Stalker stories (no spoilers please) Thread - MISERY mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

Hey guys, im pretty new to stalker (as I have said in a previous post) but im loving the game + MISERY so far. I have been quite curious about different experiences people have had, may help me and others, and its just cool to hear the game from other stalker's views on the game.

I will start off with a fairly early game moment, first playthrough as an assaulter. I had bought a sleeping bag and a Toz-34, which allowed me to go and set up camp when I needed to. It was getting dark, and so I needed shelter, but was too far from skadovsk or Shevchenko. So, I went to Izmudroye (is that how you spell it?) and I set up camp under that big stage thing with a little fire. It was just night time, and I was sorting through my gear, preparing for the next day, when I heared growling, and then gunshots. Out of nowhere, a stalker group of about 4 just down the road, were trying to take down A psuedodog Giant, I watched as the first guy got instantly killed by a slam attack. I packed my sleeping bag back up and ran as quickly as possible to Skadovsk, without a care for safety or observation. Somehow managed to survive, and I came back the next day and looted the poor stalkers bodies. Got 20k and a new gas mask though!

I was attacking a couple of stalkers, got some nice loot. But I was overloaded. So I was walking. Now, I was grabbed by a Whirlwig, but I survive, so I run run run. Then an Emission happens, I see Skadovsk, I run, but due to me being greedy and not wanting to drop my loot, I die infront of Skadovsk.

Lost to the Zone.

Today i was going to the first stingray by the swamp.I have 1/2 decent gear but nothing to brag about, i approached the small encampment below the sawmill, took out my binoculars for a quick scout around the swamp before i dive in and recover the black box from the stingray. But to my horror there is a Psuedodog Giant stomping around the rear of the crashed helicopter. I looked down at my sawn off shotgun and my USP and thought, not today, the crash site will have to wait.

But as it happens there is always a bigger fish in Zaton, to my amazement two Chimeras come storming out of the drain pipe to the west of the swamp and make a b-line right to the Giant, the first one leaps at the giant when it had it's back turned, the second one runs in slashing and biting the Giant. I've honestly never felt sorry for a mutant in the zone before till now, But i still wasn't going to run in and try an even the odds.

After a minute or two of brawling, leaping and ground smashing one of the chimera's leapt towards the front of the giant and it raises it fist in the air and pummels the chimera into the ground killing it, the second chimera continues its attack on the giant and after a good 20 seconds of clawing and ravaging the giant falls to the ground.

The chimera circles its fallen foe, stops, looks up, sniffs the air and see's a lone stalker in the distance watching with amazement, with the taste for blood the chimera runs toward me, High ground i thought, but then i realized no rock was high enough to stop this thing from leaping up and tearing my throat out, i loaded hydo shock into my usp and buck's into my trusty sawn off.

It leapt out from behind a bush, i side strafed unloading both my barrels into its under belly, turned while trying to slide two more shells into the breach, it started to run in the opposite direction, i thought i had scared it away, only to see it turn around and charge at me, it jumped again, but this time i was two slow it swiped me, taking me down to vry vry low heath, but while it slashed in mid air two more buck's hit it dead on in the face, and down it went with a thud!..

The best thing about this game is when you think your in deep shit, it likes to remind you your never in deep enough. I doubt i would have taken on the giant and lived, and definitely not 2 chimeras, but as it happens even in the zone my enemies enemy is my friend.

Good hunting

So there I was hunting bandits and mercs like always I come across a group of 4 bandits. I dispatch them with ease with my svd and begin to collect what little loot they had on them when unbeknownst to me a group of 3 freedom guys decided they wanted to join my body looting party. It comes to the last body and when I go to check it at the same time as one of the freedom guys.
he pulls his weapon on me I have my uSP silenced out. His Comrad by his side and one behind him kind of in a v formation. I strafe to the left and make sure at least 2 of them are directly in front of me.
I then unleashed a fury of usp hydroshock rounds their way hitting the 2 in the head and a couple body shots on the 3rd before he could react bringing him to the ground injured. He is begging for help and I demand his stash location. He tells me what I wanted to hear and I put one last hydroshock round through his face ending his miserable existence as a freedom hippy. I stole their loot as well as their lives with swift silent death.
I eventually made it back to the ship feeling pretty good that there is 3 less scumbags in the zone.

