Water Portals

[Blackthorn]

I'm assuming the helicopter flight is going to take Gordon over the sea, so wouldn't it be an amazing spectacle if there was a giant portal sucking up sea water? It's always been heavily implied the Combine have been draining the oceans, so a visual confirmation of this would be great for those who hadn't figured it out, and a real treat for those who had.

[Planetary]

The Combine portals all shut off when the Citadel portal exploded. Dr. Kleiner said so in his Episode One Kleinercast.

That probably included the ocean portal(s).

[Blackthorn]

Well that blows my theory out the water.

LOLPUN

[riomhaire]

I think the original idea was that there was a giant portal in the middle of the ocean going to Xen due to the portal storms. It might still be there ;)

[Samon]

It's also a very unrealistic concept if you consider there's been more than 10 years since the Combine occupied Earth. What's more I'm not sure Combine teleportation is that “able”. They use Dark Fusion Reactors to literally punch holes between universes. It takes an enormous amount of energy to both build up and sustain.

[Blackthorn]

Then how are they managing to drain the water? Has Valve ever confirmed how they manage it?

[Samon]

No, but the Combine have conquered a lot of worlds and assimilated a lot of technology. I'd be disappointed if Valve did provide some kind of explanation for these things. I'm a big fan of the idea that you know, there's the story story - the one we follow and participate in, and then there's the story that we are never going to get, but it's out there. I think that adds a huge degree of depth to the world.

[Blackthorn]

I agree, it's a narrative method I highly enjoy. Just the image of huge amount of water being sucked into the sky pleases me...

Hell if Valve don't use it, I will.

[Operational]

The Ocean's being drained and Air Exchange are awesome idea's, I'm still hoping we visit the latter at some point.

[Rashak]

hmmm... would that be like a gate to the elemental plane of water?
lol, I kid, they could be using a very controlled, and I can't emphasize this enough, very controlled black hole on the oceans.

[Growler1984]

Vaporise the water perhaps? That could be done considering their technology; the water vapour could be collected through massive tubes which would gradually lead down to possibly some kind of water tanks, canopies or flood plains.

[riomhaire]

Thanks to everyone for ignoring my post.

[LackingSaint]

In response to the explation for draining the water, I guess it would be pretty cool to see on the artic coast a massive line of machines sucking the water up from the sea.

[Planetary]

I'm expecting that we'll find out where the Hunters came from. It's odd isn't it? The Resistance and Alyx had no idea what they were, they hadn't come off world in Episode One (no portals), but they were in the arctic before coming south to the area around C17.

Where were they before, during the rebellion? A giant Nova Prospekt-style depot? Will we be blowing it up in Episode Three, on a side-quest? Time will tell.

[zombieturtle01]

The Resistance and Alyx had no idea what they were

Untrue.

[David.Seth2]

I think the original idea was that there was a giant portal in the middle of the ocean going to Xen due to the portal storms. It might still be there ;)

Was this from Raising the Bar? I lost the book a year ago (still cursing myself about it :frown:), and I don't remember a lot of the details in it :|

[LackingSaint]

The Hunters were used exclusively for the outer areas of City 17, and were only really brought in when the Combine started to have problems.

[kupocake]

Whilst the Combine Water Sink idea is probably dead in the *ahem* water, I wouldn't rule out some kind of catacylsmic Ocean Portal opening when you blow up the Borealis and get to see those Unforeseen Consequences that Eli failed to foresee.

[Planetary]

Untrue.


Why did the Vort have to tell her what it was, once she was healed up? "A Hunter, so that's what it was."

And in Judith's message, it may be a bit hard to hear, but when the Hunter jumps in through the wall, the rebels yell "What the hell is that? Run for it!", I recommend turning on subtitles, it's rather faint.

But by the time of the White Forest base attack, everyone knows about their existence, the rebel seargent mentions them during the sawmill briefing.

[riomhaire]

When the vort told her it was a hunter she clearly recognised the name.

[kupocake]

When the vort told her it was a hunter she clearly recognised the name.
I didn't get that from what she said, but neither did I take 'So that's what it was' to mean that she'd never encountered or heard of one before. She just never got to see what was kicking the shit out of her.

[losttheskyagain]

There's only so much water on the earth. Considering the Combine have been around for a decade or more, chances are they've already drained all the water they're going to take, so seeing a water-portal in action is unlikely.

However, it would be pretty sweet to see more receded water lines and possibly remains of what used to swim there. Maybe a beached ichthyosaur...

[Corp. Sheepo]

Why did the Vort have to tell her what it was, once she was healed up? "A Hunter, so that's what it was."

And in Judith's message, it may be a bit hard to hear, but when the Hunter jumps in through the wall, the rebels yell "What the hell is that? Run for it!", I recommend turning on subtitles, it's rather faint.

But by the time of the White Forest base attack, everyone knows about their existence, the rebel seargent mentions them during the sawmill briefing.

She was impaled from behind and nearly killed. Regaining her conciousness several hours later she wasn't aware how it had happened. She very much knew what hunters were