The only thing I'll add before watching is that practically ALL the people I saw in costumes from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. were clean, practically as if they were taken out of the package. Weapons- I understand perfectly well that they must be clean and well-groomed. But the uniform should bear traces of abrasion and at least traces of dirt.
@@FrayedLisu Exactly! That's what this video is about :) it's about finding the right amount of weathering, because both too much and not enough will make (some) characters not believable.
Best solution? Take your equipmemt into the 5 day hike into the forest etc, dont clean it and boom, you got authentic look of used equipment, + keep it in eastern 2018'ish theme and the cosplay will be almost perfect
Only issue with real dirt is: It's real, and when you wash it, it might disappear. And trust me, at some point you MUST wash your costume, or else you will be that much of an authentic stalker, that people will ask you "to get out of here". >.>
People often forget that the world outside of the zone is fine and probably more advanced than ours thanks to the artifacts. Merchants like sidorovich, and factions like duty and freedom are known to have smugglers constantly bringing in new stuff for their stalkers, and the mercenaries/military have official avenues of getting new kit in. Even monolith is running gucci'd out custom F2000's with grenade launchers.
If there is demand there will be supply! I just wonder if we get a mod that gets diseases and hygiene into the games, without turning into a real life simulator.
The kind of unfortunate/important truth I think about Stalker style kit is that most civilians can get perfectly serviceable and new weapons easier than you can find old and rusted stuff. Like, classic WW2 firearms and old rusted AK-47s/AKMs are probably harder/more rare than fresh hunting firearms (Civilian AKs like VPO, TOZs, etc..). What I mean, is that rookie is far more likely to be running a brand new PM/Shotgun, civilian AK, or an AK-74/AKM someone pawned off from storage than a lot of the Mad Max guns you see people running. Either way, good video and good point!
@@Kazako83 thank you for your feedback! I mean, the black market offers a lots of goods for different prices. So sure, some rusty Makarov will surely make it's way into the zone 👀
I agree, its a trade supply thing. There'll be much variety, the low end stuff will still be low quality and maybe rusty. But the high end guns will be top quality as it comes gotta remember the makarovs and double barrel shotties and AKUs have likely already passed through the hands of hundreds of dead stalkers, being bought, dying, sold repeatedly. Lives are lost, guns are weathered cuz it rains so much in the god damn zones, traders make money, rookies are stuck with guns that jam every other shot. Such is life, not like anyone with time to spend will waste it on trying to bring a makarov to good condition when a new wonder nine isn't THAT expensive, or a 1911.
This is an excellent point. I would just add that I think you'd see far more pistols, especially amongst most stalkers because it would be easier to slip across the border with several handguns in your backpack to sell within the zone than it is with several long guns.
You are out of the touch with reality. Most stalkers are poor russians and ukrainians, who will for sure not have new expensive guns. They will have ilegaly bought old, soviet weapons.
While it's difficult to find an old AKM, it's literally to find a VPO "Saigas" are actually quite easy to find, of all shapes and forms. Underfolders, sidefolders, full stock, 7.62x39, 5,45x39 etc. What I would find more believable though is people walking around with PM, TT, some kind of shotgun or a Saiga / SKS at best. Lever actions aren't popular, semi automatic shotguns aren't either, back in the days of when stalker takes place you'd really only see typical shotguns (pumps and side by side or over and under), some kind of a stolen handgun (PM, TT, Beretta Brigadier, Nagant) or grandpa's hunting rifle (Mosin, SKS, some other noname bolt action)
Subject of hygiene in the Zone is something that was always interesting to me because theres 0 lore about it. Hygiene in the Zone would be absolutely horrific tbh. Most stalkers probably don't even bathe. Diseases such as trench foot, jock itch and fungel likely are common. Although I can see scenario of stalkers using a lot of wet wipes and stick deodorants to clean themselves up a bit. Sid and other traders should absolutely be able to provide stalkers with things such as toilet paper etc. Rookies also might bring a soap or two, and then slice it into tiny cubes and sell it to stalkers for huge sum. Weird thing is that all NPCs have a very clear uniforms. It makes sense for scientists to have clear clothes and have functioning showers, perhaps military as well but literally all NPCs having such clear uniforms does seem like something thats just done for gamepay reasons.
Overall you got a point there - and while the open bodies of water might be contaminated, I am not sure if that also applies to collected rainwater. And Rostock has a water tower and buildings that look like they have water collectors on the roof. Furthermore, I would debate whether the contamination through dirt and dust or water is worse. But I am not an expert in that topic. But I agree with you: traders should be able to provide hygiene products. Where demand is, there will be supply. Even though for s price. I really wonder if we will get more information on that topic in the upcoming game! The trench foot thing is really something I did not think about yet by the way. How do you think stalkers could deal with this issue?
i also wondered about hygiene. i would imagine there is baths somewhere maybe rather than showers. And stalkers would propably shower only couple times a month between their journeys. Kinda like real soldiers in the field.
@@starioncostumes i'm not very well versed in that topic but I already see scenario of stalkers buying necessary items from traders and doing everything they can in order to treat trench foot such as them changing socks for 2-3 times a day, them taking off socks while sleeping & resting and using something else to cover their feet during that time. For example wool blanket. Applying Vaseline or Talcum Powder to the feet also helps. An old trick used back in World War 1 era to prevent trenchfoot was to apply lots of whale oil to the feet in order to repel the moisture and help insulate the feet from the cold. Nowadays its more practical to just rub vaseline over your feet.
The thing I always never understood is why rookie stalkers didn’t bring in lots of their own kit. Even if I was a loner and I went into the zone I’d have snuck in with night vision, extra batteries, a solid rifle I smuggled through Ukraine and a crap ton of ammo for it. I’d probably be a merc though…
Well depends on the background of those people. Some can afford a tourist suit, others cant afford even a proper gun. I guess the zone attracts many people who almost lost hope in the normal world.
@@sigmamaleaffirmationhypnob7340 merc money gang, I’m western, it’s basically the best faction for me. And before anyone says that “oh, but they all speak Ukrainian” I’d like to remind you that they speak it in a thick western accent
Regarding the supplies brought into the Zone in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. story, there's another explanation: that stalking is actually a semi-tolerated illegal activity. The outside world needs the unique workforce of stalkers to transport materials, artifacts, and intelligence out of the Zone. Therefore, a certain level of supplies flowing in is also tacitly allowed, while personnel, materials, artifacts, and intelligence are tightly controlled. This could also explain Strelok’s motivation to eventually voluntarily contact the military.
I'd agree on that. "Legitimate illegitimacy" is a thing. But i think also: Where demand exists, supply will be created. Thats how black markets work. >.>
I'd argue the military shouldn't have high grade gear out in the starter areas, round the cordon and around the edges of the zone due to extended deployment. Tussles are not common unless you got a chosen-one bastard like strelok deciding randomly he wants those god damn documents from the checkpoint guard. Good quality gear would be wasted on guard duty. I think I heard this quote in media so I ain't 100% how true it is for militaries around the world but "I can always trust my life and rest assured that the equipment I am using has been made by the lowest bidder", particularly this is eastern Europe, so its not a stretch to say a lot of this gear would be very *old* and maybe even in service since the soviet union years. That is to say, it depends, later on you face spetznaz with much higher quality gear, but never exosuits. Duty is very by-the-books in their behaviour, so you are 100% correct, they are on par with freedom in terms of hear availability, but their condition would be much better simply because of the discipline that likely translates into much better maintained, oiled, cleaned, glued, taped and sewn equipment alike, then their freedom counterpart. They'd also likely smell less like pot smoke. Hygene is a big issue, toiletries are cheap but bulky, so they'd be one of the last traded items into the zone simply because its not profitable. Traders pay big money for anything to be smuggled under the military's noses, or pay extra in bribes to get it across with no issues. Thing is, people don't WANT to smell, if your cleaning's good, you feel good, if you feel good, you perform good. If you perform good, you might not die. In a place like the zone, I expect there to be rudimentary ways of keeping clean. It rains every other day in the zone, so collecting "clean" water to wash yourself or your underwear shouldn't be too difficult as long as you got a container sitting under a gutter for long enough. Things like deodorant, rubbing alcohol, or anything to make you feel minty fresh will be fuckin scarce, and restricted to the stalkers with the money to spend. The rest of us? zone is filled with mutants, got boars, got mutated pigs. Render some fat, gather ash. God knows theres a lotta campfires around the zone. Now you can make lye solution and homemade soap. Stalkers are a hardy bunch, many of em may be from the rural areas and know how to do this shite. It only takes 1 guy to know how to do it before everyone copies him. It wont make you smell good, but you'll be clean, and that's what matters. In a place like the zone, where you'll routinely get into gunfights, scraps with mutants, scratches, bites are almost a daily problem. What irony is it to survive a gunfight only to die weeks later from an infected dog bite? Their snouts aren't clean, they eat stalker corpses and fuckin.. squirrels or whatever the hell they eat- you don't want that bacteria already, and there's so much peroxide and alcohol to disinfect yourself with before you run outta cash. You don't want dirty clothes, dirty fingers and dirty skin to be a problem on top of your already present worry of dying of sepsis. I liken the zone to prisons a lot, in prisons you can get by real nicely just by being smart. There's guy's who do tattoos in there, guys who flip drugs or ciggies or trade porn, or draw porn, or melt candy and ramen noodles to make rudimentary cakes and candy sweets. If there's a way to make money in the zone without putting your life on the line, and I imagine something as simple as making soap, or washing clothes, or cutting stalker's hair, or cleaning bases and the camps, or cooking all the mutant meat everyone brings in. They are time consuming tasks with a low risk, just need to put your pride aside get down to do it, cuz it needs to be done. Who's to say a stalker who's recovering from wounds wouldn't do this stuff? not like they'll sit in bed all day playing snake on their pdas, or messaging their wives, or jacking it, or cleaning guns or staring at cracked drywall, they still need to eat everyday, and if doing those less heroic tasks all but ensures you wont be bleeding money while you bleed blood in the hospital bed, they'll fuckin do it, cuz they need to. lotta questions can be answered just by applying logic, and a little fanfiction and creativity on part of the player. That's my personal headcannon on what the zone is to me.