I was on a excursion out to the abandoned sawmill, figured I'd try to find a toolkit (only to realize they have been moved, nice touch actually).
I was armed with my Aks 74, I had managed to scrape together sixty rounds for it, I was also carrying the revolver to which I had about 18 bullets.
I moved in from the west, and scouted with my scope from across the lake. I saw the sawmill and some of the zombies, but not as many as I expected there to be (There are so goddamn many there sometimes). I also saw a pack of pseudodogs chasing a boar, I figured I would wait until they passed, to conserve ammunition.

I sat down and had a bite to eat and a few gulps of stale but clean water. After maybe fifteen minutes I examined the area on the other side of the lake again, seems the pseudodogs and the boar had gone away. I decide to wade across the shallow lake instead of using the bridge, partially to avoid any bandits but also because I intended to avoid firefights with the zombies as much as possible, and just try to sneak in, grab the toolkit and sneak out. I had now made my way across the lake and was climbing the hill up to the road just below the saw-mills fence. I use my scope once more in an attempt to understand the situation. I look toward the main entrance through the saw-mills fence, plenty of zombies there. Glad I didn't go that way.

"What was that? Did I hear a sound?" I ask myself and stand in silence for a few second, looking all around me. Sounded like the low-pitched snarl of an angry pseudodog, wretched beasts. I must be mistaken, I saw the pack move of to the south before crossing the lake. I place my eye to the scope again and then out of nowhere BANG, a pseudodog jumps me from my left.
Goddamnit, I should have been more careful. I trip over, don't remember much, must've lost my nerve because I wasted almost all of the ammunition for the AKS 74. Here I stood, 10 rounds in my second magazine and a half-assed sidearm. With three dead pseudodogs at my feet. I am pretty badly messed up, so after once more examining the sawmill through my scope and realizing to my surprise that the zombies seemingly ignored this tempest of gunfire, I move down to the edge of the water again to lick my wounds, so to speak.

Used the remainder of my shitty zone-produced booze to clean the wounds and to take the edge off. The vodka stung my body way worse then the dogs did, and the grayish liquid burns something awful going down. But you get used to it. After catching my breath, I once more make my way up the hill. This time I am more careful, I was lucky to survive this last encounter and as I would find out, I was not nearly done with this day.

To be continued I suppose, if there is some interest in it. Maybe it was to much of a wall of text, I don't know.

Edited by: Hambraeus

The revolver is the most overpowered weapon in MISERY. Specially with the AP rounds. Killed a pseudogiant with one.

The most thrilling stories all happened to me within the first week I spent in the Zone, still trying to readjust and adapt to it, having been absent for over a year.

The first occurred at the petrol station, as I'd gone there to search for supplies and what not. It was a crisp blue sky outside, and with sunlight streaming in through the cracks and doorways it was a calm, almost pleasant excursion. No one had been there upon my arrival, but as I scoured the place I heard heavy footsteps approaching - with my gaskmask on I had failed to hear them until it was almost too late. Having learned to be cautious in the Zone I immediately took out my sawn off, as yet untested. I crouched against a corner and waited for whatever or whomever they belonged to become visible. A gasmask-touting, AK-wielding figure soon appeared, apparently on his own. Without hesitating, I fired the sawn off, shocked to see the man's body fly backward. A moment later and a second pair of footsteps approach from my right this time. I recall thinking that I was going to die here and there. Wearing just a simple leather jacket and holding only a few rounds, I was no match for a group of bandits. One shot to my torso and I would be mortally wounded. I reload quickly, wait till the footsteps are in the room beyond, lean round and fire once again, crippling the anonymous assailant. The sawn off is more powerful than I thought.

I take out my Mosin-Nagant and peer outside through the scope, on edge, breathing heavily, ears pricked for the faintest sound. I spot a silent warrior in brown crouching by a rusting van and I dive back inside as a stream of bullets whistle past, thudding heavily into the brickwork around me. I lean around the wall once more and nail him with a single shot to the head.

I wait a while longer, daring any others to try and flank me but fearful of grenades as my position is weak. After a few minutes I crawl out, scan the area and inspect the body of the first man I killed in the Zone. I was immediately surprised by the quality of weapons and fearsome arsenal these men had been carrying. They weren't bandits as I had thought. These were mercenaries.

