Shock Roach

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Shock Roach
Production information
Faction	Race X
Type	Bio weapon
Technical specifications
Damage	10
Ammo	10
Max ammo	∞
Weapon category	7
Ammo type	Plasma
Accuracy	Medium/High
Range	Long
Usage
Used by	Shock Troopers Adrian Shephard
Game information
Entity	weapon_shockrifle (in hand) monster_shockroach (when dropped by Shock Trooper)

 

The Shock Roach is a living weapon featured in Half-Life: Opposing Force. It is used primarily by Race X Shock Troopers, but it can also be picked up and used by humans.

Overview

The Shock Roach has all the characteristics of a large insect, with six legs and a tri-segmented body. Unlike the Hive Hand, the bio-weapon employed by Alien Grunts, the Shock Roach can move, react and attack of its own accord. The Shock Roach seems to form a symbiosis with its user; it cannot survive for long on its own, and upon its user's death, it will attempt to form a new bond with viable nearby targets. This symbiotic tactic is confirmed when looking closely at a Shock Roach's underside: Six strong pincers, much like the legs of Earth insects, can attach tightly to any creature's forearm, never releasing until said creature is dead. It will violently attack anyone who has already adopted a Shock Roach (or cannot). Its use as a weapon stems from its ability to generate large amounts of electricity, which it can launch in short bursts from its single protuberant eye.

The Shock Roach is the primary weapon of Shock Troopers in Opposing Force; once Adrian Shephard has killed the first one he encounters, he too can pick up and use the weapon. Shock Roaches are similar to the Hive Hand in that they essentially have an infinite amount of "ammo"; they regenerate their electric charge after they have been fired, and they can be fired ten times in quick succession before they are temporarily exhausted.

Shock Roaches presumably originate from the same provenance as Shock Troopers and the rest of their mysterious kind. Whether they have been evolved to suit their application as weapons or naturally manifest as they do is not known, however they do not appear beyond their role as weapons for the Shock Troopers. As with the rest of Race X, they have not appeared beyond Opposing Force.

Tactics

• The Shock Roach automatically regenerates ammo, making it very useful in situations where ammo for other weapons is thin. It is at its best picking off weaker opponents such as Pit Drones from a distance.
• Shock Troopers seem to have an inbuilt resistance to Shock Roaches.
• Once a player has a Shock Roach any other Shock Roach they come across will attack them.
• Firing the Shock Roach underwater results in instant death by electrocution and resultant gibbing.

Trivia

• Although the Shock Roach attaches to its user's arm they are still able to use their other weapons.
• Shock Roaches do not seem to attach to soldiers other than Shephard.
• A Shock Roach that has been separated from its host will be attacked by Pit Drones, despite both being Race X. This is a result of the Shock Roach being and Pit Drone being modified from the Headcrab and Bullsquid respectively internally.
• Secondary fire button makes the Shock Roach play its idle animation. Strangely, if shots were fired, this will stop the ammo counter while used, though ammo still does regenerate. Why the idle animation is assigned to the secondary fire button is unknown.
  • Even stranger, the same thing happens when the primary fire button is released and then held down during the brief period when the Shock Roach has no ammo, though with the caveat that when the Shock Roach regains any ammo it will still be fired normally.
• Other than in the map where the Shock Roach can be first obtained, the shock roaches cannot be used as weapons, even when the player has not obtained it yet. In the map where the Shock Roach can first be obtained, it will act like other Shock Roaches if the player has already obtained the weapon.
• In Opposing Force multiplayer, the Hivehand may sometimes appear as the Shock Roach. This is only a visual bug and does not affect gameplay in any way.
• Shephard's hand and arms in the view model use early textures.

Gallery

• 

  HUD icon.

• 

  Worldmodel.

• 

  Viewmodel.

• 

  As wielded by a Shock Trooper.

• 

  A Shock Trooper attacking a security guard.

• 

  Early hand texture in the view model.

• 

  Early skin texture in the view model.

List of appearances

• Half-Life: Opposing Force

External links

• Early viewmodel: Half-Life: Opposing Force TV Spot on YouTube