List of humanoid and synthetic Combine in Half-Life 2

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This is a list of humanoid and synthetic forces employed by the Combine empire in Half-Life 2, a 2004 first-person shooter, and its episodes.

Contents 1 Humanoid Combine 1.1 Civil Protection 1.2 Overwatch Soldier and Nova Prospekt Prison Guard 1.3 Overwatch Sniper 1.4 Overwatch Elite 1.5 Stalker 2 Combine Synths 2.1 Combine Pod 2.2 Mortar Synth 2.3 Dropship 2.4 Gunship 2.5 Hunter 2.6 Crab Synth 2.7 Shield Scanner 2.8 Strider 3 See also 4 References

[edit] Humanoid Combine

The primary arm of the Combine occupation forces on Earth is the humanoid Combine Overwatch. Referred to by Doctor Breen as the "Trans-human arm of the sector seventeen overwatch," they are humans who have been captured, brainwashed, and modified into "trans-human" or "post-human" cybernetic creatures. They are the most frequently encountered foes faced by Gordon Freeman in his fight against the Combine.

The Overwatch system itself provides insight into the policies dictating tactics used by humanoid Combine forces. They treat whole cities as a single organism, with insurrection as an infection and their role as that of white blood cells. They frequently use terms like "contain," "sterilize," "clamp," "amputate," "parasitics," (for headcrabs) and "necrotics" (zombies). When a squad is reduced to a single trooper, he can be heard crying "Outbreak, outbreak, outbreak!"

[edit] Civil Protection

First Seen: Half-Life 2, Chapter One, Point Insertion

• Health total: 26 (before Chapter 11 - Anticitizen One), 40 (during & after Chapter 11 - Anticitizen One)
• Weapon damage: Stun Baton (40 without the HEV suit, 5 with the HEV suit), H&K USP Match (3), H&K MP7 (3-7)
• Special abilities: Fire flare (calls for reinforcements), release manhack, melee attack
• Entity: npc_metropolice

Civil Protection personnel are humans who join the Combine of their own free will in return for privileges and basic amenities like adequate food and living accommodations. Also known as CPs and Metro Cops, they are charged with keeping the local populace in line via intimidation and physical force. Interrogation, questioning, inspections, random beatings, and even outright murder are sanctioned as a means of policing their respective jurisdictions. Civil Protection personnel also patrol the canals outside city limits looking to apprehend escapees. Unlike Overwatch soldiers, they do not appear to be biologically enhanced, though they wear masks containing vocoders which alter the sound of their voice. The harsh, metallic character of their speech is used as a means of psychological intimidation, making their vocal utterances sound inhuman.

Each Civil Protection officer is clad in a dark hunter green uniform and leather boots, long-sleeve flak jacket, bulletproof vest and a rigid white head cover resembling a biohazard gas mask that completely obscures their human features. Depending on the player's progress, they are either armed with 9mm pistols and stun batons or MP7 sub-machine guns. They can carry deployable manhacks. Protection personnel assigned to Combine watchtowers also have the ability to call in reinforcements by launching flares. Civil Protection officers are generally kept separate from Combine military units like Overwatch Soldiers or Synths.

Civil Protection officers are fairly competent soldiers: they will strafe to avoid damage, take cover when wounded, and advance when the player ceases firing. When killed, their suit emits a sound similar to that of an EKG flatline, which typically provokes nearby allies. Low radio chatter typically betrays the presence of officers in any given area, an exploitable weakness which allows resistance fighters to slip by them virtually unnoticed, as well as making it slightly easier for the player to avoid ambushes.

Civil Protection officers are in constant communication with a female voiced dispatcher known as the Overwatch. It keeps them apprised of current mission objectives, rewards, reminders, downed units, emergencies and any other relevant information during their duty patrols. Certain CP radio transmissions heard in game suggest that they are rewarded with "non-mechanical reproduction simulation" as a reward for good job performance. Along with the exploitation of humanity's capacity for cruelty to help them conquer Earth, it is probable that the Combine use sexuality as an incentive. This theory is lent additional credence in light of the Combine's suppression field, which has proven an effective means of repressing the libido of the general populace. Other chatter has suggested that additional privileges are gained if the personnel have their memory replaced. As such, it is inferable that the Combine has a promotion system in place wherein Civil Protection personnel rise up through the ranks via the gradual surrender of their humanity.

