No more headcrabs/Zombies/Zombines

[Darkside55]

I think it's more like they inject eggs into the host (swolen stomache)

You know what's interesting is that in a very old piece of art for what I assume is the poison headcrab, back before they were black and were rather large and flesh-colored, it shows a necrotic victim with a series of shiny black spores growing on his chest. I remember having first seen that and thought, "Looks like a carrier for birthing more headcrabs." Of course, this wasn't the final model and in the final model I cannot see this being the case. I don't think Valve will go with that either because it's too reminiscent of the flood from Halo.

 

[Para]

If they can figure out grenades they can probably use the natural abilities of creatures they (arguably) evolved with.

They know how to activate stuff, not how to aim it. Zombines either hold or drop the grenade, don't throw it at something.

 

[[GD]raziel44]

i dont like fas and poisones headcrabs and i hate fas zombies so creepy but i like the zombines

 

[Midnight Cowboy]

I think the Combine would specifically alter the headcrabs not to progress into Genomes.

Simply, the Combine use the headcrab shells to kill off/terrorize/disperse a resistance pocket, if the Combine later need to re-occupy or use that area, do they want to fight some slow-moving, mindless zombies or highly-mutated, powerful Genomes?

Turning whole population areas into zombies is a rather well thought-out strategy in itself; turn agile, thinking, rebellious citizens into sloth, easy-to-kill zombies with no alliances, who turns on the very resistance it was once a part of.

 

[knut]

But we've seen proof that the Combine are have launched pods containing Fast Headcrabs (Anticitizen One) and Poisonous Headcrabs (Highway 17), and each of these pods and their contents turn their hosts into either agile fast zombies or 'armoured' posion zombies. The fast zombie can reach a human in seconds, be it from running right at you or from swinging down from the rooftops. Not good for a group of soldiers on clean up. And the posion zombie is tough to kill - they take up quite alot of resources to kill, and they have the deadly posion headcrabs to throw. Also not good for a group of Combine soldiers. Of course, who knows how the Combine clean up areas of parasite shelling? Ravenholm was left abandoned, and most places along Highway 17 are deserted, even after shelling.

So even if the Combine alter headcrab not to turn to Genomes, they already have created 'super' creatures as it is.

 

[jimmyjam]

it's Gonome

I'm guessing they don't clean out areas
headcrab shelling is a scorched earth tactic if I've ever seen one

 

[knut]

Gonome, Genome - whatever, wasn't a fan.

Yeah, perhaps they don't actually clean up areas. Hell, the lower basement of Nova Prospekt is 'infected', theres even a posion zombie in that laundry place.