My thoughts on the Borealis's cargo

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Hey guys, based on what was said during the video of the ships discovery in EP2 i have the feeling that part of the cargo will be more of the crystal from HL1, it was never given a formal name, plus the way Eli talks about it and the reference to the original incident at Black Mesa leads me to this conclusion, what do you think?
 
Why would it carry that cargo? What makes you think that?
 
The fact that Eli talks about how powerful the cargo is and then references the original incident in BM, it just made me think about that. We've seen how dangerous the crystal is, and perhaps it can somehow be used as a weapon against the Combine, it was just a thought.
 
That's like saying the Borealis is full of G-Men, Eli talks of G-Man and he is very powerful.
 
Wha- how... why would that be bad? It's just crystal, unless the Boeralis also has an anti-Mass spectrometer onboard it's not really going to be alot more dangerous than the piece of crystal Eli kept in his lab in Black Mesa East.
 
AJ Rimmer said:
Wha- how... why would that be bad? It's just crystal, unless the Boeralis also has an anti-Mass spectrometer onboard it's not really going to be alot more dangerous than the piece of crystal Eli kept in his lab in Black Mesa East.
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Yeah but remember the size difference, HL 1's piece was nearly the size of a dwarf, Eli's version was the size of a baseball, like i said it was just a thought... Anyone have a another plausible idea?
 
Eli's piece and the BM specimen are about the same size.
 
CSM said:
Yeah but remember the size difference, HL 1's piece was nearly the size of a dwarf, Eli's version was the size of a baseball, like i said it was just a thought... Anyone have a another plausible idea?
Click to expand...

Again, without an anti-mass spectrometer to cause another resonance cascade (Which wouldn't make things all that much worse, the portal storms are still ravishing Eart according to the all-knowing Mr Laidlaw and the Nihilanth is dead already) it wouldn't make a lot of difference. And to add two additional points:
1. Where would Aperture science get ahold of Xen-crystals, seeing as how they have no teleportation machine to get them to Xen?
2: It's boring.

So... probably (hopefully) not.
 
I think that the borealis has been in the hands of the combine or some other enemy lifeform dangerous to the human race, the reason for its importance/need to be destroyed is the fact it has returned atall from were it has been and the liklyness that it has been deliberatly sent back for some uncooth reason. the likly hood is that the ship holds the tools and information to open a portal big enough and stable enough to engulf the planet so instead of invading our planet they just take it to them. the fact it has been sent back may be accountable by the need of the portal to be created on our side and an inability to send any biological life form through with it, there for the combine on our side will need to intercept it and take matters into there hands in creating the mega portal reaction.
this is what will cause a race, a race between gordon and the combine to reach the borealis and destroy or put into motion the contents of the ship.

maybe i have gone a bit far but it sounds like a bloody good story line to me the set up for a truly impressive ending. what you guys think?
 
well,apparently,we know it carries something that can destroy man kind,after Eli's death,Freeman and Alyx will probably destroy the ship,will that destroy mankind?or will it be the end of the combine?
 
How do we know it can "destroy man-kind?" Kleiner wants us to use it, Eli didn't. All we know is that it is something science-y that could produce very bad results. I'm certain it has something to do with portals, or another kind of teleportation device.
 
Okay, this thread was so interesting, it forced me to actually register here. Why does nobody believe it might contain the portal gun? That seems just as logical as anything else. Obviously the events at aperture science during portal took place before the earth was ravaged by the combine because at the end of the game, you can see that it's a beautiful day and the lighting just doesn't match the lighting in the rest of the HL2+ series. Chances are the ship contains some cargo relating to portal technology. I think it would be great if it had the portal gun and that became something else you could add to your arsenal. They've almost laid the groundwork for it being in your arsenal anyway. If you do the trick where you load up HL2 maps in portal, you can actually switch to the portal gun using your weapon menu. It has a little icon and it's named correctly. It almost seems like they've added elements into the engine already. Maybe I'm just reaching. Either way, those are my thoughts.
 
Borealis contains a very sophisticated portal system as well as an AI intelligence (GLaDOS). Both of which would be a HUGE asset to the combine if they get their hands....tentacles....or whatever on the ship.
 
i would say it is some portal thing. Some super portal creator of some kind..
 
Philadelphia Experiment. Google it.

In other words, BIG ASS TELEPORTER.

