Comments - bar8arr1c

So, after a few good days of running back and forth between Juipiter and Zanton as my new start Assaulter, here's my feedback.

+Pros
+The Saiga isn't the overpowered rape-wagon it was.
+After getting the Exo from nimble, bullet's still hurt and I'm not as invincible as I had hoped. This is a GOOD thing.
+I still ended up selling my first AK series rifle for a meal
+My L85A1's magazine doesn't fall out at random.
+Additional buck for a shotgun.

-Cons
-The Saiga isn't the overpowered rape-wagon it was.
-Army medkits still have the same effect as Generic ones? They just weigh more.
-Thatshotgunscattereffectholycrap. I've fired a sawnoff 12ga before and the scatter wasn't that bad.
-Also I didn't even sell my shotgun. It felt like a bb gun, so I threw it in the swamp because I was done with it. The additional 'shot' in them is good, but the nerf might have been a little much.
-On an unrelated note, They work amazingly if you stick them in someone's face before pulling the trigger. Not recommended for groups however.

Aside from that, I still suck at finding tools, I still walk into Psy fields telling myself this is a bad idea, and I still leap joyously into radiation fields looking for artifacts before consuming enough alcohol to require a stomach pump afterwards. I avoid mutants like the plague, and spent twenty minutes being chased by a pseudo giant in my exo-suit because I didn't pack enough ammo. (Or wasted it shooting at crows >.>) Misery feels more Miserable, but still not quite 2.0 Miserable.

And Choice spots in Jupiter as well! (I need to reach Pripyat before I can decided where to find forty winks there)

-The Zombie village house, south of Ash Heap
So long as you don't draw to much heat getting into the place, the attic is a reliable stash spot, and downstairs will provide shelter from blowouts. Just mind for wanderers before you shut your eyes.

-The Cement Factory
Inaccessible to mutants, protection from blowouts in the stairwell, and often an artifact for you. Mind the weeds and burner, and you'll be fine. Not a good spot if you made freedom angry though, as they frequent the area.

-Jupiter plant!
"Okay, you're insane. I'm not sleeping there."
Why not? Once you've cleared the place out, it's spacious, cozy. I have three backpack stashes there for food, weapons and ammo. Few mutants, covered from emissions. Just sleep in the control booth for the doors.

-The Armory stash
And if you don't know where it is, to bad :P Good spot, and duty and freedom protection depending on if you involve yourself in that fight.

-The Controller tunnel
Again, once it's cleared out, there's no reason not to. Just mind the occasional muties, and sleep soundly in the room with the close able door.

-The Oasis
If you can clear the Psy-dog, Zombie, and don't mind the occasional bandits in the only entry-way, it's good for a sound nights rest without having to worry about being mauled or wiped out in a blowout. However, the 'one door, two exits' is the only downside to this one. Having the alternate exit can be a plus though.

Also, my personal choices of Hide-holes.

-The 'Black Road' House. If you can handle the zombie swarms, they tend to keep everything worse at bay. Just sleep in the attic.

-The 'Dangerous Cave' where the controller is encountered, just west of the farmstead on the South side of the hill. Consistently, every time I've started a game, the Controller has been murdered by Stalkers before I get there. If Not, just pack a shotgun and some grenade to clean house.

-The Dredging Station
"Wait, what?"
Sure, dodge the anomalies and bring some Vodka, but with a reliable gasmask, it provides shelter from emissions, Stalkers, and mutants. Good place for a stash in the bridge room where you find the half-artifact as well.

-Under the Burnt Farmstead
"Okay, now you're just screwing with me..."
'fraid not. The fireballs follow a set path, and not everywhere down there will see you fried. There's quite a few good spots for a stash and some shut-eye. Besides, central heating.

The Bino's you have to upgrade the Zoom level. Check in with a technician.

It was a grind for the first bit, up until about the bloodsucker lair quest, and after looting the corpses down there, selling the Artifact, and using that to buy shotgun ammo and such... Everything past there was kindof a breeze. When you have an Automatic shotgun that can double as a sniper rifle when you use slugs and a scope... Repairing the weapons needs to start higher, else you find an ultimate gun in ruins, and fix it up to deal death as if it had been bestowed by some god of war or something.

Even Exo-suit stalkers aren't an issue past there. And I was playing as sniper.

But a Saiga-12k. Upgrade the mag size. Buy a scope. Pack about a hundred rounds of Slug and some hand grenades for good measure.

Hmmm, after playing 2.1 for a while, I honestly think it's a little too easy now.

After a solid two hours of play, I went from Black road and nothing to SEVA Suit and more ammo than I could ever hope to use in a fully Auto Saiga-12 with 19 round magazine. I opted to Shotgun the bloodsucker lair for that reason and left without a scratch.

