Carry-only run viable? Thread - MISERY mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

There are many ways to play Misery. But the one that has always interested me is carry-only, where the player cannot utilize any stashes. You can loot stashes, but not have one of your own. We all know that in the world of Stalker, if we were to leave anything anywhere it would be nicked by another Stalker. So I've long felt that a carry-only run would be cool, and fit the vibe.

It would give inventory decisions much more weight. No more having eight fully repaired high-end rifles to choose from. No stockpiling artifacts or repair kits or ammunition. Sell it or carry it. That's it. It feels like it would suit my vision of how Stalker should be played. Finding a new gun that you want to use forces a big decision. Switch to the new weapon and sell the current? Or keep on keeping on? I'm guilty as any, probably more, of having a huge stash. It would throw me out of my comfort zone to suddenly be forced to make these choices.

The problem though, as I see it, is suits. I bet most players have a combat suit and a anomaly suit? Standard orange eco weighs what 15 kg? You can't be carrying that around all the time. A SEVA suit seems like it would be the best solution, offering the best compromise between the two, and getting the player through the most anomalous areas. I have yet to use a SEVA in 2.2, haven't even seen one yet to know what capabilities it even has. So the idea loses viability if you can't even get your hands on the best option until late game. Perhaps I haven't seen one because I am a sniper? What unlocks the SEVA? Is it class-weighted? Scientists missions? Then you NEED a SSP-99 to complete them. Meaning you'd have to wear one until you can get a SEVA. I don't want to run around in one of those for 50 hours.

Has anyone ever played like this? I want to do so but can't resolve my attire. I could play with a suit-exception to get around it. Or find a SEVA at my feet. Just throwing this out there to see if there's any feedback or ideas I haven't considered.

I think it's a cool idea. I think it would be extremely difficult because you really can't carry a lot and without the quick release you're going to be really slow or have nothing in combat.

You can add the seva to trader inventories right from the start. I personally think it only makes sense as locking them behind quests only serves to give you a sense of progression and not realism.

Right now I am playing so that mechanics cannot repair anything and traders have no inventory so you only get what you find(minus suits). Maybe if I complete the game this way I will remove stashes too....that would certainly be challenging.

Edited by: odizzido

Good point about the carry weight, but I think I could manage that. Playing this way I should have a lot more cash. If I think about what I could sell everything in my stashes for, I'd be flush. So in essence I see having more cash and buying daily needs daily. Maybe go recon and have a pistol and carbine, enough rounds for the day and drugs. Shouldn't be too bad. But I've never played recon, only sniper.

The beauty of this play style would be in the hard choices. That additional layer of strategic thinking could add a lot to the game I think. And for me only, but there is something about Misery that makes me feel more attached to my weapon than in any other shooter. This playstyle would further solidify that feeling, because it would truly be my weapon, not just 'one' of my weapons.

I still see the suit as the main problem. I might be able to justify spawning a SEVA if I am gimping myself so everywhere else. I dunno, just a thought. I'd rather find a better path than a free SEVA.

I play without using traders, or any but my blue box stashes. The outfits are, as you say, the problem. You can easily settle on two weapons, or even one eventually. Without someplace to stash the work in progress(WIP) weapon you are restoring, you would have to carry a second much of the first third of the game. Once it met your needs to replace the prior one, you could drop the second. Just playing with only looted or NPC bartered ammo completely changes the dynamics, but it is necessary to keep a few weapons around to use the ammo you have since you can't just buy more and NPC's have very limited ammo for sale.

If you self restricted to only stashing WIP weapons and one outfit, and scopes (they degrade if left on the weapon while stored), I think it is quite viable.

Good points Jasper, and what you say about the WIP weapons is a good one. Playing this way would mean you cannot have a WIP weapon, unless you can afford the inventory weight. Which you can't. So it either gets sold, dropped or carried. That's it.

I've only recently begun playing Misery again after a 4 year absence. 2.2 brought me out of the wood work. I play the game straight up (no mods, edits or spawns) and have dropped about 80 hours or so in to it. And I have fully repaired StG-58, SVU, XM8, Saiga, SG 550, SVD, Alpine and more, and they're all fully customized. It's an embarrassment of riches lol. The carry-only playstyle would force me to choose a weapon. If I decide to change, I would need to buy the appropriate repair items then and there, or buy it new. As I mentioned I should have more cash, and maybe this would be viable to do. But again, it's all part of increasing the strategy and hard choices I would be forced to make. Maybe my preferred weapon is a M4. I find one in rotten condition. Can I afford to repair it? If not can I afford the weight to carry it around until I do?

