Gluon Gun vs. Tau Cannon

[Zubin]

Which one is superior and why?
The Tau cannon seems to be less efficient than the Gluon Gun since it deals
10 damage per unit whereas the gluon gun deals 14 per unit however the
Tau cannon is more versatile...

Which gun is better to use, and why?

 

[Vegeta897]

Tau is more useful and versatile, not just in combat.

Gluon may do more damage if you're suddenly confronted in a small space with no cover or escape (no time to charge tau) but that situation is extremely rare.

So Tau all the way. Gluon is used by mindless idiots who don't know how to use cover and probably use it like they do all other weapons in the game, running around in the open with their crosshairs fixed on their target at all times disregarding everything else.

And if you're just talking about singleplayer, gluon is even more useless. You can take out most enemies with a couple uncharged tau shots.

 

[Zubin]

Yeah I play single player and I'm running through half life for the first time(I played Half life 2, episode 1, and episode 2 but never played the original half life and its expansions). I've actually been taking my sweet time with it and I just got to the level Xen. Where some people might take only 15 hours to beat it I'm taking a good 20+ haha.

EDIT: WOW the last few chapters are short! lol

 

[kupocake]

Gluon always looked cooler, excepting Multiplayer, where Tau-jumping was allowed.

Tau was also more interesting in story terms. Such a simple sequence when you first got it, but it seemed amazing for a FPS to be doing anything of the sort back then. The Gluon almost felt like they'd forgotten they'd made another weapon, so they just plonked it in any old room and said 'enjoy'.

 

[Vegeta897]

Are you forgetting about the scientist who built the Gluon gun?

 

[Danimal]

Gluon Gun sounds more like a handy hardware tool than a deadly weapon.

Tau sounds like something Vegeta would masterbate over.

I'll have to say: Undecided.

 

[kupocake]

Are you forgetting about the scientist who built the Gluon gun?

Well that's exactly it. The scene goes: 'I builts teh Gluones Gun' 'kthnxbye'. Whilst few weapons are introduced with the kind of ceremony that you get for the Tau Canon, there is generally at least some kind of first or otherwise significant encounter with an enemy who you'll get to use the more unique or devastating weapons on. Crossbow for Icthysaur, Rocket Launcher for Helicopter. Similarly, one of your first shotguns is a reward for saving a security guard, your first mp5 for taking down a soldier. By comparrison, the Gluon Gun is in a closet with a one-line scientist and a bunch of first level enemies to try it out on, and you won't see either a new enemy or the kind of Boss creatures they expect you to use it on for quite some time. Always seemed like a late shoe-in to me.

Still, the hivehand was worst off of all. It was just... in the middle of the floor. An utterly unnecessary weapon that you really could believe was thrown in at the last minute (to add to its rubbish placement, consider the fact that it conveniently recharges bullets, making ploppin ammunition for it everywhere past Surface Tension unnecessary).

edit: His name is Doctor Alfred Gluon. I do declare it to be canonical.

 

[Danimal]

I remember my first play-through with HL1, grabbing that hivehand, I thought the military was only attacking me because I had that weapon.

I was thinking "Shit, maybe next time I won't grab it and they'll think I'm not a Xen creature."

Oh-ho, you dumbass, Danimal.

 

[Sledgehammer]

The hivehand is amazing against headcrabs...

 

[Zubin]

The hivehand is amazing against headcrabs...

Especially the small annoying ones haha.
I just beat the game like 30 minutes ago, the last few chapters are so short.
Now I'm moving on to Opposing Force and Blue Shift...
It's kind of weird playing HL 2 and episode 1 and 2 before playing the original Half Life lol...
But that's what I'm doing.

 

[kupocake]

The hivehand is amazing against headcrabs...

It's good at what it sets out to do. It kills stuff round corners with no greater skill than dogged persistence. Because it's there, you find yourself using it and exploiting the AI. It may be one of the more measurable, unfair reasons that I really don't like the Xen levels.

 

[Lizardizzle]

I liked the gluon much more then the tau cannon... But I still wonder what the alt-fire was supposed to do. If you alt-fire with the gluon in game, Gordon turns the handle...

 

[Danimal]

He's bashing the bishop.

He's crakin' the bacon.

He's jerkin' the gherkin.

etc.

 

[kupocake]

If you primary fire and switch to secondary, doesn't the beam 'lock on' or something? Except, it doesn't actually do any damage.

 

[tschumann]

If you primary fire and switch to secondary, doesn't the beam 'lock on' or something? Except, it doesn't actually do any damage.

