"We were able to successfully detatch one of the barnacle creatures..."

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Xendance

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I don't get it. During Opposing Force, you see a hologram off someone who was suppose to speak to Walter and it goes like this:
Ahh yes, Walter. We were finally able to detatch one of the barnacle creatures, but I got called down to the Anonymous Materials labs for an important experiment, so I have had no time. Please log anything you find.
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So the barnacles came BEFORE the disaster, correct?
Explain.
 
No, they brought some back from Xen and did tests on them.
 
That I also didn't understand... It seems the resonance cascade just let them loose in the world but Black Mesa had them before hand, they'd taken them from Xen I guess. It's Canon things like this that make so many people dislike Opposing Force. Although we really don't know a lot about Barnacles how do they move and reproduce anyway?
 
I still don't know how the hell a barnacle can get attached to the bottom-side of a bridge. Seriously, WTF?
 
Errmmm... well, it was established in Half-life that the people from Black Mesa had made many trips to Xen and brought a lot of stuff back, I don't see the problem with that. The only problem I see with the Barnacle Gun is that it's really stupid and uneccesary.
 
AJ Rimmer said:
Errmmm... well, it was established in Half-life that the people from Black Mesa had made many trips to Xen and brought a lot of stuff back, I don't see the problem with that. The only problem I see with the Barnacle Gun is that it's really stupid and uneccesary.
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But by saying "We were able to finally detatch..." shows that they struggled to detatch it, so they must have been on Xen for a long time.
 
I pretty sure he says successfull detached... hence suggesting they were yet unable to detach one without it dying etc, or at least detaching it in the way they were able to use it to latch onto things, as for detaching them from whereever they were in xen, i presume they found baby ones, or maybe they didnt actually detach the creature, just removed the piece of material it was attached to. and brought the whole thing back.

It doesnt falter with canon at all, we know full well scientists were travelling to xen for ages when bringing back the different crystal samples, and all the experimentation chambers in questionable ethics i think was for the fauna.
 
Someone thought of spores for the barnacles. But that would be some damn fast development...
 
Spores werent for the barnacle, the barnacle just happened to be able to latch onto them, just like all organic matter like the race x aliens or the black ops.
The spores were something from the race x galaxy, a natual explosive of sorts for the shock troopers (and also food for the baby shock troopers - if they are baby shock troopers that is)
 
hey im new here. ah i think that black mesa was already bringing back organisms from xen and studying them (very evident in OF when you see the mini xen ecosystems which had obviously been set up) but you only discover this in OF
 
Piers89 said:
Spores werent for the barnacle, the barnacle just happened to be able to latch onto them, just like all organic matter like the race x aliens or the black ops.
The spores were something from the race x galaxy, a natual explosive of sorts for the shock troopers (and also food for the baby shock troopers - if they are baby shock troopers that is)
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No, I meant that perhaps they reproduced by spreading spores. Like fungi? You know how fungi spread, right? No, I don't mean the sporegun. There's more than one type of spore, ok.

I mean, otherwise, how do barnacles end up teleporting from Xen to Black Mesa and still find roofs and ceilings to cling onto?
 
Did you play Questionable Ethics and onwards? The science team had been exporing Xen for a long time, taking samples and such. That's where the crystal in the test chamber came from. The scientists had been taking both living and mineral samples for a quite some time. If you take Blue Shift as canon there were even old teleportation labs that have been closed off.
 
^^^^^ People always repeat me D:


Jintor said:
No, I meant that perhaps they reproduced by spreading spores. Like fungi? You know how fungi spread, right? No, I don't mean the sporegun. There's more than one type of spore, ok.

I mean, otherwise, how do barnacles end up teleporting from Xen to Black Mesa and still find roofs and ceilings to cling onto?
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And to that, sorry, misread your comment, but yeah tis a valid point, but really i think we should just group the 'propogation of barnacles' topic into the same group as the 'what is the vortessence, topic - thats the 'dont bother trying to explain it cos its quite hard to explain group.'
 
It's a completly different group as the Vortessence. We have an idea of the Vortessence but no clue about how barnacles reproduce and grow. I like the spore theory best, but as Jintor said, growing to maturity in a few hours is quite crazy. Then again, headcrabs manage to mutate a host a large amount in the same time-frame and the lifespan of a snark is measured in seconds.
 
who is gman? said:
What if they teleported in?? I mean, everything else did.
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What, they "fell" onto the underside of the bridge? Then where are the ones who teleporter in the middle of the air and are lying like a fish out of water with a 20 feet penis lying on the ground?
 
riomhaire said:
It's a completly different group as the Vortessence. We have an idea of the Vortessence but no clue about how barnacles reproduce and grow. I like the spore theory best, but as Jintor said, growing to maturity in a few hours is quite crazy. Then again, headcrabs manage to mutate a host a large amount in the same time-frame and the lifespan of a snark is measured in seconds.
Click to expand...

Given that it's an alien race, though... it's entirely possible. :D

Ah, artistic licence, what blunders you can cover up.
 
riomhaire said:
It's a completly different group as the Vortessence. We have an idea of the Vortessence but no clue about how barnacles reproduce and grow. I like the spore theory best, but as Jintor said, growing to maturity in a few hours is quite crazy. Then again, headcrabs manage to mutate a host a large amount in the same time-frame and the lifespan of a snark is measured in seconds.
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I was just implying that its hard to explain thus people shouldnt lose sleep over it D:

Who knows, if i had to come up with a random theory perhaps the barnacles are an evolved headcrab, which has latched onto a surface and reels in people...
 
The barnacles can probably shoot their tongue out their ass or something and attach to things with ass claws.
 
