D'Arcy on 21/12/2008 at 14:50
Which weapon are you guys using mostly in Clear Sky? With the ability to get upgrades for the guns, I found out that pretty early in the game it is possible to get a very powerful weapon. So I've been using a heavily modified Enfield rifle, fixed so that it uses 5.45x39 ammo. I've found several other weapons, some that I used in SoC, like the Vintorez. But even that one, after being fully modified, doesn't seem to do as much damage as my modified Enfield, so I'm not using it.
I've just reached the Red Forest, and I'm wondering if the Groza exists in Clear Sky, because I haven't come across one so far. It was my favourite weapon in SoC, so I'm hoping that, if it is in the game, it can be as good as before.
TF on 21/12/2008 at 15:12
I'm also using the Enfield, technically the LR is ever so slightly better (it's been nerfed some since soc, even compared to all the other guns) but not really worth discarding a well upgraded Enfield for.
Groza should be in, I found one eventually. An obvious way would be to become buddy buddy with Duty since they start selling it once their 'resources' are moderately high.
D'Arcy on 21/12/2008 at 16:02
I don't want to join Duty because I find the faction wars relatively annoying. I regretted joining the Stalkers faction, because the Garbage area was insane, with help requests coming from everywhere. Eventually the thing broke somehow. I got a request to help a control point, got there, killed all the bandits, then the objective changed to hold the point until help arrived (it was the point behind the car park, next to an exit to the Cordon). Well, somehow the stalkers coming got stuck inside the tunnel and never arrived, so that objective has been stuck like that ever since.
Hopefully I'll find a Groza somewhere else.
driver on 21/12/2008 at 16:52
I know of two Groza in CS. One is in the Red Forest, the bandit camp in the train tunnel. One of the bandits has it and the other is in the Army Warehouses. When you assault the depot as part of the main mission, the sniper on the far tower is using one.
I don't remember seeing one for sale, but it's been ages since I played it.
Problem is, since patch 1.5.05 the Groza can only be upgraded as a storming weapon (Increased rate of fire and decreased recoil etc) not as a sniper (Increased accuracy and muzzle velocity etc).
steo on 21/12/2008 at 17:04
Dragunov SVD all the way. The tank machine gun was kind of fun to run around the red forest with using hideous amounts of ammo on very little. I wouldn't consider using a machine gun normally since they're much too heavy, have massive recoil, are really inaccurate and don't get iron sights, I can't really think of any point where you wouldn't be better off with an assault rifle.
The SIG-550 is the best 5.56 rifle except perhaps the G36 and FN F2000 but I haven't found either of those yet. I did use an enfield for a bit but it was just too damn unreliable. The same goes for the abakan but to a lesser extent.
I got a vintorez pretty much as soon as I got to the garbage but haven't been using it much since the damage seems pretty nerfed compared to SoC and the bullet drop makes it hugely inferior as a sniper rifle to the dragunov.
Phatose on 22/12/2008 at 04:32
AK-74 is your best bet early on. It's accurate and powerful for when you get it. You should really use it and not the Abakan, because while the Abakan starts out more accurate, it doesn't keep it. Both AKs take triple the accuracy penalty for condition that NATO weapons do. However, the AK-74 degrades considerably slower then the Abakan (I think it's 1/2 the speed), and at 1/5 the speed of then LR-300.
You might switch over the the Vintorez when it becomes available. Needs to be upgraded to deal with the bullet drop, but it's very nice.
Late game, I choose one of 4 weapons depending on my mood. The SVU, the G36, Sig, or FN. The SVU doesn't hit quite as hard as the SVD, but it doesn't prevent you from sprinting, which is a deal killer for the SVD for me. Of the other three, the Sig hits the hardest, but is less accurate then the other two. The G36 is the most accurate assault rifle in the game, and the FN is a good balance between the two with an integrated grenade launcher to boot.
The rest of them...the Abakan is decent, but I'd rather have the AK74. The one AK47 in the game uses heavy machine gun ammo and can't be upgraded, but it hits like a truck. The Enfield is nice enough, but very very jam prone. The LR300 is a good rifle, but degrades too fast to make it a decent primary weapon.
And of course, always keep a shotgun handy - because even the best assault rifles aren't half as useful against non-human targets as a good shottie.
Duty tends to have Groza's later on, but really, it just can't run with the big boys.
D'Arcy on 22/12/2008 at 13:01
Unless they changed the weapon considerably, I find that hard to believe. I usually go through most of SoC using the Groza (the modified version, that uses 5.45x39 ammo), so I would expect the weapon to be at least as useful in Clear Sky. Even though it doesn't allow the use of a scope, I like the iron sights aiming, and the challenge of hitting a target that way.
Otherwise, it will be just another thing to annoy me in Clear Sky. My latest irk is with the stupid emissions. Now they seem to be happening at least twice a day. Stupidly enough, while in the Garbage, you can't hide from an emission underground (at the Flea Market, in that place where the bandits set up a trap for you), because you will die. But you'll be perfectly fine hiding in the rubble of the building. I don't know if there is a mod available that will supress the emissions, but if there is I'll seriously consider installing it for future playthroughs.
steo on 22/12/2008 at 13:18
I've had the same annoyance hiding from emissions in that same place. All the 9x39 calibre guns have, I believe, been nerfed so they are less powerful than they were in SoC. The groza isn't as powerful or accurate as the SIG-550, the ammo is heavy and you have to deal with all that bullet drop. Plus you get it quite late, so I can't really see myself using it though I tended to prefer the 5.56 weapons in SoC anyway - the groza was useful for pripyat and the NPP and for using up vog grenades but even those seem to be really underpowered in CS. Maybe when I've completed the game I'll see about doing a mod to address the balancing issues in CS. I'm surprised there are so few mods compared to SoC really.
D'Arcy on 22/12/2008 at 15:54
I'm now having blowouts with intervals of around eight hours between them. It's ridiculous. I don't know if this is a way to force us to move forward (I've been travelling a lot between the Garbage, Dark Valley, Yantar, and Agroprom, moving stashes and collecting stuff to sell), since they don't seem to occur this often when I'm in the Red Forest.
Regarding the Groza, is there no upgrade available that would let it use 5.45x39 ammo?
Muzman on 22/12/2008 at 16:53
You have to put AMK out of your head when dealing with CS blowouts. They come very randomly (mostly triggered at a level crossing. I've ducked one, walked to another map and been hit with another right away many times). And the safe spot on the map is the nearest place the game will let you hide. On the dot. Doesn't matter about anywhere else similar.
I don't know why they cut the AMK style blowouts from the first game (I presume that's what happened). They're awesome: the AI fleeing works great; mostly things provide as much shelter as they look like they would. It's pretty easy to come to grips with I reckon.
Anyway, I can never wait to get hold my SIG 550. It's not as delicious unmodded in CS as it is in SoC, but a bit of a accuracy mod or two and it's better than most anything else. I don't know why but something about that gun makes me a crack shot. I just love getting a lot of AP round and going bandit/renegade hunting; They spray away with whatever they've got at range and I just peg, peg, lead, peg *whistles nonchalantly* Ahh, quiet again.
