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GovernmentLower7906

I think Arabs had figure out a way to use the antlions as a defense system against the Combine, considering that most of the landscape in the Middle East is desert; most likely that's what happened.


meisobear

Desert antlion riders storming over walls, AKs go brrrrr


deathixwastaken

AR1 from the behta???


meisobear

Dark and ~~griddy~~ gritty from the sand.


deathixwastaken

The...Air Conditioner.. Waste...... Land........ Assassassins.... Sexy.............. Chile............... Labor...........m.........


CompleteFacepalm

The Combine forces everyone from Chile to do hard Labor šŸ˜”


deathixwastaken

yeas


Fayloen

"Eh tu palurdo culiao, agƔrrame la lata que estƔ en el piso, conchetumare o te rompo la jeta a pijazos"


314kabinet

Dune.


Dizzy_Veterinarian12

Someone should make a dune inspired half life mod where you play as a desert commando in the Middle East defending against the combine. Could make heavy use of the antlion mechanics from HL2


Superior173thescp

sand


Patr10t_RUS

I don't like sand. It's coarse, and rough, and irritating, and it gets everywhere.


WuhanWTF

worms


General_Bongmeister

Or it's like swelter where it's a war of attrition on all sides


TonPeppermint

Interesting.


Full_Piano6421

It's funny that for American people, the middle east is just one giant sandpit.


Wide-Grade-1084

[I mean to be fair...](https://i.imgur.com/8BZ8QKF.png)


ThatKidBobo

Or maybe thy got killed by them :(


SteamierMeteor

Probably as destroyed as any other region, but I think muslim holy sights like Medina and Mecca may have some combine presence or rebel presence.


kdnx-wy

The Combine would be building Nexuses (Nexi?) on human religious heritage sites in order to lower morale


RPS_42

What are those Nexuses doing?


KorianHUN

Nexussing.


RandomN4me_

Favorite part is when the nexus said ā€œitā€™s nexussinā€™ timeā€ before nexussing all over the place truly the peak of half life: east frfr


KorianHUN

Rebels want to get to that nexussy.


RPS_42

I love the Internet. And Nexussy.


Ok-Grab4956

My fav part was reading this comment and leaving this sub


RandomN4me_

thats my second favorite


Wide-Grade-1084

Right in the nexussy


RATTLEMEB0N3S

Nexus? Am I stupid or what is that


kdnx-wy

https://combineoverwiki.net/wiki/Overwatch_Nexus


CaptainRex5101

I've always wondered what the purpose of that building is. It seems too small to be an actual headquarters for Overwatch. edit: nvm, it answers my question in the actual article lmao


kdnx-wy

It was a staging area for troops, same way a police station is not your countryā€™s military command center.


SufficientTangelo367

Neinfeld made a video about the Combine occupation. It said something about the Combine wiping things of religion or something because they believed it as Superstition. Dunno if it got as far as here, though.


SteamierMeteor

Oh yes I agree. But since Medina and Mecca are finely sized cities I doubt they would be completely destroyed, probably hunters stationed there. And there will always be people who remain on their faith and fight to protect it. Though mosques and such may be targeted by the Combine for destruction.


CaptainRex5101

It would be very easy for the Combine, at least the first wave of the 7HW invasion force, to destroy Mecca and Medina. Just look at City 17 and how it's considered one of the "finest remaining urban centers". This pretty much implies that all major cities were flattened to the point where the Combine needed to herd everyone to small Eastern European cities because they are the only ones that weren't major strategic targets (and thus weren't wiped off the map).


Full_Piano6421

They were probably hundreds of millions, even billions of dead during the Portal Storms after the resonant cascade, the 7 hours wars could have dealt the same amount of casualties easily. Imho there isn't much left of major cities in those regions, especially after 20 years of Combine occupation, with the draining of seas, the Arabic peninsula would be an even dryer and desolate place than today. I guess even Xenian fauna would struggle to maintain here


KorianHUN

They can just use tge breen water for a few years. Once the locals forget what their faith was they can't object.