[edit] Overwatch Soldier and Nova Prospekt Prison Guard

Image:HL2Combinesoldier.jpg

Image:HL2Combineprisonguard.jpg

First Seen: Half-Life 2, Chapter Four, "Water Hazard" (soldier), Chapter Eight, "Sandtraps" (Prison Guard)

• Health total: 50
• Weapon damage: melee attack (10), H&K MP7 (3), Franchi SPAS-12 (3 per pellet), AR-2 Overwatch Standard Issue Pulse Rifle (5),Grenade (75 (splash damage))
• Entity: npc_combine_s (Regular Soldier model) - (Prison Guard model - cannot be spawned during play)

Overwatch Soldiers are biomechanically enhanced humans who fight for the Combine; versatile ground forces charged with a variety of guard, patrol and combat responsibilities. The backbone of the Combine military occupation force, they are the true enforcement face of the Combine to the general populace, as their ubiquitous deployment via dropship puts them squarely in the public eye. Typical soldier duties include staffing Combine outposts, patrolling the highways for resistance activity, guarding high-security areas, serving as pilots and gunners of Combine hunter-choppers, monitoring stalkers in the Citadel and serving as staff in the Nova Prospekt facility. They can also be rapidly deployed anywhere the Combine requires direct military action.

Combine soldiers are male humans conscripted from the general population which have undergone extensive psycho-biomechanical "enhancement." Several in-game Half-Life 2 sources have revealed that these modifications include memory replacement and extensive surgery throughout the body to implant various mechanical devices. The cybernetic conversion procedure is performed at Nova Prospekt and the Citadel. Dr. Kleiner has described Combine soldiers as "post-human."

Despite the extensive surgical modification, they nonetheless retain some semblance of humanity. When injured they grunt in pain, and can be heard shouting expletives in the heat of battle. They communicate via radio, but unlike Civil Protection officers, are not directly addressed by the Overwatch. The Overwatch announcement system can be heard 'motivating' soldiers with the possible threat of 'off-world assignment' should they fail to complete mission objectives. Such could be indicative of a small amount of independent thought if threats are used to keep the rank and file in line.

Each Combine soldier is clad in olive drab/dark blue camouflage and black combat boots. A heavily padded long-sleeve flak jacket protects their torso from neck to groin, with additional pads protecting the thighs, upper arms and forearms. The right upper arm pad is emblazoned with the Overwatch insignia, with the left exhibiting the trooper's assigned unit designation. Their combat uniforms are topped by a full facemask more advanced than those issued to Civil Protection officers. It affords protection against all forms of hazardous environmental conditions, and possesses built in night vision capabilities, as evidenced by its eye lenses which exude a pale blue glow. Nova Prospekt prison guards wear a dark blue jumpsuit with light blue pads with the words "Nova Prospekt" on back, and have facemask eye lenses which glow yellow. Their right pad Overwatch insignia also has the facility name under it, while the left exhibits the 'Universal Union' patch logo. Combine soldiers are armed with either an MP7 submachinegun, SPAS-12 shotgun or an Overwatch Standard Issue Pulse rifle.

A new variant of the Combine soldier is introduced in Half-Life 2: Episode Two, having brown/light reddish camouflage with orange glow eye lenses and the Combine Elite symbol on orange armbands.[1] Only one will accompany any given group and they always wield shotguns, suggesting that they are specialized units.

In the field, Overwatch soldiers can be deadly at full strength. In squads of four, they will utilize squad tactics and procedures to neutralize their enemies. They take cover often and emerge only to fire short bursts. They frequently attempt flanking maneuvers to surround enemies. If a grenade is thrown into their midst, one trooper will use hand signals to warn nearby troops to spread out. Likewise, they will often toss grenades at hiding opponents. In close combat situations, they will use their gun-butt to knock an enemy into firing range.

As an aside, soldier uniforms were originally conceived with different camouflage designs over yellow undergarments and dark orange goggles. Their insignias were intended as electronic displays of randomly generating alphanumeric unit numbers. Due to gameplay, hardware and programming issues the design was reworked. The unit patch is a yellow variant of that belonging to the 7th Infantry Division of the US Army.

[edit] Overwatch Sniper

First Seen: Half-Life 2, Chapter Six, "We don't go to Ravenholm..."

• Health total: 125
• Weapon damage: Combine Sniper Rifle (20)
• Entity: npc_sniper

Overwatch snipers are biomechanically enhanced humans who fight for the Combine; specialists charged with both elimination and real-time intelligence recon of enemy troops. Performing a close ground support role for Combine infantry at long range, they typically conceal themselves in high vantage points near Combine outposts, entrenchments, advancing lines, or anywhere their skills might be required. It is unknown whether they receive any additional enhancement to visual acuity, reflexes or respiration to aid in performance of their assigned role. Any issued uniform modifications are similarly unknown, as these soldiers remain mostly unseen.

