Depot
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| Depot | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Destroyed |
during the uprising, along with Nova Prospekt |
| Location |
The Coast, above Nova Prospekt |
| Builder | |
| Usage | |
| Era(s) | |
| Faction | |
| Game information | |
| Map(s) |
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| Designer(s) |
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The Depot, referred to as the Central Transport Facility in Combine terminology, is an enormous structure towering over the Nova Prospekt prison facility. It is primarily used to detain and process prisoners.
Contents
Overview[edit]
The Depot is a nexus for Combine distribution of Stalkers, as well as a storage center for political prisoners such as Eli Vance. The inclusion of the Depot on Nova Prospekt necessitated the partial or complete destruction of several blocks, such as block C3. The Depot covers cell blocks C1 through D8, and fills the area with Combine articles such as computers, forcefield gates, cells, etc. In addition, the Depot is a relay for the Razor Trains coming directly from City 17 and other locations. Basically, once humans arrive at the Depot, they are held in sturdy metal straitjackets housed within metal pods, called Combine Prisoner Pods. Once needed, the cells can be brought in at any point from within an access point. Just like the Citadel, the Depot has its own cell distribution center. Finally, the Depot houses the Combine entanglement device, which at the end of Chapter 9 explodes just as Gordon and Alyx teleport out of the facility. It is unknown if this is a prototype teleportation device, or a regular tunneling teleport used by the Combine.
Just like the Citadel and the cut Air Exchange, the Depot was to be one of the many identical train depots spread along railways by the Combine.
Behind the scenes[edit]
- During his journey to the Air Exchange through the Wasteland, Freeman was to travel parallel to the Wasteland Train, a key theme of the game, tying all its environments together, transporting mysterious cargo from the city to outlying facilities. Along the tracks were numerous depots where the train would stop, refuel, unload, or take on cargo. One of these depots would later be expanded and merged with the AirEx to give way to the Nova Prospekt chapters, where the signal to begin the uprising would be given.[3]
- The WC map pack gives deep insight on the evolution of the Depot area.
- The August 2001 map
wasteland_depotconsists of a small train station set on the desert ground, with small hangars, a control room and a platform around a single track linking City 17 to the AirEx, and it is guarded by Combine Soldiers. Gordon was to reach the area on foot and see soldiers battling Antlions on the sand before the depot. Then he was to get inside the facility through a small Antlion-filled tunnel (as the main gate is closed), to finally reach the platform and embark a boxcar from a train after his journey apparently on foot.[2] and then leave in it to the Air Exchange,.[2] After the events of the train depot, the boxcar was later attacked by the combine and fell from the tracks and crashed onto the surface. Gordon was later met up with Alyx near the Air Exchange.[4] Of course, it does not include any Combine teleport, not part of the story at that point.
- The August 2001 map
- One of the most notable early main Depot maps are
wasteland_depot_inside(November 2001) andwasteland_depot_outside(January 2002). The facility was given a much larger role after AirEx was cut, the train station turned into a facility that's meant for fueling and switching out vehicles for the combine machinery. it was set on a cliff above the desert, with a large indoor (and brush) depot, a small prison next to it, a lighthouse overlooking the beach, and the train tracks mounted high above the ground. There Gordon was to get inside the lighthouse, defeat a Gunship from the top of it (recycled for Lighthouse Point), then get inside the facility through the lighthouse basement, after which he would be in the prison courtyard, and get in the Depot itself through a garage door. This map was later modernized to give way to the mapd2_depot_01, featuring a larger prison, thene3_depot, without the prison but with a battle between Combine Soldiers and an Antlion Guard at the start of the map, several Thumpers set along the sand, and the wreck of a submarine.[2]
- One of the most notable early main Depot maps are
- What directly follows
wasteland_depot_outsideis the mapwasteland_depot_inside, set inside the Depot and starting right after the garage door. Inside are trains stored above one another, and distributed with elevators inside the Depot or on the tracks, from which they can leave. There Gordon was to fight his way through the facility, avoid several Combine Soldiers, Stalkers and an Combine Sniper in a large hangar located below, then finally board a train in the hangar, have it lifted with an elevator inside the Depot above.
