Worst - Mission - Ever

[Ensiferum]

First of all, i love that game, so it's not a rant about it or anything. It's a rant about what's probably the crappiest mission of the last 20 games i've played:
The mission you do for the scientists, in the second map, about protecting stalkers while they scan anomalies.

First, the AI of the "scanning stalkers" is simply miserable. Whenever an ennemy is around, even if it's like 1 kilometer away, those morons will stop scanning and go shoot it, to their death.

Secondly, why in the universe does it have to take so much time? I mean seriously, it takes a solid 15 minutes at least to finish ONE scan.

And near the Fen anomaly, it seems like it's "Piggy land" as there are tons of those stupid mutant pigs running around in packs of 3 to 5, and it's only a matter of time before one tramples the moron who's scanning and you LOSE.

Related to the lenght of the scan... i had a lot of ammo when i started the mission... and 2 main weapons. I finished it EMPTY on both main guns, having to knife and shoot with my handgun every last pig.

I'm actually studying level design and THIS mission is an abherration. It's long for nothing, it's not so much rewarding as frustrating, the AI sucks and the ennemy waves are too many for one person to hold them off every time (reloading is a killer).
Also, since we're talking level design, it's in open areas. One man cannot cover an open area effectively, and with the monster's AI in stalker (which is kinda nice btw), it's almost impossible. The LD in charge of the mission could have chosen spots that were actually defendable !!!

Anyway, i needed to rant about this mission because the rest of the game is great, and this was just a big black spot in my game experience that i wanted to get rid of.

Anyone else hated this mission?

[megafight1]

You do know that there's supposed to be 4 guys scanning at once, right? The same team you went into the Psi-Tunnel with are the ones doing the scanning. If any of them died in the tunnel, the time it takes to complete the scan increases.

[EssGeeDee]

That's interesting, when I played through the first time, those scientists got on with the job and only attacked anything within about... 20 metres? That first time, by the Fen, a Bloodsucker got through but I Strikered him in the back of the head. :D

Just to clarify; if you have S.M.R.T.E.R. installed, the NPC's become crazily aggressive, so maybe that's the problem. If you don't have S.M.R.T.E.R. installed, then just chalk it up to your scientists being rookies and being incredibly nervous. ;)

[Ensiferum]

Well i lost 2 guys in the tunnel, to the controller. So that explains a bit, but it's no excuse for it taking so long anyway :(
As for the 2 last ones, one of them idiots ran in front of a zombie and got shot...

Also no, i don't have SMRTER installed (that i know of), but for the money it got me, this mission wasn't worth eating my nerves :(

Anyway, it's okay now. If i meet the LD responsible i might still want to punch him in the nose though :P







kidding

[EssGeeDee]

Hah! Good to hear you completed it. The damn Zone's too harsh as it is, without ♥♥♥♥ like that brightening your day. :o

... Actually, I reckon the best countermeasure for the Controller is to get up close and knife the bastard, he stops with the psychic mind♥♥♥♥ and starts scratching you like a little girl. An ugly, psionic little girl with no hair and Down Syndrome.
I managed to save everybody, but it was probably a fluke.

[Ensiferum]

Hah! Good to hear you completed it. The damn Zone's too harsh as it is, without ♥♥♥♥ like that brightening your day. :o

... Actually, I reckon the best countermeasure for the Controller is to get up close and knife the bastard, he stops with the psychic mind♥♥♥♥ and starts scratching you like a little girl. An ugly, psionic little girl with no hair and Down Syndrome.
I managed to save everybody, but it was probably a fluke.

haha i'll try that next time i see one. As for the mission, well i don't know about you but the field around the scanning stalker was a slaughter house. I swear i had to beat close to 60 of those gorram piggies to death.

I was at the point where i could only launch my screws at them :(
Mission gave 7000... that's what i paid to replenish my ammo XD

[Who Farted?]

I thought this mission was incredibly easy, but then perhaps it was just because the two locations I chose to scan were particularly non-hostile. Just had a group of boars to kill in the first spot and then a bunch of zombies in the distance for the second.

[EssGeeDee]

haha i'll try that next time i see one. As for the mission, well i don't know about you but the field around the scanning stalker was a slaughter house. I swear i had to beat close to 60 of those gorram piggies to death.

