S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Who are the Mercenaries? - Mercenary Faction History, Lore & Theories

[@XanderNiles]

The Mercenaries are definitely the most unpredictable faction in all the 3 games like they can be friendly, neutral and hostile towards the player depending of certain events and actions. I like their role in CoP the most, fighting against them in Jupiter and Pripyat is always fun.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

That's true yeah.

[@EdwardJoshu4]

Well... That's what they are a professional gun for hire. Friends today, enemy tomorrow. Always no hard feelings on their job lines even between mercenaries.

[@simonondrejkovic9461]

About Scar : not every merc has to be affiliated with the "main mercenaries", mercenary is a job, Scar maybe just decided to earn money in this way, doing mercenary work

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Yes, but he is still referenced as part of the Mercenary faction, which is weird.

[@simonondrejkovic9461]

@@anomalousdugout9557 true

[@simonaspalovis1204]

Is he really referenced as part of the faction? Because for one, he doesn't even have the Mercenary emblem on his PDA, which I think is already a hint that he is a different type of mercenary. From what I gather (and I've just recently replayed vanilla Clear Sky), he seems to work as a freelancer or independent contractor within the Zone, while most Mercenaries work with clients from outside of the Zone and seem to have a very organized network.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

@@simonaspalovis1204 Many different characters refer to him as "merc" and if you don't join any faction, the PDA will display his affiliation as "mercenary". But I also think he is more of a freelancer.

[@Kreia.]

@@simonaspalovis1204 yeah, but only the Mercs know his name. Probably he was affiliated with the Mercenaries for some time, then he left the group and went solo.

[@arsmariastarlight3567]

I think that Mercs are considered as a faction in the same manner as Loners, it's not a 'proper' faction with obvious presence, but a loose groups of people sharing the same idea (for Loners, surviving the zone, while for mercs, money, the difference is, mercs are more organized). They are hailed mostly from western-aligned countries, and are tasked to uncover the secrets of the zone (because as you said, of course other countries would be interested). Their scattered presence in the zone might be how their organization operates: marching an operation with large group of western-aligned soldiers inside the zone would be obvious and hard to hide, and surely the military would take notice. If the military managed to defeat the mercenary (very likely, since mercs don't have air support), there would be a lot of merc being taken as prisoner and interrogated, which might leak their connection to NATO countries' (thus, straining international relationship). Scattering them into smaller groups have an advantage of simultaneously searching multiple areas of the zone for it's secrets and in case of firefight, with smaller group of mercs, their client has a plausible deniability that 'oh yeah, those are people from our country, but it's not our responsibility, we don't know anything about such operation in the zone' (essentially, making mercs operation looks like stalkers, small group of people seeking to uncover secrets of the zone instead of large scale operation conducted by NATO countries). In all 3 games, they are the only faction that doesn't have a permanent base, making it easy to relocate their operation in case the military start to take notice. Their wildly different attitude and behavior could be the result of the zone's condition. It's hard to get any supplies, and average stalkers would be barely scraping anything he can get just to survive. In this case, with scattered group of mercs populating the zone, their other activities (aside from looking for zone's secret) is to offer their service to other factions, offering professional soldiers and superior equipment to do their dirty jobs, ranging from sabotage, assassination, or other services as a side job to either get more money, supplies, or artifacts for sustaining their operation. Of course, some groups are more tolerant to other faction where they allow them to get near, others are still distrustful so they only allow them to get close with weapons holstered and the rest are straight up hostile, shooting other factions on sight because hey, if they can't hire their service in the first place, then it's okay to get their supplies (in other words, inferior ones are hunted for our supplies), which resulted in multiple independent group of soldiers from the same faction having a wildly different attitude to other factions. If we take a shot on how long they've been inside the zone, I can say it's not very long.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Alright, you always make good points. Thanks for your insights.

[@The_D_ray]

I highly agree.

[@essex3777]

I feel that way about the Bandits, there are no true 'Leaders' as a whole but more representative of tribes or warbands to the rest of the Zone and only have Patches because _everyone_ has a patch. Kind of like the 'rules of the criminal world' from John Wick, one really likes each other but they unofficially agreed to certain standards. So much like like the Loners where there is no true structure to it, they have agreed to have a 'face' of the faction.

[@ddlakes]

loners dont want to "survive the zone" if they did they wouldnt have entered it in the first place. theyre interested in money much like the mercs

[@arlessbad]

That's how I thought of it the entire time. Mercenaries are just better equipped loners that came from NATO affiliated countries and likely came with each other in groups or shared similar contracts. I believe that the goal of mercenaries is dependent on the mercenary group, same as how loners themselves are. However, loners and mercenaries are pretty much the same in intent, they all want money, however, I believe mercenaries came for contracts or regarding a contract, and most would probably be former western law enforcement/military. Mercenaries are just better organized and achieve goals that regular loners dont; aka instead of searching for an artifact they do more difficult jobs regarding the interior of the zone or other factions.

