15 Interesting Facts about Project IGI Mission 1 Trainyard

Introduction

Trainyard is the first and arguably the easiest, most stress-free mission in Project IGI. While there are many YouTube videos devoted to secrets, facts, and Easter eggs within each mission of the game, these usually focus on glitches and findings. This blog series hopes to do something different: one, it will present many overlooked details of the game and two, it will analyse some of them.

Let’s get into the facts and findings from Project IGI 1 Mission 1 Trainyard.

Secrets from IGI 1 Mission 1

1) The Trainyard is a Coastline Goods Yard

One of the major differences between IGI 1 and IGI 2 is that the former has no discernible water bodies in any of the landscapes. The mission description is usually an objective summary, but for Trainyard, you have a location clue: Small coastline trainyard. Nothing about the featured image or the environment hints at the presence of an ocean or a sea. Once you’re in the level, there is no water as far as the eye can see, nor is anything discoverable on the map computer. Even in the first few seconds of the cutscene with the helicopter, you get the impression that this is a landlocked area. 

2) Abla Soda is the Preferred Drink Brand of the Guards

Soda vending machines are common finds throughout the game. Abla Soda is a fictional brand whose colours are orange, yellow, and blue. From the panel on the right, you can tell they have five drink options. Sadly, the soda machines are not usable by Jones, and we don’t see the guards use them either. Laughably, the guard in the room pictured stands facing the machine like he’s expecting an intruder to emerge from it. Rather than quenching thirst, their main function is to add a nice pop of colour to otherwise gloomy interiors.

3) Warehouse 18 is Written in a South-Slavic Language

Unlike IGI 2, which gives you exact or approximate locations like the Carpathians, the Romanian border, the Spratley Islands, Egypt, and Libya, IGI 1 leaves us in the dark, but not without a few hints. Skladište means warehouse in Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian, and Slovenian. It’s likely that this mission unfolds in Croatia or Slovenia because both these countries have access to the Adriatic Sea, whereas Bosnia and Serbia are landlocked. Still, we can’t be 100% sure because one of the criticisms against IGI 1 was the copy-pasting of infrastructure like warehouses, barracks, garages, checkpoints, watchtowers, water towers, and bunkers with negligible variation.

4) The STOP Signs are in English

Although all of the action of IGI 1 takes place in non-Anglophone countries, we hear the guards shout:

• Hey, you!

• Stop!

• Oi!

• Stop there!

And we also see English stop signs on several crosshatch gates. Maybe the word ‘STOP’ in white letters against a red background on a hexagonal sign is recognisable to non-English speakers even though it might not be readable.

5) The Shipping Containers’ Capacity is 808 kg

The base is littered with several shipping containers that add visual interest and provide cover. The dark green containers have WTA-808 painted on them. WTA stands for Wright Tare Allowance and WTA-808 means that the maximum weight capacity of the container is 808 kg.

6) The Containers Come from Russia

If you zoom in, you’ll notice a tiny flag with white, red, and blue bands. Yes, that’s the wrong order because the Russian flag has a white top stripe, a blue middle stripe, and a red bottom stripe. In the game, the flag is recognisable but not entirely accurate. Modifying real-world flags, languages, or names is common and legally prudent in fictional works and worlds. The rationale is to avoid backlash, bans, or lawsuits in case a real person or place feels offended or misrepresented. 

IGI 2 was banned in China because the arch-villain was a Chinese general called Wu Xing, a one-time friend of Chairman Mao who obtained privileged intel and masterminded the theft of the EMP chips in order to start World War III. Because the characterisation of Wu Xing was met with disapproval, IGI 2 was only partially released in China, with the game concluding after Mission 12.

Ekk, the antagonist of IGI 1 is a Russian woman, a rogue ex-KGB agent bent on detonating a sophisticated nuclear warhead to wreak havoc on the world. Jach Priboi, the antihero arms dealer, is also Russian. So there’s a slim probability that some of the shipments contained arms from his company.

7) No Forklifts Despite the Caution Sign

Warehouse 18 has a yellow and black pictogram that cautions entrants about forklift activity. However, upon entering, you realise there is no forklift in the warehouse—or anywhere in the entire perimeter for that matter. Although forklifts are meant to be used in areas with smooth, level surfaces, you find them in the hilly topography of Level 2 SAM Base, where the only warehouse is identical in construction to the barracks.

8) No Light Vehicles in the Small Garages

The map computer doesn’t just show you a satellite view of the base. When you zoom in once, you will see the names of structures. Zoom in twice, and you will get a description of the structure. Trainyard has two buildings tagged Small Garage whose description reads: Contains light vehicles. In a military base, agile and manoeuvrable utility vehicles that weigh less than 6,000 kg unladen are called light vehicles. Humvees (HMMWV), JLTV (Joint Light Tactical Vehicles), Light Combat Vehicles, pickup trucks, and All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) fall under this category. Heavy vehicles include tanks, Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs), and military trucks. They clock in at over 6,000 kg, are slower and less manoeuvrable, and have a higher payload capacity than light vehicles. IGI’s small garages are empty except for wall-mounted tool racks, oil barrels, and cardboard boxes.

