Siege of the Citadel

sfc_hoot

sfc_hoot

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During the final levels of Follow Freeman, you are greeted by a male citizen, who says this to you:

"Dr. Freeman! It's a mess out there. This close to the Citadel they've turned the streets over to Striders. I think we can push them back if we can just get the high ground. We're almost to the Citadel wall, Doc. I don't know how the hell we're gonna breach it, but you've made it this far, I'm sure you'll think of something."
Click to expand...
Now let's assume that DOG never made it to the scene. It would then be time to go with the resistance plan of sieging the Citadel. How on Earth do you think they'd siege those massive Combine walls? A huge amount of explosives? Or perhaps some kind of recreation of a medieval siege engine (e.g. a trebuchet made out of strider legs with an APC counterweight, designed to throw huge chunks of destroyed buildings). I don't think the Resistance has access to things like howitzers or mortars, so they'd be stuck with the resources scattered along the wartorn streets.

Would it be possible to siege the Citadel wall at all, with conventional weapons? Please share your theories with me. :)
 
Well, dog is strong yes, but not beyond imagination, what he probably did was that he found a weak spot. If the resistance could find a weak spot, they could use a crane or something to lift the wall.
 
Besieging the Citadel would be a baaaaad idea, since the thing is inhabited by gunships, dropships and Striders :D
 
I think that this would fit nice in an expansion with Adrian Shepard or one of the other characters. The game would start during the week Gordon and Alyx were gone and then end in a sequence like this:

You're on a resistance crane truck en route to the citadel walls. You man a captured combine helicopter gun on the side of the truck. The truck rushes through city 17 relying on you and your turret to shoot down gunships, barriers, combine soldiers, gunships, and eventually a strider that chases behind the truck. You finally make it to the destination, a small army of citizens guarding blockades in a city square.

You keep manning the combine helo turret, and occasionally your rocket launcher to fend off any heavy assaults. A drop ship comes in and unloads a few snipers on top of various buildings, forcing you to abandon your turret. You have to now defend the rebels before the sniper can pick them all off. The guy manning the crane finally lifts the wall up and tells everyone to go on without him. Crab synths come into the square and unload their chain guns on the crane. You make it under the wall just in time as the crane breaks and the wall comes crashing down. Only a fraction of the rebels outside have mad it through and you hear them being massacred by the crab synths' chain guns. You hear him screaming and manning the helo turret and then a bunch of sniper rounds go off and the noise stops.

Eventually, you make it to one of the bridges leading into the citidel and just before you make it inside, and explosion blows off the top of the tower (the one after you blow up the portal in HL2). Everyone stares up in awe until huge pieces of shrapnel start raining down and more explosions start rocking the citidel. The screen freezes with the pieces of sharpnel floating right over the rebels, about to crush them. The G-man comes out and makes another one of his speeches and then the credits roll.
 
When eveyone was saying go to the horse, I didn't know what they were talking about. I thought they ment some kind of trojan horse. I thought We would all get inside an APC and drive in, then open the gates for everyone.
 
Well, the main defense of the Citadel are the Striders around it, etc., that you fought with the other Resistance members. So breaching the wall should be possible. It was a wall, not a forceshield. Perhaps Gordon and a few other people shooting the RPG at the same spot would breach it. Maybe Gordon would be able to take that super-gun from a Strider and use it on the wall. Maybe even a huge ram could be created. Either way, I'm sure the wall could be breached somehow other than Dog arriving there.
 
Then again, they could try digging under the wall...

That would have been an incredible ending sequence...Citadel siege...for a while you don't fight any enemies, just avoid and help target artillery. Sporadic explosions, then the wall is almost breached (let's say they're packing explosives under that place Dog found). Then they wall is breached and you all rush forwards, storm a rbdige heavily defended by Combine and a Strider, and so on...
 
They were originally planning an all out assault on the citadel, with citizens firing up rockets at it and having them charge in, but, ultimatley they decided it would be best to go it alone.
 
To siege a base is to surround it and cut off all traffic in and out, starving them, not infiltrating it.
 
I think that the way it happened in the game is the only way it could. Because you could tell that by the time you reached the wall thier were very few rebels left. Its not surprising because they had been fighting a hard, desparate for a week. I think that the rest of the rebels were sacrafdicing themselfs so that you could get through. Then i think they went off to make one final diversion to draw the combine away from you. Maybe a last stand.
 
