For anyone who wants to know the music/ambience used in this video: 0:57 hl1_song26.mp3 1:32 citadel_hub_ambience1.mp3 2:44 citadel_drone_loop3.wav 5:48 vlvx_song25.mp3 6:47 hl2_song31.mp3
Actually the bigger collar means the armor they are wearing, you can see that Soldiers also have collars and crotch protection, this indicates they are sporting Level 3 armor protections, Elites sports bigger collar, fatter armor and a bigger crotch portection, meaning it's a Level 4 vest.
What I meant about the collar was the Combine must think Elites hold some value or they wouldn't bother giving them better armour. I didn't know there were different levels of armour though, that's interesting to knoww.
@@RescoeZ Their armor is probably from the pre-war Era, i have a theory that our weapons are way more effective and deadlier than theirs, if you notice the Synth weaponry, or the Transhuman Arm arsenal, their weapons are either pulse related, dark energy, or explosive flechettes, highly effective against flesh or organic targets, but, their weapons are unable to penetrate cover and walls, maybe vehicles too, that's why they use rushing tactics and employ multiple grenades to flush targets into the open and blast them, that also explains why they use our kind of arsenal aswell, with the USP, MP7 and the SPAS-12, what further supports this theory is the fact that in the Beta, there was supposed to be Merkava tanks, that the Combine were probably unable to destroy, but managed to kill the crews and capture them. Also the ammount of APCs we find the in-game that only have missing tires.
The soldier's behavior in the end segment was just showing how a massive portion of the maps weren't designed properly, restricting them from using their full potential. Shame they did that. The AI was so advanced even for now.
@@93camping They don't even bother to make a source version of OP4 and BS. There's no way that's coming. Now the community is what Valve once was, passionate and putting effort.
If you've ever properly looked at the combine soldier AI, you'd see how advanced it is and how that's barely reflected in-game. It sucks how the encounters and level design were never really made to complement the combine's AI.
I've been playing Gmod lately, and damn those tactical movements and behavior is coded into their AI. They can actually form a firing line behind a low wall.
Half-Life AI is the same way except it's shown off better, the Military can only do 1 action at a time for balance, but the shear amount of things they can do is incredible especially by 1998 standards.
I'm guessing they wore white instead of any attempt at camo as an additional indicator to their combat prowess and lethality. In the same way that space marines in WH40K or stormtroopers in star wars didn't wear camo, with the intent of sacrificing ability to remain hidden for the sake of being obvious, likely in an attempt to inspire fear in their enemies, i.e. "we don't need camo because if you see us it means you're as good as dead". Or so they thought...
@@RescoeZ It's barely visible because the difference in color in the pattern is so faint so I never really notice it. But unless they're going into an environment with snow it would still pretty much have the opposite effect of camo, and even in a snowy environment the red on their arm and helmet would stick out like a sore thumb. They're obviously not even trying to blend in where the regular combine soldiers seem to at the very least, make an attempt not to stick out in their environment, so I think it is the Combine's attempt at making the elites more intimidating, if not then grossly underestimating their enemies. lol
@@slavarodu5062 but these guys did it way before us the closest we have to that is steroids, and even then, those can kill us the combine probably made their own advanced tech when we were still using swords and bows
5:50 How could I have never noticed that before? It’s been 5 years since I’ve played Ep2 and thought that combine radio chatter was just a flaw from Valve. But no, the soldier was right there!
@@PyroFTB Nah, that voiceline could've easily been played without an Elite there to speak it. Infact, the Elite doesn't even speak that line directly, there's a sound entity placed near him that plays "Target One", then tells the Elite to run away.
@@infernohellfire6806 the last clip showing an elite. Its i episode 2 and Rescoe that elite to show the dirtied model of the Elite that was unused 5:52
Yea, the colors being white and red is actually a tactic to put fear into those rebelling or enemies, also due to white being a fairly bright color it actually makes it harder to aim or at least in real life it does.
6:48 This general behavior is due to the standoff behavior in that particular part of the map, which map makers can use to modify NPC cover behavior. (See the Valve Developer Community article on Standoffs.) 7:09 The cover nodes in those areas are set to a specific kind (either Crouch Cover Medium or Crouch Cover Low), which means Combine will crouch walk/run to those cover spots during a standoff. 7:24 This is actually just the Combine Soldier getting up to move from one cover node to the one beside it.
@@ileryon4019 i don't get why black mesa didn't use it, they probably could've but i guess cutting down on a rail to a 3 minute chapter that nobody cares about is much more important still hate that they cut down that chapter, it was really fun in the original game. thank god there was an uncut version on the workshop
It feels very refreshing to see a game taking its' enemy grunts seriously. Minus being roled over by Freeman, combines appear to be surprisingly well organized (and well thought through by designers). Or perhaps i've just stoped playing games with competent enemies...
Game is rigged in a way, to ensure that rebels win: they have perfect proficiency with weapons, just like player does, while only Overwatch Elite have perfect proficiency with their weapon. Rebels also have only slightly less health, than combine soldiers, while also being able to restore their health from medics(combines have no field medics and don't use healthkits). Difficulty doesn't actually increase enemy's health, it simply makes player's weapons less powerful, but all NPCs keep their weapons at same level.
6:30 Their uniforms are dirtied because in HL2 Episodes Elites work on muddy lands and roads instead of buildings like Citadel. Such a perfect detail from Valve.
