Nova Prospekt

The Outer Defences of Nova Prospekt.

Formerly a Gulag, the once terrifying prison complex has been transformed by the Combine Overwatch into an outland processing plant; the fate of humanity is determined in these facilities, transforming the dwindling populace into mindless abominations, subjecting them to a life of immortal servitude.

Nova Prospekt serves as the turning point for the effort against the Combine, and its destruction marks the first significant blow the resistance dealt.

Structure and Defences

The facility was originally divided up into a large complex of cell bays like all prisons; however, upon the Combine taking over, it became largely assimilated and expanded into a processing plant and an outlying wasteland facility. It is here that humanity meets its final fate, being transformed into Stalkers either to serve as mindless serves or to be drafted into the Combine Overwatch. These procedures occur within the Depot.

Also in Nova Prospekt the people of The Resistance - or those who aid them - are to taken for brutal interrogation and torture for information on more Resistance outposts and plans. If the prisoner survives the interrogation process, instead of keeping them within the cells, they are kept in a temporary sleep within tightly secured Prisoner Pods, fully controlled by the factory machines. It is clear that anyone put inside these pods are those to be 'processed' into a Combine soldier or even worse, a Stalker. The facility also contains its own teleportation chamber, deep inside.

The base also contains a very large military presence, with up to an entire battalion of Combine soldiers, a unit of Combine Elites as well as a Combine Gunship base nearby, able to dispatch two Gunships to the facilities location within minutes. It also contains a tough perimeter defence, with numerous checkpoints, bunkers and trenches, set up around tactical areas and choke-points on the beaches below, to fend off any sizeable attack from Resistance fighters. It also contains Thumpers at the very edge of line, to keep away Antlions because of the knowledge of a nesting area a few miles away.

The Battle of Nova Prospekt

Complex of Cell Bays within the facility.

Nova Prospekt is one of the biggest symbols or the Combine rule in City 17, striking intense fear into the city's inhabitants from the petrifying rumours spread of what actually went on inside the walls. Gordon Freeman's arrival at Black Mesa East, resulted in the base being discovered, marking a raid on it by Overwatch forces. Dr. Eli Vance, along with Dr. Judith Mossman were captured during this raid, and sent to Nova Prospekt.

Upon hearing this, Alyx Vance took the quickest direct route to the facility by hitching a ride on a Combine Razor Train. However, Gordon's location forced him to take the route across Highway 17. Only a few miles from Nova Prospekt, Freeman gets his hands on Alien Pheromones, or 'Bugbait', after defeating an Antlion Guard in the Antlion habitat areas. Vortigaunts at a Resistance perimeter base teach Freeman how to use the new weapon, because of what he was facing ahead. It allows him to control all the Antlions in the area, giving him a very deadly edge over his Combine opponents.

After disabling the various Thumpers at the facility's boundaries, Gordon Freeman began his assault on the base's outer defences with his new allies. Since the defences were more attuned for a infantry assault, they quickly crumbled, thanks to the swarms of Antlions who could fly over the defences and rip the soldiers apart. After the outer defences fell, the main facility itself was assaulted, to which the Antlions came in from all directions before starting to burrow entrances to the base. When Freeman finally entered the base himself, the Combine soldiers were already in trouble as Antlions were running amock inside. Using this perfect cover, Freeman made his way through the base, and after linking up with Alyx Vance, went in search for Eli Vance and Judith Mossman.

Upon finding Eli, they sent him down to the teleportation facility, and upon reaching it themselves, find out the truth of Dr. Mossman's treachery. After slipping into the teleporter with Eli, and teleporting to an unknown location (most likely the Citadel), Gordon and Alyx are forced to fight off the regrouped Combine soldiers now flooding into the teleportation area, while the teleporter warmed up again.

The escalated gun battle which took place in the teleport chamber caused serious damage to its reactor which resulted in its destruction just after Gordon and Alyx teleported away. The destruction of Nova Prospekt was a massive blow for the Overwatch in City 17, and upon hearing the news that Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance were behind its destruction, triggers the Street War and the Battle of City 17.

Trivia

• The players trek from the outer defences of Nova Prospekt to its eventual destruction spans three chapters, 'Sandtraps' 'Nova Prospekt' and 'Entanglement'.
• There is only one G-Man sighting within these three chapters.
• These two chapters are the only time the player can use the Antlions as a weapon using Alien Pheromones in Half-Life 2.
• On the trek through the facility, various monitors are displayed and can be looked into. These usually show fights between the Combine forces inside against the the Antlions flooding in including a large battle with an Antlion Gaurd, the places shown are usually places the player will visit later on. Not only that, but a G-Man sighting can be found in one of them, as well as a message from Dr. Breen via a Breencast halfway through.
• The Half-Life 2 modification Riot Act is also set in Nova Prospekt and depicts the struggle of one of its prisoners Jamil Lee as she escapes from the prison. It is probably set after Freeman enters the newer sections of the complex and Jamil escapes before it is destroyed. However as it is a modification, it can be considered non-canon to the Half-Life 2 story.