Someone wrote: The most thrilling stories all happened to me within the first week I spent in the Zone, still trying to readjust and adapt to it, having been absent for over a year. The first occurred at the petrol station, as I'd gone there to search for supplies and what not. It was a crisp blue sky outside, and with sunlight streaming in through the cracks and doorways it was a calm, almost pleasant excursion. No one had been there upon my arrival, but as I scoured the place I heard heavy footsteps approaching - with my gaskmask on I had failed to hear them until it was almost too late. Having learned to be cautious in the Zone I immediately took out my sawn off, as yet untested. I crouched against a corner and waited for whatever or whomever they belonged to become visible. A gasmask-touting, AK-wielding figure soon appeared, apparently on his own. Without hesitating, I fired the sawn off, shocked to see the man's body fly backward. A moment later and a second pair of footsteps approach from my right this time. I recall thinking that I was going to die here and there. Wearing just a simple leather jacket and holding only a few rounds, I was no match for a group of bandits. One shot to my torso and I would be mortally wounded. I reload quickly, wait till the footsteps are in the room beyond, lean round and fire once again, crippling the anonymous assailant. The sawn off is more powerful than I thought.I take out my Mosin-Nagant and peer outside through the scope, on edge, breathing heavily, ears pricked for the faintest sound. I spot a silent warrior in brown crouching by a rusting van and I dive back inside as a stream of bullets whistle past, thudding heavily into the brickwork around me. I lean around the wall once more and nail him with a single shot to the head. I wait a while longer, daring any others to try and flank me but fearful of grenades as my position is weak. After a few minutes I crawl out, scan the area and inspect the body of the first man I killed in the Zone. I was immediately surprised by the quality of weapons and fearsome arsenal these men had been carrying. They weren't bandits as I had thought. These were mercenaries.

I gotta say that this is probably one of my favorite stories yet, and its also the most believable and honest. Bravo for sharing an entertaining story

There was this one time when i just got my exoskeleton and i ate some bad tuna. I couldnt get the suit off in time. i shit my pants. Then a chimera came and killed me

The end

CosmicCr33per005 wrote: I gotta say that this is probably one of my favorite stories yet, and its also the most believable and honest. Bravo for sharing an entertaining story

Thanks man, but really I think it's more the power of the Stalker series than my storytelling - the fact that you can weave your own narrative so fluidly with the existing game is the sign of a great product. And really, it doesn't take much imagination for these sorts of stories to be told - the series is so powerful that these sorts of events occur on a daily basis in the Zone. It's that combination of free roaming, great atmosphere and compelling A-life which makes it so remarkable.

I love these sorts of threads because it's what I imagine stalkers would do naturally in each other's company. I can't understand Russian unfortunately, but you can still get the gist of the sort of stories they tell each other after a long raid in the Zone.

Any other stories people would care to share from the Zone? I've recently reinstalled Misery, and again it took me a while to reacquaint myself with the horror. And once again, the most terrifying and thrilling experiences occurred in the first week or so of the Zone.

I've got a few, but the one that stood out most to me was early on, when I'd just been scouting out the Antenna Complex in Zaton with just a sawn off and a pistol and no armour. It was foolhardy to say the least, but in spite of the tension, there had been no mutants lurking in the shadows. Once outside however, the sky began to grow dark and the rain began to pour. Off to the right I heard a sound which made my blood run cold - the unmistakable sound of a bloodsucker. I leaped onto a small rock, hoping that it could protect me, knowing that if I were to venture off that platform, the pounding rain would deafen any approaching footsteps. So there I stayed, praying for the thunder and rain to cease, keeping ears and my sawn off trained for the faintest sound but knowing that it would be no match for a predatory bloodsucker.

Suddenly, a muffled noise made me turn sharply. What I saw almost made me fire my weapon out of pure reflex, but the fact that I didn't almost certainly saved my life. Just a few metres away was a pack of at least a dozen dogs, who would have no problem in tearing me apart. Yet incredibly they passed me by. I wasn't sure if it was because of the storm or that I hadn't moved and therefore hadn't made a sound, but I stared in disbelief as this pack shuffled slowly past, their heads low to the floor.

