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The subject of this article appears in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. The subject of this article appears in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky.

The legendary lake in the sector of the same name dried up a long ago, leaving a shallow swamp in its place. The place is morbid and sodden with death. Great dangers await any adventurous soul foolish enough to get near it. Anyone who dares to go too far goes insane. Zombie drones are rambling around the whole sector, waiting for new victims. If you walk around the lake and past the zombies, you'll end up at the scientists' camp, where the eggheads brought there by choppers are doing some research. You can have a chat with them; they buy artifacts and could even send you on a mission.
― Encyclopedia S.T.A.L.K.E.R

Yantar (lit. "Amber") is a location featured in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky.

Overview[]

Yantar is situated in the remains of a lake that dried up a long time ago. The area is dominated by the Production complex and the remains of the lake to the south. Yantar is home to numerous Zombified Stalkers.

History[]

XR 3DA 2011-12-06 19-46-20-11

A view of the Yantar factory complex today.

Yantar wasn't always a swampy, desolate place. A long time ago it was a large lake, however, its fate was sealed when it was chosen as the perfect location for a factory. The construction crew caused an accident underground and the water drained from the lake, leaving a stinking swamp in its wake.[1]

It is not known when the X-16 lab was constructed underneath the factory and it's entirely possible that the factory itself was meant as an elaborate cover for the secret laboratory. What is known is that after breakthroughs in Lab X-18, a prototype Kaymanov emitter was set up in the lab, powered by a massive artificially grown brain, with the antenna hidden inside one of the factory buildings.

After the Zone was born in 2006, the complex fell into disrepair and was abandoned, but the emitter was still active. This has proven disastrous, as many stalkers, lured by the prospect of scavenging an intact factory, fell prey to the emitter's disastrous influence and turned into zombified stalkers, almost feral creatures extremely aggressive towards anyone not zombified.

Sometime after the Zone's appearance, the Yantar area was chosen as a prime location for the mobile science lab ran by Professor Sakharov and his Ecologists. Their bunker was air-dropped into the swamp under heavy protection of the Ukrainian military and they began studying the Zone and its inhabitants.

The area proved to be a good choice, due to its relative calmness and remote location (the zombie infestation notwithstanding). However, the emitter's cooling systems malfunctioned in September 2011, increasing the output of the device and threatening the entire Yantar sector with its emissions. For this reason, Sakharov hired Lefty and his team to repair the cooling systems and make Yantar safe again (with major assistance from Scar).

Sometime between 2011 and 2012, the area became a war zone again. Apart from zombified stalkers infesting the area, the Monolith conducted a major operation in the area (which possibly included a BTR-70 [2]) and invaded the X-16 laboratory to reactivate the emitter to full power. The squad never made it out of the lab, but they did achieve their objective. Subsequently, a Spetsnaz unit conducted an operation in the factory and suffered major casualties – one fatality and three wounded [3].

Layout[]

The area is roughly divided into three parts – the massive Production complex in the north-west, the swamp with the mobile science lab in the south-west and a road leading from the Wild Territory to the factory running along the eastern end of the map.

Production complex[]


Lab X-16[]

The X16 facility is located in a building complex to the north-west of the area. The whole area is filled with zombies and snorks making it very dangerous. Later, after the psi-emission is disabled, even a Controller may appear there. The unique Healing Beril outfit can be found on a dead soldier in the complex. Entering the facility without obtaining the Psi-Helmet from the scientists first is highly discouraged, because the screen gets VERY bright, the player harms himself and the attacking zombies will kill the player in this condition without effort.

Mobile science lab[]

The bunker is protected by an airlock where the player automatically hides his gun. The player can only see a small part of the bunker – the office of Professor Sakharov, a single room with beds and a hall with Professor Kruglov. Professor Sakharov sells a quite wide range of useful equipment in Yantar, including shotguns, AC-96/2s and SSP-99M Suits (after disabling the psi-emissions, patched game). He also gives the player numerous missions which usually require him to bring Sakharov a specific artifact or a part of a mutant. After the player turns off the psi-emission, Duty stalkers start to cross the Wild Territory to defend the entrance against zombies.

The swamp[]

The swamp is usually inhabited by about 4-5 snorks and a few zombies. In Shadow of Chernobyl, several secret stashes are here, including a very rare Battery artifact (fire resistant version). In Clear Sky, an artifact spawns here. The artifact spawn may change, the player may either get a Kolobok or a Bubble.

Stalker camp[]

After the emissions are turned off, stalkers start to move through Wild Territory to a lowered place east of X-16. There are usually 6-10 stalkers there, including Sparrow – the target of an assassination mission given by Barkeep. The AI somehow makes the stalkers attack all the zombies they see. This action is triggered by the player luring the zombies or the stalkers to attack each other. This may end up in a massacre. The stalker camp has a car and a bus inside.

