⭐┃nospoilers_general

[exotic mural]

bullets would be so much more epic if they didnt have an exit wound

[covert slate]

not only that, but they'll have whole trucks with people wearing night vision and laser sights doing runs through fields to save miles of farmland

[slow crescent]

The Monolith guides them to battle.

[exotic mural]

i caught my wife with a feral hog once, only in kentucky

[naive fog]

Has anyone tried the stalker energy drink? I'm wondering if it's strong

[nova wedge]

Someone did in art and cosplay channel

[naive fog]

I do not need to be taking energy drinks

[nova wedge]

Probably just check the caffeine content

[naive fog]

Ight thanks

[slow crescent]

Some dude brought an mg134 minigun, slapped it on a truck and used it to kill hogs.

[naive fog]

Doesn't say on the website

[slow crescent]

Google it

[exotic mural]

how am i gonna go to ukraine and get the stalker drink when i'm an american and KOS smh

[covert slate]

yeah it gets that bad at times to use them

[exotic mural]

any eastern europeans wanna go to a warzone and grab a quest item for me? (i am peacekeeper)

[naive fog]

Idk bro customs

I found a website that has them

[exotic mural]

the extract is at the other side of the map where you spawn or you can take the car next to dorms

[wild wharf]

Can westerners do the job?

[exotic mural]

hey why do we trade in Rubles in stalker

[naive fog]

How tf you spell czecz

[slow crescent]

I will gather the fellas and fly out to Poland, then take a train to GSC HQ.

[nova wedge]

???

[wild wharf]

Czech

[naive fog]

Czeh

[exotic mural]

bro is a USEC

[nova wedge]

Czech? Bro

[naive fog]

BEAR on top tho

[exotic mural]

so true so real

[covert slate]

Soviet Rubles are used as underground currency in the Zone

[naive fog]

Bro shut up it's complicated

[exotic mural]

i bought the bear drip and LITERALLY THE NEXT NIGHT the community was on fire

[slow crescent]

Facts

[exotic mural]

me using stalinbux

DICKY NEEDLES :DDD

[naive fog]

Bro I spent like 1 mil cause Google said the next wipe was in may 💀

[exotic mural]

i was born to hate russians but damn they funny sometimes fr

[naive fog]

I'm broke af

[slow crescent]

Nah you gotta use Adidas gift cards

[exotic mural]

1 mil rubles is nothing dawg

i was level 43 when i quit this wipe 😔

[naive fog]

Damn

[slow crescent]

I am level 5 💀

[exotic mural]

my entire 5 man squad i played with quit tarkov permanently, one of them got kappa that week

[naive fog]

Same

[exotic mural]

rip bobathan

[covert slate]

wipe this, wipe that

how bout you wipe your ass

[naive fog]

Honestly are Slavs supposed to get along or nah

I can't tell anymore

[wild wharf]

All slavs hate each other, it's a rule implemented by nature itself.

[exotic mural]

all europeans are the exact same as their neighbor yet would kill them if they could

european be like: "MAN I HATE THOSE GUYS 4 MILES AWAY" and theyre just the same guys

[naive fog]

Ye we always either fighting or drinking vodka together

[exotic mural]

especially ex-soviet countries, like yall hate eachother why? just go fight ur dad or smth man

[naive fog]

Ye but like

[slow crescent]

Yes but no

[exotic mural]

the balkans are such a funny group because theyre all the exact same country and if one of them got a nuke it would be gg for the rest

[naive fog]

Somethings different about them

[exotic mural]

(they use a different letter for the same word sometimes)

[slow crescent]

Because they are ex soviet and economically unstable

[exotic mural]

economic stability can only be achieved by fighting russia, how do you think we got so much money during the cold war lol

[naive fog]

Like their skin tone is off or they don't use all of the Polish words

[slow crescent]

Fair lol

[exotic mural]

ukraine is getting mass amounts of USD every day due to this IRL money glitch, it works im telling you

[slow crescent]

Slightly different accent

[exotic mural]

Literally

[naive fog]

Goddamn I gotta wake up in 4 hours

[nova wedge]

This is true they keep noclipping into my house and stealing money from my wallet, it's annoying

[slow crescent]

Will start a war to test the glitch. Brb

[naive fog]

Gn guys

[slow crescent]

Night bro

[exotic mural]

Go ask a Serbian what he thinks about Croatia.

Now, go DNA test them and find out they're literally brothers

[wild wharf]

Night lad

[slow crescent]

Can't argue against that tbh

[exotic mural]

I feel like everyone at some point just chooses a Balkan country to support with no knowledge about any of it, its like pokemon

[nova wedge]

What's your Balkán starter

[exotic mural]

Hell yeah bro I love albania (never been just think they funny)

Mention anything about Europe in a video and the comment sections guaranteed will have at least 4 Balkan fighting and then maybe a Turkish guy

dude the COP map is so small wtf

[slow crescent]

"put a pistol on a brace... turns it into a gun.... Makes it so you can have a higher calibre weapo- bullet in there"

[slow crescent]

Yeah but it gets made up for

[exotic mural]

joebidencore

no red forest? no rostok?

this game sucks......

[slow crescent]

He has the most gun knowledge out of any human that has ever lived

[exotic mural]

Joe Biden be like "i love lgbtq" and then you watch videos of him saying the f slur and championing anti gay legislation for like 30 years

[slow crescent]

Nah. Small maps but good gameplay and side quests. Main quest is hella short tho.

[exotic mural]

good gunplay in a stalker game???

stalker gunplay be like

every gun shoots wildly awful for 80% of the game

find asval

shoots where you aim it

[slow crescent]

Gunplay is the same

[exotic mural]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[slow crescent]

Just worse recoil on AKs

[exotic mural]

so its just still awful got it 😭

this dude runs like crazy damn

expected from a guy with military training but holy moly

[slow crescent]

No as in the sights are launched to the top of your screen

[exotic mural]

he smokes strelok and scar combined

[slow crescent]

Equip your aks74u real quick

And fire half a mag

The recoil is insane

[exotic mural]

juuuust relaax and keep moooviiiinngggg

[exotic mural]

clouds look nice at least glad i looked up i guess

[slow crescent]

Lol

What difficulty are you on?

[exotic mural]

stalker

some dude just died to a boiler and i got his viper, bad gunplay skipped lets go

[slow crescent]

Chimeras boutta hit different bro

[exotic mural]

what

[slow crescent]

Don't worry about it

Just get a shotgun

[exotic mural]

shotgun in a stalker game?

[slow crescent]

Yes

[exotic mural]

yooo bear detector this early is crazy

EASY w

[slow crescent]

Head to Skadovsk and buy a chaser 13 or smth

[indigo marsh]

You don't need to get a shotgun that early in the game but it does make it easier

[exotic mural]

1st artifactand this game has been played for 4 minutes lol

[gentle sentinel]

Hello people :3 How are you?

[slow crescent]

Yeah but if he goes a-wandering in the dead of night, it might be nice to have

[indigo marsh]

I think he just started it minutes ago. He needs to sell the artifact first then it will be the perfect time to get a shotgun

[indigo marsh]

Fine, thank you

[slow crescent]

Yeah that's what I meant

[nova wedge]

Was good but now my internet is acting up

[indigo marsh]

Maybe after one more artifacts or selling a couple guns

[slow crescent]

He should 100% head to Skadovsk tho

[granite mortar]

Yo @gaunt burrow did you know the Clear Sky ending cutscene takes place at War Lab according to gamefiles?

[indigo marsh]

I skipped the PM stage bc I ran to skavdosk and then ||a emission happened|| and I got a better guns due to it

[exotic mural]

i have an mp5 wit no bullet

[slow crescent]

Same

Just ran up to a stalker, asked where the nearest settlement was then told him to take me there.

Did a bunch of quests

[exotic mural]

2nd artifact this game is too easy

[indigo marsh]

I ran there bc of the boars and waited the thing that happened out

[slow crescent]

Chimera 💀

[indigo marsh]

Sorry replied to a wrong message

[granite mortar]

[indigo marsh]

Pls forgive me 🟡

I am a lowly blue rank and that will not happen again

[granite mortar]

Only after you 100% Goldsphere

[indigo marsh]

Noooo

[exotic mural]

who is tuna and why does he want my artifact

do i give it to him, is he relevant? i feel like i need to shoot him. in the face.

[indigo marsh]

Is it the wheel

[granite mortar]

shoot

[exotic mural]

yes, i think, it looks like a rope

[indigo marsh]

Kill em if it is

[granite mortar]

brrrrrt
ratatattatatatatatatatattatatatata
kill kill kill!

[exotic mural]

i dropped him

[slow crescent]

Head to Skadovsk and give your artefacts to Beard. You'll know who he is BC he has a beard.

[granite mortar]

Drop dead retard!

[exotic mural]

💀

[indigo marsh]

He still has to deal with 2 more things B4 that

[exotic mural]

i wish we could steal other stalker's clothes but it would be very op because you could kill a duty at the start of the game and have an exo off rip

THE OPPS ARE JUMPING ME AAAAAAAHHHHHHH

[indigo marsh]

Or he can run like the wind and avoid those things

Yeah looks like he is dealing with those things rn

[slow crescent]

Stalker fast travel.

[indigo marsh]

There are 2 guys jumping him

[exotic mural]

opps banished 😎

[slow crescent]

Lovely

[indigo marsh]

Now head to the 🚢⚓

[exotic mural]

pigs....

[slow crescent]

Boars

[indigo marsh]

Also I am guessing the emission happened

[exotic mural]

how the hell is there a giant boat

[exotic mural]

no emission no just a lot of pigs and a boat

[indigo marsh]

It is kinda small tho

[exotic mural]

this artifact sucks bro it's +6 rads lol

[indigo marsh]

Don't equip it or throw it

[exotic mural]

"get cancer and die" item

[celest blaze]

Fr honestly

[exotic mural]

i will sell it for money and fame

[slow crescent]

Open pda and look for a place in Zaton called "Skadovsk". It's a boat

[celest blaze]

Honestly I just wanna steal some bandit clothes

[slow crescent]

But a small boat

[exotic mural]

im at the boat

this boat is rather large

[slow crescent]

Sell your artefacts to Beard. He'll pay you well

[exotic mural]

why is there a tanker in chernobyl, ukraine is landlocked to the north.....

