Combine vs Aliens

[The Monkey]

This might be a really stupid question, but do you ever see combines and aliens fight eachother? The only time I can recall that they do that is in the bugbait-video, and there only beacouse Gordon makes the aliens attack. But I sure hope that they are enemys.

 

[Eejit]

Well I guess combine killed the dead antlion we see at the start of bugbait, and there's a screenshot of them fighting in some kind of prison-like building.

 

[Sprafa]

The new E3'04 presentation also featured more Combine fighting antlions.

 

[RoguePsi]

Yeah, in the crane part of the E3 '04 video, when you're in the buggy you can see some combine fighting with some antlions. They're definately opposing forces.

 

[CrazyHarij]

It's cool to have a short moment of peace with them to defeat a bigger threat.

 

[Brian Damage]

Short moment of peace with who? The Antlions or the Combine?

Antlion guards seem smart to me, y'know. Makes me wonder if they have a queen, and if so, exactly how intelligent she is...

 

[Eejit]

Well they're certainly smart enough not to be fooled by the pheromones anyway. Do they appear in any other videos apart from Bugbait (except for the Source demo video where there's 1 standing still)?

 

[The Monkey]

No, not what I've seen.

 

[Brian Damage]

There was a review which described one actively hunting the player, who had hidden under a large rock...

 

[Willo123]

This might be a really stupid question, but do you ever see combines and aliens fight eachother? The only time I can recall that they do that is in the bugbait-video, and there only beacouse Gordon makes the aliens attack. But I sure hope that they are enemys.

I noticed that two when the E32k4 demo came out. That would be very cool if there were two invading forces in City 17.

 

[wayne white]

im sure we`ll have 3 or 4 diferent factions fighting each other,i also think there is another alien race that valve is keeping secret.

 

[Esquire]

There was a review which described one actively hunting the player, who had hidden under a large rock...

haha, wth. wouldn't the player be flattened by the rock or something.

 

[CreamOfetus]

i have a feeling valve is doing something pretty interesting, with at least 3 or 4 factions... isnt there supposed to be a different group or rebels being led by a different scientist?

 

[Brian Damage]

Nah, Esquire, it was one of those overhang-type things, apparently... He was hiding under something large and rocky, anyway... If I can hunt down the review, I'll post the exact quote...

 

[The Monkey]

i have a feeling valve is doing something pretty interesting, with at least 3 or 4 factions... isnt there supposed to be a different group or rebels being led by a different scientist?

Yeah, and he is doing something that may be dangerus to everyone that lives in City 17.

 

[Brian Damage]

Here you guys go, this is one of the articles by a writer which saw the "Antlion Guard" vid (One of the ones that hasn't been released or, I believe, shown in public.). There's a more detailed description somewhere else, which describes the Guard being distracted by a Combine APC...

http://www.computergaming.com/article2/0,2053,1490695,00.asp

Another time, Gordon took refuge under a rocky outcropping, and a towering ant lion guard sniffed around for him and looked for other avenues of access through the rock pile.

 

[Mechagodzilla]

Hydras will apparently attack combines, and antlions will attack them too.
Since those are the only major new aliens shown so far (other than headcrab variants), it's possible to assume that most fully organic aliens will attack the combine. Still, we don't know for total certainty.

 

[Reaperman]

all aliens attack the combine, they just dont get along...

(combine are not hybrids, combine doesnt mean "combination", it referrs to the wall, eating its way thru the cities like a COMBINE would...)

combine:

 

[Brian Damage]

Well, that's one theory of what "Combine" means... It could be a referance to a Combine Harvester... Though I'm more inclined to think along the lines that it refers to a combination of things of some sort...

 

[PunisherUSA]

out of place in thread:

The other group lead by scientist?
Isn't that Breen and the Combine?

Dangerous to City 17 civilians == fuse with alien to make combine soldiers mebbe?

just a speculation

 

[Brian Damage]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, and said before: The group with the mad scientist is actually Breen and the Combine...

 

[PunisherUSA]

Are those all the theories of who the combine are?

