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-L" - a vatnik with a metallic fence sewn in to it. Provides great protection from punches, cuts, stabs, fangs and claws, and also helps with softening any hits that didn't penetrate your armor.
"Null-Argon" - 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. Worse than Wolfram, but does not prevent you from wearing body armor.
Oversuits
"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. 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.
"Панцирь" - an anomalous defense suit developed by german scientists, in response to some biological threat in Berlin outskirts, or so the rumors say. The best defense from anomalies and mutants available to a stalker, but weighs a ton, costs a fortune and won't stop anything larger than a pistol caliber.
Detectors
"Grib (Mushroom)" - 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.