Everything you wanted to know...

[Darkside55]

Well, this has been a long time in coming. I have wanted to write about Half-Life and its creatures for the past few years, but I never got around to it.

Until now.

People of Halflife2.net, behold my opus! A most complete collection of every tidbit of knowledge on that most persistent and pestilent of parasites, the headcrab. This work, titled, "Everything you wanted to know about Headcrabs...and more" is the first in a series of works I will be putting out that covers everything from creatures to characters, locations, even certain weapons and technologies in the Half-Life universe. They should not be considered "fact files," as sometimes they will go beyond fact and jump right into pure speculation--but always with evidence and arguments--in order to be considered complete, with every question or topic that has been debated about those subjects, and probably a lot more stuff than you even wanted to know.

I write these articles for both myself and the community. I really, truly value feedback on these, and if there's anything you feel I should put in, take out, something I've omitted, if you want to correct me or dispute with me on something, please, feel free to do so. I'll make revisions when needed, and I'll gladly debate on a point of objection.
I should note that I try to incorporate every main theory into these, and generally I'll try and keep my opinion to myself unless the theory has too much going against it to be viable.

In true Valve fashion, I'll release new articles "when they're done." I will try and spend as much time as I can working on them, but as I do have one of those pesky things called a life it may be rather infrequent. I have a couple planned out for the immediate future though, so with any good luck those will come relatively soon-ish.

A couple more points to make about these:

They all follow a particular format. The format you'll see in the headcrab paper is the one I'll use for most creatures. The format goes:
Anatomy - Physical description of the creature
Behavior and Society - How they act, social dynamics, and habitat
Special - If the creature has any special properties
Miscellaneous - Stuff that just wouldn't fit anywhere else
End Game - Closing thoughts
Credits - My name and contact info, copyrights to Valve to cover my butt, and thanks

Characters, locations, weaponry, etc. will all follow different but similar formats. I'll outline those formats the first time I post one of those types.

These articles are written in Wordpad, in their native rich text format (.rtf). You can view them in either Wordpad or Microsoft Word.

That seems to be it for now, so enjoy the paper and let me know what you think.

 

[Asknoone]

****ing awesome...stickied.

 

[Gorndt]

I registered just to talk up this post!

PS: OH MY GOD WHAT HAS HE DONE?!

 

[ríomhaire]

Contains too much speculation to be stickied IMO, and that's only from the first few paragraphs

 

[Darkside55]

Which parts? In that first section I talk about all the things a headcrab would need to live, things that are similar in all the subspecies. Most of that stuff isn't speculation, it's backed up by in-game evidence. The only things that are really speculative are the heart (and they need a heart; you can see the veins flowing through their skin, and the blood has to be coming and going from somewhere) and the sensory cluster, which also must exist due to the fact that headcrabs hear, smell, and can obviously see, and they're doing it from the front of their heads. Since the brains of animals are often placed in very close proximity to their sensory inputs, and given the tiny body of the headcrab, all that stuff's gotta be bunched up in one little area.

Still, like I said, feel free to dispute with me some of these things. And, like I also said, sometimes we go right into speculation.

Also, I noticed an error in my credits there. If anyone actually wants to pop in and drop me a line in my IRC channel (instead of in here, why I don't know...) it's at irc.gamesurge.net, not gamesnet. We moved from gamesnet like years ago. =/

 

[Asknoone]

Contains too much speculation to be stickied IMO, and that's only from the first few paragraphs

In the Half-life universe, speculation is most certainly the way forward.

 

[ríomhaire]

But it's glorifying it, as if saying "Read this, everything here is true"
You wouldn't sticky a g-man is Gordon thread.

 

[ktimekiller]

Huuuzaaahhhh

 

[Adabiviak]

This infers that Opposing Force is considered canon. I do, but others may not buy it. Good show.

 

[Darkside55]

Valve has said Opposing Force is canon, for better or for worse.

 

[Asknoone]

But it's glorifying it, as if saying "Read this, everything here is true"
You wouldn't sticky a g-man is Gordon thread.

