What exactly are synths?

[GTGear]

Hi, this is my first post here and I was wondering exactly what synths were. Are they living creatures that have been modified with jet engines and guns to make them more powerful? sort of like a cyborg? Or are they robots?

 

[TheGMan.]

Wikipedia,

"Combine Synth

Synths were self-replicating, robot-like creatures that The Combine previously enslaved and altered. The Combine has brought some of them to Earth."

 

[Mechagodzilla]

They're mystery aliens that the combine have modified so much that they basically count as machines.

They're like cyborgs, but there really isn't a clear line where the living parts end and the mechanical parts begin.

 

[Flyingdebris]

i'd have to say they are like biological insectoid robots

 

[UltimaApocalypse]

Synths are your friendly neighborhood giant alien juggarnauts.

 

[Adabiviak]

The Gunships (synths, no?) didn't seem too self-replicating while the Stalkers were assembling them. I think they are the fruits of the Combine victories - among the resources they get are also better/more weapons. I think the synths are based on critters from other worlds, but are entirely manufactured. Even the biological parts are, I think, grown/developed/whatever by the Combine, as opposed to being harvested from the 'wild', and then integrated with the metallic/robotic/cybernetic parts.

 

[Mechagodzilla]

The stalker thing was a repair bay.

RTB calls them animals that the combine forced to evolve into robots. It does say they self-replicate too, although not how they go about doing that.

 

[Sam]

I'd assume self-replication for them would be making babies

 

[Rizzo]

But did they mention if they can be manufactured? or do they transpoert them from diffrent dimension?

 

[Eejit]

/Crap cut.

 

[Asknoone]

Eejit, quit being an idiot. Its been happening alot lately.

 

[halflifeguy]

welcome to the forums
my guess is that if they're machine or at least part machine then they can be manufactured

 

[highlander]

they are from combine victories of other planets , yes they do self replicate, they were forced become robots? ? were did u here that in RtB? or somthing?

 

[GTGear]

Ok, Thanks for clearing that up. What confused me was I saw that gunship in the citadel and i thought it was being assembled. I didnt realize it was a repair bay.

 

[Adabiviak]

The stalker thing was a repair bay.

RTB calls them animals that the combine forced to evolve into robots. It does say they self-replicate too, although not how they go about doing that.

I digress!

 

[XANA]

i heard that synths were once purely organic creatures that were captured by the combine and put into a course of imposed evolution to fit a particular niche in the combine army. wait i have an attachement. here ya go! holy god! i took two whole minutes readjusting the size of the file to fit the limit! the real one is much bigger.

edit: uhh... samon, i dont have the book. i never scanned it or anything. sorry about that. i just got the pic from someone. i feel like such a blonde right now.

---Snipped----

Don't post scans - Samon.

 

[wickedWiTcHking]

I have a question which fits into this thread... (Sry for my poor english)

Whats the reason that Striders, Synths, Chopper look all somehow the same? All the skins have this fawn color, all of them a quite similiar organic look....

The reason why it is strange to me:
The idea behind combine tecnology is to invade billions of worlds and "assimilate" the most powerful lifeform from each world.

The most successful ones, will be used not only on their homeworld but on all the worlds which the combine wants to conquer next time......


Yes, it could be possible that all three "vehicles" came from the same planet. But when you think that there were billions of world which had been conquered this is very unlikely.
But when they are from different worlds they should have IMO complete different looks....
(The human-Combine forces for exemple HAVE a different look)

Eamples: Striders are huge spiders whith a crystal-like skin, Dropships looks like creatures out of magma.....strange ideas but I hope you´ll get the point....

 

[Eejit]

Yeah, they're probably related in some way. Either that or the Combine modified them for standardised appearance.

Personally I think the different synths are from the same world too.

 

[Sam]

The synths must've proved the most effective of all the races the combine have conquered, so they went into 'mass production'.

 

[<RJMC>]

does anyone hav thought synths mean "synthetics"?

well sure but imo since the synths hav very similiar organics and mechanics things them sure they are organics and mechanics and since combine means combination maybe every synth is result of a combination of creatures?

or maybe they are the combine race,cuz in the part where breen talk to that big wiener like thing that looked like a comander the color looks similiar to the color of the skin of the synths

 

[wickedWiTcHking]

I have a new Idea why all the Synths have the same "skin"....

