Everything you wanted to know...

[bbson john]

I disagree. Gordon goes down several elevators to get there, giving, again, the impression that it is deep underground.

It is because Gordon is on a higher land. And the railway in Op4 is on 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.

World is always like that. Not the game is ridiculous, but the world. You can see many things like this in reality. Like people living beside the bank can dig a tunnel through the all security devices and steal the banknotes away.

 

[Llama]

waaaayy too much stuff is completly made up. However, thats still a fvcking awesome piece of work

 

[esplin]

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.

It seems to me you are underestimating the power of the US Military. One of those bombs can level an entire building in one shot. Honestly how big can Black Mesa really be, an air raid can level a city in a matter of hours. What makes you think that a research facility is so different?

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.

I've always had a problem with people just assuming the G-man is lying. Yes I suppose he could be lying to Adrian. Maybe he was lying to Gordon about having employers, or maybe he was lying about Gordon recieving offers for his services.

For that matter, how do we really know most of our weapons were "government property?" Are we really sure we managed a "nasty piece of work over there?" Can the right man in the wrong place really make all the difference in the world? Is the entire world of Half Life nothing more than a bad dream brought on by the G-man?

Assuming that characters in a fictional story are lying with no basis is counter-productive. If we take every piece of information in the game as a possible lie then we really don't know anything.

Besides the G-man seems like more of the type to omit the truth than outright lie.

Overall, though, the only hints we have at the G-man's character are 3 (4 if you count Op4) small monologues. So until evidence points otherwise I will assume the G-man is telling the truth.

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.

Right before the nuke goes off the G-man says,"The biggest embarrasment is Black Mesa, but I think that has taken care of itself."
The G-man seems to infer that he is destroying Black Mesa due to its most recent mistake. I don't know about you but evil aliens coming out of portals all over the facility seems to be Black Mesa most recent mistake.

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.

It takes me approximately 2 hours to get through Xen if I'm going slow, and there is approximately 3 hours left of Op4 after Gordon heads to Xen (again if I'm going slow.)

 

[bbson john]

It seems to me you are underestimating the power of the US Military. One of those bombs can level an entire building in one shot. Honestly how big can Black Mesa really be, an air raid can level a city in a matter of hours. What makes you think that a research facility is so different?

Black Mesa is very very very big, as you can see, or as you has gone through. Don't underestimate the creatures in Xen. Those birds can melt a standard US carrior within three seconds. They can be a big concern of the US airforce. And the US are doing only a minor bombard, or a tactical bombard. Since they have to pull out their force, they did not blow the whole facility. Some of the places where contains landed GIs, or black Ops, is preserved, like the place where Adrian landed accidently. Later, the US army think Black Mesa is too big to bomb, so they simply put a nuclear bomb in it. This explains why the bombard is stopped after sometimes. You won't bomb a place when you know it will be certainly leveled no matter what. I guess this is the main reason.

I've always had a problem with people just assuming the G-man is lying. Yes I suppose he could be lying to Adrian. Maybe he was lying to Gordon about having employers, or maybe he was lying about Gordon recieving offers for his services.

Saying G-man is lying is an idiot. (i.e. I am an idiot) This makes the story meaningless. So I assume G-man tells the truth, well... I am tired. Talk tomorrow. (I am in Hong Kong so it is night already)

 

[Asknoone]

Saying G-man is lying is an idiot. (i.e. I am an idiot) This makes the story meaningless.

No it doesn't...

 

[Darkside55]

Post it on Wikipedia.

Much as I'd like to update their headcrab page, this is far too big to fit on Wiki. The wikipedia headcrab page is good enough for people who want a general knowledge on them; this is more for people who want to know everything about them.

waaaayy too much stuff is completly made up. However, thats still a fvcking awesome piece of work

I wish people would tell me which parts I'm making up. The only things I really come outright and say they have with no factual basis other than "they MUST have them" are the sensory cluster and heart tube. Everything else I've tried to attach facts to, or at least some basis, and things that have very little, circumstantial, or next-to-nil evidence I generally slap on two or three "just a theory" labels.

