Combine Guard (Synth)

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Combine Guard
General information
Faction	Combine
Type	Part-human, part-Synth / Elite Heavy Assault Soldier
Individual information
Weapon(s)	Combine Guard Gun
Game information
Entity	npc_combineguard
Designer(s)	Ted Backman (Combine Synth Elite Soldier)

 

The Combine Guard is a part-human, part-Synth enemy cut from Half-Life 2 and the direct successor of the Combine Synth Elite Soldier, which the Combine Elite also stems from. It was to be presented at E3 2002.

Overview

The Combine Guard in e3_terminal.

Valve artist Dhabih Eng suggested that the Combine Guard represented the next stage in the Combine's transformation hierarchy for humans after the Combine Soldier, becoming less and less human at every step. It was to wield a large weapon, the Combine Guard Gun, that was to fire a powerful disintegration beam, recycled for the Strider, that the player would have been able to use after defeating it. It was also to use it to kick its opponent at close range, much like the HECU grunts and early Combine Soldiers. Another smaller weapon is featured on its left wrist.

The camera attachment being the real head of the soldier (according to its texture, named "head.vtf"), it is likely that the man inside the robotic suit was to be blind, his eyes seeming to have been somehow removed. It would have made it a disturbing sight for humans, who would tend to look at its human face and be unaware of the direction its real "head" is actually looking at. A breather is also in the human mouth, implying it is breathing the ambient air, filtered, and still uses some form of lungs.

As seen in the WC map pack map e3_terminal, it was featured in a climactic segment in this scripted demonstration. At the "end" of the map, the player was to find themself behind a locked door. The Combine Guard would appear on the other side, destroy the small window with the small weapon attached on its left wrist, look through it with its camera, and then knock the door down with its fists, forcing the player out of the hallway to which the demonstration would conclude.

According to the code, the Combine Guard could have been thrown off-balance by attacking it with physics objects. In that vulnerable state, the player would then need to use explosive damage to break pieces of its armor. With all pieces destroyed, the Combine Guard would go into a defeated state, topple over, and play a looping "helpless" animation indefinitely. The code calls for animations, bodygroups and attachment points not present in the available model. Instead, trying to kill the Guard crashes the game.

Apart from the map e3_terminal, its only other appearance is in cguard1_fixed. Neither are storyline maps.

Behind the scenes

In Half-Life 2 a console command titled "sk_combine_guard_spawn_health 1" can be found, likely the remains of a command related to the Combine Guard. Interestingly, the appearance of Dog's right foot is similar to that of the Combine Guard's.

Concept art from Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar show a more conventional soldier named "Combine Guard" with a long trench coat inspired in part by the German SS uniforms of World War II. This unit was to be part of the Civil Protection and has nothing to do with this Synth Combine Guard.

An early model of Dog appears to have its right leg reused from the Combine Guard. While mostly unchanged in the final version, the leg has a different texture and seems to have been made from scrap metal instead.

Gallery

These are pieces of concept art for several different versions of the Combine Synth Elite Soldier featured in Raising the Bar. Most of them feature a large left arm where a weapon is included (as seen in the Combine Guard NPC) and a thinner right one.

• 

  Concept art from c. 2000-2001.

• 

  Variant of the Combine Synth Elite Soldier, featuring the similar green color and antenna, and legs very similar to that of the Hunter's.

• 

  This version is closer to the Combine Guard and the Combine Elite. The Hunter-like legs are also notable.

• 

  This version is also closer to the Combine Guard and the Combine Elite.

• 

  The feet here are similar to that of the Combine Super Soldier.

• 

  This version is nicknamed "Combine Elite 3" and its the closest to the Combine Guard, with on its shoulder the same logo found on the Gunship's and leak Combine Soldier backs.

• 

  The feet here are similar to that of the Combine Super Soldier, here with a spear, and the similarities to the Combine Guard are again featured.

• 

  Again, the feet here are similar to that of the Combine Super Soldier.

• 

  A running Combine Guard.

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  The Combine Guard trying to find the player with its camera in e3_terminal.

• 

  The Combine Guard breaking the door open in e3_terminal.

List of appearances

• Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar (Non-canonical appearance) (As "Combine Synth Elite Soldier")