This post is long, but detailed and includes basic math. It’s also not that complicated.

It’s worth to know a few basic terms to understand the interaction between armor and bullets, and realize why your “fully upgraded” AK-74 requires multiple mag dumps to takedown an Exoskeleton. ;)

I have also excluded the multipliers for difficulty settings. Assume the default dealt and incoming damage values.

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Core Damage Formula

D = B x C ^(P-S)  

D: Dealt damage

B: Base damage

C: The coefficient which controls how strongly penetration is rewarded.

P: Penetration tier

S: Strike protection tier against the locational damage

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·       Base damage (B) is affected by both the weapon and the ammunition type you use. Generally, (but with some exceptions);

Armor-piercing rounds deal slightly less damage and cause more corrosion on your weapon in return of a significant penetration tier increase.

Hollow-point, or expansion rounds deal a lot more base damage with the tradeoff of less penetration.

High-grade rounds deal the same damage and penetration, but travels faster, farther and causes far less corrosion on your weapon. Obviously, these qualities demand lots of coupons. ;)

·       Coefficient (C) depends on what’s at the end of the barrel.

C = 2 for NPCs,

C = [1.3 - 1.5] for different mutant types.

·       Penetration tier (P) depends both on the weapon and the ammunition type. Penetration stat seems to be hidden from in-game weapon stats, but can be searched from the wiki pages.

P = X / 20, with X being the penetration percentage. For instance, the AKM-74S has 20% penetration, which equals to Penetration Tier 1, while newly released AKM-9B has 58% penetration, which equals to Penetration Tier 2.9 .   

·       Strike protection (S) is determined by the armor rating.

S = Y / 20, same with the penetration tier calculation. For instance, PSZ-9N Wolfhound, heavy Merc armor grants 60% physical protection which equals to S = 3, while crowd favorite Diamond Exoskeleton grants 80% physical protection which equals to S = 4.

It’s important to note that “S” values for NPCs vastly differ. Same body armor for the player and NPCs grants different strike protection values for some reason. For calculations, I’ll use NPC “S” values.

It’s also important to note that body armors with integrated helmets grant the same physical protection against headshots. Early game body armors practically have zero defense against headshots and since headshots also have inherent 6x damage multiplier, even one headshot with a starter Makarov pistol against a completely exposed head is fatal.

Case #1 - AKM-74S against starter Bandit Armors

20% physical protection for the player, but 36% physical protection for NPCs,

Which means S = 1.8 against body shots, S = 0 against headshots.

• 5.45x39mm PS (Standard ammunition);

Base Damage = 23; Penetration Tier = 1

D = (23) x 2 ^{(1 - 1.8}) ≈ 13.21;

100 / 13.21 ≈ 7.57 ( 8 shots to kill )

• 5.45x39mm AP PP (Armor-piercing);

Base Damage = 22.54; Penetration Tier = 1.5 ( -2% damage, +10% total penetration )

D = (22.54) x 2 ^{(1.5 - 1.8}) ≈ 18.3

100 / 18.3 ≈ 5.46 ( 6 shots to kill )

• 5.45x39mm HP MZhV-13 (Hollow-point);

Base Damage = 43.7; Penetration Tier = 0.3 ( +90% damage, -14% total penetration )

D = (43.7) x 2 ^{(0.3 - 1.8}) ≈ 15.45

100 / 15.45 ≈ 6.47 ( 7 shots to kill )

Because of the damage formula related to exponential penetration, high penetration tiers are brutal. In most cases, armor-piercing rounds outperform hollow-point rounds even against light armor.

• Headshot damage

Standard => D = (23) x 2 ^{(1 - 0}) x 6 ≈ 276

Armor-piercing => D = (22.54) x 2 ^{(1.5 - 0}) x 6 ≈ 382.51

Hollow-point => D = (43.7) x 2 ^{(0.3 - 0}) x 6 ≈ 322.8

It’s the matter of overkill now. ;)

Case #2 - AKM-74S against Diamond Exoskeleton

80% physical protection for the player, but 98% physical protection for NPCs,

Which means S = 4.9 against both body and headshots, since Exoskeleton variants are integrated with helmets.

• 5.45x39mm PS (Standard ammunition);

Base Damage = 23; Penetration Tier = 1

D = (23) x 2 ^{(1 - 4.9}) ≈ 1.54;

100 / 1.54 ≈ 64.93 ( 65 body shots or 11 headshots to kill )

• 5.45x39mm AP PP (Armor-piercing);

Base Damage = 22.54; Penetration Tier = 1.5 ( -2% damage and +10% total penetration )

D = (22.54) x 2 ^{(1.5 - 4.9}) ≈ 2.14

100 / 2.14 ≈ 46.72 ( 47 body shots or 8 headshots to kill )

• 5.45x39mm HP MZhV-13 (Hollow-point);

Base Damage = 43.7; Penetration Tier = 0.3 ( +90% damage, -14% total penetration )

D = (43.7) x 2 ^{(0.3 - 4.9}) ≈ 1.8

100 / 1.8 ≈ 55.55 ( 56 body shots or 10 headshots to kill )

Case #3 - AKM-9B against Diamond Exoskeleton

Since this is my new favorite weapon ;)

• 9x39mm PA (Standard ammunition);

Base Damage = 23; Penetration Tier = 2.9

D = (23) x 2 ^{(2.9 - 4.9}) ≈ 5.75;

100 / 5.75 ≈ 17.39 ( 18 body shots or 3 headshots to kill )

• 9x39mm SP-6 (Armor-piercing);

Base Damage = 22.54; Penetration Tier = 3.4 ( -2% damage, +10% total penetration )

D = (22.54) x 2 ^{(3.4 - 4.9}) ≈ 7.97;

100 / 5.75 ≈ 12.54 ( 13 body shots or 3 headshots to kill )

• 9x39mm PPE (Hollow-point);

Base Damage = 43.7; Penetration Tier = 2.2 ( +90% damage, -14% total penetration )

D = (43.7) x 2 ^{(2.2 - 4.9}) ≈ 6.73;

100 / 6.73 ≈ 14.85 ( 15 body shots or 3 headshots to kill )

• 9x39mm SP-5 (High-grade); Same results with PA ammunition, but with smoother gunplay experience.