I really wish they just gave the Combine soldiers in episode 2 that dirt texture. It would make more sense considering how most of them just came out from City 17 being destroyed
@Thefirst Decade No, the problem is that less and less people are interested in the Half-Life franchise. The original fans are literally dying, or leaving gaming behind them as they have kids and jobs. Show Half-Life to any kid nowadays, the modern gamer, they'll either have no idea what it is, or they'll ask "is this garrys mod??" It's sad to me.
Improved Combine which includes AI, Aim, Fearsome elite soldiers, etc. Share your ideas for the next features and subscribe for more: ruclips.net/channel/UCsa7abkH-k9aJ6sL8beJ0BA Thank you!
They'll use energy balls on the deployable turrets as well. At least, first time I played that's how they took out the turrets in the teleport sequence. It left quite an impression.
Much of the AI for this game (both enemy and friend) are incredibly sophisticated (compared to other games of its time), they just appear to be dumb because of map design
the Combine AI is actually one of the smartest AI of all times. It's just they don't live long enough for the players to experience some of their more interesting AI due to their low HP, speed and damage, bad Accuracy in vanilla HL2 (not in the Episodec), most of the maps didn't made to complement their AI such narrow spaces and catwalks (not adding solid covers and routes for the AI to move around and flank), the player being tanky even on hard difficulty.
Health plays a huge role in player's perception of enemy's Al. It is known that enemies higher health seem to be smarter to players despite having the exact same Al. When those enemies have low health and deal low damage players don't see them as a threat and just stomp them. If that soldier has so low health, that he dies just in few shots... why would he try to ambush you anyway? But if you increase their health and damage they become a serious problem and a worthy opponent. Player would have to think on how are they going to defeat that enemy, they try different strategies and utilize their other abilities. Player is going to be surprised when Al opponent adjusts to the player's actions in an intelligent way. So basically increasing health makes the same Al seem smarter. It was utilised in half life 1. Hecu marines have 80 health on hard difficulty, compared to 50 health in lower difficulties. That major increase in health made a lot of players to believe that they are more intelligent on hard difficulty than they are on normal. To this day players say that they utilize more tactics and maneuvers on hard! It was used in FEAR with replica soldiers gaining more and more health throughout the game. And so valve tried it in half life 2... Not very effective due to increase in only 20 health and with player's high damage weaponry this health increase is barely noticeable.
Improved Combine which includes AI, Aim, Fearsome elite soldiers, etc. Share your ideas for the next features and subscribe for more: ruclips.net/channel/UCsa7abkH-k9aJ6sL8beJ0BA Thank you!
@Dam Sen Before i say _ANYTHING_ in this comment, remember, i might be wrong. I can admit that i'm not always right, so don't take what's in this comment as a fact, think of it as a comment to go off of to do more research and see if you were wrong, or i was wrong. Okay? Okay. On to the real comment: What you see, is not always what it is. Comment by Kaleidescoop: " 6:48 This general behavior is due to the standoff behavior in that particular part of the map, which map makers can use to modify NPC cover behavior. (See the Valve Developer Community article on Standoffs.) 7:09 The cover nodes in those areas are set to a specific kind (either Crouch Cover Medium or Crouch Cover Low), which means Combine will crouch walk/run to those cover spots during a standoff. 7:24 This is actually just the Combine Soldier getting up to move from one cover node to the one beside it." What's important in this comment is the part about the standoff behavior, it's not map scripted, it's changing the behavior, which might _seem_ like a script, but it's not, because it's not telling them to do something in one way, it's telling them that they can act this way in general, so in a way, it _IS_ map scripted, but at the same time it's _NOT_ map scripted. Also, stop acting like your opinion is fact please. Yeah, anyways, this is the end of the comment, have a good day!
@Dam Sen a lot of their AI is unscripted. Plus with you example of FEAR, it’s not always the case. The beginning missions of the game really don’t do their AI justice because it’s a big open space. It’s only until you get inside the building with cramped spaces is where their AI does shine. It’s as everyone else says: the AI and the map design need to be best friends for the AI to shine at its best
I remember the first time I played thru this game I thought they were scientists. Why scientists were heavily armed and decked out with skull ensignias I am unsure
Something I love about the elite insignia is it is clearly a very human design. Throw a dart at a wall of military insignias and it’ll probably land on one very similar half the time.
I have a feeling the armor Combine soldiers and elites is extremely bulky and heavy. Part of the physical augmentation must go to their overall strength in order to even be able to bear the weight of all their gear. Even though they get deleted by a .44 Magnum to the chest, but ya know.
Fun fact about the room ay 5:35. You can rapidly open/close the door, and each time you do this one more soldier will spawn inside. You can do this untill you fill whole room with them, leading into epic grenade throws.
The side stepping towards the end is a term called "Slicing the Pie." Usually used by the military to advance into cover and so on. Also I think the high collar could be extra protection for the neck.
Makes me think about the further augmentations regular Overwatch Soldiers go through just to become Elites. Sure these guys are the best of best, but without any aspect or semblance of humanity left much like their regular counterparts, and definitely a something that sets them apart from Civil Protection. The Combine sure as hell know how to make the best soldiers
7:30 According to the Valve Developer Wiki, two areas marked with "Crouch Cover Low" will be traversed while crouched. There's a warning there that apparently sometimes soldiers will shoot through props if you use this in wrong areas, but I never totally understood it.
