Chernobylite follows former Soviet professor Igor Khymynuk as he enters the real-life Chernobyl Exclusion Zone searching for answers about the fate of his wife, who also worked in the Chernobyl Power Plant and disappeared just before the infamous disaster in 1986. The game focuses on the player accomplishing tasks to help improve their chances of successfully getting into the plant, drawing on similarly-themed games such as the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Metro series, but adds its own twist.
Not only does Igor have to explore a post-apocalyptic world and figure out how to complete his own objective, but he also has to manage a team. Igor can recruit several people to help him, but he has to know how to handle them properly.
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This level of management can be daunting to a new player. The simplest part is being able to assign party members to missions, but this alone is not sufficient to keep the team working well. The player's own actions can affect their team's morale and health. Failure to properly accommodate the team can lead to members getting killed, deserting, or disappearing.
Keep an Eye on Their Condition
It is important to regularly check on the team's health and psyche and to take it into consideration when deciding on missions. A party member who is stressed and badly hurt probably should not be sent on a demanding mission. Igor should try to prioritize missions according to the current needs of the party. This may mean having to sometimes prioritize supply runs over story missions. If members of the team are low on health then it may be better to prioritize collecting medical supplies. If they are hungry than it may be better to focus on gathering food. The important thing is being able to constantly monitor their feelings and try to plan accordingly.
Keep the Team Healthy
In addition to monitoring their health, making sure to be on top of the party's needs is also essential to keeping up morale. They need to be both mentally and physically healthy to perform well, which means that in addition to being on top of food distribution, it is also important to keep a decent supply of medicine to provide for injured teammates. Igor will want to take any opportunity he can get to acquire medicines. Regularly doing medical supply runs will help. Building a laboratory will make this a little easier since it can be used to craft medkits using resources collected on missions.
Make them as Comfortable as Possible
Chernobylite incorporates a mechanic where the player can build items, similar to the settlement system in Fallout 4. They can build a variety of structures that are useful to both themselves and their teammates. This is important to understand because building a comfortable environment at the base also helps keep up morale. It also means taking any opportunity to add to the base, even if it is something simple. A good place to start is to build beds for the team, which does a lot to reduce stress. A team member having to sleep on the floor too often is going to have lower morale.
Build Practically
While it is important for Igor to make his allies comfortable, Igor should not put comfort over functionality. It does help his companions a lot when they have actual beds, but he should not get bogged down setting up cushy chairs and couches everywhere. There are pieces of practical equipment that will need to be built, and it may be necessary at times to save resources towards building them. Several different crafting stations can be built that offer different features, and some of them are required before other things can be built. Igor will want to consider what equipment will be practical for his missions- and what will help with fulfilling his companions' needs.
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For instance, building a laboratory is useful because it allows Igor to craft medkits out of materials gathered from missions, meaning he does not need to go on medical supply runs as often. Building a vegetable garden will help take some pressure off of gathering food. Building a mushroom or herb garden will allow a more consistent source of crafting resources.
Try to Listen to the Team
Your allies often have advice and opinions to share on the current situation, it is important to try to pay attention to their advice as much as possible. Listening to allies and taking their advice makes them feel a lot more appreciated and more willing to co-operate. Consistently ignoring them only makes them resentful and lowers Igor's standing with them. Allies who know Igor will listen to them, even if he does not always agree with them, will have much higher morale.
Admittedly this can be difficult. Sometimes Igor has to ignore their suggestions, and sometimes his allies will offer conflicting views. Olivier and Mikhail often bicker about this, usually arguing over whether to be more discreet or go into full Rambo mode. When this happens, Igor will have to pick a side, which gains favor with one ally but loses it with the other. The best he can do in these situations is try to logically assess both arguments and not favor the advice of one ally over another.
Make Sure They are Well-Fed
Food is hard to come by in the wasteland, which is why it is important to distribute it appropriately when it is available. Starving your companions will stress them out and make them less likely to be helpful to you, though it may sometimes be unavoidable. At the end of every mission, the player gets to decide how much food each team member gets. While the ideal solution would be to split it evenly, this does not always work. Some party members may need more food than others at specific moments.
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Offering extra rations to a party member who is more stressed can help improve their psyche, but depending on the available supply it may mean at least one other person going without it. Figuring out the balance of who needs food more urgently will help keep them in good condition.
It is possible to build a vegetable garden for the base which can help with offering a more consistent source of food. However it is not available right away as it can only be made after Igor has assembled the laser cutter.
Let Your Teammates Rest Once in a While
At the start of each in-game day, the player can choose from several missions, but they can also choose to stay at the base and rest. Sometimes it is also good to allow the same for your party members, especially when they are hurt or their morale is running low. Giving them a day off to relax is a good way to stabilize them both physically and mentally. It is also a practical choice- teammates who are badly hurt or not feeling great are less likely to succeed when they are assigned missions. If they're already miserable or hurt, than stressing them out by giving them more demanding jobs is only going to make their condition worse.
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