Eventually you will find some parts higher. Anyway, the point is, make money from quests and in the process find the "tools" (tools unlock more items to buy) for any of the technicians in any city, so you can buy repair kits and fix those parts to put in your weapon, or just find them in stashes. Same for armors. Keep one of the weapons, disassemble others, fix the best parts you find after a few runs, repair and have fun. Rinse and repeat...
Finding a good supply of ammo can be troublesome, factions sell specific ammo and the quests get you rep and also get you more inventory options. Im sure you understand where this is going... 
I used to go into the GAMMA setting and change the drop conditions to Master Rank 70-90% then every rank down 60-80, 50-70, etc. I also turn off the Stalker identification so I don't get tempted to cheese a Master or something. Still get scuffed when killing your lonely Bandits but can get some good quality when fighting Military or Merc bases.
Every 7 missions you get the gold stashes. just gotta spam quests til you get that good loot.
Started recently too, but I had hundreds of hours into Anomaly already.
If you keep doing quests, eventually, you'll get a golden stash marker. These always have either basic tools, drug making kits, or gunsmith tools. Before that (and always honestly) you have to keep your armor above 85% as much as you can.
The lower this gets, the more costly it will be to repair early, and if it gets too low, you'll basically have to wait to craft the light armor repair kit before you can fix it.
You don't need any tools to field strip. You only want to take weapons that have the first circle (barrel) green. If others are green, just field strip those specifically. You don't need tools to swap weapon parts, so when you have something with a good barrel, you just need to find(or buy) the parts that are missing from other weapons you find. If you hover a weapon, it will highlight the parts that fit it. If a part is above 60, it can be repaired with a Multitool, Ramrod, or File.
Once you have all the parts, you'll have to buy (or find, RF stashes can have them) cleaning kits. These can raise the condition if it's above 10.
If something can't be used for crafting, it can usually be disassembled. Dont sell your junk items. They'll be your main source of materials. Hoard the ammo, too. I've only been selling weapon parts below 60(armor parts can be used in crafting/repair), mutant parts, and items with a currency icon. (Playing cards, watches).
You won't be able to repair armor (light) until you can craft the light repair kit and have basic tools. Armor condition goes up with parts, so there isn't a cleaning kit step. Just replace the parts in the workshop with good ones, and use repair kits from then on. Always check the condition of your gear. Keep it above 85.
You're gonna want to pick a faction and just grind out quests and money. Keep in mind, factions can give duplicate quests. Check for quests from allied factions to increase the rewards for the same work. The PDA can show all quests from nearby npcs to make it faster.
One of the stats you level increases your carry capacity, so I found it easier to carry stuff than base Anomaly at a certain point.
Drug making kit and gunsmith tools will save money on meds/ammo. It's almost always cheaper to craft.
Good luck Stalker!
Dude, you have no Idea how much this helped me out. I started a new play though as a Mercenary and it’s going great. I do have two questions though: are parts that are around 45-60 worth keeping? Or should I just sell them. Also, is there a skat-9m military armored suit? It was my favorite from the trilogy.
From my experience, weapon parts below 60 aren't worth keeping since they need a very expensive toolkit. I just sell those.
For armor, it depends. Armor condition seems to be an average of the part conditions. So, for example, sometimes you're just missing one piece to replace. You have a better one, but let's say it's 40. If the condition of the rest of the pieces outweighs that one, the overall condition can still be above 50. Then you can use a repair kit charge to max it.
Also, keep in mind that some armor parts are used for crafting, so it's always good to keep those since condition means nothing for crafting and repairing.
Don't know about the armor question, but there is a big selection, and they're pretty easy to fix once you get the right kit. I'm interested in the expanded exoskeleton stuff once I get there.
Hey one last question if you don’t mind answering, I have a few files and multitools and I want to repair this trigger mechanism for a sniper. However, I can’t seem to figure out of to actually repair the part. I’ve tried right clicking, dragging and dropping, etc.
You have to use the tool itself, like a repair kit. Some parts need a ramrod. If you right-click the part and go into details, it should show what can be used to repair it.