Based on things Breene (spell?) says towards the end of the sequel, I dont think Elites are technically following him. He words make it seem like their conditioning will have them generally listen to Breene and others that are close to the top, but any act against the Combine means they instantly see you as the enemy with out anyone having to say anything or order anything (while nothing the Advisers do would ever be seen that way). Maybe I am splitting hairs, but that idea that they can instantly do so and this likely requires conditioning (programming? since they are most definitely modified heavily for that suit to make any sense) made them seem more creepy, but also cooler than the other forces on the earth. They were more like those other modified beings that came from other worlds - less human. They listen to Breen simply because the advisers agree he is the admin of earth, but would instantly kill him if he did anything "wrong".
I found it funny that it's possible for your turrets to kill all the Elite soldiers when you go through the teleporter, really removes the tension from that scene
I'm sure there's mods out there to reimplement the "dirty" textures for the Elites (and Overwatch in general during Episode 2), but I do wonder whether or not they were intentionally cut or are unintentionally broken. I can't see any real reason why Valve wouldn't use those textures in Episode 2, they fit the theming really well. Wonder if the Half-Life 2: Update mod fixes this...
If it isn't just my game, then my theory is there is only the one texture file. For soldiers, there's the texture file and then a noalpha texture file. If one is changed but not the other the texture won't change. Episode 2 gives a new skin but no new noalpha one. I got the dirty Elite skin to work by saving a copy of it and renaming it to the same name as the noalpha file.
@@RescoeZ Huh, that sounds like it's the culprit, but why would Valve not alter the noalpha files as well? Maybe a slip-up do to time constraints? I can't recall if it's working on The Orange Box copy of the game (which is what I have at the moment), so it could be something wrong with your copy, but with your noalpha theory it makes me doubt that's the case. But now that I think about it, were the textures implemented in the trailers/early screenshots for Episode 2? I'm intrigued.
4:27 Nope Its Based On Relationship for those any npcs who are friendly to you for ex: Zombie always set to "enemy" but if you change the relationship settings and put "Friendly" The Elites will Fire AR2 Balls. except neutrals. If you had Garry's Mod you may have fun Testing Combine NPC's here
@@RescoeZ You Gonna need Enchanced Sandbox then activate NPC Friendly Spawn then set Squad mixing on Combine Soldier's, "doesnt work on metrocops" and you need an addon called anti Friendly fire then SPAWN MANY COMBINE ELITES AS YOU WANT!!!! now enjoy :)
Love how mortifyingly dangerous and sharp these guys' augmented bodies and minds must be to pose *that* level of a threat. To think, world-renouned olympic athletes in combat itself to compare a combine elite to any regular threat of a human sharpshooter and combatant. They're more zombies with what important combat knowledge they need and don't need breathing apparatus to survive, which could indicate their very barest of emotions and otherwise "human" rational thought is now erased. These soldiers are just husks with combat strategy that would do well against anyone that isn't a literal demigod like gordon freeman. Neato!
No clue why this is recommended as I haven’t looked up anything Half Life in a long time (god damn I just realized how old Ep2 is). Anyways, this is great. A proper analysis of all the combine including armor, colors/decals/design, animations, voice lines, AI, and oddities would be awesome. I watched your CP one and it was really cool but I kept waiting for you to break down the armor and more stuff about the humans who actually put on the uniform (I mean, you did kind do the last thing). You seem to have a love for the background chatter and VAing in general and I think that’s awesome and you should keep doing what you love. But more videos like this while still doing the VA stuff would be incredible. Really made me want to learn more. And yeah I know a wiki exists but that’s not the same.
The whole running to cover while crouching can be seen for the first time in the E3 trailer with Barney. Would be cool if more Combines used that animation.
I love Combine Elites so much! They're my most favorite kind of Combine soldiers of all time, and they also look like human Portal turrets because of the one red eye on their helmets. Oh, and Fun Fact: The Elites' helmets have two small domes where their ears used to be and they're known as audio receptors. But yeah, gotta love those marshmallow cyclops dressed in beautiful white armor. ❤👍
RescoeZ I enjoy your videos. The ones analyzing the combine especially the sniper one. I learned that them shooting random objects in order to destroy concealments and coverage for the player. Plus the deflection technique used when shooting at the player got me hooked instantly.
Fun fact: In the entire Nova Prospekt chapter we have a total of 7 allied turrets to use. If we successfully bring all of them to the teleporter chamber then those shiny white armor guys will die before reaching the scripted position and staring at us.
**Insert bullet being launched out of pistol, as it hits your epidermis protecting your Skull and penetrates through it, causing major brain damage and fractures, causing your brain to shut down, killing you easily**
Ok, but can you imagine, that one Elite grabbing the Super Gravity Gun, and deciding to just put it in the armory instead of showing it off to Breen A whole squad of Elites with Dark Energy Gravity Guns would be terrifying
I wish they would do to Combine Elites what they did to Death Troopers in Rogue One and Battlefront 2 Jam their comms so the player doesn’t understand a word of what they’re saying
I feel like the collar acts as a neck protective device specifically against shrapnel blasts from explosions. The demoman from TF2 has a similar collar, and wears armor that (it can be implied) is designed to protect him from blasts due to his dangerous line of work.
Yes, the purpose of those collars is to prevent shrapnel from hitting the body armor, deflecting upwards and going right into the neck of the victim. It's a rare occurrence but better safe than sorry. EOD suits have similar collars too. I'm not sure why combine elite collars only protect from behind though, lol.
