Theories on the combine leadership

Saruke

Saruke

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Stop me if someone has already talked about this but I've been thinking about the combine advisors.

Dosen't just the name advisor seem to indicate that they are not the central leading authority in the combine hierarchy? And it seems to me that if they were really the leaders of the combine why would there be so many of them on only one planet in a empire that must span thousands of worlds?

I'd love to hear your insights and answers on this conundrum.
 
The same reason Breen was cast as the head of the Earth administration, to present the facade of even the basics of sovereignty of the human race.

Advisor is the irony in that not heeding their advice = a quick death. :p
 
It seems to me like the Advisors are leaders to some extent, but a higher form of leadership ultimately tells the Advisors what to do.
 
There's so many Advisors on the worlds they conquer because they can't communicate with the other worlds easily.

They had to blow up the Citadel to send a message to their Homeworld, right?


The advisors in the City 17 Citadel might have been part of a council of some sort, where all the Advisors talk to each other about what should be done next, then one of them contacts Breen and tells him what to do.
 
Just another step up in the combine hierarchy. They were "advising" Breen, so the must be some sort of Overlords or go-betweens for the Combine high command. I'm wondering then,if the next step up from them is the level where the interspacial ot temporal war is between G-man and Combine high commander. It appears that Dogg will be dealing with Advisors rather easily, almost like a secret weapon.
 
fido139 said:
It appears that Dogg will be dealing with Advisors rather easily, almost like a secret weapon.
Click to expand...


It's because he's a robot; thusly he is immune to what ever mind trip the Advisors use on people. Why the Combine haven't used something as rudimentary as an EMP pulse to disable him, I haven't the foggiest.
 
Well, considering the resistance as a whole, Dog is a small part of it. It would be kinda pointless to develop/make a emp pulse to take out a very small asset of the resistance, although he is a very close friend to alyx, in truth, dog is not that huge part of everything
 
But an EMP would be so beneath the tech level of the Combine, I don't see why they don't just equip soldiers with it.

Also, you see how much carnage Dog causes throughout the battle in City 17 during HL2. Not to mention the destruction you don't see while you're crawling around.

It just seems dumb to me that such a powerful race keeps getting foiled by something that looks straight out of MST3K.
 
Who says Dog isn't shielded against EMP?

*looks at exposed wiring*

Ah.
 
ok to put an end to this now, its is shown that advisors can manipulate inanimate obejects because when you first meet the advisor and injure it, it flies away in a cloud of debris. Which means that their powers do have some effect on non living beings.

so I prononce this thread back on track!
 
Okay, one thing: are we discussing advisors as a species or a rank? I for one think that the species of the advisors may very likely be the original one behind the Combine (dependance on technology, de-evolution etc.), but it's also probable that not every single individual gets to be an overlord. These "advisors" would therefore be a lower rank of the species, posted on Earth to administrate the planet, while the more evil, fatter slugs can have the leadership of the empire for themselves.
 
Don't forget the Cremators, obviously an even lower "rank". I wonder if there's a "one leader". No doubt he'd need to be destroyed in a future Half-Life game...
 
I think the Advisors are just the next level up in the Combine hierachy: higher than the Soldiers or Breen or anyone else on Earth. They're the go-betweens. I think however that I read somewhere or other in an interview with someone at Valve that the Advisors are the original Combine race? So presumably the leaders of the Combine are flying slugs too, but with more authority.

Hamsocks said:
It's because he's a robot; thusly he is immune to what ever mind trip the Advisors use on people. Why the Combine haven't used something as rudimentary as an EMP pulse to disable him, I haven't the foggiest.
Click to expand...

Even though he's inorganic he's not immune to being picked up and damaged by whatever powers they have, remember the oil drum when you encounter the first advisor? Picked it up and crushed it like an empty soda can.

I think that it was caught by surprise by Dog who injured it and it simply fled, just like it did on the first encounter when that one was injured too. They seem pretty cowardly: caught off guard they don't seem to want to hang around and fight it out, they just panicked and fled.
 
Druckles said:
Don't forget the Cremators, obviously an even lower "rank". I wonder if there's a "one leader". No doubt he'd need to be destroyed in a future Half-Life game...
Click to expand...
Cremators were street cleaners, very low rank, indeed.
 
The_Great_Walter said:
Do they even actually exist?

As far as I know they were just an unused concept
Click to expand...

