Combine -- why do they want us?

The oceans are been drained, you can see this by all the beached ships in Highway 17, plus the fact that the piers don't actually go out into the water. There were two story ideas by Valve for why this is happening.
1: The Combine are draining them (HL2, at one point in its developement, also had the Combine taking the very air and replacing it with something toxic in the "Air Exchange" facility.
2: A super-portal in the middle of the oceans leading to Xen, where all the water is going.

Neither idea is actually stated or even hinted at in game, but the oceans are definitly receeding.
 
I don't think that they would even need many workers for their manufacturing plants.. it is probobly all automated and manned by only a few stalkers(as seen in Ep.1) .. also, our water would also be strategically important, as it can be used as a cooling agent, and if they can take out the salt it could be purified and used for their many water-drinking armies. Except the ones that don't drink water. I'm sure there are some. And evolution takes place over several generations, if not aided by technology. Say, if over a few thousand years, a tribe of people settled down near the oceanside and swam for 12 hours a day, they would become more proficient at swimming. Forced evolution(Read: Tech) is unnatural and isn't as good as gradual, but is more useful in the short term.
 
I don't think Air-Exchange was cannon since they took it out. Could be wrong though.
 
Sky didn't look that odd I don't think...it's been a while since I looked though.
 
One of the buildings you were to stop at an earlier version of the story line, between between C17 and the Air Ex, is still a sky box building on the coast, I can't remember where, think it is at the bridge.
 
Tuskin said:
One of the buildings you were to stop at an earlier version of the story line, between between C17 and the Air Ex, is still a sky box building on the coast, I can't remember where, think it is at the bridge.
Click to expand...

wrf? Rephrase that
 
He thinks that on the bridge part (assuming the one you turn the forcefield off at) you can see the AX on the skybox.
 
Samon said:
I doubt they were going to Xen.
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I'm pretty sure I read something about a super-portal in the ocean leading to Xen. Not intentionally of course, just an accident of the portal storms.

Cheomesh said:
Sky didn't look that odd I don't think...it's been a while since I looked though.
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That's his point. If the air was being changed then the sky would be different. The fact that people aren't wearing gasmasks outside and not dieing is bit of a hint too.
 
riomhaire said:
I'm pretty sure I read something about a super-portal in the ocean leading to Xen. Not intentionally of course, just an accident of the portal storms.


That's his point. If the air was being changed then the sky would be different. The fact that people aren't wearing gasmasks outside and not dieing is bit of a hint too.
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Oh I thought he ment the other way around.
 
The sky would be different... :|

The sea is being drained, and the sky looks exactly the same!
 
OMG The combine are dividing by zero!

*assplodes*
 
Azner said:
OMG The combine are dividing by zero!

*assplodes*
Click to expand...

I_divided_by_zero.jpg
 
No, the combine have NOT taken over xen. they are trying to though. Thats why breen reasoned with them that the humans could open a portal to xen if they slowed down the time to earths annihilation.

Xen is the key location to multi-universal dominance, and also a key location to beat the third party we know not of yet.
 
Think of them as foreigners, they want to take our jobs, women, and leech the local natural resources :p
 
Narvi said:
The sky would be different... :|

The sea is being drained, and the sky looks exactly the same!
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I wasn't aware that sea levels affected the atmosphere's colouration.
 
Yeah. I'm amazed the atmosphere is still breathable.

Presumably major areas of the earth have been desertified. My pet theory is that there is some Xen creature out there that maintains the appropriate proportions of oxygen and CO2. And the water cycle too... so forests don't disappear.

Either that or the Combine maintain a weather machine somewhere. That would work too.
 
So judging by the level of the sea, the Earth's atmosphere shouldn't even be breathable anymore?

(I'm talking about HL2 btw.)
 
Sea vs Ocean. IIRC the shoreline we see is the Black Sea. Could be wrong, just woke up.
 
Our ancestors got by just fine during the ice age didn't they? Sea levels were much lower back then. That or it takes a while to screw up the climate, or Cheomesh is right and the draining is local to that area only.
 
Planetary said:
Our ancestors got by just fine during the ice age didn't they? Sea levels were much lower back then. That or it takes a while to screw up the climate, or Cheomesh is right and the draining is local to that area only.
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Argh, I had a huge post which disappeared when the power got cut off... :sleep:

Anyway. I'm not an expert, but I'll tell what few problems I can think of.

