Anomaly Fields


 *  are the locations within S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Lost Alpha where repeatable spawns of Artifacts occur.

"There is an anomaly field in Darkdolina. They say it creates an artefact everyday. Problem is, no one wants to go there. And before you ask - if you enter Dark Valley, you never come back. Some say it's because of the Monolith and Bandits. Some say it's because of the evil that dwells there. I'd be cautious if I were you."

- Random stalker

Overview

 * Although the game files allow for some respawning of artifacts in or around ordinary unclustered anomalies, this tends not to be commonplace and is frequently confined to the more 'active' anomalies. Examples being:
 * Droplets
 * Soul
 * Wrenched.


 * The Anomaly Fields are locations that have been specifically scripted into the game to predictably introduce new artifacts into the Zone.
 * They are frequently composed of all manner of Anomalies in a variety of entertaining combinations.
 * This combination can result in formidable stalking challenges for the player.
 * ALL will confer some damage to the player and the worn armour.
 * Many may be approached without armour being worn, provided sorties are rapid. This will prevent unnecessary suit degradation but is not advised in certain areas.
 * Any given Anomaly Field has a maximum capacity for the number of artifacts that it may spawn before it becomes 'full' at which stage no spawns take place until all artifacts are removed. Usually this number is one.
 * Any given field has a specifically placed 'blocking' artifact which prevents further spawns until removed. This may also assist in the identification of similar Fields within a given Level.
 * Artifact removal restarts the game script timer, the expiration of which causes the Anomaly Field to birth a fresh artifact weighted by the probabilities assigned to the listed artifacts for the particular field.
 * The artifact spawned is randomized at the time of birthing in a similar manner to that experienced with the portable spawn point, the Artifact Merger. Clearly, this is open to exploitation.
 * All of the Anomaly Fields have a 100 minute delay before activation.
 * The artifact spawning is accompanied by a loud audio cue the volume of which is independent of the player's distance from the Field within a given Level. The actual sound type varies, even for spawns of the same type and is not a good indicator of what has been spawned. The audio cue for Fields containing significant Burner populations (Dark Valley 1, Generators 2) is generally 'burner based' which helps with field spawn identification.

Cordon

 * The location of this area is radically altered from the cluster that was present in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl.
 * Again, the cluster consists of Springboard and Whirligigs with some Radiation to concentrate attention.
 * The area is nominally disabled in LA version 1.3003.
 * In order to prevent exploitation where the player camps out in Cordon waiting for artifacts to drop into his/her hands, the refresh is also inhibited until the player moves to the Garbage, however this is actually the Garbage level in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl making it doubly impossible to activate the Field.

Artifacts spawned

 * Jellyfish 60%
 * Stone Flower 50% (?)

Dark Valley

 * There are two Anomaly Fields on this level.

Field 1

 * Anomaly Field 1 is located well east of the Bandit Base close to the abandoned trailer that contains the stash Kingpin's reward.
 * Damage inflicted is low, of the gravitational shock variety and armour need not be worn.

Blocking Artifact

 * Meat Chunk

Artifacts spawned

 * Meat Chunk 50%
 * Gravi 30%
 * Ball of Twine 10%
 * Fireball 10%

Field 2

 * Located south-west of the Filling station and the Monolith Base in a valley that gradually adds to its number of Cats by feral spawns.
 * The cluster is composed of Springboard, Whirligig and Burner anomalies.
 * Provided that the Burner anomaly component is not entered, sorties without protection may be attempted. Other damage is of the gravitational shock variety again.

Blocking Artifact

 * Night Star

Artifacts spawned

 * Night Star 50%
 * Stone Blood 30%
 * Goldfish 20%
 * Thorn 10%


 * Bugnote: The field will stop spawning if a spawn ends up located in or under the train car. Also, any Thorn artifacts may be very difficult to detect visually.


 * Running between these two locations could be beneficial.

Yantar

 * There are two Anomaly Fields on this level.

Field 1

 * About equidistant between the Swamps transition and the Radar Zombies; again consisting mostly of Whirligigs with some Springboards for contrast.

Blocking Artifact

 * Stone Flower

Artifacts spawned

 * Gravi 50%
 * Meat Chunk 50%
 * Urchin 50%
 * Slime 50%


 * Bugnote: Possibly as a result of the stated weightings, a LOT of Slimes seem to get spawned, but this may just be scripted for a 'first visit'.

Field 2

 * Take a line between the top Rostok gate and the science bunker, two-thirds of the way along is Field 1 full of Whirligig anomalies.

Blocking Artifact

 * Meat Chunk

Artifacts spawned

 * Gravi 50%
 * Meat Chunk 50%
 * Urchin 50%
 * Slime 50%


 * Bugnote: Again, possibly as a result of the stated weightings, a LOT of Slimes seem to get spawned, but this may just be scripted for a 'first visit'.


 * Both sites may be debugged: details here, the modified spawn probabilities are arbitrary.

Outskirts

 * There are two Anomaly Fields on this level.

Field 1

 * Located west of the road to Pripyat north-east of the Swamps transition.
 * Identical to the other field in output.

Blocking Artifact

 * Night Star

Artifacts spawned

 * White Sun 10%
 * Meat Chunk 30%
 * Night Star 30%
 * Snowflake 10%

Field 2

 * Located behind the row of garages south of the New 100 Rads.
 * Meat Chunk artifacts tend to get stuck in the center of the cluster, others 'roll out' and are easier acquisitions.
 * Armour may be temporarily dispensed with.

Blocking Artifact

 * Snowflake

Artifacts spawned

 * White Sun 10%
 * Meat Chunk 30%
 * Night Star 30%
 * Snowflake 10%


 * Running between these two locations could be profitable.

Generators

 * There are two Anomaly Fields on this level.


 * Neither field is safe to approach without good environmental protection.

Field 1

 * Located between the X2 entrance compound and the village in the east, centered around a dismembered crane.
 * Initial visits will find several mid-level artifacts around the area as well as one within the wreckage, all of which need to be removed before the field will spawn further artifacts.
 * Later spawns will locate the artifact within the crane frame. The area is quite inimical and will quickly damage any suit.

Blocking Artifact

 * White Sun (May not always be easily visible)

Artifacts spawned

 * White Sun 10%
 * Meat Chunk 30%
 * Night Star 30%
 * Snowflake 10%


 * Very similar to the Outskirts anomaly fields above.

Field 2

 * Located to the south-east of the level and comprised of Burner and Springboard anomalies with noticeable Radiation thrown into the mix.
 * The field has a larger effective radius than any other Anomaly field and is best approached wearing an SSP-99 Ecologist suit for protection.
 * Such a suit will inevitably take a small amount of damage, even if the Burners are avoided.

Blocking Artifact

 * Flame

Artifacts spawned

 * Devil's guts 10%
 * Flame 50%
 * Crystal Thorn 10%
 * Bubble 10%


 * The presence of the Burner anomalies also produces Droplets and Green Parasites which may initially block the field from further spawning.