Half Life 1 Rocket

[Pivovar]

This might be an odd question, but what exactly did the big missile you launched in Black Mesa do?
I remember a scientist saying that we have to send a signal, but how is a missile = signal?
Then in the launch center there's a hologram of Earth with words "satellite offline", what satellite?
Then, i remember someone saying that the missile was how the portal was still open even though you killed Nihilanth...
and then the HL2: Episode 2 developer's commentary says that "the missile you launch here is directly relevant to the missile you launched back in Black Mesa"
so, im confused

thanks in advance, and sorry if this has already been explained, i looked around and couldn't find anything

 

[Trevelyan]

http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?t=133250

here is a hl2.net thread that may! help

 

[Lokizen]

And welcome to HL2.net! *looks around* It's safer here!

 

[Pivovar]

alright, thanks guys

 

[ríomhaire]

According to Decay (A game that only appears in the PS2 version of HL, developed by Gearbox Software) it was used to help reverse the resonance cascade that began with the experiment at the start of the game and close the rift between Earth and Xen.

Others say that it was used by the g-man to open the rift wider.

Others say it was used to allow Gordon to travel to Xen.

I go with the first theory, because it makes sense and is stated that that is what it does in one of the games.

 

[Darkside55]

Yes, the Decay explanation is best. It's corraborated by the scientist's words in Lambda Core: "We suspect there is an immense portal over there, created by the concentration of a single powerful being."

So, timeline of events:

- Gordon triggers resonance cascade, a wild, unpredictable rift that occurs at random and pulls in flora, fauna, and even whole parts of the Xenian landscape with it

- Gordon activates the rocket which helps close the RANDOM parts of the cascade

- Nihilanth holds the rift open and directs controlled portals between Earth and Xen

 

[ríomhaire]

Plus Xen's organised military doesn't arrive until a few chapters after you stop the random portals.

 

[Barnz]

Exactly. Resonance Reversal only stops the wild creatures.

 

[kupocake]

Exactly. Resonance Reversal only stops the wild creatures.

So how does this fit in with the Portal Storms?

 

[Tagaziel]

Nihilanth's death. Killing him doesn't neccessarily mean the portals were shut down, on the contrary, it might've caused the portals to spiral out of control. A portal Chernobyl if you wish to call it that.

 

[ríomhaire]

Hell, you can see portals spiraling out of his head when he dies, can't you?

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

Hell, you can see portals spiraling out of his head when he dies, can't you?

Tons of them, actually.

 

[MJ12]

Did the combine not use the portal storms to get to earth?

 

[Pivovar]

thanks for all the info, but i have the same question, how does that tie in with the portal storms? Did the combine somehow re-purpose the satellite to make their own gateway or something?

 

[kupocake]

Did the combine not use the portal storms to get to earth?

They were supposedly alerted to the Earth because of the Portal storms, but Xen teleportation is different to Combine tunneling.

edit:
I'm thinking it's interesting that whilst Eli took the G-Man's warning as an indication of a repeat of the Resonance Cascade, we also have a second rocket-launch in Episode Two to shut down a second huge-teleportation event. History may really be repeating itself, and Half-Life may be about continually reducing the risk of outside invasion on the earth through teleporation. I still think the manipulative G-Man intends us to blow the Borealis up. Perhaps it's to inadvertently expose the Earth to another invasion by another alien race through another method of teleportation (one that unlike the others, seems to be an entirely Earth-side creation, at least in Portal form).

 

[FrostXian]

thanks for all the info, but i have the same question, how does that tie in with the portal storms? Did the combine somehow re-purpose the satellite to make their own gateway or something?

Read up to Mikael's post.