this article is to address feedback i've gotten on Stalkerfied, and clarify some points people seem to be confused about.

first off, you are an average person in Stalkerfied. you have Army training and a pre war body, but you aren't much different beyond that. if i were to remove all perks, and upgrades, and skill in order to make the player truly on par with NPCs, it would suck and people wouldn't play it. the player has settlements on their side, which fuels their ability to upgrade their gear and create new things. the average supermutant or raider isn't going to spend their time hunting, or picking flowers, or creating the resources necessary to upgrade gear, so they don't build those skills. the player's skills, gear and perks are better, but their survivability isn't. rusted out scrap metal or 200 year old polymer can only protect you so much. also, the player is a one man army against thousands of threats, and even though Stalkerfied cranks up the combat aspect of fo4, it still has RPG elements, so you need to be able to invest into your character's build.

the point of Stalkerfied is not to tank big hits, it's to avoid them. this is especially true with the Increased Lethality plugin. you need to play Stalkerfied like you could blink out of existence at any moment, because that's how it is. always take cover, always lean, run away from fights you aren't prepared for. companions are super useful in Stalkerfied, even Dogmeat, because they can pinpoints threats you may not see, and draw fire away from you. always keep track of where the nearest cover is, keep stimpaks on you. the moving target perk is amazing for keeping you safe while retreating or moving from cover to cover. don't fight synths until you're well prepared. Power armor got a nice boost recently, combine that with high endurance and reinforcement and you can be pretty tanky. the point is, you have all the tools you need to stay alive.

i've gotten the feedback that PA should make you nearly immortal, since most munitions wouldn't penetrate the armor. while i agree that PA would make you very hard to kill, the system in place doesn't support it. it costs the same amount to repair 1 damage or 100 damage. that makes it impossible to get players to use a lot of resources if their armor takes a lot of damage. resource management plays a big role in Horizon, so if i can't make using PA appropriately expensive, it has to stay the way it is.

that's all for now. feel free to leave a comment with your own feedback.