Artifact Drop Rate Immersion Update addon

Hi everyone,

The main part of this mod increases the drop rate of artifacts for NPC's bringing more immersion to your stalker experience. As in the original Stalker games there would always be a chance randomly to find an artifact on dead NPC's. While playing Stalker Anomaly I have never found an artifact on an NPC which I found odd.

The purpose of this addon is not to make artifact exploration/hunting redundant.

What I have done is give each faction a unique set of increases in the drop rate of artifacts and other items. Don't think that after a few firefights you will have 2-4 artifacts which will already break the economy and the experience in my opinion. While this is an increase in the drop rates it will still be rare to find them and provide a more immersive experience.

Please note I am not a lore nut and I don't claim to know everything about the Stalker series. So go easy if I missed anything or if you believe a percentage should be higher or lower in a certain section or faction.

Installation instructions are found at the very bottom or in the “readme” text document found in the rar once downloaded. However, I do recommend you read through this post in it's entirety before downloading, so you know exactly what you are getting and to expect.

Each faction has had unique percentages modified which will play into the immersive experience. An important note is that the higher the rank of the NPC the greater the percentage of dropping these artifacts and other items (e.g. Novice-Legend). Alongside this the more stronger/useful artifacts based on a tier system are much rare to find than others. Note not all artifacts at this time are available to be found on the dead NPC's as I have yet to get to them all.

I will break down each faction in the following paragraphs, comparing them to the other factions: (Please note these may be changed in future based on further play testing and feedback)

Free Stalkers / Loners

These guys have a medium chance compared to the other factions of dropping artifacts both out and inside containers. Given they are the natural explorers of the zone it would make sense at some point to come across a dead loner with an artifact in their grasp. Hopefully for your sake its already in a container.

Clear Sky:

Given the Clear Sky faction has no real intention for artifact hunting they have a much lower chance of dropping them than some of the other factions. However, given that they are mainly found in the great swamps alongside they're home base they have an increased chance of dropping artifacts that have a higher spawn chance in the "great swamp" location.

Bandit:

Given the large expanse of the Bandit faction and one of their sole purposes is to escape the law and make money, it would make sense that they would be scavenging the zone for artifacts potentially. Which is why they have a medium chance similar to the Loners / Free Stalkers. Given they are not the best equipped faction they would not have as many artifact containers though and potentially be unaware of the dose of the radiation they are receiving by keeping these artifacts non-contained.

Renegades:

Due to the unorganized nature of this faction they have an even lower chance of dropping artifacts than the Bandit faction. However, much like the Clear Sky faction they also have a higher percentage chance of dropping artifacts that are found in the Great Swamp area as well.

Ecologist's:

Eggheads "cough cough" I mean Ecologist's of course have had the biggest overhaul of all the factions. Currently holding the highest percentage chance of dropping artifacts given they're natural profession. However, they have no chance of dropping artifacts that are not captured in at least an LLMC container as they understand the radioactivity of the objects unlike some of the other factions.

Furthermore while playing Stalker Anomaly I have noticed a lack of mutant parts / containers / scientific medkits dropping. This does not make sense as per the original stalker games they had the highest percentage chance of dropping these medkits and other items. So to add into the immersion the Ecologist’s now have a higher percentage chance to drop mutant parts and scientific medkits. They also have the highest percentage chance to drop LLMC containers and artifact detectors of any faction again depending on rank. These percentages will most likely be updated/changed in future.

Duty:

The Duty faction has a lower percentage chance of dropping artifacts compared to some other factions. This is due to them wanting to seclude/protect people from the zone they do not go seeking for these artifacts. However, I believe if they came across these artifacts by chance they would contain them and possibly hand them off to the Ecologist’s for further study. Therefore they still have a percentage chance of dropping these artifacts. I have also increased the chance of dropping an army medkit slightly for this faction as well.

Freedom:

The anarchists and daredevils of the zone. It would make sense that they have a medium chance of dropping artifacts compared to the other factions much like the loners. The percentage is slightly higher for them to be found without a container than within. The only thing they will be sharing with Duty in this addon is a slight increase of dropping army medkits however, lower than Duty :).

Mercenaries:

Ahhhhh the good old merc’s. Given these elite troops are very secretive and hired from unknown groups both within and outside the zone, it would make sense that they would be possibly tasked with finding said artifacts. The chance of these guys dropping artifacts is much higher than some other factions however, not as high as Ecologists though. These guerrilla's have also received a slight increase in the army medkit department.