120px-HalfLife2_CrematorHead.jpg
 
Heh. Couldn't have been put better. There was a reason they weren't put into the game in the end, but the head indicates they do exist. They'll no doubt be placed in a future game somewhere, similar to the "crab" synths.

They weren't going to be just street cleaners, however, they could also attack you with their acidness. Again, something vaguely resembling bullsquids. Hmm... what's with Valve's obsession with acid shooting things...?
 
That nifty new particle system should make liquid spewing aliens much more viable.

Notice how HL2 had no spitters? I think they cut them all out because they all looked terrible in the old engine.
 
I hope we see Bullsquids in Ep3, as we had those Acid Antlion Workers in Ep2.

Because I love those enemies that kinda throw some stuff at you, like Zombie Gonomes in Opposing Force and such.

We need more aliens, not synths, soldiers and headcrabs just there.
 
Could it be that in the final scene of Ep 2, the advisors were the ones who distracted Dog into running off like he did? They may not have anticipated his sudden return.

If that's not the case, why did Dog run off like that anyway?
 
Bill Lumbergh said:
If that's not the case, why did Dog run off like that anyway?
Click to expand...

Probably because he sensed something was off.
His design is based off a Dog. He probably has sensors built in to assist his 'masters' with attributes they don't have.
Something that alerts him to weird smells or sounds or maybe he has X-ray eyes. I don't know. He's a but of a mystery himself. But remember when he knew Alex was in the Citadel in HL2. How'd he know that? Could be her mini EMP device has a GPS. Could be there's more to Dog then meets the eye.
 
ZachAttack said:
Probably because he sensed something was off.
His design is based off a Dog. He probably has sensors built in to assist his 'masters' with attributes they don't have.
Something that alerts him to weird smells or sounds or maybe he has X-ray eyes. I don't know. He's a but of a mystery himself. But remember when he knew Alex was in the Citadel in HL2. How'd he know that? Could be her mini EMP device has a GPS. Could be there's more to Dog then meets the eye.
Click to expand...

Deus Ex Machina.
 
The word 'Advisor' in a governmental role usually does NOT denote the ruling party, but rather a supplementary appointed role - such as 'military advisor', for instance.
 
We really don't know in what context the Combine use it, though. It's fair say the Shu'ulathoi are the original Combine race, and are the Combine Governors of some sort.
 
Hamsocks said:
But an EMP would be so beneath the tech level of the Combine, I don't see why they don't just equip soldiers with it.

Also, you see how much carnage Dog causes throughout the battle in City 17 during HL2. Not to mention the destruction you don't see while you're crawling around.

It just seems dumb to me that such a powerful race keeps getting foiled by something that looks straight out of MST3K.
Click to expand...

would it not put their own guns out of action? And isn't damage from an EMP usually temporary? Well not like that, but I mean I can see DOG being reactivated after an EMP pulse if there was a talented engineer nearby..

so the way I see it is
emp=DOG out of action temporarily, combine weapons out of action temporarily
DOG is helpless, but without their weapons (hell, even WITH their weapons) the combine can't really do much to him.. they would need something bio-organic, like a strider, though I can see an EMP hitting it pretty hard because it probably still relies on electronics in an important way, despite the organics.

also, Shu'ulathoi? and where can I see original pics/videos of these cremators?
 
I can't help but think of the "Cthulhu" whenever I hear that. I wonder if there's a connection there.
 
Samon said:
Shu'ulathoi is the name of the Advisors.
Click to expand...

Actually I just played the part where the Vort talks about that.
He states "Shu'ulathoi, advisors STILL in incubation".

This could be the name for yet hatched Advisors. Who knows...
 
ZachAttack said:
Actually I just played the part where the Vort talks about that.
He states "Shu'ulathoi, advisors STILL in incubation".

This could be the name for yet hatched Advisors. Who knows...
Click to expand...

Ah, got ya.
 
Gordon-Shepherd said:
would it not put their own guns out of action? And isn't damage from an EMP usually temporary? Well not like that, but I mean I can see DOG being reactivated after an EMP pulse if there was a talented engineer nearby..

so the way I see it is
emp=DOG out of action temporarily, combine weapons out of action temporarily
DOG is helpless, but without their weapons (hell, even WITH their weapons) the combine can't really do much to him.. they would need something bio-organic, like a strider, though I can see an EMP hitting it pretty hard because it probably still relies on electronics in an important way, despite the organics.

also, Shu'ulathoi? and where can I see original pics/videos of these cremators?
Click to expand...

EMP is overrated. Most military computers are hardened against EMP anyway.
 
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