[celest blaze]

must be due to an anomaly

[slow crescent]

Idk it's a videogame

[celest blaze]

the zone is a cosmic horror afterall

[exotic mural]

yooo nimble is here

[slow crescent]

Could've been coming to a river dock or smth

[exotic mural]

how he survive allat

[slow crescent]

He's lucky

[exotic mural]

this is true actually there is a river that goes directly thru ukraine iirc

you can take out loans in this game incredible

[slow crescent]

The river Pripyat

[exotic mural]

4 interest free payments for an exoskeleton

[celest blaze]

i need to brush up on my Ukraine info

[celest blaze]

CoP?

[exotic mural]

the voice acting actually horrid.

😔

[celest blaze]

thats peak early 2000s slav jank

if it was bad english speaking folk it would suck but thier accents make it funny

[exotic mural]

this sounds like americans putting on a fake accent

"hyello styalkyer i nyeed to tyalk tyew you"

🙁

[slow crescent]

I like the voice acting

[celest blaze]

dont they all sound like that ?

[slow crescent]

Yeah

[wet lark]

What game

[exotic mural]

emission time!!

[celest blaze]

i think ive spoken to one ukrainian/russian irl they arent common here

[exotic mural]

cop

[exotic mural]

i live in the USA and have 7 ukrainian coworkers and a lot of them go to where i work lol

[celest blaze]

based tbh

i like their accents

[wet lark]

Oh thats my favorite one

[exotic mural]

this guy runs like cray

no need for an endurance artifact thats for sure

people be yapping crazy style in da boat though

[celest blaze]

CS stamina system feels way to punishing

[exotic mural]

i like it

[wet lark]

True

[celest blaze]

you run out way to fast compared to SoC

[wet lark]

Everything in CS was way too punishing

[exotic mural]

i think CS is a lot more rewarding to find an endurance artifact

[celest blaze]

100%

i just wish it would recharged while you walked lol

[exotic mural]

CS just feels rewarding because at the start of the game you are feeble weak goober and by the end you are literally unkillable

[exotic mural]

i agree with this 100% but it also doesnt in SoC

[celest blaze]

oh fr ? fair lol i already forgetting the small parts of my playthrough

[wet lark]

My experience with it in the beginning was picking up the medusa and going to the drain pump, dying 100 times, raging cause my hp was mysteriously draining and I couldnt figure out why, searching for an answer til it finally told me that picking up artifacts will give you rads even if you dont have them equipped

[exotic mural]

emission (big thunderstorm)

vs chad clear sky emission (world ending)

[exotic mural]

what they DO?

[wet lark]

I actually dropped clear skies for that reason, but I went back to complete it after my stalker withdrawal hit me after completing 1 and 3

[wet lark]

Yeah lmao

[exotic mural]

dude no way they dont

[wet lark]

See even you didnt know, the game doesnt tell you

[exotic mural]

you sure u didnt step in water or something?

why do emissions still happen in CoP isnt ccon destroyed by now

[wet lark]

I did but the radiation only stopped when I dropped the artifact

I could be misremembering, i dunno

[exotic mural]

yeah you dont get rads when you just grab the artifact

only when you put it on

holy corpses

who do i sell all these guns to damn

[indigo marsh]

Large emissions don't happen because of that but small frequent emission happen. That's what I am guessing.

[indigo marsh]

I think Owl

[exotic mural]

dude they dont buy low condition guns

sad.....

[indigo marsh]

I mean you can get the ammo from those guns by unloading them and keeping them. Or if you want you can sell them.

[exotic mural]

im gonna just throw them

he wont buy them because of their dura

[celest blaze]

Fighting mercs was fun unloaded all their guns and had like 1500 rounds of 5.56

[wet lark]

You dont

[exotic mural]

i just gave this dude 3 bottles of vodka

[wet lark]

Unless theyre good condition and the merchants interested in that item, most of your profits gonna be from doing quests and getting artifacts

Oh also I killed noah at the start of the game and got a spas 12 shotgun and a veles detector

So you might wanna do that

[indigo marsh]

Noah is kinda cool tho

He is pretty chill

[wet lark]

Honestly I killed him cause I opened the door on him at night trying to get in cause of an emission, so when he shot at me I just murdered him in cold blood lol

I didnt know he was doing a warning shot

[indigo marsh]

Did you do the thing before you killed him?

[wet lark]

What thing

[indigo marsh]

The mission

[celest blaze]

To be fair Ida did the same

[exotic mural]

finding artifacts in CoP is almost comically easy

i havent finished the 1st story quest and already have 9 of them

[wet lark]

What to find the bubble thing?

[exotic mural]

i feel like CoP is a LOT easier than SoC and CS, I have a deagle already and like 20k ruble

[ruby warren]

It definitely is, I liked it the best though

[exotic mural]

voiced protag is interesting

[ruby warren]

I liked how open ended it was, which made up for the easier encounters imo

[exotic mural]

i wonder how much skif is gonna yap

[ruby warren]

I also enjoyed not having to fight through 20 bandits just to switch zones lmao

I’d bet he’s gonna talk a bunch lol

[exotic mural]

i hope he doesnt constantly chit chat

banter with his group would be cool but if he talks a ton it would be weird

also why do people yell when they throw grenades shouldnt you not do that

[ruby warren]

You gotta let your homies know you’re throwing a frag so they don’t get themselves blown up

[celest blaze]

^

[exotic mural]

CoP is weird because you can actually kill things by hitting their chest

stalker fans would only wear a helmet into an active warzone because they know theyre invincible everywhere else

[celest blaze]

[civic tinsel]

Are there plans to put out more preorders for the physical editions of the game? I noticed the email notification signup on the website wasn't working and was just wondering if they're done doing them. Big fan of the series and really want that figurine and backpack. Thank you :)

[exotic mural]

yeah it's probably just a glitch on their end, it worked for me, maybe try again?

the thing i wish about it is that we got a scanner replica, that would be awesome

[indigo marsh]

Yeah

[celest blaze]

Does mitay in duty base in clear sky sell exo suits ?

[wet lark]

Oh yeah I got it I just never knew that he fires a warning shot

[wet lark]

Yeah but you gotta have rep for it I think

[celest blaze]

Ah

[indigo marsh]

So you got it by yourself or bc Noah?

[wet lark]

Got what by myself

[indigo marsh]

the location of the bubble

[wet lark]

Oh, he drops a pda when you kill him that tells you the location of the bubble

[civic tinsel]

Weird. What country are you in? Maybe it's because I'm in the US, it hasn't worked all day for me.

[nova wedge]

Did it? I signed up with my other email just in case like a week ago for it. Worked fine. You get an email and then you click it to verify

[civic tinsel]

I keep getting "an error occured while submitting the form", I've tried different browsers and devices too.

[nova wedge]

Someone earlier came in complaining about the same thing but others thought it was because of their country but seeing you now, it must be an issue with the site

[civic tinsel]

How strange.

[celest blaze]

Duty takes eons to move to objective points

[exotic mural]

getting called a retard in CoP is CRAAAZY lmao

[exotic mural]

duty moment (freedom does it too dw)

[celest blaze]

Ong that would get you cancelled nowadays and good to know

[nova wedge]

New autism speaks logo

[covert slate]

they have a splash screen at the start of the console ports about the content of these past games for a reason lol

[exotic mural]

went to the stalker subreddit (horrible idea)

i see a dude say "It seems i am skipping to COP and skipping cs from what u and OperatorDrewski say about it"

Clear Sky unironically better than SoC

why do people do this to themselves

[covert slate]

because big youtuber make up mind for them and can't think for themselves

[exotic mural]

Clear Sky is a very fun game but people dont like it becauuseeee???

I didn't find anything incredibly frusturating except for getting extremely irradiated at the start and not knowing how to fix it because the geiger counter didnt make sense at first

[indigo marsh]

Stalker ID says loner.
Guys is he merc

[celest goblet]

Game can give a bad first impression with starting weapons that can't hit anything, bleeding to death from a paper cut, and cheeki breeki grenade spam

[exotic mural]

me when the hard game is hard

"what?? the videogame made 17 years ago isn't up to modern standards?"
😐

I agree that maybe the guns you use for a good 4 hours shouldn't be RNG though, very dumb decision

People who complain about old games not being super crazy ultra mega 4k raytraced photorealistic are so stupid dude

[celest goblet]

There is something to be said for how you steamroll a small city's worth of dudes in no time at all but I do find it less well rounded than SOC

[exotic mural]

you can do this in every game though, lol

the ending to both SoC and CS require killing at least 100 dudes

i think CS had a way more fun ending than SOC

[celest goblet]

Yeah it's just mandatory in this one. Your kill count before leaving the swamps is about as many dudes as you have to kill in the sarcophagus

[exotic mural]

there's not a lot of people in the sarcophagus, only about 30

what about how many people you have to kill to get in and out of x18

or to turn off the brain scorcher

the entire way in and out of the red forest is a gunfight, that's a lot of monolith soldiers

[celest goblet]

Either way even if it's not a terribly long game it is a bit one note. I liked the more horror sections of SOC and CS only barely has anything like that

[exotic mural]

the argument that you have to kill a lot of people in SC is not very good lol

[exotic mural]

....red forest? lol

the scary parts of SoC combined really have nothing on that singular area in CS

[celest goblet]

Still feels more like a shooting gallery by the time you get there. It's dangerous but not that frightening

[exotic mural]

my first experience in the red forest was at night so maybe that's a factor

still, you kill a TON of people in SoC, this argument really isnt working out for you man

I swear I had over 2000 kills in SoC when i finished, maybe more

[celest blaze]

im at almost 400 human kills alone in CS and i just got to red forest

[exotic mural]

bro is playing pacifist mode

[celest blaze]

im not counting mutants though

[exotic mural]

fair

I aggro'd the entirety of duty and bandits by the end of CS so i had a lot of blood on my hands lmao

[celest blaze]

based lol

[celest blaze]

drewski is honestly horrible for this franchise

he should stick to arma or cod

[celest goblet]

I always kill bandits on sight

[exotic mural]

I also just generally enjoy CS's systems a lot more than SoC. Artifact hunting is really enjoyable and being able to upgrade your armors are great. The artifacts feel like a fleshed out system as apposed to just having 7 of them that have no downsides and the rest give you tuberculosis and aids

[celest blaze]

fr i agree

i like upgrading the rifles aswell

[exotic mural]

finding a combination of artifacts and equipment to make Scar a walking death machine is so much more fun than "THIS ONE MAKES YOU SUPERMAN! RUN FOREVER :PPP"

[exotic mural]

this too. 15 round SVD just mowing down crowds from 300m is great

you can do the same with a VSS in SoC but it just doesnt feel the same

I like that, depending on your choice, you're actually locked out of certain things. It makes you think before you join a faction

[celest blaze]

upgraded m4/16 based rifle on semi with a scope is a laser beam aswell

[exotic mural]

I'm a sucker for the VAL in both games

[celest blaze]

i need to get the val

[exotic mural]

but also the VAL in CS is just flat out better. the end. no argument

[exotic mural]

shoot duty members in the face for free val

[celest goblet]

Once you upgrade anyway. The weapons mostly all suck until you do

[nova wedge]

I can see why people would dislike certain aspects of clear sky but idfk why people skip it, it still has its fun moments and why would you if you're a stalker fan

[ruby warren]

You talking about the trs301?

