The Combine are a powerful alien race and empire from Valve Software's 2004 first-person shooter computer game: Half-Life 2. During the game, they are also referred to as the Universal Union and Our Benefactors in propaganda.
Introduction
Overview
The Combine expand their empire by invading planets and enslaving the inhabitants to be exploited as they see fit. By manipulating the dominant species through methods including bioengineering and implantation, the Combine creates a race of super-soldiers uniquely adapted for the environment of that particular planet. This process results in a highly mobile and adaptive military which is able to respond to any threat and crush any opposition.
Members of what may be the original master-race behind the Combine are only briefly glimpsed in the game: they resemble grub-like creatures with mechanical arms, and appear to be utterly dependent on technology to survive.
Note that the name "Combine" is not the actual name of the alien race or their empire; rather, it is the name by which humans refer to both.
Based on information mentioned by Vortigaunts, some players theorize that the Combine may have previously enslaved portions of Xen, the alternate dimension seen in Half-Life.
Invasion
Attracted by the dimensional rift caused by the Black Mesa Incident, the Combine launched an invasion of Earth that culminated in the 7-hours War. Former administrator of the Black Mesa Research Facility Dr. Wallace Breen negotiated a surrender on Earth's behalf and was appointed the administrator of the Combine's control of Earth. At the start of the game, the Combine have almost complete dominance of Earth: only a few handfuls of rebels, loosely organized in a ragtag resistance, are secretly opposing them.
The Combine's rule is based on a gigantic tower called The Citadel, which is located in City 17. The reasons behind the Combine's desire to control the Earth are unknown, other than the absorption of Earth's resources.
Humanoid Combine
The primary military force of the Combine rule on Earth is the Combine Overwatch Humanoid Task Forces (referred to by Dr. Breen as the 'Transhuman arm of the Combine Overwatch'): humans who have been modified into "trans-human" cyborgs. They are the most frequently-encountered foes throughout Half-Life 2.
Metro Cops
| A Metro Cop in a defensive/offensive position | A Metro Cop |
First Seen: Chapter One, Point Insertion
- Health Totals: 26 (before chapter 11), 40 (after chapter 11)
- Weapon Damage: Stun Baton(0), Pistol(3), SMG(3)
- Special Abilities: Fire flare (calls for reinforcements), Manhack release
The Metro Cops, or Civil Protection, police inner-city areas and keep citizens in line through use of intimidation and physical force, from random beatings and 'inspections' to outright murder. In the first few chapters of the game, they are armed with pistols and stun batons. Later, however, they occasionally carry SMGs. Some cops are also outfitted with deployable Manhacks which they will release at opportune moments. Civil Protection officers also have the ability to launch flares for calling reinforcements.
The tactics that these 'police officers' employ are basically strafing to avoid enemy fire or hiding behind cover when they are wounded. When a Metro Cop dies, its radio emits a prolonged tone (reminiscent of the sound of a "flat-lining" EKG). Any surviving officers will usually start chattering on their radios.
The presence of Civil Protection forces can usually be detected by telltale radio chatter in quiet areas. The CP soldiers do not appear to be "evolved" or "enhanced" humans, although their fully-enclosing masks and helmets make this hard to determine. Given the knowledge that Barney was able to infiltrate the Combine by gaining a CP position and several City 17 citizens talk about joining Civil Protections for better meals, it is likely that they are simply humans who have pledged allegiance to the Combine in return for better treatment and prospects. However, Overwatch loudspeaker announcements refer to 'memory replacement' as a method of increasing rank privileges; perhaps higher-ranking Civil Protection officers are further from the base human than their subordinates.
CPs are generally kept separate from the more military branches of the Combine, staying in a policing role within the cities. They travel in APCs and dropships, and are often accompanied by swarms of scanners.
Combine Soldiers
| A standard Combine soldier | A Combine soldier in a defensive/offensive position | A Nova Prospekt guard. Note the outfit which is similar to that of a Combine soldier. |
First Seen: Chapter Six, "We don't go to Ravenholm..."
