A story I wrote for a Black Ops campaign…maybe it will become a mod one day. If not, still a potentially interesting read.
Edit: If by chance someone actually wants to take on this project, feel free to PM me. I’d be down for storyboarding, composing dialog and voice acting.
Black Mesa: Critical Mass[/SIZE]
A canonical story set in the HL universe from the POV of a male black operative.
Chapter 1: In the Cloak of Night
Timeline: [COLOR=‘Orange’]On a Rail, shortly before launch of the satellite/[COLOR=‘Lime’]Incoming, shortly after arrival to Black Mesa/[COLOR=‘DeepSkyBlue’]A Leap of Faith
As aliens continue to flood in after the resonance cascade, the first mantas have appeared and are beginning to contest the airspace surrounding Black Mesa. With reports of several downed HECU Ospreys (including Shephard’s team), you and the other operatives travel to Black Mesa in M35 cargo trucks under the cover of night. During the voyage you spot a pair of Agrunts and an alien cannon off in the distance. Then suddenly, a bright light…your team has been ambushed! As you fade in and out of consciousness, you see the remains of the destroyed M35 as well as your team in battle w/the Agrunts and vortigaunts.
[fade to black]
Chapter 2: Silencer
Timeline: [COLOR=‘Orange’]Apprehension/[COLOR=‘lime’]Incoming, shortly after arrival to Black Mesa/[COLOR=‘DeepSkyBlue’]Deliverance
You awake and find, to your surprise, that most of the black ops have survived the encounter. During the mission briefing, your team sees the launch of the satellite from On a Rail and becomes aware of the rogue scientist trying to make his way to the Lambda Core. A female operative states that there is a team working w/the HECU to intercept him and that she will lead a black ops group to infiltrate the Lambda Core once reinforcements arrive.
The team leader informs you that your mission will be to eliminate all Black Mesa personnel and deny any communication to the outside world while awaiting arrival of “the package.” You proceed with a team of two black ops into the nearest facility. One of the operatives hacks into the security system and places the facility under lockdown. You and the other operative proceed to systematically eliminate all personnel and acquire the weapons in the facility’s armory, as most of yours were destroyed in the alien engagement.
Chapter 3: A Tenuous Alliance
Timeline: [COLOR=‘orange’]Residue Processing/slightly before [COLOR=‘lime’]Welcome to Black Mesa
You are notified of the facility in which alien experiments are conducted and are tasked with retrieving the data in an unexplored section of this facility. As most of the other operatives are scattered throughout the Black Mesa, you travel to the Questionable Ethics complex alone and discover a team of stranded HECU. These soldiers assist you as you fight your way through the complex and its biodomes. After downloading the experimental data, you fight your way outside of the facility and to the HECU encampment near the hydroelectric dam. The platoon commander thanks you for rescuing his men and a few squads are dispatched to secure the facility. Shortly thereafter, a fight with the Xenians takes place and you are again knocked unconscious by an explosion.
[fade to black]
Chapter 4: The Eclipse
Timeline: [COLOR=‘orange’]Forget about Freeman/[COLOR=‘Lime’]Missing in Action
Upon awakening, you discover that the HECU encampment was destroyed…if there were any survivors, they must have retreated as you are now alone. Soon, you receive a message from a fellow operative which states that a transmission was just sent out to the USNRC via the Black Mesa primary communications array (from HL Uplink), which has made the Lambda Core accessable. Your next mission is to fight your way to the array and destroy it with explosives to prevent further transmissions from leaving Black Mesa.
Chapter 5: Superposition
Timeline: [COLOR=‘Orange’]Lambda Core/[COLOR=‘lime’]Friendly Fire
You rendez-vous with a small group of black ops and are notified that the final HECU evacuations have been completed. The black ops are now the only clean up operation and all other survivors, including the HECU, are to be terminated. You are tasked with securing the area surrounding a warehouse which will be used to conceal “the package.” During an engagement with the HECU, a lone soldier manages to escape and radio the remaining survivors. The HECU now become your enemies.
