Weather Control
From Combine OverWiki, the Half-Life Wiki
 | The content of this article has been cut.
|
| |
| Weather Control | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Location | |
| Builder | |
| Usage | |
| Era(s) | |
| Affiliation | |
| Game information | |
| Map(s) |
N/A |
- "It was a low dome, jutting with antennae and radar dishes, tiny red lights blinking above them. Around the dome were more structures, built low and painted white, almost indistinguishable from their surroundings. The whole thing was sprinkled with snow, like powdered sugar, but it was hardly a pristine image. There hard already been fighting here. Smoke rose from a crack in the dome. The soldiers stationed inside the station had massed against the Combine operators as the news of the uprising spread; the fighting had torn it apart from within."
- ―Weather Control Vignette[src]
The Weather Control,[1] also known as Weather Station,[1] is a location and chapter cut from Half-Life 2. It was to be set between the Kraken Base and Skyscraper chapters,[1] being the second and last location of the third day.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
The Weather Control was to be a massive dome that drained Earth of its oxygen, covered with antennae and radar dishes emitting red lights and with other structures around it, the whole facility partially hidden by snow and located in a canyon, in the Arctic regions North-West of City 17.[1]
[edit] "Weather Control Vignette"
A story fragment of the Weather Control chapter given to the developers for design inspiration[1] starts at some point after the Kraken Base chapter. The Air Exchange reactor has been destroyed several chapters before and the uprising is in process in City 17 and other Combine facilities in the Wasteland and other areas. After or during the Kraken Base chapter, Gordon was to meet with Captain Vance and his daughter Alyx (her whereabouts between the Air Exchange and this chapter are unknown), while Helena Mossman's whereabouts between Kraken Base and the Citadel are unknown:
After the news of the uprising spread, Conscripts stationed inside the Weather Control rebelled against the other Combine units stationed there.
At the start of the story fragment, Gordon was in a column of battered Conscript Bradleys heading for the Weather Control with Captain Vance, his Conscripts and Alyx, the latter located in another nearby Bradley. Suddenly they were bombarded by Combine airships[2] and several Bradleys and soldiers were destroyed. Soon after they reached the already damaged station. Vance then told Gordon that a C-130 was coming to take him to City 17, and that he had to bring "chips" with him.[3] The plan before that was to hold off the Combine as long as possible in the canyon, then fall back inside the dome.
Right after Vance had finished talking to Gordon, Combine "mech carriers"[4] arrived, one of which delivered a "mech"[5] right between Gordon and the station in a package unfolding itself right after the carriers left. While Gordon stood in awe, the soldiers directly started attacking it, then he started firing as well. Then he spotted Alyx coming at the same mech from the other side, with a grenade ready in her hand. Her father called her, and, distracted, she misthrew the grenade that exploded in mid-air, near the mechs's "head". The attention of the mech was caught by the explosion and he directed itself towards Alyx, while her father and Gordon were rushing towards her. Then its head pulsed with a faint glow as if powering up for energy, and then fired at Alyx, missed, but she was shaken by the blast and fell, unconscious. At the same instant the mech's upper carapace was destroyed by one of the huge guns located in the battlefield below the station. They had been hidden by the ice and had been uncovered with the blasts of the battle. The Conscripts took control of them and others started firing missiles at the other mechs and airships. When Gordon arrived at Alyx's side, her father was with her, she had already regained consciousness and smiled to the two men. She then got up and reached for the huge guns to help the Conscripts. Right after that more Combine forces arrived.
This is were the story fragment ends. It is unknown what was to happen exactly during the next stages of the battle, and how long it would have taken. All that is known though is that Gordon and Alyx were able to go back to City 17 in the C-130 mentioned by Vance but crashed into the Skyscraper back into City 17. Vance was also to go back to City 17 around the same time, since Gordon was to find him after the crash.[6][7]
[edit] Fate
- This chapter is part of the storyline set between Nova Prospekt and the City 17 street wars that was completely cut, the game timespan having been reduced to three days instead of the original four. Since three levels and visited after the start of the uprising sparked in the Air Exchange, it is logical the see it in good way when back into the city. This timespan disappearing in Half-Life 2, it was replaced by a one-week timespan of Gordon and Alyx stuck between the two teleports.
- This is also the only chapter for which no maps or any scripted material were created.
- A similar battle might take place at the end of Episode Three as a final showdown to the series, but it is unknown if a Weather Control-like building will be seen.
[edit] Trivia
The general atmosphere of the Weather Control battle is reminiscent of the Battle of Hoth in the movie Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.
[edit] List of appearances
- Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar (First appearance) (Non-canonical appearance)
[edit] Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar
- ↑ Likely the Combine Gunship predecessor, throwing its early projectiles, cut from the retail version.
- ↑ It is probably some predecessor of the data packet Alyx is carrying in Episode One and Episode Two.
- ↑ Likely the Combine Dropship predecessor.
- ↑ This is likely the early term for "Synth", while the enemy depicted here seems to be some sort of Combine Super Soldier, also sharing some similitude with the Strider, or a variant of the Combine Synth Elite Soldier.
- ↑ Playable Half-Life 2 Beta sound files
- ↑ WC mappack
[edit] See also
- Half-Life 2 original storyline#Weather Control
- "Behind the scenes" section of the Synth article for information about the "mech"
| Preceded by Kraken Base | Half-Life 2 original storyline | Succeeded by C-130 |