- Health Total: 50
- Weapon Damage: Weapon butt (10), SMG (3), Shotgun (3), Pulse Rifle (3), Grenade (75)
Combine Soldiers are intelligent infantrymen that work well in a team and use a variety of attack methods. While Civil Protection has jurisdiction over the relatively minor affairs of policing the city, Overwatch soldiers can be found everywhere, and form the backbone of the Combine military occupation force. In this role, they are also the most versatile units the Combine have on hand.
Combine soldiers are initially found mostly in the wasteland outside the cities, patrolling the highways for resistance activity and staffing Combine outposts. They can, however, be found anywhere the Combine requires direct military action. Overwatch soldiers are also tasked with guarding very high-security areas, monitoring stalkers in the Citadel and serving as prison staff in Nova Prospekt. Nova Prospekt's guards wear special blue-and-yellow uniforms, but are otherwise identical to their grey-and-white counterparts.
Combine soldiers are confirmed to have undergone extensive modifications including (but not limited to) brain surgery, chest surgery and implantation of various mechanical devices in the throat and around the stomach. They carry SMGs, Shotguns, or Overwatch Pulse Rifles, as well as a supply of grenades. They will also occasionally use Manhacks and flares. Certain soldiers will use sniper rifles, although they are less common. (See below.)
Overwatch soldiers are the pilots and gunners of the Combine's hunter-choppers. They will also travel using Combine dropships and APCs.
The following are true of both Combine Soldiers and Elites:
- Soldiers usually stay behind cover and only come out for a short time to fire.
- They frequently attempt outflanking maneuvers to surround enemies.
- When faced with an enemy that is too close to safely fire upon, they will use the butt of their weapons to strike the enemy and attempt to drive him or her back.
Combine Elite
| A Combine Elite soldier in a defensive/offensive position | A Combine Elite soldier |
First Seen: Chapter Nine, Nova Prospekt
- Health Total: 70
- Weapon Damage: Weapon butt(15), Pulse Rifle(3), Pulse Rifle Energy Orb(15)
Sporting a distinctive white uniform with a single red ocular sensor, the Elite are the deadliest of the Combine foot-soldiers as well as the most heavily augmented. They are similar to regular Combine soldiers, save for a few differences.
Because of their improvements, the Elite forces are tougher, more accurate, and inflict more damage than regular Soldiers. They are always equipped with the Overwatch Standard-Issue Pulse Rifle and are the only enemies who seem to have access to the weapon's secondary-fire disintegration grenade. They use this advantage without hesitation and with deadly accuracy. Elites engage in direct combat against enemies and haven't been seen driving vehicles, although they do travel in dropships.
Because they are higher in rank, Elites will often lead a squad of regular soldiers in battle. They are fewer in number than regular soldiers, and are thus reserved for the most critical combat missions. They also serve as security for the Citadel and as Dr. Breen's personal guards.
Combine Snipers
First Seen: Chapter Six, "We don't go to Ravenholm..."
- Health Total: 125
- Weapon Damage: Sniper Rifle (40)
Snipers hide themselves in high, concealed locations that offer a good field of view. The only ways to detect a sniper are by the blue sighting beam and the distinctive crack of his sniper rifle. Typically, these snipers are so well-entrenched that they can only be killed with a well-placed grenade or other explosive device.
They also seem to take the doctrine of "Shoot anything that moves" quite literally; aside from their fellow Combine, they will fire upon anything that moves, including crows, headcrabs, pigeons and zombies.
Snipers can be seen shooting any breakable items around a hiding target, in order to eliminate the amount of additional cover the target may use.
Stalkers
First Seen: Chapter Nine, Nova Prospekt
- Health Total: N/A
- Weapon Damage: N/A
The product of extreme, brutal Combine engineering, Stalkers are former humans who have had their higher brain functions severed and their bodies physically altered. Their limbs have been removed and replaced with mechanical extensions; sexual organs, excess fat and muscle has also been removed and what appear to be metallic augmentations added to parts of their body. For ease of maintenance and to bring a physical dependence on the Combine, the Stalker's digestive tract has been removed, resulting in the Stalkers surviving solely on a saline solution that the Combine provides. Humans are turned into Stalkers at Nova Prospekt, the ex-prison Combine facility, and are then shipped to the Citadel to do slave labour for the Combine. Despite being seen in Nova Prospekt and the Citadel, Stalkers are never actually engaged in combat by the player.
