Getting started in GAMMA - 2023 Remix

[@czesawcz]

One more tip: Always take "kill bandit"/"kill mutants" quests from essential npcs (like Sidorovitch). Quite often these quests will do themselves (enemies will be killed by emision or other stalkers) and you still get the credit :)

[@ThatBeTheQuestion]

Quick tip for organizing equipment: You can put your knife in your inventory, put your pistol in your knife slot, and then when you get binoculars, you can put them in the vision slot. I say this because melee combat is basically nonexistent in this game, or at least I never play melee, so it's nice to have two primary weapons, your sidearm, and binoculars all within fingers' reach, as it were. You can still use your quick melee button to smash boxes, and not having the knife technically equipped doesn't stop you from skinning mutants, just so long as you have it on your person. The only caveat is that you must have your knife in hand if you want to skin crows, but I think that's a pretty rare thing.

[@feketeszakall]

You can also put a handgun (even an FN P90 since that counts as one) in the vision slot, so you can run around with 4 guns if you don't use binoculars.

[@ThatBeTheQuestion]

@@feketeszakall this is true, and I used to have my sidearm in my vision slot before I learned about the knife slot trick. But I like to use my binoculars frequently to the point where I upgraded them to 15x and plan to try them to 20x when I get the expert tools and upgrade kit.

[@mrquang11212]

In the early game, I ran out of amunition alot. When that happen melee is the only thing I can use agains stalker , so I wait them to out of bullet then I stab the gut out of them and try get them in the head. For mutant, dog and cat are only thing you can try to stab because they run around.

[@veginito]

Melee is really dope, you can gank a small group of stalkers with one, additionally for popping crates

[@calmstormambience1875]

How do you use your Geiger counter? It's defaulted to number 8 but doesn't show the counter

[@Unfair-Juggernaut905]

.45acp is very common at the start as all traders pretty much sell it and the difference between FMJ and Hydrashock for hunting humans and mutants respectively is noticeable. I recommend the Colt 1911 Aries as the starting weapon because of its ammunition availability and its ability to use the suppressor without the muzzle modification. I would not use a shotgun as the ammunition is far too heavy.

[@TheRogueWolf]

If you're playing without the minimap, you can put a wristwatch in one of your quick-access slots and then use that key to get a general report of the time (half past ten, almost six, etc.) without having to bring up your PDA. The game does have a slight propensity to crash when doing that, though.

[@Oroberus]

Absolutely agree regarding the change of difficulty to be chosen if you're new I got a few hundred hours of vanilla Stalker and Anomaly beneath my belt and just started out Gamma a few days ago and it's ... rough ... VERY rough (as loner starting in cordon). I'm getting along pretty good but just because I already played vanilla and anomaly for hundreds of hours and I'm using some semi-exploity cheese (like never finishing fanatics quest so he was around and played mutant-sponge for the whole first 5 hours, no real bug exploitation but some very specific exploitation of some of the mechanics). Without that knowledge, I would have pobably not stuck around (right now I'm at the point when I start swimming in LOADS of damaged weapons and armors and neither can't afford to fix all of them, nor do I know which of them I want to fix while I desperately NEED new armor and weaponry xD) EDIT: And a small progression tip which works on every difficulty: Do not upgrade the weapon type you start with but branch out. If you start with one of the shotguns, get a pistol fixed up ASAP If you start with a pistole, get a shotgun fixed up ASAP If you mainly stick to Cordon, Garbage and Swamp, next thing to get going are a SMG and a Rifle (best to ignore 9x18 though and try to get a 9x19 SMG) Some weapons (pistols and smgs) can fit into your Optics or Melee slot, for example: Remington 870 as main gun (shotgun - for big mutants with buckshot and slugs against stalkers) PP19 as side arm (9x19 SMG) (mainly against stalkers, use semi automatic) Colt 911 as side-sidearm (for having your scanner out most of the time + super effective mutant killer with Hydra Shock) EDIT 2: Azazel + Warfare and Zombie + Wishgranter-Ironman Are EXTREMELY fun to play if you'Ve already did 3 or 4 story mode playthroughs

[@alapone9996]

Thank you for these videos and even though im not new to the Stalker franchise (playing since 2007). Its great to see the interest and different way of playing. You are right about the game being hard but if you get lucky and get the mosin with scope it makes life so much easier.