I was at the point where i could only launch my screws at them :(
Mission gave 7000... that's what i paid to replenish my ammo XD
:) Yeah seriously, don't bother keeping your distance, they Controller will always melee you if you melee him. It saves ammo, and especially in CoP when you get hit by a psi-blast, you magically look into the sky, so there's no confusion and disorientation over that. Just be ready to mash F1 and F2 (or whatever your Medkit and Bandage keys are).
The Controller is pretty weak, on Stalker difficulty I think he goes down in about 8 to 10 knife swipes. I think. It may actually be less.

(Haha, reminds me of how easy the Tank in L4D2 is to beat when you melee him. :D)

I thought this mission was incredibly easy, but then perhaps it was just because the two locations I chose to scan were particularly non-hostile. Just had a group of boars to kill in the first spot and then a bunch of zombies in the distance for the second.

I went to three locations, like you said there were the Boars at the Fen (but a Bloodsucker snuck in), then a hilltop with the Zombies coming from the little village/farm/whatever, but I also went to the psi tunnel. Bizarre. Or, was that for a totally different mission?

[Who Farted?]

The psy tunnel where your buddies get turned into zombies by the controller is a completely different mission.

The one where they stand around and your protect them only required you to go to 2 of 3 places.

Though I didn't find the controller one that difficult either. I killed the thing before it converted my friends (they were just sitting on the ground, holding their heads and non-hostile). Though i died the first time because I wasn't expecting them to turn so I had to reload.

[EssGeeDee]

Just a note, shotguns are Controller-killers as well. I came out of the Svadosk, and a Controller was about 50 feet away to my left. Ah! So I bolted back inside, went to my personal box and grabbed the Striker (new game, not many weapons, I got it off Nimble). Run back outside, sneak up behind it and I was about... 10 feet away, four shots to the upper torso/head region was enough to kill it outright.

By the way, is it possible to have a 'headshot=death' mod? I'm sick of hitting zombies and humans and stuff with headshots from my AK, and they keep firing like I hit them with a BB.

[TcheQ]

I thought this mission was incredibly easy, but then perhaps it was just because the two locations I chose to scan were particularly non-hostile. Just had a group of boars to kill in the first spot and then a bunch of zombies in the distance for the second.

Same. It's because we're awesome. But at kopachy, a group of four zombies randomly spawned between my team and the anomaly while i was looting the others that came from the townsite. That was a scary few seconds. Then they all died (the zombies)

[Kellervo713]

The only time I had trouble with the mission was when only one survived the Controller attack - it took 12 in game minutes for him to finish scouting the Ashes anomaly, and when we went to the swamp one he was killed instantly by a bandit walking by.

I still got Grey's upgrades though.

[Bad_Motha]

That's interesting, when I played through the first time, those scientists got on with the job and only attacked anything within about... 20 metres? That first time, by the Fen, a Bloodsucker got through but I Strikered him in the back of the head. :D

Just to clarify; if you have S.M.R.T.E.R. installed, the NPC's become crazily aggressive, so maybe that's the problem. If you don't have S.M.R.T.E.R. installed, then just chalk it up to your scientists being rookies and being incredibly nervous. ;)

SMRTER 0.41 users should get the SMRTER OPTIONS PACK
It's options are divided up into corrisponding folders inside the download package. Extract what you need or what you want to change to your current version of SMRTER. The Option Pack is only to be used with v0.41 ALPHA at this point.

The "Remove Dreams" fix is needed if you don't want to have COP randomly crashing when you choose to use sleep mode in COP.

There is also a fix for such things as aggressive NPCs. This makes a big improvement and cuts down on the AI bugs that the NPCs randomly run into while playing.

Go here for full details.
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13497633&postcount=4

Also, by default SMRTER is setup to prefetch all game files + the mods extra files. If you're having alot of stuttering issues with using this mod that you don't experience with vanilla COP. Disable prefetching by renaming this folder "gamedata\configs\prefetch". This will not effect prefetching for your vanilla COP, only the SMRTER mod.

[breakd0wn]

I made a thread on this exact mission earlier, and I have to agree it was easily the worst missions in the game so far... unfortunately I lost most of the guys in the tunnel to the damn controller (can they go 2 seconds without being killed, jeez). So that explains why it took so much time.

