Drug Lab is the fifth mission in SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate, and the sixteenth mission in SWAT: Elite Force. The SWAT team is tasked with shutting down the Stetchkov clan's drug lab after it has been ratted out by a rival gang.
Mission Briefing[]
Okay men, this one's tricky so pay attention. Three hours ago dispatch received an anonymous tip-off that a new drug lab is operating on Tovanen street. Surveillance has revealed a sophisticated set up - hydroponics, large-scale cooking and drying equipment, this one's got it all.
The anonymous caller claimed that the Stetchkov clan is running the lab. It's likely the caller is a member of an opposing gang and if so, it's a real breach of the unwritten law that says criminals don't snitch on one another. The Stetchkovs must have really ruffled some feathers. Detectives have been trying to locate the head of the clan, one Kiril Stetchkov, but he seems to have disappeared off the map after someone tried to kill him by blowing up his car. Seems he's a popular guy.
Our goal is to shut the lab down and arrest anyone who might help the detectives build a case against the Stetchkovs. Surveillance reports seeing numerous suspects armed with machine pistols and shotguns. Most of the lab isn't visible from outside so we can't be sure of numbers, but be aware that the lab is likely to contain a number of unarmed workers.
The lab has some seriously hazardous substances lying around, so watch your fire. You don't want to breathe in any of this crap, and we sure don't want a fire.
Timeline[]
- 15:00: Search Warrant Issued - Search Warrant Issued.
- 18:17: Perimeter Established - Perimeter established.
- 18:41: SWAT Arrives - SWAT arrives on scene and makes initial assessment.
- 19:08: SWAT Enter - Swat officers make tactical entry
Entries and Snipers[]
The primary entrance is the front door, while the secondary entrance is the back patio behind the house. It is possible to traverse the alley on side 4 to "switch" entrances, however doing so will expose you to suspects who may be in the living room area. The secondary entrance also provides access to the basement in addition to the kitchen area behind the patio.
One sniper is setup on the mission. Sierra 1 is covering the living room/lounge area at side 4 on first floor.
Map Layout[]
The intel provided on this mission has several omissions and errors. The layout of the basement is omitted, while the hole on the wall at side 4 is not mentioned despite being observable to surveillances outside. Also the layout in the middle of the house has several errors as well, with the living room and the kitchen layout being particularly misleading, while the hallway that loops through the middle of the house plus the indoor basement stair access are not mentioned at all.
This building is a classical, two story house and it has three entrances: the front door on side 1, and rear doors which one leads to the kitchen on ground floor and another one to the workshop in the basement on side 3 and the hole at side alley on side 4. The exterior of the building is surrounded by tall fence and contains multiple trees and bushes. The ground floor is primary a living space with living room on side 4, kitchen on side 3, bathroom on side 2 and several other rooms. The rooms are rather spacious and big and they can hold a lot of furniture. The other rooms in total number of four are mostly used as bedrooms or office spaces. The main floor's hallway forms a giant loop that connects all the rooms togather, along with stairs to the basement. The basement contains more rooms. They are primarily used as greenhouses, workshops and a bunkroom. It is also worth mentioning that this house doesn't have a garage, only a driveway.
Overall the building is in need of serious repairs with broken appliances, rubbish and chemical substances littering everywhere that are very hazardous for health. The ground floor has been converted into a processing plant with large-scale cooking, drying equipment, chemicals and hydroponics while the basement is a place for growing cannabis. A cannabis greenhouse at the backyard is also connected to the house's first floor.
The multiplayer version of the map has no changes. It's a popular map in Barricaded Suspects due to the close, confined spaces.
Tactical Approach[]
Suspects on this map are well armed with shotguns, machine pistols and submachine guns, with most of them are donning gas masks to avoid the harmful chemicals within the drug lab. Despite their resources, the suspects are only wearing dark suits instead of body armor.
This mission is a sharp decrease in difficulty from Department of Agriculture, but make no mistake: this mission can be hell if the player is not careful. Like the previous Stetchkov map, the suspects here have gas masks, but there are also explosive gas tanks in some rooms, such as the bathroom, which will force the player to think twice before deploying flashbangs or stingers.
The rough idea to clear this map is to first corral the suspects into the main building, then start clearing the rooms in the drug lab. To do that the first step would be to control suspect accesses to the front door on side 1, the exposed living room on side 4 with its two doors, and the back patio on side 3 with doors to both the kitchen and the basement. Once all but one access points are blocked with door wedges, the suspects will be forced to barricade into the rooms of the building.
Once the room clearing is started, the important thing to remember is that given the rooms are quite large, it is always a good idea to first scout out the rooms from the hallways outside to look for alternative entrances, then divide the team up to clear the rooms from multiple entrances. In most circumstances, a flashbangs into each end of a room will provide full coverage while work around any clutters within the room.
Given the explosive hazards on the map, always scout and search the locations of green gas tanks before selecting the grenade option for entry. Bringing a few CS Gas grenades as backup is advised so that the player will not be force to charge into doorway without any cover due to the presence of the gas tanks.
Changes in Elite Force[]
- The map now contains up to 3 alarm traps that can incur a score penalty when triggered.
- 7-18 drug evidence bags are added which count towards the "Secure All Evidence" secondary objective.
- Suspects now carry AKs-74u Assault Rifles instead of TEC-DC9 machine pistols in their loadouts.
- Some suspects now wander around the map and are more likely to investigate suspicious noises.
- All suspects now have the polite personality assigned, meaning they are less likely to shoot civilians on this mission. They also have their max morale slightly increased.
- The gas mask version of the suspect now have a 20% chance to suffer cardiac arrest, while all civilians have their risks halved to 10%.
- All civilians on this map have their morale raised so that they will be very stubborn when encountering police officers. This is to fit their profile as workers for organized crime. They also have the fearless flag enabled.
- This mission unlocks the X2 Series Stun Gun and the S10 Helmet instead of the 5.7x28mm Submachine Gun.
- This mission is renamed to Stetchkov Drug Lab.
Trivia[]
In the original game, there is no dialogue whatsoever. Two conversations were cut from the original game, which were later restored by SWAT: Elite Force.
The following conversation may have taken place in the main lab area:
Reynolds: "Christ, what is that smell? That is rank."
Girard: "Urgh. Takes me back to my high school chemistry class."
Jackson: "Reminds me more of college."
Fields: "Yes, I'm looking to buy something that makes my brain bleed and my genitals shrink...got any of that?"
Gallery[]