After a long time the rain finally stopped and I dared to venture off the rock and headed straight for Shevchenko. It was a short, terrifying moment in the Zone and I hadn't even fired a shot. It just showed that the AI could surprise me even after all these years.

I was out stalking by the Oak Pine anomaly and noticed the corpse of a Flesh. I decided to check it to see how recent a kill it was, so I approached it and was able to extract its eye and some hide. Looking a little further, I could see more recently dead flesh, so I started looting corpses.

The fifth or sixth corpse was a surprise. It turned out to be a pseudodog corpse, with another close by, so I took parts from them as well. A little further away was the giant mound of dead flesh that a pseudogiant leaves behind, and sure enough it provided ample parts.

It was only after looting the pseudogiant that I saw what had left the trail of bodies: 3 chimera in full hunt!

Loaded as I was with meat, hides and various body parts, I high-tailed it for the Oak Tree, hoping to climb out of range. I got there just in time to see the leading chimera leap over my head and land in the ravine below. I didn't stop to look - I was focused on gaining the high ground. Hand on limb, foot on bark, I climbed higher till I felt that I was more protected. Even so, I realised that the Chimera can easily leap high enough to disembowel me.

Finally, up on a limb I looked below for the 3 chimera, only to see the corpse of the lead, along with its two companions, all dead from the chemical bath they took. My only regret was that I couldn't go down and loot their bodies in that soup, since their parts are worth $$$.

Happy to have avoided that mess, I trundled "home" with my full load to sell to Beard, with the tempting sound of gunshots beckoning to me in the distance.

Edited by: radasil

After chasing a pack of flesh with my trusty pocket knife in an open field, I was greeted by 3 mutant cats that charged in my direction.
Anyway, 'll let the video I captured of it do the talking

[Jump to 1:20]

Well,

After a while of running errands for the people on the Skadovsk Owl wanted me to do something very special for him... Gather intelligence about Mercenaries. Ofcourse most of the Misery players have played a while into the game already... I knew what was coming. I've been proofen wrong though.

I went to my locker on the skadovsk and got equipted. Dragged my AKS out of there with all ammo I got, what was about 3 mags, my over and under shotgun aswell as my trusty modern M1911 with a silencer that I've taken from some dead Stalker. A little bit of food, a few pills, stimpaks and medkits. I grabbed my sleeping bag and went on my way.
It was a nice day really, I slept until 10am and I probably only needed around an hour to prepare. The sun wasn't on his highest point yet and still it was very bright, just how I liked it. I started hiking towards the location I should've checked for intel. At Noahs arc I came across something that rather disturbed me.
I luckily spotted a squad of Bandits loitering around. A squad of 3 up on the hill to the bridge at the docking cranes. I started shooting at them, rather unprecisely because I didn't used the AKS ever. I probably wasted about half my ammo on them. I took them down though, it was a little bit tricky, beeing without cover in the field, but I managed to slap a few of my medical supplies on me. Patched myself a little up before the "walk in the park" with the mercs... how stupid I was...

When I walked up hill I observed the location around the area. A house, fences... broken concrete walls... seemed like good cover right? I walked up to them slowly leaning a corner and spotted a Merc just standing on a catwalk. I racked the bolt back of the AK and started to aim down the 5x scope sight and took the shots. I didn't hit his head, but I was quiet low as I experienced later. Around his waist, he ran off inside the building and that was when hell broke loose. After a few seconds I saw the first grenade in the sky, I broke left, with the intention to get out of the blast radius. I spotted it too late though. Fragments of that russian grenade hit me and made me fall to the ground. Breathing heavily I applied quickly a bandage and put that last stimpak into my thigh. I continued shooting at them. Carefull to stay in cover to not expose myself to the masses the Mercs had. I've eaten the one or other bullet and grenades hit infront my cover, sometimes behind but I was clever enough to change sides where I peak out so that it will not do alot of damage. It was a hard firefight... my ammo was draining faster the longer the fight took. Just when someone wanted to rush my position and I downed him my AK replied to the trigger pull with a soft "click"... Now I'm pretty much fucked... I put that AK into my backpack, exchanged it for my M1911 and loaded slugs in my shotgun. I was not fighting CQB here, I have decent distance to my enemies, hitting the slugs will be hard but it's effects will be devastating if I do. I hoped my M1911 will be decent backup if I need it... I was happy that I picked half of them carefully off already, but now they gathered in the drained water pool...