To fix and upgrade all of those weapons has cost hundreds of thousands of ducats. Theoretically, most of that expenditure would now be cash on hand. Just sounding it all out. I though about playing this way in 2.0, but never did. But I'm loving 2.2 and thinking of ways to make it even more unforgettable

Speaking of being new.... when I decided to get back in to Stalker a month ago, I started a thread at SimHQ. I started off with CoC but soon migrated back to Misery. It hasn't drawn much interest honestly, it's a flight sim forum after all, but I though perhaps Misery players might enjoy the read, with plenty of screens, as I rediscover the Misery mod. If so, it can be seen here

Simhq.com

The initial light coat is really quite serviceable. The Red Eco suit you can find fulfills all your suit needs until the SEVA is available after which you could go with only one outfit. Like Odizzido said, you could make the SEVA available immediately. It's not exactly overpowering and costs a lot to upgrade fully. An alternative would be tweaking the Alun's stashes so instead of a broken down Red Eco suit, you get a beat up SEVA. I don't know where exactly to edit that.

Good suggestions, thanks. The Alun's stashes caught me off guard, with how they were changed. In all this time I've found one note. I think I went to many of the stashes 'too early' and never returned. I bought my eco suit from Beard. The suggestion to make the Alun reward a SEVA is cool. But of course I have no idea how either.

If you guys were to play this way, which class would you choose? I'm thinking recon. Light and fast seems to fit.

I always pick assaulter because of the good carry weight and extra damage resistance.

edit--------
Honestly I think a carry only game would be too easy. Money can be used as a stash essentially so I don't see much of an extra challenge with just that.

Edited by: odizzido

I only play Sniper, so a bit biased LOL. I could play the entire game with a decent AR like a G36 or Sig 550 and manage all the sniping with that. Sniper Rifles are really only needed for the Finale if you want to pick off those roof top snipers easier.

Honestly I think a carry only game would be too easy. Money can be used as a stash essentially so I don't see much of an extra challenge with just that.

OK, clearly I've failed to sell you on my vision. And though what you say has some truth to it, I have to believe this style of play would present unique challenges, and just be cool to do. Would it be true that neither of you have played the other two classes? I've only played sniper myself, but then again I've only done two long runs.

Cash is a stash all it's own. Sounds like something Stalin would have said lol.

Edited by: Reticle

I've never played through on the other classes, just no interest. It is true being able to buy anything from vendors makes it easier. That's why I only trade/barter with NPC's. I stockpile potentially useful ammo and use the rest in trade for food, repair materials, etc. Not being able to stockpile would limit the ammo I hoarded for potential future use greatly. Having a very limited amount of ammo is more of a game changer than anything.

I see, and I agree that the way you're playing adds challenge. Would having more cash on hand so you can buy anything make it easier I guess is the question. In a sense yes it would. But you still have the weight restriction. And I suppose money's only useful when you're at a trader AND he has what you need. There's no stash of your own to go restock from where you've saved the stuff you find most useful. No cooking unless you buy and sell a stove everytime. And you won't want to carry extra mutant meat around anyway.

No going back and changing out your AR and pistol for a sniper rifle and shotgun because it suits your next mission better. Ya gotta dance with what you brung. I think I mixed some metaphors there. No swapping light for heavy suits as the need arises. No mixing and matching artifacts or plates/camelback/cooler to suit the mission. No stashing mission items. I see plenty of ways this could change my Misery paradigm. Maybe it wouldn't make the game significantly more difficult, which wasn't my goal anyway. More to make choices matter more I suppose.

Anyway, you both bring up good points, but I want to give it a go and see what happens.

The most important thing IMO is to make it more fun for YOU.

Another factor is NPC's have very limited cash. If they don't have what you want, I would trade heavier for lighter items (like meds) and trade those for other stuff later.

I've played around with all three classes. They're all very similar. I found however that I died most of the time simply from taking too much damage so that's why I use assaulter.

I say it likely won't offer additional challenge(for me) because before I was playing with my current changes I would run around with a shotgun and a rifle and I never ran out of ammo to buy from merchants. Food/antirad/meds are pretty light and common and that's all you really need to carry in addition to your shooter.

The suit could be an issue of course. Five plates with an eco suit would actually probably be pretty decent protection.

But yeah as jasper says, whatever is funnest for you is what's best. Give it a go and see how you like it.

And I'm sitting here begging for Nitro to lend me 3,000RU for shotgun shells ...