Artifacts & Dealing With Radiation

The main reason the Zone is populated is because Stalkers wish to collect artifacts and sell them for profit. However, the artifacts that you find can be affixed to your belt to net you a constant benefit, but usually at the cost of a constant negative effect, as well.

Early on in the game, you’re mostly going to be finding mild artifacts that typically add a bit of a bonus to your Rupture or Bulletproof Cap ratings at the expense of a constant exposure to radiation. That’s obviously not something you’re going to find useful at all, so sell these when you find someone willing to buy them.

Some artifacts can be found floating around in the game world.

In general, the two types of artifacts that we found most useful were the anti-radiation artifacts (Thorns, Crystals, and so on) as well as the plus-endurance ones. Anti-rad artifacts come with two side effects: increased bleeding, or reduced endurance. Try to stick to the ones that increase the effects of bleeding if possible. You’ll have plenty of bandages to reduce your bleeding when you get struck by bullets, but reducing your endurance will simply cripple your ability to run around.

Plus-endurance artifacts usually come with penalties to your electrical exposure resistance, but that’s a relatively minor worry in the game, unless you’re constantly running into anomalies.

Anomalies

Anomalies persist throughout the Zone, and are going to be a minor annoyance to you throughout the game. There are a variety of anomalies around, which will update in your PDA’s Encyclopedia section when you encounter them, or shortly thereafter. The most dangerous one to you will usually be the Vortex, which is a suction anomaly that will suck you into its heart as you pass by and cause damage through minor explosions. It’s possible to escape from a Vortex after getting caught up, by running or jumping out of its pull, but it’s difficult to do so. It’s best to simply avoid them altogether; they’re tough to spot, but if you look close, you’ll see the air pulsating around them. This is also true of the Whirligig and Springboard anomalies.

Keep in mind that your anomaly detector will start to click when you near an anomaly, even if it’s not of the easily-seen sort. You also have an unlimited supply of bolts (6 button) to throw around to see if anomalies are present, but they’re usually unnecessary.

Artifacts are usually to be found near dense concentrations of anomalies, which can sometimes make it lucrative to explore near them. Just try not to sprint full-bore when you’re near anomalies, as it’s easy to run straight into a Vortex and get killed for your carelessness.

Combat Tips

One of the best aspects of Stalker is its combat; it’s satisfying and challenging, although periodically frustrating, as well. Here are some tips to help you make the most of the game.

Quicksave Often!

You have a quicksave button, as you’d expect. Hit F6 to quicksave your game and F7 to quickload when you die. In tense firefights, quicksaving can save you a lot of headaches. Just don’t forget to make regular main saves, as well; try to make a new full save each time you enter a new zone, at a minimum. And try not to quicksave unless you're absolutely sure you're in a safe spot; if you quicksave just before someone shoots you in the back, then you might not have any option but to reload your previous full save.

Full Auto? Not Always

You also have a button that will allow you to switch the firing mode of the weapons that you encounter. By default, the 9 button will let you switch your firing mode. You'll see the firing mode in parentheses in the bottom right corner of the screen, just above your ammo count. It will either be an (A) or a number in parentheses, like (1). What this basically tells you is how many bullets will come out when you click on the fire button.

Semi-automatic fire will be your best bet to take down distant enemies.

Not all weapons will feature firing modes, though; most of them will only let you fire once per each button click. This is going to be most useful when you're dealing with automatic rifles, then, which can generally be shifted from automatic fire (the (A) indicator) to single-shot or burst fire. (If the indicator is (1), then you will fire one bullet per shot; having it set to (2) or (3) will result in burst fire. Not all rifles are capable of burst fire, but all of them can flip between automatic and semi-automatic fire.)

Single-shot or semi-automatic fire will be most useful to you when attempting to take down opponents from a distance, as it's far more accurate than using automatic fire, both in terms of how close your bullets will hit in relation to your crosshair, and in terms of minimizing recoil. If multiple enemies are coming in close to you, though, then you can switch back to automatic fire in an attempt to lay out a spread of bullets for their lunching enjoyment. Make use of this switch often as the situation dictates!

BOOM Headshot!

Stalker has a decently realistic damage model for your enemies; when hit in the head, they'll almost always go down in one shot, excepting advanced enemies with helmets. Still, it's usually better to aim for headshots when possible, as most enemies can take multiple shots to the body without falling over.

If you're firing from long distance with a decently accurate weapon, then just try to get your enemy's head in your crosshair and fire away at them with rapid semi-automatic fire. Clicking rapidly will let you control your recoil better than if you were to use automatic fire. At medium distances, the choice between semi-automatic and automatic fire will usually depend on your weapon's recoil. Some weapons, like the GP 37, will have low enough recoil to make it somewhat easier to use automatic fire while zooming in your scope; there'll be slight recoil, but you'll be able to fire a few rounds at the target's head in the hopes that one of them will connect. At close range, try aiming just below your target's head with automatic fire. If the body shots don't kill him, then the recoil will often lift your gun so that it's aiming directly at your foe's head. Adjust your aiming based on the amount of recoil of your weapon.