The Magnussen Device doesn't make sense.

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Herr Mike

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Just for the sake of discussion.

So he invents this thing, which we have to assume uses considerable resources, with no clear way to propel it? What's more, it's apparently useless against anything but striders? It doesn't occur to anyone that they might be better served making a modified RPG?

They can't exploit any of the striders weaknesses? Yes they are wicked cool but they are slow, easy targets on spindly legs. Dig pits. Mine the area. Turrets. They've got the tech to build a helicopter, how many would it take? 2? Striders have no defense against an airborne attack.

Instead the fate of the world hinges on launching mines with the gravity gun (only one exists, good thing Gordan showed up!) and instead of even having a proximity fuse or something the mines MUST BE SHOT afterwards!!

Of course, when you're dealing with the combine, you don't have to be smart. Despite beating all of humanity in mere days, they do not grasp the concept of bombing, or missiles, or massed assault.

Joe (Combine soldier, former human): You wanted to see me, Exalted Ones?

Advisor: Yes. We see you humans have large amounts of these big rocket looking things. What are they?

Joe: Uh, rockets.

Advisor: Hmm. These over here are marked as 'nuclear'. Do they explode?

Joe: Uh, affirmative. They would easily wipe out, say, a rebel base. Or a city.

Advisor: Hmm. Dismissed.

Advisor 2: Did you understand anything he said?

Advisor: No, I just heard staticky radio sqwaking.

Advisor 2: We should have asked that Breen guy.

Advisor: Oh well. We'll just load them up with headcrabs like the others.​
 
They're still in development, Magnusson said he was looking at ways to launch them. And it's Gordon.
 
Well, whoever greenlit the project needs his brains sucked out by an alien worm.
 
Magnussen's next invention is even better. It's called the "Magnussen Box". Using the gravity gun, you shoot it at the feet of a strider. Then you shoot the strider with five or six rockets, destroying it. It's such a great invention, the strider doesn't even have to be anywhere near it for it to work.
 
You failed at the time you wrote "Magnussen", and that was the second word you wrote.
 
Striders have no defence against an airborne attack? They got a machine-gun. I'm not quite sure what caliber equivalent it would be, but it can elevate quite far up from what I have seen, and it shouldn't be unreasonable to expect it to be equivalent to what the chopper holds, which can tear through armour like butter.

And they repaired a helicopter. They didn't build it out of spare parts. It would have been useless in the battle too, since it didn't have any weapons attached.

Digging pits only works if they have a chokepoint, time, and the necessary man-power. I suppose they could have mined the perimeter, true, though they might not have had the explosives to cover all entrance points, and striders are pretty hardened against explosives anyway.

I must admit the Magnusson devices were a bit of a stretch anyway, for what the rebels have in terms of tech level. I'm glad it wasn't perfectly engineered, without a proximity trigger or anything like that, because Magnusson made the effing things while simultaneously working on a effing space rocket.

PS: Building rockets out of spare parts is harder than you think.
 
But they would be helicopters armed with Dogs.

A proximity fuse is WW2 tech. It predates LCD technology by 50 years, and the rebels have lots of nice flat panels.

Who invented the Magic Box of Infinite Rockets? Now that is a good invention.
 
Herr Mike said:
Who invented the Magic Box of Infinite Rockets? Now that is a good invention.
Click to expand...
Well that should be a defining factor in your understanding of Episode 2 being a game and that everything in the universe doesn't have to be exactly true to life. The Magnusson device provides a pretty fun way to approach the finale battle before the rocket launch. The use of the device and the training you get adds a new level to fighting Striders...

IF you wanted to literally take Strider fighting into the real world, why not argue we could tie it's feet together with some kind of steel cable and give it a shove, then kick the shit out of it. Gameplay wise, the MD made it a lot more fun for me rather than shooting the RPG over and over.

Oh and fire off an email to Valve asking them to remove the unlimited ammo crates, if you'd rather sit hiding in a corner from a gunship / strider for 3 hours hoping it will just 'go away' because you ran out of ammo, then you are on your own! I'd rather get on with the game one way or t'other.
 
Who cares, the Device itself is awesome. Strider Busting is bags of fun.

Though if you consider the idea that it's far easier than rockets, and that if they had a multitude of ways of launching it then it would be very, very practical against a battalion of striders.
 
Yes, yes, I know it's a game and I'm not commenting on the enjoyability of the battle, which is very fun and intense. I'm not sure it would have been less fun using rockets, but it is a new angle.

I thought of the cable idea pioneered by Luke Skywalker and Dak (god rest his soul) but it seems unfeasible without a fast moving craft and plenty of open space.

I like the ammo crates. That's why I said it was a great invention!
 
So I shouldn't really be taking you seriously...?