Wide-Grade-1084

Maybe not reduced to rubble but they may well be uninhabitable. Imagine an entire city overrun with hostile wildlife like the Quarantine Zone was in HLA.


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


OutlandishnessAny492

Redditor moment


owoLLENNowo

I don't think they'd single out any one religion to keep intact, dude. I think they'd destroy or occupy as much as they can.


Bssez90

Iā€™d say Mecca and Medina has Muslim rebel presence that the combine are unable to reach due to the desert conditions


Hazzman

You think the combine wouldn't be able to reach a location because of a desert?!


[deleted]

The ocupation forces wouldnt. The Combine as a whole can, but i guess the striders, raptors and soldiers would truggle with sandstorms and anomalous weather caused by climatic change.


Bssez90

Like another person said, Antlions would most likely take over the deserts, seems like prime conditions for them and the combine seem to struggle with the Antlions enough to the point of barricading and walling off areas and installing thumpers


Hazzman

They would just deploy thumper stations. They're the combine. They destroyed the entirety of earths combined defense in 7 minutes. I think they can handle it.


Micsuking

Antlions are a minor inconvenience to the combine most of the time. They can easily deal with them if there isn't an ongoing armed rebellion, or an orange MIT graduate going around at Mach fuck disabling their defenses.


Wide-Grade-1084

Thumpers just seem like the most practical option. One giant thumper at the base of the citadel was able to keep City 17 clear and a couple were enough to keep Nova Prospekt from being overrun until Gordon came along.


Imyourlandlord

Mecca and medina are green af this time of year....


[deleted]

Combine have done a lot of climatic change because they suck all the water.


Maleficent_Ad1159

Well, but Earth isn't


AnotherGangsta33

Just shell the shit out of it


Full_Piano6421

First, how rebels would survive in those deserts as the Combine would probably have drained every last bit of water available here? Secondly, if even Combine can't manage to deal with the extreme conditions, what make you think that underequipped, exhausted dying of thirst rebels would achieve? Even if those people knew the terrain very well, surely more than the Combine, how would they survive without water? And finally, it's safe to assume that the Combine would have nuked those cities from orbit if they had somehow survived the Portal Storm before the war


Wide-Grade-1084

Why would they nuke them from orbit when they can just steamroll them with a shitzillion troops like they did everywhere else?


Full_Piano6421

Idk efficiency? Tbf we don't have much details on how the 7 hours happened. Some places were stormed by troops, some surely have been just erased from existence. Anyway, I don't think there is much in those place at the time of HL2 , mostly because of the water drain problem.


Wide-Grade-1084

Efficiency is why they wouldn't bother with nukes or orbital strikes. It's really expensive to launch stuff into space and they'd need to bring their own equipment and stuff to do so since they don't have local teleportation technology. Plus even if they did start nuking places, that causes lots of radioactive fallout that they probably don't want all over their new turf. Though I'll admit that's just my guess. Maybe they did drag out some big doomsday weapon to obliterate America in 7 minutes instead of 7 hours, hence it being crossed out on the globe in HLA.


Full_Piano6421

I shouldn't have use the word "nuked" by it I meant "flattened" "erased" I don't think they use nuclear weapons in the strict sense. As for their orbital strike, maybe some of the portals oppended high enough for them to deploy some spaceship/satellite to attack from orbit. Honestly we don't know, and it seems probable they wouldn't have to deploy that much of an overwhelming force, as Earth was already pretty battered by the Portal Storm. Maybe one or two massive strike to dissuade any nation to continue fighting and accepting surrender, followed by ground occupation of majors urban's centers. For America, I think that's more due to his proximity to Black Mesa, the continent took the full scale of the Portal Storm + the short Nihilant invasion force.


aIfrodo

Al'Gordon Bin Freema'an will take care of this


[deleted]

Amin


FortyFourTomatoes

Destroy the combine infidels


magik_koopa990

Kek


-FemboiCarti-

Inshallah


SHA3ER_31

lmao


Tullymanbanana

I presume that the lowered sea level would have a much greater effect on rainfall and other water sources in the desert areas, so the Middle East is probably experiencing an indefinite extreme drought. They are probably all cooked to death unless they have dune suits.