At least the zombies had loads of loot that I could sell for extra money. ;)

[Kellervo713]

I made a thread on this exact mission earlier, and I have to agree it was easily the worst missions in the game so far... unfortunately I lost most of the guys in the tunnel to the damn controller (can they go 2 seconds without being killed, jeez). So that explains why it took so much time.

At least the zombies had loads of loot that I could sell for extra money. ;)

Yep. And due to the amount of time it takes when you lose even one of the team, you're almost guaranteed to get a PKm out of one of them.

However, if you lose one, you don't get Poplar's special reward for getting the entire team through.

[Tove]

Despised the Fen portion of the mission. Couldn't agree more with the OP. I only had one guy survive the controller in the tunnel. I went through nearly all my ammo for both my weapons, and I, literally, was screaming at the ♥♥♥♥ing NPC the entire time. By the time he finally completed scanning, there were easily forty flesh and boars in a semi-circle around us. Actually, they're still there. The Ash Heap portion was a breeze. I kept waiting for hell to break loose.

I so wish I could have put a round into the NPC's head and still completed the mission.

On a side note, anyone know of a way to despawn mission-related corpses? All those dead flesh, boars, bloodsuckers, NPCs, etc. are starting to get annoying. Looked through all the console-commands, but I don't see anything that looks applicable.

[Ensiferum]

I understand those who finished the mission and said it was really easy had all 4 stalkers scanning the anomalies. Having ONE stalker gets the difficulty up in the sky very high.

And this is yet another fault from the LDs: at least warn us that losing those stalkers to the controller affects other missions :(

And yea, to go with Tove, is there a tutorial for the console? because sometimes i could use some dev tools to optimize the game (like when there's a random particle system being activated, dropping my framerate to 10fps).

[TcheQ]

I understand those who finished the mission and said it was really easy had all 4 stalkers scanning the anomalies. Having ONE stalker gets the difficulty up in the sky very high.

And this is yet another fault from the LDs: at least warn us that losing those stalkers to the controller affects other missions :(


Well the great thing about Stalker is it evolves based on what you do and doesn't shove you down any particular path. Just load an old save game, after all no one is FORCING you to do this mission, so to complain that a mission is too hard because of your negligence is completely backwards. Drop the difficulty if you feel that desperate to complete the missions (or just let topol die, you are allowed to). Alternatively, go to pripyat and return when you are better equipped (you don't even have to go to the anomalies in order or anything).

I find it strange that you complain and blame "level designers" in such a way, yet there are at least 3 options you could have used to make your game experience easier.

in summary, the options you have:

load an earlier save
reduce the difficulty setting
come back later when you have better equipment
learn to shoot
abandon the mission entirely

[Ensiferum]

Well the great thing about Stalker is it evolves based on what you do and doesn't shove you down any particular path. Just load an old save game, after all no one is FORCING you to do this mission, so to complain that a mission is too hard because of your negligence is completely backwards. Drop the difficulty if you feel that desperate to complete the missions (or just let topol die, you are allowed to). Alternatively, go to pripyat and return when you are better equipped (you don't even have to go to the anomalies in order or anything).

I find it strange that you complain and blame "level designers" in such a way, yet there are at least 3 options you could have used to make your game experience easier.

in summary, the options you have:

load an earlier save
reduce the difficulty setting
come back later when you have better equipment
learn to shoot
abandon the mission entirely


Ok first of all, i know what i am talking about, because it's my job. Second, saying stupid stuff like: *LEARN TO SHOOT* only make your poor arguments even more miserable.
Then, for your information, i'm not saying: "Oh my god what a stupid game with stupid mecanics and stupid scenarios !!!!!11"

All i'm saying is: the mission was not polished in a few aspects, but those aspects are important enough to make it a nightmare for someone who, like me, only had one stalker left.

Then, i blame the LD because it is their (or his) fault, not the LA, not the game designers, not the scripters, etc. If his mission was in relation with another mission, he should have made the link SOMEHOW, so that the player could give the necessary importance to the 4 stalkers during the Controller mission.