Chapter 6: Chain Reaction
Timeline: [COLOR=‘orange’]Xen/[COLOR=‘lime’]We are Not Alone
An emergency distress signal shows that “the package,” which is being carried by an M1075 truck, is under heavy fire. You rendez-vous with it and escort it to the warehouse, fighting HECU and aliens along the way. Once within the warehouse, “the package” is revealed to be a thermonuclear device. You activate the weapon and set the detonation to 10 hours. The black ops prepare for evacuation.
Chapter 7: Into the Breach
Timeline: [COLOR=‘orange’]Gonarch’s Lair/[COLOR=‘lime’]Crush Depth
Some of the black ops teams have evacuated by this time. However, the remaining operatives receive a transmission stating that a massive energy discharge was recently detected within the Lambda Complex signaling the successful creation of a passage to the borderworld. The remaining troops have been notified to infiltrate the Lambda Complex and download the schematics for the reactor and teleporter. Detonation of the nuke is further delayed to account for this operation.
Upon arriving at the complex, you find a few operatives who are interrogating the remaining survivors of the Lambda team. The scientists inform you that there are a few additional teleporter prototypes within the complex, one of which is large enough to accommodate the passage of military vehicles. You receive new orders to salvage the largest teleporter for an HECU counteroffensive. A scientist states that most of the terrain in Xen is incompatible with vehicle navigation and in order to start the military campaign, you must place a homing beacon on the largest island. He also states that the largest island is home to a Black Mesa research station that contains a teleporter which will allow you to return home.
As there is only one HEV suit and longjump module left, you volunteer to travel to Xen and place the beacon. You don the suit, power is redirected from the Lambda reactor to the auxillary teleporter and you enter the portal. The remaining black ops evacuate the critical Lambda personnel and await the arrival of vehicles which will disassemble and relocate the teleporter.
Chapter 8: Black Operations
Timeline: [COLOR=‘orange’]Interloper+Nihilanth/[COLOR=‘lime’]Vicarious Reality+Pit Worm’s Nest
You proceed to navigate the island terrain of Xen and clear the main island of the alien army and xenofauna to make way for a future invasion. After placing the beacon, you proceed to the research station and discover the massive extent of Black Mesa’s operations in Xen. While activating the teleporter to return to Earth, you notice the death of Nihilanth in the distance, which creates a massive portal storm. As an overwhelming number of aliens warp into the facility, you jump into the teleporter. However, the interference from the storm begins to disrupt your return trip and you are teleported back and forth to various locations in the Black Mesa facility and Xen.
[fade to black]
Chapter 9: Pandora’s Box
Timeline: [COLOR=‘Yellow’]Years after the Black Mesa incident
You awake to find yourself in a Xen cavern and must fight through antlions as well as an antlion guard to get to the surface. Once there, you realize you are still on the large island, as you can see the wreckage of the research station from a distance. As you aimlessly wander the island and battle xenofauna, you come across some destroyed HECU vehicles from a previous military campaign.
Suddenly, a giant portal opens up from another universe and a mini-citadel slams into the island, generating a massive shockwave. Combine gunships and dropships loaded with striders and crab walkers soon begin deploying from the structure. You realize that your only chance to get back to Earth lies within the citadel and you destroy a gunship during your approach. As you near the entrance, you see the first Combine expeditionary force beginning to emerge, which consists of alien elites and an advisor. Suddenly, you lose control of your limbs and seemingly begin to levitate. The advisor approaches you, then slams you into a pod, causing you to lose consciousness. The ending sequence has you fading into and out of consciousness as you see Combine scanners and a dissection unit slowly approaching you. The last image you see is yourself being vivisected.*
[fade to black; assessment terminated, subject out of range]
*The ending is ambiguous as it’s unclear whether you died…perhaps you become the first human Combine elite, or the ex-Combine from Minerva.
