City-17's location

[Moto]

This is true:

Before what the Russians call "The Great Patriotic War," (WWII) they had developed a number of cities that had no names. The cities were given numerical names, such as Shkotovo-17 a.k.a. "City-17." These cities served as a kind of camoflauge over Russia's military research facilities where they would develop military technology. These numbered cities exist today, although the numbers have been removed from them on the map (Shkotovo-17 is now called "Shkotovo.")

Located inside Shkotovo-17 is a shipyard by the name of:

Zvezda Shipyard
Zvezda, a sprawling military shipyard at Bolshoi Kamen, is a subordinate facility of Dalzavod. The Zvezda Shipyard repairs Russian Navy nuclear-powered submarines, but the government has said that it will also repair conventional attack submarines sold to foreign navies, as well as build and repair merchant vessels. Zvezda is used to repair second-generation submarines, and the staff and equipment are preparing for the fourth-generation subs. In 1998 the 190 million rubles earmarked for Zvezda to repair submarines was slashed to just 6 million. The submarine construction complex, with 3,000 workers, also repairs navy and private vessels and builds smaller boats.

This could explain the shipyards in City-17. It is possibly where this screenshot takes place: http://www.planethalflife.com/screenshot.asp?src=/half-life2/screenshots/24.jpg

All of the capsized and marooned ships that you see in Half-Life 2 could be abandoned MERCHANT ships that were undergoing repairs or construction by the Zvezda Shipyard located in Shkotovo-17, or "City-17." At the time of the Combine's invasion, the shipyard may have been abandoned and some kind of quake beached the ships.

There are also maps of these "Secret cities." The map shows "Shkotovo" near the Sea of Japan where the Russians reportedly dumped Nuclear waste from their nuclear submarines.

Using the maps i found of the secret cities, I observed the features of the area where Shkotovo-17 (City-17) is located. I went into my geography textbook and found the location of Shkotovo-17 in relation to the rest of eastern Asia/Europe.

Shkotovo-17 or "City-17" is located just above North Korea on the coast of the Sea of Japan. I think this is the location of City-17 in the game as well.

Here are the maps I went by. Notice the same coastal features on every map where the circled location is.

 

[Moto]

I have also found a sattelite picture of the area formerly known as Shkotovo-17 (City-17)

 

[63]

ummm...interesting...

 

[Moto]

ummm...interesting...

Do you mean that in a serious or sarcastic way? I ask this in case you think this is just stupid of me to say or that I have way too much time on my hands. I had some free time when I finished my homework and I was bored so I just researched this. At least I'm not writing nerdy fan fiction...

 

[Bing_Oh]

Interesting, but every reference to City 17 I've seen describes it as an "Eastern European city"...that would place it in the old Soviet Republics. Along the Sea of Japan would be East Asia.

 

[Moto]

Shkotovo-17 in real life is roughly 132 degrees East longitude and 40 degrees North Lattitude. It is for sure in Russian territory just above North Korea near a major Russian city by the name of Vladivostock. The Zvezda Shipyard is inside the real life City-17 just outside of Vladivostock, Russia. I don't know why valve would say that their game takes place in city-17 in western europe, because there is a REAL city-17 in Eastern Russia, only it was referred to as Shkotovo-17 by the Russian government during the cold war.

I'm pretty sure that this is the location where HL2 takes place. It was probably Doug Lombardi who told you it took place in Western Europe, after all... he's a liar (just kidding)

Anyways, here is a bit of proof that Vladivostock, Shkotovo-17, and The Zvezda Shipyard do in fact exist.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/bolshoi-kamen.htm

Also, more about the real life city-17 shipyard in thes quote:

"Bolshoi Kamen [Shkotovo-17] on the Sea of Japan is a military town of 30-50,000 residents. It is located 12 miles northeast of Vladivostok across Lazurnaya Bay. Primorskii Krai lies in the southern part of the Russian Far East occupying 165,900 sq km along the coast of the Sea of Japan. Over 60% of the engineering sector in Primorsky Territory is engaged in the ship industry, the centers of which are Nakhodka, Vladivostok, Bolshoi Kamen and Slavyanka. Defence-oriented engineering production is being converted to manufacture of fishing vessels, refrigerated vessels, tankers and timber vessels.