Actually, its stickied because it is an interesting read, and someone has gone to the effort to write it all out. That is why it is stickied. Hackneyed logic you have there Rimfire.

 

[ríomhaire]

I don't see how, by sticking it you are endorsing it and if the site endorses it many will follow it without question.

 

[Deleted member 56031]

Great Stuff! Well done! :thumbs:

 

[Asknoone]

I don't see how, by sticking it you are endorsing it and if the site endorses it many will follow it without question.

No matter what we do we have no control over what people believe or follow and quite frankly that is up to them. It isn't getting unstickied: the end.

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

I haven't finished it yet, I'm on Gonome, but its very good. I never thought that the Zombine radio chatter was playback, thats good thinking.
All-in-all, awesome. I look forward to your other articles (please do a Vortigaunt one!) :thumbs:

EDIT: Gorndt, what does that mean?

 

[MorganFreeman911]

Schweet.

 

[Gorndt]

EDIT: Gorndt, what does that mean?

Just making sure Darkside knows what an atrocity he's committed by filling my internets with nerdy HL2 crap!

 

[esplin]

Valve has said Opposing Force is canon, for better or for worse.

Nice job, man.

Most of it is speculation ,but I'm not going to hold you to journalism style fact checking.

Regarding Gearbox's two expansions. Until I see it in an official Valve game I don't really accept it as canon. This is especially true with the Gonome, since their is no reason for them to suddenly disappear.
(Though fans seem to enjoy explaining away there disappearnce with silly theories. Come on guys, we all know the real reason Gonomes haven't reappeared since Opposing Force. )

 

[ríomhaire]

(Though fans seem to enjoy explaining away there disappearnce with silly theories. Come on guys, we all know the real reason Gonomes haven't reappeared since Opposing Force. )

Because Valve didn't feel they where nessisary for gameplay

 

[esplin]

whoops

 

[esplin]

Because Valve didn't feel they where nessisary for gameplay

Exactly, and since anything Gearbox related will go through the "necessary for gameplay" test, until I see it in a Valve game it isn't pary of the story.

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

Exactly, and since anything Gearbox related will go through the "necessary for gameplay" test, until I see it in a Valve game it isn't pary of the story.

You know Marc Laidlaw wrote the story right? His name, along with VALVe is in the credits.
Gabe himself has said its canon. We may not like it, but thats the way it is. Exceppt it. Decay, Op4 and Blue Shift are canon.

EDIT: And the Gonome theorys aren't stupid just because you don't know whats canon and whats not. The Zombies didn't get enough food in Ravenholm. Op4 went on AT LEAST 24 hours after HL1, maybe longer. Research things before you post.

 

[99.vikram]

And the Gonome theorys aren't stupid just because you don't know whats canon and whats not. The Zombies didn't get enough food in Ravenholm. Op4 went on AT LEAST 24 hours after HL1, maybe longer. Research things before you post.

There's a simpler theory

Gearbox went berserk on storyline. Laidlaw may have only outlined the main plot point in OpFor (BMRF getting nuked), but Gearbox added RaceX and Gonomes independently.

 

[Darkside55]

Just making sure Darkside knows what an atrocity he's committed by filling my internets with nerdy HL2 crap!

I love you too.

Gonomes are canon only because OpFor is canon. They're factual even if Gearbox was just trying to add in more enemies. On the whole though I'd say they really did a pretty good job with the gonomes, considering the zombie must evolve to the gonarch somehow. And I doubt it'd be a sudden, spontaneous transformation, going from a (average) six-foot tall human body to a fifteen-foot tall armored spider. Nothing could evolve like that, even if the zombie went into a pupal stage. The gonarch's gotta be about that size in the stage before, too, 'cause its entire body is hardened and won't grow anymore. So yeah, Opposing Force may be a bit "eh..." on the believe-o-meter, but in this case I think it was a good job.

Thanks to everyone who's digging it so far. Oh and...