For anyone who wants to know the music/ambience used in this video:
0:57 hl1_song26.mp3
1:32 citadel_hub_ambience1.mp3
2:44
citadel_drone_loop3.wav
5:48
vlvx_song25.mp3
6:47 hl2_song31.mp3
What is the code to spawn the elite with the console ?
RescoeZ will you be making these analysis videos for half life alyx?
The vlvx song 25 sounds strategic and fits in well
@Diffy Dude npc_create npc_elite (i think)
You should add some voiceovers in your vids.
Actually the bigger collar means the armor they are wearing, you can see that Soldiers also have collars and crotch protection, this indicates they are sporting Level 3 armor protections, Elites sports bigger collar, fatter armor and a bigger crotch portection, meaning it's a Level 4 vest.
What I meant about the collar was the Combine must think Elites hold some value or they wouldn't bother giving them better armour.
I didn't know there were different levels of armour though, that's interesting to knoww.
So, in theory, the higher rank you are the better crotch protection you get.
@@badassmachine2466 funny that, because according to the Combine Overwiki soldiers have their genitals removed.
RescoeZ Oh yeah. I forgot about that bit
@@RescoeZ Their armor is probably from the pre-war Era, i have a theory that our weapons are way more effective and deadlier than theirs, if you notice the Synth weaponry, or the Transhuman Arm arsenal, their weapons are either pulse related, dark energy, or explosive flechettes, highly effective against flesh or organic targets, but, their weapons are unable to penetrate cover and walls, maybe vehicles too, that's why they use rushing tactics and employ multiple grenades to flush targets into the open and blast them, that also explains why they use our kind of arsenal aswell, with the USP, MP7 and the SPAS-12, what further supports this theory is the fact that in the Beta, there was supposed to be Merkava tanks, that the Combine were probably unable to destroy, but managed to kill the crews and capture them. Also the ammount of APCs we find the in-game that only have missing tires.
The soldier's behavior in the end segment was just showing how a massive portion of the maps weren't designed properly, restricting them from using their full potential. Shame they did that. The AI was so advanced even for now.
Wonder if Valve will ever go back and try to fix that.. probuably not.
@@93camping They don't even bother to make a source version of OP4 and BS. There's no way that's coming. Now the community is what Valve once was, passionate and putting effort.
@@geeworm I think they didn't make source versions of those two due to the community backlash towards HL:Source.
@@staryoshi06 The main reason Source was good was probably how you can use the npcs in gmod. Other than that, the original is so much better.
@@geeworm I am aware yes.
If you've ever properly looked at the combine soldier AI, you'd see how advanced it is and how that's barely reflected in-game.
It sucks how the encounters and level design were never really made to complement the combine's AI.
I've been playing Gmod lately, and damn those tactical movements and behavior is coded into their AI.
They can actually form a firing line behind a low wall.
I wish I'd had like a stealth mission in a combine eating place or something so you could here all the idle or something
Half-Life AI is the same way except it's shown off better, the Military can only do 1 action at a time for balance, but the shear amount of things they can do is incredible especially by 1998 standards.
Always sucked how easy they were to kill compared to even hecu grunts, I wanted a challenge from the "best of humanity"
Hey! Can you please point me to a source where I can read about such AI beahaviour?
(Possibly even read the code!)
I'm guessing they wore white instead of any attempt at camo as an additional indicator to their combat prowess and lethality. In the same way that space marines in WH40K or stormtroopers in star wars didn't wear camo, with the intent of sacrificing ability to remain hidden for the sake of being obvious, likely in an attempt to inspire fear in their enemies, i.e. "we don't need camo because if you see us it means you're as good as dead". Or so they thought...
If you look closely enough their armour does have the same camouflage pattern as standard soldiers, not that they need it.
@@RescoeZ It's barely visible because the difference in color in the pattern is so faint so I never really notice it. But unless they're going into an environment with snow it would still pretty much have the opposite effect of camo, and even in a snowy environment the red on their arm and helmet would stick out like a sore thumb. They're obviously not even trying to blend in where the regular combine soldiers seem to at the very least, make an attempt not to stick out in their environment, so I think it is the Combine's attempt at making the elites more intimidating, if not then grossly underestimating their enemies. lol
@Definitely not the Question while squealing space squirrel war cries and blowing horns.
If only they were as dangerous as they looked..
@@lolok6236 To be fair, they probably are, just not to silent protagonists with hazardous environment suits, a goatee and glasses.
No matter how deadly it is,nothing could compare a man with an orange lambda suit.
With a crowbar
... and a flat-top with glasses (c.f. The Arrival)
Darren Anyie It’ll be the end of us when they start spray painting the soldiers orange.
Or a security guard from the same place, or a random military personal that got left behind.
the hev suit must have been upgraded by the man of g
I remember first seeing this in my first time playing the game and thinking *ALBINO COMBINE?*
Lol, ima start calling it that now
My first thought was: Imperial Stormtroopers?
Thanks to GooseGoose I call them "snowmen".
I thought they were modified human cyclops because of having on red Light bulb on their head
Albino bois
Funny how the more “alien” they are the more skilled they are.
It's very serious isn't it?
Rdr2 flashbacks
I mean I'm sure if I had my eyeballs replaced by a high definition zoomable camera and chips in my brain I would preform better at fighting.
I mean not necesarilly alien, humans could perform such augmentations aswell.
