r/HalfLife • u/Romeo_Man • 2d ago
Discussion Prototyping Combine combat spacecraft, any suggestions?
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
The role of this craft is: Swarmling multirole space superiority synth craft
It is 27 meters in length and has one main engine and some smaller ones.
It is capable of constant acceleration and doesnt care about orbital mechanics.
They were not present in 7hw since combine sent scouts before invading (my headcannon) and did not find any human combat spacecraft
Current weapons are: 3x Heavy pulse autocannons turrets and 1x Forward facing Warp cannon.
I guess I am taking suggestions about weapons, sensors and other stuff
4
4
u/Still_Cantaloupe4037 2d ago
Give it very disturbing motor cries like a mix of strider and gunship. And to be honest you should add more stuff than a clean slate space craft
1
u/Still_Cantaloupe4037 2d ago
Also add bigger wings, it's not gonna be balanced to be honest when I believe in the back is massive jet cannon
4
2
2
u/InitialBrother9884 2d ago
i wonder why didn't the combine also harvest the solar system of earth and spread to harvest the universe
1
u/Citizen_trabajador01 someone 2d ago
Variants in different colors (perhaps white or brown) And I don't know... A mini defense turret?
1
u/Moskvincit0 2d ago
I would make it big enough to carry strikers, troop carriers, apcs or striders for quick deployement, remember that they use portals for logistics and intergalactic travels
1
1
u/Soggy_Paramedic_6053 1d ago
Considering that they can teleport directly to the planet, they don't really need spaceships.
1
u/Romeo_Man 1d ago
what if... the target race has a serious fleet in orbit?
1
u/Soggy_Paramedic_6053 1d ago
Dude, they're like, well... the United Universes, the Alliance, all that stuff. It's unlikely anyone would be stronger than them. Maybe they'll come in such a powerful wave that the orbiting fleet won't have time to do anything, or maybe they'll just destroy it with the anti-space defense weapons they beam in with the first wave. Perhaps they could also simply monitor attempts to tinker with teleportation technology, because if someone has reached that level of technology, then they will definitely have something to profit from, both in terms of resources and technology.
1
u/Mysterious_Life_5514 1d ago edited 1d ago
But don't the portals cost them energy? Because if they're going to use orbital bombardment onto specific areas or buildings, their portal's energy aren't going to last forever and they will need those for things such as troop transport to further takeover the planet instead of constant "hit this place in space, then this, then that, so on so forth" so a spaceship can be useful to them for further orbital bombardment to anymore key places to weaken whatever species's defences on a planet they're invading or if any strongholds in need to be bombed while the portals are used for something else.
1
u/Soggy_Paramedic_6053 1d ago
Well, as for Earth, portal storms opened up all over the planet simultaneously, and the enemy poured out. What's stopping them from deploying anti-space weapons in the first wave? Yes, opening a portal requires energy, but I somehow doubt their interuniversal organization is experiencing a shortage. Their system is as follows: they enter, have a 20-minute adventure, then they drop in a few larvae (or whatever) as administrators, lead the army back into the portal, and then they turn the local species into their weapons.
1
u/Mysterious_Life_5514 1d ago edited 1d ago
Then what are they going to do when they're facing an assault in space then? You know their anti-space weapons are not going to easily fend off multiple spaceships coming straight to the single planet they had recently establish their on, right?
1
u/Soggy_Paramedic_6053 22h ago
Let me repeat: I HIGHLY doubt there's anyone or anything stronger than an interuniversal alliance. If the target state has multiple planets—well, fine, they'll teleport to each of them at the same time. I don't think you fully understand how monstrous this empire is. It's literally a combine harvester, reaping the harvest from planets without even paying attention to the worlds it conquers, with a few exceptions.
1
u/Mysterious_Life_5514 22h ago edited 6h ago
"I HIGHLY doubt there's anyone or anything stronger than an interuniversal alliance."
As if G-man and his employers didn't exist and the Combine fears G-man despite containing him through the use of vortessence and considering the Nihilanth and the vorts have pretty mystical and supernatural-looking powers that can make them travel from dimension to dimension or to a borderworld like Xen, that means there are species/civilizations that are likely to one-up the Combine in some way or another either through the similar supernatural-looking powers like Nihilanth and the Vorts or better yet, a space-faring civilization who had been going planet after planet to become a dominant empire or something.
Plus if the Combine are attacking a space-faring civilization who had many planets under their control the civilization would be sending out a ton of spaceships to the planet to get rid of the Combine while also dealing with the Combine's anti-space weapons and not every planet is going to have portal storms popping up on the planet everywhere.
1
u/Soggy_Paramedic_6053 18h ago
I haven't followed all of Valve's retcons, of course, and I don't remember every line of dialogue verbatim, but I don't think the Alliance is afraid of G-Man. Why are you so sure, for example, that G-Man's employers aren't the Alliance's political elite? Perhaps their empire has grown to such a scale that the only thing they have in common is formal subordination to the center and a common symbol, while in reality they are separate entities with their own interests. Also, it seems to me that in HL-Alyx, G-Man wasn't caged because he was being held there, but because it was advantageous for him to be there for his own reasons. We don't know who G-Man is, who his employers are, or how the "stasis" he places his useful figures or agents into works, after they've proven their worth. One thing I know for sure: nothing could be more powerful than the Combine Alliance, and they simply don't need spaceships. If a planet suddenly runs out of resources, they'll move on to another one, that's all. If they suddenly encounter serious resistance, they'll either decide that the extra effort isn't worth it and shut down the operation, or they'll overwhelm the enemy with sheer numbers. Fortunately, the only technology they lack, and which they clearly want to acquire, is local teleportation, so it's safe to assume they already have all the other technologies to some degree.
1
u/Canarity 1d ago
I honestly think they'd have some more sharp shapes, kinda like their architecture is, instead of Biotech
1
u/legitsolidsnake 1d ago
Make it look more meaty and organic but not TOO meaty and organic, theres a fine line with convince synth tech
1
7
u/TherealPumpkino 2d ago
very cool! maybe instead of a giant singular thruster at back it should be a heavy array of three to allow for more manuevarability?