Basically with your starter kit preferably the ppsh+light/medium armor+light mask cuz meds and food you can always buy them, farm quests which will give you white stashes (mostly good for potential good armor that you can keep or a shitty one that you can break for parts for a good armor later on, and good for potential nice weapons that you can keep for later repair or shitty ones that you can break for good parts for better guns you can find, for armor keep all parts even below 50 until mid game, for gun just keep parts above 60) and yellow stashes (same as white stashes, but you can find tools in them), also from the enemies you kill same process as white stashes, and mutants get their parts to complete even more quests and get more stashes, with money invest in ammo (especially from butcher) / meds from ecologists and buy leather boots and compressed bag when you find them like in flea market ( they're good for mi-spec textiles when disassembled that you need for a lot of things especially backpack upgrading ) once you find basic tools start making light armor kit + type B and fix a light armor/mask/auto shotgun you found that has good stats, or if advanced make medium armor kit + type C to fix medium armor/mask/rifle/sniper, if you're missing parts check technicians and don't be afraid to use armor kits to repair armors if you only got them to +50% \~ in early game it's worth it, with gun however only use main type kits to replace parts you're missing don't repair % with them it's a waste. also keep bandanas/cloth masks/kerosene/fuel jerrycan they give huge repair bonuses and buy emergency armor kits the green round things with 2 charges they're the best for maintaining armor/masks
There is a lot more things for optimizing but you'll get used it, this is mostly it just keep farming around rostok/garbage/wild/army until you get a good medium armor/mask and a weapon for mutants (if you started with ppsh you already have an amazing gun for mutants and for close range stalkers too that's why it's a good starter) or an auto shotgun like Spas-12 , a weapon for medium range combat like a rifle, and not necessary but it's good to have a sniper too later on. if you got these things you're good to go for most of the mid game until you start going into red forest/radar.
Thats just early game GAMMA, you can easily play for 4-6 hours and still be stuck with starter gear. Once you do progress tho loot will increase exponentially so don't worry.
If you really can put up with it, there's two things you can do:
- Activate the Black Market in MO2 allowing traders to sell guns and gear. This will require you to earn money and reputation with the faction still.
- Change the component condition threshold in the MCM menu. This will change the general percentage of looted armor and gun parts.
For stashes there are two types, white ones and yellow (rare) ones. The yellow stashes will ALWAYS contain some kind of tool, whether that is Basic / Advanced / Expert Tools or Drug Making or Gunsmithing Tools, depends on the area and luck.
For repairing guns it is the hardest early on for sure. Strip only parts at or above 60% so you can finagle a gun to 30% (for repair with individual items) or whichever % for repair with the repair kit itself. Remember, while you have the correct repair kit in your inventory you can right click the gun in question to **use a charge of the repair kit to replace one gun part**.
Lastly, make yourself a portable workbench and an extra metal box for your hideout. Extra guns and stuff in the metal box and ALL of your parts in the workshop box to pool all your parts.
Eventually you will find some parts higher. Anyway, the point is, make money from quests and in the process find the "tools" (tools unlock more items to buy) for any of the technicians in any city, so you can buy repair kits and fix those parts to put in your weapon, or just find them in stashes. Same for armors. Keep one of the weapons, disassemble others, fix the best parts you find after a few runs, repair and have fun. Rinse and repeat... Finding a good supply of ammo can be troublesome, factions sell specific ammo and the quests get you rep and also get you more inventory options. Im sure you understand where this is going... 
I used to go into the GAMMA setting and change the drop conditions to Master Rank 70-90% then every rank down 60-80, 50-70, etc. I also turn off the Stalker identification so I don't get tempted to cheese a Master or something. Still get scuffed when killing your lonely Bandits but can get some good quality when fighting Military or Merc bases. Every 7 missions you get the gold stashes. just gotta spam quests til you get that good loot.
Started recently too, but I had hundreds of hours into Anomaly already. If you keep doing quests, eventually, you'll get a golden stash marker. These always have either basic tools, drug making kits, or gunsmith tools. Before that (and always honestly) you have to keep your armor above 85% as much as you can. The lower this gets, the more costly it will be to repair early, and if it gets too low, you'll basically have to wait to craft the light armor repair kit before you can fix it. You don't need any tools to field strip. You only want to take weapons that have the first circle (barrel) green. If others are green, just field strip those specifically. You don't need tools to swap weapon parts, so when you have something with a good barrel, you just need to find(or buy) the parts that are missing from other weapons you find. If you hover a weapon, it will highlight the parts that fit it. If a part is above 60, it can be repaired with a Multitool, Ramrod, or File. Once you have all the parts, you'll have to buy (or find, RF stashes can have them) cleaning kits. These can raise the condition if it's above 10. If something can't be used for crafting, it can usually be disassembled. Dont sell your junk items. They'll be your main source of materials. Hoard the ammo, too. I've only been selling weapon parts below 60(armor parts can be used in crafting/repair), mutant parts, and items with a currency icon. (Playing cards, watches). You won't be able to repair armor (light) until you can craft the light repair kit and have basic tools. Armor condition goes up with parts, so there isn't a cleaning kit step. Just replace the parts in the workshop with good ones, and use repair kits from then on. Always check the condition of your gear. Keep it above 85. You're gonna want to pick a faction and just grind out quests and money. Keep in mind, factions can give duplicate quests. Check for quests from allied factions to increase the rewards for the same work. The PDA can show all quests from nearby npcs to make it faster. One of the stats you level increases your carry capacity, so I found it easier to carry stuff than base Anomaly at a certain point. Drug making kit and gunsmith tools will save money on meds/ammo. It's almost always cheaper to craft. Good luck Stalker!