In Garry's Mod, Stalkers, when spawned, have been witnessed shooting lasers from their feet at the player and damaging them. It is unknown whether this an easter egg, or unfinished code originally intended to be in Half-Life 2. If the player kills the Stalker, it is likely to crash the game, which indicated that the code is unfinished and buggy. Furthermore, enemy Stalkers were found in the leaked beta version of Half-Life 2, attacking similarly to the way they do in Garry's Mod.
Combine Synth
Synths are synthetic creatures that, over a course of imposed evolution and adaptation by the Combine, have come to fit a particular niche in the Combine military. Once organic creatures spread across different worlds, they were enslaved and assimilated into the Combine to become the back-bone of their military. The number of different Synths is unknown.
Strider
| A strider in a lowered position | A strider |
First Seen: Chapter One, Point Insertion
- Health Total:3 (Easy) 5 (Normal) 7 (Hard) RPG/Grenade/Energy Orb hits
- Weapon Damage: Pulse Turret (5), Main cannon and impaling attack (Instant Death)
An extremely deadly and effective assault unit, the Strider is perhaps the most feared of the Synths seen on Earth.
Striders are essentially walking autonomous tanks, consisting of a beetle-like shell and three massive legs. The underside of the segmented shell holds the strider's external organs and two guns. The smaller of the two is a standard pulse gun, while the larger is a huge "Warp" cannon able to punch significant holes in the thickest concrete and vaporize enemies in a manner similar to the pulse rifle's grenade. The firing of this weapon is signaled by a strange distortion of the light around the cannon's barrel, a loud hum, and a smaller initial beam that indicates where the full force will hit. This process takes only a few seconds, leaving little time to react. Their powerful legs are also tipped with sharp spikes, which they use to stab weaker targets and kick debris.
Individual striders are used to patrol off-limit city streets and provide combat support for groups of soldiers. However, in major combat, striders are used in a role similar to Manhacks on a city-wide scale, destroying possible shelters and flooding an area as a means of removing all enemies. Because of their greater effectiveness and value, they are used mostly in a defensive role.
Striders fit this task well due to their destructive ability and remarkable maneuverability on even the harshest terrain. When unleashed, a strider can and will destroy an entire building in order to strike a handful of targets inside. Conveniently, their long legs can climb over any resulting debris or any barriers of up to several meters high. They can even crawl through very small traffic tunnels and parking garages, if need be, 'digging' through barriers using their main cannon.
When not using this cannon, striders stay in constant motion, making them difficult to hit. They are also armored against all but the most powerful weapons, making most non-explosive rounds useless against them. Luckily, striders tend to follow specific patrol routes when tasked with defending a limited area, making them easy to avoid, so long as scanners are not being used.
When scanners do accompany a strider, they function as spotters for it, searching inside buildings and other places of concealment for targets the strider would otherwise be unable to see.
Striders also work with Combine dropships, folding their legs into a compact shape that allows them to be transported.
Dropship
| An unloaded Combine dropship | A Combine dropship carrying a infantry transport |
First Seen: Chapter Four, Water Hazard
- Health Total: N/A
- Weapon Damage: Pulse Turret (3)
Resembling a crab-like creature with ten limbs, the Dropship serves as the primary aerial transport unit of the Combine. The front and rearmost pairs of legs contain the engines that give the dropship lift and movement. The front two also hold retractable wings, used for maneuvering. The middle four legs are tipped with large gripping pads, and are used to carry cargo.
Dropships can carry most Combine forces and they have been spotted transporting Combine APCs, striders, roller mines and both Civil Protection and Overwatch soldiers as well as Gordon's dune buggy. The soldiers are transported in large streamlined containers, equipped with a mounted pulse gun. Other than these containers' guns, the dropship has no weaponry, but it compensates by being the most armored combine unit. They are basically invincible to all forms of attack. The cargo being held, however, is unshielded and open to damage. More often than not though, the dropship's speed and the resilience of most cargo allow for a safe delivery before taking too much fire.
Dropships are used for any situation that requires fast air transport, mostly for attacks on remote locations. Dropships are also used as minelayers for deploying roller mines.