[@Bandanner]

Glad you are enjoying them or finding them helpful, either way! I like the idea of making these types of games more accessible for people, people make amazing games, mod packs and indeed just mods but sometimes they are so hard to pick up and play.

[@Kanyeez]

The mosin is a life saver, if you're lucky enough to find the ammo in the early game

[@ThatBeTheQuestion]

10:30 I was so frustrated when Grok made all the water super radioactive. Now I avoid going through the Great Swamps just because it's such a pain.

[@DuncSmith]

Great video, essential watching for new players to GAMMA. Your style reminds me very much of watching and listening to Gopher's Skyrim videos, and that is compliment indeed.

[@Bandanner]

Thank you that is very kind, I had to go looking to see who Gopher was! I like him, speaks nice and clearly, he initially sounded more cheerful than me then he started ranting at the AI 😂

[@andysalter7779]

If you take the sawn-off shotgun and find the regular (long barrelled) vision with a good barrelled (80%+) you can use a multitool to dismantle your sawn-off and then use the parts to repair the regular one hopefully without too much lose in weapon quality, without the need for the basic toolkit.

[@rogermcbadlad2812]

You don’t even need to dismantle, you can field strip the good parts out and swap them and just toss the old gun

[@purexxinsanity]

Personally I like to pick up binoculars in the start because I try and stay away from people at the start, since those go in the vision slot, you can actually put a pistol in the melee slot as well and just middle mouse click to melee boxes or where needed

[@Bandanner]

I have honestly never used binoculars but if it works for your playstyle that's good :)

[@abcd123456q]

You have gotten yourself a new SUB. Love the gamma content. I follow the lets play atm and I really hope you keep going!

[@Bandanner]

Thank you :)

[@jimberlee6257]

My man! Love listening to you, thanks for uploading this update!

[@anthonyweston5588]

Thanks for the tips Bandanner. Your videos have been immensely helpful for me. Keep up the good work. You make some of the best tips and tricks videos on Stalker Gamma.

[@Bandanner]

Glad they have been helpful :)

[@TheDarthwario]

Thanks for the excellent video and help on starting settings. One thing I found regarding Accessible Zone is that if you turn it off, the radio stations don't work at the beginning. I presume this is because you need to unlock the areas where the radio stations come from. But I want radio, so I started another new game and turned accessible zone back on.

[@casedistorted]

Jumping into Stalker Gamma, Used to play Stalker shadow and call of chernobyl back over a decade ago it feels like. Gamma seems like a good reason to get back into the game, but it has been such a long time since I’ve played this game I’ve forgotten everything

[@fearinghubris6796]

Great video, really love the clarity of it.

[@Gigglebitten]

Awesome awesome! I just installed gamma about 2 weeks ago, finally decided to take the dive into, im happy you said it was harder now, because i was like.... i seem to be having a more difficult time then previously stated lol

[@erickf1919]

great tutorial! just finished anomaly twice and finally got gamma downloaded for a third playthru and cant wait to try it out

[@Bandanner]

Have fun, it's a good pack, though I have never played base anomaly to compare.

[@EBOo__]

on my first try, i paid a dude 1.5 k rouble, because he said something about a rooky camp. there i talked to a few people, nothing crasy, one gave me a mission to kill mutants, with a marker on my map, so i made my way over there. on the way i got into a fight between bandits and stalkers where i killed all of them and made my way to the mutants. i killed 2 cats and got my mission complete massage. back at the rooky camp, everyone was shooting at me, i barly survived a epic fight against them all. not really knowing how to heal, permanently even until this point i searched youtube for some help and i think i watch your health guide next :D good tutorial much details and good voice/audio quality. thank you very much.

[@me36391]

STALKER is my all time favorite series and played a lot of mods(Misery probably the last one) but this week was the first time I jumped into GAMMA. I came here because after a few hrs I was like, wtf am I doing wrong? Am I missing something? Thank you for a simply laid out video that I am sure everyone will find helpful.

