What is the stalker meta? (Map location spoilers)

[darkscaryforest]

This post is full of SPOILERS in terms of map locations just fyi.  I thought I'd share my experience with the game and bounce a few questions off you guys.

I'm a little over 100 hours playtime. I have a nasty habit of being too risk adverse. I switched to stalker 30 hours ago after I summit timberwolf mountain in voyager at day 50. After a few attempts in this stalker run, I started in coastal highway, raided Quonset and outlying buildings brazenly, rushing through crumbling highway to get to desolation point as I had never been there.  I set up camp inside Hibernia processing until I finally figured out it was too dangerous coming and going everyday and moved to the Riken at day 15.  Since then I've slowly learned routes to get everything I need to survive what is starting to look like indefinitely. Apart from a few surprises (scruffy in his cave probably tops the list), I've learned that in DP on the ice and around the Riken, I can survive without worry of wolf encounters (no need to trick them or sneak past). Probably the most dangerous thing in my routine is going to Hibernia for the crafting table, but I've started to really limit these trips now that I've got a set of the wolf jacket, bear coat, deer pants/shoes, and rabbit mitts/hat.

I feel like most people don't play this way on stalker. I read all the time about folks going everywhere, murdering packs of wolves and looting everything. I'm curious how they manage to do it.  I have the revolver and around 30 bullets. I feel like I could go on a rampage once or twice, but couldn't sustainably blow through packs on a day to day basis.  Alot of post I read were pre-errant pilgrim when killing wolves were easier.

1. Would you say that I shouldn't be afraid to have more wolf exposure or is it better to continue to learn paths where no wolves are?  Are there even wolf free paths in other regions?

I safe felt nowhere in coastal highway for instance. From jack rabbit island, the garage, hell- even the fishing village that I often find recommended seemed to have a guaranteed wolf right outside every morning that I had to lose. Doing that every so often is ok, but everyday makes me feel like its only a matter of time.  Normally when I get bored or want to try a new region, I just start over thinking I'll learn more in a new run without having to worry about losing all that time- which is another thing..

2. How many days do you find yourself doing in a session?

I can play all day and find only 15 days have past. I read about so many 100+ runs..either folks just play over a long period of time or maybe I'm just doing it too slowly somehow. It just feels like so much time that could go down the drain if you play too risky, but maybe I'm overthinking it here.

3. What do you think, should I leave the safety of my Riken and go somewhere new or should I stay and power to level 5 on all my skills..break 100 or maybe even 500 days?

Thanks for your feedback. I love reading about peoples experiences here and learning from them.

 

[Valuable Hunting Knife]

Greetings!

I'm a long term voyager player, have just about got the hang of interloper and am currently trying a stalker run for the first time- I'm definitely at the 'avoid wolves at all costs' stage on stalker (about 20 days in) but will look to be a bit more aggressive once I am skilled and kitted out with better clothing,  I anticipate that hitting the sweet spot of making a productive run to bleak inlet, balanced against having enough gear to deal with the first wave of timberwolves may make or break this run.  So far I've been to mystery lake (straight there from a desolation point spawn), then through mountain town to HRV to find a revolver and then quickly get in and out of HRV with the unique item you find there (not sure if you know about that or not, didn't want to spoil too much!).

15 days per play doesn't sound unusual, it can take a long time to work towards the bigger achievements and yes, there is always that risk of a stupid/ unlucky death ruining.  you just have to get back on the horse!  I thought I'd hate the permadeath when I first started playing but it's not been an issue, I think because each run is different so you are never 'replaying the same level' or trawling through cut scenes in sandbox to get back to where you were.  If you can stay engaged enough to do 100-500 days in one place to level up that would be probably the 'safest' way- fair play if you can, that would be beyond my own limited attention span and I'd probably go and die stupidly way before then!  The other thing to consider is that if you do move to other areas you will find books which which speed up the skill gain.

FWIW, my best loper tactic was getting established by the dam/ cave in ravine.  plenty of wood and materials, safe hunting in ravine and if you get lucky a moose spawn near the dam, opportunities to snipe wolves or at least get to safety quickly if it goes wrong, and a good mix of indoor/ outdoor sleeping to avoid cabin fever/ cold nights.  Plus unlimited birch bark!  It's a bit of a risky run from desolation point (I love coastal highway but the only place I really feel safe outside there is in a fishing hut with a door!).  However if you can spare the ammo for a few warning shots to get you past the wolves in old island connector you should be ok.

Ultimately, do what you're comfortable with, there's no right or wrong way (I've read people praise fishing camp for the outdoor crafting, for example.  Totally makes sense, but for me I'd need several unharvested bear and wolf carcasses in my eyeline before I was confident enough to even make a fish hook there, I've been caught several times).