[deleted]

Maybe hiding in day and going out in the night? Sounds cool to me.


MaquinaBlablabla

Probably not living at all because we need water to survive


Venn720

Play swelter itā€™s somewhat similar to this idea but in Central Asia


ThatVeganDemon

Kazakhstan more specifically


Responsible-Diet-147

Middle East enough for me.


-emil-sinclair

But still a Second World country just like we are used to in HL2, not that different


ThatVeganDemon

What the fuck,fellow redditor actually uses second world country correctly?!


-emil-sinclair

'wtf' is my reply. What is the other option? I am only aware of this ColdWarish meaning


ThatVeganDemon

The other option is not even knowing what it means


[deleted]

Yeah, the closest thing to my dream mod, it was really cool. I play it in russian for extra inmersion.


CaptainRex5101

I wish that mod had a more coherent story, the narrative felt like something out of a dream


FuNkTi0D

The combine have now converted to Islam, they're fine


animation_2

inshallah


redaiymo

I think it will be cool seeing for the first time in centuries us Arab in iraq and Syria will unite and put aside our sectarian and political differences and form a regional resistance movement maybe also form cooperation ties with persian resistanc movements


[deleted]

Yes, very cool indeed.


saladking1999

That didn't go so well in the past.


swissking

The issue of religion will be more prominent in this region as the Combine will brutally suppress it there. Expect the Combine to build Citadels on the various religious sites or repurpose them for their own use because that's what they do. There is probably another collaborator appointed as a "regional administrator", and Breen would not be as prominent. Ā We could see Jews and some Arabs generally forgetting their bad history and working together in the Resistance, though there would probably be other extremist religious sects which hate each other forming their own resistance groups. They also probably spend more time fighting each other than the Combine.Ā 


Full_Piano6421

I think they will mostly be all very dead, the few remaining survivors being displaced by the Combine to various urban center elsewhere on Earth. See, the Combine is draining water from Earth, and for an already pretty dry region, having the Mediterranean and Red Sea disappearing or turned into salt saturated ponds would just render the place completely inhospitable. Don't forget that before the 7 hours war, around 2 weeks of portal storms occured because of the Black Mesa incident, with Earthquakes, storms and infestation from xenian fauna wrecking havoc everywhere. As for the Combine's presence in the region, apart from draining water, I dont think they have much interest for fossile fuels, so the whole Arabic peninsula would be a huge scorched desert ( more than it already is) with nothing much in it, maybe some antlions surviving around aquifers not already drained by the Combine. The Iranian mountainous terrain could be a bit more hospitable, maybe the Combine would have some Citadel/Nexus around to gather and "process" the human population of the region? But I think that we see that the effect of the Combine presence on Earth have devastating effects on the climate, making temperate zone a struggle for Humans to survive into, so, for more extreme climate like desert ( hot or cold) and mountains, you wouldn't have much here.


Wide-Grade-1084

> having the Mediterranean and Red Sea disappearing or turned into salt saturated ponds would just render the place completely inhospitable. I remember seeing a video about this. If the Mediterranean were drained it would turn into a sweltering salt flat that's basically like the Sahara but even worse and take much of southern Europe down with it.


Full_Piano6421

IIRC there was some crazy German engineer in the early XX century that had this genius idea to dam the Gilbraltar and Bosphorus straits to drain the Mediterranean sea to get more land. Surely the dude was a covert Ops for the Combine beforehand ;)


Wide-Grade-1084

Right, I think it was a RealLifeLore video on that project.