@@slavarodu5062 but these guys did it way before us
the closest we have to that is steroids, and even then, those can kill us
the combine probably made their own advanced tech when we were still using swords and bows
5:50
How could I have never noticed that before? It’s been 5 years since I’ve played Ep2 and thought that combine radio chatter was just a flaw from Valve. But no, the soldier was right there!
He *IS* very hidden, I had never noticed him before
I’ll be honest, I never knew until I found out on the wiki.
I always thought the radio chatter was just a sound effect as a warning to the player, I didn’t know there was an actual soldier speaking it there
Due to source being really derpy at times, they need to actually spawn the character to say their voicelines
@@PyroFTB Nah, that voiceline could've easily been played without an Elite there to speak it. Infact, the Elite doesn't even speak that line directly, there's a sound entity placed near him that plays "Target One", then tells the Elite to run away.
That one elite just watching you is so ominous. His white figure against all the foliage is creept af
Er...the one in episode 2 or what? Got a timestamp?
@@infernohellfire6806 the last clip showing an elite. Its i episode 2 and Rescoe that elite to show the dirtied model of the Elite that was unused
5:52
Ahh i see...
@@infernohellfire6806 yeah the zoom in view while driving the car makes that lone Elite seem real scary. That one guy just tells you more is coming
Yea, the colors being white and red is actually a tactic to put fear into those rebelling or enemies, also due to white being a fairly bright color it actually makes it harder to aim or at least in real life it does.
6:48 This general behavior is due to the standoff behavior in that particular part of the map, which map makers can use to modify NPC cover behavior. (See the Valve Developer Community article on Standoffs.)
7:09 The cover nodes in those areas are set to a specific kind (either Crouch Cover Medium or Crouch Cover Low), which means Combine will crouch walk/run to those cover spots during a standoff.
7:24 This is actually just the Combine Soldier getting up to move from one cover node to the one beside it.
Standoff is fantastic, shame it wasnt used as much as one would like
Fancy seeing you here, Scoop! Was just about to comment this, but of course you beat me to it!
@@ileryon4019 i don't get why black mesa didn't use it, they probably could've
but i guess cutting down on a rail to a 3 minute chapter that nobody cares about is much more important
still hate that they cut down that chapter, it was really fun in the original game. thank god there was an uncut version on the workshop
@@ileryon4019 standoffs are useful for tower defense moments
It feels very refreshing to see a game taking its' enemy grunts seriously. Minus being roled over by Freeman, combines appear to be surprisingly well organized (and well thought through by designers).
Or perhaps i've just stoped playing games with competent enemies...
Game is rigged in a way, to ensure that rebels win: they have perfect proficiency with weapons, just like player does, while only Overwatch Elite have perfect proficiency with their weapon. Rebels also have only slightly less health, than combine soldiers, while also being able to restore their health from medics(combines have no field medics and don't use healthkits).
Difficulty doesn't actually increase enemy's health, it simply makes player's weapons less powerful, but all NPCs keep their weapons at same level.
@@ceu160193Nobody cares, get lost.
6:30 Their uniforms are dirtied because in HL2 Episodes Elites work on muddy lands and roads instead of buildings like Citadel. Such a perfect detail from Valve.
sadly never used.
obviously
sa
Valve needs to fix this
I really wish they just gave the Combine soldiers in episode 2 that dirt texture. It would make more sense considering how most of them just came out from City 17 being destroyed
It's a shame that your viewcounts for videos are so much lower than they should be for the quality of the content you produce.
Yeah
Thank you.
@Thefirst Decade No, the problem is that less and less people are interested in the Half-Life franchise. The original fans are literally dying, or leaving gaming behind them as they have kids and jobs. Show Half-Life to any kid nowadays, the modern gamer, they'll either have no idea what it is, or they'll ask "is this garrys mod??" It's sad to me.
This is MarphitimusBlackimus level content.
It should've been higher than Half Life models polycount
Combine Elite = Canon Admin Player Model
*grabs you with a physgun as i twirl my finger in the air* you have been a very bad boy
@@michaeladams3762 *starts flying while taking you to some rooftop*
@@asewuibv2
*_proceeds to slap a crowbar multiple times into the air while people are shooting smg4s everywhere_*
RpgBlaster *abducts multiple serial killers around you to the roof tops*
@@ii.1308 "no rdm"
*gets banned*
"they look different from the rest of the combine soldiers but...
they still taste the same!"
Improved Combine which includes AI, Aim, Fearsome elite soldiers, etc. Share your ideas for the next features and subscribe for more: ruclips.net/channel/UCsa7abkH-k9aJ6sL8beJ0BA
Thank you!
The real overwatch
Lol
I see what you did there
Lmao i doubt the characters from that "overwatch" game would survive against the combine overwatch.
@@thatdudemetro6271 obviously
@@thatdudemetro6271 Yes true but also I picked up that can you told me about at the city
They'll use energy balls on the deployable turrets as well. At least, first time I played that's how they took out the turrets in the teleport sequence. It left quite an impression.
It could be on my play through the energy balls just didn't show, though I did stick the turrets closer to the teleporter than most would.
I think the turrets being knocked over is scripted, but it's made to look like they used the energy balls.
@@staryoshi06 yeah I tested it in gmod and they were seen knocked down regardless wherever I place it.
Much of the AI for this game (both enemy and friend) are incredibly sophisticated (compared to other games of its time), they just appear to be dumb because of map design
the Combine AI is actually one of the smartest AI of all times. It's just they don't live long enough for the players to experience some of their more interesting AI due to their low HP, speed and damage, bad Accuracy in vanilla HL2 (not in the Episodec), most of the maps didn't made to complement their AI such narrow spaces and catwalks (not adding solid covers and routes for the AI to move around and flank), the player being tanky even on hard difficulty.