Dig under the Citadel walls, but do it quickly before they start crunching again!

Or make an army of 300+ DOG's, then see what happens... :devil:
 
Or use Kleiners Teleporter


an all out war fighting to get into the Citadel would have rocked, never ending streams of Citizens and Combine fighting each other, sure my Computer would have melted, but it would have been worth it :D.
 
Another amazing idea Valve didn't develop further into. Oh well. While Gordon assaulting the Citadel by himself was awesome, an all out assault on the Citadel with never ending battles with the Resistance and Combine would've just been...spectacular. But, I guess the reason Gordon went alone was so Valve could keep in his Godlike appearance since he is the "Free Man" and wanted to keep up the idea that Gordon could do anything by himself
 
DeusExMachinia said:
Another amazing idea Valve didn't develop further into. Oh well. While Gordon assaulting the Citadel by himself was awesome, an all out assault on the Citadel with never ending battles with the Resistance and Combine would've just been...spectacular. But, I guess the reason Gordon went alone was so Valve could keep in his Godlike appearance since he is the "Free Man" and wanted to keep up the idea that Gordon could do anything by himself
Click to expand...

HL2 actually highlights that Gordon can't do many things by himself. Like, he needed the help from rebels to get a gun on the airboat. He needed Alyx in Nova Prospekt, reprogramming the turrets and all. He needed Barney and his squad when fighting in City 17 and the security nexus. This all is contrary to HL1, where Gordon did indeed accomplish everything with minimal outside help - the security guards would shoot some crabs or zombies, but nothing serious really.
 
Some good theories here.

But how would you "dig" under the Citadel walls though? The citizens would have to dig through asphalt or concrete or whatnot. It's not like digging a hole in the backyard, this would take quite a bit of force. Lifting the wall would make sense, but you'd need a super strong device, (e.g. DOG), but remember, we're talking about the resistance capability of sieging the Citadel, so, no DOG.

I don't think Kleiner's teleporter could be used since he's no longer at the lab. Alyx took him to a safer place, plus you'd need a receiving end for the portal in the Citadel. And Mechagodzilla, your ladder theory rocks. :p

I agree with everyone else here. Whatever method would been taken, the siege of the Citadel would be an awesome sequence in the game. Very little enemies, just concentrating on the siege. Then, when the walls are breached, we'd expirience a full Combine Vs Resistance war within the Citadel - and I mean war! Ah... I can just see Resistance members storming into the Citadel from all directions.

"If I ever get my hands on Dr. Breen..." Wonder what the rebels would do to him if they managed to get to his office. What horrible fate would he suffer!
 
But how would you "dig" under the Citadel walls though? The citizens would have to dig through asphalt or concrete or whatnot. It's not like digging a hole in the backyard, this would take quite a bit of force.

Use a very large and powerful drill? I'm sure they have acess or could make something like that. It's either that or fling resistance members over by catapult.


Lifting the wall would make sense, but you'd need a super strong device, (e.g. DOG), but remember, we're talking about the resistance capability of sieging the Citadel, so, no DOG.

What if the Resistance made 500 DOG's? :devil:

I don't think Kleiner's teleporter could be used since he's no longer at the lab.

'Lamarr? Where are you Lamarr?'

"If I ever get my hands on Dr. Breen..."[/I] Wonder what the rebels would do to him if they managed to get to his office. What horrible fate would he suffer!

They'd throw him off the top! :devil:

Or stick him in a Slave Pod and send him off into the blue beam thingys. :devil: :devil:

Or load him into Garry's Mod!!! :devil: :devil: :devil:
 
Wilsonator, you should really use quotes! :p

Anyway, the most plausible theory (that doesn't include DOG!) right now seems to be digging under or lifting a section of the wall. I'm guessing that for the digging part, they'd have to use explosives or some kind of huge drill. As for lifting a section, I guess they could make some kind of device which would have the same effect as a crowbar. Technically a giant crowbar, which would go under a section, and would be pulled by ropes or a counterweight, to pry open a section of the wall large enough to let resistance members flood in.
 
Load a bunch of people into a dumpster, then tie the dumpster to a trebuchet.


Hopefully they'll land where they can actually do something :P

Not to mention survive.
 
.... or you could make a great wooden Strider, hide Citizens inside it, and leave it right in front of the gate. :E
 
Hmm

*Launch Strider back at rebels*

Combine- Now go away before we taunt you a second time!
 
