Race X - Games - Facepunch Forum

I have been sitting on this nugget of thought for a bitch of a time, so I thought, "SPAM FACEPUNCH LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE!" I have been wondering. The Combine, inhuman as they are, had to have started their conquest sometime either after the Black Mesa era and before the Citadel era. When they came, they sure as hell didn't look like Metro-Cops we all know and love, they probably looked like striders and Advisers and Drones. It was only after the 7 hour war that they understood human anatomy and technology enough to build the devastating hybrid human super soldiers that became the Overwatch. -------- Race X was introduced in Opposing Force. I've done some researching(erm... thinking)about the time frame of OF compared to Half-Life. Shepard found Black Mesa in a torn state.(sometime after the Resonance Cascade) In roughly the middle of the expansions play through, Shepard sees Gordon Freeman jump into the Xen portal that would take Gordon into Xen(Redundant or what?). This suggests to me that unless Shepard was really really quick on his feet, he arrived at Black Mesa sometime after shit hit the fan. After this scene we-or maybe before-we see some new enemies that Gordon never encountered. These enemies are Race X and the Black Ops. The Black Ops does show up in Gordon's journey, but only briefly, and we only see their female spies-or scouts meant to scout out the hostile territory-running around. This also suggests Freeman had a head start on Shepard. My theory is this. In the time gap between Gordon's insertion of GG-3883 into the Anti Mass Spectrometer and Shepard's albeit less than comfortable helicopter ride in, is it possible that Race X IS the Combine? -------- There is evidence that Race X had a conflict with the Nihilanth, and it is a fact of the matter that the Universal Union had been at odds with the Nihilanth's people. We also know that the Universal Union discovered our dimension by accident when they were hunting for the Nihilanth. It is also believed that Xen was the last safe haven for the Nihilanth to turn to-until that is-they found Earth. -------- I quote -"The Race X was discovered by chance by the Black Mesa scientists, when they opened a rift to another dimension than that of Xen during their portal technology experiments,[2] which lies "somewhere beyond" Xen.[4] Not knowing where this dimension was, the name "X" was used by Black Mesa to define the unknown." This could make or brake my theory -------- My main points -Shepard found Race X roughly during the middle of Freeman's fight. -Race X was found to be in a separate dimension than that of the Nihilanth -The Voltigore seem to act similar in nature to the antlions(in their insect-ish nature, perhaps a related species?) The one thing I can think of that would disprove my theory is the Gene Worm. It doesn't seem possible to me that it was the thinking machine behind Race X. It did not demonstrate enough intelegence to be the head honcho. But it did show the ability to warp in and out of Xen(or possibly the Race X homeworld judging by the purple hue?)and there was only ever one Gene Worm. -------- So there you have it. I think Race X was the Combine scouting party sent to fuck shit up for the Nihilanth and scout out the Earth. That's my conspiracy theory for today. :tinfoil: Yes I know that Race X was never really canon as far as Marc Laidlaw was concerned, but both Valve and Gearbox were involved in the franchise, so I consider Race X as canon.

Race X is not canon. My guess is that Gearbox knew that Valve was planning for a "bigger, badder" faction to show up, and they thought they'd try to make that faction. If Race X WERE canon, they'd have likely have launched a second invasion before the Combine could show up. Remember that the Combine took several years and a ton of energy to open up the superportals they sent their invasion force through, and the reason is because the Combine's portal technology was fairly primitive, despite their being highly advanced in several other areas. Race X, on the other hand, managed to show up only a few hours after the resonance cascade, suggesting that their portal technology is very advanced. If they were part of the Combine, than the Combine would be able to open up a portal just as easily as Race X would. What's more, Race X would have probably been even more dangerous than the Combine had they launched a second invasion. The Combine have to set up the troops and transport them to their target, whereas Race X can just teleport troops in wherever or even create new troops ready to go using the Gene Worm. The Combine need all sorts of technology which needs to be heavily guarded to terraform a conquered planet and assimilate its native species, while Race X can quickly terraform a planet that they're still attacking without having to build anything at all. Their weapons are all organic, and the Gene Worm's only known weakness are lasers to the eyes. We don't even know how many Gene Worms they have, there could be thousands of them.

That makes sense, but if they were that strong, why have the Combine not dealt with them?(Aside from the obvious fact that Valve could care less about Race X)

Perhaps they have, but Race X was able to stop their invasion? Or maybe they're an empire like the Combine. It's likely that Race X isn't just some tough aliens living on a single planet. They seemed to know what they were doing when they invaded Earth, so they've probably done this before. If they were canon, I would guess the Combine and Race X probably fight over control of planets all the time.