Just leaning around a corner so much that I only see one guy at a time I start getting these slugs down range. It was hard to hit sometimes, but I liked this shotgun so much that I loved shooting it, just never shot slugs. it took some effort. After 2 guys where down I nearly ran out of slugs. I had like 20 or so with me. After I was done I only had around 8... so I decided to safe them up and grabbed my M1911. Apperantly I didn't hit anything, even though I aimed down the sights carefully. I ripped that silencer off the gun imediately just to get some follow up shots down there. Now I heard these Bastards yell and scream in pain whenever I hit them.

it was a long... exhausting fight. I was frustrated when I was sure the pool was clean of mercs... I grabbed my shotgun and slowly looked around...
It's was quiet, bodies stacked everywhere. I couldn't believe I was low on ammo, meds and health that I survived this hell. I scavenged after observing for a while and making sure no one is around. I picked up their guns, looted their bodies. I took everything with me that I could grab.
Packed like a mule with about 130Kg I headed off to the skadovsk and made a geat profit that day... I invested that into an upgraded combat helmet gasmask combo later on. That evening I also bought a pack of rolling tobacco, a cigar and a fine bottle of the best Vodka Beard had.
I was drinking and celebrating my victory at the Merc encampent. The Vodka wasn't nice, burned like hell down the throat... but it tasted just like Main World vodka... also it made the pain of the fragments I've eaten and wounds I had from eating bullets better. The cigar tasted better than ever this evening...

Edited by: Cycr0w

I think I just had the mother of all battles. It was certainly one of the longest, hardest and most intense sustained gunfights I've ever had in any game, let alone Misery. I shall start from the beginning.

I'd finally saved up the 200,000 RU needed to buy the green ecologist suit (I tweaked the game a little) in order to reach the crashed Stingray 3 up on the southern plateau. It was about midday when I began to head back to Skadovsk, using the cover of some dense fog to elude the mercenaries and bandits that patrolled the southern roads of Zaton. On the way I decided to see Noah and to use his watchtower to scout out the route ahead, since I'd seen four bloodsuckers earlier that day.

Just as I reached the top of his barge, I heard gunfire from the south where I had just come from. The fog had cleared enough now for me to make out a lone Duty member in heavy armour walking away from a mercenary, apparently lying dead on the ground. I looked closer through the binoculars, and saw what might possibly be a Sako TRG sniper rifle on the ground next to him. I need that rifle. The Duty member however, picks it up and walks away. I'm not so proud that I won't buy a used weapon. Throwing caution aside, I headed back to the southern slopes to find him. Suddenly, more gunfire reached my ears, closer this time, from the direction of the waste processing station. That meant bad news. To make it worse, it began to rain. I changed to AP ammo on my AEK-971, put the silencer on, took the scope off and changed to automatic fire. I hid behind a rock and prepared for close range combat. None came. I peered over the rock with my binoculars and saw the Duty member lying on the ground, possibly dead. I waited a while longer. No one came to finish the Duty member off, so I crept out with the intention of finding that rifle, preferably on his corpse.

I was about ten metres from him when all hell began to break loose. Through the heavy rain, bullets whizzed past me and slammed into the concrete dividers of the waste plant. They're coming from behind me, from the west. I attempted to return fire, but through the rain, my thick visor and the heavy undergrowth, I can't see a thing. Before I managed to hit a single one, more fire comes, this time from the waste plant itself, and it's close, loud and accurate. I take a few hits. I don't have enough armour or ammo to take on the mercenaries there, especially not in these conditions. Abandoning the Duty corpse, I found some cover behind a rock. My suit is heavy, I'm hungry and my stamina is at rock bottom. I could barely jog to cover. This isn't good. I take a few more hits and I'm not sure where from. I decided to head to the cliffs where there's more rocks, more cover and more open ground. I'm being shot at again, this time from the outpost close to the containers by Noah's barge. I hear the glass of my helmet break, impeding my vision further. I've got no option - I can't see anything and my suit's being shredded - I make a run for it. I hardly ever run from a fight, but this is necessary. I slid down the cliff face and dove into the reeds, running as fast as I can, knowing that I've got at least two bandit parties and possibly an entire pack of mercenaries on my tail about to reach the cliff edge.

