Security guards

Black Mesa Archive Suggestion Box
#1

A few suggestions for the security guards:

  1. They should have melee defense abilities (at least against zombies and headcrabs).
    It would be weird , if a special trained security force wouldn’t be able to defend themself at close range.

  2. It would be nice, if the radios you added to their protective vest would be used in one or two situations as a scripted sequence.

  3. It would also be nice to see security guards without their helmet and dirty faces in the later course of the game.

  4. Gun lockers and gun racks would be nice furniture details for security stations and also a way for the player to come by weapons.

  5. I know, that guards will be able to take better weapons like a shotgun or mp5 (like the rebels from HL2). But in my opinion a few guards in the later course of the game should already have a better weapon. It would make sense at least.

#2

  1. They are not a special securite force. The guards you see in hl1 are just regular guards that are good at guarding things and are not prepared against an alien invasion.

  2. Yes that would be nice.

  3. Yes, I imagine wearing a helmet in a desert is not comfortable.

  4. Something like this was seen in Blue Shift. They might have added those for realism.

  5. Over time they would probably find better weapons to protect themselves so yeah.

#3

Of course, most of them are just regular guards (not all, because Black Mesa scientists were already experimenting with Xen aliens in high security laboratories and I believe Black Mesa was aware of the threat, if anything of their more dangerouse “samples” escapes, so that some guards got a special training), which are not prepared for such a mess.
But every security unit on this planet gets at least a training in melee and not just in using their pistoles.

But I also wasn’t talking about special movements and performances, but just about fighting off the hands of a grabbing Zombie for example.

#4

Actually if you adjust the pading in it properly and after getting used to it, it’s not so bad. I wore mine in Iraq, the deserts there is way hotter than the deserts in New Mexico.

#5

I don’t know about scripted sequences, but it’s been confirmed that the guards will have radio chatter.

#6

Not for reasons of hotness. I just think, that it would make sense to meet also guards without their helmets in that mess.

Awesome! Thanks for the info!

Btw. About the melee:
They should of course not be that agile as Alyx, but a few simple self-defending melee sequences would be great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoVvS88Spsw&feature=related
Something like 0:16 is what I mean.
Just holding such attacks off.

It could also be an interesting idea for a scripted sequence, where a zombie and a guard are fighting. ^^

#7

I recall it was stated by a dev that all the guards start with a pistol. They will not be equipped with better weaponry when you first encounter them even in the later parts of the game.

#8

But this wouldn’t really make sense. If I would know, that there are shotguns in the security stations, while all this kind of aliens (+soldiers) are around me, I would definitively try to get the better weapons. At least the guards who are near a security station or weapon storage.

Also you have to think, that the aliens didn’t invade every place in Black Mesa at once. There were enough guards, who would be able to equip themself with better firearms, after the entire emergency was called out by the announcement system. If you listen to it in sector C, you hear, that they were trying to send security teams into this area to handle the situation, which means, that not the whole facility was invaded at once, but one by one.
At least the damage containment teams would equip themself with better weapons.

But that’s just my opinion…

#9

“Well, government agents are shooting at my head and aliens are trying to hump it, so I might as well take off my only real source of protection and enjoy the minimal breeze offered by the deserts of New Mexico.”

#10
  1. I agree, you see them as corpses with shotguns and magnums, so I don’ see why there shouldn’t be any barneys with better guns than glocks-_-
#11

Just so you know, the average guard is NOT trained in hand to hand. Many of them aren’t even trained in weapons.

However, the Black Mesa Research facility seems to have armed guards, so IMO it stands to reason that they would also have hand to hand training.

It’s something I can live without though and don’t really care.

#12
  1. Not every guard was on duty while this happened and this means, that there wasn’t the time for every guard to equip himself completely.
  2. Taking it off for eating in the cafeteria and simply forgetting it after, because of the rapid and unexpected invasin, is possible.
  3. Loosing your helmet while the fights is also not impossible.
#13

Ignoring the numerous typos of this ^ post, It would be assumed that if guards can scavenge guns that they would also scavenge gear, and it WOULD be impossible to lose your helmet if it was strapped on. You would have to die if it was blown off, and no real trained specialist would have it unbuckled, contrary to fiction.

#14

Actually, people leave their helmets unbuckled all the time, whether it be because they’re too lazy to do so every time, or because of the discomfort it provides. We’re not talking about an elite force here, we’re talking about people who likely rarely encounter even a need to even wear their helmets at all.

#15

Well yes, but they would probably buckle if they heard explosions, gunshots, and bloodcurdling screams outside their room. I’m not saying all security personnel walk around in combat mode 24/7, but they would ready themselves appropriatly if the need arose.

#16

  1. Barneys are keeping their helmets. If you see one without, it’s a zombie.

  2. Even later in the game they’ll use their glock as primary weapon but can pick up others while traveling with you. They won’t be couvert by mud,sand or blood because it’s painfull to design new character models by that time.

  3. Bm goal isn’t realism but fun. People don’t forget their helmets but failed to grab a bigger gun or climb ladders.

4)Also barneys are supposed to be cannon fodder of the good guys side : limited firepower and training. They can take out small ennemies but don’t match a H/Agrunt without support.

  1. radio chats : who confirm that ? Need proof

6)About melee : is it really necessary outside a scripted sequence ?

#17

I seem to recall that you are wrong. Guards can pick up weapons (kind of like Rebels in Half-Life 2) but won’t be morons and take a shotgun if you have no shotgun and you really wanted that shotgun. Something like that.

#18

I would think that some guards will have MP5’s, Shotguns, and maybe even Grenades, considering Black Mesa stores them all.

#19

I know it was already said before but most of the guards are just regular ones. its just like in the mall… you dont see M4 armed guards walking around, you know?

#20

Here is a worthwhile suggestion for this thread:

Many players of HL (not including me) simply killed barneys for their 9mm ammo. Couldn’t the Barneys in BM therefore give ammo to the player, similar to HL2 rebels? It could be worth several magazines of 9mm, making it more worthwhile to save them than to harvest them for bullets.

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