Changes the starting faction relations to something that is unusual yet lore-friendly.
To install, drag-n-drop the gamedata folder (from the "Install Addon Relations" folder) into your Anomaly directory as per usual and overwrite when requested. If you aren't asked to overwrite, then you did something wrong.
To uninstall, simply (break my heart and) drag-n-drop the gamedata folder from the "Revert Addon Changes" folder into your Anomaly Directory.
What this addon does (aside from what you can see in the screenshot):
- makes everyone except Monolith hate Zombies a lot more. Having high goodwill won't save you from being shot if you're zombified now.
- indirectly changes how factions react to each other after a bit of killing
What this addon does NOT do:
- does not change how dynamic relations work at its core
- does not change starting equipment lists
- does not change quests that you can receive. Bandits and Loners may be "neutral" in this addon, but it's not a happy neutrality - they're gonna ask you to mess with each other fairly often.
(Some) Consequences of using this addon:
- Hostage missions. They have always been a little odd for factions neutral with Bandits. But now Loners are (initially) neutral with Bandits. So those missions may involve you walking up to some bandits, calmly taking their hostage, and then walking away (unless you're Duty, CS or Ecologists, naturally). I rationalize it as the Bandits having already mugged the stalker in question, or gained some stash info out of him, and are simply letting him go once you arrive to pick him up so that they avoid retaliation/ live to enjoy their new loot.
- Loners. The true "New Player" faction. You can find them everywhere, and now they are welcome just about everywhere, at least at first. Loner players may have trouble upholding this neutrality when doing missions, even within their own faction, as they'll be encouraged to harass Bandits by most other stalkers. Loners will also appear somewhat unreliable if you aren't one of them, since your enemies will often be sheltered among their ranks.
- Bandits. Bandits are a lot nicer to play now, simply because Loners don't have a "shoot on sight" policy with them anymore. That said, many of your missions may bring you into conflict with them.
- Duty, Military, Ecologists. Ecologists are no longer the "universal friend" faction, and all of their starting locations are very dangerous to them. To compensate, they are good friends with Duty and Military, who incidentally are also factions who have a lot of hostilities to deal with. There's lore reasons for this choice too, which you'll see further below.
- Freedom. Mostly unchanged, but now they have to rely on either themselves or Clear Sky for scientific gear.
- Mercs. Ecologists don't trust Mercs as a whole, although some "mercs" are still aligned with them. Can create amusing situations where one group of blue men will try to attack Ecologists while another group of blue men rush to defend them.
But Red Forest, WHAT ABOUT THE LOOOOOOOOOOOOREEE?!
Worry not, concerned citizen! While I have taken some liberties, the lore was one of my main concerns. Here is the internal logic I followed when assigning the new relation values:
Free Stalkers
are completely unaligned with any group, and as such they aren't inherently enemies with anyone save the military, who has orders to shoot on sight. That said, some of their "neutralities" are a little strained.
Duty,
with their reputation for exclusively sharing artifacts with Ecologists and often saving and protecting lost soldiers, has gained allies in the Ukrainian government. That said, their hardline value system means they only tolerate loners, and have little pity for Mercs or Bandits.
Freedom
only wants the Zone to be open to all, and as such they find themselves at odds with the various elements of the Ukrainian government who are trying to monopolize the treasures of the Zone, as well as Duty on ideological grounds. Otherwise, they're neutral with others. They have a slight positive inclination towards independent groups who exhibit positive traits, and a slight negative inclination to independent groups who indulge in more negative ones.
Clear Sky
tries to be apolitical and focus on research, but is considered a threat by the military (due to being an independent unsanctioned paramilitary force which - unlike Duty - doesn't descend from the SSU), and is preyed upon by bandits due to their remote locale/ lack of ubiquity.
Ecologists
were originally apolitical, but have repeatedly been targeted by Freedom and Bandits alike for being "puppets of the state", and by Mercs for more mysterious reasons. They've grown closer both to government troops and to Duty as a result.
Mercs
are a PMC with an overwhelming number of freelance members. Hired by a mysterious but powerful client overseas, their mission throughout the series seems to have been to disrupt the Ukrainian government's efforts in the Zone. This puts them at odds with Duty, who has ties with both Zone governmental groups. The mercs' general caginess also causes other groups to be a little uncomfortable around them.
The Military
has orders to shoot all illegal personnel on sight. They have made one exception for Duty, whose members are often former Ukrainian military and will often come to aid troubled soldiers on active service.
Bandits,
who have been persecuted by the state for as long as they can remember, have a burning hatred for its members, and as such have no remorse targeting Ukrainian soldiers or scientists. They also openly attack Clear Sky on a consistent basis, due to the relatively remote and isolated nature of that faction. Bandits' general behaviour means no one really likes them, but most stalkers - who are all lawbreakers themselves, to an extent - won't go out of their way to shoot them unless attacked first...Duty being the notable exception.
And that's it!
I don't visit ModDB that often, so don't have a panic attack if I don't respond right away. I'll get to you in time. If you're on the Anomaly Discord, you'll have much better luck getting a quick response from me there, but again, don't panic if I can't respond right away. Seriously hoping you'll all enjoy this little gameplay tweak, looking forward to hear what you make of it!
Well, thanks for your hard work.
I `ll give it a try and see.....
Good hunting STALKER
Brief FAQ:
Q - Does this work with 1.5?
A - Yes.
Q - Does this work with 1.4?
A - Probably.
Q - Does this require a new game?
A - Yes. Only the starting relations are affected. My addon has no effect on a game that has already been created (so it won't change relations for any of your existing saves) - it will only affect new games.
Addendum:
Only compatible with 1.5.