Gunship
| The underside of a Combine gunship | A Combine gunship |
First Seen: Chapter One, Point Insertion
- Health Total: 3 (Easy) 5 (Normal) 7 (Hard) RPG/Energy Orb hits
- Weapon Damage: Pulse Turret (3)
A powerful autonomous aircraft that combines aspects of an airplane and a helicopter with synth technology, the gunship is Combine's most versatile combat aircraft. It is powered by an array of different jet engines and a single large helicopter turbine. Although lacking the hunter-chopper's explosive mines and intelligent pilots, the gunship surpasses the chopper in maneuverability and accuracy with its main pulse gun.
Like most Combine synths and vehicles, the gunship is invulnerable to light weapons and can be damaged all but exclusively by explosive rounds. Because of this weakness to explosives, gunships will use their main gun to shoot incoming rockets or missiles out of the sky.
Gunships are also equipped with a 'belly cannon' which creates a suppressor-style disintegration blast directly beneath the craft. This attack is very rarely used or witnessed though, to the point that few even know it exists.
Gunships are used to attack enemies not normally accessible to ground forces or in remote locations where air power would be more convenient. They are also sometimes used in a support role, called into specific trouble spots by soldiers in need of aid.
Shield Scanner
First Seen: Chapter Eleven, Anticitizen One
- Health Total: 30
- Weapon Damage: Dive (25) Mounted gun (3)
The successor of the original scanner, the Shield Scanner emerges for a brief time in later stages of the game. Although a type of synth, the Shield Scanner is nearly identical to the mechanical City Scanner in terms of function and capabilities. The only differences (aside from visual) are that the Shield Scanner is equipped with a weak gun and a large pincer arm, which is kept concealed behind an armored hatch on the front of the device along with several additional sensors.
The large pincer is used to efficiently pick up and place hopper mines, giving the Shield Scanner the additional combat support roles of a miniature equipment transport and minelayer. Its use in combat is also given greater precedence, compared to the original.
The Shield Scanner, like the City Scanner, works in tandem with many different Combine forces, although it is most commonly encountered with both Civil Protection officers and Overwatch soldiers. Shield Scanners are also used, at times, as target spotters for striders, alerting them to the presence of enemies hiding inside structures or in other areas that might be used for concealment.
Crab Synth
First Seen: Chapter Thirteen, Benefactory
- Health Total: N/A
- Weapon Damage: N/A
This synth is seen only in the bowels of the Combine Citadel, and its capabilities are unknown. It appears to be a ground-based combat unit, but no other information is available.
Mortar Synth
First Seen: Chapter Thirteen, Benefactory
- Health Total: N/A
- Weapon Damage: N/A
Like the "Crab Synth," this creature is seen only in the Citadel, and has unknown capabilities. It may be an airborne attack unit that launches solid, energy, or explosive projectiles, judging by its name and the catapult-like structure on its back.
Combine Tech
The vast arsenal of the Combine presence on Earth also extends to other devices, some offensive and others used in the day-to-day policing of the general populace.
Manhack
First Seen: Chapter Three, Route Kanal
- Health Total: 25
- Weapon Damage: Saw-blade (20)
Robotic flying saws that are designed to hunt and eliminate enemies of the Combine. Manhacks are robotic drones, smaller than a scanner, that are used for combat support and as an efficient means of clearing out enemy territory that would be too dangerous or difficult for conventional troops.
Their method of attack is deceptively low-tech, consisting of only a horizontal circular saw made up of two angular helicopter blades. These blades are extremely sharp and spin with enough speed to instantly destroy wooden planks and girders, although they have extremely limited effectiveness when cutting through tougher materials such as metal and concrete. Manhacks have very little concept of self-preservation, careening off walls and through objects in the single-minded pursuit of enemy forces.
Manhacks are carried by some Civil Protection and Overwatch soldiers, folded up in a small boxy shape. They are dispensed by devices similar to those used to dispense food to the citizen population. To deploy, the soldier tosses the Manhack into the air, where it unfolds itself and immediately flies towards any nearby foes, providing excellent distractions during a firefight.
Manhacks are also often deployed en masse to "flood" tight or inaccessible areas that are suspected of containing criminals. Complicated networks like sewers and ventilation systems are ideal candidates for this strategy, as the Manhacks' speed and small size allow them to quickly scour every potential hiding place.