Appearances[]

Shadow of Chernobyl[]

Yantar plays a major role in the story, as it is the location of Lab X-16 which the Marked One must enter in order to find more documents about the Brain Scorcher. Shortly before the Marked One's arrival in Yantar, Ghost was hired by the Ecologists to infiltrate the X-16 lab with Professor Vasiliev. However, due to a controller, they were separated and killed – Ghost by the mutant, Vasiliev by the zombies in the swamp.

After helping either Kruglov or Semenov take measurements in the vicinity of the lab, Sakharov provides the Marked One with a powerful Psi-helmet which enables him to enter the lab without suffering from the intense psi field around it. With the helmet in his possession, the Marked One enters the lab, shuts down the emitter and finds the X-16 documents on Ghost's body.

Initially, only Zombified Stalkers can be found here. After the emitter inside Lab X-16 is deactivated, Duty will deploy a squad to protect the mobile lab (the Warrant Officer will be frequently among them) while Loners will settle at the nearby camp. Zombies will continue to spawn at the factory, although in lower numbers.

General Voronin will instruct the player to Destroy the zombies in Yantar for him, who are situated near the crashed helicopter; this mission is given automatically once per day when the player revisits Yantar after the Lab X-16 quest.

Clear Sky[]

Scar travels to Yantar in search of Strelok and must help the scientist bunker situated here. After doing a few tasks, Scar is eventually sent into the Production complex with Lefty and his stalkers who are tasked with restarting the cooling pumps to the X-16 lab in order to stop the psi-emissions affecting all of Yantar. After Scar completes this task, Sakharov tells him about Strelok and Scar can travel to the Red Forest.

Inhabitants[]

In Clear Sky, the Yantar area is inhabited by large bands of loners, who make it a pretty safe location (outside the zombie infested areas, such as the Yantar factory. It is noticeably more dangerous here in Shadow of Chernobyl, as due to earlier events, pretty much only the Ecologists remain in the area. However, once the player disables the X-16 lab emitter, Duty and Loners will move into the area.

The main enemies in Yantar are zombified stalkers and Snorks. In the tunnels beneath the installation to the north, one will also encounter a Pseudogiant. In the boggy area in lake Yantar is where most of the snorks live, while the zombified stalkers roam everywhere and come from the complex above X-16. The swampy areas with the Snorks is particularly dangerous due to the reduced movement speed caused by the water, the high speed of the snorks because of their ability to jump and the sheer number of them. If one plans to kill the snorks to get their feet for Sakharov, then the best plan is the snipe from the edge of the bog, then wade in to collect.

Trivia[]

  • In Shadow of Chernobyl, after the prototype emitter is shut down, military helicopters can be seen attacking the area, but their sound never stops even after the attack ends and the helicopters seem gone. This is a glitch, but not of sound timing: the actual helicopters never leave the level and stay hovering a few meters above ground, behind the Yantar Production facility. Moreover, the player can easily break out of the map at the hills west of the Production facility and, provided they has sufficient protection from the high radiation levels in the area outside the map, they can move north to find the helicopters, see them up close and even destroy them.
  • In Clear Sky, it's very easy to break out of the map boundary. This can be done once the psy-emitters cooling system has been repaired, at the location where the dead stalkers PDA was found (behind the factory). Simply run through the remaining psi field near where the stalker teams bodies are; for some reason, the developers did not set up any barriers beyond this, allowing the player to explore behind the factory (eventually appearing on the other side of the fence where the furthest loner encampment is to the north). One can even run to gate leading to Red Forest and go into loading zone, but as a result the player can be spawned in various places: at the beginning of the Red Forest, on "sniper hill" in the Red Forest (it's the place where snipers with SVDm-2s spawn and try to stop Leshiy's group from lowering the bridge to Limansk), on the northern side of the Army Warehouses (on the west side of the psi field with Electro anomalies in it) or even somewhere in the Garbage.

See also[]

References[]

  1. S.T.A.L.K.E.R Random dialogue: "There used to be a lake here before the first accident, called Yantar. When they were building the factory they screwed something up underground and the water drained from the lake, leaving a stinking puddle. Right now the scientists have a camp next to what's left of the lake, and that same factory is still causing trouble a bit further up the road. Your brain goes haywire as soon as you get close and you can't think for shit. The only people still trying to get inside are suicidal – everyone else just kills off zombified stalkers who come out of the factory, and helps the scientists."
  2. There is no BTR in front of the factory in Clear Sky, but one is present in Shadow of Chernobyl. Seeing how there is a Spetsnaz operator crushed under its wheels, it's obvious the vehicle didn't belong to the military and the only other faction powerful enough to operate armored vehicles and have an interest in the facility is, well, the Monolith.
  3. S.T.A.L.K.E.R Lukash: "Some of the grunts are sporting a new type of bullet-proof vests. The inside lining is soaked in some healing ointment or something like that… anyways, it makes small wounds heal up very fast. And imagine what luck: just the other day ten of those guys ran into Yantar, and only six returned, with the three on their shoulders. You follow? One of them got left behind. If you get us his bullet-proof vest, we'll examine it and make us a lot of them too."
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