Combine snipers are typically armed with a battery powered sniper rifle, whose telltale blue laser targeting sight betrays their position. Playing the beam around their scoped area, they take a shot immediately upon locking onto their desired target. They appear to take the directive of "shoot anything that moves" literally; with the exception of fellow Combine troops, they fire upon anything that moves including headcrabs, headcrab zombies, friendly rollermines, friendly aircraft, and even local wildlife (pigeons and crows). They also blast anything breakable near a hidden target, in an effort to reduce the available cover. Although well-entrenched, they are quite easily killed since they can't move. A single crossbow bolt aimed at or below the origin of the targeting beam will kill them, as will a well-thrown grenade or reprogrammed rollermine.

While explosives typically eject the sniper from his hiding place, the sniper rifle itself cannot be used by the player. Alyx Vance wields a sniper rifle to cover Gordon Freeman during their flight from City 17, and again on the outskirts of the ruined city mounted in a window ledge. Her report on both rifles showed the former to be slightly more advanced, as the latter sounded less powerful and slightly quieter, with a brief reload period heard between each shot. The sniper rifle was dropped as a playable weapon during the development of Half-Life 2 in favor of the resistance crossbow. Early sniper concept art revealed a female design model, just like the Black Op assassins from Half-Life.^[1] This version wore a more streamlined aspect of the white body armor seen on Combine Elites. Other rejected sniper concepts included a tri-ocular, synth-like alien design.^[2]

[edit] Overwatch Elite

First Seen: Half-Life 2, Chapter Nine, Nova Prospekt

• Health total: 70
• Weapon damage: Weapon butt (15), AR-2 Overwatch Standard Issue Pulse Rifle (5), Combine Ball (15) (or instant death if a direct hit against other npcs)
• Entity: npc_combine_s (Elite Soldier model - not spawnable during play, can only be spawned in Garry's mod)

Overwatch Elite are, as the name suggests, the elite of the Overwatch soldiers. They are special forces who are charged with critical combat operations where special tactics are required. Fewer in number than the typical Combine soldier, they are normally deployed in squads with other Elites, but can also be observed leading squads of lesser Overwatch soldiers. They also perform VIP and other high level security, and they act as a personal guard to Doctor Breen. They undergo even more psycho-biomechanical modification than Nova Prospekt Guards, as evidenced by their unswerving loyalty, assigned missions importance, and their unique cyclopean visor plates and prominent eardomes.

Each Elite trooper is clad in a distinctive white bodysuit and black boots. A heavily padded white flak jacket protects their torso, with additional padding protecting the abdomen, thighs, upper arms, forearms and neck. The right upper arm pad is red, signifying their elite status, with the left white pad showing the cracked skull set within the Combine logo insignia unique to Elite troops. Their combat uniform is topped by a full helmet, whose most prominent feature is a single glowing red ocular lens set dead center, affording the Elite with a biomechanically enhanced visual acuity. Two flat eardomes on either side of the helmet give the soldier an auditory sense greater than that of a typical Combine soldier. Typically armed with the powerful AR-2 Overwatch Standard-Issue Pulse Rifle, they are the only units who appear to have access to the weapon's energy orb fire mode. Fired from the pulse rifle’s lower barrel, these blue energy spheres ricochet off inorganic material, but cause instant vaporization of organic matter. Though they are very accurate with these spheres, they can be caught and launched back using the gravity gun. Unlike the lower ranks, Elite soldiers never use grenades.

In battle, Elites are tougher, exhibit better marksmanship, and inflict more overall damage than a typical Combine trooper. On average, they can usually take twice the amount of damage of a typical soldier. Owing to biomechanically augmented sensory input, their general alertness and expert marksmanship is unmatched among Combine ground forces.

