The organic origin of the Combine machinery

Max_Fall

Max_Fall

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I was just wondering about the combine and theyre technology,particulary theyre army.I was just wondering if everything they use has came from another world they conquered,like the gunship,and the Strider.Ive noticed that when you take the brain of the strider that dog kills,it has strange glowing implants,perhaps how they control them,also it bled (or ar least it looked like it) and the gunship looks like a flying insect (like a bee),and the hunter as well,even though when you shoot him its not blood its oil,but still.Also they used humans,and modified them to suit theyre purposes,but then who conquered earth,and how did the combine conquer anything when theyre entire army is taken from conquered planets??its so very strange...
 
thats kinda deep thinkin and ive never really thought about it...
 
The slugs.


The slugs came they saw and they conquered
 
I thought the enslaved Vorts were the combines' army to taking over earth?
 
I think the Strider and gunship are some enslaved races controlled by Combine.
 
I reasoned that those biomachines were designed from the ground up to do what they do. Each type engineered for a special tatical application. The technology for creating this equipment may have originated from worlds other then the Combine homeworld but can be built on location. I don't thing they can really be considered sentient in the same way humans are. Like an extremely complex machine following an equally complex set of instructions.
 
Well the drop ships are actually living things if I remember correctly. They are large crustacean-like creatures that carry a large carrier box in their arms filled with troops. Also if you look at the Nihilanth (HL1's boss) he has a large incision scar down his midsection not dissimilar from the scar found on overwatch soldiers on the monitors at Nova Prospekt.
 
indeed most of the Combine tech has a organic origin but there is other stuff thats non-organic technology such as the hoppers and scanners and lets not forget the MANHACKS!!!!!
ill name off a few that are organic
Overwatch,Overwatch Soldier,Overwatch Elite,Strider,Gunship,and the Dropships of course
 
Every single post in this thread so far (discounting Azner and AJ Rimmer) has been wrong. I think that's a record.

Yes, the Combine army is organic. No, the Vortigaunts weren't fighting for the Combine.
 
indeed in the level Point Insertion you can see a enslaved Vortigaunt sweeping the floor
 
Most of the Combine army is organic, albeit ingrained heavily with Combine technology. Pretty much most of the enemies you encounter are like this. Striders, gunships, dropships, hunters, and even the unused crab and mortar synths. Overwatch infantry are the same, although it's clear they still have more reliance on external tech (weapons and armor) rather than innate abilities that the Combine have forced on them, but who knows what they had in store in the future. I'm sure if humanity had been assimilated, we would have gradually seen a forced evolution more fundamentally similar to stalkers, but with a combat orientation.

Obviously, not everything is taken from a previous species. The citadel and other structures I think are unique to the Combine "race" alone, although they're more than willing to adopt whatever technology a conquered species has (ie. trains and hand-held firearms in mankind's case). I'm sure things like manhacks and hopper mines were inspired by human ingenuity.
 
I suppose they first found planets with primal wildlife, such as striders, and then modified them as troops/veichles to use on more advanced planets.
You know, starting from the easy ones to grow and take on harder subjects.
 
Rapstah said:
No, the Vortigaunts weren't fighting for the Combine.
Click to expand...

Were they not? What's with the vortigaunts coming to earth and fighting you unvillingly, then? And the whole thing behind them whining about how they have been slaves for a long time?
They were not soilders but they certainly were forced to fight when needed.
 
I believe that first the Combine (advisors) built mechanical machines like the citadel to conquer other planets then once they conquered the planets they began using and modifying the wildlife like striders and gunships for their armies.
 
FrostXian said:
Were they not? What's with the vortigaunts coming to earth and fighting you unvillingly, then? And the whole thing behind them whining about how they have been slaves for a long time?
They were not soilders but they certainly were forced to fight when needed.
Click to expand...

The vortigaunts were originally enslaved by Nihilanth (final boss from the first Half-Life). They were not part of the Universal Union.

Just to make things clear so old ground isn't retreaded, Nihilanth and the Xenian forces are distinct from the Combine. In fact, the Xenians were fleeing from the Combine, and so they can be considered mutually antagonistic to one another.

The vortigaunts were freed when you killed their master.
 
Im wondering about the headcrabs,they were present in HL1 but are now launched at the combine!What did they do,tame them??

@ Tomu:
How can u conquer anything with a building?

@FrostXian:
The Vortigaunts are from xen,and attacked you in half life one cause you were fighting creatures from xen,the combine came later and enslaved them as well ass humans
 
I'm not sure how long the Combine have been using headcrab pods, but they're certainly not tamed.

There was originally a model of a detached Gonarch sac that was cut from the final game. It's presumed that the Combine were artificially sustaining it (and probably many others) in order to spawn headcrabs they could launch. Seeing as how it was cut, I'm not sure if it still applies today. But I find nothing wrong with the theory, so it was probably removed for other reasons.
 
Thanks,i didnt know that.BTW,no one sad anything about hunters,i think theyre organic too,but when u shoot them thers just alot of oil,but they make wildlife sounds!
 
You need to stop thinking about them in strictly organic vs. machine natures. They're both. They have gone through forced evolution with Combine technology, to the point where they are essentially synergized.

I'm not convinced that hunters bleed oil. That might be blood, for all I know. It is an alien species, after all. But it's not unheard of for Combine units to run on artificial substances. For instance, stalkers (former humans) run on saline instead of blood.
 