I look forward to your other articles (please do a Vortigaunt one!)

You must be psychic. I've already outlined the next couple articles I'm going to do, and I'm currently working on article number 2. The subject? Well, let's just say:
*crackle, crackle*
BZZZZT!

 

[ríomhaire]

Stop using the word evolve in that context, it's completely wrong.

 

[Darkside55]

Fine, metamorphosize. Chalk my use of the word "evolve" up to pokemon.

Metamorphosize, change, mutate, be reborn, transform, alter itself, turn into, become...insert synonym here. In a roundabout way "evolve" works in this context, if only because I'm saying no creature could have EVOLVED a system where they go from a small thing into a big thing in one giant leap.

 

[Deleted member 56031]

but Gearbox added RaceX and Gonomes independently.

Wrong! Valve okayed them first.

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

Wrong! Valve okayed them first.

Its true, VALVe did play test it, Laidlaw okayed it...I hope he didn't do it consiously though...because if he caused Race-X, I might not keep his scecret anymore...

 

[Eejit]

Exactly, and since anything Gearbox related will go through the "necessary for gameplay" test, until I see it in a Valve game it isn't pary of the story.

Barney Calhoun did and is, why wouldn't the rest be?

 

[Gorndt]

Contains too much speculation to be stickied IMO, and that's only from the first few paragraphs

Can we sticky this guy's webcomic?

I lol'ed all the way to the toilet... to purge.

 

[lun4tic]

Post it on Wikipedia.

 

[esplin]

You know Marc Laidlaw wrote the story right? His name, along with VALVe is in the credits.
Gabe himself has said its canon. We may not like it, but thats the way it is. Exceppt it. Decay, Op4 and Blue Shift are canon.

EDIT: And the Gonome theorys aren't stupid just because you don't know whats canon and whats not. The Zombies didn't get enough food in Ravenholm. Op4 went on AT LEAST 24 hours after HL1, maybe longer. Research things before you post.

I just want to let you know Atomic Piggy that I respect your opinion even if I don't agree with it.
However, I was never very clear exactly what part of Op4 Marc Laidlaw wrote, and even if he wrote the whole story he hasn't been trying very hard to keep it consistent with the more recent games.

I explained the plot inconsistances in another thread with greater detail, but I will outline the main points here.

1. The military supposedly launched an air raid over Black Mesa, but the complex is almost completely unharmed.
2. G-man seals away Adrian Shephard because he knows too much. Yet he lets Eli, Dr. Kleiner, and Dr. Breen escape even though they know a lot more about the incident.
3. The G-man implies that the nuke is being used to cover up the incident, but according to Half-Life 2 the portal storms were spreading across the world. Not only that, everyone knows that it started at Black Mesa.
4.A large portion of Op4 takes place after the Nihilanth's destruction, but the Vortigaunts are still wearing collars.

When all of these inconsistances are resolved in later games I will consider Op4 canon. Until then....

 

[Asknoone]

Contradictions lie within the game itself, not just the damn story.

 

[esplin]

Well now you've made me curious, Samon.

Can you point out any.

 

[Asknoone]

They may seem trivial to some, but to me they are pretty irksome and just general annoyances. In Half-life, we are given the impression that the Lambda complex is deep underground. Somehow, in Opposing Force, you are able to reach the central teleportation chamber through a maintenance room on the surface. What?

We've a massive teleporter that takes at least 5 minutes to charge in order to get to Xen. Why then can we do it with the click of a button on the Displacer? That makes no shense.

There are a few more.

 

[bbson john]

1. The military supposedly launched an air raid over Black Mesa, but the complex is almost completely unharmed.

They bombed some places only. Since the complex is too big, the military army finds that is inefficient. And the bombers may undergo severe attack since Xen has air units. So the bombard stopped right after it began.

2. G-man seals away Adrian Shephard because he knows too much. Yet he lets Eli, Dr. Kleiner, and Dr. Breen escape even though they know a lot more about the incident.