- What directly follows
- More recent maps of the Depot area tend to feature the Depot as a model and greatly expand the prison, which is now closer to the retail Nova Prospekt and where Antlions aid Freeman. One notable feature though set between the prison and the Depot that was eventually removed is the Gunship Bays (featured in maps such as
proto_gunshipbay, from November 2002, ord2_prison_06, from March 2003). In that area guarded by Combine Soldiers and set right at the foot of the Depot, Gunships were to be seen being built, and Antlions were to invade the area. A fire was to start, triggered by a chain reaction of explosions of the Gunship fuel lines and tanks installed there, hit during the combat, and engulfing the whole place in flames. Then Gordon was to leave the place by going into the Depot itself through a cargo conveyor.[2][5]
- More recent maps of the Depot area tend to feature the Depot as a model and greatly expand the prison, which is now closer to the retail Nova Prospekt and where Antlions aid Freeman. One notable feature though set between the prison and the Depot that was eventually removed is the Gunship Bays (featured in maps such as
- The Depot brush was converted into a model late in the game's development. Several WC map packs of the Citadel base also use this model, as several Depots were originally to be located at the foot of the Citadel.[2]
Gallery[edit]
Concept art[edit]
Concept art for the Gunship Bays.
Preliminary overview of the Nova Prospekt/Depot area.
Schematics of the showers journey and the Antlion Guard battle.
Schematics of the assault in the external compound.
Schematics of Antlion assault in the lavatory.
Schematics of the Cell Block 3 battles.
Schematics of the Cell Block 2 journey.
Schematics of the Cell Block 1 battle.
Schematics of the cafeteria journey.
The Depot.
Ditto.
Ditto.
Ditto.
Lifted trains in the Depot (based on
wasteland_depot_inside).
Ditto, with red-colored.
Ditto, cropped, higher resolution version.
Razor Train locomotive being lifted in the Depot (based on
wasteland_depot_inside).
Razor Train locomotive handler inside the Depot.
The early brush Razor Train at the Depot (based on
wasteland_depot).
Combine cells in the Depot.
Cellblock, actually based on an early Citadel map,
proto_citadel_cellblock.
Ditto.
Ditto.
The teleport[edit]
Screenshots[edit]
Pre-release[edit]
The early Razor Train in
wasteland_depot.
Early brush Thumpers near the brush Depot.
The early brush Depot in the map
depot_1.
Inside the early brush Depot in the map
wasteland_depot_inside.
Ditto.
Razor Train cars in the Depot.
Ditto.
Ditto, and four small fuel tanks.
The underground hallway.
The room with crates and lockers, also present in the map
wasteland_depot.
The control room. Again, it can be found in
wasteland_depot.
The large fuel tanks in the lower levels of the Depot.
The warehouse in the lowest level of the Depot. Here Razor Trains are being loaded and unloaded.
Ditto.
The Razor Train in the warehouse.
Within the grounds.
Brush prototype teleport used in most of the teleport concept art above, from the September 2001 map
proto_teleport.
The very rough Gunship Bays at the foot of the Depot in the Half-Life 2 leak.
The Depot featured in another Gunship Bays map
bays.
Ditto, closer.
Early official screenshot of Antlions near the Depot.
The Depot in the map
e3_depot.
The Depot seen above the chasm surrounding the City 17 Citadel in the map
proto_underground_combine01.
Map used near the desk found in the lighthouse in several of the WC map pack maps of the Depot area.
Ditto.
Retail[edit]
Originally a brush, the Depot is a model in the retail version.
The Depot as seen from the Nova Prospekt grounds.
Corridor under the rails with the shadow of a passing Razor Train.
Combine cells in the Depot.
Razor Train and Combine cells in the Depot.
Razor Train passing by.
Alyx looking for her prisoner father at the security station above the tracks.
Alyx finding her father at the security station.
Ditto.
The interrogation room located above the tracks. Of note is the cracked wall and floor as the transition of the old Nova Prospekt building into the Depot, as if it was forcefully attached or cut into the existing structure.
Alyx operating the console to bring her father to the interrogation room.
Alyx talking to Eli in his Prisoner Pod.
Alyx explaining Eli in his Pod how they are going to rescue him.
Ditto.
Ditto.
Combine forces ambushing Gordon and Alyx in a storage corridor.
Combine technology in the Depot.
Alyx and Mossman in the lower levels of the Depot.
The Combine teleport in the lower levels of the Depot.
Ditto.
Ditto.
Eli arriving in his pod.
Eli and Mossman in the Combine teleporter.
List of appearances[edit]
Main games[edit]
- Half-Life 2 (First appearance)
Other[edit]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar, page 230
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 WC map pack
- ↑ Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar
- ↑ Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar, page 150
- ↑ Half-Life 2 leak
| Preceded by Nova Prospekt |
Half-Life 2 story arc journey | Succeeded by Kleiner's Lab (2) |
