Animals wiped out, by the Combine?

R

Rim-Fire

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While randomly contemplating the reproductive supression field I realised something.
"certain protein chains important to the process of embryonic development were selectively prevented from forming"
But since we aren't that closly removed from animals (genetically speeking) wouldn't this have the same effect on animal embryonic development? Obviously it hasn't affected pidgeons, crows and seagulls (or Xen aliens), but what about mamals? Maybe that cat was the last cat left on Earth! :O
 
Rim-Fire said:
While randomly contemplating the reproductive supression field I realised something.
"certain protein chains important to the process of embryonic development were selectively prevented from forming"
But since we aren't that closly removed from animals (genetically speeking) wouldn't this have the same effect on animal embryonic development? Obviously it hasn't affected pidgeons, crows and seagulls (or Xen aliens), but what about mamals? Maybe that cat was the last cat left on Earth! :O
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Cats live on average between 14 to 20 years, so with combine occupation a similar length, it's easy to see how the many cats not already eaten by Xen wildlife, would nearly all have died of old age. Perhaps there was never anything wrong with Kliener's teleporter, and it just died of a rather horrific stress induced heart-attack!

The best hope for the animal kingdom is that the combine, though with dark intents, may keep its own wildlife 'samples' and allow them to mate. Though they may be doing so with the intent of creating a wild boar-frog with a rocket launcher for an anus, the samples may later be used to rejuvinate the eco-system if captured. Or perhaps human scientists have taken such samples in the meantime.
 
While it's inevitable that thousands of the earth's species have been driven to extinction, hopefully some have adapted and survived in other less damaged parts of the earth..

How far does the "field" stretch, anyway?
 
Also it's difficult to program a cat skeleton, and I assume PETA would have something to say if you could shoot them.
 
The reason why there wasn't an animal population is probably because Valve didn't want to take the time to painstankenly model, animate, and code them all. There was going to be a rat, apparently, but it was cut for some reason.
 
Cut? CUT? Because Vavle doesn't want Gordon to get RABIES!!!

My serious theory: I thought the suppression field was only in food supplies issued by combine, ergo, animals would most likely not receive suppression, especially from a wild water supply. Also, killing animals, is not going to help the combine. It might, for entertainment, but the best purpose for animals with combine is synthisization. Other animals, probly made the mistake of drinking from the radioactive canals which we see in water hazard.

Course, the animals might have (unlikely) inbred with Xenian creatures. It might not be entirely possible, but, under forced conditions... *hides video camera*
 
You see quite a few crows/ravens and pidgeons.

So I'd say there are plenty of other animals around, you just don't see them. I mean, its not like you see elephants walking down the street (well, not too often anyways), even when there isn't an alien invasion in progress.

Is there any reason why you'd need to see any other animals? I can understand rats, they'd add a nice environmental touch. Also maybe cockroaches, like in the original Half-Life. How the heck did they infest Black Mesa so quickly anyway? Besides, Valve want the game to appeal to as large an audience as possible. Many people would find the inclusion of animals like cats and dogs offensive, same as the inclusion of children. Obviously nothing nice is going to happen to them in a warzone, and its not important for them to be there.

The fisherman in Lost Coast says something about the alien leeches replacing all the fish or something, other than that I think most animals are still around somewhere. A lot of the people have been brought to City 17, I doubt the Combine would bother to bring a bunch of dogs or whatever with them.
 
Rim-Fire said:
While randomly contemplating the reproductive supression field I realised something.
"certain protein chains important to the process of embryonic development were selectively prevented from forming"
But since we aren't that closly removed from animals (genetically speeking) wouldn't this have the same effect on animal embryonic development? Obviously it hasn't affected pidgeons, crows and seagulls (or Xen aliens), but what about mamals? Maybe that cat was the last cat left on Earth! :O
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You raise a very good point. It's very likely that (at least) all mammal life would have been affected.

Black Ops4 said:
You see quite a few crows/ravens and pidgeons.
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They reproduce differently than us. I'm sure at the very basic level it's probably similar but we have no idea what the "certain protein chains" refers to. Besides as rAomhaire pointed out Xen life is unaffected.

Black Ops4 said:
The fisherman in Lost Coast says something about the alien leeches replacing all the fish or something
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Yea the fishies are gone. You can see the alien leeches for yourself if you start swimming in TLC.

