Its February already! Can you believe it? Its been a little while since our last article. This time we have The Conscript Garrison, Interactive friendly NPCs, and Usable Chairs to show off!
Conscript Garrison/Lobby Map:
The Conscript Garrison serves as a lobby where players can interact with Friendly NPCs and select chapter/maps to play.
There are several areas to explore. Here are some of them, although keep in mind this is all W.I.P and thus subject to change.
The Barracks:
An area where Conscripts sleep or spend time when not on an assignment.
The Cafeteria:
Located in the centre of The Garrison is The Cafeteria. Conscripts gather here to eat their rations. Unfortunately, Combine-Occupied Africa is ravaged by an ongoing famine, and supply lines are under attack by Rebel Forces. There isn't much food to go around these days, thus The Cafeteria is more often used as a social hub for Conscripts to mingle amongst one another.
The Medical Bay:
The Medical Bay is a dirty, cold, and damp room located in the recesses of The Garrison. Its hardly the sort of place you'd want to be treated. Injured or diseased Conscripts resigned to this area rarely come out alive. 
The Tunnels:
The Tunnels are what connect each room of The Garrison together. The lack of proper heating or ventilation to the surface leaves these areas frigid, so Conscripts tend not to linger unless its a particularly hot day.
The Bathrooms:
The Bathrooms are disgusting dens of filth used only when necessary. Nobody would ever spend a consider amount of time here by choice, unless they're planning on doing something The Combine Command wouldn't approve of. Criminal behaviour is not uncommon amongst Conscripts, and a place like this is perfect for such unprofessional conduct.
Friendly NPCs:
One feature everyone seems to love in Half Life 2 is the NPCs you can talk to, so of course we've implemented some into Coalition's lobby map.
Due to the poor living conditions, prevalence of disease, and frequency of self termination amongst Conscripts, The Garrison is left relatively understaffed. It wasn't always like this, early on in The Combine occupation, Military Installations like this one were bustling, but that was years ago.
Now only a few Conscripts are stationed here, and new recruits are few and far between.
The Chef:
The Chef is responsible for serving The Conscript's rations. "The Chef" is actually his nickname, his real designation is "Senior Meal Preparation Officer". He's become rather disillusioned with The Combine recently, their inability to provide nutritious food for him to serve is causing him to question their competency as Mankind's "benefactors".
The Wounded Conscript:
The Wounded Conscript writhes in agony, laying in a pool of his own dried blood. A few feet away from him, on the other side of the room, a comrade has expired. He wishes somebody would remove the slowly decomposing body, but it seems everyone has forgotten about them both. Now he's left to languish on the floor until he too perishes, just as the corpse across from him did.
The Drinker:
The crushing existential pain of the passing days has broken The Drinker down emotionally. Now all he wants to do is sit at his table and wash his troubles away with alcohol. Usually there would be a limited amount allocated to each Conscript, but The Chef pities him, and is willing to enable The Drinker's crippling addiction. Alcohol Rations are one of the few that are consistently supplied to The Garrison anyways...
The Soldat:
The Combine tore The Soldat's family apart, and then they forced him to enact the same oppression that destroyed his life unto others. It didn't help that the conditions Conscripts live under are appalling. Every day he had to stave off hunger with a meagre ration, endure the brutal South African sun or bitter underground cold, and sleep on a grimy, bug infested mattress. His old life might've seemed hard, but it was nothing compared to this. In the early hours of the morning, he decides to discontinue his suffering. His life was never going to get better, The Combine would NEVER let him retire from duty. That is a false promise.
Usable Chairs:
Usable Chairs are a recent addition to Coalition. They aren't particularly useful, but they make up for it in cool factor. Especially in co-op, where other players can see each other sitting down!
Conclusion:
Thank you for sticking with us into 2024! We're excited for the future of Coalition and hope to share more features with our community soon!
