Bjossi on 10/4/2007 at 22:35
Doesn't it damage the suit a bit when you shoot it?
charlestheoaf on 10/4/2007 at 22:54
You don't have to shoot the armor. If yo climb to the right spot, you should just be able to shoot the box open and grab it from there. Maybe you should quicksave before if it randomly flies off in the wrong direction or something.
Fallen+Keeper on 10/4/2007 at 23:04
I lowered the respawn from 5 minutes to 30 minutes and setting the max pop cap for the bandits at 10% of the previous value. It's better now, but by doing so you can clearly see that all this A-Life is bullshit, it's just a matter of spawning. Spawning and spawning. And if you're lucky it won't happen in front of you.
Some people still say that the npcs actually travel through the Zone, and I'd like to believe it, really, but I haven't seen anything so far to really confirm it.
And if it's true, it's not the feeling the game gives me.
Bjossi on 10/4/2007 at 23:29
I find it hard to believe that they travel all that distance. :erm:
Scots Taffer on 11/4/2007 at 01:52
Quote Posted by Bjossi
I tried look for that armor when I read about it a week ago, but I had no luck. I'll cleansweep the houses when I go back to the trader.
Yeah, I had trouble at first, it's basically a specific knack - hop over to the roof and look through the closest window, the one opposite the crate, shoot it from there and try to shoot the crate in the direction of the exposed part of the roof on the opposite side, once the crate shatters, the armour will be retrievable from there if you stand in the exposed part of the roof.
Trappin on 11/4/2007 at 03:55
I've seen NPCs appear at the zone-in line but I'm unsure if they are actually fighting their way through a zone and THEN zoning-in OR if they are spawning at the gate to give the appearance of NPC migration when there really is none.
Toxicfluff on 11/4/2007 at 05:10
Quote Posted by Fallen+Keeper
I lowered the respawn from 5 minutes to 30 minutes and setting the max pop cap for the bandits at 10% of the previous value. It's better now, but by doing so you can clearly see that all this A-Life is bullshit, it's just a matter of spawning. Spawning and spawning. And if you're lucky it won't happen in front of you.
Some people still say that the npcs actually travel through the Zone, and I'd like to believe it, really, but I haven't seen anything so far to really confirm it.
And if it's true, it's not the feeling the game gives me.
There is migration between maps and character autonomy actually... except it's disabled! Some guys at the GSC forum removed some script that kept actors in check, and they began to run off doing their own thing and pursuing missions (Wolf at the start went off to attack the bandits at the disused farmhouse for example). Might of been too hard to balance, with too many quests getting broken independently of player action, who knows.
I've had a few random guys from earlier on turn up later in the game in different areas though, so I presume migration must be in unmodded Stalker as well.
I highly recommend getting the repair mods which let you get your stuff repaired at the traders' - armour goes nowhere in this first patch.
Rogue Keeper on 11/4/2007 at 07:18
Quote Posted by Jonesy
As was stated before, there is a merc armor hidden in one of the houses in the Cordon and the Barkeep in the bar has the same exact armor for half the price, so you shouldn't waste your cash.
Yeah, but it takes some time until he gets to the Bar in Wild Territory, he has to deal with many Spetznaz guys in Agroprom, not counting other bandits in the Garbage. I have spent a lot of RU buying the Merc Armor from Trader, but I also traded a lot so the protection was worth the money for me.
Various armor types are easily accessible in the game, so the repairing option isn't really necessary. With luck you find armor in one of the stashes. Before I carried a backup backup vest with me but now I'm so rich (80 000 RU spared) I don't care.
