wtf happened on Highway 17?

[Planeteer]

Hi! I was just wondering about those all car junks in Highway 17. What might happen there and when? I mean why there is so many cars just in the middle of highway and no bones or anything like that. They all run out of gas in same place same time?
When this might happen? After Portal Storms or Combine invasion? Maybe there was a mass escape or someone gathered junks to make blockades...? Does anyone have any theories?

 

[Asknoone]

Highway 17 is part of the wasteland, the rest of the Earth is the same. It has very little human presence and is inhabited by nothing more than aliens, and thats pretty much like the rest of the Earth. The cars are there because I assume during the portal storms people simply got out and abandoned them, or others put there foot down and crashed.

But its worth noting that quite a few cars were also resistance driven, and as you can see alot of those have also steered of the road.

 

[Rizzo]

Maybe stirders vaiperised the drivers.

That could happen.

 

[kupocake]

Some of the cars look pretty burnt out to me. Guess the drivers blew away in the end. They could have been attacked or involved in pile ups caused by the appearance of aliens. Some probably abandoned their cars when rollermines got attached, others may have been captured / gunned-down by combine persuers. Some of the older cars may have broken down, and have gotten stripped bare for their working parts for the few private vehicles that exist now.

No-one is clearing out these roads anymore (even the resistance which doubtlessly wants to keep as much of low profile as possible), especially the bit you're on in HL2, which leads to lighthouse and few other places. It wouldn't have been a major area even before the storms. There is no AA. There is no Highway's Agency. Owning and running a working car is pretty hard in troubled times, I mean, car ownership is used as an indication of the wealth of a given country even now.

 

[Asknoone]

Maybe stirders vaiperised the drivers.

That could happen.

Very doubtful. The drivers obviously aren't there because they have either fled, or their corpses have been eaten by the alien wildlife. I doubt any wasteland area would render the use for Striders, because there is simply no use going on a kill all aliens spree when the portal storms don't bother stopping.

 

[Rizzo]

Yeah... But the Striders could have just walked there for scouting? Or pursuite?

 

[Asknoone]

I'm unsure...I doubt it. Though, I thinks its worth noting that Striders aren't machine, and whilst Biomechanical, they may get out of breath
Despite the fact that Dropships could probably drop them off...

 

[Rizzo]

Yeah well dropships are the same... Maybe they get tired too

 

[highlander]

maybe they all hungover and were had headaches and the rebels dyed of aids and stds?

 

[UltimaApocalypse]

maybe they all hungover and were had headaches and the rebels dyed of aids and stds?

Oh god...must not laugh.


Ah that wasn't very hard.

 

[Rizzo]

maybe they all hungover and were had headaches and the rebels dyed of aids and stds?

Why???

 

[CrazyJeepDriver]

Most cars were probably abandoned in the confusion of the portal storms and Invasion, however you can see that there are a few cars still in use.
Past the bridge which you have to turbo over, and fight a gunship afterwards, there is a truck that smashed through the sea barrier, and underneath is a dead Combine Soldier, obviously run over. Seeing as the Combine Soldiers only came into existance after the invasion was complete, we can see that cars were still being used after the invasion.
However, as the Combine grip on earth tightened, and repairs and fuel for cars became harder and harder to find, I suppose it would have been better and safer storing the cars and fuel for emergencies, and going on foot for most missions. Plus, its been 10 years since the invasion, most of the cars would have rusted up from the sea air.
However, I would not be surprised if we see other rebel cars driving around City 17 in Aftermath.

 

[Rizzo]

Well i dont think well see alot. Thinking that hiding the cars inside city 17 must be difficult.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

In post-apocalyptic nightmares, car wrecks always migrate to lonely roads outside major cities.

 

[ríomhaire]

There's cars doted around the city during AC1 and FF, surely the Combine would have cleared them up before? The rebels were probably using them.

 

[Lightice]

There's cars doted around the city during AC1 and FF, surely the Combine would have cleared them up before?

Why? As long as they're not in their way, why should they care? Aesthetics is not their strong point and they don't need roads.

 

[dys4iK]

http://www.hlcomic.com/index.php?date=2006-01-30

That explains it all. Really.

 

[kupocake]

That explains it all. Really.

No it doesn't, but who needs a valid reason for posting Concerned in a thread. No-one does!

/me declares open season on Concerned comics.

 

[Rizzo]

Concerned is funny as hell.

 

[ríomhaire]

Why? As long as they're not in their way, why should they care? Aesthetics is not their strong point and they don't need roads.