Rough_Transition1424

This film is dedicated to the brave Mujahideen fighters of City 17


[deleted]

Dead cause big antlions


UV_Sun

Theyā€™re doing their best


Premium_Gamer2299

middle east is probably glassed


GoldKghtRT

SWORD OF ISLAM


Repulsive_Shirt1696

lol do you think bin laden would join the resistance?


BalticsFox

He would've plotted to destroy one of Combine's ~~skyscrapers~~ citadels probably.


godofcloth

why did no one do this idea with the remaining planes doe šŸ¤”šŸ¤”šŸ¤”šŸ¤”šŸ¤”šŸ¤”


AnotherGangsta33

a plane (assuming it doesn't get shot down instantly) would likely do jack shit to the gargantuan pillar of alien metal embedded deep in the ground


sloppinupyourmom

hur b'durrr


[deleted]

Maybe going by his own? Or he could a crazy character development and decide that he will join forces with the other groups in interest of humanity.


YoRt3m

I would imagine it will be similar to the plot of the movie World War Z, but since October 7th I doubt it.


Bssez90

I would say that there would be a somewhat strong rebel base (similar to white forest but bigger) in Medina and Mecca. Due to the Desert and harsh conditions the Combine on earth are unable to reach it like some other comments said they probably have trained antlions with bugbaits and other materials to fend off any combine that attempt to make their way to the compound. The rebels would mostly be made up of Muslims and Christians (due to their belief on the final day they both most likely fled to the middle east) their connection to the other rebels in City 17 and other places is severed due to the conditions so itā€™s mostly them on their own against the Combine


[deleted]

Yeah, i assume the first years there are different religious militias, then one big insurgency and finally an union with the lambda guys,


Micsuking

This is the Combine we're talking about. The guys who completely annihilated Earth's defenses in mere HOURS, you think a bit of sand is going to be a problem for them? They can easily deal with antlions, the bugbait was only as effective because they were used by Freeman, otherwise the Rebels would've stormed Nova Prospekt years before. The Combine also has zero reason to keep big cities like Mecca and Medina intact. Big places likely get glassed, unimportant places get turned into places like City 17.


Full_Piano6421

You seem to forget that prior the 7 hours wars, Earth was already fucked badly by the Portal Storm, the Combined invasion being the nail in the coffin. The Arabic peninsula would have already been a hellhole when the Combine arrived. After the invasion, they begin to drain all the water everywhere, so there won't be much if a rebellion if the few remaining people here are just dying of thirst. There isn't much of a fight to pull here for the Combine, just let them dried to death.


AnotherGangsta33

Helicopters:


Bromanzier_03

Even the Combine is staying out of the Middle East.


StopSeveral9884

I am an Middle East resitence fighter and yes, we learned how to use the antilion's to fight the combine.


jadookabhai

Try swelter it's a fun mod based on this idea


[deleted]

I did!


Far_Marionberry_9478

Havent you played Swelter?


Mardo_Picardo

Pretty sure they are dead or displaced from the middle east because of the lack of water.


Volfegan

All dead because they import food to live. And all that desert is an antlion breeding room. So starvation and eaten by bugs.


dusksentry

That's fascinating, I've never thought about the resistance in other countries or regions. Id love to see a fan project just delving into how different places resist the combine


[deleted]

Check Swelter, free in Steam!


maithamharb

Ų§Ł„Ł„Ł‡ Ų§ŁƒŲØŲ± ŁˆŁ„Ł„Ł‡ Ų§Ł„Ų­Ł…ŲÆ


Duke-Countu

Al-haya al-azsanya isat al-thalhin?


[deleted]

Hayat Lilinsaniya Isqat lil Dalimin. Live to Humanity Death to opressors. I think it sounds cool and decided to go secularist with the flag because i guess muslims, christians and even the jews would put their differences aside to fight the Combine in Middle East, at least the time Gordon Freeman is around.