Military:

These heavy hitters have a low chance of dropping any artifacts, given they would be leaving this up to the “Ecologist’s”. However, potential rescue/secret operations may lead to artifacts being found which would most likely be handed over to the eggheads. So naturally they still have a percentage chance of dropping artifacts. They too have had a significant increase in the drop rate of army medkits compared to the other factions as well.

Monolith:

ALL HAIL MONOLITH! Just kidding. These guys have a much lower percentage chance of dropping these artifacts compared to the other factions. However, if coming across artifacts by chance I'm sure they would acquire these and bring them back to their leaders, so I couldn’t leave them out of the chance to drop potential artifacts. Don’t expect them to drop any containers though.

Zombified:

The lowest percentage chance of all the factions to drop artifacts. They’re would only be a slight chance they were zombified and held onto these artifacts therefore, if finding an artifact on a zombified NPC consider yourself really lucky and hopefully you've brought a container.

UNISG/ISG + SIN/RPEX:

These guys have yet to be updated as I have yet to find the time. For now ISG follow the army/military percentages and SIN follow the monolith percentages. Both of which I don’t agree with and will be modified in the future.

All factions have had a slight increase in bandage drops, this most definitely be tweaked in future.

OPTIONAL ADD ON

I have also created an addon which affects only the condition of weapons and armour dropping based on rank. Also how many bullets each NPC will drop as well with two difficulties “Normal” and “Harder”. Note this is completely optional and have created this as I feel this adds into the immersive experience.

If not interested skip this part otherwise read on. :)

Normal Difficulty: Guaranteed to drop ammo yet these are very low percentages still. Significantly reduced drop chance for grenades for grenade launchers so you don't get 6 per firefight and spam it. The following are the current percentages of the condition of both armour and weapons:

Weapon drop condition - Normal Difficulty

novice = 0.00, 0.45

trainee = 0.05, 0.5

experienced = 0.1, 0.55

professional = 0.1, 0.6

veteran = 0.2, 0.7

expert = 0.25, 0.7

master = 0.3, 0.8

legend = 0.35, 0.9

Outfit drop condition - Normal Difficulty

novice = 0.00, 0.4

trainee = 0.03, 0.45

experienced = 0.05, 0.5

professional = 0.1, 0.55

veteran = 0.15, 0.65

expert = 0.2, 0.7

master = 0.25, 0.75

legend = 0.3, 0.85

Harder Difficulty: Within this version less good ammo is dropped and more old/damaged ammo is dropped. Making good ammo a real commodity within the zone. The weapon and armour conditions have been further decreased depending on ranks.

Weapon drop condition - Harder Difficulty

novice = 0.00, 0.4

trainee = 0.00, 0.45

experienced = 0.5, 0.5

professional = 0.8, 0.55

veteran = 0.15, 0.65

expert = 0.2, 0.65

master = 0.25, 0.75

legend = 0.3, 0.85

Outfit drop condition - Harder Difficulty

novice = 0.00, 0.35

trainee = 0.00, 0.4

experienced = 0.03, 0.45

professional = 0.5, 0.5

veteran = 0.1, 0.6

expert = 0.15, 0.65

master = 0.2, 0.7

legend = 0.25, 0.8

INSTALLATION:

Please note this will make changes to three possible ltx files called: derath_items.ltx / death_items_by_communities.ltx.

Changes will be made death_generic.ltx. If the optional file is used as well.

NO NEW GAME REQUIRED

If other mods conflict with any of these files it will not work. Should work with most addons though.

Installation instructions:

1: Please backup your files including your saves. This will save and fix everything if any complications arise.

2: If seeking just the main addon please open the folder called "Main File" and extract the gamedata to your root/main anomaly folder.

Upon asking to replace/overwrite press yes. AGAIN MAKE SURE TO BACKUP.

3: If looking to add the weapon/armour and ammo update as well or by itself, open the folder labelled "Optional File" and click one of the difficulties "Normal" or "Hard".

Extract the file called gamedata to your root/main anomaly folder. Upon asking to replace/overwrite press yes. If not looking to add this proceed to step 4.

4: All done. No new game required and you should be able to continue where you left off with the update applied.

Looking to update this further so all percentages are subject to change.

Thank you for reading. Please let me know if any issues arise. Looking forward to your feedback.

PS: No Ecologist's were harmed in the making of this. :)