OR, he could have made it so that spot the player had to defend, alone, would be less accessible to ennemies. And i'm not covering all the possible fixes here.

And about "forcing me to do the mission"... i wasn't forced. I just wanted to finish it, to see it through, and it's my right, as a player, to do so, and not being frustrated as hell afterwards. If you don't understand this, PLEASE stay away from any job in the game industry, you'd only make things worse.

IN CONCLUSION: your defense of the mission was poor and full of invalid arguments ("reload an earlier save ! :D" "Just let the guy die and fail the mission !" "learn to shoot !").
I know that it could have just been that the LD was in a rush, couldn't playtest his mission to the full extent he should have, or another hundred reasons for this failure.

It doesn't make it less of a failure, that to some players (again, those unlucky enough to have lost stalkers to the controller) is a black spot in an otherwise great game experience.

[MrChris]

scanning atracts the mutants yes?

I didn't have a problem mowing through them all with me G36 :D

hell when I played it a lot of the time you could fast travel to the locations and there would be bandits waiting, insta firefight lol

[kommandojoe]

Well the great thing about Stalker is it evolves based on what you do and doesn't shove you down any particular path. Just load an old save game, after all no one is FORCING you to do this mission, so to complain that a mission is too hard because of your negligence is completely backwards. Drop the difficulty if you feel that desperate to complete the missions (or just let topol die, you are allowed to). Alternatively, go to pripyat and return when you are better equipped (you don't even have to go to the anomalies in order or anything).

I find it strange that you complain and blame "level designers" in such a way, yet there are at least 3 options you could have used to make your game experience easier.

in summary, the options you have:

load an earlier save
reduce the difficulty setting
come back later when you have better equipment
learn to shoot
abandon the mission entirely


Couldn't agree with you more, one thing i like about the stalker games is that they just throw you in, no tutorial, and provide a great challenge to the player. I hate it when games get dumbed down (especially when you look at a series start or watch beta footage of it) to make it more appealing to new or very casual gamers. I mean, its not like the devs took a cheap shot at you and made this a main story level that would forcibly screw you over. The mission doesn't even benefit you other than a few RU for completing.

[Ensiferum]

Couldn't agree with you more, one thing i like about the stalker games is that they just throw you in, no tutorial, and provide a great challenge to the player. I hate it when games get dumbed down (especially when you look at a series start or watch beta footage of it) to make it more appealing to new or very casual gamers. I mean, its not like the devs took a cheap shot at you and made this a main story level that would forcibly screw you over. The mission doesn't even benefit you other than a few RU for completing.

Ok, but the difficulty/reward ratio of this mission, as i played it, was really low. And even if i wished i hadn't done it afterwards, i think it's still important to make any mission enjoyable (not dumbed down, not ridiculously easy and boring).

I prefer tough missions where i come out barely surviving, but with the feeling i have accomplished something great. This is basically what every game in the world should have, imo.
But the difficulty here wasn't even about survival. It was about a stupid AI and a mission that takes way too long to finish for what it gives.

All of this could have been avoided if, say, even if you lose some stalkers to the controller, they respawn later for this mission. Or the fact of losing a few stalkers could NOT have influenced this mission.

Again, those who didn't play it with one stalker alive cannot understand.

[kommandojoe]

Ok, but the difficulty/reward ratio of this mission, as i played it, was really low. And even if i wished i hadn't done it afterwards, i think it's still important to make any mission enjoyable (not dumbed down, not ridiculously easy and boring).

I prefer tough missions where i come out barely surviving, but with the feeling i have accomplished something great. This is basically what every game in the world should have, imo.
But the difficulty here wasn't even about survival. It was about a stupid AI and a mission that takes way too long to finish for what it gives.

All of this could have been avoided if, say, even if you lose some stalkers to the controller, they respawn later for this mission. Or the fact of losing a few stalkers could NOT have influenced this mission.

Again, those who didn't play it with one stalker alive cannot understand.

Trust me, its ok ;)
I was in an even worse situation then you when i did the swamp inspection...

[marie pavie]

This mission changes a lot. Sometimes you pop in & a controller offs one of your guys before your gun is raised, & sometimes three more friendlies show up. The waves are not hard if you see them before they get near.

[Bad_Motha]

Identify your targets!
Mutants love buckshot!