  Would be interested to know how this run develops for you.

[Serenity]

11 hours ago, darkscaryforest said:

 Would you say that I shouldn't be afraid to have more wolf exposure or is it better to continue to learn paths where no wolves are?  Are there even wolf free paths in other regions?

The truly wolf free paths can be very out of the way in Stalker

You shouldn't be too afraid of them. There are a lot of wolves, but individually they aren't that dangerous (that only becomes the case on Interloper). With decent clothing and in good health you can get into back to back wolf fights.

If a particular wolf annoys you too much just kill it. It will respawn eventually, but you can have up to a week of peace that way

[LkP]

15 hours ago, darkscaryforest said:

1. Would you say that I shouldn't be afraid to have more wolf exposure or is it better to continue to learn paths where no wolves are?  Are there even wolf free paths in other regions?

If you plan to play on interloper or hard custom mode, train now in stalker how to avoid wolves, and consider a struggle as a lost (but don't be afraid, in Stalker with some good clothes, you'll survive and be able to learn more )
There is now safe heaven, only less risky places. I've died in paths where there is no chance for a wolf to spawn, but they came because a bear pushed them away, or because they followed a prey, and you can't always predict.

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2. How many days do you find yourself doing in a session?

I've never checked, but I guess it depends if you're "settled" or not. If you have a good camp base with everything you need, there's nothing much to do per day.
Early game, there's not enough hours of daylight to do what you'd like, so you have to play more to be able to pass a day... and survive it.

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3. What do you think, should I leave the safety of my Riken and go somewhere new or should I stay and power to level 5 on all my skills..break 100 or maybe even 500 days?

I play Stalker to learn the animal behavior, test the limits... and try the guns. So, if you play to raise your levels or/and reach a time limit, good for you !
Anyway, if your clothes protection is enough, you don't need level 5 on anything to go exploring, you will be able to learn by mistake. But there's no goal in this game, so if your fun is to be the more safe you can be, why not.

[piddy3825]

18 hours ago, darkscaryforest said:

I can play all day and find only 15 days have past. I read about so many 100+ runs..either folks just play over a long period of time or maybe I'm just doing it too slowly somehow. It just feels like so much time that could go down the drain if you play too risky, but maybe I'm overthinking it here.

3. What do you think, should I leave the safety of my Riken and go somewhere new or should I stay and power to level 5 on all my skills..break 100 or maybe even 500 days?

 

 

time does seem to move at a slower pace when your in the sandbox.  I've got one save game where i have finally broken the 800 day mark and believe it or not, I launched that game over well over two years ago.  There is no way your doing it "too slowly."  Just like an alcoholic in recovery, take it one day at a time.  As the old saying goes, the journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step.  As you explore the world, you will find that various areas have differing wild life patterns.  In terms of the least amount of daily wolf involvement, I actually prefer Trapper's Cabin in Mystery Lake.  Once there, you'll find that there is very little wolf patrolling in the immediate vicinity, although you may hear their howling in background.  As you progress from day to day, so will your skills.  If there is one area, that I would concentrate my efforts in, it's Archery.  Read as many skill books as you can. Craft as many bows and arrows as you can.  Every arrow strike that hits wildlife adds a point on your journey to level 5.  Level 5 is a game changer as you are now finally able to crouch and still shoot the bow!  Now we are talking stealthy hunting and stalking.  And so much easier to shoot a charging wolf when the situation demands it.

If your at the forge now, I'd craft a shload of arrow heads in anticipation of crafting all those arrows down the road.  I usually make about 40.  In my own game play, I don't wait til my arrow breaks, once it gets down below 10% I'm thinking about breaking it down and harvesting the components.  That way you get the arrow head and three feathers right away so you can almost immediately craft a new one when convenient.  

Good luck and happy trails!

[darkscaryforest]

Thanks for your responses, you've given me a lot to think about.  So I asked myself what was more important, reaching a high number of days in safety or adventure? I decided both.  I'll keep my day 47 Riken hermit to grow into old age.  I realized I had a second stalker save on day 4 that also started in coastal highway and decided to play him riskier traveling everywhere. I booked it to DP like last time but only stayed long enough to craft 40 arrow heads and grab a bow from Katie's secluded corner. I knew the map so well from the first save I didn't even have a wolf close encounter!

Traveling back through CH took a long time and I got lost (went too far up the road before turning), but no major problems. Went over the broken tracks in Ravine (probably hate that part more than anything).  In ML, I lingered around the dam for a couple days and ran into problems coming out of the trailer nearby.  I swear there's a ninja wolf that waits 24/7 for me to emerge. He got the drop on me once (RIP if I was in interloper I guess) and another time followed me in the courtyard of the dam (how I don't know since I closed the gate behind me).  I arrived at Trappers and it is nice here. There's one wolf that seems to be outside sometimes, but killing it like you said has given me some solitude.  It's also great because I can actually see the wolves from a distance unlike the road in DP.  I'm going to craft some gear and head to Bleak Inlet to try to get into that blasted Cannery...I got really close on a different save but died..

