs and other complaints

***********************************

bugs reported so far include:

> ai hung up in the environment.

> poor optimisation. Frame rates vary wildly according to where you are.

> broken mission scripts.

> corrupted save games.

> if you are playing windowed and using alt + tab to enter/exit the game, you

might have problems.

> pirate versions seem to be seriously bugged.

> faction system is flawed.

> limansk and beyond are linear, with no traders and no return to earlier

levels.

> unless you have been notified of a stash, it will be empty.

Update: patch 1.5.05 has fixed most of these. Save game works 100%.

No more ctds, but occasional reboot after playing a few hours, so

don't forget to save frequently.

The wild territories and pripyat are gone! So is the encyclpedia.

Night time is so dark and the flashlight is so weak.

No women in the zone! No female stalkers or scientists, not even any bandit

whores!.

Prettier but not as creepy, the horror/survival feel is not as strong.

No encyclopaedia.

Messages disappear off the screen too fast! Grrrr!

2.08 day/night cycle

***********************************

> 1 minute real time = 10 minutes game time.

> sleeping bag mod has serious side effects, you are better to upgrade

night vision and learn to love the dark.

> you can check the time-of-day in your pda mission log.

Advantages of night, headshots on enemies are easier, just aim for

their lamps. Night cover is also good for stealth,

like sneaking past m/c gunners!

> press n for night vision. Upgrade night vision on your suit as suit

as soon as possible, because night time is pitch black!

It's kinda cool/creepy trying to do stuff at night. Getting jumped by

a snork or rushed by a pack of dogs is pretty epic feeling. When the

dogs come you see a red dot approaching super fast but can't see what

it is until all six of them are right on top of you. Blind dogs

can leap attack like the pseudo dogs now wooo! (t0m)

> turning on sun rays in video options gives some amazing sunrise effects!

> second generation night vision (blue) upgrade available on some suits.

2.09 npc missions/trading/information/upgrades

******************************************************

guides: blue circle with a dot on the main map. Take you anywhere for

free at the start. Then they charge on a distance basis.

Technicians: upgrade and repair weapons, armour. Give missions. Later

in the game it helps if you are in their faction, as all technicians

are not able to upgrade all weapons/suits.

Traders: buy and sell weapons and ammo. Hand out rewards for completed

tasks. They give the best prices for reselling.

Different traders charge/pay different amounts so shop around

for that special rifle or suit.

Barkeepers: give rewards. Sell stash info. Trade food/drink/vodka.

General npcs give free info.

Pay for stash locations to get good weapons and flash drives with

weapon upgrade specs.

2.10 health

***********************************

you will lose health for a variety of reasons:

if you are too tired to walk/jump/sprint, eat or drink.

If you are bleeding, press ']' for bandages.

If health is low, press'[' for a medikit.

If you have radiation sickness, go to inventory and take anti-rad drugs

or drink vodka.

Select artifacts that reduce radiation/chemical/electrical/burn damage.

2.11 save games

***********************************

due to various bugs, ctd, reboots, broken scripts, you need to organise your

save games (sgs). Then you can restart at an earlier save when necessary.

And it will be necessary.

I suggest numbering your sgs and naming them with the level and the event.

By the time i started red forest i had over two hundred saves already.

Many were corrupt, sometimes a whole block of five or six were corrupt.

(i didn't use quick save/load at all. )

so name them something like this:

"015 swamp veles detector"

or

"175 yantar find lefty"

while 1.5.04 save games will load into 1.5.05, you are asking for trouble.

Start 1.5.05 over from the start and delete old sgs.

Save games reload without problem in 1.5.05.

Save games from 1.5.04 onwards are compatible with 1.5.07.

I never used quick save/load. It could be risky to reload from a quick save

point ... I wasn't willing to risk it.

2.12 artifact detectors

***********************************

> echo is the starter version.

> bear is a bit better, but won't detect higher level artifacts.

> veles is the best detector in the game, so don't waste time with the

others. Find it at top left of swamp. Go north under the broken rail bridge,

turn right before the power lines to find a tunnel beneath a railway

car. It is under the mattress and may not be visible. When you are in

position against the wall and facing the mattress, the icon will appear

in the middle of the screen.

2.13 artifacts

***********************************

you can find heaps of these and sell them. You can equip them in the pockets

of your suit for various benefits. The upgraded "sunrise" suit for example,

has five pockets/holds five artifacts.

The seva suit has the best anomaly protection, but it is usually possible to

get artifacts with a minimum of protection. You can avoid damage by finding

a path into the atrifact. Track them as they move around with the veles, and

notice if they move in a particular path. Electrical anomalies can be

discharged with a bolt. (frag_maniac)

the jellyfish is very useful early on because it reduces radiation damage

without the need for vodka/anti-rads.