[exotic mural]

also being able to hold on to a weapon/suit and repair it is just infinitely better than having to shell out 30k for a new SEVA after every other mission

[celest blaze]

Z-M LR 300ML

[celest blaze]

youtubers tell them to skip it

[exotic mural]

the aspects they dislike are usually skill issues. "you bleed when you get shot!!" what, do you not do that IRL? lol

Drewski fans are IRL monolith grunts LMAO

"YES MISTER YOUTUBE, I DO WHAT YOU WISH" ahh

[celest blaze]

drewski told people to prep for stalker 2 by skipping 1 game out of the franchise playing anomaly and some true stalker mod lol

[indigo marsh]

The only part where it really was a pain was the construction building

[celest goblet]

You seem like you are taking this one guys recommendation a little hard

[celest blaze]

its not just him it hurts new fans

its disingenuous and harmful

[indigo marsh]

I have heard that true stalker is a pretty crap STALKER mod

[celest goblet]

I figure they will pick it up eventually if they enjoy the original game

[celest blaze]

same

anomaly is a stalker themed sandbox no real quests new player gonna be so confused

[indigo marsh]

He has a huge audience and a lot of influence

[nimble cipher]

mrorange5948 has been warned

Reason: Bad word usage

[ruby warren]

I skipped clear sky, mostly because it was super buggy on Xbox, finally getting into it after the patches

[celest goblet]

But already since I was curious I went and checked and what he said was if you were short on time before S2 and couldn't play all three games then CS was the one to skip

[exotic mural]

🤢

[exotic mural]

mods can we ban this user

[celest blaze]

new folks who only played gamma are gonna be disappointed in stalker 2 being nothing like gamma

[celest blaze]

dont skip any

[exotic mural]

"THIS GAME IS NOT LIKE THE STALKER I PLAYED" and the stalker they played is the xanax addicted cousin

[exotic mural]

short on time like we dont have 3 months and the games take maybe 5 hours each if you rush it

[ruby warren]

It was legit unplayable when they ported it over homie, crashed constantly, now it ain’t so I’m trying it

[indigo marsh]

It's way better than Gamma

[exotic mural]

mods ban this user please

[celest blaze]

glad its patched

[exotic mural]

you WILL SUFFER through the bugs AND YOU WILL LIKE IT

[celest blaze]

oh 100% way better

[exotic mural]

now go do faction war, lol.

[celest blaze]

gamma doesnt even make sense how are people following a gun selling ban in a lawless zone lol

who is enforcing this law

[celest goblet]

Realistically if you are a new player then SOC will be at least 15-20 hours and CS and COP will be 10-15, and like... Even with 3 months that will be too long for plenty of people

[indigo marsh]

Did they release the first version of CS on console, first?

[celest blaze]

i dont see ukranian police in the zone

[ruby warren]

No clue, but I couldn’t leave clear sky’s base at first, it would crash every time

[indigo marsh]

Like if you sell guns, what are they going to do arrest me for doing something more illegal than snuggling highly dangerous artifact outside the zone.

[celest blaze]

right?

[ruby warren]

So I went to CoP and beat that, then noticed clear sky got patched and tried it out and now it’s playable

[indigo marsh]

Did you use the guide?

[ruby warren]

Yes I’d go to the guide and and soon as I asked him to take me it’d crash

[indigo marsh]

That was a stupid question

[celest blaze]

glad you can play now

[indigo marsh]

The base is essentially fenced in and the only way to exit is the guide

[celest goblet]

Hopefully it keeps working. Game can be annoying in some places but it is worth a play

[ruby warren]

I wanna beat it on master before console gets mod support for the achievement

[indigo marsh]

The inaccurate guns(even compared to SoC) is the most annoying and I'd say even rookies having accurate grenade throws is second

Well for most people it's the opposite

If they had SoC level accuracy it would be fine

[ruby warren]

The VSS got me through the accuracy issues on SOC, hoping it won’t do me wrong in CS

I ended up rocking the AS VAL in CoP

[celest blaze]

so far im digging the Groza

i need a sniper eventually

[celest goblet]

Unfortunately the accuracy upgrades are needed just to get it back to what it was in SOC pretty much

[exotic mural]

guns in SoC are garbage besides the ones that arent, in CS all guns can be viable once upgraded

in SoC there's maybe 5 guns worth picking up and the rest are junk whereas in CS there's merit to all of them after tweaking, some will still be objectively better though

[ruby warren]

Yeah the upgrade system is my favorite thing about the later games

[exotic mural]

aint you skip clear sky

[ruby warren]

I’m playing it now

I skipped it because it released broken on Xbox

[indigo marsh]

Apparently the accuracy from SoC was decreased in CS to incentivize the upgrade system

[thick lichen]

happy birthday to me

happy birthday to meeee

[ruby warren]

Happy birthday homie

[nova wedge]

The bleeding was kind of annoying but it wasn't a deal breaker. I think my biggest gripe is how linear it is (not a bad thing I'm just lame), and the fact the faction war thing is in such a linear game

[thick lichen]

happy birthday dear stalkerrrrrrrr,

happy birthday to me 🎉

[nova wedge]

Happy birthday I hope there will be a bug

[exotic mural]

going to the stalker discord to sing yourself happy birthday god bless

[exotic mural]

it thin CS and SoC are the same level of linear

[indigo marsh]

Happy birthday 🎂🎉🥳

[exotic mural]

theres also a QoL few things in CS that are missing in SoC, like how you can unload your enemies guns. A lot of times in SoC you'll pick up a gun that's still warm from shooting at you only for it to be empty, this seems to only happen in CS when you grab one that is reloading (duh)

[cloud crane]

Nah id ping @clever cedar

[jaunty adder]

do you guys think they might explain who Charon is in Stalker 2?

the whole "Charon is Scar because he has a VSS" doesn't hold any water

[jaunty pebble]

Honestly, would make sense

[jaunty pebble]

If I remember correctly CS started development before SoC but released after

[jaunty adder]

Charon might be Strider, but I don't think we can go off old Stalker 2 design documents

[jaunty pebble]

We can, but until the game is released and if they explain it in the game, we all go off by assumptions

[jaunty adder]

well then is there anything tying him to being Charon?

[jaunty pebble]

I don’t know?

I haven’t really looked into the 2012 Stalker 2 documents

[jaunty adder]

me neither

but I'm curious about Charon

I think he might be a major character in Stalker 2

[indigo marsh]

I thought the marked one killed him after the marked one entered pripyat.

[exotic mural]

You don't have to kill him,

[jaunty adder]

he is supposedly the Monolith leader, and correct, you do not have to kill him

[exotic mural]

less leader, more field commander imo

ingame he sits in a basement and gets rolled by like 7 dudes so that must really suck

[jaunty adder]

the cut PDA says he is the leader. but yes that may not exactly be canon

[exotic mural]

it's sort of difficult to pin a hierarchy to monolith because generally speaking theyre all zombies

brainwashed cult

[jaunty adder]

but he was designed to be the leader. he originally had Voronin's face too

as a unique NPC

[exotic mural]

yeah I guess

idk i just threw a grenade at him and never realized he was important

yall think he's Scar or nah

[jaunty adder]

the only evidence linking to him as Scar is the VSS Vintorez

too flimsy

[exotic mural]

true, but still possible

who knows man. scar could've died, he's never shown in the cutscene anywho

the emission very well could've fried his nervous system, we will never know

[jaunty adder]

they could make him his own character in Stalker 2 as well

[exotic mural]

that as well, out of every character we know what happens to Scar the least

unless Degtyarev get's g-man'd or something idk not done with CoP yet

[jaunty adder]

well you'd better finish CoP before Stalker 2 releases

less than 3 months now, surprisingly

[exotic mural]

will probably be done by tomorrow or the day after

just in time to start a new Elden Ring playthrough in preparation for the DLC

and then finish my Apex ranked split in diamond. guh

[jaunty adder]

lost me on the third one, but that's cool 👍

[exotic mural]

i have a lot of work to do both online and irl

my schedule is more full than your mom after a night at my place

[jaunty adder]

scrape my comeback off your mom's chin

[exotic mural]

you aint the 50th guy i've had to do that for buddy, get in line

[jaunty adder]

ayyy 🤷‍♂️

[pseudo rivet]

@gaunt burrow
Convince me why the Vintar BC is better than the SVUmk-2 in CoP

[gaunt burrow]

Real?

[gaunt burrow]

Eh, I don't even use Vintar in CoP that often

I use it in Clear Sky the most

[pseudo rivet]

To be fair, it is better in CS

[gaunt burrow]

Exactly

The theory about Scar being Charon is rather weak to begin with, since the only thing that connects them is the weapon of choice - and while it's true that Charon is the only character using it in SoC, it's not like the devs planned it in advance. In CS it's used by many loners, and in CoP it can even be wielded by some random Monolithians. Besides, in the cancelled Stalker 2 from 2011 it was planned to be revealed that Strider was actually Charon, and that he was the one who led the original Monolith group to the center of the Zone

[pseudo rivet]

They're obviously the same character because they have the same weapon

[gaunt burrow]

[jaunty adder]

that's the joke

[pseudo rivet]

Wait, does that mean that Degtyarev is actually the brainwashed Scar who became a Marked Agent?

[jaunty adder]

that sounds pretty lame

[gaunt burrow]

No bro, I think Strelok's Savior is Scar

I guess next thing you guys are gonna tell me is that the Zone is growing just because Duty propaganda says it does

[jaunty adder]

it does with every emission. nothing to do with duty propaganda

[gaunt burrow]

not confirmed

only emission we know that actually made the Zone bigger is 2006 one

Loki in CoP directly says that the Zone isn't getting bigger. And Lebedev & Kalancha also weren't worried about Zone's growth

They were just worried about possibility of constant emissions being able to cause another disaster

Only reliable source about Zone's growth would be C-Con Representatives words. The rest are rumors and propaganda (But even Representative could lie to Strelok in order to convince him to join them)

[jaunty adder]

goodness. no wonder they call you Mattpat

[gaunt burrow]

Only SoC presents the idea of the Zone's growth

[gaunt burrow]

no they aren't. there's clearly a difference between zombies and Monolithians

Monolithians aren't some kind of "biorobots" with a collective mind, no self awareness, no personalities, no memories and absolutely no free will. that's simply not true.