[@EdwardJoshu4]

Very interesting vids and yes mostly in Mercenary faction are foreigners. If you try to check their name there will be western, germany, french, and (while rare) italian name.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Alright, thanks.

[@caro7048]

lol your pic is from mercenary organizarion aswell.

[@EdwardJoshu4]

@@caro7048 Yep and I'm proud of it!

[@hiiamunkown4129]

its a shame what happned to msf

[@EdwardJoshu4]

@@hiiamunkown4129 don't remind me that bratan, it's indeed a dark time for us.... just let them live in our memories

[@UberMedic7]

I really like the NATO/Western private military company theory, not only it is fitting but very reasonable, the existance of the zone is no secret so obviously powerful people and governments want in on it one way or another so a private army would be the best way to do it, no strings attached, really wish they didnt scrap Dead City or at least flesh out the faction a bit more, especially in SoC, they're pretty hardcore.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Yes, that's the most common theory. I've seen in the comments another one as well, according to which the mercs would be working for the C-Consciousness...

[@guyfawkes7733]

@@anomalousdugout9557 They're definitely funded by western interests, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if they make dealings with the C-Consciousness. It would also explain how the monolith are so well supplied in the zone, they probably get weapons and resources from the west as well through the mercs.

[@LambFlameman]

ISG faction was going to be that but Sounds pretty good

[@ethanarias2911]

​@@LambFlameman ISG would be a UN sanctioned "official" army operating within the zone, mercs I imagine would be aligned with western private interests

[@АлексейКузьмичев-е7б]

The most painful dilema in "Call of Pripyat": get "A Friend of Stalkers" achievement or kill all mercenary leaders, because you either help stalkers on Skadovsk to defeat bandits or help Morgan and meet Vulture. Hard choice - being a good man and get allies with stalkers or fully complete your mission as an USS officer.

[@kazak8926]

One of the best stalker channels making a video about my favorite faction!

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Or so it seems, thanks!

[@exudeku]

I really love to be the Mercs in Anomaly mod, especially with The Boomsticks add-on's NATO weapons.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Alright, that's understandable.

[@piotrgrzelak2613]

That's such a boring and tedious mod. I don't understand what makes it popular.

[@entername4133]

@@piotrgrzelak2613 well like it adds new weapons and attachments, I can see why it’s popular

[@piotrgrzelak2613]

@@entername4133 every mod does it friendo

[@arkonez6730]

@@piotrgrzelak2613 are you talking about bas or anomaly?

[@AQAS-ux5jz]

I have never been so excited to see a KZbin video in my life! Love the work (been watching for a long time).

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Thanks!

[@engineermole2688]

In stalker Anomaly the Mec 'home' in dead city is an anomaly hellhole and more than a few nasty mutants including the psudogients. Its a Hard start to the game but good fun, bar the fact every one bar Duty, Bandits and Ecologies want to blow you to bits so you need to use the blending in system, quite advanced for the mod to get around without constantly fighting.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Yes, that's Anomaly in a nutshell.

[@ayylmao8901]

Also I noticed the song "Horse With No Name" is almost always playing on the radio there. still one of my favourite factions to play in anomaly because of what you start off with, and what gear you can get, and what quests you can do. same for Monolith.

[@NcrXnbi]

Hard start? That is quite the joke. > Start game with Merc shitty armor + guns. > Leave dead city and head to Army Warehouses. > Have fun watching duty and freedom kill each other or Monolith and Mercs kill each other. > Loot everything they have and kill Duty / Monolith survivors. > ??? > Profit Also I think they changed Eco/Merc relations, they are quite neutral in my current Anomaly play. Not to mention you can easily ignore Rostok (Duty / Loner no fun allowed zone) and just walk around taking the truck cemetery + dark valley route if you need to get to Garbage or south areas. Bandits are your friends (at least neutral, I didn't change any relations in Anomaly) so you can resupply or rest at their base on Dark valley. OR you can be ballsy, grab a couple of grenades and blow the crap out of the Duty check point facing Wild territory entrance if you need to go to Wild territory / Yantar / Agropom.

[@engineermole2688]

@@NcrXnbi It is when all thats out the door are Pseudogiants and non of the mercs can be arsed to help kill them

[@ayylmao8901]

@@NcrXnbi I just repaired a duty uniform to max and put that on if I needed to get through Rostok/Wild Territory. Put the suit I wasn’t wearing in that stash under the house thing where the merc snipers were in SOC, and did whatever I needed to do around there. Monolith is also just as fun. (there’s a secret trader somewhere in the red forest that’s actually friendly, also it lets you join the sin faction, which you can only do if you play monolith)

[@stanislav7888]

Nice video man, I appreciate the level of detail you put in about the Merc's from all of the games including Clear sky. Even showing the unused U.S army skins. This faction unlike some of the others has a lot more to it than meets the eye, and the theory about them being Western backed is spot on. I am sure they would be both government and potentially privately funded for doing their work in the zone.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Thanks, I think you are right.

