Collection of Stories and Anecdotes

[Art Blade]

Time for a new topic, really  :)

I've finished the game and just started free play. My individual primary objective is to explore Pripyat (haven't seen much except the main mission locations) and my secondary objective is to get rich. ;D The result of both will lead to cool gear and maxed out weapon systems of all kinds there are. I wasn't exactly underprivileged during the main mission, I already have two fully upgraded exoskeletons (the second one I keep carrying around as backup) and a good variety of decent weapons.

However, when I had sorted out all my gear, my aim was to collect weapons and stuff in case I should encounter a couple of lead sponges and bullet magnets (enemies) and I was headed north of pripyat. I had stripped myself of unnecessary weight and limited myself to a G37 as backup, a Vintorez for silenced single kills and an FT-200M as assault rifle, both Vintorez and FT-200M with target trackers. I had lots of spare room in my backpack for loot. So I walked on under an orange sky, weather being nice for a change, and night to come. I love to hunt at night.

I already figured how I'd leave the safe launderette and walk west along the alley onto the main street, passing the wrecked jeep on the corner (landmark for "here is home") when I had an idea, I returned and asked a guy in my base if he could guide me somewhere. Since I haven't seen much yet, he could only offer what I had seen, and I randomly picked what is called Volcano anomaly (middle west) for 400RU, so I got there by guide. I used the prototype detector and grabbed two artefacts off the anomaly. By then I had noticed that I didn't carry any artefacts but those for extra carry weight with me, I would have liked to have had heat protective ones with me, but my armour didn't get damaged, anyway, so meh.

Then I followed the fence to the west, moving up north. I realised the map was cut off there, I couldn't get farther to the west, so I moved east, following a street and ended up around the service centre, west from the school. There were two mean dogs with white eyes, my scope's tracker followed them in the night. Then I heard shots, from about where those dogs had been, so someone else must be there! I got closer and I noticed the blip sounds of my HUD, indicating the people counter was busy. I thought I help the dogs, and killed two zombies with chest- and headshots from my FT-200M. Since I had already made some noise I just waved the dogs over to me, with my knife whipped out.

While I was teaching the dogs tricks, I heard the sound of some kind of bloodsuckers that can cloak themselves. Nice. I did take a few bites and scratches, but in the end I did kill those creatures with my knife. The second bloodsucker which had managed to show up made me lose my temper, so I ran after him, slashing the air behind him. Then a pack of rats decided to join the party. While I was running behind the bloodsucker, the rats ran after me. While I was slashing at him, they were scratching at me. So I tried to get rid of the rats and got sucked at my neck. I finished off the rats and the bloodsucker and my armour icon had appeared, condition green = noticeably damaged. I holstered my knife.

Well, everything was quiet now, so I started to loot the zombies I had killed before, and the zombies that had been killed by those dogs. Then I heard the people counter again, so I used the Vintorez, this time two nice headshots. They were looting bodies! Haha... I walked over to their bodies and started to loot them when I got surprised by a couple of bullets into my armour. Bastards, can't one loot in peace and quiet? Damn, I was overencumbered, despite of all my upgrades and artefacts. 140kg already. And now mercs. Five of them, six, seven. And I can't move, heavy as a rock, and as steady. Cool, so I better get the assault rifle out. I kill the first three of them when I see a hand grenade symbol bouncing around on my HUD. I still can't move, so I stand the bang like a man. A little ringing in the ears, vision blurred, and I try to shoot through the mist of my distorted view, ignoring it as best as I can. Killed two more, and here come the hand grenades again. Yes, plural. They know I can't move, their behaviour is very, very unsportsmanlike.

So I take another ringing the bells and my armour icon now is turning from yellow to red. No problem, I just switch to my backup exo... where the hell is it? Did I put it "back" into a body while I was looting it? No... I must have left it back at the base. Yes, I did, I remember I wanted to "just" go out a little and explore... I didn't think I was getting into a live battlefield. Well, no armour, then. I decide to push as much of my loot into one of the bodies I am still standing on, so I can chase those bastards. Can't afford to play sitting duck any more. Casually, I take a bandage to wrap and stop my bleeding, and my body starts to digest the medpack I have just administered to myself. I run the last guy down and shoot him in the head, and I loot him. Damn, how should I get all the stuff back to my base? Somewhere I hear gunshots from two different directions. More action, but I've had it for today.

