Ground smashers

[satgale]

What are the ground smasher things that are toward the end of Highway 17 and in Sand trap?
They are tall and look like a type of oil rig/ oil drill. They can be turned on and off. Any ideas?

 

[Asknoone]

They are called Thumpers and are used to scare off antlions, and keep them from attacking.

 

[satgale]

Ty. .....

 

[Kyorisu]

When attacking the prison you can tell the antlions back away from them. Also when you turn one off an alert sais something along the lines of

"Thumper 1 disabled"

 

[Wilsonator]

Hl1

Also you may recognize them from a part of Xen in HL1.

 

[dogboy73]

Also you may recognize them from a part of Xen in HL1.

I'm not covinced they were the same things. There were no ant lions on Xen.

There has been some discussion about them being Combine machines though. The theory is that much of what was seen on Xen shows the Combine were already well established there.

 

[Ranga]

they were used *YEARS* ago in the Dune movie, to ward off the gigantic worm. (they were also called thumpers then). but they look cooler in hl2

 

[Combine Hybrid]

The things look like thumpers in Xen are actually not thumpers. They are more like resource gathering machine, which it does not make sound when it hits the ground. plus there are no proofs that the antlions are also lives in Xen.

 

[justmatt]

they were used *YEARS* ago in the Dune movie, to ward off the gigantic worm. (they were also called thumpers then). but they look cooler in hl2

*meeeep*

In Dune, they were used to *attract* worms so the Fremen could ride them. The only time they made a worm go away was when Paul and Jessica were running from a worm and the Fremen set one off somewhere *else* to draw it away from them.

Not that it matters, but I'm a huge ****in' Dune dork, so there we go.

 

[NJspeed]

I think HL2 has a lot of references to old sci fi movies. The womans voice you hear throughout Nova Prospekt and Entanglement is the same voice you hear in the original Mad Max. You know after you turn off the first thumper for the antlion attack, and she starts talking? Listen and see for yourself, its crazy. The things she says are VERY similar to what she also says in Mad Max.. I can't believe they actually found that woman for this game.

 

[Pai-Mei]

The womans voice you hear throughout Nova Prospekt and Entanglement is the same voice you hear in the original Mad Max.

I believe you're mistaken.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374692/fullcredits

Click on the Overwatch Voice lady and she has no other credits. Unless, of course, that's actually someone else and the girl that you are thinking of went uncredited in either Mad Max or HL2

 

[ríomhaire]

Antlions may be from Xen. It would explain why the Vorts know how to get bugbait.

 

[kupocake]

When attacking the prison you can tell the antlions back away from them. Also when you turn one off an alert sais something along the lines of

"Thumper 1 disabled"

Also, the Resistance guy (called Leon) who lends you the car briefs you and says "Make use of the thumpers"

 

[Sid Burn]

at first you need to enable them. but later on other levels... remember to turn it off.

 

[_Meitsi_]

Lol I turned them all off in sandtraps and thought, why theres so much Antlions attacking me...

 

[ríomhaire]

In HL1 they weren't thumpers. They extracted stuff from the ground.

 

[Asknoone]

Theres no evidence for either argument really.

 

[ríomhaire]

I thought in HL1 you had to turn one on to start a portal or something. Don't flame me if I'm wrong please I havent played HL1 in years.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

I'm glad people are actually listening to my theories, finally!

Do I need to get the photograph, that shows evidence that not all things that are thumper-shaped are Combine-controlled?

Yes, yes I do.

(taken from http://www.passcal.nmt.edu/~bob/passcal/fact/fact03.htm)

-Angry Lawyer

 

[Duncan]

As justmatt rightly said, the thumpers in Dune attracted the worms.

Like antlions, sandworms were attracted to footsteps (rhythmical vibrations in the sand)... so it would make more sense if the thumpers attracted sandlions.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

The thumpers produce a really high-powered, and possibly painful-frequency thump, which would be similar to having a bright light shone in our eyes, or a foghorn blasted in our ears. We'd avoid it too, if we had similar sensory organs to the antlions.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[Missingno.]

i looked at the creidts for shapiro...

Listen Carefully (1991) .... Christa's deaf son

So, a son would at MAX be 10 years old, but i havent seen this movie. Anyways, whoever mike is, he is a really good voice actor.

 

[Seppo]

Well I think it's quite obvious that the guy in the picture is a combine in disguise

 

[Angry Lawyer]

Well I think it's quite obvious that the guy in the picture is a combine in disguise

*grins* Good observation.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[Jintor]

Ah uh uh... antlions are freaked out by thumpers because they cause disruptions in the ground. Antlions are sand-living creatures, so they naturally get freaked out and scared when their home starts to shake. Enough thumping would probably bring down the whole colony (If there is one.)

 

[Blakeb155]

I thought in HL1 you had to turn one on to start a portal or something. Don't flame me if I'm wrong please I havent played HL1 in years.

You break a net thing on it, that starts it going up and down, you hop on it and go up so you can get to a portal.

 

[Danimal]

As justmatt rightly said, the thumpers in Dune attracted the worms.

Like antlions, sandworms were attracted to footsteps (rhythmical vibrations in the sand)... so it would make more sense if the thumpers attracted sandlions.

You are right but I think the thumpers would scare the antlions, as it does to cockroaches...

 

[Cargo]

HL2 text tells you all you need to know

And it does. In the game, hit Escape. Goto \options\audio and turn on "closed captions". Now you will see in text what the HL2 team tell you that you are dealing with inside the game. Works good. .

The "thumpers" are actually "Antlion repellers"! Now there is NO argument!

 

[Mechagodzilla]

Actually, the combine's official name for the thumpers are "perimeter restrictors" but that might only be referring to the huge-sized ones near Nova Prospekt, and it means the same thing anyways.

 

[Great Grizzly]

Antlions may be from Xen. It would explain why the Vorts know how to get bugbait.

theyve been living with them for years on earth, plrenty of time to learn how to get the bug bait