Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant(Lost Alpha)


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

Overview

 * The biggest difference from the Base Game, apart from the size of the place, is that the ambient radioactivity is more in keeping with the 'real life' analogue and not necessarily lethal in short order.
 * The level effectively has 'suburbs', mostly to the east, sometimes with stashes.
 * Mutants are also present in many places mostly consisting of Blind Dogs, Pseudodogs, Snorks, and the occasional Bloodsucker.
 * A considerable variety of Anomalies are also present, often in dense clusters.
 * In concomitant with these anomalies, a player will find a wide and abundant range of Artifacts.
 * Dependent upon the route taken and the player's status with the factions (it's quite possible to be an enemy of the Military and still neutral with the Monolith if the player is still a Bandit) it's possible to amass a fairly staggering variety of ordnance. Since safe stashing locations are at a premium, leaving these spoils of war in various heaps for later motorized collection is a possibility. Leaving them upon their victims' corpses will, of course, get them removed from the board.
 * While the Military units will generally be limited to VLA Special Assault Rifles, any Monolith contingent(s) are much better equipped with GP 37, SGI 5k, Sniper rifle SVDm-2, and Gauss Rifles, most of which may be upgraded or sold on for useful returns.
 * The Monolithians also have a large squad of RPG-7u gunners that are encountered during the Military fork sub-missions.

Locations

 * The entrance to the Sarcophagus is not where it is in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl but that location is approachable in due course.

Gameplay

 * There is more than one method for obtaining the Sarcophagus door passcode.
 * Blowouts are possible as in all open levels. Blowout shelters are in short supply.
 * The Sarcophagus entrance is identical to the door that the player leaves from after falling out with C-Consciousness in the Base Game.

Military fork

 * The player usually arrives from Pripyat through the western portal on foot having traversed the gloom of the Pripyat Underground and most likely picked up more damage skirmishing in Pripyat.
 * There are no facilities for repairs.
 * The player will be tasked with meeting the commander of the local Military detachment prior to being offered a Main mission fork to assist them with a multistage assault on the Monolith defenders of the station (who are present in considerable strength following their retreat from Radar)
 * Player may decline to assist but the option for this Main mission fork will then be determined.
 * There will also be a scripted "Mutant Attack" after the initial Monolith contingent has been eliminated, with a minor Zombified Stalker attack as previously eliminated Monolithians are reanimated.
 * The player is then escorted and introduced to the Military leader in the area, assists their elimination of the Monolith troops guarding the door by providing support from a BTR-70 Armored Personnel Carrier and is given the door passcode as a reward.

Duty fork

 * The player arrives from Radar, perhaps by car and first encounters a Duty squad located around the point that the Hero in the Base Game first arrives at.
 * The leader of the squad will offer a Main mission fork which involves the player delivering a Transceiver to the immediate rear end of the BTR-70 Armored Personnel Carrier that backs up the 20-strong Monolith platoon guarding it in order to triangulate an airstrike.
 * If the player declines the suicide mission it will not be offered again.
 * There are 6 to 8 snipers with SVDm-2 or Gauss Rifles and closer in some RPG-7u rocket men. The rest are typical NPP guards with Monolith suits and SGI 5ks or Exoskeletons and GP 37 weaponry, with the BTR backing them up if the player allows it a clear line of sight.
 * Fortunately several containers allow for cover.
 * There is also a Blind Dog pack in the area close to the BTR. These have the annoying ability of 'pushing' the player into the BTR's kill zone.
 * With the Transceiver in place, airborne cavalry are called in to home in on it, destroy the BTR and assist in mopping up any remaining Monolith.
 * The Duty commander then asks the player to locate a forward company of his faction who were looking for the Sarcophagus entrance earlier.
 * The player moves to the rear of the NPP and finds them just beyond the tall chimney guarded by a Bloodsucker, in front of the resupply area that appears in the Base Game.

Loner routes

 * There are plenty of potential routes to the Sarcophagus code door. A few are noted below.
 * The player arrives from either entry knowing that the lost Duty recon unit is where the action is.
 * Taking the classical route has serious downsides but the Lost Alpha NPP has 'suburbs' to the east out of sight of the snipers and a deep northern territory with assorted mutants and anomalies, so a wide anti-clockwise arc is a possibility.
 * Alternatively, running a westerly path (from the Radar gate) or just north from the Pripyat gate allows the player to run past the Military group in the west, run in a clockwise arc around to the Duty company without encountering any Monolith guards.
 * The only drawback with this approach is that the only practical route to the entrance guarded by the Military squad is through a wall gap that is heavily populated by gravitational anomalies. Charging through in a suitable vehicle will minimize any damage inflicted upon the player, who can then advance on foot, keeping well over to the western wall to avoid alerting the Monolith troops.
 * The dead leader of the Dutyers provides the entry code for the Sarcophagus door.
 * One of the other bodies usually has an astonishing amount of 9x39mm ammo.
 * None of these bodies are 'volatile' and will be here if the player returns in Freeplay.
 * Armed with the door code, the player should now make best speed back to the door keeping to cover where available, and the road closer in to keep distance from the (now emerging) Monolithian guard.
 * On reaching the door, enter the code, open it, get inside and close it afterwards.
 * This particular strategy frequently results in no attrition to the player or expenditure of resources.

Geography

 * While the game accurately replicates the layout of the whole plant, recent "real-world" developments there are causing significant changes that will result in considerable divergence in the future.
 * The construction of the New Safe Confinement replacement to The Sarcophagus is now clearly observable from above: as seen here.
 * The intention of this construction activity is to safeguard the existing structure (the Sarcophagus - or 'Object Shelter') that partially enclosed the ruins of Unit Four, while it is decommissioned and demolished. Further information may be found here.
 * Within a few years, the iconic Sarcophagus, itself constructed at great human cost in the aftermath of the accident, will be forever hidden from external view as the landscape is altered.