General Tips

Stashes

Stashes are going to be the source of a lot of loot for you during your time around Chernobyl. The basic process is this: you kill an enemy, then check their body. You’ll get a PDA message indicating that they had information about a stash on them. You check your map and look for a purple triangle marking the location of the stash, look around a bit for a backpack or some other item that could hold loot (sometimes it’s a rusty pipe, for instance), then open it up and grab the loot.

Unfortunately, stashes are kind of wonky and weird in this game. Since you’re going to be killing hundreds of enemies during the game, and there are only so many stash locations to go around, sometimes you’ll be heading to the same stash twice. Sometimes, if you don’t take everything out of a stash, it won’t be refilled, even if you find the stash indicator on another soldier. Sometimes you’ll empty out a stash and the icon will still be there on your map, for whatever reason. Sometimes you’ll be pointed towards stash locations only to find nothing at the marker.

If you want to make the most of stashes, you should try to make your way to them as soon as possible after they become available to you. Don’t let them distract you from your storyline quests, though - stashes aren’t that important. But when you do reach one, open it up and take everything inside. Even if you don’t need any of the items in there, it’s better to nab everything then dump anything you don’t need on the ground, rather than keep it in the stash. That way, if you nab the same stash’s location on another body, it might wind up getting refilled with new goodies.

As noted, stashes aren’t particularly worth tracking down if they’re going to be well out of your way. Early in the game, they’re worth checking out, since they’ll net you more first aid kits and ammo, but later on, you’re going to be able to find everything you really need off the bodies of your enemies (ammo, first aid supplies, weapons) or floating around on the ground (artifacts).

Money And Supplies

After playing a game like Oblivion, which is superficially similar to Stalker in many ways, you may think that money will wind up being important in Stalker. Unfortunately, it really isn’t; as mentioned above, you’re going to wind up finding most of the stuff that you really need on the bodies of enemies that you’ve slain.

Sidorivich will be the first trader you come across. Dump unused weapons or ammo on him for a little extra cash.

There are only three main traders in the game: Sid near the beginning, Barkeep in the Bar territory, and Prof. Sakharov in Yantar. Each of these fellows will be willing to buy most of what you’re capable of selling, and will have unlimited funds to buy what you offer, whereas the neutral and friendly stalkers and soldiers throughout the realms will generally only buy your first aid kits and, helpfully, the artifacts that you find.

Still, though, it’s worth building up a little bankroll for emergencies, or for when you happen to spot a 30,000 RU suit for sale at Professor Sakharov’s. The most profitable items to sell are artifacts, which you’ll find in greater quantities when you finally make it north into the Garbage sector and into the sectors beyond. Each artifact will net you at least 1,000 RU, with the more valuable ones being worth 5,000 total. Luckily, most stalkers and soldiers will be willing to trade for them, so you don’t have to lug them back to a trader.

Luckily for you, in most cases, either something will be useful or it won’t be, so there’s no real reason to keep supplies hidden away. If you want to do so, though, find an empty stash box near your stomping grounds and keep your supplies in that. They won’t disappear so long as you keep them in a box. Even if you decide to dump them on the ground somewhere, they seem to be persistent for a good long time.

Sprinting And Endurance

One of the most useful abilities you have in the game is the ability to sprint. It’ll let you move much more rapidly than you normally would, which is going to be important when you consider that you move glacially slow at default speeds. You won’t, however, be able to run forever, since your endurance meter will drain as you do so.

The endurance meter’s draining will depend on a couple of factors, the most important of which is how much weight you’re carrying around. If you’re carrying almost nothing in your pack, then you’ll be able to run for a long distance before you tire out. If you’re carrying close to your 50 kilogram weight restriction, though, you’ll tire much more quickly. If you go over the 50 kilogram weight limit, then you’ll be unable to run for more than a couple of seconds before you tire out. If you go over 60 kg or so, you won’t be able to move at all. For most of the early game, you’re going to want to keep your pack down to around 40 kg or less, just so that you’re able to run farther distances without tiring.

Later in the game, you’ll want to keep an eye out for endurance-boosting artifacts, such as Moonlights, Flashes, and Sparklers. These give large boosts to your endurance rating, eventually allowing you to sprint as long as you like without slowing. They typically glow blue or bluish white when seen, so keep an eye out for them!