Oh, damn, was going to have a right go at you.
 
Busters can kill any humanoid in one blast, and they badly damage antlion guards and hunters.
 
No, because it won't do anything unless it's armed.
 
Druckles said:
No, because it won't do anything unless it's armed.
Click to expand...

And that doesn't happen unless it's latched onto something. we hear it when we fire the thing. When it hits the strider you hear it whir up, and then you can shoot it. :D
 
The Magnusson devices are ****ing awesome. So is Magnusson. I bet he gets all the chicks! :B

I just wish I could use them on the hunters...
 
Herr Mike said:
But they would be helicopters armed with Dogs.
Click to expand...

Oh, good luck hovering over a strider before it shoots you down.

Herr Mike said:
A proximity fuse is WW2 tech. It predates LCD technology by 50 years, and the rebels have lots of nice flat panels.
Click to expand...

The Magnusson Device has a slight charge-up time that makes adding a proximity fuse to it impractical. There's no point in it detonating before it can actually hurt its target.
 
I like you, Mike, if only because you ripped on Magnusson.

Brilliant weapon, the Middleman Device. On top of not having its own means of propulsion, or being used as a mine, you also have to shoot the thing once it's armed. That's great--until you realize that most rebels don't own a machinegun-resistant hazardous environment suit with built-in zoom for precision targeting. So while you might actually live long enough to plant the device you've still got to blast it...which is made just a wee bit difficult when you have a space-warping pulse cannon going off in your vicinity.
 
My thoughts exactly Herr Mike! When playing the game, I was so frustrated at this gaping plothole for an excruciating gameplay experience!
 
Anyone realise that when the Magnusson Devices explode, they turn into peices of manhacks...


:p Magnusson made an army of explosives from scrap :LOL:
 
...and I applaud his ingenuity, but I too think there could have been some better way of fighting the striders. It was fun, but felt a little odd.

When you think about it, the Strider is very efficient at what it does: using mines would be iffy, since it only touches the ground in three not-too large points, and if it does step on a mine, it's body and weapons are all the way up there. It's got an automatic anti-personnel weapon and the closest thing to a Portable Death Star™. It's a pretty small target, too, compared to a tank or chopper. All in all, a formidable opponent.
 
You can't particularly dig pits and have mines against the striders. They're tripods, so they could easily avoid them, and they're sentient, so they're not going to absently mindedly walk into them. Even if they were covered, it'd hardly be that big a loss, they just walk out again.

Mines wouldn't particularly work. Sure, they're spindily legs, but that makes them strong. Because they're so thin, there's little to actually have to armour. I doubt you could snap a Strider's legs quite easily.

As for anti-air, they have as much anti air as they do anti-troops. They could either get some air-borne troops on "yo-ass", or the strider could just point up and hammer away at them.
 
DoctorWeeTodd said:
My thoughts exactly Herr Mike! When playing the game, I was so frustrated at this gaping plothole for an excruciating gameplay experience!
Click to expand...

Well, I actually liked the fight, and perhaps it did make it more interesting than just blasting them with rockets. It was just something to talk about, really. :naughty:
 
Que-Ever said:
erm, yeah, there are an infinite number of ways to check the spelling of the name.

stfu.
Click to expand...

for crissakes people. MAGNUSSON. MAGNUSSON. MAGNUSSON. Mods, please change the thread the title before some fanboy craps themselves.
 
Druckles said:
You can't particularly dig pits and have mines against the striders. They're tripods, so they could easily avoid them, and they're sentient, so they're not going to absently mindedly walk into them. Even if they were covered, it'd hardly be that big a loss, they just walk out again.

Mines wouldn't particularly work. Sure, they're spindily legs, but that makes them strong. Because they're so thin, there's little to actually have to armour. I doubt you could snap a Strider's legs quite easily.

As for anti-air, they have as much anti air as they do anti-troops. They could either get some air-borne troops on "yo-ass", or the strider could just point up and hammer away at them.
Click to expand...

True, true. Maybe I underestimate them.
 
You know, if you hit the Edit button at the bottom of the post, you can post multiple replies in one :p

And that "+ thing at the bottom of everyone elses post means you can quote multiple peoples posts in the same post :p
 
Magnusson intelligently used the simplest and most popular resource avaible as a launch and trigger system: Gordon Freeman.
 
Herr Mike said:
for crissakes people. MAGNUSSON. MAGNUSSON. MAGNUSSON. Mods, please change the thread the title before some fanboy craps themselves.
Click to expand...

Ha, I don't care anything about you or your spelling. Just that other guy was being a total idiot.
 
The only thing that made me go 'wha...?' about the devices was when Hunters were able to shoot them off the backs of Striders without them exploding. Not fair!
 
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