Half-Life & Portal series, general discussion (v3) - Games

[QUOTE=Blooper Reel;39612697]It really seems more like a suggestion for why you don't seem much wildlife (Barring birds) in Half-Life 2 than it is some completely grounded piece of canon. If it [i]is[/i] canon, then we can say for sure that cats and rodents weren't affected - seeing as the cat teleporter incident is implied to be recent, and rodents can be heard as ambient noises.[/QUOTE] tbh I don't think it was thought of as affecting other species when they got the idea, it's just a logical conclusion to draw, since conception is pretty similar on cellular levels across most species (according to my very limited knowledge on the subject). And it fits well with the game because as Marc says, they didn't have the resources to include animals.

What is the supression fields range though? If mammals and even birds are affected, its not a big stretch that animals would breed outside of its influence and migrate into the cities.

[QUOTE=cardboardtheory;39611165]Also, they're pretty much defensive: they're confined to the sand and caves and rarely come out unless ordered to by a Guard (or Freeman, for that matter). They may have taken control of the beaches, but they can't even go in to water, and Earth's natural wildlife should be able to control any antlion who goes outside of their natural bounds.[/QUOTE] Actually that sorta depends. In EP1, the Citadel's enormous thumpers go offline, and parts of the city are quickly overrun by Antlions, first the underground, but later some above ground areas.

[QUOTE=Chrille;39612750]tbh I don't think it was thought of as affecting other species when they got the idea, it's just a logical conclusion to draw, since conception is pretty similar on cellular levels across most species (according to my very limited knowledge on the subject). And it fits well with the game because as Marc says, they didn't have the resources to include animals.[/QUOTE] I'm psure the main reason there is virtually no native life on earth other than select species is because combine are taking the ocean and other resources, xen wildlife are immensely for powerful than earth wild life, with leeches and antlions causing the most problems, leading to mass extinctions, radiation seemingly spread in multiple places. Though the xen wild life is probably the main one, leeches essentially killing off every single ocean organism, species up the food chain would start facing food shortages being no match for zombies or antlions or even hound eyes and bull squids, eventually the whole planet would face an ecological collapse with only xen organisms capable of surviving (and some other species). And the cat theory mentioned above was also what I was thinking when the suppression field was mentioned, cats shouldn't be alive if mammals can't reproduce.

So is the Suppression Field some kind of generator or what?

[QUOTE=tempunary;39613963]So is the Suppression Field some kind of generator or what?[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Ereunity;39612680]It's never specified whether it effects only humans, only that it disabled certain proteins required for embryonic development.[/QUOTE] It's an invasive field that envelops an unspecified area to prevent humans from breeding.

[QUOTE=Ereunity;39614061]It's an invasive field that envelops an unspecified area to prevent humans from breeding.[/QUOTE] I remember mistaking the Suppression cannon thing for the Suppression Field when I was younger. Nothing would certainly break the mood like getting disintegrated mid-coitus. :v:

[QUOTE=RikohZX;39614495]I remember mistaking the Suppression cannon thing for the Suppression Field when I was younger. Nothing would certainly break the mood like getting disintegrated mid-coitus. :v:[/QUOTE] I made the same mistake the first time. Who named them almost the same?

It could be some advanced combine tech contained in a magnetic field. probably focused by many planet-side generators/coils. calling it a "field" seems to imply spreading via electromagnetic or radio waves; either it's a frequency, which I think is the most likely, or it's some sort of magnetic field like the above theory. another possibility is a gas. it could be spread locally in the way the combine were originally going to use air stations to pollute the atmosphere, or pumped from orbit until completely distributed through the troposphere. the former would make much more sense than the latter, because the field seems to be disabled in Episode 1 pretty quickly when the Citadel goes into meltdown. the gas theory is still less likely than frequency or magnetic propagation. like I said, the Citadel is no doubt the source of the field, and Kleiner begins to broadcast the 'get busy' command not long after the tower is disabled, in all probability too quickly for a gas to have dissipated.

or it could just be daily checkups to see if anyone is pregnant and if they are, they have the baby aborted

[QUOTE=Meatpuppet;39615758]or it could just be daily checkups to see if anyone is pregnant and if they are, they have the baby aborted[/QUOTE] It's not; it's specifically called a 'Suppression Field', not a 'Suppression Regime' or anything like that. It's shown to affect rebels and citizens alike

i thought it was a metaphorical field

[QUOTE]"Don't drink the water. They put something it it... to make you forget. I don't even remember how I got here" -Citizen remark, Point Insertion, Half-Life 2[/QUOTE] Maybe they put some kind of birth control in the water, but then it wouldn't really be a "field"...