[@Kilo1158]

The US Army skins were multiplayer DLC skins. They weren't unused. There were a few other DLC skins like British SAS and German KSK if I recall.

[@rogue_4tw763]

In the Stalker COP ending Cutscenes, one of the slides tell you about the future of Sokolov (The Military pilot from the bunkers). In the slide it says he is shot down by Mercenaries over Limansk. Confirming there is a Mercenary presence in Limansk after COP (or maybe even throughout too)

[@UsaKen_PMC]

Some people questioning who or what's mercs client(s), but here i am, watching this explanation while eating tourist's delight while waiting a new order from my boss - _a war criminal rabbit._

[@untrustworthy7226]

i felt the mercs were just there to be bad guys I wish there was more interactions with them like in clear sky

[@anomalousdugout9557]

In some instances it certainly felt that way, yes.

[@exile2721]

10:10 the merc on the left is the exact reason why I play as mercs in anomaly. Just comes out casually strolling whilst holding an RPG with one hand. I mean it doesn't get anymore badass than that Edit: Really good video, considering I'm British I just think that mercs are my perfect fit. I used to favour freedom quite a bit but respected duties attitude towards the zone. I just admitted to myself that mercenaries were the faction for me considering my playstyle and just for the sake of role playing a little. I hadn't noticed until you pointed it out that Skull joined the mercs at some point after being with duty. I thought Skull was awesome leading all those duty exo dudes. Pretty hardcore squad of guys.

[@MetallicMelon493]

Another video! Yay! I've been interested in the backgrounds of the Mercs for awhile. Nice video :)

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Great then, thanks!

[@vladimirilyichulyanov1450]

Will you do other faction lore videos? Like " Duty Faction History, Lore & Theories".

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Maybe, but I can't say for sure.

[@ghostsbyk173]

Mercenaries have different appeals across each stalker from the faction, that's what makes the faction incredibly interesting to learn about. You can get these examples from what Scar does, how Hatchet accepts Degtyarev as a candidate for the mission to supply his rouge merc squad, Leshiy's squad helping Clear Sky, Skull and Black attacking Degtyarev for the documents.. You name it. This is one of my favorite factions but at the same time, I do have a couple of despisements for it, the way they work, and the aggressiveness in Shadow of Chernobyl. But you can't really blame them, if their goal is to find out about the X-named labs.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Yes, that's definitely correct.

[@baker7647]

Everytime he says wormfood I just picture Patrick from spongebob with full tech gear

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Ahah yes.

[@baker7647]

@@anomalousdugout9557 Great job on your videos by the way, you're the only youtuber I find doing stalker videos without having to go off track to mention something else to strech the video.

[@ninjaviking1999]

Best STALKER lore videos on KZbin!

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Alright, thanks!

[@zombiehunter501]

I think Skull was always a Merc. But undercover as a member of Duty. He wanted to kill the freedom base against order from his faction's leader. Yet the mercs are at peace with freedom, a faction they were at war with in the past. Making me think the merc wanted freedom gone from the base, but wanted duty to take the blame. When his plan canonically failed. He went back to being what he really was. a merc.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

That's a nice theory, I like it. Thanks for sharing!

[@kdark1n641]

They're two different characters, unlike Leshiy

[@Wesley-1776]

I’ve always thought of the term mercenary in the zone to referring to several groups inaccurately. For instance Scar seems to just be a Loner who takes jobs from the Ecologists. Making him a mercenary be default. Later in clear sky when you are about to fight monolith and need to cross the bridge, those Mercs aren’t wearing blue and again seem more like veteran stalkers or mercenaries from an Eastern European country. Finally we see these blue uniformed Mercs wearing western style gear and using western weapons. I honestly believe these guys are either a NATO proxy or at the very least are likely a group like Blackwater/Academi working for western corporate interests.

[@traxussturmkrieger8674]

I was searching for this kind of video for Mercs lately, I ended up watching your videos. 😁

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Perfect then!

[@vikingyux3491]

I miss the camp fire stories, I hope you can bring them back someday.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

I understand that. The campfire stories are currently replaced by Falcon's PDA series, but after that's over, I'm planning to make campfire stories again.

[@brandonblackfyre5783]

*I recently jumped back into "S.T.A.L.K.E.R GAMMA" for another playthrough and I love watching these LORE videos while I am surviving in the zone myself. GAMMA also got a huge update around Christmas time that added tons of new content & some MAJOR game changes, 95% of them for the better... including some, extremely appreciated, "quality of life" improvements & mechanics.* *If you haven't checked out "S.T.A.L.K.E.R GAMMA, then I highly reccomend playing it, especially if you love the Stalker series... GAMMA has some really amazing graphics, I am playing on a new 1440P monitor and man Stalker looks good at 1440P. As long as you have a decent PC Setup then you should be able to play S.T.A.L.K.E.R GAMMA with at least 30-60 FPS.* *"S.T.A.L.K.E.R GAMMA" suffers from poorer frame rates & MUCH worse optimization, especially when compared to "S.T.A.L.K.E.R Anomaly." If you get 60 FPS in Stalker Anomaly, than you will most likely get 30-40 FPS in Stalker Gamma.... I have a mid/high grade(ish) PC setup that has a Ryzen 7 5800x CPU & AMD 6600xt 8GB VRAM GPU and I get, on average, 60-90 FPS while playing with the graphics at high & on 1440p... If I play at 1080p resolution, I normally get well over 100 FPS all the time, at least in the South of the Zone since I have never made it far North yet.*

[@marty8123]

I love how you keep doing stalker content

[@anomalousdugout9557]

I will never do anything else with this channel.