The Manhack's weakness is the ease with which it can be deflected. A strong blow from almost any weapon will stun a Manhack and knock it back up to several meters. However, they compensate for this weakness by attacking in large numbers, anywhere from one individual to swarms of several dozen or more.
City Scanner
First Seen: Chapter One, Point Insertion
- Health Total: 30
- Weapon Damage: Dive (25)
Flying security cameras that take photos of citizens and report their locations to combine forces. City Scanners are mass-produced and used for surveillance, reconnaissance and as an effective means of locating missing or wanted individuals. These drones are extremely prevalent on the streets of City 17, and can be deployed in even greater numbers in cases of emergency. They typically travel in groups of two or three.
Though equipped with only a headlamp and no weaponry, City Scanners will attempt to crash themselves into an attacker if they receive critical damage. Also, the bright photographic flash emitted by a City Scanner can cause temporary blindness and disorientation in an enemy, leaving them temporarily open to attack from other forces. Because of their weakness, City Scanners are used in combat almost exclusively to provide tactical information to more capable fighters.
It is rare to see a City Scanner away from other Combine units; therefore the appearance of a City Scanner usually indicates that armed forces are not far off. City Scanners will work alongside most any type of Combine unit, but are largely found in the company of Civil Protection officers.
Combine battery packs can sometimes be salvaged from the remains of destroyed City Scanners, and re-used.
It also appears that a salvaged City Scanner was used in one of the latest evolutions of Dog, the robot built by Eli Vance to protect his daughter, Alyx, as both machines maintain a similar "facial" design.
Hopper Mine
First Seen: Chapter Eleven, Anticitizen One
- Health Total: N/A
- Weapon Damage: N/A
Anti-personnel mines that hop into the air before exploding, these mines are carried and deployed by Shield Scanners. They are vaguely cone-shaped with three sharp 'legs'. When dropped, the mines use these legs to bounce around until they land right-ways up on a smooth surface. They then jam the legs into the ground, attaching themselves very firmly.
When a target comes close, the mines light up and give off a warning chirp. Too close, and they toss themselves unpredictably, nearly two meters into the air, and explode upon contact with whatever they happen to hit on the way down. They also detonate if smashed too violently. Otherwise, they are impervious to nearly all forms of handheld weaponry, save for the rare Gravity Gun.
Hopper mines use a Friendly Fire identification system which resets whenever they are picked up. The mines interpret a 'friendly' unit as whichever faction placed it last. Thus, a mine placed by a civilian with a Gravity Gun will attack Combine, and a mine dropped by a scanner will attack civilians. This system is signaled through a color-coded light at the top of the device:
- Green: The mine is armed and considers you to be a friend.
- Red: The mine is armed and considers you to be an enemy.
- Blue: The mine is neutral and has not yet armed itself.
- No light: The mine has not yet been activated.
The ability to be turned against the Combine is most likely not an intentional feature of the mine or, instead, a reprogramming function built into the Gravity Gun (which was designed with mine removal in mind). In any case, the mines are unlikely to be placed by anything other than the Combine's Shield Scanners.
Because of their danger, immovability and extreme durability, hopper mines are impossible for most enemies to disable or defuse. Thus, they are used by the Combine almost exclusively to deter attacking enemy personnel, creating makeshift but often impassable barriers in seconds. They are used both indoors and outdoors, mostly in vital choke-points and occasionally concealed as traps.
Roller Mine
First Seen: Chapter Five, Black Mesa East - found as Dog's ball
- Health Total: N/A
- Weapon Damage: Shock (10)
Rolling spherical landmines that react to movement within a sizable radius, roller mines are used as offensive and defensive traps by the Combine Overwatch.
Extensively used along the coastal roads in the Highway 17 chapter, the mines are deployed from the air by Combine dropships, in groups of two to four. Upon landing, the mines will remain inert or, if they land on softer terrain like soil or asphalt, they will burrow themselves into the ground, remaining almost invisible.
When an enemy target is detected, the roller mine will pop out of hiding and roll towards it in a relatively straight line. Although not explosive in normal conditions, they inflict damage to pedestrians via close-range electric shocks.
