Pounders

[LGonForum]

In HL, Blue Shift... and I think OPFOR [not sure] (even if they are/aren't 100% Canon) there are organic pounders on Xen. You know... the things that stamp up and down. (They are in the factory looking part in Xen also, so that right there might ruin my idea already...) Well, as we all know; they're in HL2 also... But more industrial looking. Not organical looking like on Xen. If they are for the same purpose of keeping antlions away this could possibly prove two things, no?

1.) Antlions on Xen?
2.) Assimilation of other world's resources/technology by combine to make their weapons/items/blah?

Is this making any sense or am I just blabbering like a fecker?

 

[MiccyNarc]

I think AntLions came with the Combine, somehow, as a side effect of the Combine Invasion.
Reasons?
1: There were no AntLions in Black Mesa or on Xen
2: The Crab synth (visible in the citadel) looks very much like a heavily modified antlion.

 

[Revenge]

There might have been no antlions on Xen because the combine invasion had occured so long ago that there was no longer a need for them and so they were exterminated.

I'll have to check those thumpers out myself, though I like the idea, and it does add to the link between the stories

 

[LGonForum]

Crab synth?... I can't think of anything that reminded me of an antlion in the citadel except possibly those huge beetle looking tanks while you are on the rail system

 

[azz0r]

Pics? I have no idea what your on about

 

[Revenge]

Lol LGonForum... Way to answer your own question... That's exactly what a crab-synth is.

I think the thumpers he's referring to MIGHT be those breathing fan thingies... In which case I'm less inclined to believe they'd be anti-antlion technology... Though none of us really know what purposed those things served.

 

[LGonForum]

I'm going to try to map through HL, (i'm too lazy to re-install Blue Shift) and find them.... I'm really lazy so this might take a while. if someone else does it, that would be "greatzorz"
IM me if you post the pic before me.

 

[Ennui]

I don't think the things on Xen are anti-antlion things.

Jesus, what I wouldn't give for a copy of all of Laidlaw's writings... we'd know sooo much more.

by the way nice signature, miccynarc.

 

[LGonForum]

hmm. they don't look too similar... but hmmm...

that and I want to show this for giggles

 

[DevgruSeal]

Several thoughts went through my head when I saw the so called, "Pumpers."

1.) Pumping antlion hormones into the ground to produce more antlions.
2.) Acting as a softener for the sand.
3.) The beginning of a second citadel, building up to join, and cover the city.

Why do they let you turn it on/off?

Nice picture of Alyx...

Indeed...What cat? I wonder if this is a big hint to the storyline..Possibly a hint for HL3's storyline...

 

[Edcrab]

Well the "thumpers" in Half-Life 2 are purely to dissuade antlions from moving over a certain area... but the similar looking Xen creations (I'm sure there's also a bigger, more metallic variety but I may have been hallucinating) are probably just coincidental lookalikes.

It's an interesting point about the antlions though- I'd presume they're something that came with the Combine, somehow, as presumably accidental stowaways. Hell, British colonists introduced rats to entirely rat-free islands from their ships... and we have reason to believe that antlions breed fairly quickly, so perhaps just a few antlions produced the huge population on the coastline near City 17.

 

[staticprimer]

Several thoughts went through my head when I saw the so called, "Pumpers."

1.) Pumping antlion hormones into the ground to produce more antlions.
2.) Acting as a softener for the sand.
3.) The beginning of a second citadel, building up to join, and cover the city.

Why do they let you turn it on/off?

Nice picture of Alyx...

Indeed...What cat? I wonder if this is a big hint to the storyline..Possibly a hint for HL3's storyline...

I think its pretty obvious that the pounders are used to keep the antlions at bay, not to make more of them. and what good would a citadel be out on the remote beaches?

 

[LGonForum]

Several thoughts went through my head when I saw the so called, "Pumpers."

1.) Pumping antlion hormones into the ground to produce more antlions.
2.) Acting as a softener for the sand.
3.) The beginning of a second citadel, building up to join, and cover the city.

Why do they let you turn it on/off?

Nice picture of Alyx...

Indeed...What cat? I wonder if this is a big hint to the storyline..Possibly a hint for HL3's storyline...

I'm pretty sure it is a tribute to the 1960's or 1950's The Fly. I was talking about it on IRC, and this came out -

<Vash> he sends a cat through the transporter. and it never comes back. and you hearing it meowing in space.

ALSO I know there was another kind of pounder in the factory with electric-power or something running into them. but like I said earlier, I'm lazy. Oh. and there are the HUGE ones that go in and out of the island when you ahve to reach that one far out transporter ?before gonarch's lair?

 

[Tynan]

We know that the thumpers are for keeping ant lions away because on the coast road levels, every little combine outpost has one. They set up an outpost to stop you, and bring a thumper with them so they dont get mauled while they wait. Same with the bigger versions on the Nova Prospekt beaches.

The antlions live underground. If the ground is getting thumped to hell, perhaps it hurts them to be near such a destructive force? Though that begs the question as to why they cant go near it above ground. Hm..

 

[LGonForum]

We know that the thumpers are for keeping ant lions away because on the coast road levels, every little combine outpost has one. They set up an outpost to stop you, and bring a thumper with them so they dont get mauled while they wait. Same with the bigger versions on the Nova Prospekt beaches.

The antlions live underground. If the ground is getting thumped to hell, perhaps it hurts them to be near such a destructive force? Though that begs the question as to why they cant go near it above ground. Hm..

IIRC, in-game it says it confuses them. Or was that something I read in the forums? Oh well.... It's confusion. DEEMED OFFICIAL :naughty: sorry, had to be silly for a second.

 

[Ozmodiar]

Thumpers

When I saw them in HL2, I immediately recognized the large antlion-repelling machines as Thumpers. They reminded me of a throbbing plunger, called a "Thumper", that would attract slime worms in the old-school Apple II computer game Think Quick.

However, Wikipedia.org shows that this "Thumper" idea originated even earlier, from Frank Herbert's Dune. Although in both Think Quick and Dune, the Thumper attracts the creatures, rather than scaring them.

 

[heytherelilbuddy]

perhaps its just the mere sound/rumble that the thumpers produce that scares the antlions away?

i mean honestly, it cant be THAT complicated...

 

[barake]

watch your ant lions when you get to the thumpers on the coast (after you get the bug bait). until you turn off the machine, the ant lions stumble and stagger around every time the ground is pounded. they just knock the ant lions off balance or something.

 

[LGonForum]

I also went through the citadel twice since I first posted this... the thing that pound on the cavern before you enter the citadel...... do they smash rock and earth for resources? possibly that is what those are in Xen. Sorry for changing my theory...