Armor and equipment
Armor
When examining your clothes or armor, it's armor class (AC) will be displayed. In the same manner, examining melee weapons or ammo will display it's penetration class (PC). Penetration occurs when AC is less than or equal to PC. If AC is higher than the attacks PC, then the damage will be reduced by 25% per each point of difference, after which the damage will be reduced even further by any unpenetrated clothing dampening the blow.
Equipment
Zone has various equipment made by the local tinkerers (and sometimes even ukranian research institutes) to improve chances of survival for stalkers. These items, unlike the mundane gas masks and armor vests, might raise some questions from a freshly arrived stalker.
Jumpsuits
"Ryativnik-2" - a vatnik with a metallic fence sewn in to it. Provides great protection from punches, cuts, stabs, fangs and claws. The first model is no longer in production, but you can sometimes see senior stalkers use it. Second model has even more fence and wadding for extra defense.
Oversuits
"Argon-plus" - an updated version of the unfortunate "Argon" suit, which was the first attempt by the institutes to make a protective suit against anomalies for their field researchers. Failed spectacularly and ended up in large numbers on the black market. Hasn't seen any field testing yet, but there are high hopes that this version will manage much better than the original.
"Wolfram" - the second attempt by the eggheads to make a protective suit was a success. Provides great protection from electricity, fire and acids, but is unexpectedly fragile.
"Faraday" - this suit is basically a portable "Faraday Cage". Will completely absorb an electrical discharge with no danger to the wearer and will even attract any long distance shocks, which might've hit one of your comrades. Multiple discharges at a rapid pace might overheat the suit and damage it's integrity, so take your time to let it cool between the shocks.
Detectors
"Grib" - a coil with an LED and and a noise element. Will beep and light up periodically if within a strong magnetic field - usually this means you are within reach of a long-ranged electrical anomaly, so exercise caution while proceeding or find a different path. Doesn't work from your bag.
Other
- "Artifact container" - prevents the artifact from affecting the stalker. Artifacts are not radioactive, but their effects can influence how combat ready your murderhobo is, both positively and negatively. Prolonged contact with some artifacts might affect your health.