:|:meh::facepalm:
I didn’t think it mattered. The whole point of the combine is that they constantly use bioengineering combined with mechanical enhancements. I’m pretty sure that whole mechanical suit and breathing apparatus is how they survive PERIOD, even on their own homeworld. This would allow them to focus modifying their own genetic structure to support stronger psychic control, and let the machinery handle all of the physical tasks.
We’re trying to think what it would have been 20 years ago.
Whether they had already achieved that amount of technology, or if it was a bit more rural.
I don’t think they would have been able to take over the world in 7 hours if their technology wasn’t at least that advanced.
Yeah, but they took over almost… how many years later?
Because this mod, you’re on the Combine Homeworld just before the Resonance Cascade happens.
Well, I go by Alyx’s age to do my calculation for how long gordon was suspended, and the age of the rebels to calculate how long it was between the combine invasion and when gordon woke up.
Alyx seemed to be roughly 2-6 at the time that the resonance cascade hit, judging by the picture that Eli had in his lab in HL2(it might have been an old picture, which would have actually made her older at the time) She appears to be in her early 20s by HL2 (no older than late 20s) this implies that 15-20 years have passed since the resonance cascade.
Then we look at the rebels who have been unable to reproduce due to the suppression field. No one appears to be younger than 20. Heck, most of the rebels look to be mid 30s or older. From this it can be extrapolated that there has been at LEAST 15-20 years of time SINCE the combine invaded and set up the suppression field.
The first point pretty much declares an upper limit on how much time has passed, while the second points to the lower limit. I can’t imagine more than 5 years taking place between the resonance cascade and the combine invasion. Personally, I’d put it in closer to 1-2 years after the resonance cascade that the combine invaded and the 7 hour war took place. Any more than that and Alyx is practically going to be older than Gordon in terms of actual time experienced.
Just because we don’t see any children or anyone younger than 30 doesn’t mean that there isn’t any. If we consider real war, the youngest people are those most easily swayed by propaganda, and therefore the youngest people would be targets of opportunity for Civil Protection enrolment (bearing in mind that Civil Protection are just Humans). This could account for some of the lack of the young populous.
Furthermore, younger people are more likely to have fled after the combine invaded, which again lowers the number of young people that we have seen, again, this does not mean that we would see no young people, but it would account for some.
We then have to take into consideration that because young people are more likely to be swayed by propaganda, those who had rebuked the Combine invasion would be more likely to be killed sooner than the older populous who resisted, as the older populous would be more cautious and less likely to act rashly.
Also, any newborns would have been hidden or evacuated by their parents as Gordon only sees City17 and a few other places, as we do not see much countryside, that is the most probable place any of the youngest populous would be.
This greatly reduces the probability of seeing a young person, therefore it is possible that the combine invasion took place more recently that 15 years before hl2, maybe even 10 or 15 years. Although this may sound like comparatively little time, in real life technology is increasing at an exponential rate, add to this the combine’s larger empire (and therefore populous) and it is possible for their technology to have increased drastically in only 10-15 years.
Thanks,
Shaktal
i joined, but your site is all screwy, so your confirmation email got jacked up on the way to my inbox.
[COLOR=‘Black’]good lord that sounds nasty[/SIZE]
Umm…Alex. Really? The HL universe already has a main character named Alyx as we all know (yes, spelled differently, but said aloud it sounds exactly the same so might as well be). Why couldn’t you come up with a different name for the main character? Confusion etc from less intelligent players wondering if it’s the same Alex/Alyx aside (and yes some people are silly enough to get confused), it just kinda seems un-original and meh.
I just think it would be much better to avoid situations like this and go with a name that isn’t already so well established as someone else in the HL universe. That also means don’t change it to Judith or Judyth, or even Chell or Chel. Try something new to HL, like Summer Glau (lol) or Gail Weatherstorm or even Jane Liberty (or something non-cliché) - hell, anything that isn’t an identifiable name already used by a female character in the HL universe. “Alex” honestly made me groan.
Just some honest constructive criticism and advice.
I agree with Shasta. All main characters in the same universe should have unique names to prevent confusion, as well as giving the characters a more unique persona.
you could have limited it to “choose a name that doesn’t sound like alyx.” 
personally, l think a cool name would be Ander Rhoza. Not sure why, but i just like how it sounds.
I could have, but I like to be as clear as possible, suggest alternatives, and support my arguments and reasons instead of just going “nope change it” etc. I can’t stand people that just disagree with something without saying why or supporting their position. It’s not helpful to anyone really.
Thank you,
This is a point that I had not considered, I merely thought that Alex was a good name, I didn’t attribute it to Alyx in Half-life 2. I am glad that you have brought that to my attention.
I will consider alternatives now, your suggestion has been helpful.
Thank you,
Shaktal
EDIT: I have fixed the site now, Cameron changed some of the settings, I had to change them back . Try and login with the password you set, it should work, if not then contact me on steam or (mailto:haktal@operationlambda.com)]E-mail Me.
No it doesn’t. I know, my name is Alex. It’s not that noticeable, but if you’re paying close attention, it’s different.
Actually, you’re more likely to be inclined to pay attention to any difference in pronunciation if you have that as your name. Since otherwise you’re going to feel like people are calling you by a girl’s name.
My name ISN’T Alex, so I’ll point out that while I notice the difference when I am saying the name as the name itself(Alex tends to be pronounced as “Al X” while Alyx tends to be pronounced “Alix”) when I’m just using it in conversation to refer to the person, the way I pronounce both tends to get slurred into “Alks”
Essentially you’re both right. If you pronounce them with the proper enunciation, then they do sound different, but most people don’t use proper enunciation, so for all practical purposes they end up sounding the same.
Even if not, they sound close enough that it is going to get subconsciously confusing, even though the player will probably recognize that there is a difference.
You’ve got me saying ‘Alix’ and ‘Al X’ so much that my friends are staring at me awkwardly.
When you read forums, you read them out loud to yourself? That’s odd. :fffuuu:
Rarely.
Only when I need to.
I don’t know about you guys, but I always saw those advisor bodies as shells to host important individual minds. Looks like they were entirely bioengineered for that purpose. The mechanical breathing devices seem to be part of those bodies, just like as if those creatures were designed to receive such mechanisms. Breen did receive an advisor body when he needed one: the combine probably manufactures those for every local leader they turn, to give they immortality. After all, they are a multi dimensional empire, probably almost all the adivisors are former leaders from diferent regions of the universe (or even different universes) that were turned into permanet members of the combine’s State after receiveing their biomechanical shells. Maybe the original race that started the construction of the empire has allready been so transformed and received so many different technological interventions that it doesn’t really exist anymore. Their minds were all transfered to the pods we see in HL2. There’s no “combinian” on teir homeworld, only advisors with different origins and slave aliens working for them.
but that’s just my opinion.
Nice ideia for a mod, by the way. Wish you the best of luck.