[COLOR=‘PaleTurquoise’]The Black Ops[/SIZE]
Background
As the Black Ops have their own versions of the Osprey and Apache, it seems likely that they are a division of U.S. military, similar to the HECU. While aware of their existence, any information that the HECU have regarding the Black Ops’ intentions is based solely on rumor and speculation. In my proposed pitch, the Black Ops have a role distinct from the HECU and their roles only begin to merge toward the end of the campaign.
While the HECU are sent to Black Mesa to stop the aliens and eliminate witnesses, the Black Ops’ primary mission is that of salvage. Realistically, the technologies designed by the Black Mesa researchers would take decades to create and the alien data is potentially critical for stopping the invasion. It would be foolhardy to let this all go to waste, hence their intervention in Questionable Ethics and Lambda Core. However, it’s unclear who ordered their presence in Black Mesa, though the Gman is the most likely candidate. In the period between HL and HL2, it is possible the Gman somehow facilitated the delivery of the teleporter schematics to Vance and Kleiner, which allowed them to create the miniature version seen in Kleiner’s lab. This also makes sense as at least one of them (Eli) knows about his existence.
The secondary objective of the Black Ops is to oversee HECU operations from a distance and to intervene when it is necessary, such as when a distress signal was sent via the Uplink communications array (a failure of the HECU to stop Gordon). Only when the soldiers evacuate do the Black Ops take on their role. The nuke is called upon once they realize the hopelessness of their situation.
Persona
Unlike HECU soldiers, who are prone to emotional outbursts like anger and fear during combat, the Black Ops, whether male or female, are almost always calm and collected in battle and only in the most dire situations do they show any hint of distress. The Black Ops are extremely professional and efficient with an almost superhuman ability to complete their objectives. This is reflected in their dialogue which is delivered with a calm that only experienced veterans would have in combat operations. Their words are purposeful and concise when in combat.
The Black Ops initially consider the HECU their colleagues but they regard them with derision. They see them as an inefficient and sloppy operation that requires their babysitting and ultimately their replacement. When discussing HECU operations, the tone of the operatives is always smug and condescending with a hint of frustration. The HECU, on the other hand, regard the Black Ops with mixed feelings. Some are awed by their presence, thinking (appropriately so) that they are the best of the best…others find their presence unsettling and regard them with fear. To the ordinary soldier, it is unclear what the role of the operatives is as the HECU are supposed to be the sole cleanup operation.
Ethics
A tricky design challenge is to make the players identify with the Black Ops, as one of their major goals is the elimination of Black Mesa personnel, many of whom are defenseless. This will be addressed partially in chapter 2. From their perspective, the Black Ops do not enjoy killing civilians, which is reflected in their dialog, but they see their actions as a necessity to prevent the spread of panic and to protect the safety of U.S. citizens. The scientists simply happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. They disapprove of the research conducted at Black Mesa and justify their actions by saying that the scientists knew what they were getting into and now must accept the consequences of their failure. Once the HECU evac is complete, some of the operatives also question the necessity of eliminating the stragglers. They become more suspicious of who is issuing these orders but ultimately follow through with them despite their conscience.
In combat
As shown in OpFor, when engaging human targets, black ops will always fight in silence. They do not cry out in pain and only in death do they make any audible sounds, which tend to be faint. When engaging with aliens, operatives chatter amongst themselves similar to the HECU, as there is far more strategic advantage in doing so than operating in silence (the aliens cannot understand human language). However, this chatter is devoid of emotional statements and is used solely to enhance elimination of their targets.
Black ops can take a bit more damage than HECU and behave almost like aimbots, with improved accuracy and reaction times (like BMS HECU in the current state of balance). Female operatives are decloaked and move at regular speeds when out of combat. Only in combat do they move at high velocities and activate their stealth mode. They dual-wield silenced pistols. Male black ops generally prefer semi-automatic weapons and can use both frag grenades and flashbang grenades, depending on the situation. In addition to these standard operatives, there is also a third class that can hack into computers and open otherwise inaccessible areas, similar to the OpFor engineer.
