Factual's HL2 Ideas/Suggestions

[FactualDonkey]

Half-Life 2: Homefront (Or Half-Life 2: Genesis (Or Half-Life 2: Liberty or Death. We're working on titles lol))​

Proposals, ideas, suggestions

Section I: Setting Suggestions / Ideas
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Setting Suggestions (New England/Boston (Mickee's setting)): The arrival of the first Citadel over 13 years ago occurred in City 1, what was formerly known as New York City. The construct symbolized the definitive, secure grasp of our Combine Overlords on our planet, yet despite its placement on the East Coast of the United States, the broader territory was far from settled. At least by any noteworthy Human or Combine presence. The 2002 Black Mesa Incident and subsequent Seven-Hour War have left what was the United States an inhospitable and scarred no man's land as Xenian lifeforms have rooted themselves like a cancer. City 1's array of walls keep the threats at bay as Vortigaunt-powered interference pylons seclude the North American seat of Combine power from the most severe of portal and particle storms: bitter multidimensional echoes of the events that took place in 2002. Yet the Combine aren't nothing if not expansionist. The breadth of the continent is untouched. Inhospitable. Yet many resources lie within the infested hellscape. Stretching from City 1, auxiliary cities have been established: fledgling urban centers that have been forcefully injected with their populations all as a means to secure their footholds against the Xenian terrors that lie beyond. The insurmountable cost of this expansion is paid for with Combine might and, overwhelmingly, the lives of the humans relocated there. One such burgeoning city has nested itself in the decaying corpse of [Boston/Salem]. A smaller-scale industrious city by Combine standards, the city is primarily in service to the repair and fabrication of ocean-fairing vessels to transport cargo over the increasingly desiccated Atlantic. The Combine are known to use pre-war means of transport for people and cargo, including ships. The ultimate goal of securing the territory? Expanding operations in North America. As it stands, the territory is still heavily deteriorated and home to Borderworld natives. It is up to the Combine to reclaim and establish the city street-by-street, block-by-block. And you have arrived just in time for them to throw you at the problem. Factual's Suggestion #1: Dynamic Maps​ Maps gradually "unlocked" from the Xenian Infestation as the storyline progresses. A full reclamation is intended to last the duration of that map. >Infested districts initially hazardous. Encounters with Xenian life, anomalies, etc. Citizens risk death traversing these areas. Such a fate is almost certain without a respirator. However, their overwhelming danger limits Civil Protection patrols, with small Overwatch QRF teams often responding to situations in the zone instead. This relative lack of Combine activity allows for Resistance Members to operate in concealment, so long as they mind the hazards. >Cleared initially by Civil Protection, Combine Maintenance Corps: Infestation Control, "volunteer" workforce (citizens). Clearing process isHIGHLY DANGEROUS. >Renovation then conducted by Combine Maintenance Corps: Civil Maintenance, "Volunteer" workforce (citizens). Less Xenian hazards, but often industrial or construction site incidents. Civil Medical Services provides support >Upon end of Renovation, the district is "safe" for Citizens & Civil Administration to inhabit with relatively low risk. IC businesses can be safely established in the new territory. >Resistance, given the benefits of the infestation's cover, can seek to undermine or directly counter these efforts. Reports of rogue Infestation Control deserters using fungal "dirty bombs" to infest targets exist. Factual's Suggestion #2: New England, Old Infrastructure​ [Salem/Boston]'s status as a brand new city in infested territory, coupled with the costly ongoing efforts to reclaim said territory, have caused economic hardship to both the Citizenry and the Combine Administration that oversees them. Compared to a fully-functioning center like City 17 or City 1, [Salem/Boston] is often subject to inconsistencies regarding Civil Protection patrols and response times, ration shortages, reduced access to medical supplies, and lowered resources for all members of the Combine's workforce. With the scarcity of these resources, residents of all kinds have found a way to adapt. Citizens may keep the occasional improvised "bludgeon" to deal with the occasional alleyway HeadCrab. With a constrained Civil Protection station, you may have nobody to help you except yourself. Plus, if they're not around, it's not like they can indict you for having your "'Crab Club"... In [Salem/Boston], Citizens have to look out for one another. The Civil Medical Services frequently establishes events such as Blood Drives to make up for their lacking inventory. Infestation Control Members may be requested to gather medicinal Xenian flora while Citizens work in factories to produce these resources into a finished medicinal product for the CMS. Surely... They won't mind if a vial or two is missing from the production line. After all, you and your rebel cell needs it more than they do.

Section II: Factions​

Factual's Suggestion #3: Examples of how player-controlled Citizen Factions May Operate/Interact​

OOC NOTE: I am very tired so I have to stop writing, but I will be editing this post with additional content.​

 

[Mickee]

just so people can see it in writing we're gonna say the number for our city is City 6


just cause MA was the 6th state

 

[FactualDonkey]