That's what's on the ship, guys. It took the ship, its crew, and part of the dry dock with it. It took it from Ohio to the arctic circle. That's why the Combine want it so bad. It's the perfect localized teleportation technology. They don't even NEED the borderworld.
 
cyk said:
How do we know it can "destroy man-kind?" Kleiner wants us to use it, Eli didn't. All we know is that it is something science-y that could produce very bad results. I'm certain it has something to do with portals, or another kind of teleportation device.
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how can you say it isnt? eli was very adimant that it must be destroyed this alone tells you it is detromental to man-kind or there fight against the combine and in turn man-kind.
 
comradpoplin1 said:
how can you say it isnt? eli was very adimant that it must be destroyed this alone tells you it is detromental to man-kind or there fight against the combine and in turn man-kind.
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It may only be potentially threatening to mankind, like those crystals from Xen.

The ship is almost certainly full of portal technology - that's what Aperture Science specialises in (either that, or the Borealis is full of shower curtains). Eli is probably afraid of it because of what happened the last time humans messed with technology that they didn't really understand - the resonance cascade.
 
Planeforger said:
It may only be potentially threatening to mankind, like those crystals from Xen.

The ship is almost certainly full of portal technology - that's what Aperture Science specialises in (either that, or the Borealis is full of shower curtains). Eli is probably afraid of it because of what happened the last time humans messed with technology that they didn't really understand - the resonance cascade.
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Its a fair point, personnaly i like the idea of a world engulfing portal lol! makes it all sort of grander but i know its highly unlikley, i may just write and alternative episode 3 to fill my time :D
 
I heard that it's full of all the content cut from Half-Life 2, oh and some portal tech too - but who cares I'm more interested in that fire extinguisher.
 

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Damn. He will be apprehended and his brain removed with a fondue fork.

AJ, it was good to know you.
 
chet and erik are from cleveland. That is why Aperture is in cleveland.
I think people are too interested in making portal fit into the 'canon' of the HL world. Yes, they are connected, but they have completely different tones and are clearly just different riffs on roughly the same subject. They need not slot perfectly together in an autistically-arranged universe.
 
Wow! I didn't see all those little details. Cleveland, Ohio, "Assisted Jaunt Center", even GLaDOS! Anyone have the whole thing extracted somewhere?

Storywise, this seems to be the equivalent of Eli's newspaper clippings.
 
They were just flashes playing from Mossman's transmittal...
 
But they're image file's though right? Which means GCFscape can extract them from the game. Time to go a-hunting!
 
Planetary said:
But they're image file's though right? Which means GCFscape can extract them from the game. Time to go a-hunting!
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Too bad ive got the 360 version, i thought those schematics were just fan art or something...
 
CSM said:
Too bad ive got the 360 version, i thought those schematics were just fan art or something...
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Nope. There is 2 more. I change my mind, money is now on dangerous teleportation-device!

borealisplans02bb2.png


borealisplans03tk1.png


borealisschematic001la9.png
 
GusIII, thanks for those files. I had to create an account to point out two things that I noticed immediately, though I'm trying to follow up on a few other things.

1) That ship is armed. The third pic clearly labels (if the drawings aren't enough) guns (turrets) either with calibre (50cal) or size (MM).

2) There's an airlock labeled on the same pic. With the drawing showing more than 1 door on the upper deck, I'm intrigued by this. Of note is that the rooms near the airlock are labeled with "trash" but I'm not sure if that would explain the airlock or not.

"Local Holding" up at the front of the upper deck is of interest also though I may be reading too much into it.

I don't doubt that it has teleporting equipment on board, and it makes sense that GLaDOS is on board (especially with her designing the ship). The armament is a bit surprising for a DLA ship, though perhaps the cargo they ship requires heavy defenses.

If anyone else has shots of details of the ship, post them up!

-zooo
 
Well, I think the Borealis isnt that far removed from the testing thing at all. If you refer to this pictue i will explain.

borealisplans02bb2.png


In it there are 2 notes of worth... Up the top of it is this...

MATERIAL EMANCIPATION GRID
POST TEST ROOM SIMILAR EXCEPT AS NOTED

Remember in portal how there was a "Emancipation Grid" after (or post) each test room? At the very least it suggests the use of the grids in the ship, which would make for some interesting puzzle moments in Ep3.

Next in line is:

...ENCES - ARRGT. OF MAIN UNSTATIONARY SCAFFORD AND MACHINERY

The "Unstationary scafford" is frequently used in tests, though its possible it would have applications elsewhere. But both of these could just be standard Aperature rechnologies that could have frequent uses elsewhere.

Also another musing - There is belief that the borealis was constructed not at the test chamber locale. This is still possibly true, but just before you encounter GLaDOS in the flesh, so to speak, if you look outside you see a VAST chamber with scaffolding being suspended from the roof. What point would such a large area have unless you were constructing somthing equally vast? Somthing Borealis sized perhaps?
 
But... remember what happened the last time technology tried to emancipate gordon's weapons? Surely their technology wouldn't be as good as the combine's, and alyx's EMP device should make short work of them...
 
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