[@AnemoEther]

Nice video man! Could you make some video about Sin faction?

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Thanks. I've been thinking about the Sin faction for a while, so it's possible I'll make a video on them. However, it probably won't be a true Lore video since the faction does not exist in the vanilla games.

[@akaroth7542]

Would've been more interesting if we could have interacted with them indirectly through radio or dead-drops for jobs from or for them.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Yes, it would have been interesting for sure.

[@lucho6883]

Recently, I started a Merc run on Anomaly. Friends with Freedom. Hating on Duty. Drinking with Bandits. Stealing from free stalkers. Good ol' times.

[@krystal_ship]

One of the things i love doing in anomaly is being a merc, adding a little rp to it, my character is a former IDF soldier, i always use a mix between NATO and Eeastern european guns, for example always an as val or an AK 12, and always a NATO pistol like a USP or walther, it's really interesting to get into their lore and stories, definitely one of the most interesting factions in a videogame imo.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Okay, thanks for the comment.

[@murkoffcorp4214]

@@anomalousdugout9557 I didn't much like it either to be honest. I think it should be deleted.

[@GAMER123GAMING]

@@murkoffcorp4214 He just said thanks for the comment

[@baalzagoroth4693]

I think they are organized like in anomaly, because the dead city was cut in SoC but meant to be their base. Different attitudes to stalkers could be because they aren't loyal to a cause but only a mission. So if you don't get in the way of the mission you live.

[@jaffakeks4403]

Yeah Scar was more of a freelancer.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Definitely looks like it.

[@LewisB3217]

To me they feel very uninspired, but I love them. I hope in stalker 2 we can learn a bit more about them since a ton of content was cut sadly

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Alright, I'm sure they will appear in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 along with some more lore!

[@TCrag]

Great video, I really like that you used gameplay footage with no HUD, very immersive and the best way to experience the zone in my opinion.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Thanks, I spend a lot of time getting the correct footage for the scenes so I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[@FurryFailure]

Great video, been playing Anomaly as of late and it's sucked me back into the Stalker series - There's so much fascinating stuff within the world, and how deep some of the lore/factions go; Wanting to learn more about these areas and why some things are the way they are, etc. I originally played CoP, and I spent some time with CoC a good few years ago, but I never understood or grasped them, but now? I want more - The Mercs being one of those things. I feel like there's so much more to them that GSC could have really expanded on, and dare I say they could've had their own game.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Thanks. It will be interesting to see what GSC will do with the mercenaries in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.

[@brandonblackfyre5783]

*PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT* *First of all, if you haven't played any of the OG Stalker Games, I highly recommend going back & playing them. Even after all these years, the Original S.T.A.L.K.E.R games still hold up relatively well, ESPECIALLY if you download some mods that add "HD Textures" and make the game look as good as it can for a 20+ year old game. Even without those mods the game is still amazing. Even if you don't have a very good PC, you can still play the OG Stalker games without any problems.* *If you have a Good PC then you MUST play "S.T.A.L.K.E.R GAMMA" ... Its based off a HUGE modded version of S.T.A.L.K.E.R called "S.T.A.L.K.E.R Anomaly" where you play as any faction you want and the world is like a big sandbox, you are pretty much free to do whatever you want. It's great for a little Role Play, especially since you can even play as "Monolith" and spawn at the Nuclear Power Plant at the start of the game. Stalker Anomaly & GAMMA both have pretty good story lines but the best part of the game is just straight up survival, making that 💸💸💲 & questing so you can upgrade your weapons & gear.* *THE BEST PART OF IT ALL, "S.T.A.L.K.E.R GAMMA IS FREE!!! You just need to go on ModDb and download Stalker Anomaly and then install Stalker Gamma. It may look & sound a little difficult but it's easy once you actually do it, mainly because theres a Stalker Gamma discord that can walk your thru the installation step by step, in their "Installation Section" ... You won't be dissatisfied &/or disappointed, I promise!*

[@PatykThirtyFour]

The "U.S. Army" model is used as one of the skins mercs can use in Multiplayer.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Oh I did not know that, interesting.

[@Moth_of_Yuggoth]

I can tell you who they are in a few words however, it would contain a lot of censored words.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

I can imagine that.

[@Moth_of_Yuggoth]

@@anomalousdugout9557 When you've had to clean out the dead city every time you pass through it.

