Why would the combine want to destroy Ravenholm?

[Jangle]

Discuss

 

[CrazyJeepDriver]

Cause its full of rebels and they dont want to waste any troops clearing it out

 

[ríomhaire]

It was the base of the rebelion next to BME.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Because it was a bastion (or 'hotbed', depending on how you look at it) of freedom and hope and anti-Combine sentiment. It could have been an entire 'free town' existing independantly of the Combine, where escapees from City-17 had banded together, or it could have been simply a place in which the rebels had a lot of influence. Either way, the Combine thought it easiest to test their brand-new shiny headcrab cannon on the place. Thinking about it, it's the perfect plan: you get to test out your prototype, you don't sacrifice any troops, it's quick, easy, very efficient, puts a zombie hive right on the Rebels' backdoor and is a very nasty, demoralising tactic - somewhat like the gas used in WW1. Having an entire town turned into zombies must have had an awful effect on Resistance morale.

 

[Puzzlemaker]

Because it was a bastion (or 'hotbed', depending on how you look at it) of freedom and hope and anti-Combine sentiment. It could have been an entire 'free town' existing independantly of the Combine, where escapees from City-17 had banded together, or it could have been simply a place in which the rebels had a lot of influence. Either way, the Combine thought it easiest to test their brand-new shiny headcrab cannon on the place. Thinking about it, it's the perfect plan: you get to test out your prototype, you don't sacrifice any troops, it's quick, easy, very efficient, puts a zombie hive right on the Rebels' backdoor and is a very nasty, demoralising tactic - somewhat like the gas used in WW1. Having an entire town turned into zombies must have had an awful effect on Resistance morale.

Yar, what he said. Its like a WMD, but worse.

 

[ríomhaire]

Because it was a bastion (or 'hotbed', depending on how you look at it) of freedom and hope and anti-Combine sentiment. It could have been an entire 'free town' existing independantly of the Combine, where escapees from City-17 had banded together, or it could have been simply a place in which the rebels had a lot of influence. Either way, the Combine thought it easiest to test their brand-new shiny headcrab cannon on the place. Thinking about it, it's the perfect plan: you get to test out your prototype, you don't sacrifice any troops, it's quick, easy, very efficient, puts a zombie hive right on the Rebels' backdoor and is a very nasty, demoralising tactic - somewhat like the gas used in WW1. Having an entire town turned into zombies must have had an awful effect on Resistance morale.

I doubt it was Combine controlled before the resistance moved there. There are no chargers or door lock things or anything to suggest a Combine presence.

 

[Puzzlemaker]

I doubt it was Combine controlled before the resistance moved there. There are no chargers or door lock things or anything to suggest a Combine presence.

Good point, I never noticed that!

 

[Apocalypse89]

You do see quite a few propaganda posters though, both pro and anti-Combine. Of course, these could have been placed there before humans were herded into the cities like sheep and the Overwatch infrastructure was completely established.

 

[ríomhaire]

You do see quite a few propaganda posters though, both pro and anti-Combine. Of course, these could have been placed there before humans were herded into the cities like sheep and the Overwatch infrastructure was completely established.

I don't remember seeing any pro-Combine posters in Ravenholm, infact I don't remember any defenatly pro-Combine posters anywhere in the game. They're mentioned and shown in RTB but they said that they were taken out.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

I don't remember seeing any pro-Combine posters in Ravenholm, infact I don't remember any defenatly pro-Combine posters anywhere in the game. They're mentioned and shown in RTB but they said that they were taken out.

Trainstation? Outside trainstation? On the way into Dr Kleiner's lab are the ones that spring instantly to mind.
Regarding no door locks and charger, without an HEV suit there's no reason to keep them there and I'm sure both them and door locks can be pried off. Of course it is possible Ravenholm was deserted and the resistance moved in their and tried to keep it secret from the combine. Looks like they didn't do it well enough.

 

[MTG_Maro]

To get rid of the rebels and I would guess to test the rockets full of head crabs.

 

[Sulkdodds]

It's actually Hiroshima pretty much isn't it?

 

[ríomhaire]

Trainstation? Outside trainstation? On the way into Dr Kleiner's lab are the ones that spring instantly to mind.

Oh yeah. The yellow ones of Dr. Breen. Do you have pics of the others?

 

[Sulkdodds]

Maybe they were actually anti-combine posters implying something. Like 'Breen is covered in wee-wee'.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

 

[ríomhaire]

Good old Combine, using writting that no humans can read.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Good old Combine, using writting that no humans can read.

Yeah, well wild guesses would include: "It's safer here!" "Co-operation means less beatings." "Please drink the water" and "In combine-land, propaganda reads you!"

 

[15357]

Actually, they all say "CHb"

My guess: "Combine-Human *something*"

 

[HyperionCC]

Actually, they all say "CHb"

My guess: "Combine-Human *something*"

And how do you know what they say??