Even if the lack of animals was a design decision rather than a story one, I'm going to stick to this theory unless proven otherwise.
 
kupoartist said:
Cats live on average between 14 to 20 years, so with combine occupation a similar length, it's easy to see how the many cats not already eaten by Xen wildlife, would nearly all have died of old age. Perhaps there was never anything wrong with Kliener's teleporter, and it just died of a rather horrific stress induced heart-attack!
Click to expand...


heheh, now you have me imagining a cat with false teeth.
"I dont know where I live. Is this WW2?"
*teleportation*
"OHMYGODIWASN'TOVERHEREAMINUTEAGO! I MUST HAVE ALZHEIMERS AND FORGOT ABOUT IT AGAIN!"
*heart attack*
 
I'm not offering it as an explenetion as to why rats, cats and dogs don't appear in HL2. I'm just offering it as a logical extention of what we know of the suppression field.
 
I believe that the suppression field originating at the Citadel (only logical place, no?) would only extend as far as the cit and it's neighbouring areas... in places where it wouldn't reach, I believe that Xenian and Terran wildlife would mix, clash and eventually flourish after formation of a new food chain.

Imagine a cougar (yeah, I know, favouritism) hunting down a houndeye.
 
How often do you see animals besides domesticated dogs and cats in a city in eastern europe somewhere? Somewhat often, but in a post-alien invasion war zone, I don't suspect you'd see much besides rodents, and it appears from previous posts that Valve considered doing this. Even in Episode 2, when they're in the forest, you shouldn't expect to see animals (wild or domestic) that often, especially with the cacophony of a raging battle.
 
Mikael Grizzly said:
I believe that the suppression field originating at the Citadel (only logical place, no?) would only extend as far as the cit and it's neighbouring areas... in places where it wouldn't reach, I believe that Xenian and Terran wildlife would mix, clash and eventually flourish after formation of a new food chain.

Imagine a cougar (yeah, I know, favouritism) hunting down a houndeye.
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I would imagine that if the Combine didn't want people breeding they would make sure that humans couldn't breed. If I was in charge I'd make sure the suppression field covered the whole bloody world. We know it's possible to survive in the outside, the hybrid(Is that the name?) was made by 2 guys who live in the woods outside City 17 apparently and Father Gregori was doing OK in Ravenholm.
 
Well, the civilians are trapped within the city really, prisoners in their own apartments - as can be seen from those Combine locks on all the doors and the heavy patrols. I wouldn't be surprised if the suppression field only covered the city, perhaps there are other similar fields at the other cities.

Usually when things go wrong animals will panic. I would think if a huge column of metal smashed into the middle of town plenty of the dogs would tuck their tails between their legs and run as far away as possible. Canines and felines are very adaptive, which is why they've managed to reach every continent besides Antarctica and Australia (until humans brought them), so I wouldn't be surprised if they survived the Combine invasion.

It may not have been a choice for it to be this way, they may not actually be capable of creating fields which cover the entire planet...

As far as my knowledge goes, pidgeon reproduction is pretty darn similar to ours. In fact, its more or less the same for all Earth vertebrates (except for the few wierd ones like that species of gecko which has only females). Still, if the field only extended over the city, pidgeons could easily fly in and out. Either way the pidgeons are doin' fine! :p

In the end, its only science fiction - I guess if it can target human reproduction specifically it might include other mammals and exclude birds for some strange reason...
 
Ophiguris said:
Cut? CUT? Because Vavle doesn't want Gordon to get RABIES!!!

My serious theory: I thought the suppression field was only in food supplies issued by combine, ergo, animals would most likely not receive suppression, especially from a wild water supply. Also, killing animals, is not going to help the combine. It might, for entertainment, but the best purpose for animals with combine is synthisization. Other animals, probly made the mistake of drinking from the radioactive canals which we see in water hazard.

Course, the animals might have (unlikely) inbred with Xenian creatures. It might not be entirely possible, but, under forced conditions... *hides video camera*
Click to expand...

:dozey: ... something must've affected your brain to think that you can breed a cow with an elephant and have results, yet alone with races from other planets!
 
It all depends on the species and other genetics. Stuff like a 'Core Genis' and other stuff I have yet to study. But you >MIGHT< get results if a Sharpeii got it on with, say a hound eye? Probably not, but it's better than a Gonarch and a fish. There you go! Think about the Ithcyosaurs and normal fish, or them leeches, they could in breed. OK, yeah that was a stupid theory.
 
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