Health plays a huge role in player's perception of enemy's Al. It is known that enemies higher health seem to be smarter to players despite having the exact same Al. When those enemies have low health and deal low damage players don't see them as a threat and just stomp them. If that soldier has so low health, that he dies just in few shots... why would he try to ambush you anyway? But if you increase their health and damage they become a serious problem and a worthy opponent. Player would have to think on how are they going to defeat that enemy, they try different strategies and utilize their other abilities. Player is going to be surprised when Al opponent adjusts to the player's actions in an intelligent way.
So basically increasing health makes the same Al seem smarter. It was utilised in half life 1. Hecu marines have 80 health on hard difficulty, compared to 50 health in lower difficulties. That major increase in health made a lot of players to believe that they are more intelligent on hard difficulty than they are on normal. To this day players say that they utilize more tactics and maneuvers on hard!
It was used in FEAR with replica soldiers gaining more and more health throughout the game.
And so valve tried it in half life 2... Not very effective due to increase in only 20 health and with player's high damage weaponry this health increase is barely noticeable.
Improved Combine which includes AI, Aim, Fearsome elite soldiers, etc. Share your ideas for the next features and subscribe for more: ruclips.net/channel/UCsa7abkH-k9aJ6sL8beJ0BA
Thank you!
@Dam Sen Before i say _ANYTHING_ in this comment, remember, i might be wrong. I can admit that i'm not always right, so don't take what's in this comment as a fact, think of it as a comment to go off of to do more research and see if you were wrong, or i was wrong. Okay? Okay. On to the real comment: What you see, is not always what it is. Comment by Kaleidescoop:
" 6:48 This general behavior is due to the standoff behavior in that particular part of the map, which map makers can use to modify NPC cover behavior. (See the Valve Developer Community article on Standoffs.)
7:09 The cover nodes in those areas are set to a specific kind (either Crouch Cover Medium or Crouch Cover Low), which means Combine will crouch walk/run to those cover spots during a standoff.
7:24 This is actually just the Combine Soldier getting up to move from one cover node to the one beside it."
What's important in this comment is the part about the standoff behavior, it's not map scripted, it's changing the behavior, which might _seem_ like a script, but it's not, because it's not telling them to do something in one way, it's telling them that they can act this way in general, so in a way, it _IS_ map scripted, but at the same time it's _NOT_ map scripted. Also, stop acting like your opinion is fact please. Yeah, anyways, this is the end of the comment, have a good day!
@Dam Sen a lot of their AI is unscripted. Plus with you example of FEAR, it’s not always the case. The beginning missions of the game really don’t do their AI justice because it’s a big open space. It’s only until you get inside the building with cramped spaces is where their AI does shine. It’s as everyone else says: the AI and the map design need to be best friends for the AI to shine at its best
Ah, yes. The Snowmen (thank Goose Goose for that).
When it comes to combat, These guys got Balls
_I’ll see myself out_
Energy balls yes, but their organic ones have been surgically removed.
Shaun Fucking cockblockers...
Even though their balls got removed.
@@aleppogameingreal But the Combine give 'em new ones, mechanical cyber-nads (headcanon).
If I’m correct, the energy balls are actually called energy pellets
Edit: Why did I not get the joke back then?
Finally a vid about us Elites
We got our vid first, l0ser.
Dang the elites and the overwatch seem to hate each other...
@@jaquaviontaviousbonquequex9066 Do they like cola though?
@@gremblo5895 synth on synth violence is the real tradgedy of hl2
No need for harsh words soldier or else you will be offworld relocated so its best you show us respect just as we did to you
I remember the first time I played thru this game I thought they were scientists. Why scientists were heavily armed and decked out with skull ensignias I am unsure
Pucci, you say?
Jay S we’ll Gordon’s a scientist and he is heavily armed, but he doesn’t have a skull ensignias though.
Eric Miret even better.
White = science
Well, after Black Mesa they thought enough was enough and rebelled against humanity.
Wow I can't believe Half Life used the Gmod RP Admin model for these guys
me: *TRIGGERED*
Something I love about the elite insignia is it is clearly a very human design. Throw a dart at a wall of military insignias and it’ll probably land on one very similar half the time.
"Ugh, Why do they have to make the suit white?"
I have a feeling the armor Combine soldiers and elites is extremely bulky and heavy. Part of the physical augmentation must go to their overall strength in order to even be able to bear the weight of all their gear. Even though they get deleted by a .44 Magnum to the chest, but ya know.
The raised collars that the Elite Soldiers have may be too protect the neck from shrapnel,kinda similar too a bomb disposal suit.
Fun fact about the room ay 5:35. You can rapidly open/close the door, and each time you do this one more soldier will spawn inside. You can do this untill you fill whole room with them, leading into epic grenade throws.
Virgin Overwatch 2 fan VS. Chad Combine Elite Overwatch enjoyer
The side stepping towards the end is a term called "Slicing the Pie." Usually used by the military to advance into cover and so on. Also I think the high collar could be extra protection for the neck.
Seems Valve did their research when they made the Combine soldiers.
*slicing the pie. Same thing I guess
Slicing the pie is for peeking corners to only allow yourself to be engaged by one target at a time. This is just tactical movement.