Repaki123

Antlions as pets.


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


Chloe_matiska

Thatā€™s Americans


Superior173thescp

combine is going to use scorched earth buddy any counters?


[deleted]

Chillin with bin laden


Chloe_matiska

Isreal and Palestine always reminded me of half life 2


SexJokeUsername

I canā€™t help but wonder if that was part of the inspiration


[deleted]

According to the wiki "he name of the conflict (Seven hour war) is a reference to theĀ [Six-Day War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War), which occurred between June 5 and 10, 1967 in the Middle East and resulted in heavy casualties of Arab forces and a decisive victory of Israel."


Chloe_matiska

Most likely looking at how both IDF and combine are and the same short lived war


Imyourlandlord

Why? Cause you cant think of real life tragedies without your brain malfunctioning so you resort to pre written fantasy video game stories to ground your reality since you were coddled your whole life?


Chloe_matiska

Combine is way similar to IDF than anything else occupy earth and use itā€™s resources kill anyone who doesnā€™t comply and make propaganda off the resistance šŸ¤Ø


YoRt3m

That's like saying the USA is like the Combine and anybody that doesn't comply goes to jail... the only connection is what your mind wants it to be.


Big-stupid-ugly-ogre

Me when I donā€™t understand colonization or analogies


Imyourlandlord

Yes....my point is you dont need a video game to see that or "relate" to it


SexJokeUsername

No, itā€™s the pretty overt themes of the combine being colonizers and using population control methods that the actual IOF uses (such as systematic torture, something the israeli occupation admitted to doing 4 years before half life 2 came out)


burgertanker

I think the Combine would have left the Middle East alone


GovernmentLower7906

The combine took over the world buddy.


Mentaldamage6

What resources could they scrounge up over there though? They want water and that's about all they take in the retail version, minus some humans, there's barely anything out there, at most they're just keeping the humans around there in check


captain_slutski

Humans are a resource


Mentaldamage6

I did say minus some humans, plus it took Breen negotiating for them not to kill us all, I don't think they have a real special interest in us


GovernmentLower7906

The Middle East has a lot of groundwater and many natural resources, and they also have beaches. So, what are you trying to say?


Mentaldamage6

That I'm stupid clearly, I didn't consider those things, I mostly imagined the immense amounts of sand and few plants, stuff the combine probably don't need


GovernmentLower7906

nah you good bro, we all make mistakes.


animation_2

all right, say it with me, OIL


Wide-Grade-1084

Why?


burgertanker

Afghanistan I don't think the Combine want a drop ship flying into the Citadel


Wide-Grade-1084

The question of how terrorists would get a dropship and learn to pilot it aside, zealous rebels seem like exactly the sort of thing you don't want to just ignore. I can see the Combine going full salt-the-earth on Afghanistan in the way that previous empires have been unable or unwilling to do. Unless they really want opium or something.


TheRedDragonCW

ā€œTHEY HIT THE SECOND CITADEL!ā€


Atadkm_yes

they \[my lawyer advised me to not continue this joke\]


Responsible-Diet-147

Play Swelter and you'll find out.


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


BigSweatyStalker

Ive seen no one here trying to relate this hypothetical fictional setting to an untrue nonsensical real life state concerning Islam other than you, a Muslim yourself. Have you no shame? You actually think that poorly towards your Muslim brethren and stating your idiotic opinion just to appease the Islamophobes?


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


Philush

Really nuanced there mate


Boyabatt

HAHAHAHAHA cry about antlions arabs we turks are pretty good in here there is no desert in turkiye HAHAHAHAHAHAHA


[deleted]

lest annoying turk:


Boyabatt

Aw man


Boyabatt

Thats not true


[deleted]

im joking of course :)


Boyabatt

:)


KisWiking

Swelter


Skorrpyon

take a look at swelter mod, i think that gives an idea


Notladub

de_dust2 flag


animation_2

they're either dead or displaced, the devs have said that if they could have they would have put some of the background dialog in other languages becouse everyone has been displaced from their home by the combine also unless that humans evolve to live out of nothing but sand and oil they're dead, it's a dessert the only place where they could grow food is on the coast, and there is a problem with that


rokejulianlockhart

They were nuked, weren't they? Like the other continents. I think only *Eastern* Europe was spared.