1. G-man lies to Adrian for some reason. Perhaps for his later service, Andrian is not allowed to learn the truth and G-man just makes up a story.
2. G-man is not as powerful as we thought. He fails to contain all people who escape since there are too many scientists to be taken care of.

3. The G-man implies that the nuke is being used to cover up the incident, but according to Half-Life 2 the portal storms were spreading across the world. Not only that, everyone knows that it started at Black Mesa.

G-man is not covering the whole incident but merely a part of it. Maybe G-man wants to cover some secrets in Black Mesa. And they is porbably related to vortigaunt since the main portal to Xen is opened in Black Mesa. Other portals in the world is linking to the Combine planet. And it may have something to do with Breen since Breen is the former adminstrator of Black Mesa and the post-adminstrator of Earth. G-man is covering something about Breen, which is sensible.

4.A large portion of Op4 takes place after the Nihilanth's destruction, but the Vortigaunts are still wearing collars.

No! Op4 take place when Gordon is in Xen, not after the demise of Nihilanth. You can see in the third chapter of Op4, Gordon is jumping into a portal. However, it takes a lot of time before Gordon gets to the Nihilanth's chamber which Adrian may have already taken the whole trip. And remember the slow teleport system? Gordon may have fallen into one.

Even Nihilanth is dead, the vortigaunts may be still confused about the identity (friendly or hostile?) of human before they finally realise that human can be friendly.

They may seem trivial to some, but to me they are pretty irksome and just general annoyances. In Half-life, we are given the impression that the Lambda complex is deep underground. Somehow, in Opposing Force, you are able to reach the central teleportation chamber through a maintenance room on the surface. What?

Gordon always takes a long route, dude.
The chamber is not lying that deep. If so, how can the scientists be possible to get in? The frail scientists can access the chamber, that means it is sensible.

We've a massive teleporter that takes at least 5 minutes to charge in order to get to Xen. Why then can we do it with the click of a button on the Displacer? That makes no shense.

There are a few more.

What? where?

 

[Eejit]

Didn't Laidlaw once say something to the effect that the events in OpFor timeline can't be matched directly to those of HL1?

In my opinion impling a 'special' teleport at some stage, perhaps similar to the Slow Teleport, or perhaps time travel in the other direction (you hear clips from when the resonance cascade happens when you're about to enter Nihilanth's chamber).


As for the hand-held teleporter it does not make stable teleports like the big slow machines and is obviously an advanced prototype. We see in HL2 that Kleiner has a stable 2-way teleport on his desk. Given that during the post-BM years they must have had trouble finding material and possibly having to recalculate lost equations I think the OpFor teleport gun isn't that big a stretch.

 

[Asknoone]

Gordon always takes a long route, dude.
The chamber is not lying that deep. If so, how can the scientists be possible to get in? The frail scientists can access the chamber, that means it is sensible.

Do you even think before you post?

 

[bbson john]

Do you even think before you post?

My point is NOT Gordon like to take a long route. That is a JOKE.


I have to expand my point of view. The lambda core cannot be accessed easily in normal days. Adrian does not enter the core in a porper entance. He climbs up on the broken ceiling and pases through a vent. That means the lambda core is not directly linking to the storage room, but there is just a vent. This is only a security design problem, no one expect someone will destroy the ceiling of that room and climb through such a tiny vent. But Adrian does it. Security problem can be regarded at this point. After all, the storage room is located beside an unused railway system. No one should enter there normally. The lambda core lies deep in the mountain, so as the old railway. It is sensible that a highly secured lambda core lies just besides an unused railway system since both of the structures themselves lie deeply within the mountain. Gordon is on the other side of the core. Unfortunately, his path is blocked by different wreckage so he has to spend a relatively long time before he finally access the lambda core. Gordon and Adrian have just taken two distinct route.

 

[Asknoone]

I disagree. Gordon goes down several elevators to get there, giving, again, the impression that it is deep underground. I just think the idea of such an important facility being linked, whether directly or indirectly through a maintenance room is absolutely, completely and utterly stupid.