1.4 is highly likely to have issues unless you install the *Lost to the Zone* addon before my own. Even then, you may have issues.
-500 is still neutral or? Sorry I am very bad with these numbers.
1) Mercs and Loners are hostile? If they are, how are Mercs supposed to get contracts from Lone stalkers?
2) What's the reason behind the Freedom-Ecologist hate?
3) What's the reason behind Ecologist-Mercenary hate? Ecologists rely a lot on Mercenaries for protection
I want to like this but it's very odd..
-500 is still neutral, just a little strained.
Also, 2) and 3) are already answered in the description, but I'll answer again here.
1) They're neutral as a general rule (neither side has a real reason to always shoot each other on sight), but occasionally, as a Merc, you'll be asked to take out a hit on Lone Stalkers. It's not a happy neutrality.
2) Freedom wants free access to the Zone. Ecologists are on the payroll of the government that is restricting said access. Lukash doesn't like having them around, because they're turning the Zone into a zoo. Freedom wants to coexist with the Zone, not lord over it.
3) There's mercenaries, and then there's Mercenaries (with a capital M). Throughout the series, Ecologists often hire Loners as "mercenaries" to do help guide or protect them.
Actual Mercenaries, however, haven't been as helpful.
Wolfhound, a Merc, killed Kruglov's team and would have killed him too.
Black, a Merc, was essentially holding Hermann's bunker hostage.
Mercs in general were harasssing Ecologists in ShoC.
Mercs have done more than any other faction to hurt Ecologists throughout the series - even more than Bandits!
3.1) Ecologists actually relied on *Duty* for protection in ShoC, and the Merc team in CoP ends up needing to be replaced (since they were, again, actually holding the bunker hostage). I'm guessing Ecologists used Mercs in CS, but that's likely so the player wouldn't break the storyline for siding with Freedom and Bandits.
And yeah, my addon is very odd. I hope you like it!
I like the idea of neutrality with tension. That seems right for Loner-Mercenary relations.
2) I guess that's a good point. But Freedom also want to study the zone and it seems as though on this factor some form of neutrality would be okay.
3) Yes I know about the events in Shoc but a lot of time went by until CoP and post-COP (CoC/Anomaly etc). What I'm wondering then is.. Being a Mercenary, how are you supposed to do the main story if the ecologists are hostile to you? It's a difficult one for me. Because I feel there are many Mercs that would likely enter the zone to collaborate with Eco's.
I like some stuff, and I understand your points. Other stuff is not your lack of knowledge.. Just limits with scripting. E.g loners aren't really supposed to be a faction or the mercs for that matter. They should have relations based on squads but there is no scripting for that.
2) Thank you. Yeah, it's plausible that they'd be neutral (esp given how Loki feels about the Ecologists) but in the Freedom heirarchy, Lukash > Loki, and Loki isn't cut off from Army Warehouses - or Lukash's supervision - anymore (I mean, this is the same guy who voluntarily let Duty share a base with him).
The way I see it, Freedom is interested in science (hence them having slightly positive relations with Clear Sky in this addon), but they want to share the results with everyone, whereas Ecologists hold their knowledge as a bargaining chip at best - worse, they directly send their findings to state-sponsored institutions, rather than the common folk (who they only sell their products to). It's a definite point of tension between the two factions.
3) Mercs are enemies of Loners in Anomaly by default. Almost all the Main Story characters are Loners. My addon grants Mercs neutrality with Loners at the cost of being enemies with Ecologists. Still, Mercs can do the main story by disguising past the bunker guards, or bribing them for a ceasefire. Sakharov himself is a Trader IIRC, so he won't be hostile to you no matter your faction (therefore mercs can still get the psi-helm from him).
3.1) Regarding Mercs entering the Zone to collab with Ecos -
You'll find some NPCs who look like Mercs, but are aligned with the Ecologist faction, and the player themselves can join the Ecologists later as a guard/ field researcher if they so desire (although a disguise may be required at first). TBH, I always got the impression that most of the Mercs in Stalker were sent into the Zone by people who already hired them outside of it - mostly to retrieve information from the labs and gain insight on how the Zone works in general...and to disrupt the efforts of others who are trying to do the same. Scar is a notable exception, of course, and you'll see a few similarly exceptional NPCs as you play.
I guess in the end you are right about the Freedom-Ecologist relations. I did not think of it that way. For example it actually makes sense because Freedom is very anarchist and "for the people". Ecologists are at the end of the day a government institution.
Mercs are enemies of the Loners in default Anomaly, agreed. But in my opinion, this is retarded. For example, Mercenaries are well, Mercenaries. They take contracts. It makes sense both logically and lore-wise that loners would pay mercenaries to do dirty work when they require a professional. Although I do agree, MOST mercenaries have an outsider they work for.. Realistically, a situation where you create pockets/squads of mercenaries that work independently for money makes sense. So I like your change.
As I understood it, those Ecologists with Merc suits are supposed to be Mercs that work for the Ecologists. They have Merc lines too from what I could tell. So e,g that's one way to represent them as independent. They are under the "Eco" flag.
Finally. Do I need to start a new game for this to function? I'm considering trying it. Thanks mate.
Yeah, new game is required. You can still use your old saves without any issues, my addon just won't make any changes to them.
Your own Freedom-Ecologist interpretation is just as valid IMHO, but I'm obligated to stand up for the decision I've made, given the web page we are on XD
And yeah, as soon as I saw that Ecologists had NPCs with Merc looks and Merc lines, I *really* wanted to make them enemies with mainline mercs, just to highlight how fractured the latter faction is.
Can you update this mod for 1.5.0 beta 3.0 ?
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