[@Bandanner]

Glad it was helpful. :) A few bits will have changed since I made it but most should be relevant.

[@salttrader]

Great video, thanks for the heads up on getting started.

[@Bandanner]

Glad to help!

[@helixfalks]

The story behind the vodka, People that consumed such drinks in high amounts, were less effected by radiation than those that didn't, this is true, however vodka does not remove radiation from the body like in game lol

[@JohnnymaCZEk]

Vodka and cigarettes to reduce radiation are references to free rations for "liquidators" on the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

[@DaSyEnTisT]

Thank you for this great video ! Gonna be playing stalker for the first time since call of prypiat !

[@Bandanner]

Have fun!

[@andysalter7779]

For the swamp missions the game does spawn in a squad of stalkers at the base to help you as soon as the mission starts who start very slowly walking to the target location. I know it does it with the 2nd and 3rd (final) part of the mission, I would need to check to see if they spawn for the first part. You get PDA messages about allies needing help at the mission location for the first mission so maybe they spawn else where on. the map.

[@Bandanner]

I tested it already ( I re-recorded this several times because I was unhappy, originally I had a section going to the swamps till I realised how FAST you took radiation and how brutal the mission had become). The mission spawns a squad of Clear Sky AT the pump station the moment you start it, but the enemy forces already control the station, so you are not "protecting it" as in the mission but assaulting it. In my test run the clear sky team were dead as I reached range the pump station and because the enemy were already in combat they opened up on me long range through the reeds without me getting a shot off.... thus I made the decision to change my advice for taking the starting armour. Because it was no longer worth advising new players to go straight there to get it. Many people had already commented it was too hard now in my previous version of this video. So I decided to opt for the sensible option for new players.

[@Aztal]

the .45 Hydrashok is so good vs mutants it damn near makes having a shotgun useless, it doesn't drop all that much, but you can buy it from most traders.

[@TheRogueWolf]

The downside is that Hyrdashok tends to be a fair bit more expensive than 12ga buckshot, especially when you buy shells from Butcher.

[@arkitektbmw]

Can't even get armor from Clear Sky anymore.

[@Bandanner]

Nah sadly he removed it :(

[@FinUgShiet]

Hi, I'm just playing Anomaly, not GAMMA, so might I ask, wtf is this "mighty foot" :D at 59:52 with the Ball...?

[@Bandanner]

Took me a moment to realise what you were getting at haha, never used it but if you have the ball in a belt slot you get a kick ability upgrade. I honestly don't even remember what key kick is in the game lol.

[@melvzzy]

Hey your Videos helped me a lot, i got one question whats the mod or setting for the companion icons you have ?

[@Bandanner]

No mod or setting from my side, its very likely Grok has changed something though.

[@alexlynch4473]

I set to tourist then change the economy so I get more and pay less, turn on fast travel with no cost, and set my bullet damage to 3x. I want a fun 50 to 100 hour playthrough, not 30 hours to fix my SKS

[@Bandanner]

Nothing wrong with that :) Play how you enjoy.

[@Tpachal]

I guess things got even more expensive because by after adding the 2 Yadulin I have only 50 pts left. I might drop the pistol for more meds.

[@Bandanner]

Yeah he has continued to change stuff over time, depending on how hard a start you want it can be worth lowering difficulty so you get more to spend here then increasing it once you are in game.

[@Tpachal]

@@Bandanner I have such a hard time on Easy - Tourist =( Then I see people Iron man, hardest difficulty, and dont take any items at the start and wonder why the heck Im so bad

[@Bandanner]

@@Tpachal experience, AND Grok has made it much harder over the last year. Do not feel bad or feel you need to play how others play! Play for you and how you enjoy it :)

[@gimmedataids]

Taking a shotgun is an absolute must, IMO. I started a game about a month ago, standard settings on medium difficulty. Took the SKS but no armour or pistol. I had zero trouble with fighting stalkers but would get absolutely destroyed by mutants in almost any encounter. The way Grok balanced the ballistics means that a Flesh (early game mutant) can sometimes take 5 or more shots with the 7.62x39 SKS. A couple of cats will fuck you up if you don't take a shotgun. Long story short, take a shotgun, armour, and a pistol for the humans and you'll have a much better time.