Sample dialogue
Beginning combat (vs humans): Shh…I hear targets. Blackout, blackout. All silent. Keep it down. We do this quiet. Eliminate them. Silence, targets inbound. No survivors.
Beginning combat (vs aliens): Enemy in my sights! Hostiles inbound. ETs. Target in my sights. Aliens! We’ve got hostiles. Incoming. Head’s up! Targets inbound.
During combat (vs aliens): Watch yourself. Target down. Cover fire. Dammit, I’m hurt! Reload. We got this. We need backup. Man down! Lock and load. Bugs inbound (snarks). Balls to the walls. I’m hit! Alien down. Focus fire. Suppressive fire. Locked on target. Need help.
Victory chat: All clear. Alpha Mike Foxtrot. Nice work. Locked down tight. 1A Whisker. Area secured.
[COLOR=‘Pink’]Gameplay[/SIZE]
General
Weapons layout
1st slot
A. Martial arts: 1. Jab/cross (faster, less damage) 2. Left/right roundhouse kick (slower, more damage)
B. Baton: A heavier attack for crate breaking and dealing with tougher enemies
C. PDA: Used to receive messages from fellow operatives and download data from BMS computers
2nd slot
A. Glock(s) with silencer(s): 1. Single pistol (slower, more accurate) or double pistol (faster, less accurate) 2. Switches between single and dual pistol
B. Magnum 1. Un-zoomed shot 2. Iron sights
3rd slot
A. Shotgun: 1. Single barrel shot 2. Double barrel shot
B. MP5: 1. Machine gun 2. Grenade launcher
C. M40A1 sniper rifle: 1. Un-zoomed shot 2. Zoomed shot
4th slot
A. Hornet gun: 1. Seeker fire 2. Rapid fire
B. Snarks
5th slot
A. M249 squad automatic weapon
B. RPG launcher: 1. Unguided or laser guided shot 2. Toggle laser
C. Gluon gun
6th slot
A. Grenades: 1. Immediate throw 2. Hold then throw
B. Tripmines
C. Satchel charge: 1. Drop satchel 2. Detonator
Some comments:
- The baton is mainly meant as a tool for breaking crates as martial arts seems a bit silly for this; the overlap in melee weapons can be distinguished by adjusting damage and rate of fire.
- The desert eagle could potentially be used as a substitute for the magnum.
- Race X weapons such as the shock roach and spore launcher will probably be absent, as they are not canon.
- Prototypes such as the tau cannon and displacer gun (likely not canon) will be excluded; it is likely there is only one of each weapon in existence.
Health mechanics
The player gains health by picking up medkits and using med chargers. Prior to Xen, “suit power” will be obtained by picking up armored vests from black ops, HECU and Black Mesa security which will distribute a lump sum of 100, similar to Blue Shift.
Once on Xen, the player will be wearing an HEV suit, which will replace the vest mechanic with the traditional powered suit mechanic (HEV chargers, batteries).
General mechanics
Dark areas can be illuminated with night vision goggles (black ops armor) and a flashlight (HEV suit), both of which will be battery limited. To create a unique/more athletic feel for the black ops, walk/run speed and jump height will receive a slight buff. The change should be noticeable but not drastically different from BMS. While the value is subject to change, a 10% increase seems reasonable for initial testing. The player will have access to a long-jump module for Xen navigation. Sprint will not be tied to either black ops armor or the HEV suit. Players will have the ability to scale areas by rappelling, similar to Opposing Force. Potential game features may include calling a black ops Apache for air support or using the long range artillery seen in Forget about Freeman.
Black ops AI balance
[COLOR=‘LemonChiffon’]Chapter-specific features[/SIZE]
Chapter 1: In the Cloak of Night
Introductory sequence and dialogue
Op 1: We are not alone…just got reports of unidentified objects in the sky. Looks like Goose 3 and Goose 7 crashed by the canyon a while back.