[@brav2976]

Great Video! Mercenaries are one of my favourite factions.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Thanks, great then!

[@mrhorrorface]

That transition from Darkscape to Cordon was fucking sick

[@Снайпер_Хренов]

It is important to remember that the game was originally meant to feature different merc units with diverse uniforms and insignias, which had to be cut due to development issues. So, while the mercs in the vanilla game all wear the same uniform, it is possible to assume that they are entirely different factions with different goals and orders

[@Larper00]

very interesting video , i would love to see more videos like this

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Thank you. It's possible that I will make more similar videos in the future.

[@engineermerasmus2810]

I always wondered if they were one group with multiple smaller subgroups (so same company with multiple smaller pieces payed by different people) Or multiple groups who only have their style of work in common But the symbol used by them tells a lot. Also Scar could be a hired gun, which also means mercenary, while the others are from the group mentioned above.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Yes, and as explained in the video I think the former is more likely to be true.

[@Overlord99762]

My idea is that the Mercs are a conglomerate of different PMCs, so different men from different countries and with different ideologies, so they are friendly, hostile or neutral. The conglomerate formed the faction to ensure profits, yeah sure, you want the money to yourself, but if you're dead you won't get paid.

[@praveenverma2881]

Please make a video on S.t.a.l.k.e.r. Lost Alpha

[@noralex777]

I personally think besides training the only difference between Loners and Mercs is pay grade. Scar is in the middle. Takes jobs for pay(Mercs) but helps where he can(Loners). Scar is a Merc with a heart, or a Loner with a paycheck

[@flyingbird5449]

I never knew duty's colonel skull was the same skull that was a merc in call of pripyat! Since its cannon that the player doesn't help any faction like duty or freedom in shadow of Chernobyl After not being able to take over and destroy the freedom base i assume skull and his men didnt want to go back to rostok and to general voronin since they did disobey the general and because of that would be either kicked from duty, jailed or even executed. They obviously cant go to freedom for help since they will be shot immediately and cant go to the radar to escape either since it was filled with monolith and very unsafe. The mercs were the only faction in the army warehouses that they could go to for getting help since they wouldnt shoot or kill them on sight like freedom plus it makes sense why the mercs would help them join their faction because of the amount of info they had on duty and their base in rostok.

[@The_D_ray]

My theory on Mercenaries is that there's just ONE big group in the Zone, who makes the equipment and stuff, and the Mercenaries themselves are just Stalkers (or outsiders) who join the "Faction" to get the right equipment to enter the Zone prepared. There's no leader in the Faction, and everyone works for their outside clients. That's why not all of them are hostile, or neutral. They are like a more organized "Loner" faction if you wish. To make it more simple: I'm an outsider > Someone asks me to retrieve artifacts from the Zone > I get in contact with the Mercenary Faction in order to get the right equipment to enter the Zone > I do my job > The End The bigger groups might be lead by the interest of splitting the wage of clients, or maybe just to split any eventual loot outside of the target.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Yes, that might be how they are organised. Thanks for sharing this idea.

[@joudukoigile]

Any idea what their patch means?

[@punishedhek7495]

i subscribed, this is a kick ass channel, thanks!

[@dr.markone2275]

Hi. Can u mack a vidoe about military factoin.what they do and other things🙂🙂

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Maybe I will do something about the military, but I'm not sure. They are doing a lot of things in the Zone for sure.

[@dr.markone2275]

@@anomalousdugout9557 tnx sralker😄😊

[@stavar459]

Duty - WAR Freedom - Weeeed Loners - Oh shit, here we go again Ecologist - Hmm artefact tastes gud Military - What the fuck is he doing with that rocket launcher ? Clear Sky - noooo ! bully from Renegades !!! Bandits - Cheeki Breeki Monolith - Remember, no Ukraine Mercenary - MONEY !

[@anomalousdugout9557]

That's a bit simplified.

[@papalegba6759]

to a well equipped stalker mercs are merely a source of good ammo. bullies basically.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

I guess that's true.

[@blueorange9067]

Scar is like a lone merc, he doesn't belong to their faction officialy, but he operates as one. So he isn't rogue for killing other mercs, he was simply HIRED by Freedom to take care of them, same as those Mercs in Dark Valley were paid to eliminate Freedom and sieze the X lab. If you talk to Leshiy, he seems to know Scar personally, as he is the only one in the game calling him Scar. While others call him merc. So he is basically a lone mercenary, and he doesn't really stands out from the rest of them( except the equipment) and will do jobs for clients if they are willing to pay. Mercs in general vary from group to group and their task, if their task is to protect something or snatch something , they will probably shoot anyone in sight to prevent stalkers in meddling with their job. While some are hired to get artifacts or explore the labs, they probably won't attack other factions because there is no reason to. They don't need more problems. Those in SoC were hired to get the Kruglovs research , that's why they shot anyone in sight so they could secure the research. Notice how other mercs are neutral in CS and CoP, they probably don't have reason to shoot others until they start meddling with their mission.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Yes, I think you are right. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[@SheolAbaddonus666]

I'm looking too far into this but the TRS-301 is based on the ZM Weapons LR-300. It is an American made weapon, which was submitted to be used as a replacement for the M16, but didn't catch on. That being said, it would be difficult to obtain unless the Merc company paid ZM to make rifles for them. The US government doesn't have anything to do with this because they are going directly to the manufacturer in a legal transaction. A lot of guns are bought from other countries and rebranded in a sense, the FN MAG being the M240, the Colt AR-15A4 being the M16A4; a gun company makes a gun, and a government contracts them to build x amount of them for their military.