I return to the bodies I left behind, see two zombies and quickly off them. Then I rummage through the stuffed stiff who kindly took care about my loot while I was away. I unload weapons, put simple ones into the body and pull good ones back out, and all the ammo. I need to sort the stuff because I can't carry all the stuff I found. Another couple of mercs shooting at me now! I don't believe it! I bet they do attack even at tea-time. Like the French did with the Britons. Unmannered, really. Primitives. So I kill them, regardles off a red-state armour, and Whoa have they got decent weapons. Two FT-200M! And a G37, and more, I do have a decent loot to carry home. I drink an energy drink, and a drink that enables me to carry even more, pack up and run. Thanks to Cordon I can run in my exo, and the energy drink helps recover stamina everytime I run out of breath. I want to get home quickly, thus I run.


I have uncle Jar fix all the stuff for free, and stash it away. The stuff I brought with me is worth at least 30k. And then I pick up my backup exo and put it where it belongs: In my backpack. This was a nice first day in the zone, and so many more to come. :)

[PZ]

Sounds like fun, Art - your description of the night mission reminds me of when I first played FC2 - almost all night missions until I became proficient with the weapons (and running successfully away)  ;D

[Art Blade]

Thanks, PZ :) It kind of is, because I have no idea where I can find anything. It is all new, and it is cool :)

***

I have just acquired a GUITAR and a MOUTH ORGAN!

Some stalker left the base at Pripyat and I stopped him for a little business (wanted to see if he got barter money and sell him stuff). I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the guitar, and on top a mouth organ. I was able to buy both items (almost nothing, I think 70RU). Crazy  ;D Oh, and a PDA with nothing on it, no data. Crazy!

When you move the mouse over the guitar, it reads "the good old guitar" and what you see in the pic, the mouth organ, it reads "for all those who have the Blues" (literally, "who have blues in their blood")

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[PZ]

lol, that's funny - do you know what they are useful for?

[Art Blade]

No idea...  :)

I can't use them for bar fights because they can't be placed in the weapon slots. Maybe if I come past a campfire next time I won't be able to help it and whip out the guitar and start singing in Russian.  :)

[Art Blade]

Argh, today I had a strange experience. I believe it had to do with me trading with bandits. Like, no one likes them, they are at war with everyone (but me, just neutral). So when I passed their camp in Jupiter, I thought I'd get rid of some of the loot I was overloaded with, and started selling stuff to a couple of team leaders. Then dogs stormed the camp and I helped fight them off. A bandid who was lying on the ground injured caught my eye and I offered him a medpack, which he took, and he got up again. I left the camp (no more barter money on them) and I got back to Janow station and from there to Pripyat.

Once arrived there, I checked the few stalkers at the launderette for barter money so I could sell more loot, which I did, but one character who looked different in a way (more sinister, with a hood and bandana rather than gas mask or helmet). He was sitting there and I was unable to talk to him (no "Hit (f)" showed up) so I rounded him hoping to get access to him from a different angle. Well, he started playing his mouth organ, and I kept hitting "f" and rounding him, when he put that instrument back into his pocket, stood up, turned to me and punched me in the face! I nearly fell over, but he was calm again and sat down. He was green on my mini map, so no idea what that was about. Either "don't push me while I want to play an instrument" or showing his dismay because I traded with bandits  ;D

[RedRaven]

Thats a new one Art, never had that sort of reaction from any of the NPC's. Did you happen to catch his name?

[Art Blade]

I couldn't because I was unable to talk to him.

[Art Blade]

I've had an idea today, and it worked: You get into a small mêlée of sorts when you keep pushing F at a considerable speed: Eventually the character whom you badgered all the time will push or punch you and make you stumble ;D

[Art Blade]

Ha! I don't believe it. I've decided to start another playthrough and I'm very, very early in the game right now, hardly any decent weapon and armour, almost no money, no tools for upgrades... you get the picture. However, I happened to get involved in that bloodsuckers lair mission, the one RedRaven posted his nice nightmare-inducing video about, where at least a dozen or so of those creatures are taking a nap while standing upright.

Shortly before you go through that lair, you investigate a couple of corpses, and in that room is some kind of a frame with netting wire that has fallen over and now blocking access to four or five hand grenades and a bottle of vodka. You can't reach them because that piece of fence is like welded on the floor, but in an angle that you would like to grab the goodies from underneath it, yet you can't. Unless. Unless you spark the idea of shooting those hand grenades from one side so they pop out the other side... thank the gaming gods those things don't set off when you shoot them. They never do  ;) So I shot them, grabbed them, and... used them. When Grouse, good old pioneer in exploring lairs of sleeping bloodsuckers, happily marched ahead, I threw a hand grenade over his head and blew some of the bloodsuckers apart. Which of course woke the whole bunch of them, and funny enough, they jumped Grouse. Of course I helped him, by chucking one more grenade at him so the beasts fell off him, which they did. Maybe because they couldn't bend over so well to give Grouse, down on the floor, another suck, I suddenly had their undevided attention. So I chucked grenades at my own feet, backing away, and the suckers who had to follow me through a very narrow passage (just wide enough for one man) did a good job jumping at me. Like that, they threw themselves between the grenade and me, the one who was next to me got hit in the back while providing me shelter, and the ones behind him got it in their ugly gobs. Luckily, I had some more grenades on me already, in case. I always have some of them with me, just in case.

