How do you play? Thread - MISERY mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

Do you stick in Zaton, and do as much as you can, then progress to Jupiter? Then the same with Pripyat? Or do you to the new location as soon as you can and bounce between all 3, visiting all traders equally? Personally, I've done pretty much all Zaton quests, and have found ~30 stashes there, so I bought a few LLACs and 'moved out' of Zaton. Now, my base is at Yanov station, and I only pay to go back to Zaton/Skadovsk if I have to or fancy a change of scenery.

I'd hazard a guess I have ~50 hours in this MISERY playthrough, and I have only just got the quest "road to pripyat" or whatever it's called...

My usual pattern is:
1. Start Black Road
2. Loot stashes I can that don't require to kill tough groups of enemies or are too close or in anomalies
3. Scavenge and hunt to get more money and better gear -
4. Do quests I'm ready to do with my current gear while doing 3.
5. Leave Waste Station for last or near last mission to complete. There is a large group of 15-17 mercs heavily armed and armored which can net you nice loot. I always go for this one with 2 decent guns, good armor, lots of armor piercing ammo and a backpack (can't haul all loot in one go). I consider this quest to be most fun and challenging in all Zaton area so I approach it as such. No cheesing, just a straight out gunfight in broad daylight.
5. When having at least 1 set of decent armor and helm (what I get depends on class) AND some environmental suit and after I finish all quest I can in Zaton, then I move to Jupiter area.
6. As soon as I reach Jupiter I setup base there with 4 backpacks for Ammo/Repair Items/Meds&Food;/Misc (for UMP batteries, mutant parts, documents, PDA's and such). On first visit I leave only one hammer in that chest that gets robbed. On second visit I move all my guns that are repaired to full status or are waiting to get item's/money to do so in that chest. I also finish that Snag quest on second visit.
7. As soon as humanly possible and after setting up base I go to Scientist station and do 3 quests there to finish up with Topol and the crew. Topol is notorious for dying before you do quests for him so I make sure I do those first. This is why I need that environmental suit because one part of the second quest requires to place a scanner in the middle of the fire based anomaly (called Bitumen?). You have no chance doing that with normal armour. Actually for this one you may even try getting fireball or similar artifact that gives you large fire protection. It's good idea to finish both Topol quests with all their members alive as he will give you meds when he gets exoskeleton suit. After that, you don't have to worry about him dying.
8. Doing quests for Nitro is good idea as you get discount on repairs. Most importantly getting those electronic parts in cement factory.
9. I again do all the quests I can in Jupiter area before going to Pripyat.
10. After that the quests are pretty much chained together so there is nothing special to tell.

Also, I never buy food or gear to cook food.
There is one stash in Zaton and one in Jupiter area that contains gear to cook food using gas. Not sure how cost effective is coal for cooking (need different items for that). Using cooked flash meat and alcohol (for sniper/assaulter) or cooked flash meat and russian cigars for scout is my main way of keeping myself fed. I do cook chimera and bloodsucker meat when I manage to find them as they give better calories/rad's ratio then flash meat. Alcohol or cigars are for getting rid of radiation from flash meat and scout needs cigars since he has problems with alcohol.

Edited by: ToothlessShark

You can play as you like, except you can't get to Pripyat until you complete all the key missions in Zaton/Jupiter. The key in Misery is to make smart decisions on risk/reward and pick your fights carefully. Tactics are very important. You can't Rambo through he whole game blazing away or the factions you piss off will quickly hunt you down and make worm food of you. Don't forget to use the FREE teleport locations back to any map you have been to once. They are aqua colored markers you can only see when you are on a map you want to exit back to one you came from. Sometimes they are advantageous, sometimes too far to be convenient. Planning your missions so you can end near one and quickly travel back to sell your loot helps.

jasper34 wrote: Sometimes they are advantageous, sometimes too far to be convenient.

The one in the Jupiter plant springs to mind. There are always the craziest of spawns there, and unlike the Iron Forest they respawn after a day or two! Garry isn't cheap but he's certainly a lot safer. Fortunately the road back from Pripyat goes straight to Yanov.

Exactly it's easier to go to an earlier map and harder going forward. The grate you entered Pripyat from is the easiest of all, but takes you back to Jupiter if you're looking to go back to Zaton.

BTW, that was an amazingly detailed article in the first time users thread!

Edited by: jasper34

Good read all, thanks. Regarding the chest item theft... what quest is that part of again? The Magpie one? It is a long time since I last played CoP but I do remember a stash of mine getting robbed, but it hasn't happened yet for me and I'm now ready to leave for Pripyat. I told the Stalker dude in Skadovsk who Magpie really was, so perhaps that stalker just killed him?