 

[Sulkdodds]

No matter which one of your puny earth languages it's written in, Numbers speaks fluent Propaganda.

They could also be interpreted as human letters in a futuristic font.

 

[Que-Ever]

to that one guy a while back...
if they didn't want to waste troops clearing out the city, and sent crabs instead, why would they then send guys in to retrieve the locks and such? They would probably need mechanics and troops to safely deal with all the zombies there. Well, actually, the whole argument hinges on the inefficent-ness of shelling...

 

[Sulkdodds]

Ah, but they didn't give a shit about Ravenholm. It wasn't one of their places and they didn't need to deal with the zombies there - in fact, it would be quite the opposite of what they wanted. The Combine aimed to make the area of Ravenholm completely uninhabitable.

 

[Jangle]

Sulkdodds is teh win.

 

[Que-Ever]

so, ravenholme= a city the combine didn't bother with in the first place, but then found out that there was a rebel BOA in the area, so shelled the city that was there, and forgot about it. Yes! smartness.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

so, ravenholme= a city the combine didn't bother with in the first place, but then found out that there was a rebel BOA in the area, so shelled the city that was there, and forgot about it. Yes! smartness.

Why would they bother to do anything with a shelled out city? Everyone there was dead or zombies, no combine had been lost but a bucketload of rebels had. Infected town= Rebels cannot use it anymore, for the combine it's win/win as it is now, why do anything?

 

[MTG_Maro]

They were very oblivious when it came to the zombies getting out. Didnt expect or plan ahead.

 

[RandomX]

They were very oblivious when it came to the zombies getting out. Didnt expect or plan ahead.

Not planning ahead, just shows some human nature in the Combine. Sometimes I think people over-analyze things in the game, but this might have been done to show that the Combine do have the ability to think as humans do, and to miss things. They aren't as efficient as many would have thought.

 

[MTG_Maro]

I still think that they shouldve at least had an idea of what mite happen.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

I still think that they shouldve at least had an idea of what mite happen.

Well it's not like they escaped into the city or into Nova Prospekt or the citadel, they escaped into the wasteland where... guess what? More rebels were hiding!

 

[Chrysalid]

Well, luckily for Combine, they don't have to worry about civilian casualties. What would you do if your commander gave you an assignment of clearing a village of guerillas? Half of your men could be dead before you'd reached the other side of the village, so it would be a better idea to bombard the village with bioweapons ( Headcrab Shells \o/ ) and let them, eh, handle the problem.

 

[UltimaApocalypse]

I think the headcrab shells are also used as a method of scaring people.

 

[cquinn]

I think the combine didn't really know about Black Mesa East. They thought that the rebel stronghold downriver from City 17 was Ravenholm itself.
(instead, it had been the emergency exit from BME, and a good cover location to hide the real research facility/rebel base).

Crab shelling the town would then serve two purposes:
It would effectively destroy a rebel base without having to re-allocate City 17 resources.
It would leave a clear sign of the combine's power to other rebels and
escapees, as well as being a trap for anyone who arrived in Ravenholm not
realizing that the town had been converted into no mans land.

 

[UltimaApocalypse]

I think the combine didn't really know about Black Mesa East. They thought that the rebel stronghold downriver from City 17 was Ravenholm itself.
(instead, it had been the emergency exit from BME, and a good cover location to hide the real research facility/rebel base).

No they knew about Black Mesa East. In Nova Prospekt you can hear Breen adressing the Combine soldiers and he says: "The capture of Eli Vance is an event of major significance, make no mistake. And while it's true that, conceivably, we could have taken him at almost any time in the last several years, the manner of his capture may have proved to have unexpected benefits.":cheers:

 

[Asknoone]

"The capture of Eli Vance is an event of major significance, make no mistake. And while it's true that, conceivably, we could have taken him at almost any time in the last several years, the manner of his capture may have proved to have unexpected benefits.":cheers:

He was referring to the fact that he could have given Mossman the signal, but he wanted her and Eli to develop the portal technology first. I don't believe he had any idea where it was, really.

 

[Jintor]

Well... Mossman could've told him.

They did raid when they wanted to, after all.

And they were guarding the exit out of Ravenholm.

 

[Asknoone]

Well... Mossman could've told him.

They did raid when they wanted to, after all.

And they were guarding the exit out of Ravenholm.

I'm not entirely sure she had that much contact with Breen, to be honest.
They did the raid when Freeman led them to it.
And, they were guarding the Ravenholm exit because they didn't want the railroad riddled with zombies from the infested town.

 

[Jintor]

I'm going to have to replay the game, i wasn't taking too much notice the first time around...

 

[Borgslayer]

Mabe because the town refused to be controlled by the combine.