Nothing and no one in the games imply that they have any kind of "hive mind". On the contrary, we know that each of them is able to think for themselves. The thing is, however, that all they can think about is the Monolith; due to brainwashing, their fanaticism towards it has become the only emotion they feel - they believe that the Monolith is real and that it needs to be protected from outsiders at all costs. They have no fear, they fight to the death and it's even mentioned that they seem to ignore pain:

"This place is enchanted with some really shit magic, buddy. All we do is go 'round in circles looking for our missing friends, but so far we ain't found nothing but monsters. If you get to higher ground you can sometimes hear fragments of their radio comms, but it's impossible to make any sense of them. And that ain't the half of it! How do you explain the appearance of Monolithians from beyond the Barrier? I saw one of them once. He was wounded, his eyes were glazed over and he was mumbling the same words over and over: "Defend the Monolith!" I don't think he could feel pain, 'cause he wouldn't stop trying to grab my buddy's throat until we emptied a few clips into him. What do they want? What made them come back after the Emission? I ain't got nothing but questions, friend..." - Dialogue of Hog's merc(s)

Them being able to think for themselves is also a proven fact:

PDA entry called "On the test of faith.":

"Brothers, the Monolith put my faith to the test, and I nearly strayed from the path. But I withstood! Glory to the Monolith! Its trials strengthen us! We were on our way back from the Dark Valley, and I fell behind. Evil grabbed at the opportunity and started tempting me. And... I doubted. The image of truth became distorted; the enemy whispered into my ear lies about how the Monolith uses us as slaves. But then I realized - it's a trial! I remembered the glory and the splendor of the Monolith. I regained my inner strength and my confidence. Since then I have no fear of any trials and know no doubts. Glory to the Monolith!"

PDA entry called "On those who got to the antennae":

"Brothers, did you hear about unbelievers who broke through to the antennae? Fortunately, the Monolith guided us and the brothers picked them off just in time. One was eliminated immediately, the other two ran away. Cowards! They're all cowards! True faith leaves no room for fear! Two managed to escape, but the monolith is wise and omniscient. It would not have let them live without a reason."

PDA entry of Monolith soldier is also very interesting. Seems like it implies that Monolithians (some of them at the very least) are aware/could be aware of their previous life:

"A number haunts me, as if it's chasing me from a previous life. I knew it then, when I didn't believe. I remember it now - 342089. It's the code to a door but i do not remember the way to the door."

[jaunty adder]

why does Voronin say the Zone spreads after every blowout then?

[gaunt burrow]

mod brainrot

he never said that in original SoC

[jaunty adder]

doesn't make it not true though

[gaunt burrow]

"every emission making the Zone bigger" isn't proven fact

[jaunty adder]

it sure sounds plausible

[gaunt burrow]

there are rumors and mentions of the Zone getting bigger by NPCs in SoC, yes

but only actual reliable source about Zones expansion like I said would be C-Con representatives words

[covert slate]

trust me man, Mattpat is the lore guy

[gaunt burrow]

and I kinda doubt that he was telling the truth about that matter to Strelok too

Regular stalkers also don't mention any rumors about the Zone's expansion, and, more importantly, neither do the scientists at Yanov. Professor Hermann mentions that the Zone 'evolves', but he doesn't say a word about it expanding:

We are just starting to understand the mechanisms that drive some of the phenomena we encounter, and unfortunately we're far from understanding the Zone as a system. This is particularly difficult by the fact that the Zone evolves over time. I don't mean the appearance of new anomalies or little things like that. I'm talking about more serious changes, ones that cannot always be spotted with the naked eye. The weakening of the magnetic field is an example of this

[jaunty adder]

I see what you're saying, but it sounds like an anti-Duty perspective

[gaunt burrow]

I believe in facts. Rumors told by random NPCs and Duty's propaganda aren't reliable proofs

[jaunty adder]

well then what do you think about Freedom?

[gaunt burrow]

"June 10, 2006 : the Zone was suddenly lit by an unbearably bright light. For a brief moment, there was complete silence, as the clouds in the sky evaporated. Then came a terrifying roar. The earth trembled. Most of the soldiers guarding the perimeter were killed instantly." - CoP intro sequence

"A little while after the disaster, the Zone diameter hopped out by a few more kilometers. Most of the government troops guarding the border line and the research teams stationed there perished instantly. Panic stricken, people took to flight. The residents of nearby towns and villages were hastily evacuated."

[gaunt burrow]

I believe them because they also research the Zone

Chekhov: "Our clan lives in the Zone and studies it, in a practical sense. I believe that the Zone is an unbelievable scientific opportunity for the whole of humanity. For several years now the Zone has produced artifacts, which are fantastic research materials, and there are more and more of them every day. As for anomalies, you couldn't recreate the experimental conditions they generate in any lab! I have no doubt that in a few years' time, we will see a massive leap in science and other areas of human knowledge thanks to our research here in the Zone. This leap will be felt by everyone...even people whose closest contact with science and technology is their cell phone!"

Dark Valley Freedomer in Clear Sky:

"Did you know that Freedom is studying the Zone too? We're not scientists, that's true, but we also want to know what created this nature's miracle. Everything here is a gift to humanity: all these anomalies, artifacts and mysterious emissions. What were we talking about? Oh, yes, you asked me what I'm doing here. I'm collecting data for research - taking measurement of background radiation, temperature, humidity and noting the presence of monsters and anomalies... Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get on with exactly that."

[jaunty adder]

you mean like how the Ecologists do and Duty gives all their artifacts to them?

[gaunt burrow]

Well technically, Duty also studies the Zone but still, even they don't mention anything about its expansion in CS & CoP

Speaking of Dutyers, it is necessary to mention one of the most famous sources mentioning the expansion of the Zone - their propaganda, which says that "the world fears the Zone's expansion", and that Duty has a "huge responsibility to protect the world from expanding Zone".

Duty firmly states that the Zone is growing, however, as seen in the above-mentioned dialogue, even some of its members doubt that such thing is happening. Moreover, Duty leaders provide no evidence that the expansion is taking place - they only talk about the consequences that would occur 'if' it would expand, and that they therefore have to fight it in order to prevent this from happening in the first place. For Duty members, hearing that they are "saving the planet" must be very motivating, but their propaganda isn't backed up by any proof

[pseudo rivet]

Duty studies the anatomy of mutants, but that's about it

AKA study how to best kill them

[jaunty adder]

incorrect. they give all their artifacts to the Ecologists

[gaunt burrow]

how does that excludes Duty studying mutants?

[pseudo rivet]

Incorrect, that's a lie and they do trade artifacts with traders

[jaunty adder]

pshhhh

[gaunt burrow]

"They say war is a no-holds-barred kind of deal. I don't see anything wrong with using the enemy's resources against him. I mean, we don't collect these for our personal gain, do we? An average artifact is worth two or three new guns and some ammo to boot, and three guns are worth a dozen dead mutants a day..." - Krylov

seems like clear implication that Dutyers gave artifacts to scientists

[pseudo rivet]

So the rumor of them only giving their artifacts isn't true, as a Dutyer can be seen talking about selling artifacts

CoP in case you're wondering Matt

[jaunty adder]

let's be real, of course the Ecologists pay for them

[gaunt burrow]

Aye. SoC also kinda implies that Duty confiscates artifacts

"And why are you here? Planning to go to Yantar, or are you trying to sneak some artifacts past a brother?" - dialogue of dutyer that's located on Wild Territory

[pseudo rivet]

Yeah, because SoC's Duty is hands-down trash

[jaunty adder]

you could say the same about Freedom

[pseudo rivet]

True. After all, it's not Freedom who is protecting the Barrier alongside Free Stalkers

[covert slate]

they do a decent job at holding off Monolith for a good bit

[gaunt burrow]

Their war in Shadow of Chernobyl is kinda confusing honestly. For example, Skull literally disobeyed Voronin's direct orders and attacked Freedom:

"Oh, and one more thing. Colonel Skull and his boys disobeyed my order and decided to attack the Freedom base without authorization. Well, they can reap what they sow... suicidal bastards. Don't get involved in their fight. Just try to get me the Bulldog 6 - nothing else matters."

But, description of Voronin's "Destroy the pseudodogs" sidequest states that Duty shouldn't be messing around at Army Warehouses territory:

"Our allies have notified us about the discovery of a lair of monsters on the territory by the military warehouses. We believe it's a pack of pseudodogs. We shouldn't be messing around in that area right now, so it's an assignment for a neutral. Are you in?"

Another interesting dialogue:

"There's something sticky brewing. Rumors are going around that the leader of the Duty faction, the head honcho, didn't just leave the Zone on business, but made a deal with the Freedom faction. Well they could have made the same deal in the open, because now everything's a muddle. Things don't look good. On the other hand, the experienced guys say that they started fighting back in the day for no good reason. Just hope the cabinet freaks from the Big Land don't drag us all into another meat grinder" - Random Garbage Loner NPC in SoC

There's also Plichko's dialogue saying that Duty is fighting Freedomers at the Wild Territory, although there aren't even any Freedomers there:

"Where did you naive boys come from? There's a war going on, right? We’re fighting Freedom bandits! We have regular skirmishes with their fighters in the Wild Territory."

[pseudo rivet]

I'm calling SoC buildo remnants shenanigans

[covert slate]

honestly

[pseudo rivet]

Same with the Wild Territory thing. You can still find a Wind of Freedom Bodysuit there

[gaunt burrow]

Good point

[covert slate]

it's no wonder freedom took over Rostok in the future, they must've moved elsewhere

[jaunty adder]

the mercs in Wild Territory were originally supposed to be Freedom

[gaunt burrow]

Detailed description of Snitch's "Kill master stalker" sidequest refers to him as a merc: "The merc should pay for the assasination of each master. The fewer masters there are, the easier it is for the mercs."

another buildo remnant I suppose

[pseudo rivet]

You know, it does feel odd how GSC decided to make Duty look so damn incompetent in even their first game

[gaunt burrow]

aye

[pseudo rivet]

And CS just justified everyone who was against Duty by introducing Hermit

[jaunty adder]

don't be surpirised why it gives me a lower opinion about Freedom

[pseudo rivet]

Because of something that isn't canon? Legit lol

[gaunt burrow]

[jaunty adder]

Freedom really doesn't have many redeeming points to it

[gaunt burrow]

Freedom is only hostile to scientists in SoC tbh (even that's due to technical error & Freedomers attacking Kruglov and his team in the builds) In Call of Pripyat, Loki can literally assign Freedom members to guard the scientists bunker. Even more: if Degtyarev will ask Freedom members "Who could I hire to protect the scientists?" question they might reply with this interesting dialogue:

"Freedom, us in other words. We work with the scientists all the time, so guarding them would be piece of cake for us. Talk to our boss Loki over at Yanov - he'll agree for sure."