Snag can eventually get killed by the bandit, but usually not until you have triggered the mission and talked to the medic and Zulu. Once you go to pripyat, Zulu will not return and that side quest wouldn't be possible.

Edited by: jasper34

jasper34 wrote: Snag can eventually get killed by the bandit, but usually not until you have triggered the mission and talked to the medic and Zulu. Once you go to pripyat, Zulu will not return and that side quest wouldn't be possible.

I never spoke to Zulu about Magpie. Every time I went to talk to Zulu, he told me he wanted to be alone. It wasn't until I completed a load of side quests (hunting chimeras, wiping out bloodsucker lair, getting Oasis etc) that I was able to confront Flint and call him on his bullshit. I was then prompted to tell the Stalker the real identity of Magpie/Flint.

My chest in the basement of Yanov is full of loot... should I be stashing it elsewhere in a backpack in case?

ToothlessShark wrote: My usual pattern is:
Also, I never buy food or gear to cook food.
There is one stash in Zaton and one in Jupiter area that contains gear to cook food using gas. Not sure how cost effective is coal for cooking (need different items for that). Using cooked flash meat and alcohol (for sniper/assaulter) or cooked flash meat and russian cigars for scout is my main way of keeping myself fed. I do cook chimera and bloodsucker meat when I manage to find them as they give better calories/rad's ratio then flash meat. Alcohol or cigars are for getting rid of radiation from flash meat and scout needs cigars since he has problems with alcohol.

I started that way, and stuck mainly to boar/bloodsucker meat, but I've currently got 170kRU so I just buy chocolate/beans (~580kj). Expensive but I can afford it I usually make a lot more selling loot might as well keep the rads down Currently got an Bulat + Sphere 12 and a SSP-99 Eco (Orange). Really tempted to flog it all, buy a SEVA suit and use the money left to continue saving for an exo, probably from Nimble...

Edited by: harrymarshalluk

harrymarshalluk wrote:

jasper34 wrote: Snag can eventually get killed by the bandit, but usually not until you have triggered the mission and talked to the medic and Zulu. Once you go to pripyat, Zulu will not return and that side quest wouldn't be possible.

I never spoke to Zulu about Magpie. Every time I went to talk to Zulu, he told me he wanted to be alone. It wasn't until I completed a load of side quests (hunting chimeras, wiping out bloodsucker lair, getting Oasis etc) that I was able to confront Flint and call him on his bullshit. I was then prompted to tell the Stalker the real identity of Magpie/Flint.

My chest in the basement of Yanov is full of loot... should I be stashing it elsewhere in a backpack in case?

If you wish to yes you can move them. The snag mission is quite easy and short once you realized all the loots are stolen. Takes about 5 mins to get them back. If your stash is huge like mine. Then move them away, it will save a trip of hauling them all back.

You won't get snag mission until after the staker ambush and morgan mission are completed and you have confronted snag about his thinking you have his weapon. Then, like DesertEagle says the hardest thing is hauling your loot and snags back to your blue box.

jasper34 wrote: You won't get snag mission until after the staker ambush and morgan mission are completed and you have confronted snag about his thinking you have his weapon. Then, like DesertEagle says the hardest thing is hauling your loot and snags back to your blue box.

Bizarre, I remember now. I helped Snag get his stash (near fueling station) very early on. We divvied up the loot and he never returned to Skadovsk. I gave Morgan's PDA to Owl before I remembered I should have kept it to give to Duty/Freedom. I still have Black's PDA however...

He should always be where you met him on ship until after your confrontation. You must have a Nimble version of a weapon equipped to get that dialog.

jasper34 wrote: He should always be where you met him on ship until after your confrontation. You must have a Nimble version of a weapon equipped to get that dialog.

Ah yeah, sorry. Like I it's a long time since I played it, it's all coming back to me. Does he only steal from the Skadovsk stash, or the one in Yanov too? Is it weird that I'm tempted to buy a Nimble shooter, just to get that quest?

Yes, if you want that quest it's required. If you have no need for any of his offerings, the pistol is the cheapest. I just sell it off after for small loss. He only steals once in Jupiter. You can just drop all your stash loot in a corner of that room and I've never had anything I leave on the floor get grabbed. Out in the open outside anything will get swept up eventually.

I might try leaving my stuff in my own stashes around Jupiter. Do NPCs loot player dropped stashes in backpacks?

Perhaps leave emergency meds, food, a pistol etc...

Edited by: harrymarshalluk

I've never used one, but I do not believe so. I leave piles of semi-valuable stuff in any out of the way corner totally unmolested. Only if they see it will they approach and take it. So down where no other stalkers ever walk like where your stash is has always been safe except for the scripted theft by snag. I use the small block sheds by the merc plant, etc. too. I once dropped a huge pile of crappy weapons because they were too heavy and a bunch of freedom guys ran over and had a feeding frenzy. Then I got armor for befriending freedom ! It only happened once and made me laugh.