*Launch Strider back at rebels*

Combine- Now go away before we taunt you a second time!
Click to expand...

Nice!

I suspect the actual infiltration of the Citadel would be something more along the lines of...

*DING DONG*
*Door opens*
Combine: Hey, did any of you guys order a pizza? Oh shit...
 
sfc_hoot said:
...we'd expirience a full Combine Vs Resistance war within the Citadel - and I mean war! Ah... I can just see Resistance members storming into the Citadel from all directions.
Click to expand...

I think you mean Resistance members getting in each others way & blocking doorways for each other... :laugh:
 
Citizens

they'd apologise each other to death, or run onto a hopper mine. :rolleyes:

Sfc Hoot- how do you chop up people's messages and quote them without quoting your replies?
 
I dont get why you people think it would be an awesome battle. It would simply be a massacre. You all saw the combine forces inside the citadel and also saw the few rebels left alive. I think they did a logical thing one "free man" could infiltrate the citadel better than an army and then they could go off and cause a distraction. However im sure they paid dearly for their distraction.
 
Wilsonator said:
Sfc Hoot- how do you chop up people's messages and quote them without quoting your replies?
Click to expand...
Copy the text you want, paste it, and then wrap it in quote tags. Example: [ QUOTE=sfc_hoot ] the text you copied [ / QUOTE ]. Without the spaces of course.


Duncan said:
I think you mean Resistance members getting in each others way & blocking doorways for each other...
Click to expand...
-Sorry, Freeman.
-Excuse me.
-Whoops.
-WATCH OUT!
-Me *thinking*: Get out of my f***ing way! :flame:
*grenade goes off*
-He's not dead is he?
-Sombody take his crowbar.
 
Pheremones

Citizen IQ>Antlion IQ

What we need is Citizen pheremones... the extracting is the most fun part. *Throws Citizen pheremones 5 stories up Citadel* *Citizens start scaling the wall*

Oh and by the way, even if the Citizens do somehow breach the citadel, there's still the problem of the huge friggin' pit around it, maybe if they all flew small fighter jets and docked in the large windows you see...
 
Wilsonator said:
Oh and by the way, even if the Citizens do somehow breach the citadel, there's still the problem of the huge friggin' pit around it, maybe if they all flew small fighter jets and docked in the large windows you see...
Click to expand...
They could get in the same was Freeman did. Through all the shafts. Plus, there are also bridges goin straight into the Citadel, in case you haven't noticed.
 
Having the siege on the Citadel would reminds me of the old MOH:AA days in Omaha :P
 
sfc_hoot said:
They could get in the same was Freeman did. Through all the shafts.
Click to expand...

What about the cliff? I can't imagine 500 resistance members all getting in the same way Freeman did.

Resistance 1 - Oi! Stop shoving there!

Resistance 2 3 and 4- *falls* AIIIEIEEEEE!!!
 
As for lifting a section, I guess they could make some kind of device which would have the same effect as a crowbar. Technically a giant crowbar, which would go under a section, and would be pulled by ropes or a counterweight, to pry open a section of the wall large enough to let resistance members flood in.
Click to expand...

A giant crowbar! Genius! Who needs guns?

I would guess they'd probably use explosives to blast they're way down into the old sewer systems and under the wall...the way you came. There are plenty of bridges and if the rebels got organised they could even make their own pretty quickly.

The other thing would be simply climbing over the walls...either with ladders (seriously) or by dropping bridges from the tops of nearby buildings. I get the impression you could throw any amount of firepower at the actual wall without even denting it, so they'd have to find a way around.

In fact, they could just send in their friendly neighbourhood Gordon Freeman to open the gates from the inside.
 
The same way the combine trains get in. If they really are going in and out of the citadel, there must be some kind of weak spot, like a door- Maybe a blue energy thingy (which could be destroyed by... oh, I don't know, EMP?).
 
trains are moving in and out of the citedel constantly, just hijack a train and get a free ride in
 
Once your in set all the walls into reverse. A perfect trojan horse.
 
Great Grizzly said:
trains are moving in and out of the citedel constantly, just hijack a train and get a free ride in
Click to expand...

but the surpression field would still stop anyone without clearence. (eg.) train is moving fast......goes through supression field.....everyone in the train goes splat :borg:
 
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