u/Flushestpoem4

As with other Bethesda games, all we see of the Settled Systems are scaled-down versions of the most important cities and locations, though unlike the post-apocalypse or medieval fantasy it's harder to explain that emptiness in a sci-fi setting.

Even though the population was drastically reduced during the earth's collapse a century later it seems to have stabilized again. People are leaving colonized space for the frontier in droves and there's apparently enough people to have a planet-destroying war with conventional weapons and military installations from that war across the galaxy.

Do we get any indication of how this population is set up off-screen? Is almost all of the population meant to be living in a handful of megacities or is there evidence that places like Jemison, Mars or Akila are more built up than we see with planet-wide infrastructure

I'm going through Stalker 2 and since it doesn't have a post-game as far as I know I'm wondering what'd be the best place to leave off the main story and explore? I'm getting really into the main plot but I don't want to miss everything because I crossed some point of no return and half the settlements end up dying. Currently though some settlements are still closed off to me like the Chemical Plant and the Brood.

Having just been told to go to Noontide, what quest should be my cutoff point to maximize the amount of stuff I can do?