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Throughout the game, you will constantly be in contact with other characters, and your interactions with them will affect everything from tasks and plot development to your survival. Each NPC has its own history, interests, and attitude towards the player.
Interactions with NPCs will be influenced by your reputation with certain factions and your experience in exploring the Zone.
1. Dialogs
Through dialogs, you will receive information about dangers, interesting locations, artifacts, plans of other factions, or simply about the state of affairs in the Zone. Some characters in the conversation can share their experience or give advice, but it's up to you to listen to them or not. In addition, your decisions in dialogs often affect the development of the plot or relationships with factions.
2. Trading
Many NPCs offer to buy or sell equipment, weapons, medicines, or artifacts. Ordinary stalkers will have a minimal choice, but specialized NPCs - traders - will offer the widest range. With trading you can acquire tems or resources that you could not get while traveling around the Zone, or sell trophies.
Traders are located in the hubs and are marked with a special marker on the map. The set of goods and their price may be influenced by your character's rank and reputation with the trader’s faction - discounts are available for friendly stalkers.
To start trading, start a dialog and open the trade menu from it.
3. Missions
Some characters in the hubs can give you unique missions of varying difficulty. By completing these missions, you will receive rewards, change your reputation, and even influence the overall situation in the Zone.
In addition, you can periodically take recurring tasks from traders in the hubs if your wallet is empty.
4. Treatment
After heavy battles or encounters with anomalies, you should see a medic. He or she will help stop bleeding, remove radiation contamination, and restore health. You can also buy first aid kits, anti-radiation drugs and other means for treatment in the extreme conditions of the Zone.
Medics are marked with a special marker on the map.
To receive treatment from a medic, start a dialog with them and select the appropriate line.
5. Repairing and upgrading equipment
A technician is your equipment repairman. He repairs broken weapons and armor, which is extremely important in an environment where everything is subject to constant wear and tear in battle or under the influence of anomalies. In addition to repairs, the technician can improve equipment: make weapons more accurate, reduce the weight of armor, or increase protection against radiation. You can buy some upgrades from the very beginning of the game, while others you will need to find the appropriate blueprints somewhere in the Zone.
Technicians are marked with a special marker on the map.
To purchase an upgrade, start a dialog with a technician and open the upgrade menu from the dialog. Select a weapon or equipment, view the available upgrades for it by hovering over their icons on the image.
To repair an item, select it in the upgrade menu and click the repair button.
Some technicians will give you a discount by completing their quests.
6. Fast travel
A Guide will help you get around the Zone quickly and safely. Guides know the safe routes between locations and will take you to remote places without the risk of running into mutants or anomalies, but it will cost money.
You can find a guide in the Hub, it will be marked with a special marker on the map.
To use the services of a guide, start a dialog with them and select the desired line.
Keep in mind that you won't be able to start traveling if your character is overloaded, so it's best to put everything you don't need in your stash beforehand.
Your reputation affects where you can travel. If you become an enemy of one of the factions, the guides will not take you to a region that this faction controls.