Early Elite trooper designs emphasized their alien features, with them appearing either like more ambulatory versions of the Combine Advisor, a Strider synth grafted down into the proportions of a human, and an asymmetrically proportioned human visaged cybornetic synth. Final Elite design, while partly based on the concept of the rejected female Combine Assassin, was chosen over the alien concepts to avoid overshadowing the remarkable nature of the Citadel and to keep the Combine as a more elusive and transparent enemy.^[3]

[edit] Stalker

First Seen: Half-Life 2, Chapter Nine, Nova Prospekt

• Health total: 25
• Weapon damage: Welding Laser (estimated 2 per second sustained fire)
• Entity: npc_stalker (Functional only in Episode One and Episode Two)

Stalkers are human beings which have undergone extreme psycho-biomodification and serve as slave labor for the Combine within the central citadel. They perform tasks ranging from general maintenance to advanced technical operations. Though their numbers are unknown, it is presumed that the Combine keeps enough on hand to staff each city's citadel. It is theorized that some could even be rejects from the Combine soldier conscription process.

The conversion, performed at Nova Prospekt, is extensive. Although some cranial and facial stubble is evident, all body hair and secondary sex characteristics are removed, while nanodevices are implanted into the skin. Their hands are severed at the wrist at a 45 degree angle, and a binder is wrapped around each forearm. The legs are removed six inches below the knee and replaced with short metal stilts, secured in place by three bolts drilled straight through the tibia and out the opposite outer epidermis. Their ears are removed and a convex metal plate with side laser emitters is installed from upper lip to mid forehead, completely obscuring the face. A round port plug of unknown purpose is situated between the left 5th and 6th thoracic ribs, while a binder belt with a front securing hook is wrapped tight around the waist such that the hips and lower ribcage protrude prominently. Internally their higher brain functions, body fat, 11th and 12th false rib pairs, reproductive organs and digestive tract are excised, replaced with a simple nutrient distribution array that requires a saline solution provided by the Combine^[4] to sustain their organic systems. A surgical scar running from the jugular notch of the sternum to pubic bone evidences their extensive vivisection. The entire process results in severe muscular atrophication, giving Stalkers a gaunt, emaciated appearance. In Episode One, the player can hear them wheezing loudly, which could be indicative of a constant state of pain.

After surgery, the new Stalkers are transported inside metal convalescence pods via Razor Train to the Citadel. The Stalkers likely perform a variety of tasks in the Citadel, such as repairing gunships and maintaining forcefields. They are rather docile, and will only attack the player if they interfere with their current task.

It appears that the citizenry of City 17 have a full knowledge and understanding of who and what Stalkers are, including how they are "manufactured." Eli Vance’s daughter Alyx once commented that Nova Prospekt " . . . used to be a high-security prison. It's something . . . much worse than that now."

The original (incomplete) code for Stalkers spawned using the Half-Life 2 console shot lasers from the feet. Also, if a stalker was killed the game crashed, as the model did not have an associated "ragdoll" state. Some mods like Garry's Mod successfully avoided these problems. Valve rectified the issue in the release of Episode One, where the lasers shoot from the head emitters as originally conceived and killing a stalker reverts it to a proper ragdoll configuration.

[edit] Combine Synths

"Synths" are the current evolutionary generation of enslaved races gathered and assimilated into the Combine Empire during their interstellar travels. This has led to two schools of thought regarding the nature of the Synth: either they are biomechanical creatures genetically engineered by the Combine from the DNA of assimilated races, or are the descendants of creatures enslaved long ago by the Combine.

While a variety of Synths have been brought to Earth, other types are believed to exist, the total number of which are currently unknown. It is likely they were the primary forces used by the Combine during the Seven Hour War, as evidenced by newspaper clippings taken from tabloids printed at the time, showing the blurry photo of a Combine Gunship. It has become painfully clear that once the Combine attains planetary foothold, they transform its dominant lifeform into synths, which soon upgrades the invasion to stranglehold status — an insidiously efficient way to conquer.

[edit] Combine Pod

First Seen: Episode One, Chapter One - Undue Alarm

• Health total: 500 (as seen in EP2s console sk_advisor_health "500")
• Weapon damage: Unknown
• Entity: Cycler (spawn malfunction in Half-Life 2)

The Combine Pod is used by Combine Advisors as a means of emergency escape transport. Approximately fifteen feet long by seven feet wide, they consist of a heavily armored, featureless white hull with a ventral surface resembling that of a Combine gunship. Two short sensor antennae extend back from its aft section, with two double-jointed, tapered limbs extending forward half the length of the craft along its port and starboard flanks. A large Combine emblem covers its aft dorsal surface, along with a much smaller emblem next to what appears to be a registration number inscribed along the starboard ventral edge. Large enough to fit one fully grown Advisor, the passenger chamber has a retractable opaque canopy shield, which when open allows the creature a view of its surroundings. It is unknown whether the transparency revealed, with the canopy in the open position, is material or force field in nature. Armamentation is unknown, although it appears to have a blast muzzle similar to that of the matter disintegration cannon possessed by gunships.

