S.T.A.L.K.E.R., part three

What are the different factions in the game, and what's their place in the game world and how do they interact with the player's character?

Yavorsky: There are several factions of stalkers active in the Zone. Each of the factions preaches its own philosophy and has its own reasons to be there. Factions have their leaders and pursue their key goals, they rival and fight with each other. For example, Duty is a militarized grouping which tries to protect the world from the Zone impact. The artifacts they find are given to scientists, they don't trade them with outer world.

Duty is an ardent enemy of the Freedom grouping, which fights for the Zone's freedom and openness to the world. Factions have well-guarded bases in the Zone, with their leader, many guards, and storages with equipment and ammo in place. Virtually all the factions fight with each other and the player may become a part of the oppositions.

From neutral factions the player may pick up random quests, so as to purchase certain equipment, weapons and ammunition, as found in this particular grouping only. Cooperation with groupings will give the player access to unique weapons and gear. It should be mentioned that not all the stalkers belong to groupings. Quite a few stalkers play independently and are on their own.

Can you tell us more about the AI?

Yavorsky: Speaking about combat, for example, monsters and NPCs will be constantly evaluating their chances in battle, and as the situation will change, you will see them reacting differently. For example, Flesh (a heavily mutated pig) is a cowardly type of monster, which most likely will not attack the player unless he is unarmed, out of ammo or injured.

Blind dogs prefer to stick in packs, which makes them really strong and dangerous, but should the player kill a few of them, the rest may get demoralized and start howling and fleeing. There is a multitude of comparison factors, which monsters and NPC stalkers take into account for combat decisions, such as strength of opponent, weapon type, health condition, location, visibility and more.

All this provides for very reactive and natural combat in the game. Most importantly, such combat is fully AI-led and non-scripted.