You know what, i wouldn't even be surprised if some stalker made a living by buying fat from butchered mutants, collecting wild herbs and making his own soap and selling this among with other products. It would be a unique occupation - but IF there was ONE, just ONE, stalker on a larp doing this and doing it plausible, i'd totally buy his character. Like - it fits into the entire atmosphere. And the comparison with prisons is a good one - you can get everything in prisons, even for a price. Women have a black market for makeup in prisons, dye their hair with cool aid and do stuff like that. Not for men - but to feel good. And i cannot stress the aspect of self-care and its effect on mental health. This is one of the aspects people tend forget in this entire survival situation. Many cope with alcohol, tobacco and drugs - but taking care of yourself is one thing that can make you more resilient against the stress you experience in the zone. Also: Thank you so much for this comment. This was really input of value for my next videos! :)
The ISG are mentioned in clear sky and call of pripyat (if you choose to interpret the "UN researchers" and "UN observers" stated in these unique dialogues as ISG and not something else)
12:51 In ShoC, most soldiers are poorly equipped for fighting mutants. In some versions of Oblivion Lost, there'd sometimes be Spesnaz troopers equipped with Saiga 12s. They could be contenders against monsters. 14:51 In Oblivion Lost, if you became an ecologist, it would also make you friends with both Freedom and Duty. 14:59 Probably working for the scientists first, then doing monster hunting missions for anyone who needs that sort of thing done (but mostly to satisfy my own thrill-seeking safari-hunting desires of demented do0m). 15:11 I want to play as a FLESHPIG! 🤣
@@judsongaiden9878 Oblivion lost is a thing, that right. Completely forgot about that one! Overall I still consider the soldiers well equipped compared to the other factions. Everyone has body armor and at least a AKS74u. Most stalkers South of Rostock have Like... Jacket, Makarov and a half eaten sausage. The monster hunting thing Is a good idea, which gun would you choose and which monsters would you hunt?
@@starioncostumes I call it "the Dwayne Hicks loadout." Assault rifle/grenade launcher combo as a primary. Shotgun for backup. A pump shotgun would ideal for its versatility and low-maintenance reliability. I'd use the shotgun for hunting all mutants lesser to a chimera, and I'd use 40-mils for "big game." By that, I mean mostly pseudogiants and chimeras, but 40-mils are also useful against mutants with psionic "X-Men" powers. Overkill against their humanoid physicality, but the idea is to take them out quickly before they melt your brain or smash you with hurled objects. If I was a controller, I'd make people believe they were fleshpigs. 🤣
Games like fallout and metro do have a messy, maybe kit-bashed look to them but the STALKER series is modern day, where everything is normal other than where you are.
i am 100% sure that sidorovich would give rusty guns to novice stalkers makarov he gave to strelok in shadow of chernobyl wasn't rusty but that's because there's only one model in game
@@ryszakowy Yeah I agree as a scam for ignorant stalkers who don't know how unrelaible that is to use and who would probably die from it. Well maintained weapons malfunction regularly IRL and it is sort of part of it, might aswell use a rusty rifle as a baseballbat. People forget that STALKER was going for realism with added sci-fi and mutants many technical and artistic limitations. I don't cosplay but Isn't that culture about getting into the little details with accuracy? Why do artists never do any research before creating things based of reality or other's art? As an artistic person, I cannot stand when other artists don't do any research. I don't know anything about Warhammer for example but I wouldn't paint the models and change details that goes against it's lore because I want it fit my artstyle. (Egocentric in the Warhammer example and ignorant in rusty guns/realism but from the similar emotional behavior) Yes people should be creative, but not disrespectful or ignorant.
I really like your arguments and find the convincing... When making my model pack i thought many logical scenarios like; Renegades being unkept and dirty bc of they mostly roam the swamp and don't have good relations with other factions Duty and the military having mostly standardized gear Loners and bandits having mixed gear. I made tons of different models to emphasize their individuality while being recognizable by colors and specific gear
Great video which a great cosplay weathering tip I've heard came one of the Nod commander's actors of a Command and conquer RTS game that he said in a vlog once... When he got his unifrom it was shiny and new unbecoming for a feild commander so he weathered his uniform by rolling around in dirt outside to fix it... You can also "tarin" ion your gear to see if it fits and natrually wear it which that is from Milltary Larpers and active duty ones too.
Next time I'm raiding Pripyat I want to see a Monolith soldier just sitting there and doing laundry. Also I want my gear to look like I just walked out of a snork nest. Hate those guys
I mean they could go to Laundromat 😅 unless the military is still there. Man, I think Poltergeist are far worse than snorks tbh. But that's because I just waste ammo on them.
I wholeheartedly agree, never liked both pristine, and on the other side of the spectrum, the weird madmax post-apo stylizations. I'm in the process of building a Clear Sky costume myself and dirt and grime is on the top of my list to achieve, but simultaneously, not doing some spiky, rusted and delapidated weirdness. Though it has to be said, that different factions would typically be able to maintain a different standard of upkeep (like you say, Mercs for example wouldn't look out of place in modern military gear with minimal wear, but Bandits would not). But in general I'd echo what you say here without any amendments.
Great video! As a STALKER costume maker myself, I really appreciate the effort you've put into comparing the factions abilities to obtain and maintain gear, as well as the hypothetical conditions in which that gear will be used in the Zone. I use that thought process as well when designing STALKER costumes.
not exactly from OG trilogy but after finishing call of chernobyl in complitely modified freedom exoskeleton with torn off patch i can say with utmost confidence that veteran stalker will either have a suit that shows all the fixed wear and tear or be changing suits frequently as per gear i'm sure nobody who gets out of cordon village will stay with leather jacket and makarov anybody shows up in madmax outfit they better have a awesome story how they survived in limansk for a month constantly fighting monolith, mercs and mutants because nobody and i mean NOBODY walks around like a stitched up hobo
There is actually something quite subtle about the Monolith faction, in that this group of individuals only existed from just before the start of the group to its near collapse within a year, so the C Consciousness may not have had to provide them with too much in the way of supplies. Scavenging existing inventories could have been enough to sustain them, considering that this was a group of stealth operatives who had spontaneously entered the center and were well-equipped, which could be considered a factor as well. Only superior equipment could have supported this journey, which was not short but fraught with danger.
Something to be aware of especially with this type of gear and some of the things you're going for UP against in the zone, having a neutral or natural smell might actually be a bit of a benefit in masking your presence.
@starioncostumes it's the reason why if you look at some of the gear hunters use it will more often not have certain smells added to them by the hunter more often than not. It is actually gonna be artificial estres Pheromons or urine. So depending on what type of thing nasty you're trying to hunt, you might decide that chucking your gear in the swamp and recovering it and letting it dry, might actually help mask your scent a little bit better than just wearing fresh, clean laundered gear.
Only thing is grass and mud stains on certain areas, like knees, trouser cuffs, and elbows. The land of STALKER is largely wetlands, with quite a bit of rain too, with lots of foliage, while they would definitely stay as clean as possible, they also would not have ready access to proper cleaning materials for removing staining. Also some soot/dust/concrete staining on gloves and wrist cuffs, from GSW and just navigating the areas, a lot of traversing abandoned areas requires you to steady yourself with you hands, and you are less likely to remove you gear, your protection to do maintenance and repairs to guns and gear, lubrication stains and carbon stains from field maintenance of guns, cause you never know when something is gonna go wrong in a 'safe' area, you'd be sleeping in your armour, and padding, never know when a mutant could get passed guards, or an enemy human could bribe or sneak passed the guards.
Monolith most likely get most of their gear from the veteran STALKERS that push into the zone, they either get taken out in ambushes, when they rest, or get subverted by the psi effects of the deep Zone.
I agree with bandits being on the lower left quarter since they are more likely to be undisciplined and don't have similar access to shops or maintenance equipment, also they likely would be more prominent on the outskirts of the zone preying on the rookies because confronting more experienced stalkers(and especially duty or freedom) would be too dangerous for them so their equipment would mostly be looted stuff from people who are brand new to the zone(could have some high level stuff that someone brought from outside but I'd say that's less common). Loners should have very varied gear since on one hand you could have some brand new rookie who has never held a gun before going to the zone and doesn't really know how to properly take care of his equipment, but also there are some very experienced veteran stalkers who should have high level and good condition gear since they know how much their lives depend on their gear. Duty and freedom should be around midpoint in my opinion since as you said, they probably have some degree of standard and I'd say people joining either of the factions wouldn't be complete newbies in the zone. I'd put both military and the ecologists on the lower right since they probably would have access to highest level of maintenance both being government organizations but the equipment at least for military in a post soviet state would most likely be some old soviet hand me downs instead of being some sophisticated stuff developed purposefully for the zone. Ecologists should have the best condition equipment but since they are not supposed to be fighting, their gear would be more oriented against environmental/CBRN threats(like they mostly are in the game). Mercs being mercs they should have great condition gear that is bit on the high end on the standard scale, though many of the newer guys probably would need some time to adapt to the unique stuff in the zone. Clear sky is interesting faction since I think they are among the most disciplined and experienced guys in the zone but their limited access to outside world might lead to their equipment being more varied similarly to loners. Clear sky however does have access to pretty much all of the factions save military and monolith(excluding bandits since they wouldn't be much use in this case), which would give them chance to have Monolith from what I know has pretty much zero access to outside world, so pretty much all of their equipment would be either looted or domestically produced. Now the monolith resides in the central areas, which would mean they tend to encounter more experienced stalkers which would mean their looted stuff is generally more on the high end. They probably wouldn't have that good access to maintenance equipment though, so maybe they would have quite mediocre condition stuff(especially considering they are not completely themselves, so they might not be so worried of their equipment failing and getting them killed) Though one could argue that with the noosphere/hivemind stuff and whatnot they probably would have some highly skilled maintenance guys among them who might be able to keep their stuff at check but that runs again in the equipment availability which would be the main detriment for monolith.