Op 2: Guess that’s why we’re stuck in these slow-ass trucks. What the hell are we doing in BFE anyway? The military’s already here.
Op 3: Heh, babysitting probably. Can’t trust those damn grunts for nothing…they all got a serious case of rectal cranial inversion. [Laughs from all operatives]. Nothing but bulletstops man.
Op 2: What the…hey, you see that? [Agrunts and cannons warp in, energy blasts in the distance] Shit, we’ve got hostiles!
Op 1: Brace for impact! [Screen turns white, player temporarily blacks out].
Op 3: Fast movers inbound!
[Player sees mantas approaching, one of which destroys a humvee. As the player fades in and out of consciousness, he sees an Agrunt slamming an operative face-first on the ground and another being killed by a vort blast. A third operative starts retreating toward you.]
Various Ops: Man down, man down! Dammit, behind the hummers…NOW! Suppressive fire. Focus em down. Shit, more ETs inbound!
[Player blacks out …a while later:]
Op 1: Alpha Mike Foxtrot. Nice job.
Chapter 2: Silencer
Chapter 2 can potentially be split into two sections (Focal Point + Silencer)
-Weapons introduced: Martial arts, baton, glock w/silencer (Focal Point). Magnum, shotgun, dual wield glock (Silencer).
-Enemies introduced: Headcrabs, zombies, barnacles, bullsquids, houndeyes (Focal Point). Scientists (armed/unarmed), Barneys, security turrets, retrofitted loader boss (Silencer).
-Player awakens and finds himself in the underground warehouse from Worlds Collide, which is the primary black ops staging area. The operatives are currently setting up shop and are awaiting further reinforcements.
-Team leader has you make your way up the warehouse to the surface where you rendez-vous w/Jacobs (male) and Santos (female) who will escort you to the facility in Silencer.
-Functionally, Focal Point will be a cross between the Hazard Course and Residue Processing. Players will receive a lump sum of glock ammo at the beginning and very little afterwards, which will force them to melee in many parts against simple enemies. This will help the players get accustomed to the martial arts and baton mechanics and ammo budget for difficult targets (e.g. bullsquids).
-The warehouse will be themed like Residue Processing with conveyer belts, jump puzzles etc. to teach players basic movement mechanics. There will also be many destructible crates for baton testing.
-Once on the surface, Jacobs and Santos will accompany you through an outdoor area to the facility and fill in some of the backstory. Jacobs is a bit of a wisecracker but a valuable ally who accompanies you throughout Silencer. His role is similar to that of Alyx in Ep.1. Santos is a no-nonsense hacker who will provide you with intel during the mission.
-Along the way, you will witness the satellite launched by Gordon.
-The theme of the building in Silencer is that of a loader manufacturing plant and a radioactive waste packaging facility (for future transport to the Residue Processing plant).
-Early in the mission, you will eliminate several Barneys and unarmed scientists with your fellow operatives. However, Santos later discovers that your actions have been caught on camera and warns you that you will likely face heavier opposition within the facility (e.g. armed scientists). She places the facility under lockdown while you and Jacobs eliminate all personnel.
-At the end of the chapter, you will face a loader retrofitted w/security turrets and a modified TOW launcher. This loader cannot be destroyed with conventional weapons and the player will be forced to seek an environmental solution. The loader will chase you as you crawl through vents and ladders and Jacobs is ultimately killed while providing cover fire. Ultimately, you destroy the loader by dropping beams on top of it.
-Santos then unlocks the facility and tells you to travel to the Questionable Ethics complex for a data retrieval mission. She meets up with her team in Lambda Core.
Chapter 3: A Tenuous Alliance
Chapter 4: The Eclipse
Chapter 5: Superposition
Chapter 6: Chain Reaction
Chapter 7: Into the Breach
Chapter 8: Black Operations
Chapter 9: Pandora’s Box