Funny thing, [SPOILER]some stalkers in the Dark Valley cheated me, they offered me a gauss rifle for just 800 RU. That sounded dubious to me but I paid, the stalker said he was going to get the rifle and then called me by radio that he's some kind of modern Robin Hood and I should blow away. LOL. I could rip their asses apart for that, but for 800 RU? I left them alone. Though I don't guarantee I won't ease their living next time I visit the Valley and I won't be so overloaded with artifacts.[/SPOILER]
Quote Posted by Fallen+Keeper
I lowered the respawn from 5 minutes to 30 minutes and setting the max pop cap for the bandits at 10% of the previous value. It's better now, but by doing so you can clearly see that all this A-Life is bullshit, it's just a matter of spawning. Spawning and spawning. And if you're lucky it won't happen in front of you.
Some people still say that the npcs actually travel through the Zone, and I'd like to believe it, really, but I haven't seen anything so far to really confirm it.
And if it's true, it's not the feeling the game gives me.
Now my question is : how can I lower the respawn time ?
This NPC migration has bugged me as well. One time I got into firefight at the Garbage between bandits and a lone stalker, the bandits were coming from the gate beyond the loading point to Cordon. I wondered if they really travelled from the Cordon or were just spawned behind the gate, because when I were in Cordon, I never saw bandits leaving the area to Garbage. Actually I never witnessed any NPCs to leave an area through a loading point so far - only to arrive to the area where I was at that time.
So I suppose it's just mere spawning, otherwise if there was a the limited amount of NPCs and monsters in the Zone, they would kill each other very quickly at this rate. We can always assume that new people are coming from the outside world, of course. If we accept that they are just spawning, it's so smartly done that it happens out of sight of the player. It's not done as carelessly as in System Shock 2 where you sometimes could see Hybrids to materialize in front of you from cloud of vapor.
The "migration" was particularly interesting to watch in Dark Valley. I cleaned the main complex of bandits, killed Borov and left the complex through the tunnel. After I passed the quest condition point, I could observe through the tunnel window how new bandits are coming from the area entry point to repopulate the cleaned complex. There was something creepy on this event, the Valley is pretty gloomy area as it is and you watch a row of hooded characters walk on the road to repopulate a derelict factory, like some programmed zombies...
Another time I was leaving the Wild territory in direction to the Garbage. Before I have cleaned the area of dogs and this time I could see a pack of new dogs coming in a tight formation from the direction of Garbage loading point.
More than human NPCs I find interesting to observe the behavior of beasts. Dog packs don't always attack you. Sometimes they are running scared near you, another time some feral whim orders them to attack me. I kill one or two, the others loose courage and run away.
Another time I closely watched how a pseudodog approached a body of a dead stalker, dragged it few meters away out of my sight behind a wrecked car and then I could just hear noise of the beast feeding on the corpse.
These small details really add much to the feeling of living, ecologically sophisticated natural environment.
charlestheoaf on 11/4/2007 at 09:20
Quote Posted by BR796164
Funny thing, [SPOILER]some stalkers in the Dark Valley cheated me, they offered me a gauss rifle for just 800 RU. That sounded dubious to me but I paid, the stalker said he was going to get the rifle and then called me by radio that he's some kind of modern Robin Hood and I should blow away. LOL. I could rip their asses apart for that, but for 800 RU? I left them alone. Though I don't guarantee I won't ease their living next time I visit the Valley and I won't be so overloaded with artifacts.[/SPOILER]
[SPOILER]I did that too. After the guy ran into the back of the building, I threw a grenade back there and it killed all of them. I just had to deal with the guy guarding the entrance and one other weakened enemy.
One of the guys back there drops a silenced mp5 (it might have boosted stats too, I can't remember).[/SPOILER]
Spitter on 11/4/2007 at 10:00
Quote Posted by charlestheoaf
[SPOILER]I did that too. After the guy ran into the back of the building, I threw a grenade back there and it killed all of them. I just had to deal with the guy guarding the entrance and one other weakened enemy.
One of the guys back there drops a silenced mp5 (it might have boosted stats too, I can't remember).[/SPOILER]
[spoiler]You actually get a quest to kill that dude ("Vampire") from Barkeeper. If you killed him already might as well get the quest too (if it's still possible) and collect the reward.[/spoiler]
