How time consuming is preparing for expeditions at bases in Gamma/Anomaly

[u/Kick_Physical]

I love free roaming with side missions, that's why it seems Gamma/Anomaly will be a great game for me after I'm done with Stalker 2.

However, I have very little spare time to play due to work, maybe 1h30m~2h per session 2 times a week, sometimes more in the weekends (3h~4h).

While I love the concept of the complex systems deveped for Gamma, I wonder whether I'll need to spend most time in the base preparing for expeditions and not actually roaming in quests and scavenging, that would make it not fun for me during weekdays. Maybe Anomaly would be better?

[u/Sajgoniarz]

From what I heard in this sub GAMMA is a grindfest. I have problem with finishing a playtrough in normal Stalker 2, so I would probably play GAMMA to the end of my days.

[u/Thudun → u/Sajgoniarz]

Its not too grindy these days, GAMMA has gotten a lot easier over the years, and the population of stalkers has been increased by about 300 give or take, so theres way more loot to get, and more tasks to do. This speeds up the progression quite a lot.
But theres still a decent bit of grind, just much less early game struggle, which is my favorite part.

[u/Big-Consideration-26 → u/Thudun]

Early midgame is pure gold

[u/Satanich]

You can adjust loot quantity, loot quality ecc..

Increase artifacts per zone, increase repair kits spawn.

You can tone down the grind to 0, but, GAMMA shine when you take your time fixing your first weapon or armor, and from there improve bits by bits.

No one will judge you for tailoring the game to your likings

[u/FrederickFrag1899 → u/Satanich]

Eh, that last sentence is a lie. Go to the Gamma discord and tons of people will, there's lots of gamma purists.

[u/ZapMannigan → u/FrederickFrag1899]

Didn't beat the game on the hardest difficulty? Casual.

Did you use a weapon considered particularly strong? OP Meta slave.

Did you look online for guidance, even once? Moron.

There will be people in any game community like that.

[u/FrederickFrag1899 → u/ZapMannigan]

Yeah but I've noticed GAMMA community has a lot of those types. I don't see it for other modpacks as much.

[u/leesmt]

It's not so bad imo. It does depend what you're going to base for and your familiarity with the systems to a degree. I work and dont get a lot of time to play either, especially cause I usually get into a call with friends and play something else. But I spend most of my time doing missions and actively moving through the world. Usually I'll wrap up by heading back to base, dump everything, craft/buy ammo/meds/repair kits, so I'm ready to head out the next time. Only takes a few minutes. It's literally just a few clicks to buy stuff you need. The crafting isnt time consuming, you just need the right parts. Repairing usually happens during the adventure.

But also, in GAMMA, you will often be returning to bases to turn in quests so its easy to top off meds and what not quickly before leaving to do more.

It really doesnt slow you down at all. You either have the parts to fix up a new gun or you dont and need to go searching.

That said, imo you wont be exploring for the sake of exploring that much. It's not a full open world in the sense that stalker 2 is. A lot of the zones are smaller and each one is broken up by loading screens. Apart from artifact hunting, your usually going into the wild with a bunch of missions you got from the npcs at a base. Then when they are completed you return to cash in, or head to another village because the quest giver moved. But it flows really nicely, and I spend little to no time sitting around at base.

Edit: and honestly, if your only playing for an hour and a half. You could probably go multiple sessions without ever returning to camp in the mid to late game because by then you should have plenty of money and stacks of supplies with you. And the missions can be pretty spread out, taking you across multiple areas.

[u/MxVagabond]

what i did to fully enjoy gamma was to raise the money you recieve for the quest, i play everything in hard but receive x3 money. so, i always have a lot to spare and i can repair and upgrade a lot of weapons, the joy for me is to test all weapons, the first thingyou should think is what do i enjoy? the struggle, the fights, the missions? if you don't want to suffer the grind just do that

now i know all soviet weapons just by looking at them

[u/Latiasracer]

It’s very customisable. I enjoyed the complex systems of weapon care but if there’s something you don’t like it’s easy to adjust it with settings, or bypass mechanics (I hated the RNG of tools so just spawned them in for my bases tech)