It has to be for only humans, or how else would antlion larva get made?

[QUOTE=Shirky;39616652]It has to be for only humans, or how else would antlion larva get made?[/QUOTE] Antlions are similar to insects, maybe it doesn't effect insects, only Mammals.

[QUOTE=Tuskin;39616718]Antlions are similar to insects, maybe it doesn't effect insects, only Mammals.[/QUOTE] Antilions are from a different planet, they are completely different from insects and mammals.

So if the suppression field only affected mammals... where did the cat come from?

[QUOTE=bIgFaTwOrM12;39617039]So if the suppression field only affected mammals... where did the cat come from?[/QUOTE]What cat?

[QUOTE=bIgFaTwOrM12;39617039]So if the suppression field only affected mammals... where did the cat come from?[/QUOTE]It could have been an old cat, and the incident may have not occurred incredibly recently.

[QUOTE=Shirky;39616652]It has to be for only humans, or how else would antlion larva get made?[/QUOTE] We see larvae in episode 2, the suppression field goes down in Episode 1. For all we know, they could create and populate entire hives in a matter of hours.

[QUOTE=SL128;39617187]It could have been an old cat, and the incident may have not occurred incredibly recently.[/QUOTE] no it's a good point. [sp]Seriously, what cat?[/sp] Kleiner was still building the teleport so it really couldn't have been that long ago. so even if you figure it could have been an old cat, who was born right before the suppression field went down, you still have a 19 year old cat at least. i doubt the writers prioritized the removal of a joke which interfered with a vague lore mechanic whose only purpose is to reinforce the setting. but if you want to get into it, then i'd say the field is probably advanced enough to target human protein chains. just knowing it's possible to affect reproductive functions with a propagation wave and have no negative side effects is pretty incredible. then you remember the combine can build 2½ km megastructures* on the surface of the planet, successfully graft full-body large-scale synthetic armor, computer systems, and weapons to animals larger than orca whales, and have a firm grip on interstellar travel while dabbling in intrauniversal/interdimensional transportation. [sub][sub]*there's no set size range for the classification of 'megastructure;' here i refer to an artificial construct larger than anything made by man. you could also consider it to be something which reaches a celestial scale, another vague description for something breaching the atmosphere.[/sub][/sub]

[QUOTE=Ereunity;39611300]You kind of killed a good 100+ Vortigaunts, and they remember and felt every loss so I'm pretty sure they're allowed to talk trash about you.[/QUOTE] Haven't they ever heard of self-defense? It's not Gordon's fault he had to blast through waves of vorts to (inadvertently) free them all. Vortigaunts must hold some mean grudges.

-snip-

[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=WOFdr03-CVM#t=116s"]"Certain protein chains important to the process of embryonic development were selectively prevented from forming"[/URL] Sounds human-specific to me.

[QUOTE=Butthurter;39617957]you prob deserve it for even looking up rule 34[/QUOTE]I just hate when it's relevant to me.

The link's broken for me

[QUOTE=Cyanlime;39618572]The link's broken for me[/QUOTE] Do not even TRY to go there...

[QUOTE=Dictator Dean;39618842]Do not even TRY to go there...[/QUOTE] What the hell is it?

[QUOTE=Darth_Kris;39618929]What the hell is it?[/QUOTE] Alyx's head is on Gordon's 'head'. We'll leave it at that.

[QUOTE=artDecor;39617125]What cat?[/QUOTE] if a cat is stuck with a calabi-yau model in a sealed room that nobody can see, the cat is both inside and right side out at the same time!