And in Clear Sky, if Scar joins Freedom he'll still be able to freely interact with Sakharov

[pseudo rivet]

They also study the Zone and seek to coexist with it

The only thing bad about Freedom is their end goal of making the Zone free for everyone, which might introduce some trouble. Other than that? Literally the best

[jaunty adder]

Freedom wants open borders on the Zone so that anyone anywhere around the world can come into such a dangerous area unprepared and get themselves killed

[gaunt burrow]

that's honestly a very bad goal ngl

[pseudo rivet]

Yup

[gaunt burrow]

I mean even if whole humanity will know everything about the Zone many might not like it and join Duty

[pseudo rivet]

But if they're the only main force fighting against Duty, then I'd gladly help them

[gaunt burrow]

Not even mentioning representative saying that humanity isn't ready for the truth

[solid dome]

We're 6945450 seconds away from the glorious moment!

[pseudo rivet]

Nobody really knows the truth, although Freedom does want to let the secrets of the Zone be known. Don't be surprised if they had Zone journalists

Like Arkady

[gaunt burrow]

who's that?

[stark plover]

Better an open zone then a oopsie all world zone.

[gaunt burrow]

"Open Zone" is not happening any time soon

perhaps not happening at all

[jaunty adder]

so just let anyone enter and get themselves killed?

some youtube streamer or tiktoker

[stark plover]

If they lack the braincells to realize it's dangerous then it's on them.

[gaunt burrow]

its not like people don't enter the Zone even when it's under lockdown

People who romanticize about the Zone will most likely end up like this guy, after getting into the Zone: "I listened to a bunch of fairytales about the Zone and was foolish enough to believe them. But, as I quickly learned, it's a lot different when you're on the inside. I turned out to be a softer cookie than I thought. Dying is easy here, and collecting artifacts is not. But what's really killing me is that there's not a peaceful spot in the whole damn Zone. Even when I fall asleep, half of me stays awake." - Random Cordon Loner in Clear Sky

[pseudo rivet]

To be fair, if they were to tell you about their studies of Shamans, then getting killed has a bigger chance to be a "You" problem

[jaunty adder]

this doesn't make it okay to just let anyone enter such a dangerous area

[gaunt burrow]

Hermit is literally a proof that coexistence with the Zone is actually possible

[pseudo rivet]

And Freedom studies their behavior and believe in it as well

[gaunt burrow]

"I learn. About the surrounding world and myself. They say there's only one truth, but many paths lead to it. So I'm trying these different paths - I look inside myself, listen to the Zone, observe the local wildlife. And you know what - I no longer have any use for weapons and armor. The Zone doesn't see me as an enemy, it doesn't try to tear me to pieces at every step. Even monsters have left me alone. This leads me to believe that stalkers create their own problems when they invade the Zone, armed to the teeth. If you ask me, it's pride that'll be man's downfall - just look at all those sayings about man being the king of nature. What if he isn't? What if humans are just a tiny part of nature? No one seems to have the time to stop and think for a minute about all this, but we really should" - Dialogue of Hermit

"To tell you all I know I'd need much more than a couple of minutes. For example, one area in which we're conducting research is stalkers who intuitively feel the Zone. They never carry any electronics or metal weapons. They even say that weapons and electronics irritate the Zone - and in return it sends monsters to attack the people who carry them and sticks anomalies in their path. They reckon that to be comfortable in the Zone a man needs nothing but his own skills. Pretty much all of them have been warped by the Zone in some way, but they survived and even acquired some strange abilities! Some of them intuitively know the way through deadly anomalies, others can get out of the thickest forest, and I heard that a few of them even make monsters stay away from them. Rumor has it that one of those fellas settled down at Agroprom." - Chekhov

Hermit Gang honestly

[stark plover]

Then we shouldn't let people swim. Swimming is dangerous if you don't know water can kill you but people still do it.

Same with the zone.
It'd be their choice to be there.

It's neither right nor wrong morally.

[gaunt burrow]

tbh many people enter the Zone out of desperation. "Nothing. I don't know squat. I grab a bite here and there, trying to make enough for my daily bread. It's too creepy going into the Zone itself - to hell with it. And there's no work at home, my wife's on my case - gotta live somehow. Here at the Garbage, if you look around for a day, you can get some artifacts together. And it'll do for your bread and butter." - Random Cordon Loner NPC in SoC

[jaunty adder]

this is a dumb reddit thing

[gaunt burrow]

"Bes's my name. I came to these parts three years ago. Like many of the guys in the Zone I'm a fugitive, wanted for two murders and GBH. A few years ago a friend of mine got battered pretty bad - they had to literally stitch him back together at the hospital. So I paid the bastards who did it a little "visit". When the coppers showed up I had to shoot one of them and jump out of a third-floor window - I've been here since. I've done well in this place but the list of my crimes has got a little longer too. I try to fight the lawless just as I did on the outside. I train up rookies and teach them to survive in the Zone."

"You mean what do I do in the Zone? I'm hiding from some nosy former pals of mine. Back on the outside they would go on and on with their questions and lectures on life... So we had an... altercation. I hope you're not here to start all that morality shit again, are you? No? Good, then just keep walking." - Dialogue of Random Garbage Bandit in Clear Sky

its not just their choice

you also have people like Cold: "I was collecting bottles, one after another, and they led me here... Ha-ha! I'm kidding, man! Truth is, there was no place for me in that other world, it didn't want me. In the end, I came here... first to the Zone and then to Clear Sky. The guys here are alright, and I'm needed here. They come back after a mission, I pour them a drink, tell a few dirty jokes and my job is done - simple, but effective. By the way, they call me Cold around here."

people are't coming to the Zone for fun

[stark plover]

Lot of those examples seem like they made the choice to hide in the zone.

[gaunt burrow]

yes. choice made out of desperation

"When I worked at the surgeon clinic, it was easy to cover up. There was always a surplus of donor blood to be had. But the Zone was different... I thought that this harsh environment would push my condition to the sidelines. But I was wrong. I experienced the most terrible explosion of all and just couldn't think of anything else. I decided to make the killings look like bloodsucker attacks. I usually picked targets that were already wounded." - Dialogue of Tremor

[jaunty adder]

@stark plovermaybe just don't base your life decisions on reddit comments

[stark plover]

What are you even spouting off about?

[gaunt burrow]

but point is that many people enter the Zone either to start the new life (Tooth, Sultan), hide from someone (random garbage bandits, Bes) or simply because outside world didn't wanted them

[jaunty adder]

your poorly written post earlier. but I digress

[gaunt burrow]

some loners also entered the Zone simply because they listended to a bunch of fairytales but ended up regretting it

"I listened to a bunch of fairytales about the Zone and was foolish enough to believe them. But, as I quickly learned, it's a lot different when you're on the inside. I turned out to be a softer cookie than I thought. Dying is easy here, and collecting artifacts is not. But what's really killing me is that there's not a peaceful spot in the whole damn Zone. Even when I fall asleep, half of me stays awake." - Another dialogue of Random Cordon Loner

[stark plover]

So you assume it's a reddit thing?

[gaunt burrow]

Orest also entered the Zone to find Leska (Garbage loners in Clear Sky also have dialogue stating that they came there to find their brother). Most of these people had no choice but to go into the Zone

[jaunty adder]

I'll hear you out

[calm bough]

[gaunt burrow]

I mean many things are not ok but no one cares. artifacts lorewise literally generate anomalies: "Useful? Useful in our line of work means something that's gonna help you stay alive. That, or something that's gonna make your enemy dead. I'll tell you about artifacts. What's an artifact? It's a cluster of anomalous energy, kinda like a stock cube. There's also artifacts that can...err...what's that damn word...ah, right...ge-ne-ra-te anomalies! I think that's how Chekhov says it. Anyway, only problem is, once the artifact generates an anomaly it's as good as useless. The anomaly itself ain't exactly powerful nor does it last long, but it's good enough to delay someone or knock 'em off your trail altogether" - Yar's dialogue in Clear Sky

Yet there are dialogue saying that outside world is full of artifacts and Zone's trinkets

[jaunty adder]

I haven't seen this. that wouldn't make sense

[gaunt burrow]

1 sec

its pretty big dialogue but I'll send it. brb

[jaunty adder]

okay, but why would the outside world be full of artifacts beyond the exlusion zone? it doesn't make sense

[gaunt burrow]

"The army's nothing but a bunch of dirty rotten crooks. Their job is to seal the Zone tight and shut off all access. But have you ever wondered how we manage to get all kinds of goods from the outside, and the outside world gets artifacts and other illegal items from the Zone? Of course, it all goes through the army boys, and you can be sure they're lining their pockets well with each transaction. It used to be that you would wet their beak and they would keep their word, but no longer. Pay or no pay, you just can't be safe with them. What happened was that stalkers, who could have just stuck their heads in the sand like they did, actually began to stand up to the military. It's even rumored that they've taken the outpost commander hostage." - Dialogue of Random Cordon Loner in Clear Sky

because of the military

[pseudo rivet]

As souvenirs, for their healing or strength enhancing qualities or for scientific study

[jaunty adder]

oh, but that's just like you could buy them

[pseudo rivet]

Which they do

[gaunt burrow]

"That's the sort of people we are! You can't buy an extra fifteen minutes of life or a spare store from death, but us traders are needed everywhere. Even in the Zone, even in the Swamps and even underground. It's an illusion that the Zone is under lock and key and the army has all the ways in and out sealed. Think about it, nowadays artifacts and rare specimens from the Zone can be found all over the world, and your fellow stalkers never have a shortage of canned meat, vodka, ammo or equipment - somebody's gotta be responsible for all that, right? Well, that's where we come in. In this place it ain't like selling bootleg CDs on the outside with the cops up your ass every damn day! Around here the situation is very simple: the outside world has an interest in the Zone and vice versa, but it's officially forbidden, prohibited and all that bullshit! That's what we're here for... we make sure those interests are satisfied, and everybody's happy. There's a joke among traders that if someone points a gun at you, your best bet is to try to buy it off them!" - Suslov

[jaunty adder]

well yes, that would make sense

[gaunt burrow]

@jaunty adder

[pseudo rivet]

Most people in the Big Land who own something from the Zone never went to the Zone

[gaunt burrow]

Beard also mentions that artifacts are in the outside world

[pseudo rivet]

Some people even have Mutant pets

[stark plover]

Who needs tiger King when you got snork king.