It does, yes, and I think after a second or two it stops making any noise.

 

[Zubin]

All I know is the Gluon Gun reduces a giant 30 foot tall monster to nothing in just a few seconds...

 

[Vegeta897]

There are no 30 foot tall monsters in HL besides tentacles perhaps, and those can't be killed by the gluon gun.

 

[Zubin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4AaVNod_RU
mhm.

 

[Vegeta897]

If you think the Garg is even close to 30 feet tall you have problems with distances. That's like 5 times as tall as Gordon.

 

[ranmafan]

Gordon could conceivably stand at 5'10 or even 6'... and 5x as tall = more or less 30', so I don't see a problem.

Edit: On topic post - I like the Tau more. It's a laser gun, and you can fire it through walls, which leaves behind a glowing spot where it passes through. The first time I encountered this ability in multiplayer (I started on HL MP) I was mesmerized.

 

[Vegeta897]

Err.. I'm saying 30 feet is 5x tall as gordon. And the garg is definitely not 5x tall as the player.

 

[ranmafan]

Hm. You're right, he's about 2.5x as tall as a scientist based on the video. That makes him 15-18 feet tall.

But Zubin has a point: Something big, mean and maybe tough enough to take out a tank being reduced to gibs by a man-portable weapon IS quite a point to make in the Gluon's favour.

 

[Zubin]

Hm. You're right, he's about 2.5x as tall as a scientist based on the video. That makes him 15-18 feet tall.

But Zubin has a point: Something big, mean and maybe tough enough to take out a tank being reduced to gibs by a man-portable weapon IS quite a point to make in the Gluon's favour.

If you recall the scripted sequences you'll remember how Gargantuas are strong enough to smash a dam and were capable of destroying large objects.

As for Gordon, I recall somewhere it being said that he's 6' 1/2 so 6'1".
But yeah, http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Gargantua

It is approximately six meters (20 feet) tall, mostly blue in color, and has one yellow eye that glows red when it perceives a hostile unit.

Not to mention that it's quite bulky.

 

[r_rr]

My opinion, both the gluon gun and the tau have their pros and cons, and they both work good in the right situation. The gluon gun might be usful for taking out a large crowd of tough enemies, or maybe defeating an even bigger enemy (Gargantua). Tau works well as a "one hitter quitter" when charged, and a nice semi automatic weapon for general enemy extermination.

 

[Darkside55]

You ever see a man circle around you in Bounce.bsp with the tau-cannon? You can't hit him. You can't stop him. One moment he's firing bolts of searing energy in your face, the next he's already leaped twenty feet away to a health pack and an energy box. I'm saddened to admit it, but not even the mighty hivehand, king of all Half-Life weaponry, can stop a tau-jumping man. The bees just don't move fast enough.

No sir, you can kill a man with the gluon gun. You can kill him from afar, or kill him up close, or kill him before he even switches the damn thing on. But you can't stop the tau-jumping man. It takes an entire server to kill that man.

Are you forgetting about the scientist who built the Gluon gun?

...

...

SLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!

 

[kupocake]

SLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!

For some reason, I thought it was the Einstein one.

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

Are you forgetting about the scientist who built the Gluon gun?

(quietly smirks at all the incorrect posts ITT)

 

[gFrohman]

Gluon Gun was cool for like 5 minutes for me, then I realized how much more effective & efficient the Tau Cannon is.

 

[Paul]

Yeah I play single player and I'm running through half life for the first time(I played Half life 2, episode 1, and episode 2 but never played the original half life and its expansions). I've actually been taking my sweet time with it and I just got to the level Xen. Where some people might take only 15 hours to beat it I'm taking a good 20+ haha.

EDIT: WOW the last few chapters are short! lol

You are doing it right. Taking your time to check out the amazing work is far better than blasting through and missing all the great detail. As for there being nothing to tlk about (A seperate post) there is the new Half-life remake Black Mesa which is just brilliant. I played Half-life back in 98 all the way through ten maybe twelve times and had HL2 on my PC before it was released (preloaded) I started playing the second it was released. AHHH memories!

 

[Maestro]

I liked the gluon gun for the controllers, it's a horrible waste of battery packs but when there's 6 of the ****ers dumping fiery death on my head I'd rather microwave all of them in 5 seconds than screw around lining up shots with the .357 at a distance. I also liked the gluon gun for tougher enemies since it deals damage faster than any other single weapon.

 

[tomemozok]

Tau cannon.Because nothing can say **** you trough a wall like a fully-charged tau cannon can.