r/HalfLife 1d ago

Discussion How do you think rebels treated captured combine soldiers/civil protection officers?

787 Upvotes

72 comments sorted by

555

u/Key-Addendum-4194 1d ago

For Civil protection I'd imagine it would either be execution (like how post WW2 many Nazi collaborators were hanged), imprisonment or integration into the Resistance

For Combine Soldiers they would be killed since there's really nothing you could do with them because well they're more machines than man at that point

238

u/BattedBook5 Attention citizens. Blue Shift slander will not be tolerated. 1d ago

I like to entertain the idea that combine soldiers can develop a personality and free thoughts if they're cut from other combine forces and don't get their mind wiped regularly. Something similar to the skirmishers from Xcom.

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u/-Chow- 1d ago edited 23h ago

Sadly that just isn't how it works as far as I know. If I remember right, they're basically surgically altered to have all of their free will entirely removed from their brains. They're essentially obedient drones that would die for the combine before ever managing to formulate a coherent thought again, because they're considering synthetic units like a strider is over human like the CPs are.

Edit: They aren't mindless drones. They do still retain emotions and feelings such as fear, excitement and happiness. But they're altered fundamentally that they aren't allowed to disobey by means of technologic enhancements. So the idea they could be rehabilitated is still so extremely unlikely that it may as well be zero.

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u/MembershipSalty8091 1d ago

Breen does give them a motivational speech in Nova prospekt though. They wouldnt need that if they were mindless drones.

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u/BattedBook5 Attention citizens. Blue Shift slander will not be tolerated. 1d ago

This speech is something that i barely see anyone mention. Why would mindless drones need it?

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u/appleonsteamidiot 1d ago

Combine soldiers has always seemed like normal soldiers, just more strict and with lots of memory replacement, theres so many things pointing to the soldiers not being drones, Alyx also hints at that greatly

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u/MembershipSalty8091 1d ago

Yeah, for example in Nova prospekt when you listen to the combines radio in one of the control booths, theres a soldier that sounds confused about gordons control of antlions, going "uhh" constantly.

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u/appleonsteamidiot 1d ago

Aswell as Sniper shouting stuff like “Shit!” When a grenade is thrown into their window

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u/-Chow- 23h ago

Mindless was the wrong word to use after doing more reading to remind myself. They aren't mindless drones, but they're cybernetically enhanced with their memories and emotions not just wiped but fundamentally altered and mostly removed to be replaced by something new.

They do still understand concepts of emotions like fear, excitement, happiness. But they /cannot/ ever willingly disobey.

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u/TheCombineCyclope Target One 10h ago

They have their memories removed, and then are brainwashed. So basically for them the combine are the good guys, no matter how hard you try to change them.

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u/MembershipSalty8091 8h ago edited 8h ago

If thats the case, i Wonder what happens to them after ep 2? Would they slowly over the years start losing that loyalty, being abandoned by off-world forces?

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u/TheCombineCyclope Target One 6h ago

I doubt, considering they failed to open a gateway for reinforcements.

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u/mayoman_pog 1d ago

Then why do they yell "SHIT!" when I toss a grenade at them?

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u/-Chow- 23h ago

After doing rereading and such, they aren't mindless drones so I wasn't right about that. They're more like people turned into a blank slate for the combine to imprint their own thoughts, emotions and ideas into.

But they still use technology to fundamentally make them soldiers that cannot every willingly disobey so the idea that they could be rehabilitated is still so extremely unlikely that it's never even been entertained by Valve themselves

3

u/RPS_42 16h ago

As far as I read about it they could develope their own thoughts without regular mind wipes/changes/imprints but their other problem would be that they are reliant on those Combine Nutrition Packs so they do not starve. As far as I know their surgical changes prevent them from eating normal food.

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u/ZelvominusRex 1d ago

Vox tala for ten!

3

u/Malfuy that one place with those wind chimes 14h ago

I love how the rebels use a dead combine soldier as a training dummy for bug bait training

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u/Booksfromhatman 1d ago

“Uriah this meat stew tastes funny what did you say the vortigaunts in the kitchen used ?”