9) The Checkpoint is Interestingly Placed

Checkpoint cabins are common structures in the game. They are flat-roofed, narrow, steel-paned rectangular spaces with three breakable glass panes, a doorway, and a stripe of yellow-and-black reflective hazard tape at the base. One of the sides has a slender candy-cane pole. A single armed guard is usually present inside. In a military base, you will usually find checkpoints at perimeter control loci (main gates, secondary entrances, fences), vulnerable areas (ammunition depots, armories, HQ buildings, communication centres), and choke points (bridges, narrow roads, tunnel entrances). I initially felt that the ideal location for the checkpoint was the main gate near the garage and thought this location was brainless, but on further deliberation, it made sense because it guards four massive fuel storage tanks at the back, ammunition barracks on the right, the guard HQ and security room on the left, and the secondary gate in front. Had it been constructed at the main entrance, the guard would have had a limited field of vision. From here, he can monitor activity in many transitional spaces.

10) The Barracks Have Inaccessible Roof Hatches

From the watchtower or the water tower, you will notice that the barracks have corroded roof hatches. The primary purpose of a roof hatch is to provide access to the roof, especially as an emergency exit. Secondary purposes could include ventilation and natural lighting. A roof hatch is supposed to be accessed via ladder, but none of the barracks have one. Perhaps the roofs are low and the guards are good jumpers—or they give each other a hoist.

11) Four Fuel Tanks Stand Outside the Perimeter

The few players who have succeeded in fence-hopping their way out of the perimeter usually focus on the train tunnel that leads nowhere. Beyond the fence, we have wooden crates, a railway platform, a climbable signal gantry, a lengthy railway track, two tunnels, and four fuel tanks that resemble magnified elephants’ legs. Unlike Level 6 Get Priboi, you cannot cause explosions by shooting at them. As it is a goods yard and a railway station, it’s likely that trains, delivery transport, and other vehicles refuel here.

12) Some Warehouses Have Garbage Alcoves

It’s the little things like these that make Project IGI special. A goods yard generates waste in the form of packaging materials (cardboard boxes, wooden crates, plastic strapping, and dunnage), scrap metal (banding, loose nails, worn machinery parts), food waste (discarded or spoiled perishables), sanitary waste (razors, food wrappers, Abla soda cans, disposable cups), and yard waste (grass clippings, leaves, tree trimmings). Certain warehouses in the base have garbage alcoves with dark green recycle bins from a brand questionably called Stasi, some cardboard boxes, and a blue oil barrel.

13) The Truck’s Licence Plate is ORV 73

The objective of Project IGI Level 1 Trainyard is to get to the truck and steal it in order to proceed to the SAM Base. The military green truck has a number plate that reads ORV 73. The whole point of a licence plate is to help people distinguish between vehicles, especially identical ones. It seems that like most characters and structures in the game, the truck too seems to have been born from a copy machine, for you will find several clones across many levels. You will find out the brand of the truck in Level 2 SAM Base. Level 6 Get Priboi and Level 13 Nuclear Infiltration have surprise trucks.

14) Shooting the Truck is Pointless

There is a notoriously difficult level where exploding the truck can cause you to fail the mission, but the truck in Level 1 Trainyard seems indestructible. Shooting at the tyres or at the chassis doesn’t result in blowups or damage. The highest possible vandalism is shattering the windscreen and the windows, which miraculously regenerate in Level 2 SAM Base, where you can enjoy breaking them all over again.

15) How the Crosshatch Gates Open is a Mystery

Once Jones reaches the truck, you complete the mission. During the cutscene, the crosshatch gates of the main entrance/exit slide open with no intervention for Jones to leave the base. In Level 3 Military Airbase, Jones opens the gates by hacking some kind of wall-mounted keypad. In Level 7 Border Crossing, the gate to the chopper pad simply opens when you hit your designated Action key, which means Jones manually pushes it open.. The secondary gate in Level 1 opens at the click of a button. When you approach the main crosshatch gates from within or without, you don’t get a green action prompt. So, how do they open? My theory is that they are electric gates (also known as motorised gates or automatic gates) that obey commands from a remote control. As the truck is base property, Jones would have found the remote control in it.

Hey, You! There’s More

We’ve reached the end of interesting facts about Project IGI 1 Level 1 Trainyard. My plan is to produce a series of such articles for every single level. If I’ve missed a rare fact or find, let everyone know in the comments.