Should you give the Ward Sensors to Richter or Captain Zotov in Stalker 2?
Which side should you take at the end of "A Needle In A Haystack"?
Should you give the Ward Sensors to Richter or Captain Zotov in Stalker 2? Stalker 2 has a great many minor choices to choose between, and a small handful of very important choices. And the very first choice with important, real consequences is deciding who to give the Ward Sensors you procure from Squint in the "A Needle In A Haystack" main quest.
Both these characters reside in Zalissya at this early point in Stalker 2. Richter is a fellow Stalker like you, whereas Captain Zotov is a member of the militaristic Ward who are temporarily occupying Zalissya for an investigation after Squint killed a number of their men. But who is the best person to give the Ward Sensors to?
The Ward Sensors decision affects the next several hours of Stalker 2's story, so keep reading to learn everything you need to know to make the right decision for your playthrough.
In this guide:
- Should you give the Ward Sensors to Richter or Zotov?
- Option 1: Give the Ward Sensors to Richter
- Option 2: Give the Ward Sensors to Captain Zotov
Warning: story spoilers for the next few main quests follow!
Should you give the Ward Sensors to Richter or Zotov?
There's no objectively correct choice here. Depending on who you give the Ward Sensors back in Zalissya, you'll get a rather different story experience for the next few hours of your playthrough. Both choices end up in roughly the same place, and the material differences aren't huge, but in terms of story differences, you are essentially choosing between the individualistic Stalker faction and the militaristic Ward faction. So above all, you should choose whichever path intrigues you the most.
Here are the main differences that arise depending on whether you give the Ward Sensors to Richter or Zotov:
| If you give Ward Sensors to Richter | If you give Ward Sensors to Zotov |
|---|---|
| You'll earn slightly more coupons but have an arguably harder time in the next quest. | You'll earn slightly less coupons but have an arguably easier time in the next quest. |
| You'll enter the Sphere via the Ribs. | You'll enter the Sphere via the IPSF outpost. |
| Richter will tell you to collect the key from Gaffer so you can exit the Lesser Zone via the Northern Checkpoint into Garbage. | Zotov will tell you to exit the Lesser Zone via the Western Checkpoint into the Chemical Plant. |
| The "Answers Come At A Price" quest involves meeting with Star and infiltrating the nearby laboratory. | The "Answers Come At A Price" quest involves meeting with Colonel Korshunov and attacking Chornozem's gang at the Depot. |
| Richter's path leads you to an early encounter with Scar, leader of Spark. | Zotov's path leads you to an early encounter with Colonel Korshunov, leader of the Ward. |
| During the quest "Back To The Slag Heap", Colonel Korshunov is less trustful of you, and Scar is more trustful of you. | During the quest "Back To The Slag Heap", Colonel Korshunov is more trustful of you, and Scar is less trustful of you. |
That's a fair few consequences to mull over, so let's break down both paths and see exactly what happens when you give the Ward Sensors to Richter or Captain Zotov.
Option 1: Give the Ward Sensors to Richter
Enter the Sphere via the Ribs
If you give the Ward Sensors to Richter, you'll immediately be given 2,024 Coupons as a reward - a bit more than the 1,350 coupons Zotov would have given you. Richter tells you about a way to get into the Sphere via the Ribs, which is an entrance that is more about dodging anomalies than dealing with people.
Essentially the Sphere is one long underground pathway which connects the Ribs to a IPSF outpost. At the centre of the path is Solder, the man you're trying to find. Deal with him however you like; after that, you'll have to escape via the IPSF outpost side. This is arguably the harder choice, because the IPSF outpost is very well-guarded by dozens of soldiers.
Leave via the Northern Checkpoint into Garbage
Once you've escaped the Sphere, Richter will contact you and tell you to get the Northern Checkpoint key off of Gaffer back in Zalissya. Do this, and then you can leave the Lesser Zone via the Northern Checkpoint.
The moment you leave the Lesser Zone, you'll be wired a handful more coupons (2,699 to be exact), and you'll be given the next quest - "Answers Come At A Price".
Answers Come At A Price quest
Giving the Ward Sensors to Richter means you need to first meet up with a man called Star and his soldiers at the nearby Detention Centre in the south of Garbage. Speak to Star, and he'll give you a lead on where to find Nestor, current leader of Garbage, and the man Solder told you was behind the Scanner attack that befell you at the beginning of the game. But first, he needs you to help some of his men, who are trapped in the basement of a nearby factory lab.