My stamina's low. I only have enough energy to run from cover to cover between the reeds. All the while bullets are pinging and whizzing loudly past my head. I head for Shevchenko. As I reach its rusted walls, a few bullets thud into the ship's hull. I peek round the corner to find a few Freedom members there. I'm safe. My visor's cracked, and in the low light I can't see much. I head upstairs to one of the ship's windows to see who's after me. I spot close to a dozen bandits and mercs heading down the hills all the way from Noah's barge in the east to the gas station to the west and they're about to be lost among the reeds. I need to act quickly. I put the scope back on, pause, and fire. It takes a few shots, but eventually I get a head shot on one of them. I move on to the next. It doesn't take long for them to spot me and bullets crack into the hull. I take off the silencer to do more damage. Four more go down. I've only recently upgraded my AEK but already it was doing me proud. Perhaps the odds aren't so stacked against me. A stream of bullets buries themselves in the ship close to my head and a few grenade rounds burst a few metres from me. I spoke too soon. Through my scope, I spot six more mercenaries pouring down the hill to the east, by Noah's barge. It's hard to pick them off at this range and they get a few hits on me. I'm trying to hit them through the reeds when suddenly their attention is drawn over to the right. I hear a lot of gunfire but this time it's not directed at me. I spot a group of 4 heavily armed Stalkers coming from the right - it seems my backup has arrived.

By this point it's close to 7pm. The rain's dying down and the sun's setting. I'm trying to hit one merc behind cover all the way over on the hill by Noah's barge (it's a long way). I miss a group of them making their way through the reeds below me but by the time I notice, they're beyond my line of fire. I freeze when I hear footsteps on metal close by and worry that they've breached the ship. There's a lot of loud gunfire below. I cautiously look downstairs to find two mercs dead and the Freedom members touting their guns over their bodies. This is turning out to be quite a day. I'm busy trying to disrupt the enemy's attempt to take my left flank when a new hail of bullets hits me from behind. I'm getting my money's worth out of my 3 kevlar plates. The fire's coming from the hill by the dock cranes. Another group of mercenaries. My AP ammo is spent, but luckily I packed a lot of gear that day. By now I've been fighting for close to six hours. Another stalker team coming up the valley occupies them long enough for me to get a shot. It's dark by the time I pick them all off.

I finally make it back to Skadovsk at well past 10 pm. I'm so weighed down that I can't carry any more gear. I can't even remember how many I killed. I have some much needed food, get changed into my lighter gear, put my PMK gas mask on and buy more AP ammo. My backpack is light - about 35kg - only the essentials.

It's midnight and deadly silent when I head back out. Not a single mutant to be seen. I hear a few scattered shots echoing in the distance but nothing more. Now comes the fun part - gathering the loot. All told, about 22 mercenaries and bandits died that day and that's only the bodies I found. I only found a single Freedom member dead. I headed back up to the southern slopes to loot the bodies and saw a couple more bandits still alive, but luckily they were occupied by the group of bloodsuckers I had seen at dawn that morning. Justice at last. Among the 25,000 RU of loot I found that day was a Saiga 12k in decent condition, which I've been looking for since the start of the game (62 days and counting).

Man, that was a good day.

Edited by: na1340572769

This is a bit off topic but possible buy the green ecologist suit now?

Maximus_Sparticus wrote: This is a bit off topic but possible buy the green ecologist suit now?

The SSP-99M? I doubt it.If we could it would surpass the SEVA in several ways.

Nope, I just spawned it, but I got rid of 200,000 RU to effectively 'buy' it. I don't think it's better than the SEVA though - you can't upgrade it and the armour is terrible. It's only slightly better than the SSP-99.

You can't upgrade it because you weren't even supposed to have it in the first place without spawning it.In SoC it had about the same armor but was better in anomaly protection.Oddly enough it was made for combat.

The zone is a very strange place, and has some very strange occurrences in it, and im not talking about the anomalies...