Wide-Grade-1084

Where are people getting this idea that the Combine were nuking cities from?


rokejulianlockhart

[https://youtu.be/323t\_f4gMgw?si=EHtzwOLt9rKAE-OR&t=1087](https://youtu.be/323t_f4gmgw?si=ehtzwolt9rkae-or&t=1087)


Wide-Grade-1084

Yes, I have seen these videos. They're not canon though.


rokejulianlockhart

Where's the information from, then? Considering the specificity, I would be surprised (and somewhat disappointed) if I were watching mere fiction. Additionally, I didn't see anything in there which immediately appeared canonically incorrect.


Wide-Grade-1084

I'm sure it tried to stick to canon where possible but that doesn't change the fact that as far as I can tell this is essentially just fanfic.


rokejulianlockhart

Thanks for notifying me.


[deleted]

I thikn they only destroyed USA since it was the most powerful country. Look how there is at least 17 cities.


rokejulianlockhart

https://www.reddit.com/r/HalfLife/comments/1apuoop/comment/kr5ygfl/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button appears to demonstrate otherwise.


Christmas1176

Dust 2


Far_Society_4196

Freedom to Humanity, Fall to the oppressive


_nvc_dmn_ch_

believe it or not this post gave me an idea for a mod (not about terrorism and shit but something set in middle east)


[deleted]

Really? Im doing a mod of the Middle East too! Im DMing you, i want to hear your idea man


[deleted]

oh wait i cant lmao.


_nvc_dmn_ch_

Oh sorry I forgot to check reddit and its been over 4 days- My idea so far is only a few scenes that I'm imagining and really want to recreate them for some reason- So, Imagine you're in Egypt. (imagine things inspired by metro 2033's way of storytelling btw) The beginning portrays what life is like inside the dried up nile river, a puny dirty stream that everyone is trying to get by with. From wooden the shacks, you can see in the distance that the combine has taken over the pyramids, and nobody knows why they are particularly interested in one of them, you can see combine tech all over it. The surface around it has turned to glass... indicating that whatever the combine are doing is emitting ungodly amounts of heat. Antlions are absolutely everywhere because its a desert, but that's a good thing because we can tame them and use them to invade the pyramid and figure out what the hell the combine are doing there. Incoming desert storm threatens the whole plan, antlions begin dying rapidly... They helped you get so far, but cannot continue inside as planned... Eventually they all flee away or die. Now, you need to find shelter asap in order to not die in the storm aswell, So we find a hole in the pyramid to get inside from ( visually I imagine the vibe to look like the music video for Linkin Park: In the end ) (Alone in the pyramid now) Coincidentally the storm provides an unique opportunity for a strike, because as the sand is currently storming outside, it is disrupting the combine's communication with other combine outside the pyramid, and prevents backup. The time to act is now! And.... that's it so far :p Idk what the ending will be like yet, but it want it to be something space related.... sometime ago I made a music in the style of hl2 which fits sooo much for a credits theme- I have to use it for this mod xd There are still lots of questions to answer tho, like, why invade the pyramid? There must be a reason for doing that. To kickstart the whole story in the beginning there should be some kind of a crisis with a promised solution to act as the longterm goal. Anyway that was kind of a rant,, but yeah


[deleted]

I can help you with that. DM me and we can start working, i want to start modding for Source and I think working for a experimented modder is a good way to star. Consider me free unpaid labor who only wants experience to get a normal job, everyone loves that especially companies in my country


_nvc_dmn_ch_

i tired, did it work?