But thanks for the words. Really if there's something you think is made up or you want clarification on, let me know. I'm doing this as much for the community as for myself so it's important to know what parts people think are wrong or insubstantiated. Plus some discussion about the article will be a nice break from this OpFor talk. *looks at everyone else*

Again on OpFor, the game's a real mess when it comes to tying it in cohesively with Half-Life. There are just things that're off the wall that you sort of have to look at the game through a foggy lens to ignore all these oversights, assumptions, and "wtf"s the game creates. But the fact is, it's called canon. It might not make sense in a whole lot of places, but Valve calls Opposing Force and Blue Shift canon, which means that everything in there is canon.

These are the words from Valve. We can't argue with them. We might not like them, we can choose to ignore them and pretend they never happen (I do this with a lot of things myself, TV shows for instance...I once blocked out a whole season of one show and acted like the whole continuity afterward never happened), but ultimately if the writers say it happened then it happened. Can't go back and say it didn't happen no matter how retarded it is. So, everything from Opposing Force must be taken as canon, absolutely everything. Gonomes, Race-X, portal gun, friggin' barnacle gun...everything. It all happened, it all existed.



Oh and, the G-man's not a liar. He just tells it from a certain point of view. :upstare:

 

[esplin]

I think Darkside's comment is a suitable ending to the Op4 debate (though I don't agree with it.)

I'll leave it at that.

 

[bbson john]

These are the words from Valve.

The best argument ever. End of the discussion.

 

[ríomhaire]

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

Haha. That transmission is in HL1 too. Remember marking the targets on the tacticle map?

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.

True. Though he does declare Barney Calhoun is "Out of Range". Maybe it was the same for them.

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.

Damn good point. Maybe he was lying, or he just didn't anticipate the Portal Storms.

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

The last Vorts I remember encountering where in Foxtrot Uniform, which takes place before Nihily's death.


Edit: BTW, there are at least 2 displacers. One of teleports to Xen end up in a fall to your death but on the way down you can see a 'slick' scientist holding onto the edge of a platform with a displacer on the platform above him.

 

[bbson john]

Barney Calhoun left by a displacer, which g-man might not be able to notice he's leaving since he didn't escape by an ordinary way. He teleported out. Eli and Kleiner left the place early. So they don't see much and need not to be detained.

 

[Deleted member 56031]

Though he does declare Barney Calhoun is "Out of Range".

When did he say that??

 

[ríomhaire]

When did he say that??

I think that's what the report at the end says

Subject: Barney Calhoun
Status: Out of Range
No further comment

 

[Deleted member 56031]

oh yeah

 

[esplin]

Sorry, I know I said I'd bow out of the debate, but I can't help it.

Haha. That transmission is in HL1 too. Remember marking the targets on the tacticle map?

This is true. However, after you are done marking targets on the tactical map bombs continue to drop throughout the rest of the game (so long as you are above ground.) So they aren't completely dependant on ground troops marking the target (as well they shouldn't be.)

True. Though he does declare Barney Calhoun is "Out of Range". Maybe it was the same for them.

I do remember that, but the question is. What exactly is the G-man's range. He can teleport between Xen and earth at the snap of a finger, and judging from Half-Life 2 he can teleport anywhere on the planet. I don't think Barney could escape the G-man if he really wanted to take him out. (Unless he had some purple vortigaunts friends. Which he doesn't.)

The last Vorts I remember encountering where in Foxtrot Uniform, which takes place before Nihily's death.

Actually I'm afraid that is incorrect. I can't remember what the chapter is called, but after fighting the black op mortar implacement two vortigaunts can be seen walking across the desert. After which they teleport behind you and attack.

This takes place two rooms before the final chapter, so its safe to say it takes place after Nihilanth's death.

