Combine Divisions/Theories/Discussion

[McCoy]

Facets of Combine--
-@-The Human Division--
Human scientists and Researchers help combine warlords&or/generals brainstorm the utilization and combination of human weapons and combine technology. It seems that surveillance has been taken on the human way of life through scanners. Through this I have surmised that the Combine see fit to have destroy not only the humans but any evidence that they were ever occupying the planet or even existed. Through careful observation it must be noted that the Combine do not pity the humans, they only see it as reform and of utmost importance. I also note that the Combine must have had this planned for as long as they had known about the humans and their weaknesses. If the Combine have depleted Earth's resources what Combine resources will the Combine administrator see fit to carry in? For we know nothing about the Combine or what galaxy or world that they hail from. The humans don't know that many weaknesses of the Combine or what their overall tactical maneuver.
-@-Hazards&Waste Division--
In the end of Half Life 2 we know that the Citadel will explode at any moment. In HL2 Ep.1 what sort of transformation will happen with the remains of the Citadel and its mutated inhabitants. What I am saying here is that there could be very drastic changes to City 17 and the surrounding area through radioactive changes. Quite possibly there could be mutated citizens and mutated combine and large amounts of chemical waste. I would like to think that you go back to City 17 in Ep. 3 and find all sorts of different objects and interesting things.
-@-Weapons&Artillery Division--
In Half Life 2 we can see proof that the combine not only use Combine weapons but human weapons as well. I think that most of the pulse technology utilizes human chemical reactions through(besides gun powder...think sulfates and acids). There seem to be more human weapons. On this note it must be observed that the humans barely have any heavy weapons such as mortars compared to the Combine, who have Supression Devices and Pulse Heavy Weapons. It seems that they have many heavy weapons but ground troops operate heavily on Human weapons such as the Pistol, SMG, and Shotgun. Seems a shame that there is no flame-thrower that we have seen yet...although it would be nice. Props to the Modder who makes one.

 

[Cheomesh]

Human scientists? No, Combine Advisers are EXTREMELY intelligent and have no use for human scientists.

Mutated humans? No, the Citadel isn't radioactive, when it blows it will be like a small sun exploding in the sense that everything will be obliterated in the blast zone.

Weapons Division, what about it?

 

[Apocalypse89]

Human scientists? No, Combine Advisers are EXTREMELY intelligent and have no use for human scientists.

Which is why they're tripping over themselves trying to get Eli's and Mossman's research on local teleportation.

Anyways, I doubt that we're ever going back to City 17...Valve has stated that the sole purpose of Ep. 2 is moving you out of it and it's confines. And encountering irradiated mutants would be stupid, especially since we already have zombies.

I think most of the Overwatch's weapons are purely Combine technology, just designed to be comfortable and familiar to human users. And the resistance wouldn't have heavy weaponry, seeing how they focus on guerilla warfare and lack the resources to move and operate large weapons.

 

[Kevin]

Mutated citizens and combine=Stalker: Shadow of C17.

 

[Cheomesh]

Which is why they're tripping over themselves trying to get Eli's and Mossman's research on local teleportation.

Because they've managed to overlook what makes it work. Hell, they already had a working one.

 

[Asknoone]

Which is why they're tripping over themselves trying to get Eli's and Mossman's research on local teleportation.

Exactly. The Combine certainly have use for human scientists in order to further augment and make the best of human technology, and humans themselves. Breen clearly states he has a "Research team", and I'm willing to bet it consists of more than just himself and Mossman. Former Black Mesa employees, world-renowned scientists...pretty much from all walks of the scientific community, all working to further aid that human/Combine transition.

Combine teleportation is laughable and crazy. Way I figured from that set of 'relays' at the end of HL2 they use massive teleport sites in order to transport stuff. It's a major disadvantage, and it's little wonder they desperately want the local teleport research. Imagine those teleporters in the hands of the Combine, able to transport in what is seemingly an instant to a location just around the corner, constantly spewing Synths and what have you...I'm pretty sure that'd make them near unstoppable.

 

[Laivasse]

While the Combine certainly have a use for human scientists, and the local teleport tech is a great example, they also know exactly where that use starts and stops.