I wish Race X WERE canon. Adding the third power to the galactic mix, would have been awesome. Problem is, to me, they seem to be ant-like in their society. Their set roles for each specie (or perhaps sub-species, with a few creatures seeming to be exception) makes them appear so. There are obvious drones, Soldiers that have large enough brain capacity (this hive like structure is probably much more advanced that presented on earth). Voltigores seem to be a separate species that were somehow added into their society. Gene Worm is nothing more than a tool to secure necessary resources to establish the balance of the Sprite-created portal, as well as following processing. Not sure about the other worm, though. At the end, they really remind me of Tyranids from Warhammer 40k - and perhaps they opeate on the same principle on the basis of random portal jumps.

Actually, I remember postal e-mailing Doug Lombardi or someone else about this a few years back. They said the events and characters of Opposing Force were currently not canon, but that if players/customers wanted to see them return, and the want was strong enough, the events of Opposing Force could be made canon. But this was before Episode 1 even came out if I recall, and I haven't heard much since then, so...

It would be terribly easy to reintroduce Race X into the HL2 Storyline, but harder to dismiss it with a solid, canon fact.

It'd be nice to see Race X in Episode 3, just some of those shock trooper guys hiding out in the snow.

[QUOTE=Dachande;25546612]It would be terribly easy to reintroduce Race X into the HL2 Storyline, but harder to dismiss it with a solid, canon fact.[/QUOTE] Ehm no it wouldn't. "Opposing Force never happened"

[QUOTE=Chrille;25546728]Ehm no it wouldn't. "Opposing Force never happened"[/QUOTE] [img]http://www.facepunch.com/image.php?u=32653&dateline=1200853528[/img]

Well considering that in OP4 they were studying Race X (Spore Launcher, Spores), which could be from an entirely different border world, It's entirely plausible that valve could reuse them, but I'm pretty sure the entire point was that they were 'defeated' and pushed back with their portal closed. But then again the "Spores" were created by entities that were attached to masses of Xen Flora. Really, while you can make up large theories, only valve could give an actual confirmation.

[QUOTE=The Walrus;25544307]is it possible that Race X IS the Combine?[/quote]Race X is not the Combine. [quote]There is evidence that Race X had a conflict with the Nihilanth[/quote]The relationship between the Nihilanth and Race X is intentionally left ambiguous. I asked Randy Pitchford, essentially the main writer behind Gearbox's expansions, myself in an e-mail a while ago and this is what he had to say: [quote=Randy Pitchford]I worked within a framework articulated to me by Marc Laidlaw of Valve that allowed for many alien species to exist in the universe – some intelligent, some not – some with agendas, some without. With what was revealed, you can deduce that the masters of the aliens referred to as “Race X” clearly have some sentience and some agenda and they clearly employ or subjugate other aliens… In that way, they are similar to the creatures that have subjugated the Vortigaunts (and you learn more about that in HL2). Other than that, there is no clear answer to your question given the information that’s been revealed by the games.[/quote] So we basically have no idea if Xen creatures and Race X are hostile to each other or not. [QUOTE=Aredbomb;25544580]Race X is not canon.[/quote]There is nothing to suggest that Race X is not canon. Their chapter in the story is simply completed. [quote]My guess is that Gearbox knew that Valve was planning for a "bigger, badder" faction to show up, and they thought they'd try to make that faction.[/quote]Gearbox created Race X for purely gameplay reasons: they wanted to introduce unique new monsters to make Opposing Force a fresh experience for players of Half-Life. However, as far as the plot goes, Gearbox knew they couldn't tread into Valve's story too much, but they still worked well under Valve's watchful eye. Race X allowed them to achieve their gameplay goals and still work within the confines of the HL universe. Valve simply chose not to pursue this plot branch and many other elements from Half-Life in their sequel.

[QUOTE=Scar;25546879][img_thumb]http://www.facepunch.com/image.php?u=32653&dateline=1200853528[/img_thumb][/QUOTE] Uhm yeah? That avatar is older than time itself and hasn't got anything to do with it.

Valve should have added race X in HL2

[QUOTE=Chrille;25547249]Uhm yeah? That avatar is older than time itself and hasn't got anything to do with it.[/QUOTE] Its just the fact that you have an avatar that appears to be Adrian Shepard that makes it ironic.

[QUOTE=108payne;25547570]Its just the fact that you have an avatar that appears to be Adrian Shepard that makes it ironic.[/QUOTE] Opposing Force itself [i]is[/i] a good game, I was just pointing out how easy it would be to not make it a part of the HL universe. That said, I never liked Race X.

I am just taking both Opposing Force and Blue shift as non-cannon.

I loved Race-X in Opposing Force. They were pretty much the Alien counterparts to the grunts. I would love to see them in Episode three.

Combine removed Nihilanth and Vortigaunts and other 3 handed psychic monsters from their original planet and they moved to Xen. Shit happens on Earth, they use the portal to escape the Combine More, Combine decide Earth has something going down.