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

That chapter would be "The Package" Esplin, and we don't know the exact timeline of events. Since Op4 is so messed up, it could end simultaneasly with HL1.
I reckon it ends just before Adrian fights the Geneworm, then the Portal Storms begin while he's fighting it. But thats just a guess.

 

[Deleted member 56031]

I do remember that, but the question is. What exactly is the G-man's range. He can teleport between Xen and earth at the snap of a finger, and judging from Half-Life 2 he can teleport anywhere on the planet. I don't think Barney could escape the G-man if he really wanted to take him out. (Unless he had some purple vortigaunts friends. Which he doesn't.)

Yet another inconsisitency. I don't see why we are splitting hairs when Valve admitted that there was inconsistencies between HL1 (and it's expansions) and HL2.

 

[Darkside55]

Yet another inconsisitency. I don't see why we are splitting hairs when Valve admitted that there was inconsistencies between HL1 (and it's expansions) and HL2.

Indeed. The games all have holes (of various sizes), and they don't all match up perfectly with each other. Even in Episode One, one of the things that got me was the quote from Alyx that Gordon and Barney used to race each other through the vents to get Dr. Kleiner's keys. Now how's that possible when Gordon's first day on the job was the day of the resonance cascade? Even when Valve's writing the game the timelines don't always match up.

As for Barney Calhoun and the others, "out of range" might not refer to an actual distance. We've heard before that the G-man's sphere of influence around Gordon Freeman has a certain area; maybe it's something like that. Maybe range could refer to the scope of his job of who to contain (or detain, in Adrian's case), and Barney and the scientists were nobodies to him. And also, we're not certain he can teleport "anywhere on the planet." The places he ends up are places where Gordon Freeman is, and where Adrian was; his two potentials. Perhaps he can only monitor them and their direct paths, and certain people in the immediate vicinity. Since Barney was well away from those two, he might've been out of the G-man's range.

 

[bbson john]

I do remember that, but the question is. What exactly is the G-man's range. He can teleport between Xen and earth at the snap of a finger, and judging from Half-Life 2 he can teleport anywhere on the planet. I don't think Barney could escape the G-man if he really wanted to take him out. (Unless he had some purple vortigaunts friends. Which he doesn't.)

Barney used the displacer to assist the evacuation which is beyond Gman's anticipation. So Gman lost the trace.

Who said that it was Gordon's first day in black Mesa?

 

[Inyssius Grey]

Doesn't he have a locker filled with stuff?

 

[Darkside55]

Yeah, but it's supposed to be his first day on the job. He had orientation before then...training, getting set up in the dormitory...but actually doing work, that was to be his first day. Says so in the HL1 manual.

 

[ríomhaire]

Indeed. The games all have holes (of various sizes), and they don't all match up perfectly with each other. Even in Episode One, one of the things that got me was the quote from Alyx that Gordon and Barney used to race each other through the vents to get Dr. Kleiner's keys. Now how's that possible when Gordon's first day on the job was the day of the resonance cascade?

Gordon's first day in May 15, it is never revealed what day the cascade takes place on IIRC.

Edit: Also, if it was his first day why would almost everyone in the whole god damn facility seem to know who he is?

 

[Deleted member 56031]

Gordon's first day in May 15, it is never revealed what day the cascade takes place on IIRC.

Edit: Also, if it was his first day why would almost everyone in the whole god damn facility seem to know who he is?

He had orientation before then...training, getting set up in the dormitory...but actually doing work, that was to be his first day. Says so in the HL1 manual.

 

[ríomhaire]

He had orientation before then...training, getting set up in the dormitory...but actually doing work, that was to be his first day. Says so in the HL1 manual.

Where?

 

[Deleted member 56031]

black mesa supposedly and HL1 is his first day on THE JOB. Therefore everyone will know him.

 

[Eejit]

He means where does it say that in the manual.

 

[ríomhaire]

Indeed.

 

[Asknoone]

Congrats to Darkside, who is now a Hl2.net content writer.

