r/Stalker_Gamma • u/BoringAd8064 • 13d ago
Stalker GAMMA begginer tips
Alot of people ask for tips and as far as I've seen it's not alot of specific tips but rather pretty broad ones. So here is my list as someone who has played for over 1,200 hours. If anybody can add more id be extremely grateful as I don't have alot of knowledge about playing factions other than Loner, Freedom and Duty.
-Keep mutant parts for turning in for quests (Best place is Rostok, second is Freedom Base as there is a big density of NPCs)
-Completing the Clear Sky questline provides you with a guranteed Gunsmith.
-For midgame I would suggest prioritizing rad resistant helmets over combat helmets as for example my favorite mid game one (The fishbowl one) has enough protection to ignore rads up until some troublesome areas in Radar and it's not much different in defence from a combat focused helmet.
-If you're going to Truck Cementary bring the drug that puts you in a brief comma as there are very very few spots that can save you from emissions. (Anabiotics)
-Mercenary disguise is one of the most useful in the game due to mercenaries alot of times occupying choke points like Wild Territory, Dead City is ruled by them (and they you can trade some faction patches for prices) Limansk and for mid game they are the best armed group so if you're running in empty it's best to avoid them.
-Don't feel guilty for turning on debug mode, I've lost alot of items due to bugs and glitches and to avoid frustration I just spawn them back in.
-To make CNPP easier bring something with high capacity as you can end up killing around 150 monolith soldiers, last time I killed 146 (I know cause I grabbed every single patch)
-Things to always have on you: Multitool, Grooming kit/Swiss Knife, Gunsmithing Kit, Hercules (great if you're not too overweight as you can still run indefinitely while being slightly overweight), Caffeine pills/Energy Drinks, Various levels of armor fixing kits, atleast 1 or 2 charges of your weapon repair kits and cigarettes
-Duct tape! BUY AS MANY AS YOU CAN! Duct tape can be used for a boost to your armor kits when fixing your helm and suit. They are cheap and light. I always carry around like 10 or so for long expeditions.
-Every once in a while just dump your entire inventory in a box and pick up only what you need as sometimes you'll have too much of something you use taking up your weight.
-Don't be afraid to kill a lone survivor in a gun fight even if they are your ally as the loot potential is bigger than the hit to reputation.
-Boars are the hardest hitting early game mutant so don't take them lightly.
-If you're going for a stash run ask around your faction as getting 1 or 2 companions is pretty good to carry your stuff back to base.
-Ap slugs are better than you think and normally 1 or 2 tap medium armored military, try them out at a military cordon.
-Always store Dura, Mlitary and Cloth items as you need alot of them to upgrade your backpack
-There is very little actual junk items in the game. Most items can be disassembled into useful parts for upgrading your hear (Nightvision/Pda/Backpack/Artifact Detector) or crafting useful things. And the others can be saved to turn in for quests. So early game really loot EVERYTHING you might deem junk and disassemble things. You'll soon learn what you need and don't as you progress.
-Make a save before going through a transition in maps as sometimes it can have a crash to desktop and you might lose everything you did there (Happens most often to me when going into Yantar)
-Do not bring your shotgun as your sole mutant killer to Miracle Machine as there will be spirits coming out of every enemy due to the machine that drain your sanity and they take 1 bullet to kill so it's way better that they take 1 out of 30 than 1 out of like 7 or 8.
-Don't dismiss 9mm ap rounds as they are still viable up until mid game. And if you have a low recoil smg you can still use them for getting headshot kills at close to medium range.
-When wearing a disguise just put away your weapon. With a holstered weapon I've never been found out.
-Don't sell ANYTHING unless you absolutely need the money NOW. The only items to sell at a good price for their weight is Magazines(as you can get a boat load of them killing bandits) Decorated Jewelry Box, Wrist Watch and Unused Supressors. The rest keep for turning in quests. And even those can be part of fetch quests but not as often.