Piers89 said:
I was just implying that its hard to explain thus people shouldnt lose sleep over it D:

Who knows, if i had to come up with a random theory perhaps the barnacles are an evolved headcrab, which has latched onto a surface and reels in people...
Click to expand...

The next zombie we'll fight will be a human with a barnacle for a head, awesome!:thumbs:
 
They can probably crawl/climb across surfaces using the part of their body that they use to latch onto surfaces. I think that they can change their position when they need to, but we never see them do that, as they prefer to wait in one spot for their food, much in the same way an antlion behaves.
 
As for reproduction; well, real barnacles squirt their sperm and eggs into the water, where they have to chance upon each other, so on land, that's why barnacles usually cluster together.

But maybe those under the bridges on Water Hazard were "planted" by the Combine, to grab rebels?

I mean, they already use headcrabs as weapons, why not barnacles too?

Just my speculations...
 
I don't think it would be spores, they would end up everywhere. Notice that they are only really found in places where they could catch lots of food, under bridges, dark hallways, through holes in ceilings, etc. I surmise that they move there somehow and have at least some intelligence in recognizing a good spot. Maybe they have a more intelligent phase in their life-cylce (you know, one that wouldn't try to eat barrels) where they are more mobile. The problem with the spore theory is this; spores would go everywhere. Yes, the barnacles would likely only survive in places where they can get food, but you can't tell me that something spore sized is catching the things barnacles eat (people, headcrabs, birds). If they eat smaller food when they are first starting out, then their locations don't make much sense. If baby barnacles eat things like birds, then why are so many growing indoors? If they eat mice, how do they catch them when their tongue-thingies don't stretch all the way to the ground?
 
imagod284 said:
I don't think it would be spores, they would end up everywhere. Notice that they are only really found in places where they could catch lots of food, under bridges, dark hallways, through holes in ceilings, etc. I surmise that they move there somehow and have at least some intelligence in recognizing a good spot. Maybe they have a more intelligent phase in their life-cylce (you know, one that wouldn't try to eat barrels) where they are more mobile. The problem with the spore theory is this; spores would go everywhere. Yes, the barnacles would likely only survive in places where they can get food, but you can't tell me that something spore sized is catching the things barnacles eat (people, headcrabs, birds). If they eat smaller food when they are first starting out, then their locations don't make much sense. If baby barnacles eat things like birds, then why are so many growing indoors? If they eat mice, how do they catch them when their tongue-thingies don't stretch all the way to the ground?
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Why wouldn't their tongue thingies stretch all the way to the ground? Also, the "spores" may have enough food stored in them to let them grow to full size... or something. Lemme think about it.
 
Then there would be MASSIVE spores.
 
My bet is they are asexual and lay eggs. The eggs cling to whatever surface they are laid upon.
 
imagod284 said:
I don't think it would be spores, they would end up everywhere. Notice that they are only really found in places where they could catch lots of food, under bridges, dark hallways, through holes in ceilings, etc. I surmise that they move there somehow and have at least some intelligence in recognizing a good spot. Maybe they have a more intelligent phase in their life-cylce (you know, one that wouldn't try to eat barrels) where they are more mobile. The problem with the spore theory is this; spores would go everywhere. Yes, the barnacles would likely only survive in places where they can get food, but you can't tell me that something spore sized is catching the things barnacles eat (people, headcrabs, birds). If they eat smaller food when they are first starting out, then their locations don't make much sense. If baby barnacles eat things like birds, then why are so many growing indoors? If they eat mice, how do they catch them when their tongue-thingies don't stretch all the way to the ground?
Click to expand...
You say that the larvae may be able to recognise a good spot, but perhaps spores could too? Also, most barnacles seem to grow in damp or wet areas (And often seem to have tongues dripping into water or at least a very wet area). Perhaps most of their original body mass comes from water and other living things living on the surface it grows on? Then when they start catching prey they get a bit more fleshed out.
 
The problem with the random spore, instant growth theory is that we would see fully grown barnacles in bad places starving to death. There is intelligence to how they are placed (i mean, besides the fact that they're put there by game designers, this is fantasy land).
 
imagod284 said:
The problem with the random spore, instant growth theory is that we would see fully grown barnacles in bad places starving to death. There is intelligence to how they are placed (i mean, besides the fact that they're put there by game designers, this is fantasy land).
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In HL1:
The barnacles wouldn't even have had time to starve to death. It's only been a few hours.

In HL2:
Any barnacles in unsuitable locations would have long since rotted away.
 
Maybe barnacles don't have reproductive system, in HL1 they probably were created and cloned by Nihilant's army and then teleported to their place in Black Mesa. In HL2 they were, like it has been said before, cloned and placed there by the Combine.
 
Au-heppa said:
Maybe barnacles don't have reproductive system, in HL1 they probably were created and cloned by Nihilant's army and then teleported to their place in Black Mesa. In HL2 they were, like it has been said before, cloned and placed there by the Combine.
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That seems extremely unlikely. Especially the no reproductive system thing.
 
Combine aren't completely engineering new species yet, just mix-n-matching as far as I can see.
 
And the placement of barnacles doesn't really seem like their style. Headcrab shelling is much more direct and forceful than planting a few aliens around and hoping someone is dumb enough to stumble into one.
 
well, headcrabs can walk and might wander to areas where they don't want them
 
Au-heppa said:
well, headcrabs can walk and might wander to areas where they don't want them
Click to expand...

Well yeah, look at the many battles that those soldiers have with zombies, the railroad outside Ravenholm, the Episode One hospital fight, that place in Anticitizen after you lose Alex, the existence of the zombine, etc.

Though barnacles wouldn't backfire so badly, in my opinion.
 
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