stalker

"Mosquito Bald Spot" (ru. Комариная плешь) — a cut anomaly[notes 2] from the development period of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Oblivion Lost, an idea taken from the Strugatsky brothers’ novella Roadside Picnic. It was the very first anomaly ever created.

Description

An invisible gravitational field with very powerful multidirectional acceleration. Tears apart any living being caught inside it.[notes 3]
Visual manifestations:

  • dents in the ground
  • bent metallic objects
  • a stone thrown into the Mosquito Bald Spot changes its trajectory[original 1]
stalker-game.com[source 1]

History

Literature

The idea of the anomaly was taken from the Strugatsky brothers’ novella Roadside Picnic: it contains an anomaly of the same name, also gravitational in nature, but with slightly different effects on objects caught within it:

He took the fifth nut and threw it higher and farther. That’s the "Mosquito Bald Spot"! The nut flew upward normally, and it seemed to be falling down normally too, but halfway down something jerked it sideways so hard that it sank into the clay and vanished from sight. Kirill grabbed me by the sleeve and started explaining his graviconcentrate theory — that is, the "Mosquito Bald Spot"[original 2]

Roadside Picnic, 1984 manuscript (translated)[notes 4]

On November 28, 2002[notes 5], a fan story called "Oksana’s Diary" by Nagash was published on the old game website as part of the [first literary contest]. It included a fragment about "Mosquito Bald," which was later noticed by a game designer and copied into *anomaly.doc*, a design document collecting ideas for future anomalies:

Anomaly: Mosquito Bald
External signs: deviations in the structure and hierarchy of material objects over a small (up to several meters) area. Changes in the trajectories of physical bodies and visible-spectrum radiation.
Possible explanation: Academician Komarin (an interesting coincidence of names) was the first to describe such phenomena. He studied gravitational deviations caused by ultra-small black holes with event horizons (per Schwarzschild) from 1×10⁻⁹ to 1×10⁻³ km. The multidirectionality of gravitational fields within the "bald spot" remains unclear (see Kerr and Reissner–Nordström equations). However, supporting Komarin’s theory is the violet glow observed in the bald spot after "emissions.[original 3]

Nagash, Oksana’s Diary

This fragment explained the anomaly’s nature and the origin of its name. The anomaly was also mentioned in other contest stories.

Configs

It was the very first anomaly ever created. Its configs served as the foundation for later anomalies.

First appeared in 'xrCore' build 1465, Mar 5 2003. It lacked sound[notes 6] and visible effects[notes 7]. It could push the player slightly when dealing damage, but the physics were incomplete — the player could walk through it by holding the forward key[notes 8]. If the player stopped inside the anomaly, its full effect would occur.[notes 9]

Trivia

References

Original text in Russian
  1. ↑ Невидимое гравитационное поле с очень мощным разнонаправленным ускорением. Разрывает на части попавшее живое существо. Визуальные проявления:
    • вмятины в полу
    • изогнутые металлические объекты
    • брошенный камень внутри комариной плеши меняет траекторию полета
  2. ↑ А сам взял пятую и кинул повыше и подальше. Вот она, «плешь комариная»! Гаечка вверх полетела нормально, вниз тоже вроде нормально было пошла, но на полпути её словно кто-то вбок дёрнул, да так дёрнул, что она в глину ушла и с глаз исчезла.
    Кирилл взял меня за рукав и принялся мне объяснять про этот свой гравиконцентрат, про «комариную плешь» то есть.
  3. ↑ Аномалия: Комариная плешь.
    Внешние признаки: отклонения в структуре и иерархии [экзистенции] материальных объектов на небольшой (до нескольких метров) территории. Изменение траектории движения физических тел и излучения видимого диапазона (п).
    Возможное объяснение: Описание подобных явлений впервые дал академик Комарин (интересное совпадение). Он занимался проблемой гравитационных отклонений сверхмалых черных дыр с горизонтом событий (по Шварцшильду) от 1*10-9 до 1*10-3 км. Непонятна в таком случае разно направленность гравитационных полей в "плеши" (посмотреть уравнения Керра и Райснера-Нордстрема). Но в пользу Комарина говорит свечение плеши после "выбросов" (п) - т.н. фиолетовое смещение.
Notes
  1. ↑ According to "scenario_elements.xls", these three artifacts are located near gravity anomalies, and "Mosquito Bald Spot" is the only one of this type of anomaly listed
  2. ↑ Reworked into another one.
  3. ↑ Despite this description, the anomaly does not behave this way in gameplay.
  4. ↑ In one of the translations it's called a bug trap
  5. ↑ On the 26th it was formalized into a separate document.
  6. ↑ Sound was created but not added to the config.
  7. ↑ They exist in configs but are not noticeable in gameplay.
  8. ↑ Possible if "g_god" was set to "1".
  9. ↑ Clearer if the "hit_impulse_scale" parameter was, for example, increased tenfold.
  10. ↑ Specifically in resources dated Aug 25.
  11. ↑ <...> To be honest, I could have managed with seven, but I throw one especially for him, right into the center, so he can properly admire his graviconcentrate. <...>
Sources
  1. ↑ Anomalies (WebArchive), stalker-game.com (2003)