Race X part of the combine forces?

[<RJMC>]

I just hav heard rumors about that the Race X is probably part of the combine forces
and in fact maybe is truht cuz the Race X looks like a army made of diferents creatures and the combines forces are something like that soooo......that can be true?

and please dont post too much spoilers cuz I dont hav HL2 yet

 

[Asknoone]

Could be, but valve said they arnt interested in race x....it was just a means of gearbox to creature new enemies for opposing force

 

[Mechagodzilla]

They're not allies with any other race that we know about.

 

[LittleB]

They don't look anything like any Combine technology, or even species similarity...

 

[jimmyjam]

if anything, they're enemies of the combine
since they'd fight and kill slaves and alien grunts, which we can only assume were combine troops

 

[Bing_Oh]

Since the concensus is that Xen was a Combine-controlled world, and Race X seemed hostile to the Xen aliens, I seriously doubt that they are Combine forces.

I also don't think they're, necessarily, anti-Combine. If this were true, wouldn't they have allied with the forces in Black Mesa who were fighting the Xen aliens? They seem to be a third-party, with their own motivations.

 

[Cpl_Facehugger]

They seem to be fairly different than the Combine. The Combine uses a combonation of organic and inorganic technology to create their warriors (synths, soldiers, etc.)

Race-X seems to use 100% organic technology in their troops. Every single Race-X military unit is completely organic, no metallic bits at all. Hell, they even use spore packets instead of grenades.

Humanity used technology to help their troops, cue PCVs, Apaches, and other human weapons.

 

[Polaris]

Race-X are enemies of Combine. Remember Shock Troopers attacking Gargantua in dam?

 

[Onager]

Is the Gargunta on the same side as the Combine??

 

[NeLi]

Is the Gargunta on the same side as the Combine??

isnt the gargantua just an animal? Like the headcrab? :stare:

 

[Goethe]

Could be, but valve said they arnt interested in race x

Samon, can you provide a link?


NeLi your icon got me all excited

 

[duckmoose]

But the gargantua is like half machine.

 

[<RJMC>]

But the gargantua is like half machine.

looks more like a wild animal

and from what I remenber in HL1 in xen we found the gargantua in the wild and not whit vortigaunts ad grunts so maybe is not of they specie too

 

[Great Grizzly]

anywhere i can go to find out more about this race x?

Never played blueshift or opfor. Want to learn everything i can about the hl universe

 

[kirovman]

anywhere i can go to find out more about this race x?

Never played blueshift or opfor. Want to learn everything i can about the hl universe

If you want to find out more about Race X play Opposing Force. There isn't a great deal of information however.

I wouldn't worry about it, it's not a significant part of the storyline, Marc Laidlaw, the story writer for HL said himself that Race X was Gearbox's creation, just to add some new monsters to the gameplay. They are not part of the main flow of the game. Op4 was just to give a bit of extra material to half-life fans, so our 6 years of waiting for Hl2 had something filling the void.

 

[Sprafa]

Race X was made for Gearbox for a new enemy for OP4, and Laidlaw said they weren't related to the original HL storyline.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

I've got my doubts about Xen being under control of the Combine, too, after reading Raising the Bar. There was something in the description of why the Vortigaunts are your friends (in fact, simply in the way it was phrased) that suggested that they'd never met them before. Besides, why would the Combine need Eli to develop localised teleportation when the Xenians have mastered it so well?

Besides, the Controllers in HL1 didn't look very controlled, did they?

Oh, and the Gargantua is classed as a 'true Xenian', due to it's additional arm, alongside Vortigaunts, Grunts, Controllers, and Nihilanth.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[jimmyjam]

I've got my doubts about Xen being under control of the Combine, too, after reading Raising the Bar. There was something in the description of why the Vortigaunts are your friends (in fact, simply in the way it was phrased) that suggested that they'd never met them before.

they all but say that xen was under combine control in rtb

Besides, why would the Combine need Eli to develop localised teleportation when the Xenians have mastered it so well?

Nihilanth mastered it. He's dead.

Besides, the Controllers in HL1 didn't look very controlled, did they?

do the Overwatch look controlled? does Breen?

 

[Angry Lawyer]

The Overwatch look very controlled. They've got plugs all over their body, and half their brain removed! And the Combine like to brand their stuff. Most things (except stalkers) have some sort of Combine logo. Like a brand name. Which makes you wonder if Coca-Cola is behind it all. The Combine are also clever enough to duplicate things that work well - hence the reason for a citadel in every major city. I very much doubt they'd put all their eggs in one basket - they're smart enough to have failsafes.

Breen wasn't controlled, he defected willingly.

I challenge you to find three bits of definitive evidence to say that Xen was controlled by the Combine.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[<RJMC>]

The Overwatch look very controlled. They've got plugs all over their body, and half their brain removed! And the Combine like to brand their stuff. Most things (except stalkers) have some sort of Combine logo. Like a brand name. Which makes you wonder if Coca-Cola is behind it all. The Combine are also clever enough to duplicate things that work well - hence the reason for a citadel in every major city. I very much doubt they'd put all their eggs in one basket - they're smart enough to have failsafes.

Breen wasn't controlled, he defected willingly.

I challenge you to find three bits of definitive evidence to say that Xen was controlled by the Combine.

-Angry Lawyer

the only thing ithat support the idea of xen controlled by the combine is that nihilant looks like a combine

 

[Hectic Glenn]

We dont know what combine look like? I think the closest true combine was the advisor which im not sure you know about cos your graphics card is poo and wont play HL2. We dont see any true combines. They are either, soldiers, gunships, striders etc, which were forcefully evolved by the combine, using synths (all in raising the bar) So i dont know what you base the Nihilanth on? the gas masks?