Currently i am stuck in a part of the game where i am just outside of the jupiter plant in the building with the electric anomaly at the top level of it. (assuming thats the only electric anomaly just outside of the jupiter plant)
I am stuck at the top with the anomaly by two psuedo giants and i dont have the firepower to take them down. i am trying to lure them up and make them kill themselves in the anomaly but it is very tricky, but consistent and persistent enough across saves to be considered a "summoning ritual". To summon the psuedo giants, you must dodge around anomaly and rub ass against second crate along the wall exactly two times. once is not enough to lure them up and if you do it three times too many a magical jar smashes against your head and damages you. Next you must dodge back around same anomaly and shove face in the metal cabinet with the flashlight out. Then back off after 3 seconds and look at the stairs. that is when the summoned psuedo giants will waddle up the stairs. then you may take shots at them and pray to god that they walk through an anomaly accidentally. however you must be careful because the psuedo giants have the ability to turn invisible and can sense a safe path through anomalies. before they make it to you and kill you, you must carefully lower yourself down the ladder through the metal door just enough to be on it yet not low enough to fall off. then once you crawl back up you must rinse and repeat.
I am currently stuck here and i fucking hate it. lower psuedo giant pathing skills please. or atleast disable their ability to sense anomalies. do that atleast and i will be very happy.

You have to love the infinite variety of the zone ... for the first time I sided with the bandits and have been negotiating instead of blasting away and taking their stuff off their warm dead bodies. I'm doing the Scientists anomaly research guarding Topol and crew; we go to the village and it's zombie nation with 2-3 times the usual number of zombies and popping up in more than one location at a time. I was hard pressed to keep up with my Sig 550 S, but we cleared them out and go back to the bunker. I buy some more ammo and rush over to the fen to make sure the stoners I pissed off aren't waiting to snipe me and the landing zone is free of mutants. A clowder of sneaky felines has done me the favor of wiping out all but one Freedom guy. I collect the free loot and head back to the bunker only to find another group of kitties has killed off half of Topol's crew. We go to the fen and again I have groups of Flesh and Boar spawning so fast one of the flesh actually got close enough to me on my boulder to nick me ( I just couldn't use the pun, you're welcome). It's the most challenge those 2 missions have given me since vanilla where I used to sweat bricks trying to spot all the spawns before they got too close. I head off to place some scanners and pass through the checkpoint only to find some pseudodogs made mincemeat of my Bandit buddies. Shame to let all that loot go to waste ... they would have wanted me to have those supplies to survive ;-) Another group of mutants has wiped out the antisocial group of cigarette smugglers over by the plant. Serves those profiteering bastards right and more loot for me ... I go back to the bunker to collect my reward and Topal et al are worm food so I let them thank me for all my protection by donating their personal effects to the cause. Only one of the Mercs on the roof still alive too. Some Chimera will come along and give him his just deserts eventually. Did you know Chimera can get inside the bunker? They are fun to watch work (from a distance). They can also jump more than halfway up the Cement Factory tower I nearly shat myself trying to shoot through the scaffolding before they could decide to take the stairs like the Pseudogiants do. You know what would be really fun? If you could use attractants to draw mutants to groups of your enemies. A little Chimera pheromone rubbed upon some wall and soon those amorous beasties come make mincemeat out of those mercs ...

It was a normal day in the lovely zaton.i checked my personal box to read the found documents again(alun's journals,document under the gas station,document
On a dead soldier body in the snork lair and....)and started the checking:AKM,check.ALPINE,check.military stim packs,check.bandage,check.every thing was ready.i came out of the skadovsk for one destination,iron forest.after what looked like a decade of stress,I finnaly rechead the place.i took out my binoculars to see what looked like an army of mutants.
At least 20 zombies with 2 exos,4 blood suckers,2 burers,1 poltegreist, and a chimera,hmmm.....it will be a hard fight.the first target is the poltegreist.
How much ammo do I have?100 FMJ with 60 AP and a grenade,it's OK.i switched the gun to FMJ and grenade launcher.i waited for them to get close and I realeased the beast,a grenade buzzing through the air landed right next to the ghost and turning it to shrouds.now the fight starts.zombies going down one by one and blood suckers meeting my bullets in the chest.
After a great fight all zombies and suckers went down and only an injured burer was still up.he went down with straight bullet in his head.the chimera was missing so I waited for him to appear but nothing came out so I reloaded my AKM and steped one by one to see a giant two headed beast leaping toward me.i quickly backed up and emptied a full clip In to him but it was still alive so I ran to the smallso cabin on the corner of the place and emptied my last clip in to his head,again he was still alive so I switched to ALPINE and started to fire bullets in to his head the first clip wasn't enough but the third bullet of the second clip killed the moster instantly.being low on health and ammo I quickly examined the helicopter and made my way back to the skadovsk with tons of hives and meats.

