Radar(Lost Alpha)


 *  is a major location appearing in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Lost Alpha standalone Mod.

"A dreadful place. Easy to vanish without a trace there, no matter how lucky you have been in life so far. Whoever gets close to the Brain Scorcher immediately goes insane, turns into a zombie and starts stalking the Zone restlessly. A human shell is all that's left. No-one has ever returned with a sound mind."

- Encyclopedia description

Overview

 * Radar is dominated by Monolith troops, and Snorks with a few dogs and boar, and it is the location of the Brain Scorcher transmitter array.
 * There are at least three easy entry points to Badlands that may be exploited in all versions.

Brain Scorcher

 * See main article for details.

Lab X10 Entrance

 * See main article for details.

Badlands

 * See main article for details.


 * There exist three known exploit paths to the Badlands (valid for all releases between v1.30013 and 1.4007)

Gameplay

 * The player is usually granted access to this location for the first time from the direction of the Dead City levelchanger.
 * Arriving without any psi protection, and needing to get to the Outskirts to receive further mission briefings, the player has two options:
 * 1) A firefight with a well equipped adversary who outnumber the player 8 to 1 on the short leg to Outskirts.
 * 2) Talk to the local OOD, pay 5000 Ru as a "transit fee" and move on without incident.
 * A similar option exists if coming from the Warehouse entrance, but with less than four minutes for the player to make either transition this is usually suicidal. Using a vehicle is possible but the opportunity for errors are many and accidentally running over a Monolith cadre will invalidate the truce.
 * Note that this only realistically applies between v1.30013 and 1.3003. From v1.4002 this entrance became 'blocked' for early entry and from v1.4007 (if open) drops the player into Radar on the road with the longest distance to any other exit point.
 * Return visits (with suitable protection) can be more leisurely affairs depending upon the player's disposition, but only strict non aggression will allow the player the opportunity to meet the Patriarch having initially Found Nomad on Radar; at which point the Captain apprehends the player for an optional set of side missions that culminate in a visit to the Scorcher compound.
 * Note that in v1.4007 helmeted suits such as any ecologist variant or the PS5-M "Universal Protection" do not allow the player to wear either the Not adjusted psi-helmet or the Functional psi-helmet. As a result the "psy timer" may well run to zero resulting in the actor's death. Wearing a non-helmeted suit ("Sunrise-4" suit, Heavy tourist's suit, Bandit jacket, etc.,) or just no suit at all allows this deficiency to be avoided.
 * Additionally, whereas in earlier versions early entry to Lab X10 - before visiting X16 - reset the "psy timer" to about four minutes; if the player attempts this in v1.4007 the timer does not even start, allowing ample time to explore the level.

Notable Loot

 * v1.30013 - 1.3003:


 * The entire level has quite a few artifacts, but they are mostly Slimes and Slugs with some Stone Flowers, and are typically spread far apart. Though the large garbage piles seem like they would hide a lot of good loot, there are only about three artifacts total concealed in the rubble.
 * v1.4002+


 * The various anomalies have more interesting spawn potentials and consequently Artifact Spawns are possible, but generally limited to the respawning Snork pack near the lower exit to Military Warehouses (Old Road from v1.4007) and various assorted dogpacks, Poltergeists and Pyrogeists near Nomad's Belongings.
 * v1.4007:


 * The whole level may be a treasure trove for the player as far as artifacts are concerned, depending partially upon random spawn generations at game initialization.
 * Although not confined to this release, spawns that are only accessible by exploiting the Badlands 'routes' to approach the spawns. Whereas this was usually confined to the MilWare levelcanger (now OldRoad LC) it can also occur near the Pripyat Underground levelchanger.
 * Since the "Psi timer" HUD is no longer presented if the player is wearing any "Psi-hat" during initial visits to the level, this allows amlpe time for exploration.
 * Any version:


 * A good looting opportunity can be had if you kill all the monolith after you have met with Patriarch and carry their weapons away in a vehicle. A strategy to attack the main base (scorcher) is to use an RPG-7 to kill all the dozen or so that are grouped together around Patriarch, then kill the remaining few scattered around the base.
 * There are several food and medical supplies in the first house on the left after you enter the base.
 * x2 PMm (in a crate inside a wheeled wagon abandoned next to the road)
 * x3 Chmielnitskoe beer (Monolith building)
 * A Sniper Obokan with a few packs of 5.45x39mm BP ammo is in a packing case in the small underground within the Monolith Base. Usually the key needs to be stolen from Milo during the Retrieve the machine for Lukash mission.
 * v1.4005:


 * Note that "lootpiling" outside the Brain Scorcher facility (or anywhere else) is effectively excised from the game by the industrious "garbage manager" function of the game engine.
 * Such lootpiling (including any relocated Placements that may have been touched) will now depart from the gameboard on an ad hoc basis unless they have been stashed in one or any of the stash locations nearby.
 * Note also that this release introduced the "highly useless weaponry" feature that resulted in many looted weaponry items being unsaleable.
 * v1.4007:


 * Note also that this release introduced the Vehicles limited storage capacity "feature".
 * There are two Calibration toolkits on the level.