- The Technicians that appear in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Lost Alpha are not members of a specific collective faction and retain their allegiance to their respective Factions throughout the game.
“ | Can you tweak something for me? - Marked One |
” |
“ | Yes! I've waited so long just to hear you say that. - Ivancov |
” |
Overview[]
- These are the NPCs that the player may pay to have repairs and upgrades to those items of Armour and weaponry that permit such modification.
- There were no Technicians in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl with the result that the player needed to improvise field repairs to armour where possible and was unable to repair weaponry at all.
- With the introduction of Technicians in Clear Sky and their continued development in Call of Pripyat, considerably more detailed refinements and modifications could be performed provided that the player had the resources, flash drives and toolkits that applied.
- Technicians have been added to the Lost Alpha and function quite similarly to those seen in Clear Sky, although their repertoire is smaller, their requirements for the relevant flash-drives non-existent and they do not issue rewards for them as a consequence.
Notes[]
- Specifically for v1.3003:
- There is no restriction on which mod may be performed by which technician as a 'specialty' either, all Techs perform all tasks.
- The degree of upgrading that may be performed upon armour is noticeably curtailed and in some instances counterproductive and contradictory (SSP-99 Ecologist for example, comes with 2nd Gen NV and may be upgraded to 1st Gen NV..)
- Applying an upgrade also repairs the suit / weapon which may be exploited by the player for financial gain. (as of Developer's Cut this no longer works)
- Upgrades add value to the item.
- ANY NPC that has sufficient funding will pay top price for a modified item.
- Lower end weaponry that has one upgrade probably will not recoup the cost of the upgrade.
- High end weapons that are similarly upgraded increase in value markedly.
- Even "burnt-out" Sniper rifle SVDm-2s can be a money spinner at the right location.
- Specifically for v1.4000+:
- The upgrade trees for all items have been revamped to be more consistent and generally follow the CoP model.
- Upgrades now no longer confer the automatic repair bonus, this must be purchased separately.
- Petrenko and Skinflint are no longer designated as Technicians; in partial compensation, Professor Kruglov, Kulibin, Chef, Alex, Doc and Guide provide repair services; some of these also provide upgrade services from v1.4005.
- Since Guide will evaporate from the game at the Pripyat Underground entrance proper and since the locked gate near the bloodsuckers is now unlocked, taking Guide along is no longer necessary and he may be left near the "Hospital entrance" where he will remain indefinitely. Although reaching him might then be long-winded and fraught.
- Specifically for v1.4005+:
- The technicians now require Upgrades data for technicians in order to provide certain upgrades. They come in forms of flash drives and txt documents in functional computers or will be given as rewards for quests.
- Only Fox, Kulibin, Father Diodor, Ivancov (when in Outskirts) and Chef will do all types of upgrades. Professor Kruglov does just repairs and upgrades of detectors, all the other (Ivancov at the Great Metal Factory, Herstel, Doc and Guide) will only repair.
- The technicians have different surcharge on the base price for upgrades and repairs, Fox being the cheapest (0% surcharge), Ivancov at the Great Metal Factory the most expensive (80% surcharge).
- The default condition that technicians will repair an item at is 40%.
- A few will repair if the condition is 35% (Kulibin, Ivancov (either spawn) and Father Diodor.
- Ghost is coded for a condition of 30% while in Strelok Gang Hideout but this may be poorly coded.
- Maj Griboyedov is also able to repair if the remaining condition is 30%.
- However, Professor Kruglov will repair items with a condition of 25%.
- The Duty HQ repairman, Herstel, repairs items with a condition of 10% but has a very high premium for such work (x3.2 compared with the more typical x1.5 general surcharge)
Locations[]
- These are few in number, (see infobox) and with the exception of Rostok Bar and Yantar, relatively remote for the player to get to.
- The Techs themselves are also few in number and become increasingly so during the course of the game.
- Ivancov relocates to the new Duty HQ in Outskirts and ceases to be a Technician (v1.3003)
- This is altered in v1.4000+ in that his status does not change after relocation (nor do his fees come down)
- In Yantar, Father Diodor starts the game locked behind a door in a cellar, may be communicated with "through the door", but if accidentally let out, will go into 'patrol mode' and die in the first Blowout (v1.3003)
This becomes irrelevant from v1.4000+ as his Technician status has been removed.
Tips[]
- When freeing Fox in the early game, he sometimes fails to arrive back in the Rookie Village. Escorting him to the Bridge may help.
- Staying non-hostile to Duty is recommended.
- Keeping Diodor in his basement is also productive.
- Ivancov is tricky to find but stands upstairs from Voronin.
Trivia[]
- Unique items may not be repaired or upgraded (v1.3003)
- Unique items may be repaired and upgraded (v1.4000+), although a few might cause game crashes due to incomplete coding (Borov's Pecker being one example)
- For unknown reasons the Agroprom technician Kalmyk introduced in v1.4000 was renamed Kulibin from v1.4002.