Excellent video! Appreciate the breakdown of equipment state per faction, individual experience and importance of character, this is also very helpful for those looking to create STALKER related artwork or 3D model texturing
If you guys loved the trilogy here are some mods that in my opinion captured the mysterious feeling of the trilogy: Made by Jekan: Return to the Zone(3 story campaigns and a story extraction mode), Goldensphere OGSR(based on Roadside Picnic), OGSR Legacy(pretty much a remake of ShoC with lots of cut content and user made content). Team V.I.V.E.N.T.: Incubator, Dreamcatcher(sequel to Incubator). They have more great mods but they still are hard to understand Machine translations. zaurus' crew: Apocalipsis Trilogy OGSR, Fallen star(also called "Der gefallene Stern" sequel to A-Trilogy), Last STALKER(sequel to Fallen Star) Creators/teams I forgot the name of: True Stalker(if you don't mind cutscene glassjaw), Dollchan infinity, Road to the north(story/free play hybrid, main story starts at Skadovsk), Path in the Mist, Wind of Time(it starts with timetravel from the year 2114 back to 2014 and has some big twists)
I feel like absolutely tattered armor and gear makes the most sense when you're either going for a post-ShOC Monolith fighter or someone who just came back from a long raid into the heart of the Zone, and in the latter case it would help to have a few artifacts hanging from your belt with LEDs in them or something. It could also make sense if you're cosplaying as a snork or a zombie, but I don't know if anyone cosplays as snorks or zombies. EDIT: As far as cut content groups go, I feel like while all the people who get into the series through Anomaly (or similar standalone mods) will have their own opinion on the matter, I don't think it's really worth trying to present a costume inspired by them as being from a particular faction, because most STALKER fans won't recognize whatever it is. ISG and Sin are cut content for the simple reason that they were too similar to groups that already existed and were no longer needed for the lore or the gameplay. As an example of what I mean, Renegades only even still exist because of a gameplay caveat in Clear Sky where a relatively non-threatening always-hostile human enemy had to be present for combat and Faction War tutorials without locking the player out of interacting with a more nuanced (but still dickish) Bandit faction. Sin was just Monolith with a decidedly more Orthodox edge before Anomaly turned them into the lovable superpowered radioactive Lost Boys we know and love. The ISG were just another flavor of Ecologists, but then they were scrapped because...well, we have Ecologists already, and they're implied to come from all over the world because the whole world benefits from discoveries made in the Zone or for the simple fact that they used to work there prior to the 2006 disaster. As far as the new game goes, I cannot wait to see what cosplayers come out with inspired by the new factions and characters.
Broke stalkers and bandits using temu/wish/airsoft gear makes sense. Cheap leaf suits and knockoff multicam polar fleece are effective and cheap combined with hunting bandoliers and civilian firearm would be an easy starter set for a fresh mutant hunter.
one time i saw some modded weapons showcase with tons of tacticool guns i said "reminds me of the idea for novices going to zone all geared up and getting killed in 15 minutes" and in response from a tourist i got "OnLy MeRcS hAvE aDvAnCeD gUnS" fucking hate those people doesn't know shit about shit and dares to talk like he made the game
@@starioncostumes I am a New Vegas fan and the fandom got ruined after they rediscovered it with its resurgence on the internet. You cant enjoy anything anymore without a horde of 15 year old zoomers and normies ruining it. You have at least Stalker and Metro somewhat safe considering its seen as a "Russian" thing and harder to join because the moral boogeyman keeps most normies out.
@@victorforesticastro4901 thanks mate 💪🏼 I hope my work inspires other people to make their costume projects as well. The zone is waiting for us, stalker!
To be honest, I do prefer Roadside Picnic or the movie's vision of The Excluded Zone and overall relation with The Big World instead of "tacticool" games' Zone - especially Clear Sky shows absurdity of it. You know, stalker who ventures the Zone with his own load of troubles, treverses alien yet familiar places which expulse everything that breathes and is more willing to talk than exchange lead in such place is far more intresting than some dudes armed to the teeth strolling through barbed-wire labirynth in some kind of sick entertainment center. Well, I don't say that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. isn't fit for that or isn't doing it - lemme say that more often than not I am seeing "amazing" assaults and skirmishes instead of ambience, slight horror, melancholy and nostalgia covering a good story of human's efforts, troubles and endeavors. I might be wrong, but it also might be that I've only met people who are seeing S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s universe as only "shoot-shoot, bang-bang" type of deal. Kinda similar to how cyberpunk became an action movie setting instead of reflective reading. After Cyberpunk 2077 I hope that I am wrong, yet I cannot say otherwise - cyberpunk is "cool visual overlay" of merchandise nowdays. And thus I hope that stalker 2 will avoid such fate.
I would say that the Renegades would have even worse weapons and gear than the Bandits, because the Renegades are rejects from all other factions, including the Bandits that barely tolerate them and they don't have any access to facilities to maintain their weapons and gear, and they don't have an easy time trading with the outside world. In mods like Anomaly and its derivatives, Renegades have access to the Bandit base in Dark Valley, but they are rarely spotted hanging out there. I would rate them as scraping the bottom of the barrel. From those that have access to the best gear and weapons, I would rank the UNISG as top of the line, since their gear is internationally sourced and they would have unrestricted access to it. They are funded by the UN, so that's multiple governments probably the US, UK and other major rich countries. The Monolith would come in second, since they are the only faction that wasn't cut to have the best gear and weapons. They do so, because usually those stalkers that head north into the Zone usually are the ones that have gathered the best weapons and equipment, but they fall victims to the Brain Scorcher and they get brainwashed into Monolithians or Zombies. The C-Consciousness probably confiscates and redistributes weapons and equipment from captured stalkers. Speaking of the C-Consciousness, they probably have contact to corrupt government officials, since those that compose the C-Consciousness worked for the government themselves before the creation of the Zone, so they might get supplied this way, or alternatively, they may have some private benefactors that we don't know about yet, or even better, they access the bank accounts of all the stalkers they've captured and use their money and names to buy weapons and gear that is then smuggled into the Zone. The Mercenaries would come third, only because they are a private organisation, probably owned by some oligarch and they would also get the best weapons and equipment from the international markets that their benefactor can afford. The difference between these three factions is a matter of which one you believe would have the best funding. After that come the Ecologists and the Military, which are both funded by the Ukrainian government. The Military would have worse protective gear than the Ecologists, since their tasks are more combat oriented, so they get more battered, and their high ranking officials control the Zone's outer perimeter and are known to be very corrupt, so they steal the good equipment and sell it for profit to traders from other factions. However, they would have better weapons than the Ecologists, since they are the Military. Duty and Freedom are kind of difficult to rate. Some members are shown to have better gear than the Military, others have worse, so it depends on their rank within the organisation. In terms of funding, they are only funded by their members, so that's not great when compared to the other factions. On average, accounting for factors such as lack of discipline and lack of funding and corruption, Duty and Freedom would be worse off than the Military. After that comes Clear Sky, which is weak at the start of Stalker: Clear Sky, but becomes stronger by the end of the game, so much so that they launch an offensive towards the center of the Zone, which fails and the faction is almost completely destroyed, save for the technician Novikov who appears in Call of Pripyat. They don't appear to be funded by anyone other than their members and they really struggled with the renegades at the beginning of Stalker: Clear Sky. Also, they inhabit the Swamp, which is a very hostile environment for firearms, so their guns would be on par with those of the renegades, maybe slightly better since Clear Sky has a technician. Clear Sky is probably the weakest of the organised factions. Loners can be all over the spectrum in terms of the quality of their weapons and gear, ranging from the best gear that they have looted off of some UNISG/Monolith corpse to scraping the bottom of the barrel, but they would still be better than Bandits and Renegades, since they would have access to facilities to maintain their weapons and armor. You didn't mention Sin, a faction that appears in the most popular mods nowadays. I think they are probably on par with the Monolith, but maybe slightly worse, since they recruitment is based on a person believing their religion, rather than on a brainwashing machine.
You are absolutely right - I forgot about sin. Even though I encountered them in the lost alpha. But I cannot tell if their gear should be completed to monolith, since SIN is the most isolated faction in the entire game, unless they have undercover agents or something like that.
In my opinion, weathering would depend on the faction being cosplayed. Loners probably don't have the best gear, but Mercenaries and Monolith have the cream of the crop when it comes to armor and guns, Mercs being supplied constantly with the best stuff available.
Short answer: Stalker is not a post-apocalyptic game, it's a post-disaster game (Chernobyl Irradiation) and the Zone is actively being supplied with new and brand new equipment.
There's weathering and there's neglect. Any weapon will get scratches and marks from constant field use. Uniforms and armor are supposed to be well maintained and replaced if damaged. Especially in a radioactive environment. For anyone that's ever served in a military, the thought of wearing a dirty uniform is as bad as losing your issued firearm.
what pog-ass unit are you talking about where uniforms never got dirty? Half the time day 1 in the field yuo get told to roll in the mud specifically so you wont have any qualms for the rest of the exercise about getting wet or dirty - you already are. But, yes, a rifle should be generally kept clean. However one of the leading causes of destruction of equipment in at least the us military is *over* cleaning, scrubbing shit so much that protective chemicals are taken off and things like that.
Well my cosplay for stalker is doing it like it hapend irl. Like for loner i use what you could found in eastern Europa military surplus like some old uniforms like kzs klmk or like afganka, gorka or obr 93 and using body armor like 6b2 6b3 and stuff like that
I don't know, but I think the reason why most of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R weapons and equipment are not metal fossils is because the world outside the zone is fine. There was no war or catastrophe that led humanity to the extension, the zone is just a miniature apocalypse within a certain area in Eastern Europe, the weapons come from the black market, soviet armories, and even local manufacturing (gauss rifle). I don't know if I'm right or wrong, correct me if I'm wrong, but that's just my opinion.
I think you are right. The world outside of the zone is still functional, thus there is access to good from outside the zone, even though they will cost a price, since you need to smuggled them inside
Interesting! I like the shots of the different various factions. Some had odd femine walking animations though, were they on the fashion walk?😂 I would say The Renegades would rank lower as they're less organized than the Bandits, plus the environment of the Swamp would degrade their gear even further. The ecologists suits should be of much higher standard but in terms of anomalous protection instead of combative protection. Maybe another two axis in the graph could show that. Still, cool video! I think it would help cosplayers a lot!
