S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Wiki
Register
Advertisement
The subject of this article appears in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky.

The Renegades (Ренегаты) are a loosely held-together faction of stalkers encountered in the beginning stages of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky.

History[]

The faction consists mainly of Bandits not organized under Yoga's lead and stalkers that broke off from other factions. The Renegades do not seem to be under a formal leadership and act as warbands and gangs instead. Following the increase in emissions and the subsequent changing of the Zone's anomalous activity, the road to the Great Swamps opened up and people began moving in on what they hoped was an area of unharvested bounty. These people, dubbed the Renegades, soon got themselves into a turf war with the resident Clear Sky, a war they were well on their way of winning until Scar got involved, when their numbers were reduced to less than 25.

Appearances[]

Clear Sky[]

The Renegades are the first human enemies the player comes across and also the first faction war opponents, serving as a go-along tutorial for both combat and the faction wars mechanic. They are always hostile unless the player does not kill any of them and later joins the Bandits or Freedom. They are mostly encountered in the Swamps, although a few can be encountered in other areas: several bodies in the Garbage (one is namely featured in the mission Find the modified weapon), and two prisoners can be found in the stalker base in the Agroprom. Later on, a large number of Renegades appears in the Red Forest; a group is holed up in the mineshaft guarding the Compass, and another one ambushes Leshiy's group while he attempts to lower the drawbridge to Limansk.

Renegades are, much like Bandits, equipped with light weapons and low-quality armor. At the start of the game, they are still vastly superior to Clear Sky in sheer numbers. The Renegades were most likely made as a supplement for the Bandits as so the player could still join the Bandit faction without harming one's reputation with them. Renegades were not seen in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl or in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, suggesting that they most likely dissolved into the Bandits factions, became Loners, or were completely destroyed.

Alignment[]

It is unclear what ties the Renegades have with the Bandits. When one joins the latter faction, they will become neutral with the Renegades, and as such it is unclear what the goal of this faction is: The elite Renegade strike force guarding the bridge to Limansk and the one in the Red Forest is distinct from the similarly equipped Bandits in Limansk, and one can wonder as to whether they are in fact cooperating, having perhaps equipped elite units to form a blockade on the paths to the center of the zone, whilst pushing on northward with another squad. This is supported by the unprecedented level of organization shown amongst Bandits under Yoga's rule, however, seeing as the Renegade faction does not seem to have a leader or at least one with a speaking role, it remains ambiguous.

Sadly, upon joining the Bandits and traveling to the swamps, the Renegades offer no real background story as they use the same script as the members of Clear Sky, referring to the Clear Sky leaders as they are their own.

If the player joins the Bandit faction and returns to the swamps, providing they didn't annihilate the remaining dregs of the Renegade faction, it is possible to get the swamp Renegades back on their feet. Occasionally, Renegade squad leaders will offer jobs to the player that damage Clear Sky and allow the Renegades to establish a foothold once more. If enough Renegades were left alive at the top corners of the swamp or any other parts, they may take advantage of Clear Sky's weakness that develops if the player clears some of their squads off nearby camps or ruins. The Renegades can send squads to reclaim locations and take over sections of the previously Clear Sky dominated swamps. Once they start to gain momentum and more renegade squads spawn, their numbers can potentially rise to above 50 again and Clear Sky's numbers will begin to diminish for the time being. At this point, the renegades may well push their way as far as to the fishing hamlet and southern village. If Renegades capture some camps in the swamps, some of them may offer to guide them to areas outside of the Great Swamps, unlike Clear Sky members.

The Renegades can be thought of as a dormant cancer once the Clear Sky faction war is complete. The player is able to join the Bandits and become neutral to them and from there, reenter the swamps to help the renegades. Renegades are usually more friendly to the player than Bandits and are more tolerant to friendly fire or the player killing them. Once the renegades take a few locations back from Clear Sky, the "cancer" can be said to be active once more and will spread with increasing aggression as time goes on. Unfortunately, Clear Sky will always be able to respawn squads and overwhelm the Renegades sometime after their numbers have dropped to a certain point. Clear Sky will inevitably push the renegades back and at least reclaim most of what they lost. The renegades will eventually return to their weakened, dormant state once more if Clear Sky is able to beat them back. If they're lucky, they may be able to retain a few places that Clear Sky doesn't come after, namely the Pump Station or the Machine Yard.

Equipment[]

Armaments[]

At first, in the Great Swamp, renegades are armed with relatively light weaponry much to the reminiscence of Bandits in Shadow of Chernobyl. Later in the Red Forest, however, they are seen with much more advanced weaponry including 9x39mm SA Avalanche rifles wielded by the trenchcoat-wearing renegades and AKM-74/2s loaded with armor-piercing ammo wielded by the mercenary suit-wearing renegades.

Pistols[]

  • PMm (sometimes upgraded with better magazine capacity or with the 9x19mm conversion mod)

Submachine Guns[]

Shotguns[]

Assault Rifles[]

Sniper Rifles[]

Armor[]

Ranking[]

Rookie[]

Renegade Rookies are the most common type of renegades encountered by the player. In the Great Swamps, they were the usual Bandit jacket and they commonly equip PMm pistols and Shotguns. Though, occasionally they may equip Viper 5s. Due to weak armor and equipment, they can usually be easily get taken down by headshots and with high-tier equipment. However, the player will have trouble when dealing with groups.

Experienced[]

Experienced renegades are relatively uncommon and they are more commonly found in the northeastern corner of the Great Swamps. They often accompanied by Rookies, and serve as squad leaders. They were bandit trenchcoats and they are better equipped than rookies. The weaponry equipped by experienced Renegades can range from Hunting Rifles, Viper 5s and even AKM-74/2Us, and they can be sometimes equipped with upgraded pistols. As a result, more caution should be taken.

Rookie (Red Forest)[]

The renegades encountered in the Red Forest are of rookie rank. However, they are much more dangerous and more well-equipped than ones encountered in the Swamps. They are found when the player first visits the old mine, and the bridge to Limansk. The ones wearing the Bandit version of the mercenary wield AKM-74/2s, while the ones with the bandit trenchcoat wield SA Avalanches. Trenchcoat renegades can also be seen wielding SVDm-2 sniper rifles.

Development[]

  • The original idea for the Renegade Faction traces its origin to the "Black Slime" faction from early stages of development of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. Initially, there were plans for multiple different Bandit factions with their own leaders and objectives with Black Slime being one of them. This was later removed from Shadow of Chernobyl, but that same faction is the predecessor to the Renegades faction.[source/verification needed]
Advertisement