Section II: Factions (Continued)
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CMC suggestions on procedure, collaboration, and conduct. Given my experience with TacoNBanana's Combine Infestation Control faction sine its inception in 2020 all they way to 2024, GVSF's CIC faction around the time of their server's launch (and cancellation), I have a direct bias for input in regards to the Infestation Control section of the CMC. This does not mean I do not have suggestions for the Engineering portion, but the bulk of these suggestions will pertain how the CIC should operate based on my experience and seeing the shortfalls and "pain points" regarding its relation to other factions in the setting. A major criticism of the CIC from other servers and settings has been the armed nature of the faction. It wasn't the CCA, yet they had guns. In TnB's Half-Life New America? VERY GOOD guns. Too good for what should be a civilian workforce. While I enjoyed the 10mm handguns and MP5s... Yeah it was a problem. Some of us were better-armed than the cops. We could've mounted an armed resistance against the Civil Protection and, in many cases, win. That's a no-no for a faction that is made of civilians with, likely, different loyalties than the CCA or CA. That is why I'm suggesting two major overhauls to Infestation Control kit: what's included and where it's obtained from. #1: All Weapons are CCA Property Many of these weapons, akin to the handgun in Half-Life: Alyx, were initially confiscated and sequestered by the Civil Protection; seizures from criminal and rebel activity. Therefore, I suggest removing the Infestation Control's armory entirely! The CCA will have total custody of the firearms doled-out to Infestation Control. Prior to a deployment where Infestation Control needs to be armed (i.e. particularly severe DISPATCH calls), workers will equip their hazmat suits and drive to the nearest CCA Nexus. From there, they will head up to the armory where a CCA member will provide the appropriate arms to the appropriately-ranked workers. What these arms are and who they will go to will be logged ICly (we could potentially even have assigned weapons such as a shotgun with the description of an engraved ID number for its InfCon user). Upon conclusion of the deployment, InfCon workers will return to the Nexus and return their armaments to the CCA armorer. This returns a significant portion of power to the CCA, while ensuring there is a baseline of cooperation from Infestation Control, and the potential for that relationship to improve or deteriorate as time goes on based on player actions. Furthermore, it restricts the ease of weapon access off-duty or to give said weapons to rogue elements. You're assigned a gun, you take it from the CCA, you then return it when you're done. If you don't, someone'll have to answer for that. Likely you. But hey, there may be some good RP to be had when the CCA comes knocking about a missing handgun. #2: Low capacity, low fire-rate, and high damage should be the focus for InfCon firearms This suggestion does not refer to the direct scripting of InfCon firearms (I don't care about OOC damage numbers), but rather the philosophy behind what InfCon should be armed with. Infestation Control's threats are largely hostile Xenian fauna. Bullsquids, Zombies, etc. These threats do not require automatic weapons such as SMGs. Rather, we should look to the initial TnB pitch for CIC's armaments (a pitch that was abandoned) where the CIC was to be armed with "hunting equipment". This is why I suggest the following firearms: Sidearm Suggestion #1: The Thompson G2 Contender​ Steam Workshop::[TFA][AT] Thompson G2 Contender steamcommunity.com Description: A single-shot, break-action hunting pistol chambered in rifle calibers ranging from .223/5.56 to 45-70 (Mickee's discretion for which). Its (relatively) compact size allows for use in confined environments while having enough power to deal with some of Xen's more fearsome pests, all while having a capacity and rate-of-fire that are both low enough to discourage (but not outright prohibit) rogue use.​ Sidearm Suggestion #2: The Taurus Judge​ (Already included in IDNW's content) Description: Despite it being relatively high according to Mickee's weapon tier system in the script, the Judge is a 5-shot .410 shotgun revolver ideal for, primarily, varmint use. We could commit to this functionality with its use in InfCon.​ Sidearm Suggestion #3: 10mm 1911-pattern handgun (AMT Javelina or Colt Delta Elite)​ Steam Workshop::[TFA] Silverballer steamcommunity.com (or, alternatively) Steam Workshop::[TFA] [AT] Alyx Pistol (1911) steamcommunity.com Description: A classic from other iterations of InfCon, this suggestion's more here for posterity. A powerful, but capacity-limited semi-auto handgun designed for hunting. Its status as a up-powered 1911, however, does open it to potential abuse by Rogue elements. Best to use the CCA armory suggestion if this weapon is added.​ Primary Suggestion #1: The MP-18​ Steam Workshop::[TFA] Modded Anomaly Weapon Pack steamcommunity.com Description: A Russian single-shot, break-action rifle. The MP-18 would, essentially, be a rifle version of the Thompson G2 Contender. While in reality chambered for 7.62x51 (like a Mosin), we could make it use the same caliber as the Contender for OOC ammo economy.​ Primary Suggestion #2: Hi-Point Carbine​ (Already included in IDNW's content) Description: A suggestion from Mickee. A higher-capacity, but pistol-caliber carbine. Compared to the other suggestions thus far, it would have the highest capacity and rate-of-fire, but would not be fully-automatic, separating it from other, non-InfCon armaments on the server. It's also a hi-point so it would be kinda crappy.​ Primary Suggestion #3: The Higgins Model 58 Bolt-Action Shotgun​ Steam Workshop::[TFA] Modded Anomaly Weapon Pack steamcommunity.com (or, alternatively, the ToZ Bolt-Action shotgun already in IDNW's content) Description: A 12-gauge bolt-action shotgun. Low fire-rate but generous-enough capacity at 3-5 rounds. The ToZ model has a folding stock, allowing it to be used in compact environments.​ Primary Suggestion #4: The Serbu Super Shorty​ (Already included in IDNW's content) Description: A 3-round-capacity pump-action 12-gauge shotgun. Folding foregrip and short profile keep it compact on InfCon kit. Could also be a secondary (potentially).​ Primary Suggestion #5: The Ratel​ Steam Workshop::[TFA] Half-Life: Alyx - Shotgun steamcommunity.com Description: Another suggestion from Mickee. A semi-auto 12-gauge shotgun. Substantial rate-of-fire and capacity. Compact size. I personally suggest this being locked to the highest possible ranks.​ NOTE: These weapon suggestions by and large do NOT entail rank assignments FOR said weaponry. For deciding which ranks of the CMC get what for Infestation Control duties, I wish for everyone's input.​

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[FactualDonkey]

Update: I need @Mickee, @pants, @rabbit, @Wizard, and @Pro1914 to beat me to death with hammers.

Good on @Smarmy for fixing my fuckup lmao