Novikov

Novikov
Rank	Experienced
Affiliation	Clear Sky
Equipment	CS-3a body armor
Rank	Veteran
Affiliation	Ecologists
Equipment	CS-1 Body Armor

Note that I repair faults in hardware, not in its owner's arms.
― Grey

Novikov (Russian: Новиков) (also known by his nickname Gray) is a technician appearing in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat.

Background

According to Cold, Novikov is an extremely talented technician, able to make a rifle out of a tin can, complete with spare ammo.

Appearances

Clear Sky

He serves as the main technician for Clear Sky and is described by his comrades as an expert in his field, with Cold saying that he can make a rifle out of an empty can with ammo to boot. The player can visit Grey in the Clear Sky base for equipment repairs and upgrades. He also hands out a quest to find and bring back USB drives with upgrade data for the Viper 5 and CS-3a body armor.

Despite Grey being stuck in the back ends of the zone, he is quite an accomplished technician as he can fully upgrade virtually every type of assault rifle, he is also notable for being the only technician to fully upgrade the FT 200M and one of the only technicians other than Yar who can upgrade the SVD and SVU. He eventually left Clear Sky after the faction's downfall when they assaulted the Chernobyl NPP and got hit with an Emission.

Call of Pripyat

He returns in Call of Pripyat, where he works as a technician for the Ecologist Faction.  It is possible, but not likely, that Owl saved his life, as when you complete Owl's task about the detectors he says he owed him a favor.

'Do you work for Owl?'
― Alexander Degtyarev

'No. He helped me get something the other day... A favor for a favor.'
― Novikov

Unlike in Clear Sky, he's not quite as useful a technician - he can not upgrade weapons as the mobile lab lacks the materials, and initially he can not perform any upgrades whatsoever to armor or helmets.

Only by finishing Topol's quests will his inventory open up - capturing the Psi-emitting artifact lets him make up to Tier 3 psionic protection upgrades, and finishing the measurements quest will allow him to make up to Tier 3 anomaly protection upgrades. He is the only technician capable of making them.

Novikov can be interacted with to learn about the bunker and his personal life. He will mention that he used to work with a "certain Ecologist faction" before their demise.

Behind the Scenes

• His name and face are taken from Alexandr Novikov, deputy director for technical security of Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, who greatly helped the developers of the game with means to visit the real-life Zone and in collecting information about it.

• The name "Grey" was one of three names confusingly used to refer to the Shadow of Chernobyl character Seriy before an early patch corrected it.

Notes

• Along with Clear Sky Guide Nimble he is one of the confirmed surviving members of the Clear Sky faction.

Gallery

Novikov (known as Grey) in Clear Sky