• combined - aliens and people fused together
• Combine Harvester - harvesting people?
• or both!

or am i missing some?

 

[Brian Damage]

Some think they might be cyborgs, a combination of humans and machines. Others think that they are a combined force of alien races, of which the Combine-aligned humans are only a small part...

 

[Reaperman]

i dont guess, i know.... combine are human, combine is a name, not a description... the US marines dont actually live on the sea do they?

 

[PunisherUSA]

Well the name is not a perfect description, they usually do have clear connections.
Army - is 'armed' carries 'arms'
Air Force- doesn't live in the air, but they use planes and missiles which fly
Navy- Naval forces, boats

There are similarities, not word for word description, the Combine soldiers aren't Combine harvesters, but they might be a force which 'harvests' people.

 

[Brian Damage]

My point is, "Combine Harvester" is not the only interpretation for the word "Combine"...

It'd be a rather obscure reference to name a military force after a piece of farm machinery (Which not everybody would have heard of), anyway...

 

[Sprafa]

"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" also has a reference to biomechanoid Combine

 

[Absinthe]

On dictionary.com, one of the definitions for "Combine" is.

"An association of people or groups united for the furtherance of political or commercial interests."

Then again, that seems kind of pointless because it's obvious that the Combine are a united force with specific interests, and so this post is rather useless.

 

[Brian Damage]

Could be an association of alien races...

 

[marcelohl]

also, a combine harvester works through a combination (sorry for the pun) of bio (i.e. the man inside) and mechanical (the machine itself) elements. Now I really went deep didn't I =P

 

[Brian Damage]

Incredibly so...

 

[PunisherUSA]

Actually, the dictionary.com definition is probably all it is.
So combine just means a force with political motives.

Reminds me of one game, forget which, where the two sides fighting are 'The Order' and 'The Federation'. Most generic names ever lol.

Gasp! Maybe there IS no Half life 2! It's all an elaborate plan and we're part of an experiment created by aliens running Valve!!!

 

[CrazyHarij]

Short moment of peace with who? The Antlions or the Combine?

Antlion guards seem smart to me, y'know. Makes me wonder if they have a queen, and if so, exactly how intelligent she is...

The combine.. I don't give a shit about ant lions except they seem fun to kill but it'd be awesome to fight alongside with a couple of combine individuals to defeat a swarm of aliens

 

[Brian Damage]

I dunno if we'll get to do that... Although I can see it happening if it turns out that there is a bigger threat to both sides than each other... Hey, maybe "Opposing Force 2" will be, as some people have theorised, from the perspective of a Combine soldier? You'd fight alongside other Soldiers then... Maybe even alongside a Strider...

 

[eber]

i dont guess, i know.... combine are human, combine is a name, not a description... the US marines dont actually live on the sea do they?

yoyoyoyo man tell'em man that's nice stuff, you got the point man !!!!!!!!!!!
haha aliens thu . . :rolling:

 

[CreamOfetus]

we still dont know what is under those suits... i think we can at least asume they USED to be human.

 

[Eejit]

I dunno if we'll get to do that... Although I can see it happening if it turns out that there is a bigger threat to both sides than each other... Hey, maybe "Opposing Force 2" will be, as some people have theorised, from the perspective of a Combine soldier? You'd fight alongside other Soldiers then... Maybe even alongside a Strider...

I'd prefer to be an antlion or a headcrab or something. Headcrab would be sweet, you could jump on people and zombify them... I hope someone mods it

 

[Brian Damage]

Damn, being a zombie would be cool*... Imagine starting as a headcrab, then going through the mawman phase, and becoming a gonome and gaining speed, strength, and a long ranged weapon...

Oh, and I still feel that the part of the Combine we're not seeing in the previews is alien. Because one of the guys from VALVe referred to them as the "Alien Combine" in a voiceover... I just don't think the footsoldiers are...


*In the game, I mean.

 

[PunisherUSA]

Damage, are you telling me you wouldn't want to be a zombie in real life?

For that, I will stick a headcrab on my head and come after you as a mawman!

 

[Brian Damage]

Hey, everyone knows that the Gargs get all the chicks...