Air Superiority Battle Flawed: Harriers not supersonic

Half-Life Series
#1

As good as the devs were at attention to detail (like switching the airstrike to a mortar strike for the garg fight at the end of Surface Tension), I feel like their only using Harriers for the air superiority battle was shortsighted. If the U.S. military was LOSING the battle to recover our largest military base from an inter-dimensional alien invasion, clearly recognizing that the fate of the human race, let alone U.S. national security, absolutely depended on it, the HECU would either be augmented with, or entirely superseded by, more Marine units, or more probably, other branches of the armed forces.

  Concurrently, even though they were trying to be militarily accurate with the Harriers being Marine aircraft, they're not even fucking supersonic.  It is inferred that the Mantas are ridiculously fast, and that the F-16s in the original game can't catch them.  I think it is far more realistic for the Air Force to become involved in the later stages out of dire necessity to maintain air superiority than to just have it be the Marines - Harriers can't even move that fast!  They should have done F-16 or F-22 models for the end of the game!  What do you think?  Reasonable or unreasonable?
#2

I’m sorry, where is it stated that Manta Rays are supersonic?

In any case, they used Harriers because that’s what was in the original game. If you’re asking after realism, expect to hear that a lot.

#3

Jesus Christ, does it even matter?

If we were playing a fighter pilot in this game, then it might have mattered, but we weren’t, so it’s just a little inconsequential detail.

Why do people cling so much on to such little details that don’t affect the game in any way?

#4

Just drop a nuke on it:

#5

An F-16 model was used in the original game, at least in the canyon flyby sequence.

Also, Black Mesa’s wiki states that they are capable of greater than Mach 1. The descriptions of each enemy are short, so whoever wrote the wiki found this tidbit pertinent. https://wiki.blackmesasource.com/Manta_Ray

Why the confrontational tone, Maxey? I’m not complaining so much as making an interesting criticism in terms of the finer points of the narrative, I thought that was what this particular forum was for, conjecture about the story?

#6

Who says the cascades effects were limited to the BMRF? Maybe the semper fudge guys were the only ones in the area to respond?

#7

… because they were intended so in the first place, too…

#8

Yeah, that’s something I always wanted to know. Were the aliens only invading Black Mesa or the whole Earth? I think when the portal storm begins it’s only in Black Mesa, but when the actual military invasion(When the manta rays and the alien grunts start arriving) it’s the whole planet that’s being invaded.

#9

IIRC it slowly spread outwards as Xenian wildlife took over, and humankind was already largely sheltering in cities by the time the Combine invaded.

#10

We would not be able to mobilize fast enough and even if we did its likely that the play was on Xen, or underground by then.

#11

I think that the effect was highly localized while Gordon was running around the facility, though that wouldn’t stop any Xenians on the surface from roaming outwards, but I think that when Gordon defeats the Nihilanth, the floodgates open and Xenians begin appearing all over the planet, including antlions who quickly find a lot of nice sand and dirt to burrow through.

Or perhaps the effect was still only localized around the facility and, in 20 years, the planet’s infested simply due to migration (antlion grubs stowing away on the underneath of planes and being deposited globally, for example).

We haven’t really been treated to a detailed account of what happened during the years Gordon was asleep so this is all supposition.

It is my belief that as soon as the Nihilanth was killed, the first Portal Storm ravaged the Earth which got the attention of the Combine right way. Within a couple days from the Nihilanth’s destruction, the Combine had amassed enough troops to start the Seven Hour War. The remaining Earth’s population were sent to numbered cities (those cities that survived the war at all) and the oppressive military state was, over time, lulled into a false sense of security and pulled the majority of their military force back, possibly in an attempt to conquer other planets. That’s where Gordon comes back into play.

But, back to the on-topic, I believe that the area around the BMRF was the only place affected at first, but the Xenian force was too much for the military so they decided to nuke the joint. Of course, that didn’t help; the effects are only localized to our own dimension and area. Many Xenians were killed, sure, but many more remained.

#12

Yeah, I believe too that the military power of the COmbine is much much bigger than what we see in HL2. I mean, only a reduced group of rebels could fight against the Overwatch soldiers and kick their ass. How could them defeat the whole Earth’s army 20 years before then? They must have a very big army of synths that are somewhere else in the space. And I think someday they will be sent back to Earth to defeat GOrdon, and eventhough Gordon is very badass, it’s almost impossible that he could win that battle. So for me the end of HL would be a final battle that Gordon can’t win, but then something happens, Deus ex machina. Who knows? Maybe G-man appears and kick their asses.

#13

The Combine definitely have a lot more forces elsewhere; they don’t show up in EP1 or EP2 because they’ve been cut off.

To quote Eli, “It’ll be the seven hour war all over again, but this time it won’t last seven minutes!”

#14

What do you mean with “cut off”?

#15

Last I checked the U.S. government didn’t have enough collective change in their pockets for an oaty bar, they should probably just be happy with those harriers China lent them.

#16

They had no way of contacting any of the Combine forces elsewhere once Gordon fucked up their citadel at the end of HL2.

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.