The Combine Pod is first seen at the beginning of Half-Life 2: Episode One in a control room, as it prepares to evacuate the Citadel. In Half-Life 2: Episode 2 the player, along with Alyx Vance, encounters a Combine Advisor in an abandoned farmhouse. It survived a crash from a nearby crashed dropship and seems to have been moved there to continue its incubation.

[edit] Mortar Synth

First Seen: Half-Life 2, Chapter Thirteen - Our Benefactors

• Health total: N/A
• Weapon damage: N/A
• Entity: monster_generic (has no AI, game crashes when spawned, because monster_generic can have any model [found when using the Valve Hammer Editor])

This biogenetically engineered synthesis of technology and mollusk-like biology is seen on a conveyor belt during Gordon Freeman's second pod ride through the bowels of the Citadel. Intel reports reveal that they serve a close air support role as the backbone of the Combine's air forces.^[2] Possessing self-replicating, limb-regenerative qualities, their tentacle appendages and clawed limbs give them the appearance of a modified squid or cuttlefish. Employing biomechanical armaments, it use a minigun concealed under its "chin" and can launch high yield shells from the large tube structure on its back. Additional information remains unknown, as they have never been observed in a combat scenario in either Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, or Half-Life 2: Episode Two.

These mollusk-like creatures are curiously similar to the ones that appear in the original Half-Life game, presenting a blue colored shell and often seen deploying Xen Grunts, shooting a green beam of energy (like the one that destroyed one helicopter at the start of Half Life: Opposing Force) or being pursued by some humans Air Force fighters.

[edit] Dropship

First Seen: Half-Life 2, Chapter Four - Water Hazard

• Health total: Unknown (the Hunter-Chopper gun mounted to the airboat can down a Dropship)
• Weapon damage: Pulse Turret (only on soldier carrier) (3)
• Entity: npc_combinedropship (only stays in one spot if spawned during play)

Combine dropship crafts are bulky, lobster-like creatures with ten limbs and a heavily armored outer epidermal shell. They serve as the primary aerial transport unit of the Combine military effort, used for any situation requiring fast troop or material transport. They can also function as minelayers for rollermine deployment.

The fore and aft leg pairs are engine pods, which provide initial lift and aerial maneuverability. Both forelegs also contain retractable wings used for stability and directional piloting. The four smaller central legs are cargo grippers, ending in broad pads whose central slit resembles the mouth of a lamprey.

Dropships can transport a wide range of Combine forces, including APCs, Striders, rollermines, Civil Protection personnel and Overwatch soldiers. Soldiers and Protection personnel are typically transported in large troop carrier bays equipped with a high caliber, sniper accurate pulse turret. They can transport other material or similar objects, as evidenced when the player's dune buggy is snatched by a dropship after the battle at Lighthouse Point. The metallic property of these objects suggest a possible magnet-organic component engineered into the dropship's outer epidermal layer, resulting in a more efficient cargo carrying ability.

In and of themselves, dropships are not directly hostile, with their thick bioengineered armor making them virtually invulnerable, but not completely as, in at least one instance, one is able to be shot down with the gun on the airboat during the chapter "Water Hazard" in Half-Life 2. Other than that instance, however, dropships usually arrive and leave too quickly to repeat the feat. Anything within their transport cavity, however, is unshielded and thus vulnerable to damage. Human resistance sentries are also able to shoot down a dropship transporting a Strider unit near the White Forest base in Half-Life 2: Episode Two.

[edit] Gunship

First Seen: Half-Life 2, Chapter One - Point Insertion

• Health total: 3 (Easy) 5 (Normal) 7 (Hard) RPG hits. Grenade/Pulse Rifle orb hits do half the damage of RPG hits. Generator orb hits in the Citadel do 1.5 times that of a RPG hit.
• Weapon damage: Pulse Turret (3), underside-mounted downward-firing suppression device
• Entity: npc_combinegunship (hovers in one spot if spawned during play)

Combine Gunships are the Combine's primary aerial unit, consisting of a sturdy but light flexible frame covered by a protective exoskeletal carapace. Approximately 40 feet long from turret muzzle to rear feelers and 10 feet wide with a 17 foot wingspan, their bioengineering is a unique fusion of airplane, helicopter and synth technology. A rear mounted hoverfan unit with six blades resembling dragonfly wings allows for VTOL and helps in keeping the craft aloft during flight. It sees via a compound eye cluster pair mounted just behind the main pulse barrel mount, with a pair of large eye mounds located amidships on the port and starboard sides, just forward of the hoverfan unit. It has a pair of wings that resemble flippers just forward of the eyemounds, which it uses for in-flight stability and maneuverability. To sense its environment it has 10 foot long feeler antennae extending diagonally back from where the fuselage meets the hoverfan module; it probably works as a sensory organ for echolocation, because it constantly emits low frequency "pings", barely heard in-game because of the noise produced by the hoverfan. They are typically housed within the central citadel of any given city, as evidenced by the hangar repair bay racks observed by Gordon Freeman during his last pod ride through the City 17 citadel.