[@ernestonegri2350]

Well, I completed GAMMA before the new patch came out, then a few days ago I installed an started to play EFP (Escape From Pripyat) just to see how the games differ each other. I gotta say I didn't have an easy walkthrough on GAMMA, but EFP is absolute hell.

[@coolLikeRoa]

How do you download EFP I’ve been curious, I can’t seem to find any tutorials how to play eft. I currently have gamma installed, I’m not sure if it’s simply a mode.

[@ricardorego4139]

Awesome video! Looking to get back into Stalker with this modpack. Is it possible to adjust the thirst/hunger/sleep meters?

[@Bandanner]

Yes.... though I could not tell you where in the menu they are, either in standard settings or somewhere in the mod config menu but you will be able to change that sort of thing.

[@stevenrapa4014]

Can someone help, it seems the only way to get gamma, is through the discord? (I HATE discord with a passion...and again it gives me reason to)...I basically get stuck at the entry question "do you want to be notified about GAMMA updates?". Doesnt matter what I do... I cant get past the question... :/

[@joaogomes9405]

I'd recommend for newer players to drop the pistol and instead go for some radiation drugs and protection. You're going to need it a lot and you won't have any shortage of makarovs after dealing with your first bandits.

[@MrKoalaBeer]

i didnt spawn in the rookie villiage

[@Cotton101000]

How do you disable being able to see entire map straight away? Can’t find it anywhere in the settings

[@Bandanner]

Hmm the only bit I know how to change at the start is to not see EVERY single route between the zones. The entire map has always been there for me in terms of the zones being visible.

[@Cotton101000]

@@Bandanner thanks!! You recall how to turn off the routes you haven’t physically found? Feels like cheating 😃

[@Cotton101000]

Great content btw!!! Appreciate ur videos

[@Bandanner]

@@Cotton101000 Off the top of my head the only place I saw it was on the initial settings page where you decide the options for the game. After that point the game may not know which you had unlocked and which you had not so it might not be a setting. Honestly not sure though, best to ask on the official GAMMA discord, someone might know.

[@calmstormambience1875]

What's with the white sky in the background? Shouldn't the sky have texture details and color? First I thought this was a glitch but is this the way it's supposed to be? Thanks

[@Bandanner]

The weather is just foggy in the video.

[@calmstormambience1875]

@@Bandanner ok , i just started this game. So you mean as I progress the sky will change different colors?

[@Bandanner]

@@calmstormambience1875 well the weather will change just like time of day changes. So sometimes it's foggy, sometimes it rains and sometimes it's sunny etc. Its random. Watch some of my playthrough videos to see the different weather.

[@ThePunchBag]

Need a new new version, love these vids

[@Bandanner]

Due to time constraints currently I doubt I will revisit it before the 1.0 release, unless it takes him a lot longer to get there haha But I am glad you like them.

[@chrissinclair8705]

SKS is bolt action? I guess it doesn't need that pesky gas system. :-). I guess the one I owned was faulty, it kept cycling the rounds automatically.

[@Bandanner]

Are there two versions? I thought the Russian SKS 7.62 was bolt action? I am not in any way a gun nut I am afraid so my knowledge comes only from video games.

[@chrissinclair8705]

@@Bandanner I own a real one. I can assure you they are semi-auto. It's a nice Tula arsenal 1954. It would actually make a very decent starting rifle though. Pretty hard hitting with 10 rounds on tap before a reload. I imagine in the beginning of the game though ammo would be very scarce or expensive. I don't know if it the game you can load from stripper clips for it but it's a pretty fast reload with them. I'm still installing the mod but maybe for fun I'll take it regardless of the cost/benefit just to see how it runs and how much the ammo is at the beginning of the game. There were literally millions of them produced that they are dirt cheap. I got a surplus Chinese unissued blade type copy with oil bottle, sling, clip pouches and cleaning kit for $139 Canadian in the early 2000's. If you wanted a crappier copy they were even less. They were practically giving them away so yeah it makes a perfect surplus type cheap weapon for Stalker. In fact just based on the price they should be one of the cheapest weapons on the "points"(money?) list. Probably as cheap as the Makarov.