@@yercules thanks for your feedback! Yeah, unfortunately the two axis graph did not cover the different purposes of said armors so I just had to stick to the overall performance. And while the ecologist suits perform well in anomalous areas, their combat use is rather limited as you said. Maybe I will do analysis of that in the future! :)
The only clean and regularly maintained factions in the zone are going to be the military and the scientists. Inside the scientist bunkers I'm pretty sure I've seen a shower.
Like, the Zone isn't the only place in the world. Society outside of the Zone is perfectly functional, so getting in weapons and gear in good condition is only a matter of connections and money. And with artefacts, you can easily solve the money problem.
It's most important to remember that stalker is not post apocalyptic. The city is cut off from the world but the world is pretty normal and there is still smuggling action in and out of the Zone. The Zone literally has an active economy. People smuggled themselves into the Zone to get rich so they are there not simply to survive but so that one day they can retire from hunting artifacts. Therefore they have to invest into a future where they'll get out of the Zone as a rich man. Not keeping hygiene would be counterproductive to that goal.
@@adcaptandumvulgus4252 Depends on the condition of the gear. Bullet holes need to be stitched up, unless you want people to know you are looting fallen stalkers 👀
I seriously suspect that those who always emphasize 'this is the ragged clothes and rusty guns people of xx time and xx place should be using, shooting bullets from their eyes,' never learned how to maintain their own bicycles when they were young... And this is also a bias and misunderstanding of the post-apocalyptic genre, which is becoming increasingly extreme due to competition among different groups caused by the lack of works based on this theme. The concept of 'post-apocalypse' has been continually diluted by social media's pursuit of attention, while some highly stylized designs are being portrayed as 'how people should look when they face a little problem - this is absolutely realistic.' This kind of bias and misunderstanding of the post-apocalyptic genre often becomes frustrating when explaining to newcomers that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is not post-apocalyptic, not Escape from Tarkov, not Metro Exodus, and that Metro Exodus and the Metro 2033 Redux version differ in style and settings from Metro: Last Light, the original Metro 2033, and even the Metro trilogy novels.
purely game terms speaking i would like it if guns would change with their condition more scratches and rust the longer you use the gun so it would actually show that you went through radar with one gun dirt purely visual but for cosplay - why in the fuck would anyone carry rusty and dirty weapons it's supposed to save your ass not look like you got it from under a corpse
@@ryszakowy For this kind of game mechanic, I think Ghost Recon: Breakpoint can serve as a reference. It's one of the few aspects I feel the game did well, particularly how weapon's camouflage wear down over time. As for the way weapon cleanliness is reflected in the appearance in Metro Exodus, I feel it’s a bit overdone.
It´s 2000s ukraine. Every last piece of soviet and even ukrainian kit is available to stalkers even before they ever enter the zone. It´s just a question of money. Proper suits will probably be send to the in zone traders offcourse but even those are mostly just a lower layer of chemical/radiation protection and a top layer of combat gear like a plate carrier with pouches. Your basic bitch rookie or bandit probably runs into the zone with a backpack, his jacket and grandpas WW2 pistol/rifle/shotgun or whatever else he managed to sneak in. But anyone with a bit of thought and preparation into this new life could enter the cordon kitted as if he was going on combat patrol in afghanistan with not mutch more effort than it took to get into the zone. Little reason to DIY
You got a point there - and it shows in the gear of stalkers, since the higher reputation stalkers have SEVAs and Exo's. Surviving in that gear is easier, i guess. But living long enough to obtain such gear is the real challenge here!
@@starioncostumes Not exactly what I am trying to say. Look at modern SOF operatives or mercenaries. Their gear is generally assembled from a variety of sources and suits their needs. While SEVAs, scientist suits and Exo´s are top of the line, stuff like the the Sunrise and it´s faction variants is just a package deal of a rubberized suit, a light bulletproof vest and something to protect your face. There is nothing stopping a stalker from dumping the ligh vest and getting himself an old soviet 6b5 or 6b3 vest instead for better protection against small arms for example. Each individual in the zone (maybe outside of monolith) has it´s own priorities. And their gear will reflect that where possible even if it isn´t an entirely new suit. You are scarred of shootouts or seek them out? More armor, maybe even a helmet. You want artifacts? Maybe try a fishing pole. Scarred of radiation? Oxygen tanks for a closed breathing system
@@comradeamerican4393 There is a series of books in Germany. Poland has also a series of stalker books. I can't say how "canonic" they are though. The German series hasn't been continued for years though and the books themselves are quite rare out there.
@@starioncostumes As the Polish novels have been mentioned - I am familiar only with Michał Gołkowski's series and while it has the subtle "Misery" mod feeling, it is put in kind of more "realistic" setting. There are no factions (except a brief apperance of Monolith), only the lone Stalkers and Military. Active Scientists are portrayed as a part of expeditions, there are no residentials. Also there is no Bar in Rostok ;) So we can say that they are not cannonic. Still a solid sci-fi literature though, fun to read.
Jeez, the fact that you need to explain this to people is kinda concerning. I thought personally that all this was really obvious if you y'know actually play the game and read the dialogue. Do people seriously think stalker is post apocalypse? ffs you play as a USS agent in one of the games!
Everyone has a different level of dedication to the series. Some people dont even know stalker, others just have played it once or so, without really getting into the lore. But thats fine, since it gives me a reason to talk about my favorite game on youtube :P
4:08 Gamma would like to disagree. According to them every stalker's gun is held together by duct tape, superglue and hopes and dreams. At least when I loot it that is.
One of the few things I don't like about gamma. You have expert stalkers who can afford exo suits but their guns are trashed? Come on. I know it's a balancing thing, but at some point it just ruins the immersion for me.
@@anonimus370 its adjustable im the settings, the way I have mine set up is the higher the stalkers rank, the better condition their gear is in, pretty much only newbie stalkers actually have broken guns, with the rest having guns in servicable condition, (perhaps in need of something more advanced than a cleaning kit, but not actually broken)
@@ethanarias2911 LMAO, why don't you just cheat engine yourself a few million rubles while at it??? I'm talking about the INTENDED experience designed by the devs! Not to mention the BS about gun sales.
![30 ชั่วโมงคนเดียว บนรถไฟชั้น 3 โซเวียต [Around The World Ep. 2]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/MlE9boAVqDA/mqdefault.jpg)
The only thing I'll add before watching is that practically ALL the people I saw in costumes from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. were clean, practically as if they were taken out of the package. Weapons- I understand perfectly well that they must be clean and well-groomed. But the uniform should bear traces of abrasion and at least traces of dirt.
@@FrayedLisu Exactly! That's what this video is about :) it's about finding the right amount of weathering, because both too much and not enough will make (some) characters not believable.
Best solution? Take your equipmemt into the 5 day hike into the forest etc, dont clean it and boom, you got authentic look of used equipment, + keep it in eastern 2018'ish theme and the cosplay will be almost perfect
Only issue with real dirt is: It's real, and when you wash it, it might disappear. And trust me, at some point you MUST wash your costume, or else you will be that much of an authentic stalker, that people will ask you "to get out of here". >.>
@@starioncostumes if people doesnt aks for you to leave you are not really an authentic stalker anyways
@@josue1996jc everyone says get out of here stalker, but nobody asks "how did you get there?"
@@starioncostumesthe authentic STALKER musk…. 😅
People often forget that the world outside of the zone is fine and probably more advanced than ours thanks to the artifacts. Merchants like sidorovich, and factions like duty and freedom are known to have smugglers constantly bringing in new stuff for their stalkers, and the mercenaries/military have official avenues of getting new kit in. Even monolith is running gucci'd out custom F2000's with grenade launchers.
If there is demand there will be supply! I just wonder if we get a mod that gets diseases and hygiene into the games, without turning into a real life simulator.
The kind of unfortunate/important truth I think about Stalker style kit is that most civilians can get perfectly serviceable and new weapons easier than you can find old and rusted stuff. Like, classic WW2 firearms and old rusted AK-47s/AKMs are probably harder/more rare than fresh hunting firearms (Civilian AKs like VPO, TOZs, etc..). What I mean, is that rookie is far more likely to be running a brand new PM/Shotgun, civilian AK, or an AK-74/AKM someone pawned off from storage than a lot of the Mad Max guns you see people running. Either way, good video and good point!
@@Kazako83 thank you for your feedback! I mean, the black market offers a lots of goods for different prices. So sure, some rusty Makarov will surely make it's way into the zone 👀
I agree, its a trade supply thing. There'll be much variety, the low end stuff will still be low quality and maybe rusty. But the high end guns will be top quality as it comes
gotta remember the makarovs and double barrel shotties and AKUs have likely already passed through the hands of hundreds of dead stalkers, being bought, dying, sold repeatedly. Lives are lost, guns are weathered cuz it rains so much in the god damn zones, traders make money, rookies are stuck with guns that jam every other shot. Such is life, not like anyone with time to spend will waste it on trying to bring a makarov to good condition when a new wonder nine isn't THAT expensive, or a 1911.
This is an excellent point. I would just add that I think you'd see far more pistols, especially amongst most stalkers because it would be easier to slip across the border with several handguns in your backpack to sell within the zone than it is with several long guns.
You are out of the touch with reality. Most stalkers are poor russians and ukrainians, who will for sure not have new expensive guns. They will have ilegaly bought old, soviet weapons.
While it's difficult to find an old AKM, it's literally to find a VPO
"Saigas" are actually quite easy to find, of all shapes and forms. Underfolders, sidefolders, full stock, 7.62x39, 5,45x39 etc.
What I would find more believable though is people walking around with PM, TT, some kind of shotgun or a Saiga / SKS at best. Lever actions aren't popular, semi automatic shotguns aren't either, back in the days of when stalker takes place you'd really only see typical shotguns (pumps and side by side or over and under), some kind of a stolen handgun (PM, TT, Beretta Brigadier, Nagant) or grandpa's hunting rifle (Mosin, SKS, some other noname bolt action)
Yeah, I mean the suits shouldn't be that clean, but at the same time, most fuckers would like to keep their suits cleans of dirt due to the radiation
Yeah, imagine you are THAT contaminated that it gives off your position, because geiger counters start rattling everywhere around you lol
Subject of hygiene in the Zone is something that was always interesting to me because theres 0 lore about it. Hygiene in the Zone would be absolutely horrific tbh. Most stalkers probably don't even bathe. Diseases such as trench foot, jock itch and fungel likely are common. Although I can see scenario of stalkers using a lot of wet wipes and stick deodorants to clean themselves up a bit. Sid and other traders should absolutely be able to provide stalkers with things such as toilet paper etc. Rookies also might bring a soap or two, and then slice it into tiny cubes and sell it to stalkers for huge sum. Weird thing is that all NPCs have a very clear uniforms. It makes sense for scientists to have clear clothes and have functioning showers, perhaps military as well but literally all NPCs having such clear uniforms does seem like something thats just done for gamepay reasons.