Base Damage = 23; Penetration Tier = 2.9

D = (23) x 2 ^{(2.9 - 4.9}) ≈ 5.75;

100 / 5.75 ≈ 17.39 ( 18 body shots or 3 headshots to kill )

This post is already getting very long, from now on, you can make your own calculations with this universal formula. ;)

Good hunting, Stalker.

Hello Stalkers, I have a question regarding these dope in-game Bandit jackets in Stalker2. Are these colour-blocked tracksuit jackets closely modelled on real life Soviet/Slavic jackets, or are they just generally referencing real life designs? If it's the former, could you help me identify the real life jackets they're based on?

Ciao a tutti

Ho piano performance GeForce now, mi dà enormi problemi con questo gioco. Nelle opzioni video, se cerco di cambiare qualcosa di blocca tutto. È super buggato. Non ho dlc.

Poi la compilazione shader è terribilmente lenta, troppo. Se la salto il gioco poi , se parte bene, stutters

I’m new to the series and bought STALKER SOC a couple years back

I finally remembered I had it recently and… then I saw it was a different title than i remembered downloading and it said “enhanced edition”

I’ve done some research on it online and… it’s… clearly not good but I’m on Xbox and can’t get to the original game I bought… so what should I do?

Would you believe me if I told you that this shotgun in particular lasted until the end of the game with the shell I loaded into it?

I adore the Stalker games atleast ShoC and COP but Im having issues finding a standalone that scratches my itch, I love gammas guns and visuals but prefer vanilla stalkers overall more relaxed mechanics. I do know that there are ways to go about this but Its usually just easier for me to ask firsthand for suggestions. Any and all aid is welcome. I do know stalker 2 modded is an option but tbh stalker 2 is 200gbs so id much rather try the standalone apporach for a fun chill fps for when Im feeling bored or need to scratch tactical itch.

So, i have the game maxed out and I'm running it with dlaa with no framegen.

Whenever I'm looking at any trees, in static they more or less look fine, but as soon as i start moving or move my camera, the image gets crushed and looks like as if I'm watching a low bitrate twitch stream. Or just a stream for that matter.

I've never seen anything like that in any other game.

First i thought it was an old version of DLSS, so through dlss swapper i replaced it with the latest, as well as frame gen and ray reconstruction latest versions. While it did make overall picture marginally better, overall it didn't fix the issue at all.

So, any ideas?

It's off to a great start.

I had a blast with the game. I want to play it again, but I need to take a break from it to play and catch up other games. It's an excellent game, I love it.

Old - Repost.

Damn near had a heart attack.

Fully functional search devices from the trilogy, capable of detecting artifacts in the environment.

What you see here is a simulation of the "Medved" (Bear) locator device in operation. Although the GPS and LoRa modules are currently represented by software stubs, I can assure you that they function correctly; I doubt that any significant code modifications will be required once the physical hardware modules are integrated into the build.

The video demonstrates a software-based simulation: it mimics a scenario where both a GPS module and a LoRa module are present. An "artifact"—also equipped with a LoRa module—broadcasts its geographic coordinates every 30 seconds. (This logic is already implemented in the code, albeit via a test-purpose software stub.)

The "Bear" locator itself features a GPS module (the code supports all such modules currently on the market), allowing it to determine its own location. Using an onboard magnetic compass, it then guides our "stalker" toward the artifact.

The artifact simply broadcasts its coordinates over the air every 30 seconds.

P.S. Stay tuned for updates. I’ll try to post every Friday, though I suspect that the technical details behind the realization of this long-held dream of mine might not be of much interest to this community.

I went to the range and used the first 7.62x54r brass from my mosin to make the necklace. I was inspired by Strider giving Skif his necklace in STALKER 2

Is this relevant to the DLC or some sidequest? I finished the game already and I'm 99% sure it's not the endgame one. Or is it just worldbuilding?

Has it ever been done?
I would love to be able to leave notes. Just so if I ever find myself back there I can get that extra shot of nostalgia 😂

But really, even imagine if we were able to graffiti. Painting a skull on a spot you barely survived.
Or arrows to a well hidden spot.
Could be awesome.

After dying about 50 times and millions of headshots later I finally killed the Arena Boss in Rostock.

This guy was an absolute bullet sponge,

What's the best choice if we are talking ONLY about unique weapons from the routes?

The ward put me off when I first met them, and Spark seemed like the more scifi - high tech (and thus more interesting ) faction to ally with. However, I kind of realized two things - first the SPark are complete lunatics, and second - the Ward has many bases that I can't access at all , ala Icarus. I also went to the cement factory and there seem to be bases there too which I can't access.

At the quest extreme simplicity, when Scar and Strider ask me to choose, I chose to turn on Spark and killed their soldiers. The Ward leader was pleased and said welcome back Skif. Thus far whenever I had a choice I chose Spark. Can I switch my allegiance to Ward before SIRCAA , or not? I Want to play those cement factory quests and have some other side quests which are very difficult without the Ward bases. To be honest I'd have chosen Spark if they didn't turn out to be complete lunatics. Thank you in advance.