The most dangerous environmental threat for Primorskiy Kray today is probably radioactive waste. The Russian Pacific Fleet and its arsenal, located in mainly in Vladivostok and nearby Russkiy Island, has both nuclear weapons, ship borne nuclear reactors, and radioactive waste. About 100 vessels list in the harbors around Vladivostok, and some 40 aging nuclear submarines are docked at Bolshoi Kamen. [Shkotovo-17]"

The points I have highlighted in bold also support this picture. In that picture, you see cranes which can be used for one of two things, making ships or loading ships. It is mentioned that in the real life city-17, 60% of their industry is involved in making ships. They have ships with nuclear reactors and nuclear waste, and they manufacture fishing boats, refrigerated boats, oil tankers, and timber boats.

The real life city-17 is a 100% military city. To me, it all adds up. This just seems like the right place to me. Everything is supported: The Russian street signs, the shipyards, this very large oil tanker, The abandoned city, the nuclear reactors, the combine's interest in this location, etc.

Does anyone else agree at all?

 

[Navy Man]

Maybe u've hit the nail on the head , or then again maybe not

we will just have to wait and see

good research though !

 

[Sulkdodds]

Yes! I agree! It's nice to see that people are putting the link I posted to good use.

 

[Maxi]

Wow! nice find dude! they might have designed city-17 from that city.

 

[Brian Damage]

Interesting... is this anywhwere near Murmansk?

 

[RotorHead]

very nice..........
it looks like you've found the right area and are on the right track to finding out the model for city-17.....

:cheers: :thumbs:

good job...........

 

[Majestic XII]

Very interesting indeed

Nice find.

 

[Maxi]

Interesting... is this anywhwere near Murmansk?

NO lol, Murmansk is a bit North west from finland. That is at the pacific coast, close to korea heh.

 

[Varg|Hund]

Very interesting indeed. Good job, mate! :cheers:

 

[kaf11]

good work. valve may have been inspired by that city, and taken its principle and placed their city-17 in eastern europe. i remember reading something from valve in which they said they were blown away by how cool their art department made use of eastern european designs. they probably used a lot of europe as inspiration, and this city seems like a good place for them to start.

 

[The Dark Elf]

Saiboat - no spoilers! post deleted

 

[nerj]

Why there? I mean, why the Combine starts Earth domination there?

 

[Saiboat]

Saiboat - no spoilers! post deleted

Ah! Okay I'm sorry. Then i just say: I think that you're right with your theory!

 

[The Dark Elf]

Ah! Okay I'm sorry.

No worries

 

[nicrd]

The architecture pf city-17 is definitively from eastern Europe, but how does the eastern Russia architecture look like ?

 

[<RJMC>]

are just one way to know the true and is..
someone go to that city and find the places that we seen in the screemshots
if they are, well that is the true city

 

[Moto]

Cool, I'm glad you guys agree with it.


Here is a small news report about Shkotovo-17 (city-17) residents saying that they do not want a nuclear waste proccesing facility. The Zvezda Shipyard is also mentioned in the article, proving even more evidence that this is the same City-17 that HL2 takes place in.

http://www.bellona.no/en/international/russia/navy/pacific/general/7635.html

Also look here http://www.nti.org/db/nisprofs/russia/naval/nucflt/pacflt/bolshoy.htm

Here is an informational page on the secret cities that Russia has used for developing miltary technology. If you look on the list of city names, Shkotovo-17 is on there, and it is the one where the Zvezda Shipyard is located. All cities that begin with "Shkotovo" are within driving distance of each other on the maps I found.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/secret-cities.htm

I am glad you think my theory is as close to correct as we can get without VALVe saying so

 

[Sulkdodds]

It really does look like it, doesn't it. As for archetecture, I would imagine that eastern Russian buildings are much the same as western Russian ones, only possibly less grandiose. Anyway, give the man a medal. :cheese:

 

[Moto]

Oh my god, you guys. I just found something that proves this theory of mine bigtime! This is like the mother of all proof.

Okay, remember how I was going on about the Zvezda Shipyard and how it is located in the real city-17 (Shkotovo-17)? Well, that shipyard is a like a graveyard for Russian 2nd and 3rd gerneration Nuclear submarines! Not only do they have decommissioned russian nuclear submarines docked at the Zvezda Shipyard, they also have a scrapyard of all their old nuclear submarines! They even repair and make submarines!

Look at the pictures I uploaded in this post, I think it proves my theory 100%!
That is a in-game picture of the Zvezda Shipyard's submarine scrapyard from the gamespy movie! That is located in the real city-17 north of korea in Eastern Russia! OMG I think Just solved the whole mystery of where this game takes place.