Goat of a comment. Absolutely agree
Overall you got a point there - and while the open bodies of water might be contaminated, I am not sure if that also applies to collected rainwater. And Rostock has a water tower and buildings that look like they have water collectors on the roof. Furthermore, I would debate whether the contamination through dirt and dust or water is worse. But I am not an expert in that topic. But I agree with you: traders should be able to provide hygiene products. Where demand is, there will be supply. Even though for s price.
I really wonder if we will get more information on that topic in the upcoming game!
The trench foot thing is really something I did not think about yet by the way. How do you think stalkers could deal with this issue?
i also wondered about hygiene. i would imagine there is baths somewhere maybe rather than showers. And stalkers would propably shower only couple times a month between their journeys. Kinda like real soldiers in the field.
@@starioncostumes i'm not very well versed in that topic but I already see scenario of stalkers buying necessary items from traders and doing everything they can in order to treat trench foot such as them changing socks for 2-3 times a day, them taking off socks while sleeping & resting and using something else to cover their feet during that time. For example wool blanket. Applying Vaseline or Talcum Powder to the feet also helps. An old trick used back in World War 1 era to prevent trenchfoot was to apply lots of whale oil to the feet in order to repel the moisture and help insulate the feet from the cold. Nowadays its more practical to just rub vaseline over your feet.
Wouldn't stalkers be able to make soap using fat from mutated wildlife and turn it into soap?
Maybe stalkers understand that clean guns are necessary in a dirty battleground
True - most people in a combat zone shound know this though >.>
especially being in the incomprehensible man made zone that can kill you in the most unnatural ways
The thing I always never understood is why rookie stalkers didn’t bring in lots of their own kit. Even if I was a loner and I went into the zone I’d have snuck in with night vision, extra batteries, a solid rifle I smuggled through Ukraine and a crap ton of ammo for it. I’d probably be a merc though…
Well depends on the background of those people. Some can afford a tourist suit, others cant afford even a proper gun.
I guess the zone attracts many people who almost lost hope in the normal world.
@@starioncostumes true, everyone has their reason 😊
If you can afford to run around with NVGs, you probably wouldn't go into the zone to risk your life for some trash that's worth maybe 200 bucks
@@sigmamaleaffirmationhypnob7340 depends on how desperate you are
@@sigmamaleaffirmationhypnob7340 merc money gang, I’m western, it’s basically the best faction for me. And before anyone says that “oh, but they all speak Ukrainian” I’d like to remind you that they speak it in a thick western accent
Regarding the supplies brought into the Zone in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. story, there's another explanation: that stalking is actually a semi-tolerated illegal activity. The outside world needs the unique workforce of stalkers to transport materials, artifacts, and intelligence out of the Zone. Therefore, a certain level of supplies flowing in is also tacitly allowed, while personnel, materials, artifacts, and intelligence are tightly controlled. This could also explain Strelok’s motivation to eventually voluntarily contact the military.
I'd agree on that. "Legitimate illegitimacy" is a thing. But i think also: Where demand exists, supply will be created. Thats how black markets work. >.>
I'd argue the military shouldn't have high grade gear out in the starter areas, round the cordon and around the edges of the zone due to extended deployment. Tussles are not common unless you got a chosen-one bastard like strelok deciding randomly he wants those god damn documents from the checkpoint guard. Good quality gear would be wasted on guard duty.
I think I heard this quote in media so I ain't 100% how true it is for militaries around the world but "I can always trust my life and rest assured that the equipment I am using has been made by the lowest bidder", particularly this is eastern Europe, so its not a stretch to say a lot of this gear would be very *old* and maybe even in service since the soviet union years. That is to say, it depends, later on you face spetznaz with much higher quality gear, but never exosuits.
Duty is very by-the-books in their behaviour, so you are 100% correct, they are on par with freedom in terms of hear availability, but their condition would be much better simply because of the discipline that likely translates into much better maintained, oiled, cleaned, glued, taped and sewn equipment alike, then their freedom counterpart. They'd also likely smell less like pot smoke.
Hygene is a big issue, toiletries are cheap but bulky, so they'd be one of the last traded items into the zone simply because its not profitable. Traders pay big money for anything to be smuggled under the military's noses, or pay extra in bribes to get it across with no issues. Thing is, people don't WANT to smell, if your cleaning's good, you feel good, if you feel good, you perform good. If you perform good, you might not die. In a place like the zone, I expect there to be rudimentary ways of keeping clean. It rains every other day in the zone, so collecting "clean" water to wash yourself or your underwear shouldn't be too difficult as long as you got a container sitting under a gutter for long enough. Things like deodorant, rubbing alcohol, or anything to make you feel minty fresh will be fuckin scarce, and restricted to the stalkers with the money to spend. The rest of us? zone is filled with mutants, got boars, got mutated pigs. Render some fat, gather ash. God knows theres a lotta campfires around the zone. Now you can make lye solution and homemade soap. Stalkers are a hardy bunch, many of em may be from the rural areas and know how to do this shite. It only takes 1 guy to know how to do it before everyone copies him. It wont make you smell good, but you'll be clean, and that's what matters.
In a place like the zone, where you'll routinely get into gunfights, scraps with mutants, scratches, bites are almost a daily problem. What irony is it to survive a gunfight only to die weeks later from an infected dog bite? Their snouts aren't clean, they eat stalker corpses and fuckin.. squirrels or whatever the hell they eat- you don't want that bacteria already, and there's so much peroxide and alcohol to disinfect yourself with before you run outta cash. You don't want dirty clothes, dirty fingers and dirty skin to be a problem on top of your already present worry of dying of sepsis.
I liken the zone to prisons a lot, in prisons you can get by real nicely just by being smart. There's guy's who do tattoos in there, guys who flip drugs or ciggies or trade porn, or draw porn, or melt candy and ramen noodles to make rudimentary cakes and candy sweets. If there's a way to make money in the zone without putting your life on the line, and I imagine something as simple as making soap, or washing clothes, or cutting stalker's hair, or cleaning bases and the camps, or cooking all the mutant meat everyone brings in. They are time consuming tasks with a low risk, just need to put your pride aside get down to do it, cuz it needs to be done. Who's to say a stalker who's recovering from wounds wouldn't do this stuff? not like they'll sit in bed all day playing snake on their pdas, or messaging their wives, or jacking it, or cleaning guns or staring at cracked drywall, they still need to eat everyday, and if doing those less heroic tasks all but ensures you wont be bleeding money while you bleed blood in the hospital bed, they'll fuckin do it, cuz they need to.
lotta questions can be answered just by applying logic, and a little fanfiction and creativity on part of the player. That's my personal headcannon on what the zone is to me.
You know what, i wouldn't even be surprised if some stalker made a living by buying fat from butchered mutants, collecting wild herbs and making his own soap and selling this among with other products. It would be a unique occupation - but IF there was ONE, just ONE, stalker on a larp doing this and doing it plausible, i'd totally buy his character. Like - it fits into the entire atmosphere.
And the comparison with prisons is a good one - you can get everything in prisons, even for a price. Women have a black market for makeup in prisons, dye their hair with cool aid and do stuff like that. Not for men - but to feel good. And i cannot stress the aspect of self-care and its effect on mental health. This is one of the aspects people tend forget in this entire survival situation. Many cope with alcohol, tobacco and drugs - but taking care of yourself is one thing that can make you more resilient against the stress you experience in the zone.
Also: Thank you so much for this comment. This was really input of value for my next videos! :)
Can´t remember a single working washing machine in the Zone! ;D
@@Flachdachbunker people before washing machines were invented looked like Bigfoot 👀 🐻
military got those washing machines in pripyat outpost working and making a killing on laundry buisness XD
I guess if you wear your regular clothes and a ski mask you can join the bandit group
@@Rell6000 Kinda. Your life expectancy is just rather short north of Cordon. 👀
@@starioncostumes A few people I know manage to stay unnoticed in the area by using artifacts - we call them "rats"
The ISG are mentioned in clear sky and call of pripyat (if you choose to interpret the "UN researchers" and "UN observers" stated in these unique dialogues as ISG and not something else)
I really need to re-watch @anomalousdugout9557 video on that v.v Thanks for the hint!
12:51 In ShoC, most soldiers are poorly equipped for fighting mutants. In some versions of Oblivion Lost, there'd sometimes be Spesnaz troopers equipped with Saiga 12s. They could be contenders against monsters.
14:51 In Oblivion Lost, if you became an ecologist, it would also make you friends with both Freedom and Duty.
14:59 Probably working for the scientists first, then doing monster hunting missions for anyone who needs that sort of thing done (but mostly to satisfy my own thrill-seeking safari-hunting desires of demented do0m).
15:11 I want to play as a FLESHPIG! 🤣
@@judsongaiden9878 Oblivion lost is a thing, that right. Completely forgot about that one! Overall I still consider the soldiers well equipped compared to the other factions. Everyone has body armor and at least a AKS74u. Most stalkers South of Rostock have Like... Jacket, Makarov and a half eaten sausage.
The monster hunting thing Is a good idea, which gun would you choose and which monsters would you hunt?
@@starioncostumes I call it "the Dwayne Hicks loadout." Assault rifle/grenade launcher combo as a primary. Shotgun for backup. A pump shotgun would ideal for its versatility and low-maintenance reliability. I'd use the shotgun for hunting all mutants lesser to a chimera, and I'd use 40-mils for "big game." By that, I mean mostly pseudogiants and chimeras, but 40-mils are also useful against mutants with psionic "X-Men" powers. Overkill against their humanoid physicality, but the idea is to take them out quickly before they melt your brain or smash you with hurled objects.