In Point Insertion everything seems neet and clean. The Combine seemed to run everything smoothly. Leaving big cars in the middle of a road clashes with that idea (as Anti-Citizen One and Follow Freeman were supposed to clash with Point Insertion). Plus, striders might trip over them.
Edit: The rebels were probably using them. The supression cannon fires at a car when you come near. Perhaps making sure it's unusable or that the driver is dead.

 

[Roman Legion]

Highway 17 is part of the wasteland, the rest of the Earth is the same. It has very little human presence and is inhabited by nothing more than aliens, and thats pretty much like the rest of the Earth. The cars are there because I assume during the portal storms people simply got out and abandoned them, or others put there foot down and crashed.

But its worth noting that quite a few cars were also resistance driven, and as you can see alot of those have also steered of the road.

So most of Earth’s Cities are in ruins!?

 

[99.vikram]

So most of Earth’s Cities are in ruins!?

Pretty much. Highway 17 represents rural areas and Ravenholm represents small cities. Only major metropolitan places were converted to Combine 'cities'.

 

[Adabiviak]

Perhaps the Combine had a roadblock set up there. As people flee, they get cornered, then hammered by the gunship. I just finished reading The Stand - there's a scene in a tunnel and I thought of this.

Although really, there are only a handful of vehicles, and the mess is around a corner. Maybe one person got nailed there, and everyone else who came around the corner had to stop/slow down long enough to be an easy shot for a gunship? Then they'd pile up.

 

[Asknoone]

So most of Earth’s Cities are in ruins!?

Earth is ruins. Wasteland. Inhabited by Xen aliens. It's just a desolate rock bar a few Combine cities.

 

[99.vikram]

Earth is ruins. Wasteland. Inhabited by Xen aliens. It's just a desolate rock bar a few Combine cities.

Don't the Vortigaunts say something like "We make our stand beside you, here on this miserable rock"? Laughed pretty hard first time I heard it.

 

[wolven_rage]

The wasteland is pretty desolate place to live but if you decided to do that you run major risks like being attacked by Xen aliens as well as being attacked by combine soldiers who make sweeps through those areas ocasionally, but if you really wanted to be out from under the combines iron heel it's one of the few options availble to people.

 

[Asknoone]

Wolven_rage, reduce your signature, because it's silly.

 

[gravity gun]

i thinck your right xen aliens are some of the baddest ive ever seen and i garentee raven holm tried to put up a fight wich is why east mesa conects there and why so many weapons litter the streets but i also thinck the combine didnt want to have the xen bugs here the just kinda flooded uncontrollibly throu

 

[wolven_rage]

Ok, i took some screenshots from Highway 17 right before the fuel station, there is definite signs that people fleeing were killed in some manner:




Maybe this answers some questions but i think it brings up some new questions as well.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

Ok, i took some screenshots from Highway 17 right before the fuel station, there is definite signs that people fleeing were killed in some manner:




Maybe this answers some questions but i think it brings up some new questions as well.

In the second image, it apears the dumb**** flipped his/her car and smeared his/her face across the street.

 

[UltimaApocalypse]

Ok, i took some screenshots from Highway 17 right before the fuel station, there is definite signs that people fleeing were killed in some manner:




Maybe this answers some questions but i think it brings up some new questions as well.

I think these people were running their day normally, when suddenly a Strider popped out of nowhere and started overturning cars/shooting everyone it sees. Evidence to show that is how the tanker in picture one seems to be heading towards the city, having idea what has just happened.

 

[DESSTROYER]

In the second image, it apears the dumb**** flipped his/her car and smeared his/her face across the street.

rofl, i was thinking the same thing, but from the looks of it, it looks like that it flipped over and there was a sunroof there or something where they would fall out, which there isnt.

 

[99.vikram]

Maybe he was trying to jump out the window when something flipped the car over?

Or he said, lemme redecorate the road with blood...

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

Maybe a dude just got run the **** over by some drunken moron a while BEFORE the invasion, and his corpse slid across the road, off the road, and into the ocean.

 

[bbson john]

Antlion ate it, certainly. Since the blood stain is in the road, not just only in the driver seat.

 

[highlander]

i'm telling you stds and aids...

 

[bbson john]

WTF

 

[Asknoone]

Obviously a refugee has gone and driven it into the soldier.

 

[drunkymonkey]

I don't think Highway 17 is as bad as the rest of the world (there's still Combine outposts there, I wonder if there are in the desert regions and in the mountains), but it certainly seems to be a battle that the Combine have lots of trouble winning (with the rebels and the antlions).

 

[bbson john]

I finally make it out why the car crush together. The gas stations (you come across one in the game) are firstly occupied by the combine. Since the combine cut off the supply of gas, the drivers have nothing to do but to abandon their car. (I have noticed that the cars get seriously squeezed and compressed, any theory?)