[Saffire123]

Use a predator + buckshot... I did this mission with all of the scientists, and also with only 1 of them. First try. it helps to go charge at the oncoming boars so they go right after you and dont interrupt your only reader.

[n0bby]

I left this mission (along with the other scientist assisting missions that weren't critical to the main storyline) until after I'd beat the SP game.

Going back to it, with fully upgraded sniping and close quarters weapons, it was really quite simple to complete - although the fens battle was reasonably challenging. I was caught out by spawning close to the controller first time round. Once I reloaded, the Eliminator sorted him out, then I was able to dart around using the shottie and AK on the rest of the incoming hordes.

Are you guys saying that the number of scientists you get is based on how many guys survive from the squad that goes with you to the tunnel with the controller in? Only I had to kill all that squad when they turned on me - but I still got 4 scientists doing the testing, when I eventually got round to this mission.

[Ensiferum]

Are you guys saying that the number of scientists you get is based on how many guys survive from the squad that goes with you to the tunnel with the controller in? Only I had to kill all that squad when they turned on me - but I still got 4 scientists doing the testing, when I eventually got round to this mission.

Maybe the fact that all 4 died to the controller triggered the arrival of a full new squad...

[Kellervo713]

If you lose all four, a new squad arrives. However, you only get half the reward for the Psi-tunnel mission, and half the reward for the Escorts, and none of the huge gift-pack of medical items the leader of the team gives you if they all survive all three escort missions.

If you lose the new squad, you can go to Mitay/Bear and ask them to join the Ecologists. They're better equipped, and Bear's a tough sonuvagun, but they have the 'aggression' problem, so they're really a worst-case team.

[TcheQ]

Ok first of all, i know what i am talking about, because it's my job. Second, saying stupid stuff like: *LEARN TO SHOOT* only make your poor arguments even more miserable.
Then, for your information, i'm not saying: "Oh my god what a stupid game with stupid mecanics and stupid scenarios !!!!!11"

All i'm saying is: the mission was not polished in a few aspects, but those aspects are important enough to make it a nightmare for someone who, like me, only had one stalker left.

Then, i blame the LD because it is their (or his) fault, not the LA, not the game designers, not the scripters, etc. If his mission was in relation with another mission, he should have made the link SOMEHOW, so that the player could give the necessary importance to the 4 stalkers during the Controller mission.

OR, he could have made it so that spot the player had to defend, alone, would be less accessible to ennemies. And i'm not covering all the possible fixes here.

And about "forcing me to do the mission"... i wasn't forced. I just wanted to finish it, to see it through, and it's my right, as a player, to do so, and not being frustrated as hell afterwards. If you don't understand this, PLEASE stay away from any job in the game industry, you'd only make things worse.

IN CONCLUSION: your defense of the mission was poor and full of invalid arguments ("reload an earlier save ! :D" "Just let the guy die and fail the mission !" "learn to shoot !").
I know that it could have just been that the LD was in a rush, couldn't playtest his mission to the full extent he should have, or another hundred reasons for this failure.

It doesn't make it less of a failure, that to some players (again, those unlucky enough to have lost stalkers to the controller) is a black spot in an otherwise great game experience.

Stop whining. You are so blinded by your own sense of worth you fail to see that there are alternatives. You aren't a god of games or you would have wiped that controller out in the 10 seconds it takes, yet your attitude tells us exactly this. Your reaction to criticism of your playing ability is laughable. Perhaps you should go play Mass Effect or something as equally as lame and linear. This is Stalker, not some a kindergarten game where you are coddled after each choice you make.

[EssGeeDee]

Alright, shut up. This thread's reached a certain level of flame, and now you need to back off.

[n0bby]

Stop whining. You are so blinded by your own sense of worth you fail to see that there are alternatives. You aren't a god of games or you would have wiped that controller out in the 10 seconds it takes, yet your attitude tells us exactly this. Your reaction to criticism of your playing ability is laughable. Perhaps you should go play Mass Effect or something as equally as lame and linear. This is Stalker, not some a kindergarten game where you are coddled after each choice you make.Blimey, you're full of the spirit of brotherly tolerance, aren't you m8...