The mines, however, are primarily used to disable rogue vehicles, such as Gordon Freeman's dune buggy. They are able to detect vehicles at much larger ranges than if the target were on foot.
The mines magnetically cling to a target vehicle and interfere with the steering, forcing the driver to either stop or drive off the road. Besides the damage inflicted by any resulting car wreck, attached roller mines pose little threat to the occupants of a vehicle, concentrating instead on shocking the vehicle itself. For this reason, roller mines are usually deployed in tandem with Combine soldiers, who would ambush the stranded individuals. Attached mines cannot be removed except through excessive force.
They are also deployed on buildings, using the close quarters and their powerful digging ability to tunnel through thin ceilings and floors, taking any intruder by surprise.
Roller mines can be destroyed with a Rocket Launcher round or other explosives. You can also pick the mines up with the Gravity Gun and launch them out of your way (or at enemies). Submersion in deep water also causes them to short-circuit and explode. Additionally, they can be eluded by being outrun, as they give up once a target is too far away.
Sentry Gun
First Seen: Chapter Nine, Nova Prospekt
- Health Total: N/A
- Weapon Damage: Pulse gun (3)
Automated gun turrets mounted on a tripod. The Combine sentry gun shares a similar appearance and function with those used by the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit of the United States Marine Corps in the original Half-Life. However, the Combine version does not use secondary laser 'tripwire' detectors, using motion detection sensors instead. The Combine sentry gun also has a narrower field of view and range of motion, whereas the HECU's turret is able to rotate and fire in nearly any direction. The turret's gun is loaded with the Combine's ubiquitous pulse ammunition, of which it has an essentially limitless supply.
Sentry guns use a Friendly Fire detection system, allowing them to differentiate between Combine, alien and citizen. The individual guns' programming can be accessed and modified remotely through a separate computer terminal when necessary.
The guns are often deployed as static defenses by the Combine, used to guard areas that are infrequently patrolled, or as a means to supplement a larger defense network. The turrets are fitted with small handles and are light enough to pick up and place by hand. When not in use, they are generally stored locked in small forcefield-equipped lockers.
While the turrets appear to be indestructible, they are unable to target properly when knocked over. When this happens, they automatically shut down until righted.
APC
First Seen: Chapter One, Point Insertion
- Health Total: 750
- Weapon Damage: Mounted gun (5) Missile launcher (25)
Armored personnel carriers are the main ground vehicle used by both the Combine's human and transhuman forces, for transport as well as combat. Resembling large armored trucks or vans, they are a good example of how Earth-based designs are often adopted by the Combine and re-interpreted with their alien technology. The Combine APC can carry a driver and as many as four fully equipped soldiers, and is armed with a mounted pulse gun turret and an integrated missile launcher.
The APC's biggest asset is speed. Civil Protection officers use APCs as rapid response vehicles to reach conflict sites and crime scenes within minutes, while Overwatch soldiers use the vehicles mostly as fast and reliable transportation through the wastelands outside of the cities. An APC can also be quickly carried over problematic terrain by a Combine dropship, if the situation requires it.
Soldiers inside the APCs can attack using the powerful short-range gun turret and volleys of longer-range homing missiles, which track down their target with precision. Luckily, enough gunfire can blow the missiles out of the sky or, at least, force them off course. APCs are sturdy enough that they are often used to simply smash into or run over the enemy. They are also very well shielded, completely protected from most conventional weapons.
When not in use, the APC can be hooked up as a power source for combine devices.
Hunter-Chopper
First Seen: Chapter Three, Route Kanal
- Health Total: 5600
- Weapon Damage: Gun Turret (5) Mines (30)
Incredibly powerful, the hunter-chopper is a combat helicopter used (as the name implies) for search-and-destroy missions against weaker targets. Like the APC, this vehicle is a conventional Earth design co-opted by the Combine and built with alien technologies. It uses a two-man crew of Overwatch soldiers; one pilot and one gunner.
The hunter-chopper is armed with a powerful form of pulse gun on a fixed mount, along with the ability to drop a surprising amount of explosive timed mines. The gun has a wide spread, and is used mainly on slow or stationary targets. Before firing, the hunter-chopper emits an audible "whining" sound that can be used as an indication of when the gun is charging up.