Rock formations that look like four pieces of an arch have good artifacts.

The one behind yantar has an "eye" worth 20,000 ru.

Anomalies may have different artifacts for different ppl. I've heard reports

that they will also respawn after a period of time.

Link to russian site with maps of artifact locations:

http: //translate. Google. Com/translate? U=http%3a%2f%2fdomkrat. Nm. Ru%2fclear

_sky_faq. Htm&hl=en&ie=utf-8&sl=ru&tl=en

complete map link (thnx zealot_warrior):

http: //www. Webalice. It/requena/game/stalkercs/stalkercs_map_zone. Htm

artifact value attributes g=good b=bad

battery 6000ru radiation +2b endurance +2g

bubble 12000ru radiation -6g

compass 50000ru endurance +6g note: main quest item, do not sell.

Eye 12000ru radiation +2b bleeding +40g

flash radiation +1b electrical +3g

gravi 12000ru radiation +3b max weight +20kg g

jellyfish 4000ru radiation -2g

kolobok 12000ru radiation +2b health +4g

mama's beads 6000ru radiation +2b bleeding +20g

meatchunk 4000ru radiation +1b chemical +3g

moonlight 6000ru radiation +2b telepathy +3g

nightstar 6000ru radiation +2b max weight +10kg g

shell 12000ru radiation +3b endurance +4g

stone flower 3000ru radiation +1b telepathy +1g

soul 6000ru radiation +2b health +2g

wrenched 8000ru radiation -4g

more later.......

2.14 suits

***********************************

> warning re night vision: if you upgrade to a mask, you cannot enable night

vision goggles as well.

> peetz:

"you can't upgrade all the radiation/psi protection "legs" of the options

without disabling some of the "heavy armour" legs of the options. ) you

really have to read and try to understand each upgrade, because you can't

"uninstall" it, if you made a mistake.

With an upgraded seva (which i recommend you upgrade along the

chemical/telepathy/radiation path, rather than the bulletproof path), you

can add a couple of appropriate artifacts and pretty much walk through

anything without damage. I'm using a bulat as a "bulletproof-type" suit,

so i just switch between them, depending on what i am doing. "

> cs-3 suit (clear sky) is a reward from the swamp trader. The loners will

upgrade it.

> sunrise suit is a reward for helping duty at the lake in agroprom. Duty

technician will upgrade it. Plenty of pockets (5).

> seva suit can be bought from dr sakharov in yantar scientist bunker.

> "for artifact hunting, fully upgraded anti-anomalous seva suit with

2x bubble and 3x goldfish.

For firefights, fully upgraded anti-bullet freedom exo, with 1x bubble and

2x goldfish in the exo to carry all my gear. " thnx crashbang25.

> second generation (blue) night vision is better than green.

More later.......

2.15 weaponry

***********************************

note: re weapons upgrades. If you upgrade to a different barrel size, you

cannot go back and uninstall it!

> don't waste your money buying rifles. Spend up on upgrades/repairs.

> if a weapon has the correct fittings to mount a scope, just drag the

scope onto the rifle in inventory.

> when you get upgrades installed, sometime your scope/silencer will be

unmounted. Just click on the weapon in inventory screen and remount.

> i don't like pistols. You need to be ak74 is best assault rifle (ar) for early stages of game, until something

better comes along..

> il86 has a nice scope. Dual purpose sniper/assault rifle. As described,

it jams frequently. Believe it! Even when fully upgraded!

> pick up a scoped trs301 in the dark forest. It uses same cartridge as

the il86. Suffers wear/unreliability. Best ar for this stage of the game.

> the chaser 13 shotgun is found early on in the swamp. Good for dogs,

mutants, or bandits at close quarters. Unless you hit a bandit in the face

though, he won't go down. There is a better shotgun later on.

> there is a vintar sniper rifle in the swamp but it is damaged. There's not

enough ammo at the start of the game to make it worth repairing. There's a

100% vintar in agroprom, by which you'll have plenty of ammo. The duty

technician in agroprom south (thunderov) will upgrade it even though you are

not in the duty faction. I like the vintar. It sounds good and is

ballistically realistic. Good damage despite being sub-sonic. The forester

gives you an upgraded vintar in red forest as a reward.

Once ammo is available, a vintar makes a dual purpose assault/sniper.

>the svdm2 is a better sniper rifle. Available in the army warehouse.

>the ac96/2 is the 1996 version of the ak47. There's a bunch of scoped

examples in the red forest mines. An excellent all-round assault rifle,

practical, reliable, upgradeable.

> sig 550 is accurate and powerful. For the late stages of the game, it's

perfect, especially for sniping.

> the g37 is better still.