See the explosion in the back? :)

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When I had run out of hand grenades, only two of the bloodsuckers were left, and I was able to mince them with my knife. Then utter silence, for a moment that is, and a merry bleep indicated "mission accomplished, tell Beard that the lair is destroyed and the Skadowsk (barge) is now safe again". What the hell? Usually you need to find gas to kill them, and that gas canister is hidden in a hidden convoy of wrecked cars, and you need to find two hidden keys to unlock the box where the gas canister is locked in and so on. Now a few hand grenades and a couple of stabs (and a single deceased Grouse) were good for finishing that otherwise enormous mission? Haha, nice one  ;D

That's for pushing me in the queue...

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[Art Blade]

Here is a funny example of how "life" goes on, and off, in the Zone. I was standing on top of a huge silo in Jupiter, at the cement factory, when I heard shots. At first I only saw yellow marked targets, which represent either members of the Freedom faction or free Stalkers, then white markers, which are mutants, then green markers, which are members of the Duty faction. Since free stalkers are only at war with bandits in this part of the Zone, the yellow markers have to be Freedom, because they are at war with Duty.

So I watched yellow shoot white. Then green showed up and shot yellow. Then I watched white attack yellow and green in turns, while white was being shot at by green, and yellow shooting white and green in turns, giving green the opportunity to shoot both white and yellow. Confusing? Well, look at the pic and imagine those markers dance around and move in every direction, mingling, shouting, shooting... quite a spectacular view and a splendid display of AI being at war with itself :)

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[RedRaven]

I love those occasions of multiple clashes, saves a small fortune in ammo, and if your lucky and quick enough you can grab all the loot hassle free. Win win situation ;D

[Art Blade]

It sure is  ;D Also nice, after a clash like that, if some unashamed people come by and start looting, shoot and loot them afterwards. Saves you the trouble of going through all the other corpses  ;D

[Art Blade]

When I think of CoP, what I did and do since I finished the game for the first time, there are a few anecdotes I can think of.

For some reason, I can't stop collecting stuff. Even if I have plenty, I keep collecting until I have more than enough, but still I can't resist to loot bodies and oh, that's valuable, get it. So I decided to speed up the process of "loot, repair and sell" a little. I modified my backpack (inventory) so I am able to carry a little more than the average 50kg, or the upgraded exoskeleton combined with drugs capacity of ~140kg. Now I may carry up to 2,000kg which I haven't fully used so far  ;D So when I happen upon hostile humanoid creatures who carry stuff, I am relaxed when I grab everything I can get my hands on. The maximum weight I have carried around was some 800+kg which even I consider a lot. So I run to Pripyat where I can have my stuff repaired for free, then go to Jupiter and sell all weapons which at one time was worth over 220,000RU. I still keep doing business with stalkers that have money, because they buy at best prices (especially ammo and grenades). The richest guy I ever encountered had 10,000RU barter money with him, which of course he gave to me in exchange for some "spare" ammo I had. The medic in Jupiter at the Yanov station pays as good as friendly stalkers when it comes to drugs and other medical stuff, but he has unlimited barter money. The biggest pay I received from him in a single go was over 50,000RU. Now I have 2.200.000+ RU cash :)

When I go out on a mission, even when not modded, I never feel comfortable with less than 500 rounds of ammo for one particular weapon, and I never feel comfortable with a single weapon. So usually I carry like 5 or more weapons around, each with at least 500 rounds of matching ammo... and I even ran around with a backup exo. So, just in case, I was carrying two of the heaviest armoured suits with me... which left little room for other crap to carry around, like loot. So when I was geared up, I had no space for goodies I might have happened upon. Well, at least I didn't die from enemy fire, ever  ;D

Now that I can mod some stuff, I have modified a hunting rifle, a G37 assault rifle that also serves as sniper rifle due to its perfect accuracy, and a special UDP compact called "March" which I got from Nimble, the arms dealer in Zaton. That pistol has an upgrade for automatic fire (and that is rather rapid fire, too) plus capable of using a suppressor (silencer). Now these weapons are my stock, all modded like hell, with clips that contain 100 rounds etc. And I carry like 4,000 rounds only for my pistol LOL ... When I happen upon some mean-looking mercs, monoliths or monsters, they all get it  ;D

Geared up and modded up, I have now time enough to walk around and hunt or kill, and I don't have to stop and return to base every two minutes to get rid of my loot. Which is actually fun, because there are areas that spawn mercs and zombies, like in Pripyat the H-shaped building (I believe it is the called "school") always spawns either zombies or mercs upon leaving the building, and the other building is where the X8 is located in the basement. That building usually is infested with like a dozen or so zombies, and occasionally some mutants and mercs join the party, and some stalkers may show up, too. When I party hard, I go home with like 400 to 500kg of loot, after like 15 minutes or so  ;D Then I have the stuff repaired, and I travel to Jupiter and Zaton to sell the stuff.