IMO, from the impression I get of the Combine, the idea of leaving humans with their biological integrity just so that we would develop something for their benefit would rankle with the high ups in the Universal Union. They want to dominate us, confine us, to cripple us as long as we're not needed much to perform physically. What with Mossman's treachery now, I'm sure they would love to come up with a way to have their human science division exist as nothing more than a group of brains in a little tank of saline. Deep down, however, I think they know they need to give us the illusion of some kind of freedom in order to have us come up with the intellectual goods.

What I'm essentially saying is I think the Combine hate giving us the small freedom they have given us, especially the privileged positions given to those such as Breen and Mossman, and I don't think our scientists would have great prospects for survival in the care of the Combine once the secrets of teleportation tech are delivered and integrated into the aliens' arsenal.

 

[Dr0ndeh]

the way i see's it, the combine are all ideas and technology but have very little in the way of implimentation other than taking advantage of local biological resources. and if those biological resources bite back hard enough they have to fall back on prior conquests, that may not be best suited to the current environment. ie striders not being suited for anything other than mass distruction and intimidation due to their massive size in our world.

they really arnt as powerful as they may at first seem.

 

[Cheomesh]

Nope, they're not.

 

[Laivasse]

If anything they're MORE powerful than they at first seem, since at no point in the games so far do we encounter anything approaching the Combine's full military might.

I think a lot of people seem to get hung up on the idea that 'the Combine must suck cuz they lost to one man', 'resistance have more health than Overwatch' or 'striders are rubbish, they can only withstand a few rocket hits!' I feel like I need to make a point against this kind of thinking.

Think about it, how could the game play any other way? And in any case, humanity couldn't really make any serious progress against the Combine were it not for the presence of Freeman and a bunch of extraordinarily lucky breaks. In the meantime, while you're getting hung up on these issues of gameplay mechanics, you're missing all the hints you're supposed to pick up from the narrative, such as humanity initially lasting only 7 hours in conflict, or trashed tanks lying around, the Combine's insane technology (such as mile high structures, forcefields, living weapons), Kliener's talk of the 'unimaginable retaliation' that's coming - the fundamental message is that we're up against something which could quite easily squash us in the right circumstances.

Of course, I don't know how it will play out in future, but if the endings of the next games in the series follow the trend of all the endings that preceded them, then those endings will not be happy ones. A well written ending will not include anything like an image of Gordon posing victorious, gun raised, on a Combine 'homeworld'.

ON TOPIC: @OP - the Combine pulse technology can't be based off of human work, since the same kind of tech runs throughout their citadel and is utilised by their synth weaponry.

 

[Dr0ndeh]

but without humans to absorb into the fighting forces of the combine, their only choice on our planet (well from what ive seen in C17 at least) is pretty much total destruction. and destruction is not thier plan.

they need humans, and that is thier weakness.

 

[Cheomesh]

Eh well lets say we seal the Combine off of earth. They can still likely produce their synths in the Citadels (I'm assuming that's what they're doing tbh), and they can use those to capture and force members into the Overwatch.

EDIT: In all honesty I'd like to see a few games where you're not Gordon, and it's about fighting / routing / clearing out remaining Combine forces. Considered making a simple CnC3 mod about that, actually -- with the new SDK I might be able to. I can use the already existing buzzers as manhacks...

 

[Apocalypse89]

the way i see's it, the combine are all ideas and technology but have very little in the way of implimentation other than taking advantage of local biological resources. and if those biological resources bite back hard enough they have to fall back on prior conquests, that may not be best suited to the current environment. ie striders not being suited for anything other than mass distruction and intimidation due to their massive size in our world.

they really arnt as powerful as they may at first seem.

Aside from local teleportation and Freeman, I don't think the Combine have anything special that they want from humanity. We're just another species for them to absorb and another planet for them to drain of resources.

And as already mentioned, they're most likely more powerful than they seem. So far we've only seen the babysitting force they left to keep control over the crippled Earth, which is made up mostly of humans anyway.

 

[Asknoone]

People forget that you never actually face the Combine in Half-life 2, but rather the Overwatch. The Combine are far more powerful than they seem; you simply have to move through the layers to get to the full military machine. Which, it would seem, is about to come tearing through that Super Portal.