The backpacks are handy because you and only you get the coordinates displayed on your PDA so if you forget where you left it you can easily locate it.

jasper34 wrote: I've never used one, but I do not believe so. I leave piles of semi-valuable stuff in any out of the way corner totally unmolested. Only if they see it will they approach and take it. So down where no other stalkers ever walk like where your stash is has always been safe except for the scripted theft by snag. I use the small block sheds by the merc plant, etc. too. I once dropped a huge pile of crappy weapons because they were too heavy and a bunch of freedom guys ran over and had a feeding frenzy. Then I got armor for befriending freedom ! It only happened once and made me laugh.

The backpacks are handy because you and only you get the coordinates displayed on your PDA so if you forget where you left it you can easily locate it.

I can't remember how the faction wars in CoP work. I gained Friend of Freedom by handing in Tchenko's PDA - up until that point, both factions were entirely neutral. Now, Duty are hostile everywhere except in Yanov It's a shame, as you'd think being an undercover soldier you'd be more willing to help Duty in a true roleplay situation. I always prefer Duty to Freedom, purely because of nostalgia. In my first play of SoC all those years ago, I never really understood the game so I always help Skull and his squad kill the snipers in the Army Warehouse. It wasn't until my 2nd playrthrough that I realised I could actually walk into the freedom base and talk to them So for some reason I always feel loyal to Duty...

Anyways, I rambled on... So you earned loyalty points by dropping shit near them? I do seem to remember in vanilla CoP, you'd tip the balance by 'helping' squads, but I can't for the life of me remember how that's achieved. I take it Duty are always going to be 'baddies' now?

Edited by: harrymarshalluk

Mainly you choose sides by giving PDA's to different sides, or helping bandits (makes telling NPC's apart by clothing VERY hard later on). Once you tick off the opposing side you have lots of cannon fodder to loot from then on. You have to also watch your field of fire... if you shoot at the guys who jump you on the barge and a bullet flys by near Petruha/Awl they become hostile. Same goes for when you shoot at mutants. Eventually the map becomes more saturated with better equipped members of the dominant group.

harrymarshalluk wrote: I might try leaving my stuff in my own stashes around Jupiter.

This can be a good idea, especially as a Recon who can't carry very much. I've occasionally made stashes with medkits and stamina-boosting energy drinks/drugs, maybe some ammo too. Sometimes you can just as easily use an existing stash and save having to buy a backpack.

Do NPCs loot player dropped stashes in backpacks?

I've never seen them do it, I'm pretty certain they don't. If you'd rather be safe than sorry you can always stick the backpack in a spot NPCs can't reach.

It's a shame, as you'd think being an undercover soldier you'd be more willing to help Duty in a true roleplay situation

I think it could go either way. Maybe the Major reasons that Duty, who are a non-governmental paramilitary force, are actually more dangerous than Freedom because they're so well organized. Many Duty members are army deserters too.

I'm not saying Degtyarev definitely thinks that way, just that his personality is for the player to establish, so if the player wants to help Freedom then maybe they can reason it that way. And if they want to help the Bandits, well obviously Degtyarev is little more than a corrupt mercenary who's only in it for the money .

Edited by: Lomlom

I am playing as assaulter right now. I am pretty sure I have got some hoarding issues. Degtyarev is a human sized pack rat with a lot of guns, at least that's how it looks like to others in the zone.

Once I am at stage where weapons and ammo are affordable, I will kill 99% of the living things I can spot, or die trying. I will pick up anything I can pick up until it become too heavy for me to move (that's why assaulter class helps). The only ones I will leave alone are stalkers near the ship, don't wanna get banned from the base for couple of days, that will slow down my mission of hoarding.

DesertEagleV wrote: I am playing as assaulter right now. I am pretty sure I have got some hoarding issues. Degtyarev is a human sized pack rat with a lot of guns, at least that's how it looks like to others in the zone.

Once I am at stage where weapons and ammo are affordable, I will kill 99% of the living things I can spot, or die trying. I will pick up anything I can pick up until it become too heavy for me to move (that's why assaulter class helps). The only ones I will leave alone are stalkers near the ship, don't wanna get banned from the base for couple of days, that will slow down my mission of hoarding.

That's what I'm doing too. There's been times where I've had 150+KG in by backpack ha. I have one rule. Don't kill stalkers unless I have to. Unfortunately now, stalkers, freedom and scientists are only factions that like me. Bandits, Mercs, Duty... they all shoot on sight!