If I was a controller, I'd make people believe they were fleshpigs. 🤣
Games like fallout and metro do have a messy, maybe kit-bashed look to them but the STALKER series is modern day, where everything is normal other than where you are.
@@isaacgould5974 yep. So you can get smuggled stuff from outside - for a price through.
@@starioncostumesanother thing, I’ve been trying to find a sunrise suit of my own, on a budget. where did you find yours?
@@isaacgould5974 I made a video on that topic :) th-cam.com/video/IBLwTkvvIZw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=2m3T0o6oRy1wloTW i hope it helps you out!
I hate the gamer trope of rusty guns, it is sign of ignorance
i am 100% sure that sidorovich would give rusty guns to novice stalkers
makarov he gave to strelok in shadow of chernobyl wasn't rusty but that's because there's only one model in game
@@ryszakowy Yeah I agree as a scam for ignorant stalkers who don't know how unrelaible that is to use and who would probably die from it.
Well maintained weapons malfunction regularly IRL and it is sort of part of it, might aswell use a rusty rifle as a baseballbat.
People forget that STALKER was going for realism with added sci-fi and mutants many technical and artistic limitations.
I don't cosplay but Isn't that culture about getting into the little details with accuracy? Why do artists never do any research before creating things based of reality or other's art?
As an artistic person, I cannot stand when other artists don't do any research.
I don't know anything about Warhammer for example but I wouldn't paint the models and change details that goes against it's lore because I want it fit my artstyle.
(Egocentric in the Warhammer example and ignorant in rusty guns/realism but from the similar emotional behavior)
Yes people should be creative, but not disrespectful or ignorant.
A well maintained gun is your life insurance in the zone! :)
@@starioncostumes Yes!
Yes as it's mentioned in the books, there are showers in Rostok, in a scientist city and of course at the power plant monolith base :D
"If you only knew where i have been and what i just saw!"
Hope strelok wasnt talking about monolith showers lol
@@starioncostumes then he proceeds to show him the piece of soap he had to pick up
And in one of the books they just washed themselves and their stuff in a river that didn't make Geiger's go crazy
@@xmuzel ☠️
I REMEMBER YOU, TOOK PICTURES WITH YOU BACK IN GAMESCOM 2023, I WAS THE ONE US MARINE COSPLAYER
@@wolfen8619 HECK YEAH! Man absolute legend. Haha glad to see you here as well! 🔥
I really like your arguments and find the convincing... When making my model pack i thought many logical scenarios like;
Renegades being unkept and dirty bc of they mostly roam the swamp and don't have good relations with other factions
Duty and the military having mostly standardized gear
Loners and bandits having mixed gear. I made tons of different models to emphasize their individuality while being recognizable by colors and specific gear
Yeah, maybe renegades should be even worse off than bandits. >.>
Great video which a great cosplay weathering tip I've heard came one of the Nod commander's actors of a Command and conquer RTS game that he said in a vlog once... When he got his unifrom it was shiny and new unbecoming for a feild commander so he weathered his uniform by rolling around in dirt outside to fix it... You can also "tarin" ion your gear to see if it fits and natrually wear it which that is from Milltary Larpers and active duty ones too.
Next time I'm raiding Pripyat I want to see a Monolith soldier just sitting there and doing laundry.
Also I want my gear to look like I just walked out of a snork nest. Hate those guys
I mean they could go to Laundromat 😅 unless the military is still there.
Man, I think Poltergeist are far worse than snorks tbh. But that's because I just waste ammo on them.
I wholeheartedly agree, never liked both pristine, and on the other side of the spectrum, the weird madmax post-apo stylizations. I'm in the process of building a Clear Sky costume myself and dirt and grime is on the top of my list to achieve, but simultaneously, not doing some spiky, rusted and delapidated weirdness. Though it has to be said, that different factions would typically be able to maintain a different standard of upkeep (like you say, Mercs for example wouldn't look out of place in modern military gear with minimal wear, but Bandits would not). But in general I'd echo what you say here without any amendments.
Yeah, it has to be somewhat practical - but also meet the certain atmosphere of the game and its factions!
Great video! As a STALKER costume maker myself, I really appreciate the effort you've put into comparing the factions abilities to obtain and maintain gear, as well as the hypothetical conditions in which that gear will be used in the Zone. I use that thought process as well when designing STALKER costumes.
@@Commissar545 thank you so much! I tried my best to give a decent interpretation of what could happen under the laws of possibility and expectation.
not exactly from OG trilogy but after finishing call of chernobyl in complitely modified freedom exoskeleton with torn off patch i can say with utmost confidence that veteran stalker will either have a suit that shows all the fixed wear and tear or be changing suits frequently
as per gear i'm sure nobody who gets out of cordon village will stay with leather jacket and makarov
anybody shows up in madmax outfit they better have a awesome story how they survived in limansk for a month constantly fighting monolith, mercs and mutants because nobody and i mean NOBODY walks around like a stitched up hobo
I mean, the only ones that would walk around like stitched up hobos would be renegades, due to being isolated and chilling in a swamp >.>
There is actually something quite subtle about the Monolith faction, in that this group of individuals only existed from just before the start of the group to its near collapse within a year, so the C Consciousness may not have had to provide them with too much in the way of supplies. Scavenging existing inventories could have been enough to sustain them, considering that this was a group of stealth operatives who had spontaneously entered the center and were well-equipped, which could be considered a factor as well. Only superior equipment could have supported this journey, which was not short but fraught with danger.
Something to be aware of especially with this type of gear and some of the things you're going for UP against in the zone, having a neutral or natural smell might actually be a bit of a benefit in masking your presence.
Interesting take! I have not considered this but yeah, if you are hunting for mutants, this might be something a stalker has to consider!
@starioncostumes it's the reason why if you look at some of the gear hunters use it will more often not have certain smells added to them by the hunter more often than not. It is actually gonna be artificial estres Pheromons or urine. So depending on what type of thing nasty you're trying to hunt, you might decide that chucking your gear in the swamp and recovering it and letting it dry, might actually help mask your scent a little bit better than just wearing fresh, clean laundered gear.
Only thing is grass and mud stains on certain areas, like knees, trouser cuffs, and elbows. The land of STALKER is largely wetlands, with quite a bit of rain too, with lots of foliage, while they would definitely stay as clean as possible, they also would not have ready access to proper cleaning materials for removing staining.
Also some soot/dust/concrete staining on gloves and wrist cuffs, from GSW and just navigating the areas, a lot of traversing abandoned areas requires you to steady yourself with you hands, and you are less likely to remove you gear, your protection to do maintenance and repairs to guns and gear, lubrication stains and carbon stains from field maintenance of guns, cause you never know when something is gonna go wrong in a 'safe' area, you'd be sleeping in your armour, and padding, never know when a mutant could get passed guards, or an enemy human could bribe or sneak passed the guards.
Monolith most likely get most of their gear from the veteran STALKERS that push into the zone, they either get taken out in ambushes, when they rest, or get subverted by the psi effects of the deep Zone.
@@radfoxuk8113 It's free loot i guess. >.>
I wonder if they just go around and take stuff off zombified stalkers
I agree with bandits being on the lower left quarter since they are more likely to be undisciplined and don't have similar access to shops or maintenance equipment, also they likely would be more prominent on the outskirts of the zone preying on the rookies because confronting more experienced stalkers(and especially duty or freedom) would be too dangerous for them so their equipment would mostly be looted stuff from people who are brand new to the zone(could have some high level stuff that someone brought from outside but I'd say that's less common).
Loners should have very varied gear since on one hand you could have some brand new rookie who has never held a gun before going to the zone and doesn't really know how to properly take care of his equipment, but also there are some very experienced veteran stalkers who should have high level and good condition gear since they know how much their lives depend on their gear.
Duty and freedom should be around midpoint in my opinion since as you said, they probably have some degree of standard and I'd say people joining either of the factions wouldn't be complete newbies in the zone.
I'd put both military and the ecologists on the lower right since they probably would have access to highest level of maintenance both being government organizations but the equipment at least for military in a post soviet state would most likely be some old soviet hand me downs instead of being some sophisticated stuff developed purposefully for the zone. Ecologists should have the best condition equipment but since they are not supposed to be fighting, their gear would be more oriented against environmental/CBRN threats(like they mostly are in the game).
Mercs being mercs they should have great condition gear that is bit on the high end on the standard scale, though many of the newer guys probably would need some time to adapt to the unique stuff in the zone.
Clear sky is interesting faction since I think they are among the most disciplined and experienced guys in the zone but their limited access to outside world might lead to their equipment being more varied similarly to loners. Clear sky however does have access to pretty much all of the factions save military and monolith(excluding bandits since they wouldn't be much use in this case), which would give them chance to have
Monolith from what I know has pretty much zero access to outside world, so pretty much all of their equipment would be either looted or domestically produced. Now the monolith resides in the central areas, which would mean they tend to encounter more experienced stalkers which would mean their looted stuff is generally more on the high end. They probably wouldn't have that good access to maintenance equipment though, so maybe they would have quite mediocre condition stuff(especially considering they are not completely themselves, so they might not be so worried of their equipment failing and getting them killed) Though one could argue that with the noosphere/hivemind stuff and whatnot they probably would have some highly skilled maintenance guys among them who might be able to keep their stuff at check but that runs again in the equipment availability which would be the main detriment for monolith.
Excellent video! Appreciate the breakdown of equipment state per faction, individual experience and importance of character, this is also very helpful for those looking to create STALKER related artwork or 3D model texturing
Thank you very much for your feedback!
The next video about hideouts is coming tomorrow!
@@awacsokanieba wait - aren't you responsible for the stalker anime artworks? 👀
@@starioncostumes Yep haha!
@@awacsokanieba Lol great to have you here as well! Your stalker content always gave me a smile! :) especially the comment sections sometimes lol
@@starioncostumes Thank you! Glad to hear haha and yep, the comments sure get amusing! Am looking forward for your future videos also 👀
duuuuuuuuuuude, i always see you around doing cosplay in the GSC posts, didn't knew you had a youtube chanel, awesome work¡
@@PostBellumARG Heck yeah, thank you for your support man 💪🏼 More stalker content coming soon! ☢️
If you guys loved the trilogy here are some mods that in my opinion captured the mysterious feeling of the trilogy:
Made by Jekan:
Return to the Zone(3 story campaigns and a story extraction mode), Goldensphere OGSR(based on Roadside Picnic), OGSR Legacy(pretty much a remake of ShoC with lots of cut content and user made content).
