how on earth do i play STALKER : CoP?

title says it all just got this game (needed something to play).

Problem #1: I found a guy who took me to the stalker safehouse, the one in the ship (forgot the name, Iron Forest, i think...really don't know) and theres this guy who keeps hollering "Hey, the Sultan wants to see you. Im not paid to listen to your $#% , the boss does." And i can't find the 'Sultan' The ship is a TOTAL maze (would also appreciate somebody showing me how to open a global map) and its pitch black.

Problem #2: how do i shoot if the given gun's recoil is SO bad?!! i've been spoiled rotten with MW2's guns (the AUG HBAR) and fighting 3 mutant dogs took off half my hp. is there a way to stop the recoil? or do i need a better gun?

Problem #3: didn't know there was the element of money. I assumed that it was like COD (i seldom play FPS games), just a killing spree and a single mission/objective. what do i do to earn money? i badly need to buy some weapon that is better than the given gun. (looks like an AK-47 to me)

Problem #4 (sorry, lots of ques): what are these artifacts thingy? i know they're special stuff, but don't know what are their effects and bla bla.

and lastly, does anyone play this game in the middle of the night? i never played a horror type game in my life, so this was totally new to me. scared the heck out of my poor soul. bioshock was gloomy, half life 2 was alien, but this is disgusting (the mutants), terrifying, and im totally lost.

Plz help!!

 

STALKER is best played at night, in a dark room, with true 5.1 sound. The first one had these scary as **** underground labs you had to get into, damn it always got me on edge lol.

 

1) Turn the brightness up a bit, perhaps?

2 & 3) Hurrrr. Playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is like playing COD6 only to the extent that you have to shoot things. And I suppose there are some similarities to playing on Veteran - getting shot at for more than a second or two is going to kill you. It'll kill you dead, until you die from it.

4) Artifacts do nifty things like protect you from gunfire, but usually have some costs involved, like the fact that they tend to be radioactive.

 

1) Sultan is sat on a box immediately to your left as you enter the ship (by the guy who is standing who says you need to see him)

2) Its tricky, but they can be improved to have less recoil - early in the game try shotguns

3) Sell stuff to the trader that you pick up, you also get cash for undertaking quests

4) Artifacts are tricky to collect early on as they tend to be in areas where you need better protective clothing to get in and out alive. You can sell them or keep them - reason to keep them is to give your self enhanced protection from certain things, though they all come with an upside and downside effect.

Hope this helps

A

 

STALKER is a game that is great for showing you how well you'd *actually* fare in a post-apocalyptic anarchy. That is, you'd probably only last a couple minutes, if you didn't have a trusty quick-save button.

You will eventually get better and better equipment, money will eventually be slightly easier to come by, and you will die less and kill more. I think of STALKER as sort of an RPG without RPG elements (your character doesn't level up, but you do become better at surviving and taking out the baddies).

And yes, it can be a terrifying game. Not in the in-your-face surprise-there's-a-monster kind of way, but in a more subtle, atmospheric kind of way that gnaws on your periphery, knowing that you could always run across something truly bizarre and dangerous, or something that just ****s with your mind. It's a very rich experience, if you give it a chance (and scale its steep learning curve).

 

I stopped playing after 20mins since my guns didnt do any damage to bad guys.

 

THANKS ArabellaUK!! will certainly find that elusive 'Sultan' now, since that stupid guy was waving forward, i assumed 'Sultan' was either in front or on the top decks lol. As for the quests...well, it certainly is no normal point and shoot FPS, unlike COD, which i love. What stuff do i pick up? All i see is drab environments around me.... it looks almost like an MMORPG with FPS elements.

yeah i agree, its not a shock-ing game, but a fearful one

the guns DO deal damage, coz i shot 2 stalkers (by accident) and 3 mutant dogs. but the recoil is MOST HORRIBLE.

 

Search dead bodies for "stuff", most weapons you pick up in pretty poor condition so unsaleable unless you pay to have them mended first, but bandages, food, ammo etc can all be sold to the guy in the back of the ship.

 

aha, found that damn 'Sultan', thanks to you!! but i've yet another problem. The mission from Sultan was to fleece some other stalkers. BUT, its SO DARK, and i can't see anything to shoot at. Had my brightness up, and still its all black.

 

Key "L" turns your lamp on

 

You should definitely not totally give up on this one though, also be sure you are playing with the Complete Mod 2009 installed. I can tell the game will take more effort and perseverance than the other average shooter but it will be more rewarding.


@melthd

You might be able to find some Night Vision Goggles at some point, doubt you will find them early on though.

Edit:

After playing this game for the first time a bit more......

Another thing to watch out for as a beginner in this game is that some Artifacts you can equip will constantly damage your life source and drain your health in return for some other benefit so you could find yourself dying often if you don't realise this. The game is great, lots of unscripted events, animals attacking, chasing me and if you try to play it like you would MW2 then you will die.....lost in the Zone.

 

Sometimes I focus too much on the evil corporate conspiracies behind games like MW2, and I tend to forgot that equally as evil is that it rots the mind, making games that require even an ounce of thinking or skill suddenly out of reach of the usual ADD fest that is your standard fare shooter.
/rant

@OP,Idyllic - if you watch your tracer fire you will notice that weapons in STALKER, as in real life, have spread and for any weapon you'd find in 20min, you can bet a lot of it. Spread is different from recoil - it is the variance between equally-aligned shots. It means you can't just sit back 100 metres away and think you're going to hit your target just because you've lined up the sights - you can expend two or three magazines before you hit anything that way. Watch your tracer fire, see your bullet arcs, and from there decide what the optimal engage distance and RoF is for the weapon you are using.

 

didn't know there was spread as well. thanks for pointing that out! how do i fire tracers? (sorry, never played any STALKER games before)

and true, MW2 rots the mind

 

They fire automatically, for most weps/ammo if you lower your sights momentarily after firing a burst you should be able to see the bullets en-route to the target.

You'll not only see spread, but bullet-drop and ricochets as well. With the stock AK74U the pattern is very dispersed, probably not tight enough to even hit a target beyond 50m consistently.

 

Yeah starting out the weapons are poor but as you get further into the game u find better gear as you go.

its very RPGish.

Think oblivion you dont start the game with the most powerful gear u have to play thru the game to get it, same with stalker.