[jaunty adder]

but that just means the artifacts have been sold and have ended up around the world

[pseudo rivet]

And some people want Mutant fur for clothing and the like

[gaunt burrow]

in fact Sidorovich in Clear Sky says that entire governments are interested in the Zone's trinkets: "A long, long time. I was one of the first in the Zone. Back then we didn't have radiation detectors or suits, so your life expectancy in this place was real short. That's why I've never been past the Garbage. That sort of thing isn't for me. I've got the brains for a different sort of business: I'm like engine grease, without me the engine falters and that means people start fighting. But when I'm around everyone's happy. Even though the Zone is full of wonders, the demand for these wonders is even bigger - be it from governments, special services, private agencies or fat cat collectors. I'm their link to this place: I facilitate trade between the Zone and the outside world. I know all the right people and I can solve just about any issue without leaving this room. That pretty much sums me up."

[pseudo rivet]

It's even as weird as people literally buying just something like canned food from the CNPP which suddenly got popular and really expensive thanks to the existence of the Zone

Highly irradiated canned food from the CNPP does make for a great Zone souvenir

[jaunty adder]

Steve1989MREInfo gotta make a video somehow

[stark plover]

Eating it will make you positively glow

[pseudo rivet]

Ngl, I hope Diggers will return and that the CS and SoC kind get combined so we also have some underground explorers

[pseudo rivet]

No way, mutants HAVE reached the Big Land

We just need more underground places in general

[gaunt burrow]

"I came here with Grouse after the Scorcher was disabled. But I'm sure that's not what you really wanna know, am I right? I deal mainly in artifacts. The outside is full of trinkets already, so valuable customers want the rare stuff. That's why I decided to set up a stalker camp, where real high-value articles can still be found. I mean, when a stalker comes back with his loot, what does he really need? A cold one in his hand and good ol' human contact, that's what. And that's what Skadovsk is all about" - Beard

[stark plover]

Poor neighbors when the pseudo giant escapes the poorly made enclosure in Florida.

[gaunt burrow]

@jaunty adder another mention of outside world being full of artifacts

[pseudo rivet]

How would Florida man be able to afford it

[stark plover]

A certain kind of "science"

[jaunty adder]

that just means that artifacts from the zone have made their way out and are being sold

[pseudo rivet]

I thought that was already common information

[gaunt burrow]

military is responsible for the fact that artifacts end up outside world

[jaunty adder]

yes but not anomalies and such outside the zone

[pseudo rivet]

Yeah, there are no anomalies outside the Zone

But there are Mutant pets

[gaunt burrow]

real

[jaunty adder]

hmmmm, yeah

[pseudo rivet]

I just hope they're the more animal-looking Mutants

[gaunt burrow]

"Winter's coming soon. And what do chicks like to wear there on the Big Land during winter? That's right - furs. So now there's a new fashion going around, making various accessories from the tails of pseudodogs. It's some sort of special fur! Bottom line, there's an order for such a tail. Will you take it?" - "Bring over the tail of the pseudodog" sidequest

[jaunty adder]

someone would probably pay big money for a pseudo-dog

[pseudo rivet]

Yup

Drop the pet dialogue here as well

[jaunty adder]

oh no... and not just as a pet.

[pseudo rivet]

Hmm, does the Scarlet Flower affect other species as well?

[gaunt burrow]

I think you're referring to Gonta's dialogue? I don't have that dialogue but I can post SS in #📸┃screens_and_videos

[pseudo rivet]

Aye

[stark plover]

It could happen one day
Wouldn't be surprised if some experiments went wrong somewhere.

[gaunt burrow]

done

[jaunty adder]

not with Duty around

[pseudo rivet]

It is possible to ge-ne-ra-te anomalies, but we haven't heard anything about it and some anomalies eventually die

[gaunt burrow]

only way it could happen is via artifacts generating anomalies

Yar mentioned that in Clear Sky, in one of his dialogues

"Useful? Useful in our line of work means something that's gonna help you stay alive. That, or something that's gonna make your enemy dead. I'll tell you about artifacts. What's an artifact? It's a cluster of anomalous energy, kinda like a stock cube. There's also artifacts that can...err...what's that damn word...ah, right...ge-ne-ra-te anomalies! I think that's how Chekhov says it. Anyway, only problem is, once the artifact generates an anomaly it's as good as useless. The anomaly itself ain't exactly powerful nor does it last long, but it's good enough to delay someone or knock 'em off your trail altogether"

[pseudo rivet]

Duty sells artifacts to traders who then sell it to the Big Land

[stark plover]

Which is why I mentioned experiments. Artifacts are weird.

[pseudo rivet]

There's also that rumor of artifacts wanting to spread all over the world

[jaunty adder]

@pseudo rivetnah, they give them to the Ecologists. was hoping Forrest would take the bait

[pseudo rivet]

I'm not taking your bait either

[gaunt burrow]

@pseudo rivet got more info about that?

[jaunty adder]

well Duty gives artifacts to scientists. there's no meme

[pseudo rivet]

Huh, I remember that one without the whole Merc thing

[gaunt burrow]

1 sec

[jaunty adder]

meanwhile, Freedom wants anyone from anywhere around the world to come inside the Zone and walk into a Whirligig anomaly.

annnd be obliterated

[pseudo rivet]

We're not interested in the fact that walking dreadnoughts might wander across the Zone: stalkers in exo-skeletons armed to the teeth. The work becomes even more dangerous and harder over this. The fewer of them there are - the better it is for us. Kill one of them - and receive your reward.

You know, it's ironic. For someone who doesn't like Freedom, you do have a Freedomer as your avatar

[gaunt burrow]

no I mean detailed description of that task

check #📸┃screens_and_videos

[jaunty adder]

ah, another hagtorp enthusiast, I presume

[pseudo rivet]

Guess he indirectly works with Mercs?

[gaunt burrow]

Surdno has few theories. One of them is maybe it’s related to Wolfhound. Back when he was originally a Freedomer, he sent you to Snitch in Bar to get a reward, and Snitch hinted that he’s associated with Freedom.
Perhaps they wanted to preserve that connection when Wolfhound became a merc?
The truth is that we don’t know why it refers to him as a merc really

[pseudo rivet]

Some of his art is pretty neat

[jaunty adder]

it's excellent

[gaunt burrow]

his another theory that this quest was meant to be used by another character that later got cut because there WAS supposed to be a merc in 100 rads at some point

https://stalker.fandom.com/ru/wiki/Наёмник_(персонаж)

[pseudo rivet]

They did change it specifically to Mercs, so if it is a remnant, they took the effort of specifically mentioning Mercs

@gaunt burrow
You know what's sad? Bandits being better peacekeepers than Duty

[gaunt burrow]

[jaunty adder]

no, but I beat OLR 2.5

[pseudo rivet]

Like, it's just sad to see how incompetent Duty is while their whole aesthetic is pretty cool

And to effectively pump themselves full with drugs to effectively turn them into superhumans sounds really fricking dope

[jaunty adder]

can you not go back and get ammo, I guess?

[gaunt burrow]

Every time there's a goldrush in the Zone, the Bandits come over to keep the peace, preventing Stalkers from killing each other over loot. Meanwhile despite Shulga saying that they protect stalkers Voronin in SoC can literally give you a sidequest about killing Agroprom stalkers

[pseudo rivet]

Literally

[gaunt burrow]

despite the fact that stalkers back in 2011 helped Duty

[pseudo rivet]

Literally x2

[jaunty adder]

well then use cheat engine and give yourself money

[stark plover]

May help if they loosen up a little bit.

[pseudo rivet]

I hope they expand on the whole "pumping themselves full with drugs" thing

[jaunty adder]

you'd rather do that than buy yourself some basic supplies?

[gaunt burrow]

@pseudo rivet what is "John"? Krylov in Clear Sky says: "At ease. Feel free to use the john, but no smoking. Duty needs healthy soldiers. Are you familiar with Duty's charter?"

[pseudo rivet]

Toilet

[jaunty adder]

be sure to update us how it goes

[gaunt burrow]

really? I thought it was sland for something else

[pseudo rivet]

So he allows their soldiers to abandon their post to use the John

[gaunt burrow]

makes sense

[jaunty adder]

everybody here will want to hear. go for it

[pseudo rivet]

Just like the Dutyers who are stationed at the Wild Territory come nightfall, because they say they'll shit their pants at night

[gaunt burrow]

Lmao

honestly tho I can't even blame them

[jaunty adder]

post here. everybody wants to hear, I promise

[pseudo rivet]

Agreed, although it doesn't help with them already being so incompetent in SoC

Like, they're a faction of mutant hunters who don't hunt mutants and then this guy says they abandon their post come nightfall just because of the noises alone

[deft stirrup]

kirlik or something along those lines

[jaunty adder]

just bring a shotgun

[stark plover]

Doesn't one of their members of leadership get stuck in an anomaly in CoP?

[pseudo rivet]

Yeah, their founder

[gaunt burrow]

Tachenko

[jaunty adder]

emm... good luck.

[pseudo rivet]

He shut off all communications with the Military, claimed the Military abandoned them and created his own faction

Typical wacko

[gaunt burrow]

Duty was in the Zone even in the beginning. Shulga mentions him and his friends coming to the Zone shortly after it was created

[jaunty adder]

just go get some shotgun ammo

[gaunt burrow]

"That's a boring story and there's no heroism involved. As soon as the Zone appeared, Lenya, a friend of mine, decided to come here and check it out. I was a field officer at the time and Lenya was in the intelligence service. Now, we weren't suckers or anything, but we ended up in a real mess. We crawled for hours, wounded and bleeding, until finally Duty picked us up. I made it, Lenya didn't. I had no friends in the Zone, so I decided to stick around here, with Duty. Plus, I've had a thing against the Zone ever since."

[pseudo rivet]

Yeah, Duty has existed since 2006

The year the Zone was created by the Second Disaster

[gaunt burrow]

When did Freedom actually got created tho? Closest thing would be Chekhov saying this I think: "I didn't expect him to do this! I've known him for ages! We hunted for our first artifacts together, we made Freedom what it is today! I trusted him with all the operational planning, and he just went and sold us out..."