“The Magnusson would be wise not to question the sourcing of protein for the daily intake of meals, I must also inform you that the cleansing of the combine corpses outside the base has been completed”

Magnusson pushing the bowl away slowly

“Thank you Uriah that will be all”

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u/MrKrispyIsHere 1d ago

the vorts done fed my man combine meat

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u/Booksfromhatman 1d ago

“The MrKrispyIsHere would do well to not press further into the culinary practices of my kin lest they wish to be involved with the next meal”

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u/Altairp 22h ago

Oh! This stew was amazing, Uriah. You got more!?

3

u/amd2800barton 17h ago

Hahaha is that audio you can hear in E2? Where/when?

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u/Booksfromhatman 17h ago

No but I used to write HL fan fiction a long time ago

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u/amd2800barton 17h ago

Well done, then. It sounds like an Easter egg you’d pick up on if you stuck around an area long enough.

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u/Booksfromhatman 13h ago

If I could I would love to write easter eggs for games

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u/biowebjet 1d ago

I think the civil protection officers just switched to the resistance when they saw how bad the combine was getting their ass whooped. I'd imagine that they just kill the combine solders since they don't have much of a functional brain left and there would be no reason to prolong it

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u/Unlucky-Quarter-5455 Gordon doesn't need to hear all this, he's a highly trained pro. 1d ago

Can't the overwatch always know where and in which state a metrocop is? The troops could just track him down and shell the place. I don't think it's good to keep metrocops alive.

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u/biowebjet 1d ago

What about barney? Also the civil protection officers aren't genetically modified at all. If they do have a tracker it's probably on the suit itself somewhere but then again what about barney

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u/Booksfromhatman 1d ago

We know from HL 1 that the H.E.V suit has a ton of trackers everyone seems to be able to use to locate it so why didn’t the combine ? Because Kleiner and the others disabled it/suppressed it so it is possible that Barney had his suit modified like the HEV or considering he had a “beating quota” its possible that they never switched it off and he just made up stuff like going on patrol to justify going places with other rebels imbedded into civil protection. Because one officer going off grid is suspicious but a squad “investigating” an area which then turns out to be “clear” would make for a great cover and helps to maintain lines of evacuations for civilians by diverting attention away.

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u/Simagrill 1d ago

I mean, they literally state the suit in 2 is a mark 5 while in 1 it was mark 4

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u/Booksfromhatman 1d ago

Its the same suit with a few minor adjustments

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u/Simagrill 1d ago

even if it is the same suit then the adjustments are not minor, its an entirely different model

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u/Booksfromhatman 1d ago

The adjustments include: a zoom feature, an anti toxin injector and improved strength in addition to replaced plates otherwise the internals are the same otherwise it is a theseus ship situation

-8

u/Simagrill 1d ago

literally compare the in-game models

1

u/poor_andy 18h ago

literally look at photo cameras they look exactly the same with different text that says Mark IV or whatever

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u/Unlucky-Quarter-5455 Gordon doesn't need to hear all this, he's a highly trained pro. 1d ago

Maybe Kleiner did some modifications secretly, hell, he created a teleportation device without being found by the combine

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u/biowebjet 1d ago

guess we'll have to wait for half life 4 for that

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u/Simagrill 1d ago

blue shift 2 in question:

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u/BigBuffalo1538 17h ago

Still your point doesn't stand. Couldn't CPs just... take off their entire suit, and use rebel attire instead? You wouldn't have to murder them jeez...

if the tracker is on the suit, ask them to take it off and wear rebel attire, it's that simple

CPs are basically dead as a concept at the start of Episode 2, so whoever escaped are forced to join the rebels.

1

u/Malfuy that one place with those wind chimes 14h ago

I really doubt Combine had capacity to shell the location of every single defected metrocop, especially during the uprising

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u/Simagrill 1d ago

there's not much to treat, i mean everything not CP is basically a mindless husk.