Essentially flying gun turrets, gunships function in an aerial guard and infantry support capacity. On the battlefield they pursue their targets with relentless tenacity, performing deadly strafing runs and swinging back around until their prey is destroyed. Their speed and maneuverability is so precise that they can outrun an RPG, destroying it even within terminal range. Gunships working in pairs will even pick off incoming rocket fire shot at one other, behavior which is a tactical weakness that can be exploited. They can be deployed singly for guarding wide open spaces or in pairs when protecting high yield targets like the Citadel dark fusion reactor or Nova Prospekt facility.

A gunship's primary weapon is a nose mounted, high caliber rapid-fire automatic pulse turret, whose long rifled barrel ensures sniper level accuracy. An inertial compensation organ in the nose allows for target lock even if the rest of the craft is in motion relative to the turret. The ball mount configuration of the nose turret allows for it to track and maintain fire on target while the rest of the craft is in motion. They are also equipped with a matter disintegration cannon, similar to that of the suppression device, mounted dead center amidships in the belly of the gunship. Analysis of maps show that Valve deliberately set the gunships not to use this weapon in any of the Half-Life 2 games for reasons as yet unknown.

Gunships are powered by an array of biomechanic thrust engines, whose components exude a blue bioluminescent glow from its white underbelly. They cruise with their aft hoverfan higher than the nose module, at an approximate 40 degree angle to the normal – which makes it easier to bring the main turret to bear on ground targets. Although lacking the Combine hunter-chopper's explosive mines and intelligent pilots, the gunship nonetheless surpasses it in maneuverability and target accuracy.

Like most Combine Synths and vehicles, the gunship is invulnerable to small arms fire and can only be damaged by heavy weapons such as RPGs. Although difficult to accomplish given the nature of their speed and unpredictable flight dynamics, gravity gun-launched grenades and Combine energy orbs can also be used to bring down a gunship.

[edit] Hunter

First Seen: Episode One, Chapter Two - Direct Intervention

• Health total: 300 (In Episode One) 210 (In Episode Two)
• Weapon damage: Explosive Flechette Launcher. Melee and charge attacks.
• Entity: npc_hunter (spawned in Episode Two only) / npc_ministrider (spawned in Episode One only)

Hunters are a unique type of bioengineered Combine shock troop, consisting of a white, rounded rectangular central hardened core protected by a hunter green, armored outer epidermal layer. Standing about 8 feet tall, they stand on three quadruple-jointed legs, and perceive their environment via two bioluminescent, vertically aligned blue eyeports. Their footpads terminate in two sharp talons, which they can use for either slash or stab melee attacks. Present to the immediate left of their dorsal spine is a thick, almost two-foot long tracking antenna which points upward when they are engaged in pursuit of their prey.

Hunters are typically deployed in harsh terrain and heavily forested environments innavigable for a standard Strider unit. Their relative diminutive size is well suited for infiltration of almost any human-built structure. Hunters move in a loping gait similar to that of a gorilla by bracing their front legs and swinging their hind leg forward, which supports them as they bring their front legs forward to complete a full pacing movement. They can also gallop at speeds up to at least 25 mph in open terrain. Much swifter and more agile than a Strider, their tripedal configuration also allows for lateral (strafing) movement, jumping, and dodging. On the battlefield, Hunters travel in packs of two to three, using cooperative squad tactics to hunt down, corral and destroy their prey with relentless efficiency. Their characteristic grunts, roars and growls are used to both communicate tactical information with their pack brothers and intimidate intended victims. Hunter packs can be deployed in a support role alongside Combine infantry, and have also been utilized as effective close ground support escorts for Strider units.