That's about how I pass my time in STALKER CoP right now, and occasionally I change some of the files I had modded, to find out more about which is which, what  ;D

[PZ]

For some reason, I can't stop collecting stuff. Even if I have plenty, I keep collecting until I have more than enough...

lol, I can relate - I have 750,000 or so florins in AC2 and I still pick-pocket everyone I encounter!

[RedRaven]

Pack Rats of the world Unite ! ;D

[JRD]

For some reason, I can't stop collecting stuff. Even if I have plenty, I keep collecting until I have more than enough...

lol, I can relate - I have 750,000 or so florins in AC2 and I still pick-pocket everyone I encounter!

One day games will have something like an intergames exchange... you accumulate enough money in one game and you can start the sequel with a small fortune...  like Altair's heritage passingfrom father to son through centuries untill reaching the Auditore family... ;D ;D ;D

[Art Blade]

Hehe, building an empire... By the way, I have like 3.76 million RU right now  ;D ;D ;D

I've just had a funny moment. I was on my way home after some nightly hunting, and enjoyed the sunrise and its beautiful colours. I passed by the hospital and thought it would make a nice screenshot. So I found a spot and took some shots when suddenly a chimaera jumped right across my screen  ;D ;D ;D

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[PZ]

One day games will have something like an intergames exchange... you accumulate enough money in one game and you can start the sequel with a small fortune...  like Altair's heritage passingfrom father to son through centuries untill reaching the Auditore family... ;D ;D ;D

What a great idea!  :-X

Nice pic, Art  ;)

[RedRaven]

Hehe, building an empire... By the way, I have like 3.76 million RU right now  ;D ;D ;D

Soon you will be able to buy your very own Mi-24 helicopter gunship  :-X

[Art Blade]

thanks, PZ :)

Red, hehe, that would be slightly over the top (even literally) killing beasties with a gunship  ;D

[Art Blade]

I've just witnessed a nice AI programming:

Near the scientists' camp in Jupiter is that old military base where random AI spawns, usually zombies. On occasions, a little troup of one of the faction ends up there while patrolling the area. When I arrived, two stalkers where there (green dots on my minimap) and there was a red dot in the small barack there, right next to them. Neither the zombie nor the stalker guarding the entrance knew about each other's presence (lol). So I waltzed inside and administered a headshot to the zombie by way of respectful greeting. The zombie dropped his mp5, which didn't interest me.

Outside again, I realised that the stalker guarding the door only had a pistol that he kept fiddling with and occasionally whirling it around on his trigger finger. Then a zombie spawned like 50yds away from us which I noticed because of the bleep my person counter (part of the HUD) made, now we were one more people. I trained my scope on that zombie and pierced his forehead, which felled him. Next to me, that guy with his pistol still only had his pistol, and was aiming down the barrel.

Now I thought "you really don't have a rifle, mate, do you?" and had an idea, "I'll bring you one." So I went inside, picked up that mp5 which was in a relatively good state, and dropped it outside on the floor in front of the pistol guy. He saw that, bent over, the mp5 disappeared and reappeared in his hands. He then rather proudly started walking up and down with his new toy. ;D

[PZ]

Now, that's cool  :-X

[deadman1]

I think I need to visit the Ukraine again this coming weekend, and since it´s Easter I get four days off. Just need to remember to stock up on some essentials like beer, fast food and cigarettes  ;D

[Art Blade]

Hehe, brilliant idea  ;D

Actually, that game is not unlike FC2 in some aspects.

What brings even more joy to my gaming is a little modding to my taste, like invulnerability, 2,000kg carry weight, and extremely powerful guns with all sorts of high-tech gimmics freshly incorporated in a single weapon. But my "most liked" weapon still is the hunting rifle (well, modded to monstruosly brutal firepower). It is just very nice to literally blow away every humanoid and most of the mutants. Like bloodsuckers and snorks and dogs. Like,

- "What was that..."
- "woof"
- "Hah, you want some, dog? Huh? Want some of this?"
*BANG-BANG*
- "Here you go, dog, and off you go, heh heh heh"

;D