Zombine Grenade Behaviour

[coheedswicked]

yes i have killed one with a head shot and guess what? no head and the crab is dead because it is the head. no other zombies display this whether you kill them with a headshot or not the head is always intact and so since the combine soldiers are synths the lack of the head can be explained by the crab removing all the mechanized parts (see rebel graffiti)

 

[the cow says moo]

Again, the combine soldiers are not synths.

 

[Officer Combine]

yes i have killed one with a head shot and guess what? no head and the crab is dead because it is the head. no other zombies display this whether you kill them with a headshot or not the head is always intact and so since the combine soldiers are synths the lack of the head can be explained by the crab removing all the mechanized parts (see rebel graffiti)

Can anyone show me a pic of this "headless variant"? The ones I see have heads that have a scream expression on their face.

This is from the Half Life Wiki: Once a headcrab successfully attaches to a host, the headcrab's alien physiology causes various "mutations" to manifest in its host, such as elongated claws, increased strength, and a sharp-toothed 'mouth' that bisects the victim's chest cavity from neck to groin. In Half-Life 2 the chest "maw" instead appears to be a ripped open chest cavity with no sternum. Removal of the headcrab reveals that the host's head is strangely untouched with it's head bent back and mottled, bloody hair and bloody face set in a scream. In Half-Life 2, horrified sounds emanating from zombies imply that, while severely injured, the host is at least partially aware of its horrific situation.

 

[the cow says moo]

Look up Zombine instead.

 

[Officer Combine]

Ah, okay thanks. Wiki: Zombine groans are filtered through the soldier's vocoder. This "speech" consists not only of Zombie growls but also Combine soldier reports, such as "Necrotics inbound" or "Sector's not secure", suggesting that the host is somewhat aware of what it is doing.

It is interesting to note that the removal of a Zombine's headcrab reveals that, aside from the lower jaw and a small lower portion of skull, no head or helmet remains on the soldier's corpse.

Look at this: It is unknown how a Zombine makes its radio transmissions due the absence of most speech organs (and more importantly, the lack of a head); One possible explanation is the radio chatter heard is not from the Zombine but actually from other Combine soldiers and might be muffled by the loss of a radio antenna that could be placed in the skull. This is unless the Combine Soldiers had their speech vocoder replace natural speech organs, as one instance in the Half-Life 2 chapter Nova Prospekt (Chapter) a combine overwatch soldier is seen without his shirt on an operating table through a security camera with what appears to be a metalic "Adam's apple".

 

[coheedswicked]

Ya i always got the idea that the zombine radio transmitions were just playbacks from the victims radio at the time right before the headcrab got them. thats why they always say stuff like "area's not secure", "necrotics inbound" , and "infestation" and its always mixed with the sounds of dying combine soldiers

 

[Maturin]

Although I've never done so myself, I'm willing to be that the most stressful and memorable part of using a grenade is the few seconds when you hold a fatal explosive inches from your head- before you throw it away. The Zombines seem to remember that part, just not what to do with it. They only associate large objects like barrels as missiles.

 

[ríomhaire]

For zombine speech:
My theory is that, for all zombies, the headcrab somehow memorises the dying screams of its victims and replays them as its roar. This would be evolutionary advantagous as these screams are likely to be something along the lines of "OH ****ING GOD HELP OH **** NO!", which could cause someone to come look for the source of the screams, bringing more victims for the other headcrabs and food for the zombie.

As for the grenade, I'd say the headcrab/zombie either has some vague understanding that it's a weapon but not really what it does; the Combine training/conditioning is somehow in-built and the zombies instictively pull the grenade; or the headcrab/zombie can feel the weight of the grenade pulling against its side and figures it'd be a club (normal zombies will attempt to knock objects at enemy to damage them).

 

[coheedswicked]

id say those are both pretty astute theories, i especially like the zombie speech theory.

 

[ríomhaire]

I find myself questioning the accepted points on how the aliens of HL2 work. I wonder if the headcrab is really in direct control of the zombie, or if the headcrab has just mutated and corrupted its host to a sufficient degree that it can contently sit on top and is not directly pulling the strings. Of course, the zombine's obvious lack of a brain is a big hint that this idea is probably a load of bollox, as does the fact that zombie's sensory organs are blocked by the parasitic swallowing its head. For some reason I've grown to like the idea of the headcrab just feeding cetrain information into the nervous system to guide the zombie, rather than directly taking control of the host.

 

[coheedswicked]

i think the idea of the directly taking control comes from a quote in the beginning of Opposing Force when a scientist says "These crab creatures have a unique parasitic strategy. They can completely control their host's nervous system."

 

[WriterforHire]

i think the idea of the directly taking control comes from a quote in the beginning of Opposing Force when a scientist says "These crab creatures have a unique parasitic strategy. They can completely control their host's nervous system."

Well that would pretty much solve the issue, now wouldn't it? If it is canonically stated in the game then we must assume that the headcrabs do indeed completely control their hosts. Though, there are some loopholes, like the headcrab can nearly completely control them, but the host still has some free will. Or that the scientist was misinformed somehow, but the fact that he is, actually, a scientist, probably is meant to guide the players to believe him, a Ethos argument in its purest form.

 

[Officer Combine]

For zombine speech:
My theory is that, for all zombies, the headcrab somehow memorises the dying screams of its victims and replays them as its roar. This would be evolutionary advantagous as these screams are likely to be something along the lines of "OH ****ING GOD HELP OH **** NO!", which could cause someone to come look for the source of the screams, bringing more victims for the other headcrabs and food for the zombie.

As for the grenade, I'd say the headcrab/zombie either has some vague understanding that it's a weapon but not really what it does; the Combine training/conditioning is somehow in-built and the zombies instictively pull the grenade; or the headcrab/zombie can feel the weight of the grenade pulling against its side and figures it'd be a club (normal zombies will attempt to knock objects at enemy to damage them).

Couldn't be that. They aren't allowed to say the F word in Half life.

 

[Maturin]

Games differentiate between swears?

 

[ríomhaire]

Couldn't be that. They aren't allowed to say the F word in Half life.

You don't understand my point at all.

 

[Mech Man]

Couldn't be that. They aren't allowed to say the F word in Half life.

Im pretty sure the HECU marines in HL1 sometimes shouted "F*ck you!" when throwing nades and kicking to the crotch.

 

[coheedswicked]

and barney says it when you jump into the hole dog uncovers at the end of "Follow Freeman"

 

[Officer Combine]

and barney says it when you jump into the hole dog uncovers at the end of "Follow Freeman"

Right yeah. Sorry I just started playing and I got to that part yesterday. My comment is to be ignored.

 

[MattyDienhoff]

Im pretty sure the HECU marines in HL1 sometimes shouted "F*ck you!" when throwing nades and kicking to the crotch.

I don't think so, I've never seen such clips in the cache when I've looked.

 

[Maturin]

It's on youtube, you can hear it be noclipping, and sometimes the crash of the Combine Wall fails to drown him out.

 

[coheedswicked]

im pretty sure deinhoff is talking about hl1 and the marines. ive heard them say "take this" and "you've got nothing" but ive never heard them say "f*ck you" they might... who knows maybe ill go see if i can find it in the sound files