[@ElectroBooze]

Every time I hear about the Zone, they say they want to reach the center of the zone. I don’t remember the map from the originals, but if Gamma is right, then the CNPP would be at the top with everything below it or beside it. If that’s how it is, then what’s north of all that? If CNPP is the center, then only half the zone is being shown to us

[@ClearWhiteWater]

Me when first time see them i think they are american or other western nation soldier Oh and in russian version of this game they speak with british french and germany accent (source my russian friend)

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Alright, that makes sense.

[@VaNDaIUKR]

No, that's not true. Most(and by most i mean all combat barks\campfire monologues and most of named characters speak just plain russian without any particular accent) exceptions are Wolfhound - who has Jewish accent(some think he is from Odessa, which makes sense, but this is not confirmed), some of campfire monologues contain reference to cognac\Shashlik(which is quite popular in our latitudes, but it's associated with Western Asia(like Georgia\Armenia, and roughly speaking that region)). I don't remember if it was changed in Ukrainian localization(It's been a long time since i played it), but i think Merks was left unchanged(Duty for exemple was left unchanged). Ukrainian localization came out few month after each game as an official patch (just FYI) So, no, not a single Merk have western accent

[@ClearWhiteWater]

@@VaNDaIUKR Well i dont know about that my russian friend say it to me i never play the russian version

[@josephmontanaro2350]

There might be different merc groups and even freelancers alone or in small teams, could explain the reason for the potential "blue" on blue in clearsky

[@fgm1197]

To this day SoC (with very few mods, Autumn Aurora i can recommend) is one of the best FPS games story and atmosphere wise.

[@NiceGameInc]

I just tried out to be neutral to mercs in my latest playthrough by doing what you showed in one of your videos on how to become a member of freedom. Sadly, it's just like with the bandits, it's mostly impossible to interact with mercs. For instance, you can't help a wounded neutral bandit or merc by providing a first aid kit. I am also pretty sure they can not become marked as friendly to the player even if the player helps them fight their enemies, which seems to be the case for both bandits and mercs, too. (Maybe there is a hidden reason for that, it might not be possible to be friends with either mercs or bandits for obvious reasons..) However, it was fun to be able to this time fight Kruglow and his peers without having to mind the mercs, and just help them. I wished there were more occasional appearances of mercs in the game(s), also with the ability to interact with them.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Yes, I observed the same things. Considering that joining Freedom should not be possible in the first place, I guess the devs never took the time to implement interactions with bandits and mercs.

[@dannyelfman7923]

Stalker Anomaly - Stand Alone game you can play for free. You can play all the factions, Mercs, Monolith, Ecologists, Duty, Freedom, Bandit, Loner, Sin, Renegade and the UNISG (United Nation something something). I highly recomend this game, its totally awesome. You need to try!

[@snaker9er]

Who's supplying the Mercs? Terragroup.

[@Golfjong]

I wonder who would win usec or mercs

[@PaganPilot]

Us mercs may not be a truly cohesive or rather a looser "faction," but we've got a squad/cell structure bc it benefits us. We got client(s) with various contracts, but we wear relatively same colours/uniform as to know not to mess with each-other's objectives (contract willing of course). We all having varying approaches with each squad and merc being unique, but we all swear by same code "Contract must be fulfilled." Also our dead city base is neutral ground for all of us.

[@correoelectronico1689]

Hi if you kill uncle yar the group of merc will be friends or even neutral to you in that mision, pretty weird tbh

[@Rdboun]

You can get wolfhound's sidearm if you order a pistol to Nimble in CoP wich might mean that wolfhound's team gets wiped out since there's no other way that nimble could get it if wolfhound isnt dead.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Yes, but he could also have died later. I guess we'll never know.

[@incognitonotsure909]

wolfhound couldve decided to leave the zone.

[@Rdboun]

@@incognitonotsure909 but you forgot that the marked one killed wolfhound and his men to save kruglov to continue the game story.

[@izperehoda]

11:01 "shoot on sight if you come too close" that's not how shooting on sight works.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

In this case it is. If they see you but you are far enough, they won't shoot. If you are too close but they don't see you, they won't shoot. Therefore, they will only shoot you if you are close enough and in sight.