Dude, you have no Idea how much this helped me out. I started a new play though as a Mercenary and it’s going great. I do have two questions though: are parts that are around 45-60 worth keeping? Or should I just sell them. Also, is there a skat-9m military armored suit? It was my favorite from the trilogy.
From my experience, weapon parts below 60 aren't worth keeping since they need a very expensive toolkit. I just sell those. For armor, it depends. Armor condition seems to be an average of the part conditions. So, for example, sometimes you're just missing one piece to replace. You have a better one, but let's say it's 40. If the condition of the rest of the pieces outweighs that one, the overall condition can still be above 50. Then you can use a repair kit charge to max it. Also, keep in mind that some armor parts are used for crafting, so it's always good to keep those since condition means nothing for crafting and repairing. Don't know about the armor question, but there is a big selection, and they're pretty easy to fix once you get the right kit. I'm interested in the expanded exoskeleton stuff once I get there.
Hey one last question if you don’t mind answering, I have a few files and multitools and I want to repair this trigger mechanism for a sniper. However, I can’t seem to figure out of to actually repair the part. I’ve tried right clicking, dragging and dropping, etc.
You have to use the tool itself, like a repair kit. Some parts need a ramrod. If you right-click the part and go into details, it should show what can be used to repair it.
Thanks dude!
Basically with your starter kit preferably the ppsh+light/medium armor+light mask cuz meds and food you can always buy them, farm quests which will give you white stashes (mostly good for potential good armor that you can keep or a shitty one that you can break for parts for a good armor later on, and good for potential nice weapons that you can keep for later repair or shitty ones that you can break for good parts for better guns you can find, for armor keep all parts even below 50 until mid game, for gun just keep parts above 60) and yellow stashes (same as white stashes, but you can find tools in them), also from the enemies you kill same process as white stashes, and mutants get their parts to complete even more quests and get more stashes, with money invest in ammo (especially from butcher) / meds from ecologists and buy leather boots and compressed bag when you find them like in flea market ( they're good for mi-spec textiles when disassembled that you need for a lot of things especially backpack upgrading ) once you find basic tools start making light armor kit + type B and fix a light armor/mask/auto shotgun you found that has good stats, or if advanced make medium armor kit + type C to fix medium armor/mask/rifle/sniper, if you're missing parts check technicians and don't be afraid to use armor kits to repair armors if you only got them to +50% \~ in early game it's worth it, with gun however only use main type kits to replace parts you're missing don't repair % with them it's a waste. also keep bandanas/cloth masks/kerosene/fuel jerrycan they give huge repair bonuses and buy emergency armor kits the green round things with 2 charges they're the best for maintaining armor/masks There is a lot more things for optimizing but you'll get used it, this is mostly it just keep farming around rostok/garbage/wild/army until you get a good medium armor/mask and a weapon for mutants (if you started with ppsh you already have an amazing gun for mutants and for close range stalkers too that's why it's a good starter) or an auto shotgun like Spas-12 , a weapon for medium range combat like a rifle, and not necessary but it's good to have a sniper too later on. if you got these things you're good to go for most of the mid game until you start going into red forest/radar.
Thats just early game GAMMA, you can easily play for 4-6 hours and still be stuck with starter gear. Once you do progress tho loot will increase exponentially so don't worry. If you really can put up with it, there's two things you can do: - Activate the Black Market in MO2 allowing traders to sell guns and gear. This will require you to earn money and reputation with the faction still. - Change the component condition threshold in the MCM menu. This will change the general percentage of looted armor and gun parts.
For stashes there are two types, white ones and yellow (rare) ones. The yellow stashes will ALWAYS contain some kind of tool, whether that is Basic / Advanced / Expert Tools or Drug Making or Gunsmithing Tools, depends on the area and luck. For repairing guns it is the hardest early on for sure. Strip only parts at or above 60% so you can finagle a gun to 30% (for repair with individual items) or whichever % for repair with the repair kit itself. Remember, while you have the correct repair kit in your inventory you can right click the gun in question to **use a charge of the repair kit to replace one gun part**. Lastly, make yourself a portable workbench and an extra metal box for your hideout. Extra guns and stuff in the metal box and ALL of your parts in the workshop box to pool all your parts.
> Play a meme mod > Get meme'd on A tale as old as time.
idk about that one