Kitty-Katties are decimating the stalker population Thread - MISERY mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

...and this includes quest-important NPCs. I suspect NPCs have a problem in detecting and/or aiming at them somehow.

Ie:

1) In my first time in Yanov there was a team of 4 veteran stalkers getting artifacts in the quarry. I looked to their gear and thought "Wow, those guys are badasses". Then I go away and come back 10 minutes later... to see their corpses and a couple kitty-kattys getting away.

2) I witnessed Noah fighting a kitty inside his Barge (no idea how it managed to get in). The man was having an incredibly hard time aiming and shotting it. Then I helped him out and finished the kitty. Later that same day I find Noah died. Not sure if it were kitties, but I heavily suspect so.

3) I never met Topol in Yanov. When I got to the scientists bunker he and his team were already gone. Then I found a replacement team (Mitay and his pals) and for two times now had to save their asses, otherwise a single kitty-katty would have killed them (they were receiving attacks without returning fire, as if thr kitties were invisible to them).

Perhaps nerfing the kitties in some way (or their spawn points?) could solve the problem ?

Another thing I noticed, that could or not be related to this point, is the stalker population is having a really hard time surviving. The time I memorize some fellow stalker name, he already vanished and is never seen again. I miss developping an emotional link with fellow stalkers like I did in Misery 1. Also this have been making the various campfires around thezone redundant, as there is never any alive stalker around to rest by them. Perhaps this is intentional in Misery 2. But in Misery 1 there were a more active community of Stalkers in the Zone, that I liked. Perhaps adjustments could be make to arrange a balance between stalker abundancy of Misery 1 and the stalker dicimation of Misery 2 ( Im playing version 2.1.1 by the way). Another element that can be contributing to this (besides the kitty-katties) are the mercs in Zaton. I have the impression they are roaming too far into "stalker territory" (the north part of the map). I even see some mercs roaming besides the Skadovsky sometimes.

I hope this feedback be useful somehow. Its my first playthrough of Misery 2.1.1 and Im loving it. I tried my hand at Misery 2 last year and didnt like it much, now with the changes its much better for me.

Edited by: lessavini

They know about the cats, sometimes they aren't detected as a threat and they do lots of lower body damage. Not sure what the fix will be. I suppose they could remove the cats, but I hope they can nerf them enough or figure out how to properly get them identified by NPC's as a threat. You are a secret agent with a mission you can't be so distracted making friends and caring for every comrade along the way. The populace getting killed off has happened in every vanilla stalker game I played. Every checkpoint was littered with different corpses each time you pass through.

I think low level mutants in general need to be more "annoying" than dangerous. Sure, a pack of wild dogs could kill a man. But a couple of dogs or cats should only result in bleeding (and disease, if it was in the game) as opposed to swift and surprising death.

Ponney68 made a fix for those cats and new zombie types. It will be available in upcoming patch.

Less powerfull animals means that you need more of them to maintain same difficult level, that leads to more CPU/memory usage, you need to balance that and so on. And those animals are not just ordinary animals, they have survived nuclear disaster, so they have to be tough

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Good to hear the team already know about this issue.

I think kitties could be lethal to rookie stalkers, like those you see when you arrive in Skadovski - lightly armed and wearing light jackets. But those stalkers you start to see when you arrive in Yanov, or when come back to Zaton - heavily armed and armored - these should rarely die to kitty-katties.

About the dying off of stalker population in Zaton, I suspect in my previous playthroughs in Misery 1, their survivability and abundance were dependent on my achievements. Ie: The more I helped them out through side-missions the slightly better geared they got, and the more abundant they got too (and this was true for bandits too - if I chose to help them their population and gear improved instead of stalkers). I miss seeing the Skadovski crowded with stalkers on all tables, inhabiting the dormitories, Nimbles room, etc. And in the wilderness I miss getting to a campfire and meeting some fellas, trading stuff, and waiting for them to leave to follow together to their destination.

Again, perhaps this is intentional. If so, that's ok. But I don't deny I would be happy I a little balance was reached in this regard.

Edited by: lessavini

The cats attack the lower extremities and that is the weakest part of the armor system. Remember even Kevlar is of little use against a knife or teeth. While it would be wicked scary for the cats to jump up and go for the throat like the killer rabbit in Monty Python's Holy Grail that is yet another weaker part of the armor system and armor IRL in general. Perhaps an Aramid Fiber Upgrade for armor to increase protection from mutant bites would be a cool add-on someday. I'm sure the team will come up with something. I think, overall, bite damage being severe and in the zones case inducing radiation poisoning would be extremely realistic. The only real issue is NPC's not reacting to them like they do to boars and all the original mutants. I pretty much kill from a distance all dogs and cats so they can't jump me later while I'm engaged in fire fight. Giants and Chimera as well at least after they have done me the favor of freeing up loot from non-friendlies. Again, totally realistic to take a clean shot whenever massive ammo waste wouldn't occur.

Nice point about the kitties attacking the lower body parts. I had forgotten about it.

Another thing I thought: Perhaps the stalkers vision cone is vertically narrow ? This would explain the inability to detect kitties at short range. (this is a crazy speculation from my part I know

...cats do like chasing balls....lower extremities....wel....just pointing this out >_>

Well remembered!

Yeah, lets change the bolt to a ball and whenever you throw it all the dogs and cats can't resist chasing it (into an anomaly).

jasper34 wrote: Yeah, lets change the bolt to a ball and whenever you throw it all the dogs and cats can't resist chasing it (into an anomaly).

BEST.IDEA.EVER. But that would be too easy to deal with the dogs and cats, how about something that cost money? Like some specific balls with special smell that cats and dogs in the zone can't resist chasing!

I can see the posters now in Yanov Station: New and Improved Hunters KIt - Cheese, Bacon and Cat Nip flavored mines and a special Veterinarian Office Smell Repellent for your Sleeping Bag. Noah could be a Trader standing behind a counter in his ship. It would keep him safe too. No, the MDT got enough whining about the little red book ... we can't get PETA after them for Cruelty to Animals.