[@BlazedLizurd]

mercs can be PMC's funded by various western govts. to be able to access the artifacts and research in chornobyl

[@emateiblin5409]

In Call Of Pripyat the first time the event in the beginning of this video happened I just jumped off the window and left the losers hang around that building. I think they even despawn after some time if you leave them.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

That's a way of escaping I guess.

[@Lorne05]

Nice Video :D

[@samargrewal929]

keep up the work :)

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Thanks, I'll do my best.

[@ryszakowy]

i think that mercenaries are two things 1. actual pmc that has a staging area outside the zone with patches on uniforms and all 2. all other mercs that are not a part of the first thing but thanks to game limitations they are all "mercs" so Scar doesn't have to be a MERC to be a mercenary does that make sense? it sounded better in my head

[@sicksour7791]

please make video on freedom faction! they're my favorite

[@Ginfeldi]

The experiments in the zone would sure get the attention of other countries

[@matt_sa]

In my opinion, mercenaries are a PMC because they act as a faction more.

[@jacobdyingextraordinaire4805]

In my headcanon, mercs are American PMCs hired out by the shadowy elite to investigate the Zone

[@anomalousdugout9557]

It could be, yes.

[@yourlocalcyborg]

the W O R M F O O D line gets me every damn time

[@anomalousdugout9557]

It's quite iconic yeah.

[@Russian_Ancap]

I have a theory: If the mercenaries as a group are controlled by the Syndicate, then I personally think that the Syndicate is an association of all major PMCs from around the world for a centralized study of the ChEZ. Those. it turns out that the leaders of the Syndicate are representatives of these PMCs. It turns out such a picture - the Syndicate consists mainly of German, French, American, British and Russian PMCs, all of them have their own goals in the ChEZ and, accordingly, the leaders of the board of the Syndicate are representatives of this five. Considering that the game itself has Russian-language voice acting for mercenaries and even English, German and French voice acting were planned, then everything falls into place. I also think that within the mercenaries a split is possible among Russian and Western PMCs for the right to manage the Syndicate.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

This Syndicate you are talking about does not appear in any of the games though.

[@Russian_Ancap]

@@anomalousdugout9557 The mercenaries in the original trilogy are shrouded in mystery, we know almost nothing about their device. In the disdocs and older versions of the plot, there was still some attempt to involve mercenaries in the main plot. But the world order, who leads them and what goals were still not known. In the Stalker books, quite a lot was told about the life of mercenaries. In one of the books of the trilogy Enemy of the Monolith, Executioners, Suicides (I don’t remember which one) there was a base of mercenaries in Pripyat, their life and goals were described on behalf of the heads of the hero. Mercenaries - a grouping, is a formation that performs tasks to order. The main specialization is contract killings and the search for documents; however, members of the syndicate do not disdain other work. (this from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Wiki Ru)

[@serhatrobincoskun4778]

Wolfhound isnt dead probably since you can buy his weapon from nimble in CoP

[@lihac5079]

Wait so are you french? Your accent kind of sounds french, especially the way you say words ending in -ous, like dangerous. In some qna you said you would confirm it if someone guessed it correctly.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Perhaps I am. In the Q&A, I said that I would confirm if someone brought proof, so we're not quite there yet...

[@spartan8695]

another good theory i very like your channel i wait for next good theory Pozdrowienia z Polski :)

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Alright, thanks!

[@isaiahdees2309]

One question, how did you get that CS suit with the helmet?

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Bought it from the Clear Sky trader Docent Suslov. This suit usually only appears in his shop when the faction is at its peak, that is right before you go to the Cordon.

[@brotherhoodofsteel4751]

I think it's probably similar to how the bandits were originally going to be multiple factions they were probably going to be multiple factions of mercenaries with different employers such as private corporations or Western governments.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Yeah that makes sense.

[@heavymachinegun1206]

Can you do more factions lore

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Maybe, we'll see in the future.

[@isaiahdees2309]

I got a theory or two for scar and the mercs. The first theory is that scar was betrayed by the mercs for the pay of him doing his job for whatever reason and he hates mercs to the bone. Next one is that some of the nice mercs were his friends in the merc faction (If that's possible) and he wanted to be rich yet failed by needing to send the money somewhere or people took his money other than 200 and he got a bad rep with the mercs.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Alright, that could be true.

[@jaleb4289]

Right when I heard they are westerners my mind went straight to Blackwater, or Academi now. They could just inspired by Blackwater, as that’s what Merryweather is based on in GTA.

[@Not_Zephyrioux]

ah yes my favorite faction than loners Mercenaries are pretty similar to a character of Rainbow Six Siege anyway the enemie of mercs: Free Stalkers, Military, Duty, Monolith, Sin ( unknow faction but i really don't know Sin and they not enemie of mercs). And that's it. Btw you should make a dc server

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Okay. I'm pretty sure Sin is enemy with everyone else, but I could be wrong.

[@jaleb4289]

@@anomalousdugout9557 in Anomaly they are neutral with the Monolith, but then again that is just a mod not an official Stalker game.