 

[<RJMC>]

We dont know what combine look like? I think the closest true combine was the advisor which im not sure you know about cos your graphics card is poo and wont play HL2. We dont see any true combines. They are either, soldiers, gunships, striders etc, which were forcefully evolved by the combine, using synths (all in raising the bar) So i dont know what you base the Nihilanth on? the gas masks?

nihilant hav some few human characteristics and looks like a big controller whit human and mechanical characteristics so thats why I say that looked like a combine

and I didnt thought that the advisor was the original race of the combine

and why you are so rude about that?

 

[Sid Burn]

those creatures are nothing... they just appeared out of nowhere... but maybe they came from Xen.

 

[Asknoone]

I challenge you to find three bits of definitive evidence to say that Xen was controlled by the Combine.

Haha ok, although, i am not sure on whether they do control xen...but there is some evidence.

"Thieves your all thieves" Nihalnith says something liek that, most likley referring to the combine stealing resoures.

The Nihalnith is in shackles, has a big portal relay thing rammed up his a$$ and looks like he has been stitched together. Combien controlled?

The vortigaunts are wearing slave collars, the grunts are xen alien, obviously because they have the third arm in thier chest but they look adapted like the combine soldiers.

The factory in interloper looks to me like nova prospekt.

Theres thumpers in xen, much like the thumpers on the coast.

Personally the different facts for both arguments contradict, and i dont have a clue.

 

[<RJMC>]

Race X was made for Gearbox for a new enemy for OP4, and Laidlaw said they weren't related to the original HL storyline.

so lets say that the race X exist in the HL universe but is not relationed whit the history?

 

[Eejit]

Originally Posted by Marc Laidlaw
Hi, Solver, I'm assuming whatever I tell you is going to get posted somewhere, so I'll be very careful in answering.

I will not talk about the meaning of the game or clear up stuff that has yet to be clarified or revealed; it only makes sense to do this in the context of the games themselves. Stuff that hasn't been revealed is that way because we're not ready to reveal it. Everything that's there is there for a reason; ditto for everything that isn't there. I can only say, "Stay tuned."

Race-X was Gearbox's creation, and likely would only be continued if Gearbox were to do more episodes in the HL universe. There were gameplay modes they wanted to explore, and their designers wanted to make some new monsters; Race-X was a great way for them to do this. The universe is expansive enough to allow this without conflicting with the core story. Remember, these are games first and foremost, and the story really is there to open up and extend (rather than shut down) possibilities for fun gameplay. We did coordinate overarching story elements with Gearbox, but left a lot of the details for them to explore and invent according to what worked for their design process. As for whether Shepherd was put on ice before or after the Nihilanth's demise, it's really hard to say, since Gordon's time in Xen and in the Nihilanth's chamber may not be mapped directly against the timeline of events at Black Mesa.

From a thread several weeks ago. I don't think the original email was posted in info from Valve thread for some reason.
Hope it helps.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

I think the Nihilanth was created by the Controllers - the flying Xen - in order to subjugate the lesser species of their world. Notice the Controllers have no form of slavery on them. I believe they were the true rulers of Xen. Although the Kingpins would have been cooler rulers.

My main piece of supporting evidence:

Vortigaunts are a hive-minded, energy-wielding slave race, inadvertently liberated by Gordon Freeman when he destroyed the Nihilanth in the final battle of the Black Mesa incident. Rather than fall under the dominion of the Combine, those Vortigaunts now stranded on Earth have joined with humans to fight for the freedom of all.

(Raising the Bar)

Look at the wording of that paragraph. If the Vortiguants began enslaved by the Combine, would it not state 'Rather than fall under the dominion of the Combine a second time'? The line makes it feel too much like a first experience between the two races.

In the case of the Thumpers appearing like the mining tool/shrines on Xen - this seems purely incidental. I'm sure there are articles of Human technology that look similar. In fact, across the road of my workplace, they used something similar to check whether the ground was hard enough to build stuff on. Besides, the area of Xen you found them on was too fragmented to hold a colony of Antlions. And you'd notice their effects on the surface dwellers.
If my theory is correct, and the thing is a mining tool used by the Xenians, then that further removes them from the Combine theory. The Combine seem to prefer large-scale removal of minerals, rather than little ore-hammer things.
In addition, if the Combine HAD invaded Xen, why would they need localised teleportation off of Eli? The average Controller seems to have the ability to teleport around, and small teleports are dotted around the place. If the Combine had enslaved them, I believe we would have seen many more Xenian influences in their army. Like those little regenerator pods for the troops. And vice-versa: there'd be lots more metal on Xen.

The thing up Nihilanth's ass seems to be a propulsion unit, more than anything else. The teleportation is controlled by the large crystal in his head, like the Controllers'. The thieves comment seems to be directed towards the Black Mesa scientists' habits of stealing their crystals, which appear to have religious signifigance to the Xen.

Admitted, Grunts do look genetically engineered, but they do not look cybernetically-enhanced. Most sources I have read state that their armour is a natural growth from their mineral-rich diet (and probably the reason why we don't see them on Earth - the same sources stated that the Grunts would probably die without their exotic diets, and would not last long on Earth). The Combine units all seem to have metal augmentations - they prefer steel over flesh. Steel is strong, flesh is weak.

Raising the Bar shows an early concept of a Combine Soldier looking somewhat like a cross between the Combine Advisor and one of the Snakemen from UFO: Enemy Unknown/X-Com. I believe the Advisor is the closest thing to a true Combine as we'll see.

In my opinion, Xen was more of an isolationist race, content in keeping out of other's business (like Switzerland). However, they don't seem to mind retaliating.

Any questions?

-Angry Lawyer