[@DEDF4]

Dude how the hell do I get through the meadow? Im just getting brick walled by radiation, anomalies and this dude who throws shit at me with his mind. its so frustrating.

[@Bandanner]

It's not somewhere I would go rushing to early on, it's quite a nasty place. Much like zone higher up the map you need better armour etc to survive. The game is very challenging and at times frustrating, eventually you work out ways to deal with various mutants. I went to the meadow early on in my first playthrough, quickly realised it was a mistake and did not go back for quite some time.

[@Khedaar]

I dont like that i cant find stashes without the coordinates. That was the best addition In Stalker Cop

[@TheIcarusFalls]

That's my favorite part. If you know the game and already know stash locations, you can get overpowered stuff very quickly so I like the fact you have to receive coordinates of a stash before loot will spawn in them. But to each their own

[@TheWill383]

Magnum in Rostock ? Sidrovich send me to talk to Beard in Both of my Playthoughs Beard is like way up North lol.. he doesnt like me appearantly

[@Bandanner]

He's sent me to Beard before too, I am not sure if its totally random or not.

[@TheWill383]

@Bandanner Probably Random who is Magnum though, don't remember meeting him .. or is it the Tech there ?

[@Bandanner]

@@TheWill383 I will be totally honest. I dont remember lol

[@StarOasis26]

How did you get those spooky trees?

[@Bandanner]

Older version of the mod pack Grok has changed it since. Someone did say you could change it back but unsure which mods do it. You are best asking on the official discord.

[@StarOasis26]

@@Bandanner damn that's too bad. why do you think he changed it?

[@Bandanner]

@@StarOasis26 No idea, I mean it's nice to see some actual leaves on the trees I must admit after playing it so long with everything dead. But I never presume to fully understand Groks vision for GAMMA :)

[@Gangster88232]

Medium setting on both choices is Wild. Glad i got enough parts to repair mp5 i found in garbage. And i used barrel from mp7. Smg is good for quests for bandits and low mutants. One hit with hollowpoint in head does the job done.

[@bungyboose2786]

Just got the game and I was just wondering how long I should stay in cordon / starting area. Like is there certain stuff I should have before leaving cordon or can you leave after you have some money?

[@TheAntsh]

You may leave for Garbage immediately but GAMMA has crazy mutant spawn and you may get some tough enemies there. In general you need better armor with more radioprotection the further North you go or you'll be constantly using meds or alcohol.

[@Bandanner]

As soon as you feel comfortable really. It's an easy place to make some cash, you can always pass back through to do that. But you can move on to the swamps or garbage etc etc as soon as you feel ready. Having some kind of single shot rifle will assist you with early swamps. I had the same issue on my first playthrough too. :)

[@bungyboose2786]

Ok thanks. Another question, how do you change the daddy save button because my f5 does something so it never works when I try to do a daddy save and I can’t find where to change this keybind

[@Bandanner]

@@bungyboose2786 not sure pressing shift and f5 together always worked for me. It could be in the mod configuration menu if its not in options. I am not sure though. Best to ask on the official gamma discord if you can't find it.

[@jessikat6692]

How do we get this Game?

[@Bandanner]

Join the official GAMMA discord and follow the install instructions there, they will also be able to give you advice/assistance if you have any issues. discord.gg/stalker-gamma

[@cyrilvidal1834]

For first time players, I suggest playing on the hardest difficulty. You’ll learn more and faster, and it won’t get boring late game. Afterwards, play on ironman mode w/ life granter. Trust me this will be a game changer. Edit: and also, try to remove the minimap as well. It will save your player’s life if you memorized the sorrounding areas

[@Bandanner]

I would strongly disagree with this, not everyone wants such a brutal experience and starting out at that level will put a significant number people off. As I clearly state in the video it should be a personal choice. Changing the difficulty will also in no way change how fast you learn the game. The difficulty can be changed at any point during the game so once they are comfortable they can easily step it up.

[@gimmedataids]

I also disagree. Playing on easy is challenge enough for a new player due to the deep mechanics and lack of hand-holding