[QUOTE=xpod1;25554916]Combine removed Nihilanth and Vortigaunts and other 3 handed psychic monsters from their original planet and they moved to Xen. Shit happens on Earth, they use the portal to escape the Combine More, Combine decide Earth has something going down.[/QUOTE] What. The vortigaunts were a resistance against the combine. Xen was their "Last stand" until the portal to earth was opened.

[QUOTE=gufu;25544825]I wish Race X WERE canon. Adding the third power to the galactic mix, would have been awesome. Problem is, to me, they seem to be ant-like in their society. Their set roles for each specie (or perhaps sub-species, with a few creatures seeming to be exception) makes them appear so. There are obvious drones, Soldiers that have large enough brain capacity (this hive like structure is probably much more advanced that presented on earth). Voltigores seem to be a separate species that were somehow added into their society. Gene Worm is nothing more than a tool to secure necessary resources to establish the balance of the Sprite-created portal, as well as following processing. Not sure about the other worm, though. At the end, they really remind me of Tyranids from Warhammer 40k - and perhaps they opeate on the same principle on the basis of random portal jumps.[/QUOTE] The Shock Troopers (green 4-armed guys) do seem to have a spoken language and some level of military planning, since they seem to alert eachother of hostile presence and various other hazards. They do seem to have a simple motivation, though. While the Combine are willing to set up a gradual, systematic transition of power and assimilate any species they see as being potentially useful, Race X basically just attacks anything they don't recognize. They probably aren't at all interested in studying the native lifeforms or the environments of the planets they invade, so the only technology they develop would probably be created with the sole intent of expanding their empire. It would explain why everything they use is organic, being able to grow weapons that are ready to use would eliminate the need to gather construction materials and manufacture the weapons, which means you have more people to serve in your army.

[QUOTE=Aredbomb;25561515]The Shock Troopers (green 4-armed guys) do seem to have a spoken language and some level of military planning, since they seem to alert eachother of hostile presence and various other hazards. They do seem to have a simple motivation, though. While the Combine are willing to set up a gradual, systematic transition of power and assimilate any species they see as being potentially useful, Race X basically just attacks anything they don't recognize. They probably aren't at all interested in studying the native lifeforms or the environments of the planets they invade, so the only technology they develop would probably be created with the sole intent of expanding their empire. It would explain why everything they use is organic, being able to grow weapons that are ready to use would eliminate the need to gather construction materials and manufacture the weapons, which means you have more people to serve in your army.[/QUOTE] I think they DO research the living things in the planets they invade, you can clearly see in op4 that a shock trooper kidnaps a black mesa scientist and teleports him to an unknown destination (probably their homeworld)

[QUOTE=DaFreshLemon;25562369]I think they DO research the living things in the planets they invade, you can clearly see in op4 that a shock trooper kidnaps a black mesa scientist and teleports him to an unknown destination (probably their homeworld)[/QUOTE] They probably kill everything that could be of danger to them, and observe creatures with possible future usefulness. So scientist was probably eaten at some time. What I am rather confused with, is their teleportation abilities. They are able to send troops directly, even to the size of voltigores. Does that mean that either the Gene Worm is big enough to need a stable portal to move through... or something bigger was to come.

[QUOTE=108payne;25547570]Its just the fact that you have an avatar that appears to be Adrian Shepard that makes it ironic.[/QUOTE] gasmask soldiers = adrian shepard lol

[QUOTE=nanutek;25566908]gasmask soldiers = adrian shepard lol[/QUOTE] Adrian Shepard has a distinct gasmask in OP4 that no one else had (although in HL1 it was common amongst the military enemies) and the avatar-owner said it was him. :frog:

[QUOTE=nanutek;25566908]gasmask soldiers = adrian shepard lol[/QUOTE] Well the model is called Shepard in Opposing Force's muliplayer.

Yes, the avatar depicts a grunt from Opposing Force. It would still be easy to rule out Opposing Force as canon, despite whatever relations people think my avatar and that fact have :colbert:

Then what are those flying glowing balls that you see in the last level of OF?

[QUOTE=booster;25567994]Then what are those flying glowing balls that you see in the last level of OF?[/QUOTE]They're Sprites, creatures used as "energy conduits to construct the gates that connect Earth to the border worlds."

[QUOTE=booster;25567994]Then what are those flying glowing balls that you see in the last level of OF?[/QUOTE] You don't only see them during the last level. Next time you go through OpFor look out for them. It has been several years since I've played through OpFor but I remember they show up at the dam and actually go through the same portal the G-Man walks through there. I also think they appear much earlier than that though. I always assumed they were something like the commanders or controllers of the Race-X, and that they gave orders to the Shock Troopers and Drones.