[jaunty adder]

you know what's going to happen

[pseudo rivet]

We don't know

[nimble cipher]

va_noo. has been warned

Reason: Bad word usage

[jaunty adder]

that's just Wolf

say the bad word again

[ripe hinge]

I live in ur walls

[gaunt burrow]

Chekhov saying that him and Commandant/Lingov making Freedom into what it is today would imply that Chekhov is/was Freedom's founder right?

[jaunty adder]

I have like 40 warnings from Wolf

[pseudo rivet]

Although it's very much hinted at that Freedom started fighting Duty

[gaunt burrow]

not sure tho

[nimble cipher]

.krischaka has been warned

Reason: Bad word usage

[pseudo rivet]

Nice

[nimble cipher]

preacher5624 has been warned

Reason: Bad word usage

[gaunt burrow]

literally 1984

[nimble cipher]

preacher5624 has been warned

Reason: Bad word usage

[gaunt burrow]

What do you think Crimson?

[nimble cipher]

preacher5624 has been warned

Reason: Bad word usage

[pseudo rivet]

One could assume that, yeah

[jaunty adder]

told ya

[nova wedge]

Foul mouth all of you

[gaunt burrow]

real

[pseudo rivet]

Real

[gaunt burrow]

poopymouths 👎

[jaunty adder]

forgibs me mastah

[ripe hinge]

can we say the hard R

No thats not what I meant

[pseudo rivet]

More like Doody mouths

[gaunt burrow]

"Well, I was friends with Freedom leaders back when there was no Zone. Mind you, in those days they weren't leaders, they were regular hippies. So when I made a move into the Zone in search of artifacts and ran into familiar faces, I figured I might as well go with what I know." - Loki

[ripe hinge]

replace R w n and a with er

[pseudo rivet]

One way to find out and say it

[jaunty adder]

ummm EXCUSE ME but I am unaffilated

[gaunt burrow]

Also pretty interesting lore piece imo

[dense scarab]

Wait i can See you can change your faction in DC.
Is this possible in the Game to play other factions ?

[ripe hinge]

Niger the Country

[pseudo rivet]

Only CS, technically

[jaunty adder]

see, I told you

[gaunt burrow]

Only in CS can you officially join factions

[pseudo rivet]

But you can only support the Neutrals, Bandits, Duty and Freedom

[gaunt burrow]

in CoP you can just take sides but can't join any faction, in SoC you can technically join Freedom but you aren't supposed to

[dense scarab]

CS ?

[pseudo rivet]

Clear Sky

[jaunty adder]

lmao

[gaunt burrow]

can be done via exploit

[pseudo rivet]

You have played CS, right?

[gaunt burrow]

CS as in Clear Sky, not Counter Strike

[jaunty adder]

I'm from 2019 but no faction

[dense scarab]

And how does that work then ? Cause i want to join the mercs

[pseudo rivet]

You can't because you're already a Merc

[gaunt burrow]

you already are a merc in Clear Sky

[jaunty adder]

can I join a faction?

[pseudo rivet]

You have played the games, right?

[dense scarab]

Oh yeah sorry im dumb.
But i mean is it possibel in Stalker 2

[jaunty adder]

@pseudo rivetI'm a wizard

[gaunt burrow]

Purely lorewise, Scar is a mercenary but he has no connection whatsoever with the 'mercenary faction'. To begin with, other mercs don't really treat him as one of their own. This is particularly visible in dialogues with Hog, who calls Scar a "merc", just like most of the other characters do, and when explaining to him what will happen if they fail their task, i.e. clients won't trust the mercs no more, he doesn't seem to take Scar into account at all - as if it didn't apply to him.

Other characters also don't treat Scar as a member of the mercenary organization - Chekhov doesn't suspect him of any contacts with the hostile mercenaries in the Dark Valley, and he's not surprised by his willingness to assist in eliminating them, all the while being surprised that the mercs attacked another faction.

It's also worth noting that when the player joins any faction, then its emblem will be visible in the PDA and UI; however, if the player is factionless, then the emblem used by the mercenaries won't be visible anywhere. This further suggests that Scar was a merc only by profession and had no connection with the organization. Of course, it can be assumed that there are other 'mercenary freelancers' in the Zone, but we only know about Scar

[pseudo rivet]

What faction would you join?

[deft stirrup]

probably no

[jaunty adder]

depends what's available

[pseudo rivet]

Shadow Wizard Money Gang

[gaunt burrow]

Not to mention he, despite being a merc acting like regular stalker as well

[pseudo rivet]

#👥┃faction-choice

[deft stirrup]

in SHOC only freedom in CS duty freedom bandits loners

[dense scarab]

Nah Shit.
Mods can do this.

[gaunt burrow]

ye but you aren't supposed to join Freedom in SoC

[pseudo rivet]

Yes and your choice will affect the Zone

[gaunt burrow]

and it can only be done with exploit as well

[jaunty adder]

why should you be able to. they want to kill the scientists and Kruglov

[dense scarab]

https://tenor.com/view/spongebob-thumbsup-ok-smile-gif-151830193971153617

[gaunt burrow]

build remnants

[pseudo rivet]

They don't

[jaunty adder]

yes they do 🤮

[pseudo rivet]

How many times do we need to tell you this, old man?

[gaunt burrow]

Freedom is only enemies with scientists in SoC because they were supposed to attack Kruglov and his team in older builds

[dense scarab]

They dont

[gaunt burrow]

I already told you, in Clear Sky Freedom Scar can literally freely interact with Sakharov

[pseudo rivet]

The bait is real

[jaunty adder]

I have played OLR where they are Freedom

[gaunt burrow]

In Call of Pripyat, Loki can literally assign Freedom members to guard the scientists bunker. Even more: if Degtyarev will ask Freedom members "Who could I hire to protect the scientists?" question they might reply with this interesting dialogue:

"Freedom, us in other words. We work with the scientists all the time, so guarding them would be piece of cake for us. Talk to our boss Loki over at Yanov - he'll agree for sure."

so freedomers being hostile towards scientists in SoC isn't really a lore element

[pseudo rivet]

Makes argument
Mentions mods

[gaunt burrow]

Mods

[jaunty adder]

kinda just joking

[pseudo rivet]

Yeah, I know

But that allows me to joke about it as well

This man is a Renegade fr

[gaunt burrow]

real

[pseudo rivet]

Renegadis Gods of Zona

[gaunt burrow]

Degeneradis Gods of Zona

[pseudo rivet]

Ayo stfu

[gaunt burrow]

[pseudo rivet]

[jaunty adder]

Renegade? nah

[pseudo rivet]

Inb4 Scientist

[gaunt burrow]

Do we even have mentions of Freedom actually sabotaging scientists group in the trilogy other than this dialogue that is likely build remnant: "Useful to a rookie? Well, listen up. To the North, not far from the Brain Scorcher, Freedom have set up their HQ in an old military base. They're notorious nihilists, anarchists and criminals - freedom fighters, freaking guerrillas all of them. All they do is sabotage research groups, attack army units and constantly skirmish with Duty. These skirmishes are now spilling over into a small-scale war for survival. Let me give you some advice: never get involved with them. They'll only accept you if you're totally crazy and there's a reward on your head. Ha-ha-ha. Can you believe that?"

[pseudo rivet]

That's all

Build remnant

[jaunty adder]

@pseudo rivetinb4 legend of the zone. I've been here before you

[pseudo rivet]

Right

Who's alt are you?

[jaunty adder]

no alt

just a drunk

[pseudo rivet]

No truth, either

[jaunty adder]

pshhhh

[pseudo rivet]

@gaunt burrow
When are you going to support our fight against the Maelstrom? We could use your help

[gaunt burrow]

wdym?

[pseudo rivet]

LEGO Universe

[gaunt burrow]

ohh

not familiar with it honestly

[pseudo rivet]

LEGO MMO

[gaunt burrow]

with lego universe lore I mean

[pseudo rivet]

Think trailer explains the basics

[jaunty adder]

can I join a special group? I have a drinking problem, does that count?

[gaunt burrow]

join Renegades

[gaunt burrow]

gotcha

[jaunty adder]

but that's the worst faction

[gaunt burrow]

don't let @glossy blade hear you

[pseudo rivet]

But basically, four explorers found a source of pure Imagination, but one of the explorers corrupted it with his ideas. Now the remaining explorers and the traitor's student have created 4 factions to stand against his evil and created the Nexus Force

[pseudo rivet]

Renegades zased

[gaunt burrow]

damn, sounds based

[stark plover]

That sounds like fun.

[jaunty adder]

you guys are making me feel left out. maybe I WANT to join renegades

[gaunt burrow]

Maybe Renegadis are indeed Gods of Zona

[pseudo rivet]

True

[jaunty adder]

pshhhhhhh. I ain't joining without hearing from a faction leader

[pseudo rivet]

Each faction has 3 classes

And you can make 4 Minifigures, one for each faction

[jaunty adder]

I been here since 2019

[pseudo rivet]

I've been here since day 1

[jaunty adder]

nope

[pseudo rivet]

Yes

[jaunty adder]

no it says you're 2023

[pseudo rivet]

Because I was banned for a really dumb reason

[jaunty adder]

oooooohhhh. here we go

[pseudo rivet]

Yup

[jaunty adder]

so you won't do anything for me then

[gaunt burrow]

who banned you?

[pseudo rivet]

Artemida

[gaunt burrow]

[jaunty adder]

I'm a 32 year old veteran stalker, idk why anyone wouldn't want to recruit me

[pseudo rivet]

Sure, wanna join Freedom?

[jaunty adder]

no

[pseudo rivet]

[jaunty adder]

possibly the worst faction

[gaunt burrow]

Has Freedomer in his pfp

[pseudo rivet]

Duty, obviously

[gaunt burrow]

Duty level hypocricy ngl

[pseudo rivet]

This still cracks me up

[gaunt burrow]

hypocrisy*

[jaunty adder]

@gaunt burrowit's just a camouflage pattern though, tbh

[gaunt burrow]

Sure, whatever makes you sleep better at night

[pseudo rivet]

Right, because that totally isn't a Wind of Freedom Bodysuit

[jaunty adder]

well, you're the only one that has offered

I'm a drunk, maybe I belong with Freedom

[gaunt burrow]

Only drunk character Freedom has/had is Chef

[gaunt burrow]

Or at least only drunk Freedom character we have officially seen

[pseudo rivet]

If you're interested in researching the Zone, discovering it's secrets, coexisting with the Zone and fighting the Military, then we're your faction

[jaunty adder]

I've been gaslighted based on my avatar and being a drunk

I've been drunk this entire time and it was a lot of fun

[pseudo rivet]

Welcome to STOC, where STALKER-based gaslighting is the norm

[gaunt burrow]

Chef vibes

do you also know how to cook? @jaunty adder

[jaunty adder]

I can... mix drinks.