Personally, If I were to suggest it.

Lower the ammo found on stalkers by half. Increase it's cost by half at traders. Raise the minimum weapon condition to repair with kits back up to about 35/40% area, and up the cost of them by at least 20%. My Saiga was wrecked when I found it, and 10 grand later it's perfect and may as well be belt fed, with a scope for unnecessary automatic sniping.

I'd also lower the odd's of finding medical supplies on Stalkers a bit as well. I could have loaded my Saiga with Medkits if they would fit in the barrel. It went from unnecessarily hard, unfair, and utterly MISERABLE, but at least being a challenge, back down to 'Slightly harder than vanilla on master'.

Personally, I preferred the balancing back in 2.0, because at least it felt like what the title implied. Dark, gritty, and with the whole world out to kill you. Now it's more on the side of charging Pseudogiants for the fun of it.

To sum oup the difference in a TL;DR format.

2.0, You sell your weapons and artifacts for food.
2.1, You sell your food for weapons and artifacts.

Another Protip. Under the bridge by the Cement factory where the 'Green Dragon' M24 used to be hidden. You can find some broken ammo. Nothing else in the stash. Well played MISERY.

I personally like the FN-FAL that you can take of Jack's corpse (If you're willing to shoot it out with about 20 bandits) Gives you an effective Long/Mid range rifle that's silenced, and once upgraded, it's essentially the recon's sniper. Personally though, I use an M4 and an Mp5 as my main combination. The M4's a good, versatile shooter, but hardley a low budget alternative to the 74u. I'd keep it around as a 'I spent all my ammo for everything else' gun, since 5.45 is just as versatile. Just keep it on single or short bursts.

Yeah, the pseudodogs that try and gang you typically are just that. Annoying pseudodogs. Psydogs are usually solitary or occasionaly with a group of blind dogs, and you'll know them because you'll have the Psy effect (Blue/purply tint to everything) when they decided to mess with you.

However, I have noticed an unusually high number of Psedogiant's around in Jupiter, encountered 4 there so far.

They also disappear if you re-load a save game occasionally. That's the engine from vanilla, not the devs. Direct your frustrations to the engine.

Feh, the whole point of the audio was because it was part of the whole Psi effect. Not that I enjoy having my ears blasted, but I'd rather have sat and dealt with it than muted everything for simplicity's sake.

Perhaps it's because I'm not a lvl-9000 uber Stalker who can charge into everything and wind out 100,000$ by the time I leave Zanton after starting black road, but I quite like way the mod is set out and plays, even if it means occasionally I get trapped atop a boulder by a pack of Pseudowolves or end up limping my *** back to safety after a prolonged gun battle.

As for Stingray 2... I think I'll just come back to that after I can afford a backpack full of 40mm grenades.

Welp, After getting a Stalker suit and a gasmask, some ammo for my 'K and a bunch of medkits. I was ready to go to Yantar? But 10k? Crazy, I'll just get the maps from Stingray 2 in the Iron forest and bump the price down.

*Walk to Iron Forest. Get within thirty feet of the perimeter wall. Promptly turn the hell around and walk back to Pilot*

Haha, hellwiththatplan, I'll just sell my guns and take the damned fee. Well played MISERY.

As far as I can tell, you need to wound them and just... Not kill them (Shotgun's at range help make this a -little- easier, at least with bandits.

I had a bandit surrender to me, asked him where his stash was, and he told me F*** you and then got up and drew his sidearm. Thankfully, buckshot solves a lot of life's problems.

Consider buying some armor. Failing that, consider buying a shotgun, or standing atop a nearby rock...

Failing all those, consider avoiding the dogs entirely. You're clearly not ready for the zone. Why don't you start with tackling that ration pack in your inventory, it should provide sufficient challenge.

Cat mutants were mean in the few mods for CS And SoC that they appeared in. More than once my STALKER met his fate due to a really bad moment to reload while being assailed by a group of them.

At least, I'm hoping it will be cats. I wonder if we can get meat off them...

Recruits looks completely bad-***. It's got all the right elements for a solid, exciting and fun top down shooter. With it's graphics, the audio, you can almost taste the heat of the napalm on the air. Cannot wait for this to get released with a 1.0 on the end of it.

Recruits for Indie of the Year 2012! Or we'll napalm your other votes!

"A Sidearm may save your life when your primary runs dry. Always keep it handy."

"A Good weapon is worthless without ammunition to fire. But it may buy your next meal."

That would be awesome, the weapon variety in CoP mods was lacking for a long while after it's release, but it would be great to have a weapon for every occasion and day of the month again like with the SoC Mod 'Oblivion Lost'.

Any Chance of getting a compatibility patch or something with Misery? It'd be awesome to have the massive arsenal along with the features of both mods.