Stalker, lost alpha - Forest - part 4
1A woodland with a motorway passing through it. There are some villages, but an industrial complex with mines is the most notable place of those parts. A huge anomaly is located in the Forest's center, and there are lots of rumors spread about it. The Great Metal Factory side is guarded by the Duty soldiers; stalkers rarely visit the Forest, however, bandits are frequent guests there as they won't stop coming from Dark Valley.
Principally created as a driving level that links the Great Metal Factory with the north end of the Dark Valley; this level is exceptionally large with a central roadway that meanders in a zigzag over the map.
Many parts of the Forest are quite radioactive, often for extended intervals, although there are routes that may be taken that avoid these entirely if taken on foot.
Since the risk of a Blowout exists and is not proscribed as it is for the early game for the Rostok level, and since Blowout shelters are only found in two locations (the Electro Oasis and the Bandit Mine), having a top flight suit and traveling light are the only serious options for tackling this level. Either pack some "speed rocks" or have overdose quantities of Energy drinks, or both.
There are plenty of Anomalies scattered throughout the level, often in groups but never in formal Anomaly Fields, and plenty of low to medium grade Artifacts are spawned with the game setup and later from the anomalies on rare occasions.
The Electro Oasis is well worth a visit at a suitable time of night, but only seems to be good for an initial spawning of 10-15 relevant artifacts. Allow suitable carry space.
Respawns here do not seem to occur beyond this windfall.
There are four population centers:
A Duty company guards the exit to the Great Metal Factory.
A Bandit gang controls the Bandit Minecomplex and have good weaponry and aim, even at range.
One village is staffed by Zombies and Ghost Zombies,
Another village has a Zombified Stalker population.
The only other populations are made up of non-humanoids and include Boar, Blind Dogs, Fleshes, Swampbeasts, Chimera for the most part, with a naked Burer causing problems for drivers in the northern part of the map.
Evenings bring out Poltergeists and Pyrogeists but these tend to be confined to the road near the Music Village and the Electro Oasis area.
There are a group of at least three Bloodsuckers patrolling to the east of Music Village, but these are easily avoided.
The southern end of the map, south of the Bandit Mine is pretty empty of mutants with the exception of a few Chimera.
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Locations
Bandit Mine Complex
A small walled in bandit camp located in the slightly west center of the map. At the front entrance, there are 2 bandits on the roof of the first building scanning the area. There are 4 bandits scattered throughout the rest of the camp. In the back of the camp is a mine with two bandits in it. Also in the mine is the unique Bandit Jacket called "Mail Jacket", along with 60 5.45x39mm rounds.
The side mission Eliminate the bandits takes place here.
The Find the documents (Forest), Run-in at the old mine and Unlucky stalker all take place at this location.
Duty Checkpoint
Located in the north-west part of the map.
Electro Oasis
Located in the central part of the map.
Was generally a bonanza spot for Electro artifacts between versions 1.30013 and 1.4002, afterwards generally uninteresting.
Music Village
Located in the north-east part of the map.
The side mission, Find something of the dead composer. takes place here.
Zombie Hamlet
Located in the central-east part of the map, well east of the Bandit Mine Complex.
The mission An old friend (of Seriy) has its objective here.
Gameplay
v1.30013 - 1.3003:
Although this level connects Rostok to the Dark Valley it is probably quicker for the player to run to the Valley via the Garbage level; certainly there will be no Chimera going that way and the radiation pockets are far less lethal. Additionally, there are no major characters to meet on Forest and the only missions there are two peripheral side-missions, one from Petrenko when he joins the Trader faction and the other (more profitable mission) being a one-off given by Professor Kruglov.
Any other gameplay is currently lacking as of version 1.3003, so the only other reason for the player to enter the level would be for strategic considerations.
The artifact windfall around the Electro Oasis is probably magnet enough for a stalker to make a beeline for, provided that the timing is right, of course.
This is especially tempting if the player has upper tier armour such as a SSP-99M suit early in the game as the rest of the level may also be trawled for the fairly extensive artifact spawns all over the level.
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