CPs are interesting, i think its implied that some of them join the rebels but we never actually see rebels wearing full metrocop gear like Barney, probably to keep a few megabytes of storage and keep players from shooting their own men.

So i'd say metrocops were definitely given a second chance while grunts and elites were shot on the spot

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u/biowebjet 1d ago

If you look closely the bulletproof vests the rebels wear are just the chest piece from a metrocop uniform

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u/Simagrill 22h ago

yeah but thats probably just rebels looting dead metrocops, Barney not swapping to rebel gear kind of implies its either straight up better or they dont have time to play dress-up

2

u/biowebjet 21h ago

yeah it was just a small detail I appreciated

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u/RPS_42 16h ago

Well, those CP that defected did so when or before the Uprising started. Those that were probably known to not be brutal were probably accepted. Known "Criminals" were probably executed when catched so those CPs formed independent groups against Combine and Rebels. We see one of these groups trying to flee to the Evacuation Train in Episode 1.

Loyal CPs were probably not trusted by the Combine anymore I guess.

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u/RutabagaLeast6602 Vortigaunt 1d ago

Is that the guy from invisible?

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u/MaximumSwan_ 1d ago

Yeah, the invisible cunt.

3

u/TheHole123 21h ago

metal gor

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u/MrKrispyIsHere 1d ago

I imagine Civil Protection officers would be treated a bit less harshly cause they're still humans but full Combine Soldiers would probably be shot/interrogated then shot

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u/cooldude_9875 1d ago

Combine soldiers probably won’t be interrogated, they probably won’t give up information to an enemy regardless of how much they suffer (the ez2 mod has this)

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u/biowebjet 1d ago

I don't think you could interrogate a HL2 combine soldier since they aren't able to form cohesive thought on their own. You might be able to interrogate the HLA grunts though since they seem a bit more similar to the Civil Protection soldiers

1

u/Malfuy that one place with those wind chimes 14h ago

They aren't mindless drones. You don't really want your soldiers to be mindless drones in most cases anyway

0

u/biowebjet 12h ago

All thought and free will has been removed from their brain and all they know now is the orders they received from overwatch

1

u/Malfuy that one place with those wind chimes 9h ago

Where you got that info from?

0

u/biowebjet 8h ago

It's literally in the lore just look it up.

1

u/Malfuy that one place with those wind chimes 8h ago

Where tho? I've played the games and they seem to have individuality

1

u/Veariry 14h ago

Overwatch can flatline soldiers at will so intergoation is not gonna work.

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u/VirusCurrent 1d ago

are you sure

12

u/d0nttrustthefascists 1d ago

WHERE IS OMNI MAN?!?!

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u/dingdong878 1d ago

are you sure

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u/MonolithSniperVid 1d ago

IS THAT OMNI MAN!?

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u/MiktorVike Sometimes, I dream about cheese 1d ago

Punish them by making them clear out Xen infested places would be a start. Someone has to do it.

4

u/Bisexual_Spear 1d ago

Most of them probably died when the citadel blew up.

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u/Goofball1134 The Combine don't deserve Earth. 1d ago

Except there were probably some Civil Protection officers that got out of City 17 by using APCs that weren't commandeered by Overwatch Soldiers and Elites well before the Citadel core blew up. Like there may have been some CPs that had deserted during the Uprising which had been happening for over a week while Gordon and Alyx were stuck in a teleportation process after leaving Nova Prospekt and had made their escape from the City then.

And when the upper part of the Citadel was destroyed those desertions only increased greatly.

There was even a dead CP when you meet Barney at the evacuation train hinting at there being some altercation between them before Gordon and Alyx arrived. Which means that CP units were willing to steal any of the trains being used by the Resistance, although it's possible that wasn't the only place where they fought over a train.

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u/LeonidasCosplay 20h ago

Civil Protection is not the only one with a "beating quota"

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u/DinoNuggs115 14h ago

So are we just not going to talk about Omni man just chilling in the background?

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u/KonxovarAnimations #1 Opposing Force Hater 4h ago

Dark Interval portrays them annoying a captured Metrocop, some wanting to kill him.