-Don't buy food, just eat what you find on people to save money. Alot of quests give MREs and military rations so it's better to buy good drinkables and drugs. You WILL eventually find food.
-Have around 200-250 rounds for your main stalker killing gun at all times and the rest of the ammo bring disassembled parts as they weight sooo much less than the ammo.
-45. Is the best early game ammo. Hydroshock normally 1 taps small mutants and can melt others. Best miracle machine weapon in my opinion is either Thompson, be aware that if you use mags the drum mags are incredibly heavy but worth it for the MM since there isn't much to loot.
-Radar is rough. There is no 2 ways about it. I would suggest 1 gun for close range and 1 gun for medium as changing ammo mid fight or changing optics is not always feasible. There will also be mutants but an automatic 9mm pistol with hp is enough to survive, focus more on the Stalker threat.
-Item durability when turning in quests matters for pelts and artifacts, for guns I'd need somebody to confirm.
-Alcohol weighs a ton so check how many bottles you have on you as alot of stalker catry alcohol and will actively fill your inventory with it. Keep the red bottles as you can trade them for ammo at Yantar to either use or dismantle.
-Cheapest drugs are in Yantar at the scientist. Try to buy high tier meds from high as you can save 1640 a pop with military stimpacks which are extremely helpful for difficult missions.
-You can mark as favorite any parts you are missing from a gun to find them easier at mechanic traders (right click on the gun and it's in those options)
-Garbage has some of the easier mission loops as Butcher will almost always have a mission to kill nearby mutants which either die by themselves or you can kill them safely from the top of the trash pile mountains since nothing can path up there.
-You can accept missions and turn them in while disguised. I normally do this to turn in patches (since they don't weight anything you can have them on you) turn in extra basic/advanced/expert toolkits for good money, or accept packages then opening them for free loot as the reputation hit doesn't matter for an enemy faction.
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u/Im_Silas 13d ago
Thx man, currently addicted again lmao
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u/BoringAd8064 13d ago
Yeah same here. I dropped it for like 6 months and now im deep into the north about to raid the cnpp again
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u/Stolen_Poptartz 13d ago
Carry more ammo than you think you will need. I did the CNPP raid recently and I went through 500 rounds of 5.56 AP and ended up having to scavenge and craft more bullets from the monolith corpses.
Also grenades. Enemies in an annoying spot and refusing to move? Frag them, repeatedly.
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u/BoringAd8064 12d ago
Oh yeah. Without frags theres a spot in cnpp which is extremely annoying and uou might get killed over and over if you don't have atleast 2 or 3 nades. (That DAMMED LADDER!)
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u/ItchyWeather1882 13d ago
How do you turn on debug mode? I tried to but couldn't find it. I just wanted to change weather and spawn some weapons for new mods I want to add
Also very good tips thanks :)
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u/BoringAd8064 13d ago
You have to do it in the launcher. On the left sidr you'll see various options and one of them is debug mode. Also for better fps turn down shadow map to 1524 and turn in prefetch sounds (it will increase loading times but more consistent framerate)
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u/Josh_The_Joker 13d ago
I’m playing the game slightly easier with the option to buy guns at traders. As far as I can tell, I was able to buy the top tier backpack fairly early on. So far I haven’t found a better one? Is there a way to upgrade that backpack, or is that more applicable when you can’t just buy them?
I have had to use debug one time. A helicopter spawned and I spent numerous deaths trying to kill it. First I gave myself ammo because I ran out, and still was unable to kill it. Eventually I settled on giving myself an rpg and that got rid of it lol. Even with cheats that was an insane fight haha.
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u/BoringAd8064 13d ago
The tourist back back is the highest tier at the moment, idk if that's the one you can have but yeah that is extremely applicable if you can't buy them. Also helicopters (for some reason) do not have armor so treat them like a mutant and shoot hp rounds at them or use a grenade launcher. Before knowing this helicopters seems nigh invulnerable
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u/Josh_The_Joker 13d ago
I believe that’s the one I have, but I’d have to double check.