The same bleed effect occurs with Antlion Guards.
 
Absinthe said:
The vortigaunts were originally enslaved by Nihilanth (final boss from the first Half-Life). They were not part of the Universal Union.

Just to make things clear so old ground isn't retreaded, Nihilanth and the Xenian forces are distinct from the Combine. In fact, the Xenians were fleeing from the Combine, and so they can be considered mutually antagonistic to one another.

The vortigaunts were freed when you killed their master.
Click to expand...

Are we sure about that? Controllers, grunts and Nihilanth himself (SPECIALLY Nihilanth) were brutally amputed and fused with machine parts in a way combine would do. Nihilanth had his legs cut off and a giant machine stuffed up his arse (literally), controllers had metallic beacons installed within their skulls and grunts were merged with their armor, and got carried around in pods (much like the stalkers).
I suggest Nililanth was a slave to Combine himself, which make Vortigaunts a slave to Combine. It also explains why Vortigaunts hate Combine and fight against it along humans.
 
No.

Doug Lombardi and, more importantly, Marc Laidlaw have confirmed that Nihilanth was on the run from the Combine and that the Combine were not on Xen. They are two distinct forces. Make what you will of Nihilanth's surgical scars or mechanical additions, but he was not in league with them.

Besides, their general physiologies are so different that I find the idea to be absurd. There isn't a single Xenian creature that wouldn't look out of place amidst Combine forces. Alien grunt armor may be an example of technology ingrained into organic creatures, but that would be but a minor commonality. There's nothing to indicate they are one in the same. Just look at the grunt factory on Xen and compare it to the citadel. They both employ pods, but that is their only similarity. Xenians have a more pronounced organic aspect to them and their architecture. The Combine utilize metallic rigidity, with monolithic structures and a distinct asymmetrical aesthetic. The Combine make more use of ballistics and weaponry, whereas most Xenian creatures appear to have their own natural abilities. And there is no indication (aside from the occasional obtuse similarity) of a Combine presence on Xen, like monitors, buildings, thumpers, or... anything, really.
 
FrostXian said:
Controllers, grunts and Nihilanth himself (SPECIALLY Nihilanth) were brutally amputed and fused with machine parts in a way combine would do...
I suggest Nililanth was a slave to Combine himself, which make Vortigaunts a slave to Combine. It also explains why Vortigaunts hate Combine and fight against it along humans.
Click to expand...
The vortigaunts and Nihilanth were enslaved by the Combine a long time ago on their homeworld, but after that they escaped to Xen, where the Combine couldn't follow them. That's why the Vorts call Nihilanth the "lesser master" and the Combine the "greater master".

Above info directly from Laidlaw (check that other thread - info from Valve).
 
99.vikram said:
The vortigaunts and Nihilanth were enslaved by the Combine a long time ago on their homeworld, but after that they escaped to Xen, where the Combine couldn't follow them. That's why the Vorts call Nihilanth the "lesser master" and the Combine the "greater master".

Above info directly from Laidlaw (check that other thread - info from Valve).
Click to expand...

That makes sense, and kind of confirms both me and Absinthe.
 
Striders are giant squids with 3 legs and a exo skeleton...and hunters are normals squids with an exo skeleton, and the gun ship is a small whale adapted for flying...




















A man can dream...right?


Right?!
 
Rapstah said:
Yes, you can. What's your point?
Click to expand...

my point is they have ENSLAVED a few of the Vortigaunts though they do not fight for them but a few still WORK for the Combine

and no Anzer i believe there for more then that considering that because there are-as far as i know- only a FEW Advisors
 
The Nihilanth was once captured, I believe, at some point, and they tortured him, but he broke free, and escaped to Xen with the rest of his people, all way before Half-life 1.
 
99.vikram said:
The vortigaunts and Nihilanth were enslaved by the Combine a long time ago on their homeworld, but after that they escaped to Xen, where the Combine couldn't follow them. That's why the Vorts call Nihilanth the "lesser master" and the Combine the "greater master".

Above info directly from Laidlaw (check that other thread - info from Valve).
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking as well.
 
LandStander said:
That's what I was thinking as well.
Click to expand...

He didn't think it. It's true.

Quote: Laidlaw.

And I'm surprised no-one else has complained at people for not looking it up already. There are already several sources which cover Vortigaunts + Combine
 
Inkheart449 said:
my point is they have ENSLAVED a few of the Vortigaunts though they do not fight for them but a few still WORK for the Combine

and no Anzer i believe there for more then that considering that because there are-as far as i know- only a FEW Advisors
Click to expand...

I meant there are huge numbers of combine slugs. Which are called combine. But there are definetly more ranks that just ADVISORS. Wtf a whole army of guys mindraping and mumbling. He betrays, my emperor, behead that bastard. No he betrays, no gimme gold.

I assume you read my post wrongly.
 
Azner said:
I meant there are huge numbers of combine slugs. Which are called combine. But there are definetly more ranks that just ADVISORS. Wtf a whole army of guys mindraping and mumbling. He betrays, my emperor, behead that bastard. No he betrays, no gimme gold.

I assume you read my post wrongly.
Click to expand...

i must have.....my bad but indeed i have to agree with you now there has to be quite a few more ranks
at the end of HL1 when you choose life or death one time i chose death
wasent a pretty sight if you ask me
 
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