10 hours ago, LkP said:

If you plan to play on interloper or hard custom mode, train now in stalker how to avoid wolves, and consider a struggle as a lost (but don't be afraid, in Stalker with some good clothes, you'll survive and be able to learn more )
There is now safe heaven, only less risky places. I've died in paths where there is no chance for a wolf to spawn, but they came because a bear pushed them away, or because they followed a prey, and you can't always predict.

Wow so even one wolf struggle is doom in interloper? Or is it just like that until you can secure a weapon and have protective clothing?

Your anecdote about no safe paths reminds me of a creepy experience on the Riken in DP.  I was on top of the boat just looking out on a clear night. Way in the distance on the road I saw a wolf scurrying along in a hurry, followed by another, then another, then another.  4 wolves came down onto the ice and made a B line for the boat.  When they got close enough they got aggressive.  I was like just like WTF this has to be a bug because they were way across the map and there aint no way they could have known I was here normally.  Sure enough a few seconds later I saw a bear coming down where they ran from. They must have been displaced and I happened to be in their alternate path.  For a minute though I was spooked AF, like the game was saying "I know you're in there, you can't hide in that boat forever."

[Serenity]

9 hours ago, darkscaryforest said:

Wow so even one wolf struggle is doom in interloper? Or is it just like that until you can secure a weapon and have protective clothing?

With some luck you can win a fight with the heavy hammer even early on. Just don't count on it:

 

Without the heavy hammer he'd have been screwed though. The hammer doesn't do much damage, but it gets wolves off you very fast. Later on, the protection from animal clothing helps a lot and allows you to survive fights. Things like the wolf and bear coats. Still, Interloper wolves are super dangerous and can really mess you up

Edited June 25, 2020 by Serenity

[LkP]

On 6/25/2020 at 6:03 AM, darkscaryforest said:

Wow so even one wolf struggle is doom in interloper? Or is it just like that until you can secure a weapon and have protective clothing?

Serenity gave you a good answer.
To be clear : yes, with a weapon, even a prybar, and enough protective clothing, you'll survive a wolf. But it's rare you're full on health, it's rare you're not already freezing, and most of the time you get into a struggle because you took a risk to access a resource you really lack, etc. You won't survive all of that combined.

[Jimmy]

Learning the wolf behavior mechanics and how to handle encounters is one of the major stepping stones towards moving into the more difficult game modes. Habits like carrying torches, losing aggro, and simple map knowledge of wolf-free routes forms the core of surviving in the game once you've mastered warmth and calorie management.

To answer your original questions:

1. Absolutely learn the safe paths. Then, when you're goal planning, decide whether the risk of an encounter is worth the rewards you'll gain. Is your safe detour adding too much extra travel time? Can you afford the cost in resources to break a wolf attack if you're unlucky? Is there a safe location to avoid pursuit nearby? For example, if you're planning to reach the Timberwolf Mountain Summit, you could theoretically avoid all wolf encounters, but in so doing you'd miss a lot of extra loot. I usually challenge the pair guarding the engine section despite the risks, knowing that the rewards outweigh it, and there's a nearby transition cave to escape if things go badly.

2. In the early game, minutes matter most, so any activity that accelerates time is often a poor investment of resources. Past the first few weeks in game, you've likely gathered enough clothing and calories to allow you to settle in one location and work on crafting, so less urgency is placed on overland movement, and you spend time passes more quickly relative to the first few weeks. Eventually, you'll have combed over all the major locations, and focus turns towards simply sustaining survival with wood gathering, cooking and fishing, hunting or snaring game. These are all fast activities, so days or weeks can pass in a single session when you're not moving across the map towards the next loot location.

3. I recommend leaving Desolation Point. Take your loot and brave the Crumbling Highway, swing through Coastal Highway to Pleasant Valley and tuck into the goodies over at Thompson's Crossing. You're probably lacking some high tier clothing items that aren't easily available, and if you search Thompson's, Barn, Farmstead, Signal Hill, Plane Crash and Prepper's Cache, you'll have big odds of finding some nice quality loot. Additionally, this sets you up for a Timberwolf Mountain climb, which should always be an early game goal due to the massive amounts of goodies you'll earn along the way.

But if you instead prefer to settle down and make the most with what you have, go for it! There's no 'wrong' way to play, because eventually every game ends, and if you had fun playing, you've won.