That last bit of regular combines moving from cover to cover was awesome.
Yeah
I like how they crouch and run into their cover aswell
So sad that wont stop my rocket launcher
Makes me think about the further augmentations regular Overwatch Soldiers go through just to become Elites. Sure these guys are the best of best, but without any aspect or semblance of humanity left much like their regular counterparts, and definitely a something that sets them apart from Civil Protection. The Combine sure as hell know how to make the best soldiers
Awesome look at the Combine Elite! I liked how at 5:23 there was that scripted sequence and Alyx gets smacked by the energy ball repeatedly haha.
The only RUclipsr dedicated so much to an old masterpiece
Well I'm really fond of Half-Life 2 and though many people have gone over it, I still want to share my thoughts on aspects of them.
Excellent video series, learning a lot, being entertained, and having PTSD flashbacks!
7:30 According to the Valve Developer Wiki, two areas marked with "Crouch Cover Low" will be traversed while crouched. There's a warning there that apparently sometimes soldiers will shoot through props if you use this in wrong areas, but I never totally understood it.
Based on things Breene (spell?) says towards the end of the sequel, I dont think Elites are technically following him. He words make it seem like their conditioning will have them generally listen to Breene and others that are close to the top, but any act against the Combine means they instantly see you as the enemy with out anyone having to say anything or order anything (while nothing the Advisers do would ever be seen that way). Maybe I am splitting hairs, but that idea that they can instantly do so and this likely requires conditioning (programming? since they are most definitely modified heavily for that suit to make any sense) made them seem more creepy, but also cooler than the other forces on the earth. They were more like those other modified beings that came from other worlds - less human. They listen to Breen simply because the advisers agree he is the admin of earth, but would instantly kill him if he did anything "wrong".
Dude, please do more about the Combines! Everything is highly interesting in this area. Putting a like in no time
Wow you’re really good at spotting small details I never seen
Your deductive reasoning is well thought-out. Good job, man!!
I found it funny that it's possible for your turrets to kill all the Elite soldiers when you go through the teleporter, really removes the tension from that scene
Found your channel a week ago, really really dig it. love the in-depth analysis of the combine.
I like these vids. Glad you made this one.
I've got to say, good choice in soundtrack. Upbeat but not too loud, perfect for a tutorial or something like that.
5:07 Huh. I thought you could only do that with the overcharged Gravity Gun.
Me too
I thought that too until HL2DM
Same
I'm sure there's mods out there to reimplement the "dirty" textures for the Elites (and Overwatch in general during Episode 2), but I do wonder whether or not they were intentionally cut or are unintentionally broken. I can't see any real reason why Valve wouldn't use those textures in Episode 2, they fit the theming really well. Wonder if the Half-Life 2: Update mod fixes this...
If it isn't just my game, then my theory is there is only the one texture file. For soldiers, there's the texture file and then a noalpha texture file. If one is changed but not the other the texture won't change. Episode 2 gives a new skin but no new noalpha one.
I got the dirty Elite skin to work by saving a copy of it and renaming it to the same name as the noalpha file.
@@RescoeZ Huh, that sounds like it's the culprit, but why would Valve not alter the noalpha files as well? Maybe a slip-up do to time constraints? I can't recall if it's working on The Orange Box copy of the game (which is what I have at the moment), so it could be something wrong with your copy, but with your noalpha theory it makes me doubt that's the case. But now that I think about it, were the textures implemented in the trailers/early screenshots for Episode 2? I'm intrigued.
Yoooooooooooooo that fucking crouch walk at the end
I've literally never seen that, ever, thats amazing.
I've just finished Half-Life 2 tenth time today and this nice video shows.
I always respected these guys, their design is just done so well.
Nice video. I’ve been pretty starved of Half-Life content (for obvious reasons) so this was refreshing.
Enemies in 2021: good ai and design
Valve in 2004:"hold my beer"
4:27 Nope
Its Based On Relationship for those any npcs who are friendly to you for ex: Zombie always set to "enemy" but if you change the relationship settings and put "Friendly" The Elites will Fire AR2 Balls.
except neutrals.
If you had Garry's Mod you may have fun Testing Combine NPC's here
I do have Garry's mod, didn't occur to me to change relationships. Good to know
@@RescoeZ You Gonna need Enchanced Sandbox then activate NPC Friendly Spawn then set Squad mixing on Combine Soldier's, "doesnt work on metrocops" and you need an addon called anti Friendly fire then SPAWN MANY COMBINE ELITES AS YOU WANT!!!!
now enjoy :)
@@kaydenfreeman7796 Is it possible to allow them use their secondary attack against Zombies and Antlions in vanilla HL2 and episodec?
Love how mortifyingly dangerous and sharp these guys' augmented bodies and minds must be to pose *that* level of a threat. To think, world-renouned olympic athletes in combat itself to compare a combine elite to any regular threat of a human sharpshooter and combatant. They're more zombies with what important combat knowledge they need and don't need breathing apparatus to survive, which could indicate their very barest of emotions and otherwise "human" rational thought is now erased. These soldiers are just husks with combat strategy that would do well against anyone that isn't a literal demigod like gordon freeman.
Neato!
They are drones
They lack...
_Faculties_
No clue why this is recommended as I haven’t looked up anything Half Life in a long time (god damn I just realized how old Ep2 is).