Two of my messages I have posted to Project STALKER facebook page:

Me wrote: Just had the biggest break in my MISERY experience! Went off to kill the mutant in the tunnel in the Yanov map, and en route, I walked into a 3 way firefight between Freedom, Duty, and Bandits. I waited for it to end and looted all the bodies. Luckily I was carrying a GPS tagged backpack so I could make my own stash! Then, after killing the Dwarf in the tunnel, I found 3 very good stashes too!. All of the items in this stash were from the bodies alone! ~20kRU worth in the end! Currently have ~120k RU

Me wrote: Just had a really cool but difficult and stressful hike in the Zone. The NVG scope on my G36K saved my life. I was heavily over burdened (mistake #1), was out at night (mistake #2) and batteries had died. I had to get from iron forest, with a Controller and several Izloms behind me, all the way back to Skadovsk using only NVG scope to see where I was going. I ran into a large squad of bandits, so I had to low crouch sneak the long way back. Thankfully, I ran into a couple of dead mercs, one of which has a battery pack on him... yay 14% UPD charge! Was really intense. At sunrise, I need to hike back to collect the rest of my loot from a GPS tagged stash... fun!

I was at the Substation Workshops then I saw a lonely Merc. I made him to surrender and took his FN FAL and killed him then out of nowhere, a bullet striked my neck. With low health and heavy bleeding, I hid in some branches and quicksave'd. Then I realized it was not the best situation to save. I had only 6 seconds to survive. I had a Militarty Medkit(mm), a Firstaid Kit(fk) and a bandage(b). This is the most interesting part: With three items, I had 6 choices, that's how I did:
b, mm, fk ---> Lost to the Zone
mm, b, fk ---> Lost to the Zone
mm, fk, b ---> Survived with 2 percent health!
After I survived, it was time for sweet revenge. Those mercs though I was dead so I used this for a surprise attack and killed them all. Never felt happier
(Took about 15reloads)

Tough the post is old already I would like to tell a good experience I had recently....

One foggy day at the Skadovsk brigde I realized that I wasnt going to detect any firefight in the distance to get some loot, I also realized that I wasnt going to find any artifact(not good equipment) and I also cleaned the Ranger Station from bandits...so I went to sleep.

At 18:30 I went back to the Ranger Station, its normally my favourite site to practice my recon stealth and combat. I expected 1 squad of Mercs or Bandits so I kept advancing, a bandit from nowhere detected me and started to shoot at me. I ran as hell to the small circular building next to the R.Station, but I realized that it was a bad idea, many windowns and chance to be flanked and f**** up with granades so I got out, as soon as I remembered that I am much more effective fighting from the bushes I took hide in one. Two granades exploded next to me and left me half dead so I used a military stimpak(God Bless them) and 2 bandits got out of the building to find me. My Pernach was a good company for a recon round, especially with incendiary bullets so made 2 headshots in those bastards without much difficulty. Then from the other side, in the right, more damn bastards appeared, this time with good armour...

-Dragunov, I think this are your last moments of life.-

But whatever, took out my AK-105, scoped and silenced, put the armour-piercing bullets into the rifle, aimed well and with 2-5 shoots right into their gas-masked heads was enough to kill one of them. A whole bandit squad was surrounding me, and I was switching btw Pernach and AK-105 killing them with a few shots each bandit. One of the bandits had good aiming and made me a lot of damage...

-Breathe...air...blood...reload...pain...stim...stimpack-

And finally back to action, took my revenge against them and took out the rest of their squad. When the carnage finished and the looting too, I had the great feeling of beign alive...It was 21:00 and the night was coming...But the sun...What an incredible view, like if the Zone rewarded me to be alive, after all the pain up there. Back to Skadovsk I tought that the large numbers of bandits meant somekind of trading btw them, nevermind, I bought some cocaine, vodka and food. Is there something better than this to celebrate that I was alive?

-That moment when you are overloaded, heavily intoxicated, bleeding or beign persued returning to base and against all odds, you make it. Thats what I call Life in the Zone.-