A Hunter's primary weapon is a dual barreled flechette launcher, which fires two-pronged explosive darts in rapid, alternating succession from its eyeports. Each salvo consists of between three to nine darts, which exude a blue glow when armed, and explode after a short timed delay. If four or more darts embed in the target, their combined detonation results in a molecular vaporization effect similar to that of being hit with an energy orb. Flechettes also cause 'splash' damage to anything within a relative five foot radius of their detonation. If their target is evasive or within terminal range, the Hunter may lower its 'head' module and charge like a bull, either butting the target away into point-blank range of their flechettes or knocking them down to fall victim to their deadly foot talons.

Hunters are vulnerable to any given weapon, but are very tough to compensate. Explosives are more effective than conventional arms (the Combine pulse rifle energy orb in particular, which kills them instantly), and their own flechettes can be hurled back at them with the gravity gun if the player uses an object to intercept them. While Hunters are much larger than humans, they can still be run over by vehicles.

[edit] Crab Synth

First Seen: Half-Life 2, Chapter Thirteen - Our Benefactors

• Health total: N/A
• Weapon damage: N/A
• Entity: cycler (has no AI and has the same entity that Advisor, also spawn malfunctioning in HL2)

This biogenetically engineered synthesis of technology and crustacean-like biology is seen lumbering along a Citadel catwalk as Gordon Freeman’s pod passes through. Prima's official stategy guide indicates that they serve a heavy infantry role as the backbone of the Combine's ground forces.^[1] Possessing self-replicating, limb-regenerative qualities, they resemble a large crab in appearance. Employing a high caliber belly mounted chaingun for ranged attacks (which has a power-up animatic as per a check of its model in the Source SDK viewer), their sharp mandibles act as a devastatingly effective, natural melee weapon. Additional information remains unknown, as they have never been observed in a combat scenario in either Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, or Half-Life 2: Episode Two.

[edit] Shield Scanner

First Seen: Half-Life 2, Chapter Eleven - Anticitizen One

• Health total: 30
• Weapon damage: Dive (25)
• Entity: npc_clawscanner (spawned in Episode One only, and in Half-Life 2, in "Anticitizen One" chapter only)

Successor to the City Scanner, the (or "Hopper Dropper") features a stronger search light, a large pincer arm concealed behind its armored front panel, and several additional sensors and appendages.

Unlike the city scanner, the Shield Scanner performs several vital combat support roles. It functions as a miniature equipment transport and minelayer, using its large pincer arm to fetch and deploy hopper mines. They also work as target-spotters for Striders, alerting them to the presence of enemies hiding inside structures or other possible areas of concealment.

[edit] Strider

First Seen: Half-Life 2, Chapter One - Point Insertion

• Health total: 5 (Easy) 7 (Normal) 9 (Hard) RPG hits. Grenade/Pulse Rifle orb hits do half the damage of RPG hits. Generator energy orbs do around twice damage. Also, in Episode 2, attaching a Magnusson Device to the Strider will allow it to be destroyed instantaneously by detonating the Device with any weapon.
• Weapon damage: Pulse Turret (5), Singularity Cannon (instant death, or massive splash damage if indirectly hit), leg impalement (instant death)
• Entity: npc_strider

Striders are the terrestrial equivalent of a Gunship, consisting of a hardened core protected by an exoskeletal carapace. Standing approximately 30 feet tall, they travel on three single-jointed legs, and see via thirteen compound eyes, four on each side of the forward pulse turret and three on each leg. Their legs terminate in sharp spikes, which can impale targets and clear debris. Essentially walking gun turrets, Striders function as an all-terrain anti-troop and hardened structure pacification unit. On the battlefield Striders hunt down and destroy their targets with an almost unmatched, lethal efficiency. They utter loud, metallic horn-like sounds. They have little regard for their own support infantry, and will keep shooting even if a Combine soldier steps into the line of fire. Even one represents a formidable battlefield threat; two or more can provide cover for one-another, and those escorted by a pack of Hunters are even harder to confront.

The Strider's primary weapon is a front-mounted, high caliber automatic rapid-fire pulse turret, with a large bore warp cannon slung under its belly providing for a spectacularly devastating secondary attack solution. The firing sequence for the warp cannon begins with the emission of a thin blue targeting beam. As power feeds into the cannon's biomechanical circuitry, a faint blue aura surrounds the muzzle, followed by a visible warp distortion of the space around the barrel. An audible shrill report accompanies its subsequent discharge. Targets sustaining a direct hit are instantly vaporized, with massive collateral 'splash' damage sustained by anything caught in the initial blast radius. Warp cannon discharges are generally scripted and are mostly used to obstruct or enable progress, although the Strider AI does have the capability to initiate unscripted warp cannon attacks. Warp cannons are used mainly as a way for a Strider to tear apart a wall or building and returns to using the machine gun to eliminate any resistance fighters hiding inside.