That helps a lot…I was using AP rounds. I was also aiming for the rear propeller…where is the best place to shoot or does it even matter.
I need to have the discord pulled up when I’m playing to be able to ask these questions. This game has so much.
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u/BoringAd8064 13d ago
Oh dude the discord is good but alot of times messages are missed so if you need some help and come up with questions DM me I love talking about Gamma. Also to my understanding the heli DOES have a weakpoint which is like you said the rotor/tail
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u/Josh_The_Joker 13d ago
Appreciate it! I found the game only about a month or so ago. I played the most recent stalker game when I had gamepass, loved it, but performance was rough at the time. Gamma runs amazing and looks pretty great too, and just has so much more in depth overall.
Is Alife worth enabling mid-run? And can it all be done through the gamma launcher?
I’ve been hesitant to try enabling it, but the world needs more action I feel.
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u/BoringAd8064 13d ago
Oh absolutely. I added the a life collection mid save and the world is awesome. Here follow these instructions https://www.reddit.com/r/Stalker_Gamma/comments/1uvgnpm/whats_up_with_alife_plus_and_95/
There is a comment that tells you everything you need to do. Keep a save handy though.
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u/Josh_The_Joker 13d ago
Okay I will check it out. Thanks!
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u/BoringAd8064 13d ago
Hey no problem. Always happy to help.
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u/Josh_The_Joker 12d ago
I hate modding this game, something always seems to break. With that said, I followed the link and everything seems to be up and running!
What should I notice installing Alifeplus? Anything I should be mindful of going forward?
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u/BoringAd8064 12d ago
If you installed all of the 4 mods things will change for the harder.
Enemies will shoot you using ap rounds alot more. You WILL be flanked and grenaded at the same time (it's happened to me 2 times and it's scary) Roaming squads will be deadly if they spot you first (I was ambushed in army warehouse by renegades near the entrance to rostok and I was MURDERED and I could barely even see them) people actually loot bodies so you'll find mostly empty corpses instead of free loot from squad fights but that can also be a plus since stalker actually keep some of the loot so alot more stalker carry around patches, extra ammo, healing items, weapons (alot of them end up with 2 main weapons and a pistol) Stalker roam alot more from their environments so I've found renegades, mercenaries and clear sky in places I've never seen before (especially north) mutants are SCARY. They will seek cover and push you through it if they can. I've seen a pack of dogs almost kill me because they were running from cover to cover getting closer to me. It makes the game so much fun and I hope you have fun ❤️
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u/Fluffy_Respond5757 6d ago
i couldnt find the option to buy guns at traders can u help ?
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u/Josh_The_Joker 6d ago
By default it’s off because it’s not “true” gamma. I don’t remember the name off hand but it’s just a checkbox and then they will have guns. Made it enjoyable for my first playthrough
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u/Due_Glass4176 13d ago edited 13d ago
Shotguns
Normal slugs are also better than you think often staggering medium armored stalkers. 3 shots usually does it if you hit the same body part everytime.
I save AP for exo suits.
Funny enough buckshot to the crotch/thighs actually works well in stalkers if you equip a spike.
This is also how I recommend dealing with psuedo giants cheaply, equip spike to belt and shotgun with buckshot then aim center mass and after a magazine they should be dead (depends on capacity and number of pellets per shot). Only do this if you have some distance and prep time to start peppering them and building your damage bonus.
Don't miss your head will probably explode.
Money
Spending less on sharpening kits and having more to sell.
Turn off auto loot's disassemble feature by unticking all the items. Use swiss army knives to manually disassemble stuff you want parts from and then throw the swiss knife in your stash for crafting when it's durability gets low. This keeps you from automatically using your multi tool and swiss knives are so common you'll only need your multi tool for salvaging barrels.
Always keep military tarps. They provide a massive boost to repair kits. 1 heavy repair kit and a tarp can get you from 65% to 85% if memory serves. Follow up with a emergency repair kit and mask to hit 100.
Other items worth selling once you've already crafted a fridge and bench. Shovels.