Look back in my old posts for more info on Shkotovo-17's Zvezda Shipyard and its nuclear submarine scrapyard, maintenance center, and factory!

*takes bow*

 

[Brian Damage]

Well, I think that it was definately inspired by this place you've found...

 

[Moto]

Well, I think that it was definately inspired by this place you've found...

I understand what you mean, but the name of the city in Half-Life 2 is City-17 right?
Well, this city is also called City-17 and it is a REAL city in Russia, Only in russia, it is called Shkotovo-17 which means the same thing as City-17.

I understand that HL2 is not an exact replication of the city, but HL2 is most likely supposed to take place in this particular city.

anyway, i got some more proof pics...

 

[Brian Damage]

Okay, heavily inspired by, then.

 

[Dark Angel]

Most developement teams will usually find a crafty way to immortalize either a specific place or the team members who worked on the game, without just adding it to the ending credits.

Its nice to see Valve has taken the time to research a real place insead of just fabricating something on the fly, making it that much better.

You have a keen eye for spotting such things nicely done !

 

[Sulkdodds]

Credit where credit's due. Good job for delving so deep into this and coming out with such stunning results.

Even though it was me who found it.(look down a bit) Who, me? Bitter? Never! ;-)

 

[Moto]

Credit where credit's due. Good job for delving so deep into this and coming out with such stunning results.

Even though it was me who found it.(look down a bit) Who, me? Bitter? Never! ;-)

Thanks, Sulkdodds! Also thanks for finding that information on Shkotovo-17.

 

[Moto]

I just noticed something else. I always thought that the writing on the Combine's armband was in some kind of alien language. But, in the barricade video, Barney wears the combine suit and the armband says "C:17-14"

Maybe they police cities 17 and possibly a city 14?

Just a thought...

 

[Brian Damage]

Some of the writing does look like an alien language, but the writing on Barney's armband could be what you say...

 

[Sprafa]

I made a thread on the orange bandages.

Most agreed that it was some sort of confined place, were all ppl would have to wear them in order not to get arrested. I assumed the Combine made that in order to control the population, but since this theory has been comproved (look at Fenric's and Saiboat's posts....) it is very likely that this is a military city as you say, and that these orange bandages are made by the Russian military itself.

Then the Combine are interested in some sort of proj in City-17.
Well, the whole story is very clear to me and Brian Damage, since we've seen a *spoiler* that has just made it all o into the right places....to me the puzzle is assembled....

And thx for the great research!

And it's not "nerdy" fanfic, some ppl just use their accumulation of free-time to write...

 

[Sulkdodds]

Anyway. I reckon we should find out a lot more about this city. Game?

 

[Dark Angel]

Waits greedly in anticipation to here more about this :frog:

Sulkdoods: I read your post you to have a keen eye
Glade to see there is alot of talent here...

 

[Sulkdodds]

Oh look, a map.
And some info. I'd like to draw your attention to the 'underground waste storage facility'. My guess is that in HL2, it's no storage facility. Also, 'experimental liquid waste processing facility' sounds suspicious. Plus, another facility was built on a barge and floated down the river, which is interesteing to say the least. It seems their's plenty of inspiration. Almost too much. What if this place actually IS more than it seems...and HL2 is a capitalist plot to expose it. Or maybe not.

 

[clarky003]

maybe valve are twisting the real life story of the city being radioactive, to their story of it being a complete coverup (the radioactivitness),in order too keep people away from the real events taking place, eg the xen and combine infiltration.. dunno if anyones suggested that already? sortof tieing it in with real world events to make it seem plausable that their story has 'actually happened', black mesa and all that

 

[Didymium]

Those screenshots with boats and submarines are from the dryed out seabed mentioned in alot of rewievs. So where would this old sea be irl? Are you saying the pacific ocean have lost its water?

 

[Moto]

Those screenshots with boats and submarines are from the dryed out seabed mentioned in alot of rewievs. So where would this old sea be irl? Are you saying the pacific ocean have lost its water?

No dude, the boats and submarines are not operational anymore (please not the huge holes and ripped off parts on them), therfore the were thrown in the Zvezda Shipyard's Scrap yard. Jeez, pay attention...I have been explaining the whole thing over the last three pages.

IRT Sulkdodds:
Cool, see... I told ya that Bolshoi kamen and the Zvezda shipyard are located in the real life City-17. It's cool that you and I have got this whole thing figured out. I'll bet Gabe Newell has read this and though: "Damn, they figured the location out!"

:bounce:

 

[kaf11]

in soviet russia, city-17 lives in you!