Team V.I.V.E.N.T.:
Incubator, Dreamcatcher(sequel to Incubator). They have more great mods but they still are hard to understand Machine translations.
zaurus' crew:
Apocalipsis Trilogy OGSR, Fallen star(also called "Der gefallene Stern" sequel to A-Trilogy), Last STALKER(sequel to Fallen Star)
Creators/teams I forgot the name of:
True Stalker(if you don't mind cutscene glassjaw), Dollchan infinity, Road to the north(story/free play hybrid, main story starts at Skadovsk), Path in the Mist, Wind of Time(it starts with timetravel from the year 2114 back to 2014 and has some big twists)
I feel like absolutely tattered armor and gear makes the most sense when you're either going for a post-ShOC Monolith fighter or someone who just came back from a long raid into the heart of the Zone, and in the latter case it would help to have a few artifacts hanging from your belt with LEDs in them or something.
It could also make sense if you're cosplaying as a snork or a zombie, but I don't know if anyone cosplays as snorks or zombies.
EDIT: As far as cut content groups go, I feel like while all the people who get into the series through Anomaly (or similar standalone mods) will have their own opinion on the matter, I don't think it's really worth trying to present a costume inspired by them as being from a particular faction, because most STALKER fans won't recognize whatever it is.
ISG and Sin are cut content for the simple reason that they were too similar to groups that already existed and were no longer needed for the lore or the gameplay.
As an example of what I mean, Renegades only even still exist because of a gameplay caveat in Clear Sky where a relatively non-threatening always-hostile human enemy had to be present for combat and Faction War tutorials without locking the player out of interacting with a more nuanced (but still dickish) Bandit faction.
Sin was just Monolith with a decidedly more Orthodox edge before Anomaly turned them into the lovable superpowered radioactive Lost Boys we know and love. The ISG were just another flavor of Ecologists, but then they were scrapped because...well, we have Ecologists already, and they're implied to come from all over the world because the whole world benefits from discoveries made in the Zone or for the simple fact that they used to work there prior to the 2006 disaster.
As far as the new game goes, I cannot wait to see what cosplayers come out with inspired by the new factions and characters.
Love the LED idea! And yeah, at Pyrkon in Poland we have stalker cosplayers from time to time! Poland is really in love with stalker ❤
Broke stalkers and bandits using temu/wish/airsoft gear makes sense. Cheap leaf suits and knockoff multicam polar fleece are effective and cheap combined with hunting bandoliers and civilian firearm would be an easy starter set for a fresh mutant hunter.
Basically DayZ gear after one hour of playing 👀
Ah the classic case of Normies flooding a niche fandom and ruining it
@@ANukeWithLegs I would not say ruining it - but giving reason for discourse.
@@starioncostumes nah pretty sure they are ruining it
one time i saw some modded weapons showcase with tons of tacticool guns
i said "reminds me of the idea for novices going to zone all geared up and getting killed in 15 minutes"
and in response from a tourist i got "OnLy MeRcS hAvE aDvAnCeD gUnS"
fucking hate those people
doesn't know shit about shit and dares to talk like he made the game
@@starioncostumes I am a New Vegas fan and the fandom got ruined after they rediscovered it with its resurgence on the internet.
You cant enjoy anything anymore without a horde of 15 year old zoomers and normies ruining it.
You have at least Stalker and Metro somewhat safe considering its seen as a "Russian" thing and harder to join because the moral boogeyman keeps most normies out.
@@ANukeWithLegs Idk - I still enjoy playing new Vegas. 👀 But communities might change over time, that's true.
Another great video my friend! I will take it in consideration for my "cosplay" if go to BGS to play the demo there.
@@victorforesticastro4901 thanks mate 💪🏼 I hope my work inspires other people to make their costume projects as well. The zone is waiting for us, stalker!
To be honest, I do prefer Roadside Picnic or the movie's vision of The Excluded Zone and overall relation with The Big World instead of "tacticool" games' Zone - especially Clear Sky shows absurdity of it.
You know, stalker who ventures the Zone with his own load of troubles, treverses alien yet familiar places which expulse everything that breathes and is more willing to talk than exchange lead in such place is far more intresting than some dudes armed to the teeth strolling through barbed-wire labirynth in some kind of sick entertainment center. Well, I don't say that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. isn't fit for that or isn't doing it - lemme say that more often than not I am seeing "amazing" assaults and skirmishes instead of ambience, slight horror, melancholy and nostalgia covering a good story of human's efforts, troubles and endeavors.
I might be wrong, but it also might be that I've only met people who are seeing S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s universe as only "shoot-shoot, bang-bang" type of deal. Kinda similar to how cyberpunk became an action movie setting instead of reflective reading. After Cyberpunk 2077 I hope that I am wrong, yet I cannot say otherwise - cyberpunk is "cool visual overlay" of merchandise nowdays. And thus I hope that stalker 2 will avoid such fate.
People interpret the games differently, that's right. Which. Balance would you prefer between action and ambient?
I would say that the Renegades would have even worse weapons and gear than the Bandits, because the Renegades are rejects from all other factions, including the Bandits that barely tolerate them and they don't have any access to facilities to maintain their weapons and gear, and they don't have an easy time trading with the outside world. In mods like Anomaly and its derivatives, Renegades have access to the Bandit base in Dark Valley, but they are rarely spotted hanging out there. I would rate them as scraping the bottom of the barrel.
From those that have access to the best gear and weapons, I would rank the UNISG as top of the line, since their gear is internationally sourced and they would have unrestricted access to it. They are funded by the UN, so that's multiple governments probably the US, UK and other major rich countries.
The Monolith would come in second, since they are the only faction that wasn't cut to have the best gear and weapons. They do so, because usually those stalkers that head north into the Zone usually are the ones that have gathered the best weapons and equipment, but they fall victims to the Brain Scorcher and they get brainwashed into Monolithians or Zombies. The C-Consciousness probably confiscates and redistributes weapons and equipment from captured stalkers. Speaking of the C-Consciousness, they probably have contact to corrupt government officials, since those that compose the C-Consciousness worked for the government themselves before the creation of the Zone, so they might get supplied this way, or alternatively, they may have some private benefactors that we don't know about yet, or even better, they access the bank accounts of all the stalkers they've captured and use their money and names to buy weapons and gear that is then smuggled into the Zone.
The Mercenaries would come third, only because they are a private organisation, probably owned by some oligarch and they would also get the best weapons and equipment from the international markets that their benefactor can afford. The difference between these three factions is a matter of which one you believe would have the best funding.
After that come the Ecologists and the Military, which are both funded by the Ukrainian government. The Military would have worse protective gear than the Ecologists, since their tasks are more combat oriented, so they get more battered, and their high ranking officials control the Zone's outer perimeter and are known to be very corrupt, so they steal the good equipment and sell it for profit to traders from other factions. However, they would have better weapons than the Ecologists, since they are the Military.
Duty and Freedom are kind of difficult to rate. Some members are shown to have better gear than the Military, others have worse, so it depends on their rank within the organisation. In terms of funding, they are only funded by their members, so that's not great when compared to the other factions. On average, accounting for factors such as lack of discipline and lack of funding and corruption, Duty and Freedom would be worse off than the Military.
After that comes Clear Sky, which is weak at the start of Stalker: Clear Sky, but becomes stronger by the end of the game, so much so that they launch an offensive towards the center of the Zone, which fails and the faction is almost completely destroyed, save for the technician Novikov who appears in Call of Pripyat. They don't appear to be funded by anyone other than their members and they really struggled with the renegades at the beginning of Stalker: Clear Sky. Also, they inhabit the Swamp, which is a very hostile environment for firearms, so their guns would be on par with those of the renegades, maybe slightly better since Clear Sky has a technician. Clear Sky is probably the weakest of the organised factions.
Loners can be all over the spectrum in terms of the quality of their weapons and gear, ranging from the best gear that they have looted off of some UNISG/Monolith corpse to scraping the bottom of the barrel, but they would still be better than Bandits and Renegades, since they would have access to facilities to maintain their weapons and armor.
You didn't mention Sin, a faction that appears in the most popular mods nowadays. I think they are probably on par with the Monolith, but maybe slightly worse, since they recruitment is based on a person believing their religion, rather than on a brainwashing machine.
You are absolutely right - I forgot about sin. Even though I encountered them in the lost alpha. But I cannot tell if their gear should be completed to monolith, since SIN is the most isolated faction in the entire game, unless they have undercover agents or something like that.
Also you are totally right with Renegades. Their gear must be the worst in the entire game!
Roadside picnic is a super interesting book
@@ripHalo0002 Fully agree. It's really worth reading! One of the few books that really touched me.
Those stalkers who have their equipment in a poor state, don’t live to long
Either that or they remain in the rookie areas 👀
In my opinion, weathering would depend on the faction being cosplayed. Loners probably don't have the best gear, but Mercenaries and Monolith have the cream of the crop when it comes to armor and guns, Mercs being supplied constantly with the best stuff available.
Short answer: Stalker is not a post-apocalyptic game, it's a post-disaster game (Chernobyl Irradiation) and the Zone is actively being supplied with new and brand new equipment.
There's weathering and there's neglect. Any weapon will get scratches and marks from constant field use. Uniforms and armor are supposed to be well maintained and replaced if damaged. Especially in a radioactive environment.
For anyone that's ever served in a military, the thought of wearing a dirty uniform is as bad as losing your issued firearm.
Thats a good take! "There is weathering and there is neglect" - i will steal that one for my next workshop! :)
what pog-ass unit are you talking about where uniforms never got dirty?
Half the time day 1 in the field yuo get told to roll in the mud specifically so you wont have any qualms for the rest of the exercise about getting wet or dirty - you already are.
But, yes, a rifle should be generally kept clean. However one of the leading causes of destruction of equipment in at least the us military is *over* cleaning, scrubbing shit so much that protective chemicals are taken off and things like that.
@@HonorableAssassins I'm not talking active combat. You have serious reading comprehension problems.
