HEV suit/Gman theory...

[losermeetsworld]

One thing I've always wondered... Why exactly did the US government respond so quickly and with such great force to the Black Mesa incident? Along with the fact that weapons where being developed at Black Mesa, such as the gluon gun, leads me to think... Maybe the US government had contracted to develop new weapons for them, but to keep it hush-hush, and since it was obvious that such as great disaster threatened very easily to expose all the the weapons research at Mesa, they thought it best to use a "clean up" as a cover to go in and destroy/kill anyone or anything that might expose them. (Also explains why you see marines on Xen...)

Which leads me to part 2 of my theory... Maybe the HEV suit WASN'T a tool to keep scientists safe in dangerous environments, maybe it was designed as an armour suit, much like the Master Cheif's or the Marines from Doom, and when it was sucessful the scientists deciced to use it as a "Hazerdous Environment Suit" to harness it's armour benifits and as PR to show off "new strides in technology"... If the HEV suit really was armour... it explains why it's so resistant to bullets, explosions, frag, ect... I dunno about you, but I've never heard of any scientific expirament that need precautions for major fractures or neurotoxins in the bloodstream.. Which leads me to the last part of my theory... The G-man. This theory also meshes with the Gman being called the "Government Man"... He could be a rep from the government following progress on research on weapons and such, and when things went wrong, he was there to keep on eye on the last HEV suit and making sure that Gordon didn't tell anyone too much....


What do you think?

 

[ة الأسئلة الشائع]

I think there was already a thread about this?

 

[UltimaApocalypse]

In my opinion, the HEV suit doesn't protect you from hazardous materials AT ALL. Electricty, Toxic Sludge, etc. The only thing it DOES protect you from is bullets and the pulse rilfle secondary fire.

 

[lastHOPE_lambda]

lol I know in the first one the hev suit drained so fast in toxic waste it was basically worthless for that.

 

[Asknoone]

Read the sticky, foo.
Moved.

 

[DEATH eVADER]

Which leads me to part 2 of my theory... Maybe the HEV suit WASN'T a tool to keep scientists safe in dangerous environments, maybe it was designed as an armour suit, much like the Master Cheif's or the Marines from Doom, What do you think?

It makes sense as to why Kliener gave you the suit in HL2, even though you were to be teleported directly to Eli's lab (supposed to anyway), and to take it off on the other side.

My theory is that the HEV suit is such a valuble tool to the resistance that they weren't going to transport it by foot, but through the teleporter. Off course Gordon returned, just as the teleporter was ready to transport the suit. Who else would be appropriate to wear the iconic suit to Eli's end of the teleporter. Anyway, because some higher purpose disrupted the teleporter, Gordon was found not getting a hero's return, but instead running from the Combine.

The hero's return was to signal the uprising, as the suits material was to be fabricated and mass-produced at Eli's lab, to be used by the resistance.

 

[UltimaApocalypse]

The hero's return was to signal the uprising, as the suits material was to be fabricated and mass-produced at Eli's lab, to be used by the resistance.

What? Where did you get that information from?

 

[Sulkdodds]

<snip>

I agree. It's likely the HEV suit was designed as the ultimate protective gear, perhaps even specifically for entering Xen.

 

[ríomhaire]

Opposing Force gives us the 2 answers to this.
1: The Hazardous Enviormonent Combat Unit had a mission confirmed for BM over a month before the Resonance Cascade
2: The Powered Combat Vest. The military answer to the HEV suit.

 

[cquinn]

Opposing Force gives us the 2 answers to this.
1: The Hazardous Enviormonent Combat Unit had a mission confirmed for BM over a month before the Resonance Cascade

Assuming that we take that part of the story as canon. If we do, then
we also have to accept that parts of Black Mesa were built on top of
a previous (or active) military installation, which had such things
as missles with live nuclear warheads still intact available for special ops
to adapt into weapons to blow up the site in case things got out of control.

The mission to Black Mesa might well have been part of a routine patrol,
just to check in on the scientists to make sure things were not going
wrong.

2: The Powered Combat Vest. The military answer to the HEV suit.

Based on the same technology. Its likely that after giving the military
the PCV, the scientists at Black Mesa adapted the technology into a
research and exploration tool as well. It has a built in medkit that
supplements the wall mounted units, so it is not surprising that it would
be designed to reduce pain and help support the body in case of
mechanical or experimental accidents, until better medical assistance
could arrive.

The neurotoxin protection, IIRC, was not added until the later version
of the HEV suit, when Dr. Kleiner would have been well aware of the
need for such protection.

It wasn't the last HEV suit. Other researchers would still have had
other HEV suits that were used to retrieve samples from Xen before
the RC was triggered.

 

[ríomhaire]

IMO, the HEV suit was invented in the lambda complex(thus the symbol) for the exploration of Xen and was then adapted to other uses in BM and finaly to the military(though I think that the HECU was the only force that revieved them except maybe the black ops)

I'm sure I'd bring tanks, apachies and helicopters aswell as ninjas on a routine patrol. :|

 

[Darkside55]

Opposing Force gives us the 2 answers to this.
1: The Hazardous Enviormonent Combat Unit had a mission confirmed for BM over a month before the Resonance Cascade
2: The Powered Combat Vest. The military answer to the HEV suit.