> the f2000 is a complete package - grenade launcher, scope, range

accuracy, damage and rate of fire. (speedcanhurt)

various faction leaders have dead mutants as trophies. Forester

has a bloodsucker head mounted on his wall! All the mutants are on display

in the mutant zoo at the duty base in agroprom.

> pseudo-dogs: big dogs that run in packs. The spas 12 shotgun is good, find

a rock to stand on.

> psi-dogs: this dog creates phantom clones of itself. Found in yantar and

red forest. Sometimes they cause no damage, just push you around, and when

you shoot them they vanish. The strategy here is to locate the main dog on

the mini-map (red dot). You may be able to snipe it from a distance.

> blood suckers: mainly found in the red forest. They cannot be killed

while 'cloaked' (invisible). Track their eyeballs, and when they are up

close and 'uncloak' themselves to attack, slash/shoot them in the face.

2.17 faction system

***********************************

> it is ok to play through without joining a faction. In fact for the

first play-through, this is probably a good idea. For your second play

through, try stalkers, duty or freedom. Not bandits. They won't support

you when you take an objective, but you can make a lot of money from

weapons by mass-killing stalkers and duty. If that's what you like.

> the faction system has been described as "broken", but it works in part.

You can join a faction, get bonuses for joining and completion.

> crashbang25: "best thing to do is pick a faction to hate, continue killing

them a lot, grab as much gear as you can and dump it in front of a guide.

Keep doing this then pick it all up, go to a friendly base and sell it all. "

> it is possible to do all faction objectives on your own, you just won't

have any back-up.

> you can leave a faction, and join another faction, as long as they don't

already hate you. If you join freedom or duty, you will have to kill some

loners along the way but you have to kill a lot before they hate you. Just

feels wrong though, killing loners.

> faction rewards seem to be random.

> collect rewards before changing factions or they will be forfeit.

> if you wish to join the bandits, you must do so before you get negative

relations with them. If you can get a seva suit, the bandit technician will

fully upgrade it.

> if you join the bandits, all stalkers are hostile. And the bandits will

still mug you and give poor support.

> if you join freedom, duty will be hostile.... And vice versa.

> when you complete a major faction objective, new items are unlocked at

the traders.

> don't expect to ever completely eradicate the bandits. They are meant to

respawn to keep the game interesting with more opportunities for bandit

interaction with other factions. If a faction does overtake garbage

completely there's a chance mutants will take them out and the bandits will

return.

****************************************************************************

end of part2: general guide.

****************************************************************************

****************************************************************************

version history:

****************************************************************************

v0.1 14sep2008 -beginnings.

V0.11 17sep2008 added -map of swamp area.

-entering cordon

-trading and upgrading

v0.12 21sep2008 -exit to cordon

v0.14 30sep2008 added -patch information

-tactics section

-cordon missions

v0.3 10 oct2008 added -dark forest

-garbage

-agroprom

-yantar

-suits

-artifacts

-detectors

-weapons

v0.8 12 oct2008 added -mutants

-faction system

-red forest

-mines

-army warehouse

-limansk

v1.0 14 oct2008 -hospital

-chernobyl npp

v1.1 30 oct2008 -new patch info

-long-running-jump (controls)

-spoiler re large inventory for final stages.

****************************************************************************

links:

****************************************************************************

www. Stalker-game. Com

www. Deepsilver. Com

http: //www. Tweakguides. Com/clearsky_1. Html

http: //www. Gamefaqs. Com/computer/doswin/home/942067. Html

****************************************************************************

acknowledgements:

****************************************************************************

notepad2: thanks to florian balmer for 79 character end-of-line and white

space marker.

Ascii art courtesy of http: //www. Network-science. De/ascii/

thanks to- gsc gameworld for more s. T. A. L. K. E. R. Goodness.

-gamespot message boards, djkaboom, speedcanhurt, ricoblack, gta4cool,

frag_maniac, phatosealpha, crashbang25.

-alexander little for advice and encouragement.

-master stalkers peetz, trith leonharte and t0m.

****************************************************************************

copyright and permissions:

****************************************************************************

this walkthrough/guide is for:

gamefaqs

12DOVE

cheatplanet

supercheats

neoseeker

cheatsguru

gameborder

cheatcc

gamershell

chaptercheats

cheatchannel

it may be not be reproduced except for personal use. It may not be placed

on any web site or otherwise distributed without permission.

*****************************************************************************

now i'm not a beginner any more, i think i'll try it on "master" and join a

faction.

Thanks for reading, and i hope this has helped someone.

Val

30 october 2008

*****************************************************************************

CATEGORIES
Leon Hurley
Managing editor for guides

I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for guides, which means I run GamesRadar's guides and tips content. I also write reviews, previews and features, largely about horror, action adventure, FPS and open world games. I previously worked on Kotaku, and the Official PlayStation Magazine and website.