:thumbs:

 

[Deleted member 56031]

No i was simply reiterating what Darkside had said on page 4.

 

[esplin]

Poor, poor, gullible Lambda.

 

[Inyssius Grey]

Well, perhaps... no. I was going to hypothesize that he had a previous job at the complex, but then I remembered it saying somewhere that he got snapped up straight out of MIT...

 

[Darkside55]

Congrats to Darkside, who is now a Hl2.net content writer.

:thumbs:

Hooray! Hooray for Zoidberg! Now it's time to live up the company perks!

Well, perhaps... no. I was going to hypothesize that he had a previous job at the complex, but then I remembered it saying somewhere that he got snapped up straight out of MIT...

Actually he was offered the job a short while after MIT. After graduating he went to the University of Innsbruck in Austria, to continue some theoretical research. It was then that Dr. Kleiner recommended you for the job at BMRF.

In "Black Mesa East," walk through that door by the elevator when Eli tells you to look around. Dr. Mossman will kick you out, and Eli will talk about what a wonderful scientist she is, and how she almost got the job at Black Mesa. He reveals that it was your field experience at Innsbruck that got you the job instead of her.

 

[ranmafan]

I haven't read your headcrab writeup yet Darkside, but in my version that I wrote for GameFAQs, it isn't impossible for Headcrabs to have not one central brain, but a series of nerve clusters that act collectively like a brain. Insects have them, and utilize them in different ways.

Their sensory organs may be related to the ability to detect either pressure differences in the air with microfine hairs on their bodies, hence giving them the ability to 'hear' you so long as you disturb any air currents by moving. Also, certain creatures can detect others by their bioelectric currents (although this generally takes place in water), which a headcrab may be able to do given the evolutionary state of the creatures on Xen. Now, if only I could find a way to upload 770kb of file onto HL2.net...

Edit: I'm not disagreeing, I'm just offering a different opinion.

 

[78stonewobble]

"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."

This one I can answer (imo offcourse) pretty easily. Black mesa was divided into many sections. Handling different areas of research and other things. It is hinted at that people from one section ought not to know about other sections.

Like Gordon from anomalous materials should not know of the lambda complex and teleporters.

So what sections are there of black mesa? On the top of my head there are (not necessarily mentioned but also logical assumptions.)

The Dormitories.
Railroads
Cafeterias / cleaning
Security complete with target ranges.
Rocket propulsion labs
Rocket silos
Rocket storage
Biological research (xen creatures research)
Energy production (utilities for BMRF nuclear reactors.)
Weapons Research (from where you get ze guns)
Lambda complex (teleportation and xen exploration).

The lambda people collected samples from xen.

The wildlife and plants went to the bio research with some lame explanation. (...they said it was from the ???? deep but im sure this ???? never swam in terrestial waters till ????...)

Materials went to the anomalous materials labs, and others?

Ideas and concepts and perhaps high energy research went to the weapons research.

Knowledge in BMRF was on a need to know basis only. And very very few knew everything. It was how security was handled. (and more x-files like this way )

-------Portal storms--------

Why do people keep saying that these happened during the Black mesa incident? Any confirmation anywhere on this?

Because I allways thought that it went somewhat like this.

Earth goes to xen.
Nihilanths evil team and xen wildlife starts invading earth starting at BM.
They are beaten back. The nihilanth is destroyed and xen is occupied by human forces.
Black Mesa is nuked to keep the public from knowing anything about this narrowly avoided invation of earth (gordon saved us not the military).

Time goes by.. Months or years... (gordon allready in stasis)

Combine takes xen and or something goes wrong at xen and the portal storms start and then the combine invades.

I dont know if the portal storms are freak natural occurrances or maybe some weird combine "bombardment" of earth? ...

Just my 5c

 

[Asknoone]

The portal storms began right after HL ended. I don't think any time passed.

 

[78stonewobble]

Intriguing...