Well my cosplay for stalker is doing it like it hapend irl. Like for loner i use what you could found in eastern Europa military surplus like some old uniforms like kzs klmk or like afganka, gorka or obr 93 and using body armor like 6b2 6b3 and stuff like that
Man i wonder if we will see something like the 6b2 in the next stalker game. If not, modders will add it quite fast i guess :D
I don't know, but I think the reason why most of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R weapons and equipment are not metal fossils is because the world outside the zone is fine. There was no war or catastrophe that led humanity to the extension, the zone is just a miniature apocalypse within a certain area in Eastern Europe, the weapons come from the black market, soviet armories, and even local manufacturing (gauss rifle). I don't know if I'm right or wrong, correct me if I'm wrong, but that's just my opinion.
I think you are right. The world outside of the zone is still functional, thus there is access to good from outside the zone, even though they will cost a price, since you need to smuggled them inside
Long Answer: This video
Short Answer: Free dry cleaning in the bloodsucker village(100% real no clickbait)
@@eggegg8526 don't forget gauss rifle for 800RU 👀💦
Interesting! I like the shots of the different various factions. Some had odd femine walking animations though, were they on the fashion walk?😂
I would say The Renegades would rank lower as they're less organized than the Bandits, plus the environment of the Swamp would degrade their gear even further.
The ecologists suits should be of much higher standard but in terms of anomalous protection instead of combative protection. Maybe another two axis in the graph could show that.
Still, cool video! I think it would help cosplayers a lot!
@@yercules thanks for your feedback! Yeah, unfortunately the two axis graph did not cover the different purposes of said armors so I just had to stick to the overall performance. And while the ecologist suits perform well in anomalous areas, their combat use is rather limited as you said. Maybe I will do analysis of that in the future! :)
The only clean and regularly maintained factions in the zone are going to be the military and the scientists. Inside the scientist bunkers I'm pretty sure I've seen a shower.
@@GldnClaw Clean is a very subjective term in the zone 👀
Like, the Zone isn't the only place in the world. Society outside of the Zone is perfectly functional, so getting in weapons and gear in good condition is only a matter of connections and money. And with artefacts, you can easily solve the money problem.
6:00 not to mention thrown together shit don't do that great of a job at protecting against radiation.
Just drink vodka and you will be fine... Right?
Yeah, it you can, you really want to protect yourself from radioactive particles on and in your body.
Always wondered how bandits could survive with a coat and a crappy shotgun only, when a single dog can end you, if not rads. haha
Welp, they avoid the dangerous areas - and that's it.
Thanks for the video, quick question: where can we get a stalker costume like the one you are wearing? Please reply
Thanks for the feedback!
I made a video on that topic and i hope it helps you!
th-cam.com/video/IBLwTkvvIZw/w-d-xo.html
you cannot tell me those blokes from rookie village is well equipped than your average military or merc
Uhhh - where did i say that? >.>
Just larp as a bandit, ez.
Adidas pants, a grey hoodie and a leather jacket. ski mask and Makarov. And you are good to go ✅
The best thing to you could add is mud stains, and dust. Anyone in combat will always have those two things
It's most important to remember that stalker is not post apocalyptic. The city is cut off from the world but the world is pretty normal and there is still smuggling action in and out of the Zone. The Zone literally has an active economy. People smuggled themselves into the Zone to get rich so they are there not simply to survive but so that one day they can retire from hunting artifacts. Therefore they have to invest into a future where they'll get out of the Zone as a rich man. Not keeping hygiene would be counterproductive to that goal.
Everybody has good gear when there's lots of bodies to pick up stuff off of, right?
@@adcaptandumvulgus4252 Depends on the condition of the gear. Bullet holes need to be stitched up, unless you want people to know you are looting fallen stalkers 👀
there is S.T.A.L.K.E.R anomaly
Good mod! Autumn Aurora is my favorite though.
Exoskeleton Bandits when
When they finally get that gauss for 800RU and put it on zone eBay 👀
Great video!
@@ir0npyrite great comment ❤️
I seriously suspect that those who always emphasize 'this is the ragged clothes and rusty guns people of xx time and xx place should be using, shooting bullets from their eyes,' never learned how to maintain their own bicycles when they were young...
And this is also a bias and misunderstanding of the post-apocalyptic genre, which is becoming increasingly extreme due to competition among different groups caused by the lack of works based on this theme. The concept of 'post-apocalypse' has been continually diluted by social media's pursuit of attention, while some highly stylized designs are being portrayed as 'how people should look when they face a little problem - this is absolutely realistic.'
This kind of bias and misunderstanding of the post-apocalyptic genre often becomes frustrating when explaining to newcomers that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is not post-apocalyptic, not Escape from Tarkov, not Metro Exodus, and that Metro Exodus and the Metro 2033 Redux version differ in style and settings from Metro: Last Light, the original Metro 2033, and even the Metro trilogy novels.
purely game terms speaking i would like it if guns would change with their condition
more scratches and rust the longer you use the gun
so it would actually show that you went through radar with one gun
dirt purely visual
but for cosplay - why in the fuck would anyone carry rusty and dirty weapons
it's supposed to save your ass not look like you got it from under a corpse
@@ryszakowy For this kind of game mechanic, I think Ghost Recon: Breakpoint can serve as a reference. It's one of the few aspects I feel the game did well, particularly how weapon's camouflage wear down over time.
As for the way weapon cleanliness is reflected in the appearance in Metro Exodus, I feel it’s a bit overdone.
Yeah, there are some common misconceptions about the stalker games. That they are post apoc, "Russian Fallout" or something like that 👀
with my ufpro mercenary cosplay im out, its to clean xD
I JUST realized he has an NCR flag in the background 💀I mean, fire? For the Republic?
It´s 2000s ukraine. Every last piece of soviet and even ukrainian kit is available to stalkers even before they ever enter the zone. It´s just a question of money. Proper suits will probably be send to the in zone traders offcourse but even those are mostly just a lower layer of chemical/radiation protection and a top layer of combat gear like a plate carrier with pouches.
Your basic bitch rookie or bandit probably runs into the zone with a backpack, his jacket and grandpas WW2 pistol/rifle/shotgun or whatever else he managed to sneak in. But anyone with a bit of thought and preparation into this new life could enter the cordon kitted as if he was going on combat patrol in afghanistan with not mutch more effort than it took to get into the zone. Little reason to DIY
You got a point there - and it shows in the gear of stalkers, since the higher reputation stalkers have SEVAs and Exo's. Surviving in that gear is easier, i guess. But living long enough to obtain such gear is the real challenge here!
@@starioncostumes Not exactly what I am trying to say. Look at modern SOF operatives or mercenaries. Their gear is generally assembled from a variety of sources and suits their needs. While SEVAs, scientist suits and Exo´s are top of the line, stuff like the the Sunrise and it´s faction variants is just a package deal of a rubberized suit, a light bulletproof vest and something to protect your face. There is nothing stopping a stalker from dumping the ligh vest and getting himself an old soviet 6b5 or 6b3 vest instead for better protection against small arms for example.
Each individual in the zone (maybe outside of monolith) has it´s own priorities. And their gear will reflect that where possible even if it isn´t an entirely new suit.
You are scarred of shootouts or seek them out? More armor, maybe even a helmet.
You want artifacts? Maybe try a fishing pole.
Scarred of radiation? Oxygen tanks for a closed breathing system
Duty do need showers.
Where else would they drop the soap?
@@salieri_sg9413 👀💦
I didn't know that there were books what are they?
@@comradeamerican4393 There is a series of books in Germany. Poland has also a series of stalker books. I can't say how "canonic" they are though. The German series hasn't been continued for years though and the books themselves are quite rare out there.
@@comradeamerican4393 one of the books was also part of the German clear sky collectors edition.
@@starioncostumes As the Polish novels have been mentioned - I am familiar only with Michał Gołkowski's series and while it has the subtle "Misery" mod feeling, it is put in kind of more "realistic" setting. There are no factions (except a brief apperance of Monolith), only the lone Stalkers and Military. Active Scientists are portrayed as a part of expeditions, there are no residentials. Also there is no Bar in Rostok ;) So we can say that they are not cannonic. Still a solid sci-fi literature though, fun to read.
you look like you need protein and gym than basic stalker gear
You look like you need a "more" in your sentence. So take this one. It's free this time.
@@starioncostumes redditor
I imagine the freedom lot absolutely stink
So that's why they have respirators on their wind of freedom suits 😂
@@starioncostumes 😂
ISG? but not Sin? unacceptable get shamed
Throw rotten fruits at me and chase me through the village - yeah, i should have added SIN aswell >.>
@@starioncostumes other then that, you have my approval, great video! :)
@@EricN-b9y Much appreciated man!
Next video coming on thursday :)
Jeez, the fact that you need to explain this to people is kinda concerning. I thought personally that all this was really obvious if you y'know actually play the game and read the dialogue. Do people seriously think stalker is post apocalypse? ffs you play as a USS agent in one of the games!
Everyone has a different level of dedication to the series. Some people dont even know stalker, others just have played it once or so, without really getting into the lore.
But thats fine, since it gives me a reason to talk about my favorite game on youtube :P
Yea it’s all soviet tho
Depends on the faction! But yeah, ex Soviet surplus would be common in the zone!
4:08 Gamma would like to disagree. According to them every stalker's gun is held together by duct tape, superglue and hopes and dreams. At least when I loot it that is.
One of the few things I don't like about gamma. You have expert stalkers who can afford exo suits but their guns are trashed? Come on. I know it's a balancing thing, but at some point it just ruins the immersion for me.
@@anonimus370 its adjustable im the settings, the way I have mine set up is the higher the stalkers rank, the better condition their gear is in, pretty much only newbie stalkers actually have broken guns, with the rest having guns in servicable condition, (perhaps in need of something more advanced than a cleaning kit, but not actually broken)
@@ethanarias2911 well, i'm obviously talking about gamma defaults
@@anonimus370 yeah people like to compain about those and then never just adjust the very easy to find and handily labeled settings to their liking.
@@ethanarias2911 LMAO, why don't you just cheat engine yourself a few million rubles while at it??? I'm talking about the INTENDED experience designed by the devs!
Not to mention the BS about gun sales.