Striders follow specific routes, thus making them fairly easy to avoid. When Shield Scanners accompany a Strider they function as spotters, scoping out buildings and other places of concealment for targets that would otherwise escape Strider detection. By folding their legs completely over, Striders can be carried one at a time by dropships. They also have the ability to lower their carapace to ground level by bending their leg joints over 90 degrees, thus reconfiguring their appearance to that of a giant spider. This also makes them much faster.

In Half-Life 2: Episode One, a citizen comments "I hear they put babies in those Striders," although this is unlikely in light of the Combine reproduction suppression field only having recently been shut off. Despite this, some credence is lent to the remark in Half-Life 2: Episode Two. In a skirmish, Dog rips open the top carapace panel of a Strider that survives a dropship crash and tears something loose from the creature's innards, causing its immediate collapse and "death." Close inspection of the discarded object reveals it be a brain with a short, flopping, spinal cord-like appendage. It has slowly pulsing blue spots neatly arranged between its convolution folds, and a flattened cerebellum. It can be picked up and thrown by the gravity gun, hinting at a possible cybernetic nature, as the gravity gun does not normally function on living tissue. The fracas also reveals that Striders might have dual circulatory systems, as evidenced by its leaking a light green ichor when hurt, then spewing gouts of dark purple fluid after being mortally wounded when Dog literally tears its brain out.

Striders can only be damaged by explosives and pulse rifle energy orbs, although the latter does roughly one-third the damage than that of an RPG or grenades. The gravity gun makes an attack with a standard grenade much more effective than a standard throw. In Episode Two, this concept is expanded upon with the Magnusson Device. Resembling a large spiked grenade illuminated from within by a blue power source, the devices can be picked up and thrown at the central core/carapace, upon which they stick. Once in place they drain the Strider's central power supply and flash with a radiant yellow glow. The device can be subsequently detonated by direct hit via any projectile weapons fire, the result of which reduces the Strider to a pile of biomechanical junk.

The Striders conceptually resemble the "Martian tripod war machines" described in H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds.

[edit] See also

• List of Combine non-combat technology in Half-Life 2

[edit] References

1. ^  ^{a  b  c  d}  (2004) Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar. Prima Games. ISBN 0-7615-4364-3. 
2. ^  ^{a  b}  (2004) Half-Life 2: Prima Official Game Guide. Prima Games. ISBN 0-7615-4362-7. 
3. ^  ^a  Exclusive visit to Valve Software in the US. Telenet (2004-05-04). Retrieved on 2007-01-28.
4. Half-Life 2 (PC), Valve Software, 2004. Official Website

v • d • e Topics related to the Half-Life series
Main series	Half-Life (Source) • Half-Life 2 (Episode One • Episode Two • Episode Three)
Ancillary games	Half-Life: (Blue Shift • Decay • Opposing Force) • Portal
Multiplayer games	Deathmatch (Classic • Half-Life 2) • Ricochet
Other games	Half-Life: Uplink • Half-Life 2: Lost Coast • Half-Life 2: Survivor
Playable characters	Dr. Gordon Freeman • Adrian Shephard • Barney Calhoun • Dr. Gina Cross • Dr. Colette Green • Chell
Major characters	Alyx Vance • Dr. Arne Magnusson • Dog • Dr. Eli Vance • GLaDOS • The G-Man • Dr. Isaac Kleiner • Dr. Judith Mossman • Dr. Wallace Breen
Minor characters	Father Grigori • Lamarr • Nihilanth • Odessa Cubbage • The Resistance • Dr. Richard Keller • Dr. Rosenberg • The Vortigaunts • Uriah
Enemies	Alien Controller • Alien Grunt • Antlion • Barnacle • Black Ops • Bullsquid • Carnivorous Leech • Chumtoad • The Combine (Soldiers and synths • Non-combat tech) • Gargantua • Gonarch • Hazardous Environment Combat Unit • Headcrab • Houndeye • Ichthyosaur • Nihilanth • Race X • Tentacle • The Vortigaunts
Locations	Aperture Science Laboratories • Black Mesa East • Black Mesa Research Facility • The Citadel • City 17 • The Coast • Nova Prospekt • White Forest Rocket Facility • Ravenholm • Xen
See also	The Orange Box • Seven Hour War • Black Mesa incident

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