[@zay0350]

“Wooooorm Fooood”

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Indeed.

[@danielhavranek8965]

Will you make tutorial how to make mods ? xd

[@anomalousdugout9557]

I do not know how to make mods, so the answer is no.

[@danielhavranek8965]

@@anomalousdugout9557 Okay sorry

[@nikoslavigra3736]

This is a good series what would be the next faction

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Thanks, but I'm not sure if this is going to be a series. We'll see.

[@FunctionalGamerBrasil]

How do you do your research of the topics?

[@anomalousdugout9557]

I have a list of dozens of topics to talk about in future videos, that have formed in my mind over the years while playing the games. After I decided on a topic for a video, I replay all the parts of the games where anything related to this topic happens, to make sure to not forget anything. I also use the wiki but I always check the sources as I don't trust the website.

[@ibowonar141]

is the footage in this video from any mods?

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Nope, only the original games.

[@constantinbogdanas5885]

Anomaluos I'm just curios, where are you from ? Nice content by the way

[@anomalousdugout9557]

That's a mystery for now. But thanks!

[@some-jk4nx]

Hey i notced you said hopefully instead of thankfully again, just a little mistake anyway great video as allways

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Yes I know my bad, I can't get rid of this mistake!

[@roomba6720]

I'm rather confused about the mercenaries interest in the secret labs in the zone. In SoC, I'm pretty sure there are almost no traces of mercenaries near any of the X-labs. Only in CS and CoP, the mercenaries can be seen poking around near the entrances of the labs. Is it possible that GSC only added the mercenary X-labs stuff after the release? But that would contradict the fact that I'm pretty sure the mercs were originally going to be added to the Dead City to investigate an underground lab below the Dead City. Anyway I'm still rather confused but this video did manage to clear up some stuff on the mercs.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

While the mercenaries in SoC cannot be seen directly trying to get into the labs, there are more subtil signs that they were interested in them. For example, the bandit base near X-18 has a mercenary suit among its loot. More importantly, many zombies in Yantar are dressed as mercenaries, implying that they tried to get to X-16 but failed and got turned into zombies. I hope that clears things up.

[@LowPhat]

I just about only play as mercs in every anomaly run

[@the100radsstalker93]

Tbh most mercenaries are poorly equipped when compared to more dangerous factions like the Monolith or the Military stalkers.

[@monolith9613]

Somehow Freedom and the mercenary faction pacthes looks almost sirmirarly same

[@anomalousdugout9557]

I don't really agree with that. The merc patch represents some kind of bird, an eagle maybe. While the freedom patch seems to represent a wolf.

[@seancatacombs]

GAMMA makes the NATO connection explicit by giving the Mercs English-language vocal barks with American and British accents

[@MGoogle3146]

Which country are you from? I have not hard an accent like this before.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

France.

[@JustAGuy93-G]

Its weird i thought back in the day as a kid when playing SOC that the mercs were french as they sounded french. Maybe thats their weird accents coming through?

[@YuriYoshiosan]

Mercenaries are not factions. They are groups of individuals who share the same idea of something, just like the loners. They're even noted as "Stalkers" in Scar's PDA, even though everyone who is in the Zone other than the Military and Mutants are called Stalkers as well, all away from their faction. While Duty and Freedom is a militarized group, depicting the Cold War (NATO Bias L86 Freedom and Soviet Bias AN94 Duty) the mercenaries are also militarized, as in using a standard issue, in this case, the LR-300 ML-A. Ironically, when joining their faction, they don't give you their standard issue weapon, only standard issue Armor. Joining Duty gave you the Groza, and Joining Freedom gave you the SIG SG550. Joining Freedom is considered better in early game, because NATO ammo (5.56x45mm SS109) is also found in the mercenary bodies. A lot of Freedom and Mercenary soldiers are killed in Dark Valley, allowing you to wrap up the Dark Valley chapter of the game with a lot of 5.56 ammo and a lot of NATO weapons. However, joining Freedom early (with mods that allow you to join any faction right away) will make the Agroprom Underground quest a solo mission. That means you will have to deal with a dozen Snorks in the entrance of the underground alone. Joining Duty benefit you at late game. Because you cannot return from Limansk, if you ran out of ammo, you're mostly done, but the Monolith uses 5.45 and 9x39mm guns, which means you just really need a good armor, a pistol and a well aimed headshot to replenish ammo temporarily. Joining Duty is going to be painful at the late game because of Kostyan's squad. Even though they're not much, they have good guns, good armor and you're fighting them alone. This means that the best faction to join in the game without Freeplay is Stalkers. As they're neutral to all factions except for Bandits and other non-warring factions such as Renegades (Annihilated) and Monolith (Generally hostile) After Freeplay (Complete mod), joining Freedom or Duty will be the best experience because you need to traverse 2 (Dark Valley, Garbage and Agroprom) areas instead of 1 with the Stalkers (Cordon to Garbage)

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Alright, thanks for sharing your thoughts.