I think all of them ARE completly different species - the reason why all of them have this fawn skin is that it is a very effective one....

Originally there was only one species with this skin.....maybe this species was in generally not very effective except its skin....maybe it is super-light, flexible AND an super-effective armor, whatever.....

So the Combine "assimilated" the DNS Code for this skin and used it since then for all their elite vehicles.....


(The reason why all the human/combine forces dont have this skin is that they have still not proved to be worth the usage outside earth... *)

*My theory is that there are 2 types of combine forces:

-Local Forces
-Interplanetary forces

Local forces are less modified and ONLY used for battles on the planet they came from. When the war is over most of them get destroyed because there is no use for them anymore....

BUT sometimes, new forces proved to be very effective - even on large scale - even in comparison with all the other, formerly assimilated creatures from other worlds. When this is the case, the combine decides that this creature is useful addition it becomes part of the Interplanetary forces....

Then they get more modifications (like the fawn skin...)

Who knows? Maybe the human/combine forces proved to be worth the efford so when the combine will attack another worlds in future, there will be a human force with fawn colored armor/skin.... (but I dont think so as I think that they arent very effective...)

 

[ríomhaire]

I think Synth is supposed to be a synthisis of life and machines.

 

[Langolier]

The soldiers are used on other worlds though. "Mission Failure will result in permenant off-world assignment."

 

[ríomhaire]

Don't citizens get that warning to for not cooperating?

 

[UltimaApocalypse]

"Attention, Lack of cooperation will result in permanent off world assignments"

Something like that.

 

[XANA]

maybe "off-world" means death. its a possibility, right? RIGHT? after all, if you can disguie death with some other word, maybe soldiers won't revolt.

 

[Eejit]

I doubt the soldiers could revolt with the modifications that are made to them, but "off-world" could indeed be a euphemism when used to threaten other citizens.
With the troops I do think it's meant literally.

 

[Langolier]

Don't citizens get that warning to for not cooperating?

I do believe audo exists for such a warning however I have never heard it in the actual game. I think it's listed under "Train station" in SourceSounds.cfg or some such. I think Raising the Bar states that citizens work in factories, right? If that still holds true then maybe they ship some people to other worlds to work there under even less-desirable conditions.

 

[Sulkdodds]

I believe 'synth' refers to them being...well, living organisms built out of artificial parts - somewhat like how in Alien the robots are full of white 'blood' and their inards look strangely organic. I think the Synth are entirely artificial animals - hence the wierd blurring of the boundary between life and machine.

Or perhaps the other way round - perhaps they're basically robots built out of organic materials. The same principle as robotic war machines, but with nerves for wiring, super-concentrated muscle-fibres and things like machine-guns integrated to such an extent they're practically indistinguishable from the animal.

 

[Jintor]

Synthetic, yes? Entirely artificial, rather than a combination, I feel. I like Sulkdodds's second option.

 

[XANA]

i have a quote from a RtB page that i posted, but it was, sadly, snipped out. ill quote it: "The Synths, self-replicating robots that evolve, were created or taken over by the Combine and enslaved through their conquests and wars.
'When approaching the task of designing the Combine's larger creatures, it was necessary to keep in mind that these were possibly once organic creatures that the Combine had enslaved and converted during previous invasions. Therefore we tried to incorperate into the designs that they were neither strictly organic or purely mechanical. We didn't want to have giant alien creatures with armor attatched or implants added, but instead tried to treat it as a forceful evolution of the characters imposed on them by the Combine rather than nature. In the end, the designs intentionally blurred the line between machine and animal, in their appearance and more importantly their motion and how they reacted to the world around them.' -Dhabih Eng"
if someone needs the scan, send me a message and ill THINK about sending it to you, but only a few will get it if they ask, 'k?

EDIT: hey, you! moderator! i have a question. can i send links to a scan?

 

[Asknoone]

I really can't restrict what you send each other via PM.

 

[XANA]

no, what i'm asking is if im able to post links that direct people to the scan.

 

[Asknoone]

No, you can't.

 

[XANA]

aww darn...