The spherical mines are used offensively - dropped directly in front of enemy vehicles and onto weaker structures. They detonate either upon contact with an enemy, or after a short timer counts down (Only around five seconds). The mines also float on water, allowing them to be used against boats and other water-craft. One desperate chopper maneuver involves jettisoning several dozen mines simultaneously during one high-speed bombing run, effectively saturating a wide area.
Hunter-choppers are among the fastest Combine units, able to keep pace with or outrun almost any opponent. However, the chopper has less effectiveness against fast and maneuverable vehicles. They are used mainly within City 17 and the outlying canals to search out and eliminate specific targets, especially those on foot. The choppers work both as lone attackers or as support units for large attack forces, depending on the mission.
Headcrab Shell
First Seen: Chapter Three, Route Kanal
- Health Total: N/A
- Weapon Damage: N/A
Perhaps the most nefarious piece of technology the Combine possess, these shells rain down from the sky and release a payload of deadly headcrab aliens. Due to its use of living organisms in attacks, headcrab shells are classified as a form of biological weaponry.
Fired from an unknown launcher, the headcrab shells are shot with a loud bang and streak towards their target in a steady arc, leaving temporary vapor trails behind. These large projectiles can crash through most barriers and create a small explosion when they land, embedding themselves several feet even into concrete.
At this point, a hatch at the rear or the shell opens and reveals a metallic pipe-shaped container. Up to a half-dozen headcrabs climb from the end of this pipe and leap out into the crash site. Usually, these are only basic headcrabs, although fast headcrabs have been observed exiting a shell and payloads of poisonous headcrabs are implied.
Once landed, the headcrabs go about their usual practice of attempting to kill or enslave any human they encounter. Then the headcrabs will simply infest the surrounding area, concealing themselves by burrowing into the nearby soil or taking up residence in pipes, vents, and other darkened hiding places. This infestation renders a significant area surrounding the crash site completely inhospitable to human life.
While one shell is not a huge threat by itself, the effects can be horrific when the Combine shell an area with scores of these munitions. This happens to one unfortunate town, Ravenholm, prior to the beginning of the game, and the subsequent bloody mass zombification of the populace there indicates just how ruthless the Combine are.
The Combine uses headcrab shells in much the same way as they use Manhacks, only on a wider scale, as an efficient way to eliminate entire centers of resistance.
In addition to being used on their own as an effective weapon, individual headcrab shells are also used in a tactical role during some operations, where they are used to weaken smaller targets, create disarray and force enemies out of entrenched positions.
Suppression Device
The Suppression Device is a stationary Combine weapon, which functions much like a large mortar, except instead of firing shells, it fires an extremely powerful and concentrated pulse, which slams the ground, destroys objects, and disintegrates living beings within a 3-5 meter radius. The Suppression Device has to "warm up" before it can fire the pulse, and the ground where the pulse will land begins to glow blue, which allows the player to predict the next target of the pulse fire and avoided it.
The Suppression Device is powered by a series of Combine Generators, and possibly forms its ammunition from them as well. A Suppression Device has been installed onto the roof of the "Overwatch Nexus" in City 17. During the game, Gordon, Barney, and a small band of Resistance fighters are required to disable all the generators in the building in order to power down the device, to allow the Resistance on the streets to move more freely. The Suppression Device only appears once in the game, but it is likely that the Combine may have installed similar devices in other parts of City 17.
Static and non-combat Combine property
A common trait of Combine structural engineering seems to be making most of their creations resemble imposing, fairly featureless monolithic constructs, save for the odd irregular patterns that dot their surface. On the other hand, some seem to be unnecessarily complex, while others exhibit properties that defy conventional physics.
The Citadel
Resembling a massive skyscraper perhaps 3km or more in height, the Citadel is heavily mechanized. Early on, entire sections of the building can be seen moving about to allow for mass deployment of Scanners, and later, the player gets a first-hand look at the automated facilities that function within it, including human storage areas and war factories. Examples of Combine high-technology are abundant, ranging from elevator platforms that defy gravity to matter disintegration fields.