[MediumDave]

I was having trouble with this one, too - in the "intermittent psy emission" mission, three of the four guys were dead by the time I opened the door back into the tunnel, so I was in the same boat as a few of the other posters. The scans in the zombie village must have taken 10 minutes to complete, and the Zone's furry critters move a lot faster than shambling zombies.

Anyway, after failing many, many times, I noticed that unlike previous Stalker games, weapons slot 2 isn't limited to pistols. I tried it again with an RP74 (I'd looted two off of a pair of exo-wearing zombies guarding that electro anomaly field in the south of Jupiter, believe it or not, so I had 200 rounds) in slot 2, and my modded GP36 in slot 3. Shotguns take way the hell too long to reload for this mission, so I left my maxed-out shotty at home. Anyway, that combination made things muuuuuuch easier.

Amusingly, a couple of loner NPCs wandered into the area early on, and the AI's threat detection routine kept them in place through the whole thing. They made excellent boar bait. Sadly, a stray shot clipped one of them at the very end, turning them hostile, so I had to put them down... I actually felt guilty when I looted their corpses.

[stereophonical]

More like 5 minutes. I guess it takes longer if you can't protect them. The eliminator is perfect for the Fen but at the Ash you're better off with an assault rifle (or even sniper if you're like that) against the zombies.

[n0bby]

(or even sniper if you're like that) against the zombies.Sniper FTW! Every time! (And preferably nice and safe up a tree, or on a roof, or up a very tall tower...)

I'm such a coward. Thankfully though the Eliminator makes me feel brave when I have to go toe-to-toe... :)

[Bad_Motha]

Sniper FTW! Every time! (And preferably nice and safe up a tree, or on a roof, or up a very tall tower...)

I'm such a coward. Thankfully though the Eliminator makes me feel brave when I have to go toe-to-toe... :)

Yeah I get outta breath in real life with that dam tower, drives me nuts... where's the elevator lift!!!

[Mr Smiles]

I was halfway through the second anomaly when an emission decided to come and say hi, that was fun. :p Suffice to say, I had to start all over again

[n0bby]

I was halfway through the second anomaly when an emission decided to come and say hi, that was fun. :p Suffice to say, I had to start all over againLOL - talk about lousy timing! :mad:

[Kanikuman]

I found it a cakewalk. The zombies I just sniped from the hilltop at the Ash Pile anomaly, and for the Fen I pulled out my LMG and just gunned everything down. Not a single boar or flesh got near the Stalkers.

[DRZDuke]

I have to somewhat agree with the original poster as to the level of frustration. It's not that this mission is very hard and even with only one Stalker NPC it'd be a cinch, if only there wasn't 5 pigs on him as soon as you spawn in, also of note is that you really do have to stand there and watch helplessly because you can't travel with you're weapon out and ready(Stalker won't speak to you)
The way I see it is that the devs could have:

Allowed you to travel there in real time with the NPC instead of teleporting you both into the baddies.

Made it crystal clear that you needed to keep all of the dudes alive in the prior tunnel/Controller mission.

Had a few NPC's spawn in a just before the mission just to give you enough time to get out a weapon and commence the slaughter.

Given you 30 seconds to get a weapon out and be ready before the piggies come for the kill.

BUT ... they didn't .. lol.

I'm just one of those gamers that likes to complete all the missions available without just skipping by because of something like this but I'm also not going to go back and try again from the controller part ... guess this one gets left out.

On a positive note .. This game rules .... Lovin' it :)

OK, OK I lied, went back, defeated controller, saved weakling stalkers ;)

[Tornhelix]

I had the exact same issue my first playthru, had a plain assault rifle (the basic 5.56, blue, looks kinda like an M4A1) upgraded for sniping. However, I did the Ash one first so the gun was halfway degraded when I went to Fen (didn't realize you can take a break in between to restock and repair).

However, on subsequent playthrus, I learned how to get the RPG, so I always grab that first, with the 2 rockets. Use one on the Controller in the tunnel and the other on whoever looks at me funny. Usually the chimera near the ventilation complex. Sit atop the tower and as soon as the bastard spawns, BOOM!

So like others have said, having a full team instead of one guy makes a HUUUGE difference.

[Saffire123]

Wow, talk about a thread revive.