You can take the lab by force or sneak by all the enemies there. Either way, inside the basement area you'll eventually come across a recording which links Nestor to Diode, a Tech in the settlement of Slag Heap.
An early meeting with Scar
The moment you finish listening to this recording, you'll be contacted by an unknown individual, who leads you to him and then helps you to escape the lab. You don't know it yet, but this unknown man is Scar - leader of the faction known as Spark, and Star's boss. This meeting puts you on better terms with him when you next meet him.
Report back to Star that you saved his men, and then you're off to visit Diode in Slag Heap. This next portion of the main story is roughly the same for both paths. Diode will give you the quest "The Price Goes Up", and after that you'll meet with Varan in the quest "Deal With The Devil".
Korshunov and Scar
After those quests are both finished and you've looted the "Unusual PDA" from the body in Varan's cell, you'll reach the tail-end of the consequences of the Ward Sensors choice. When you head back to the Slag Heap to speak to Diode, you'll find the settlement has been taken over by the Ward.
You'll be ushered upstairs to a meeting with Colonel Korshunov, leader of the Ward, who doesn't trust you one bit at first, given your previous choice of helping the Stalkers over the Ward. You'll have the choice during this conversation to hand over the "Unusual PDA", but that's a matter for another guide. All that's relevant is that your first meeting with Colonel Korshunov is quite a bit less friendly if you chose to give Richter the Ward Sensors.
After that, Richter will send you to the nearby Sawmill to meet with Scar again, and he'll briefly reference your previous meeting before the main story continues on. At this point, both Richter's path and Zotov's path converge once more.
Option 2: Give the Ward Sensors to Captain Zotov
Enter the Sphere via the IPSF outpost
If you give the Ward Sensors to Captain Zotov, then you'll earn a more meagre immediate reward of 1,350 coupons (compared to Richter's 2,024). Afterwards, you'll be sent to the IPSF outpost nearby, where Zotov has a loyal mole waiting at the gate to let you in. You can either sneak through the base quietly until you reach the underground area, or you can go in guns blazing - it's up to you. Sneaking is by far the easiest option though, and the main benefit of choosing Zotov's path - at least at first.
Leave via the Western Checkpoint into Chemical Plant
After dealing with Solder inside the Sphere, you'll escape via the Ribs, and Zotov will contact you to tell you to leave the Lesser Zone via the Western Checkpoint. He says that your best bet to find answers about Nestor will be by speaking to Colonel Korshunov yourself.
It may look like this path takes you into the Chemical Plant region, but you'll only stay in there for a few minutes. You need to meet a Warden called Mateus, who tells you where to find Colonel Korshunov (surprise! He's just across the border in Garbage). Meet with Korshunov, and he'll give you a wholly different version of the "Answers Come At A Price" quest.
Answers Come At A Price quest
Speak to Korshunov and he'll tell you that the last person to talk to Nestor was Chornozem - a gang leader holed up in the Depot very nearby. Korshunov and his men are mere moments away from attacking the Depot anyway for its strategic value, but he'll let you either join the firefight or go ahead of them and attempt to get information from Chornozem.
Whether you attack the gang or speak to Chornozem makes no difference - you'll be forced to kill the gang anyway, and you'll always get the information you need: that the person you actually need to speak to is Diode. And thus the paths converge once again.
Korshunov and Scar
After this, you'll need to visit Diode and complete the next set of quests ("The Price Goes Up" and "Deal With The Devil". Return to the Slag Heap, and you'll be brought upstairs to meet once more with Korshunov. In this path, Korshunov is far friendlier towards you, because you've previously displayed a willingness to work with the Ward.
After your meeting with Korshunov and Dalin (and whether or not you decide to show him the PDA), you'll then be sent by Richter to meet Scar at the Sawmill. If you chose to give the Ward Sensors to Zotov, then this will be your first meeting with Scar, and he'll introduce himself properly. Unlike Korshunov, who is markedly more hostile if you didn't choose the Ward-friendly path, Scar is pretty much the same temperament for both paths, which may or may not sway you.
All in all, there's no definitive right or wrong choice when it comes to giving away the Ward Sensors to one side or the other. It represents a different set of quests which take you out of the Lesser Zone, and it also represents an initial leaning towards either the Stalkers/Spark or the Ward - but either way, you can choose to counteract or further this leaning with your next major choice, which is who to show the Strange PDA to.
That wraps up this guide, but we've got plenty more Stalker 2 wisdom to give. Check out our other guides on how to fast travel in Stalker 2, how to get more ammo, how to repair and upgrade weapons, and how to use Bolts.