Command Panels
Combine command panels are found throughout City 17, Nova Prospekt, and the Citadel, and have multiple purposes. The command panels found in City 17 are generally used to open and close gates, and they may also be used for communication, as seen when Barney communicated with Dr. Kleiner in the opening levels in the game. The majority of command panels found in Nova Prospekt are used to work the systems around the facility - such as gaining access to surveillance cameras or transporting prisoner pods. They are also used to work the teleporter that Dr. Mossman helped build for the Combine. The command panels in the Citadel are only seen conveying Breencasts, while they most probably possess other functions as well.
Command panels can only be operated by Combine personnel. However, Alyx is seen using an EMP device to assume control of the panels. Barney has a limited Civil Protection clearance, which allows him to operate some, but not all of the panels.
Generators
Combine Generators are mainly found within the Citadel, but can also be found in certain locations in City 17, such as the "Overwatch Nexus" or the plaza. The generators are used to power devices such as gates and locks, or weaponry-like the Suppression Device. There are a lot more generators in the Citadel than anywhere else, but they don't seem be supplying power to a specific device, so it is likely that they are supplying power to the actual Citadel.
In appearance, the generators look a lot like large cylinders, with a solid base and top and liquid sides, like those seen on defensive structures. The generator has a core with orbs floating within, which create a beam of something resembling electricity that runs from the top to the bottom of the generator. The orbs are the actual things that generate the power, as if they're knocked out (by the Gravity Gun, for instance), the generator will cease to function. Generators typically have about three orbs inside them, but ones that power smaller devices will have just a single orb. There are special generators found only in the Citadel, which can have a limitless amount of orbs cycling through them.
Anyone unlucky enough to step into, or to be thrown inside a generator will be disintegrated, just as they would be if they got hit by an orb launched from a pulse rifle. The orbs launched from the pulse rifle appear to be identical to those in the generator, so it is likely that the Combine "package" such orbs into ammunition which can be launched by the pulse rifle.
Defensive Structures
These range from portable fixed-gun emplacements that can be set up in a minute to full-sized barricades cordoning off entire streets. Instead of windows, they bear some sort of forcefield that resembles a liquid in appearance and offers ample protection against weapons. The doors that the barricades have are multi-sectioned and mounted on mechanical arms.
Watchtowers
Watchtowers are found throughout City 17, usually near defensive structures, and act to give Combine personnel a better view of the streets. There is usually a single Metro Cop on top of the watchtower, who may fire a flare once a reasonable force of Resistance is spotted, as a signal to call backup. Although the watchtowers are inaccessible by the player, some Resistance members can climb up into them using ropes, and will drop supply crates found up there down on the streets for the player.
Forcefield Generators
Scattered throughout City 17, the generators consist of two pylons, each one on either side of the path it is intended to protect. Invisible from a distance, the forcefield generated between the two pylons prevents entry of anything living that does not register with the system as being with the Combine, instead emitting a humming sound when in physical contact. However, the system will not block inanimate objects. Some of them are seen in-game being powered off standard human power supply sockets, or from Combine APC batteries.
Thumpers
Used to protect cities from invasion by Antlions in the countryside, Thumpers are massive machines that repeatedly pound the ground using a set of metal beams. The sound they generate keeps Antlions away from the local area, however they can be deactivated by anyone who can get close to them, by pressing the power button. The ones guarding Nova Prospekt are far larger than the standard ones, have spotlights, trigger the public warning system if deactivated, and of course have a larger range.
Mobile Wall
Seen surrounding the Citadel and certain areas of Nova Prospekt, mobile walls are actually machines, using powerful drive systems in tandem with heavy metal blocks to slowly expand outward and destroy existing structures in the way. Standard operation is to lift and force a set of blocks outward, before allowing them to drop, and then alternating with another set.
Train
Large, mostly featureless and imposing. Aside from probably being custom-built to work on human rail networks transporting both standard and secret cargo and people, there is nothing particularly threatening about them. They don't seem to hold any visible crew, and are taller than standard locomotives and may be automated. The book Half Life 2: Raising The Bar calls them Razor Trains, though this is never mentioned anywhere in-game.
Source(s)
- Half-Life 2 (PC), Valve Software, 2004. Official Website
- Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar, David Hodgson, Prima Games. ISBN 0761543643
- Half-Life 2: Prima Official Game Guide, David Hodgson, Prima Games. ISBN 0761543627