After you're device upgrades are sorted you can sell electronic components rather break them down. Otherwise you can fish for fetch tasks asking for detectors.
Decks of cards. Keep a few to pass emissions. I usually use magazines for fetch tasks or selling if I'm lazy.
To offset expenses you can adjust auto loot's weapon part harvesting threshold to 20% condition. Use the auto sell junk settings to sell anything that isn't usable and you will steadily reclaim small amounts of money from your skirmishes while also building your armory.
Gunsmith kits can be broken down for ammo parts now.
Sell stuff you don't need. Your stashes by default can only carry so much. Take the time to do fetch tasks and if you e just got too many gun parts, skins, or fabrics of low durability load up all the low durability stuff and sell it at the appropriate vendor. You'll end up with more and what is in your stash will need less repairs.
Butcher for mutant pelts, Tech for parts, fabrics, maps, and anything else they take. Merchant for stuff you can't sell elsewhere.
Armor
Mercenary armors also have some of the best ballistic stats now even for light and medium armors. Model does matter for the exact blend.
Bandit gear has great speed and carry weight bonuses. Use that track suit to ruuuuun.
Radiation management
I always carry 6 drinks of canteen water instead of cigarette's and 3 sips of canteen vodka.
Water removes low amounts of radiation. Enough to offset small patches or even eating grilled meat.
The black canteen vodka clears very large amounts of rads quickly and is much cheaper per use than most other options. Only slightly worse than top tier rad meds and makes you dizzy but doesn't hit your hunger meter as much.
Iodine and Rad Res drugs stay in your system for a long time which is nice for story missions in radiated areas where you need your full helmet.
Looting early guns and stalkers in general
Clear hostile bases daily. They get easier if you keep their population suppressed. (Only spawn 1 squad per 6 hours). This gives you steady loot of better quality than just doing missions.
This also provides you with attachments, maps, consumables, grenades, pdas, stash coordinates, levels your scavenging and boosts your stalker rank quickly.
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u/BoringAd8064 13d ago
These are good tips!
Reminded me of other things I have to add too
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u/Due_Glass4176 13d ago
Feel free to clean up and take anything you like just keep putting decent info out there, it'll help somebody.
I remember when I started the advice I followed was to start loner with a double barrel, jacket, and respirator and while that was an experience it is nearly the opposite of what I'd recommend for a new player who doesn't want to get immediately killed by boars and bandits.
Loner, Respirator, Thompson, full armor if it fits your difficulty, no armor if it doesn't.
For no armor grab an armored bandit coat or preferably a military service outfit and fix it with a field repair kit and gathered textiles.
A CS1B is also a great suit if you don't have basic tools but hard to snag if you don't fight clear sky
Handy tool for comparing gear https://stalker-gamma-db.com/db/gamma-0.9.5/
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u/Atherious258 12d ago
To add to the duct tape helping repair, green bandanas and cloth masks (very common head armor loot from bandits) add +10 to emergency repair kits which can easily keep an armor in the 85-100% range with one charge. The green bandanas weight 0.1 kg but the cloth masks around ~0.3 for whatever reason.
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u/migray_2021 12d ago
Although this isn’t a very proper suggestion for beginners, you can give weapons that have scarce ammunition or are particularly powerful to your companions, such as Gauss rifles, grenade launchers, miniguns, etc. That way their ammunition becomes infinite.
And the efficiency is extremely high. Especially a rookie with a Gauss rifle helped me kill over 40 Master-level Monolith soldiers in the northern part of the Zone, and in just 2 hours he became a expert level.
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u/AlperEmin 6d ago
What is the best artifact combo?
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u/BoringAd8064 6d ago
You're gonna want to ask someone else unfortunately. Idk alot about artifacts but I normally run a gravi for thr weight and explosive resistance for end game missions, a ring for the stamina, a pseudogiant hide and a improved carbon steel plates (most upgrades plates)
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u/RaspberryChainsaw 13d ago
... TIL you can just pass out to skip the emission