Anyways, this is great. A proper analysis of all the combine including armor, colors/decals/design, animations, voice lines, AI, and oddities would be awesome. I watched your CP one and it was really cool but I kept waiting for you to break down the armor and more stuff about the humans who actually put on the uniform (I mean, you did kind do the last thing). You seem to have a love for the background chatter and VAing in general and I think that’s awesome and you should keep doing what you love. But more videos like this while still doing the VA stuff would be incredible. Really made me want to learn more. And yeah I know a wiki exists but that’s not the same.
3:08 Actually, Breen didn’t die. Instead, according to the BreenGrub account on Twitter, he was somehow made into an Advisor.
Half life 2 still flexing it's graphics, design, and AI
This game was so ahead of its time. The amount of detail put in.
im watching on 360p for the true half life experience
when a combine elite does a michael jackson:
5:54 Great ambush, guys! Not only can _target one_ hear your chatter, you’re standing in broad daylight in your dumb white armor!
Love this kind of videogame analysis, keep it up! Half-Life 1 & 2 are quite fascinating.
7:07 That soldier looks like his spine disappeared.
Great video. Man, Half-Life and Half-Life 2 have some of the best music in video games.
Even with the most elite combine ever , still can't beat that one scientist from black mesa , Gordon Freemen :p
Freeman got a hev suit and a phd
The whole running to cover while crouching can be seen for the first time in the E3 trailer with Barney. Would be cool if more Combines used that animation.
cant stop thinking about entropy zero 2
I love Combine Elites so much! They're my most favorite kind of Combine soldiers of all time, and they also look like human Portal turrets because of the one red eye on their helmets.
Oh, and Fun Fact: The Elites' helmets have two small domes where their ears used to be and they're known as audio receptors. But yeah, gotta love those marshmallow cyclops dressed in beautiful white armor. ❤👍
player: *just on the sky*
ECS: *shooting the player*
ECS commander: KEEP SHOOTING
ECS: HE DOENST DIE
New subscriber 😁. I never noticed the behavior of the soldiers when Alyx is opening the gate... I was aways so pumped at this part
5:52 imagine this elite being the protagonist of entropy zero 2
A well deserved video for all our hard work.
1:17 omg the assassins have the fall sustaining shoes from portal!
@yArra3D Didn't aperture science collaborated with combine?
RescoeZ I enjoy your videos. The ones analyzing the combine especially the sniper one. I learned that them shooting random objects in order to destroy concealments and coverage for the player. Plus the deflection technique used when shooting at the player got me hooked instantly.
Nobody's talking about purple panties that Alyx is wearing in EP2
Didn’t even know anything was modeled beneath her jeans...
And why we should talk about that
@@suburbanshatters Why not,UNION.
Is that a thing lmao
Every aspect of this game is perfect.
i feel like the combine elites are used commonly in colder places, because their white appearance could make them less easier to see
Fun fact:
In the entire Nova Prospekt chapter we have a total of 7 allied turrets to use. If we successfully bring all of them to the teleporter chamber then those shiny white armor guys will die before reaching the scripted position and staring at us.
The first time i saw the elites i called the "Juggernauts." Because they have the big collar and are pretty tanky.
Seeing Combine Units Side-Step and Crouch Jogging is super weird, but I'm happy I know it exists now.
the new morphy and bollox of half life
7:20
That running/crouching animation is so hilarious to me and I don’t know why
this is some real elite content if y'know what im saying
kashoot me
I get it. :D
pew pew
Elites are more glamorous.
**Insert bullet being launched out of pistol, as it hits your epidermis protecting your Skull and penetrates through it, causing major brain damage and fractures, causing your brain to shut down, killing you easily**
@Legal Citizen y es
"Hans....are we the baddies? I mean our caps have skulls on them".
1:15 - Glad the Advanced Knee Replacement was still employed elsewhere.
Awesome hl2 bids, keep em up!
This was always my go-to skin for multiplayer....
6:50 Huh, I remember those soldiers and me thinking that something was off. That little encounter just felt... different, but never thought about it.
New sub reporting in, please keep up this amazing content
In all my playthroughs, I had never noticed that one elite soldier in the episode 2 part
Did anyone else notice the regular Nova Prospect solider on the left at 0:23?
Bro was like "I can help too"
Ok, but can you imagine, that one Elite grabbing the Super Gravity Gun, and deciding to just put it in the armory instead of showing it off to Breen
A whole squad of Elites with Dark Energy Gravity Guns would be terrifying
They run into couches. A LOT.
More than a decade, there's still stuff to explore in this game. I'm at a loss of words
I still play it from time to time, and enjoy it the same as 10 years ago... vanilla version even.
they are living marshmellow cyclops
At this point the combines are just flexing those insignia design
I killed the combine elite with an SMG and I was like WTF.
Do you know in what specific section you killed it in Follow Freeman?
"They appear to have greater accuracy than normal soldiers" *stands 2 feet away from elite and 85 from smg grunt*
I wish they would do to Combine Elites what they did to Death Troopers in Rogue One and Battlefront 2
Jam their comms so the player doesn’t understand a word of what they’re saying
I feel like the collar acts as a neck protective device specifically against shrapnel blasts from explosions. The demoman from TF2 has a similar collar, and wears armor that (it can be implied) is designed to protect him from blasts due to his dangerous line of work.
Yes, the purpose of those collars is to prevent shrapnel from hitting the body armor, deflecting upwards and going right into the neck of the victim. It's a rare occurrence but better safe than sorry. EOD suits have similar collars too. I'm not sure why combine elite collars only protect from behind though, lol.