The ice age is completely different. For a start, cooling was gradual, so species, plants, etcetera could evolve to fit into the new climate.

For another, now the water is disappearing. It's not being locked up somewhere; it's gone. It's the difference between a Popsicle and a Popsicle stick.

The ocean is very important. It's one of the "sinks" which absorb C02 for instance. It's important in climate terms; it transfers around heat from the sun for instance, warming regions like the UK. Oceanic currents are quite important in climatological terms. The water cycle would also be completely screwed up by the loss of several billion tons of water.

If the sea level fell, the monsoon cycle in the tropics would be ****ed up immensely. Important regions wouldn't get enough rain. Other areas could get too much. Forests would die, eventually, though they tend to be quite good at keeping water around.

Actually, I think I'm wrong about it effecting breathability of the atmosphere. But it would still dramatically effect climate, since the water is disappearing for no reason. Imagine the loss of cloud cover...

I don't think the draining is local. Unless the Combine have built up some serious levees, the water levels should average themselves globally at all shorelines.

I wonder what the salinity of the ocean is right now... probably quite a lot.

The earth is screwed. Whatever happens, it is boned. Immensely.
 
Yeah, Narvi is spot on with the water cycle bit.

Took a look at the black sea. It doesn't seem to drain into the ocean, though it is fed through a river. The fact that the water level has dropped means they've dammed the river, and or drained it at the source, which ****s us.
 
Cheomesh said:
Yeah, Narvi is spot on with the water cycle bit.

Took a look at the black sea. It doesn't seem to drain into the ocean, though it is fed through a river. The fact that the water level has dropped means they've dammed the river, and or drained it at the source, which ****s us.
Click to expand...

Considering that the canal system in City 17 also has a much lower water level than normal, they've either dammed the river in a higher point, or the sea we see in HL2 is not the Black Sea. Would be an excellent way for Valve to retcon away the sea draining climate issues though. There are lots of levees present in Norway, for instance. Or was it the Netherlands?
 
It has to be the Black Sea--No two ways around it. Something in Episode One or Ravenholm's scenery spells Concrete a certain way that's only spelled in Bulgaria -- which borders on the Black Sea.
 
Cheomesh said:
It has to be the Black Sea--No two ways around it. Something in Episode One or Ravenholm's scenery spells Concrete a certain way that's only spelled in Bulgaria -- which borders on the Black Sea.
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Your logic is impeccable. I'd also like to point out that petrol pumps, seen in Highway 17, have (IIRC) a Norwegian currency on them, meaning that it has to be the Baltic Sea--No two ways around it. Also, I seem to recall that Follow Freeman has a manhole-cover with an Italian / Roman motto on it, meaning that it has to be the Mediterranean Sea--No two ways around it.
 
riomhaire said:
Your logic is impeccable. I'd also like to point out that petrol pumps, seen in Highway 17, have (IIRC) a Norwegian currency on them, meaning that it has to be the Baltic Sea--No two ways around it. Also, I seem to recall that Follow Freeman has a manhole-cover with an Italian / Roman motto on it, meaning that it has to be the Mediterranean Sea--No two ways around it.
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My money has Latin on it so I must be a Roman. :|
 
you answered your own questions, i'd assume its all about the resources..and possibly just boredom
 
Cheomesh said:
My money has Latin on it so I must be a Roman. :|
Click to expand...

Not exactly a refutation, but it's still pretty damn funny. :LOL:

Okay, I agree it's the Black Sea. I prefer it being the Black Sea anyway. I dislike the Combine being sea-drainers. It makes sense that they just leveed off the Black Sea for some reason.
 
Cheomesh said:
My money has Latin on it so I must be a Roman. :|
Click to expand...
No, the manhole has an abbreviation (IIRC) of a old Roman motto that was later revived by the Italian Facist party. I'm not saying that Latin / Italian = Roman.
 
Italian does=roman doesnt it :\

Latin=/=Roman
 
Perhaps all Combine-conquered races have some of the non-altered species living in cities of somthing. Some Pre-Striders still living like the Civies of Earth.
 
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