Its just that why would the g-man then use the nuke on BM, if the pop. was sposed to find out anyway? Or do people still not know of BM in hl2?

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

He was trying to convince Shepard he's human (and a US G-Man) by saying that he has to cover it up. It makes no scence if hes gonna lock Adrian up I know, but his speech didn't make much scence.

 

[Crimo]

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.

am i the only one that noticed that there are a few maps on xen world (hl1), where the vortiguants dont shoot you if you dont shoot him? i cant remember the map exactly, im not a pro in the half life universe... but there is one

oh i forgot to say, congratulations for your articles, if you add some pictures it will be awesome, you can even make a webpage, i could do it in my free time... =P

 

[Darkside55]

am i the only one that noticed that there are a few maps on xen world (hl1), where the vortiguants dont shoot you if you dont shoot him? i cant remember the map exactly, im not a pro in the half life universe... but there is one

oh i forgot to say, congratulations for your articles, if you add some pictures it will be awesome, you can even make a webpage, i could do it in my free time... =P

Thanks, first off. They'll probably appear on this site after awhile.

And you're right, there IS a map where the vortigaunts don't attack you. It's in the first level of the Xen factory, in the Interloper chapter. They're going about their business, and they know you're there...they know what you're there FOR...but since there are no controllers around, they're gonna let you walk right on past and kill the Nihilanth.

Speaking of vortigaunts, next article due in:

DAYS. Very soon. Watch for it.

 

[Cuthbert]

They're going about their business, and they know you're there...they know what you're there FOR...but since there are no controllers around, they're gonna let you walk right on past and kill the Nihilanth.

Is it really because there are no controllers around? There are no controllers in Black Mesa, still Vorts attack Freeman. Controllers control by their minds right? So they could have make Vorts attack Freeman in Interloper section too?

Nice articles by the way :thumbs:

 

[Darkside55]

Is it really because there are no controllers around? There are no controllers in Black Mesa, still Vorts attack Freeman. Controllers control by their minds right? So they could have make Vorts attack Freeman in Interloper section too?

Nice articles by the way :thumbs:

Thanks.

To answer your question, yes, the controllers control vortigaunts telepathically, but they weren't controlling them in Black Mesa. The vortigaunts were given an order, and were teleported by the Nihilanth to carry it out. Put in on an unfamiliar and seemingly hostile world, with orders from a superior who--at the time--seemed the biggest threat, they did what they were told.

Once you got close to Nihilanth though, and vortigaunts saw that you might have a chance, they let you pass without any restriction. In the next section though, the controllers were watching them...they HAD to attack you. Otherwise they would've let you pass, or if their shackles had been off, they would've turned on the controllers and grunts and killed them for you.

Speaking of vortigaunts, next article due in:

DAYS. Very soon. Watch for it.

*Days prediction subject to work, other obligations, leisure time, the release of the BF2142 demo, unforseen consequences, and general laziness of the author.

You've waited long enough, Singleplayer Mythology. I just burned the midnight oil spending seven hours writing (the Seven Hours Writing, get it? Ha ha...yeah, ok) to bring you:

Everything You Wanted to Know About Vortigaunts

The format is a hybrid of the creature format and upcoming character formats:

Anatomy - Physical description of the vortigaunts, who count as a creature, being an alien race.
History - A chronological recap of the history of their species. This will be exclusive to the three intelligent Xenian species, and the Combine.
Personality and Society - Personality and society, including language and habitat.
Abilities - Special powers or traits.
Miscellaneous - Information that didn't fit anywhere else.
Endgame - Closing statements.
Credits - Legal jargon and contact info. Now with 100% more hi-larity, because credits are usually boring.

I've uploaded the file on rapidshare because apparently you can only have 100kb in total attachments, either for this thread or for HL2.net. Either way I filled that quota with the first article so:

Rapidshare! Get it while it's hot.

Enjoy, SPM. Comments and feedback--including arguments--are, as always, welcome.