Indeed. Although, I don't think the PCV was an answer to the HEV. I doubt the PCV was developed with the HEV in mind, nor as something to combat it or function like it.

Loser, you've almost hit the nail on the head. While the HEV was made to withstand certain levels of radiosity, and to keep its user comfortable and protected during experiments that'd bombard them with who-knows-what particles, it's also a high-impact, reactive armor. This explains why it repels bullets, protects the user from the damage and shock of explosions, administers medicines and antidotes, isolates fractures, and why the thing has AUTO-AIM built into it, as well as monitoring weapons and munitions carried.

Black Mesa was not contracted by the US government, it was an installation of the US government. As such, a lot of what they did was involved in weapons technology. In fact, when Gordon accepted the job at Black Mesa, he believed he was going to be a part of weapons research (but was hoping he'd get to work on teleportation experiments, which he did).

However, I say you've ALMOST hit the nail on the head because I don't believe the purpose of HECU was to conceal the weapons technology that was going on at Black Mesa. If it was to conceal anything, it would have been the teleportation technology, which would've been a much deadlier threat to the government if information about it leaked out. Securing weaponry and other technologies was probably secondary or tertiary on the list of things to do.

Minor things:

The G-man wasn't a rep. for weapons research. He was a liason of the Black Mesa Research Facility.

Those soldiers on Xen might not have actually been on Xen. Xen sky, but you were in the desert. That part might've just been one of the G-man's hallucinatory things.

HEV suit useless in radiation

It was designed for minor levels of radiation, not full-on toxic spills, which is what would kill you quickly. With regards to you getting hurt from things like electricity, I think that's just a gameplay issue. Couldn't have people walking through fire or touching live wires and being unaffected, could they? It could simply be explained by saying that electricity bypasses the suit's defenses.

The hero's return was to signal the uprising, as the suits material was to be fabricated and mass-produced at Eli's lab, to be used by the resistance.

Really, really doubtful. Acquiring materials, building the electronics, the time it would take, who would get the first models...that would take far too long. In addition, even if you say that it was too valuable to move by foot, there would've been nothing stopping Izzy from relaying blueprints for Eli to work with, or even taking a piece of the material and sending it through the teleporter. You know the teleporter worked for inanimate objects, right? They were only having trouble with sending living things through (the cat!). And I'm sure that they could've come up with something better based on Combine materials. The only reason they were keeping that suit was for Gordon, because the G-man told them to.

 

[cquinn]

The G-man wasn't a rep. for weapons research. He was a liason of the Black Mesa Research Facility.

That statement is a bit unsupported though, we really don't know what G-Mans role at Black Mesa was. I think he was supposed to be a character
like the Cigarrete Smoking Man from the X-Files, a powerful and influential
bureaucrat who has no official affiliation to check back on.

the HEV suit was invented in the lambda complex(thus the symbol)

And the lambda was also the symbol adopted by the resistance. For them
the suit was also a symbol of the human will to survive. The other survivors
of Black Mesa probably used the suit as a symbol of what the resistance
could strive to be like, not necessarily that they would all get HEV suits
in the end. Don't forget the Vortigaunts hero-worship of Freeman would
also help to give the suit (and the man who wore it) almost legendary
status among resistance members.

 

[Polaris]

HEV and PCV is also technology used by civilian industries (civil recharger in bootcamp).

 

[ríomhaire]

HEV and PCV is also technology used by civilian industries (civil recharger in bootcamp).

Or mabye they are just compatable for chargers created for something else.

 

[Darkside55]

That statement is a bit unsupported though, we really don't know what G-Mans role at Black Mesa was. I think he was supposed to be a character like the Cigarrete Smoking Man from the X-Files, a powerful and influential bureaucrat who has no official affiliation to check back on.

I should clarify: I meant that he wasn't an outside representative for the government who was coming in to check on weapons research. He works directly for BMRF. That's what I meant when I said that, although I also don't believe he worked as a weapons dev rep for BMRF, either.

I believe it's canon though that the G-man was one of Dr. Breen's liasons. I could be wrong, though. In case I am, here's some circumstantial evidence to support that theory.

1. The G-man is probably Freeman's corporate sponsor, and sent him the offer of employment. That letter was sent from the office of the administrator, civilian recruitment division. Fits with his "talent scout" nature too.

2. G-man has the authority to contract members of the military on behalf of Black Mesa. That much clout couldn't come from a weapons division representative. Also, the fact that he's recruiting people for HECU somewhat supports the first point (even though this is military recruitment and not civilian).

3. When you arrive in Sector C, you hear one of the scientists remark, "This place is crawling with the administrator's men today." The G-man is the only person wandering around that would fit that description.

At the very least, it's an agreeable point that the G-man has high authority within the Black Mesa Research Facility, enough to recruit the military and boss around scientists, and is working on behalf of BMRF. Even if you throw out that first point (because it's not really supported, just a commonly-accepted theory), his status suggests that a liason is probably the only thing he COULD be.