By default, the combat in SoC kinda sucks. To combat this, we're going to modify the game a bit.

First, install the Zone Reclamation Project version 1.07 (found here)[www.metacognix.com] and put the gamedata folder into your game's directory. Then go into the 'fsgame.ltx' file (found in the game's directory, not in the gamedata folder included with ZRP) and change the second line so that any falses become true, and it looks like the picture below. ZRP is effectively just a bugfix mod, and also adds a few QoL changes. It is highly modifiable through the 'modifier.exe' program found in the gamedata folder it comes with. It also re-adds many .ltx files that were removed in the steam release.

After that, we're going to fix the borked weapon spread. Go into 'weapons.ltx' (found in the gamedata folder for ZRP) and manually change all k_disp values to your liking. Personally, I have divided all values by 1/3, so for instance, 'k_disp 3' will become 'k_disp 1'. You can set it to whatever value you want, though for me 1/3 is a good value.
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Next to fix enemy hit chance. There is a bug in the game's code that causes all enemies to only register damage for 20% of shots that hit. This value is supposed to be reserved for novice difficulty, but a coding error causes all difficulties to use the one for novice. This results in enemies being about as accurate as a blind man with no arms. To fix this, go into actor.cfg and change the 'hit_probability_gd_' values to your liking (don't touch the default line). I'm not quite sure if ZRP fixes the afformentioned bug, so just change the hit chance to be the same for all of the difficulties just to be sure. Personally, I have it set to 80, which makes enemies much deadlier.

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Finally, one more thing to fix hit chance. Go back into 'weapons.ltx' and change the 'hit_probability_max_dist' value. This is the max distance at which enemies will use that maximum hit chance of what you put it to in the last paragraph. So for instance, if I set the hit chance to 80%, enemies will only hit with that 80% within this distance (in meters). By default, this is set to a measly 10 meters. To fix this, set it to 100-1000. Personally, I have it set to 1000. This will cause enemies to also be able to hit you at a distance, making it so you don't have a massive advantage over them.

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And you're done! The combat is no longer suck! Good hunting, Stalker!