I always played merc

Who the hell would want to play freedom

[gaunt burrow]

3396 people who picked Freedom role in #👥┃faction-choice

[granite mortar]

Yeah, the file name is final_warlab or something like that

[jaunty adder]

Anarchists, Socialists, Communists, wow

[gaunt burrow]

communists and socialists? where do you get that lol

you're making things up

[pseudo rivet]

To be completely fair, every Stalker in the Zone is there illegally

[jaunty adder]

that's the bait

[gaunt burrow]

Trilogy called them anarchists but never said anything about them being communists and socialists

[gaunt burrow]

[jaunty adder]

at this point I wouldn't dare accuse Freedom of being socialist to Mattpat

[gaunt burrow]

baiters 👎

[gaunt burrow]

they are neither socialists nor communists

anarchists yes because even their PDA entry in SoC called them anarchists

[jaunty adder]

lmao

[gaunt burrow]

"Anarchists and daredevils who declare themselves fighters for a free access to the Zone and consequently find themselves in constant conflict with the army, military stalkers and the Duty faction. These so-called freedom warriors believe in sharing all information about the Zone with the rest of the world and challenge the state's monopoly over the Zone's secrets and wonders."

[pseudo rivet]

But then again, everyone in the Zone is there illegally

[prisma goblet]

Do you guys know the difference between darts and slugs for the shotguns?

[gaunt burrow]

yes

[pseudo rivet]

So them being anarchists literally means nothing

[gaunt burrow]

military literally has orders to shoot everyone on sight

[jaunty adder]

not sure if this is a joke or a really obvious question

[pseudo rivet]

Yes, one sucks and the other sucks more

[gaunt burrow]

besides Freedom literally has hierarchy

I'm completing tasks assigned to me by the commander. What, did you think Duty is the only clan that can follow orders? We can be disciplined too, when the situation warrants. You gotta be a moron to really believe that Freedom is full of junkies and drunks. Think about it, if that were true our whole clan would've been dead and buried a long time ago." - Dialogue of Random Army Warehouses Freedomer in Clear Sky

"Fighting. Who against? Well, against everyone who's against us. We ain't just a collection of anarchists - we've got damn good order in our clan and we don't mess around. It may not be as apparent as with the military or Duty, 'cause we joined the clan to enjoy freedom and equality, but we can always get together and get shit done. So brace yourself, friend, you're about to see the real Freedom in action." - Another dialogue

[prisma goblet]

No it's a real question most of the time I just shoot without looking at what ammo I'm using

[gaunt burrow]

"We respect the Freedom of our members and other stalkers. And we believe that the Zone is open to all. Being the greatest gift humanity has ever received! It's an opportunity to take a tremendous leap in our development and everyone needs to understand that." - Freedomer

"Who will command us?" - Ex Monolithian from Strider's squad

"We don't have a strict hierarchy. Earn our respect and you'll get a plenty of followers, however when on a mission we obey the commander's orders without question." - Freedomer

[pseudo rivet]

Speaking of Chef being the only drunk, here's a hint

[jaunty adder]

probably not much of a difference depending on the mod you're playing

[tender torrent]

I always understood that the Freedom always thought of themselves as left-wing communists At least when you notice the game well as a normal player

[pseudo rivet]

Use Shot, Slugs and Darts are useless

[pseudo rivet]

Bro wat

[gaunt burrow]

jesus christ

do you guys even know anything about Freedom lore? (not you Crimson)

[pseudo rivet]

They legit hate the government

[jaunty adder]

I know about the freedom open border

[nova wedge]

I dont get how people think theyre otherwise the game makes that abundantly clear

[pseudo rivet]

No, I've mostly just been bluffing about the lore so far

[gaunt burrow]

ikr

[tender torrent]

especially when the merchant from Freedom in SoC says they are hovering in the "stratosphere", which basically means that they are being shot

[gaunt burrow]

they are well disciplined

[gaunt burrow]

.

Other than that not literally everyone in Freedom smokes weed either

Only Ganja smokes weed. And some portion of Freedomers cuz if Scar asks them "What's new?" question they'll answer with this :

"We got lots of sun, fresh air and grass...really good grass...c'mon, dude, stop worrying and just enjoy it!" That doesn't mean that literally everyone in Freedom is a drunk and/or junkie, though.

In SoC Freedomers are literally complaining about not having weed in their pockets:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EUcPIpAHNg

CoP Freedomers don't even have any weed, since they can answer Degtyarev's "You seen any military around?" question with this:

"Nah. This one fella was sayin' that he saw seven soldiers following a free stalker past the radio plant towards Pripyat. There ain't been any weed in the Zone for a while, so I figure that's gotta be crazy talk, pure and simple."

[tender torrent]

absolutely

[exotic mural]

Metaphorically not literally

[tender torrent]

Exactly

[gaunt burrow]

Freedom is probably one of the most misunderstood or even the most misunderstood faction

[nova wedge]

There should be an anprim faction who goes around hurling rocks at stalkers and rides mutants into battle

[tender torrent]

I wondered if freedom went from grass to Zombie

[pseudo rivet]

The amount of people who don't know Bandits like mutants is astonishing

[gaunt burrow]

ikr

[jaunty adder]

can I join a faction. pshhh, I been here since 2019. you guys should be fighting for me

[gaunt burrow]

"Which Zone are you asking about? This one? This is just a children's playground compared to some other joints I've been in. A real paradise for a thief. Barbed wire and armed soldiers? Well, that's nothing. We got our own army. Move around all you want, get unlimited packages from the outside, and get hammered all you like - it's nothing but a joyride! Only problem is - no women. They don't like it here. Sometimes I get a craving so bad that even mutants start looking hot to me... - Random bandit in Clear Sky

so lorewise freedomers aren't mutant f*ckers, bandits are

[pseudo rivet]

This explains why Yoga killed Spotty

He should've done it the other way around

[jaunty adder]

should I join mercs?

[hazy helm]

u cant

[pseudo rivet]

If you want to be seen as a cringy egocentric weeb, then sure

[jaunty adder]

@hazy helm why not?

[hazy helm]

in the games there is no way to join the mercs faction, plus in clear sky scar is a merc but not really as he doesnt display any connection to the Merc HQ nor does he take any missions from them, hes more of a loner

[pseudo rivet]

STOC #👥┃faction-choice Moment

[tender torrent]

greeting, you are free as you wish to join the faction that best suits you , for my part, I am more in the term research and scientific, to understand the distortions of the zone, how are they created by physics.

[gaunt burrow]

511 people unironically joined Renegades

[nimble cipher]

preacher5624 has been warned

Reason: Bad word usage

[gaunt burrow]

💀 moment

[granite mortar]

Goofy ahh faction thats only popular due to poorly understood and twisted lore

[pseudo rivet]

I was also Renegade before I got banned and lost all my roles

[granite mortar]

Hey!
Leave me and Mol1t alone you mutant banging monster

[gaunt burrow]

I'm not bandit to bang mutants

[jaunty adder]

well you sound like a zoomer and did no favors recruiting me to any sort of faction

[granite mortar]

I know
Your punishment is having to read lore misconceptions you freaky stoner

[gaunt burrow]

[pseudo rivet]

Everyone knows Mol1t is a Monolithian

[tender torrent]

@pseudo rivet @gaunt burrow Is there a Zombie faction?

[gaunt burrow]

technically "Zombified" is a faction gameplaywise, but in the lore everyone calls them zombies

[granite mortar]

Im just silly
The thing is Mercs arent really well understood faction so they are popular thanks to headcanon thats based on not exactly well made and written mods

[pseudo rivet]

I hope your eyes work to see for yourself in #👥┃faction-choice

[gaunt burrow]

same thing with traders. in CS Sid is in "Trader" faction and in SoC too

[jaunty adder]

why would I want to join Renegades? that's literally the worst faction

[gaunt burrow]

but everyone calls them traders so not real factions

[pseudo rivet]

Although I do see a difference between Zombified Stalkers and Zombies

[granite mortar]

I did it for fun and forgot about it later
Now its too late to switch

[pseudo rivet]

At least, if they didn't retcon Zombies

[tender torrent]

It would have been funny to see Zombie Factions, but to see like zombies and die at the end, leaves a real reality

[jaunty adder]

so now you're a zoomer on the worst faction. great

[gaunt burrow]

honestly lorewise many factions aren't even factions. for example PDA entry about bandits in SoC literally says that different gangs fight eachother

[pseudo rivet]

He didn't join Duty

[granite mortar]

Yes
Now go and choose a faction that isnt Mercenaries
Or choose Mercs but only for the right reasons

[granite mortar]

He didnt respond to Call of Duty

[tender torrent]

@gaunt burrow You seem to know the entire stalkers saga by heart 👍

[pseudo rivet]

(There are no right reasons)

[jaunty adder]

no one offered to recruit me to mercenaries or duty

[gaunt burrow]

I know nothing about the lore

[granite mortar]

Good
Go join Duty
Protecting the planet is our common goal

[pseudo rivet]

Offer for Freedom still stands

[gaunt burrow]

real

[tender torrent]

I wondered that you have an excellent memory

[gaunt burrow]

honestly tho I can see why so many people joined mercs

[jaunty adder]

why are you freedom and renegades

[pseudo rivet]

Offer for LEGO Universe still stands

[pseudo rivet]

I was given the Renegade role by Mol1t as a meme

[granite mortar]

For the fun of it
Duh

[nova wedge]

Becayse he likes the scorpion

[gaunt burrow]

Only cool thing about Renegades: their patch

[granite mortar]

Not everyone has faction role because they share the mindset
That would be boring

[pseudo rivet]

True, Peace Through Power

[tender torrent]

Wouldn't duty be a kind of deserted military?

[stark plover]

10/10 good meme

[gaunt burrow]

Duty does have a lot of desertes yeah

[jaunty adder]

maybe I don't mind be a loner then

[gaunt burrow]

but it also has many stalkers. Krylov said that many of their members started as ordinary stalkers

[granite mortar]

How can you say this
We are Shrek of the Zone