We're not playing this like the HL2 videogame, we're playing as characters in the Half-Life 2 universe bar the features that were present in the game so that the player could win it. (e.g. Enemies being weak, you being overpowered.) I'd use the word "realistically", but I understand the flags that would arise if I were to use that word.

If you didn't want to play as an underpowered, beaten down and weak resistance that is constantly under the threat of being squashed by the Union's boot, then you shouldn't have made a resistance character. Similar to if you didn't want to play as a cog in a huge war machine that has strict rules and requires you to have your humanity stripped away, you shouldn't have made a Combine character.

Simple as.

Speech Diary 4
Good morning this is Dr. Holmes again.
Guess i'll read this letter out whilst you're munching your rations.

"Dear Dr. Holmes,
I was a little bit curious about our scientific research program and if-any space exploration.
I was curious if there even is a Science program or Space program. I'm very interested in both subjects.
I'm not sure what else to write, so, goodbye.
Signed, and unconcerned citizen."

...

I'm just kidding, he's concerned, apparantly.
To answer your question, yes there are scientific research programs going on.
If you are interested in taking part in these then apply for the Civil Protection and aim towards either NOVA, the biochemics division, or GRID, the technology and mechanics division.
As for space programs, i'm not aware myself of any, but your best bet is joining GRID.
I hope this assisted you in your search for science.

Not Oz's map, it's Kaz's map that's been edited by Oz.

Combine Nation is a comedy series by Lit Fuse that failed due to hard drive failure.

And we're basing our entire structure on it.

... Seriously?

Prompted by a short debate I had with a unit. An issue that most commonly pops up about Union vocoders is: "You can't hear an accent through a vocoder." However, as I am about to demonstrate, this is not the case, or cannot be assumed.

The Purpose
The aim of vocoders is to mask someone's voice so that they will not be individually identifiable if they removed the vocoder. Hence, due to the job Civil Protection uphold, they require a vocoder for the following reasons.

• To appear more intimidating. - A masked individual with a deep-sounding voice sounds very threatening and therefore helps Civil Protection maintain order through fear.
• To further help mask their identity. - It is possible for Civil Protection units to take off their uniform and go off duty. Due to the violent nature of their work, if a third party can identify them whilst they are off-duty, this could endanger the unit.

What It Does
Basically it's a device fitted into the frontal part of the mask that applies certain filters on to the user's voice as they speak into it. More specifically it:

• Reduces pitch
• Uses a formant filter
• Adds various filters that further garbles the voice

Accents are not defined by the warping of these things. It is the fashion in which a dialect pronounces phonemes/vowel sounds etc. For instance, in the English accent(s) the "schwa" sound is most pedominant (For more information on schwa see this video.)

As an example, take a listen to the audio in this video, even with vocoders the voices have their own distinct accent, they may be harder to make out, but they are still heard, the more predominant the accent is, the easier it is to identify.

Arguments Against
A common argument made against this is that all Civil Protection and Overwatch sound American in Half-Life 2. This is because Valve only had American voice actors for the English version of the game. Just as like the Russian version of the game only has Russian voice actors of which you can hear their accents clearly.

An argument I managed to come up with is that the user's voice could be being fed back through a text-to-speech translator, with the translator detecting what words are being said and re-saying them out of the mask. In this case, everyone's voice would have the same accent. However the voice would be completely monotone all the time. Through listening to Overwatch and Civil Protection throughout the game, they express panic and visciousness in their tone e.g. "That's a grenade!" and "Take him down!" If the mentioned method was being used, their voices would show no emotion whatsoever.

The final argument I hear is that the Combine's technology is vast, surely they can mask an accent. You could use that argument for anything to justify anything. I could say the Combine's technology is vast, surely they have an ion cannon in space, we don't know there isn't an ion cannon, and they just haven't used it yet, however we assume they don't unless evidence is put forward that suggest they do, because that's how burden of proof works.

Conclusion
Yes, accents can be heard through vocoders. Does this present a threat to the anonymity of units? Not really, accents are shared by thousands of people and you wouldn't be able to distinguish between two of the same accent, or be able to distinguish a unit speaking without a mask via the sound of their voice through a vocoder due to the effects the vocoder puts on.

You were offered the chance to fight back. Alex said we would head back to the canals and you could go wherever, and then we would sweep for you, giving you a fighting chance. However you insisted we just shoot you there.

Right now my opinion is neutral on this matter.

Quote from: Storm_Shield on March 29, 2012, 07:42:24 PM

I never saw this before in person, as I do not live in a city so I'm guessing that's why. I also even thought about moving to a different country, possibly Canada, in my opinion I think the US is going to get nuked sometime soon because we pissed off some many different countries and the US isn't like before. It kind of feels like were being ran by a dictator, if citizens are beaten like this for no reasons it's like they rule us.

Its not for "No reason" half of those videos the people attacked the cops and the cops are defending them selves but every fucking time a cop does some thing in self defense its called brutality don't even think for a moment this is any were close to Libya or Russian's crack downs The worlds media will always be bias to a single party to get more views.

And another thing no one on this earth now is dumb enough to use a nuclear device ANYWHERE because people are worried that people will use it as a reason to hit people they don't like then you get world war three.

The final video has some compelling evidence that proves your point otherwise.

Speech Diary 1:
Good morning, this is Dr. Holmes.
Despite this letter being addressed to another administrator, I thought i'd give myself something to do and reply to it myself.
It reads...

"Dear good looking administrator person," Hmm, perhaps it was addressed to me.
"The real Resistance is nice to regular citizens. The Resistance has not mugged me. The actual criminals are the ones who should not have guns. The ones that are actual gangs. The ones that are against both Resistance and CCA. Signed, an idiot."

Nice how you think they may be, they are resisting against something they do not fully understand.
Humanity was in a mess beforehand, governments were fighting invisible wars whilst other nations fought over land and superstitious beliefs.
The earth was overpopulating, and life would have been an unfixable mess by 2050, perhaps sooner.
Then the Union arrived, established global order and put a regime in place to fix humanity.
This regime is a harsh one, yet it is necessary. The weak and criminally minded will be weeded out of society, whilst at the same time our reproductive cycle will be suppressed.
With this combination, earth's population will be brought down to manageable levels, and we will be left with strong, civil people who want nothing but the best for their species.
Then the suppression field will be taken down, you will be able to start families again and we will be able to harness the power of transhumanism and start new societies among the stars.
Also, no one but enforcement officers and military should be having firearms.
As they are the ones properly trained, and in the correct mind-set to use them.
We don't want any psychopaths walking through the streets, gunning down innocent civilians.
As always, we will be taking in letters.
You have no excuse to be ignorant.

---

Speech Diary 2:
Hello citizens, I am Dr. Holmes.
I am here to address a question that seems to be on the lips of most, if not all of you.
Why should I trust the Union?
I understand that on the surface that the current living conditions are unfair, perhaps even some of you may exacerbate and say they are barbaric.
Those of you who have heard my broadcasts before may or may not know the following, depending on if you were listening in the first place.
I would like you all to cast your minds back to a time before the war.
Most of you might be yearning for those times back.
You had nice clothes, you perhaps had a family, maybe a car and your own house, a job.
These all kept you happy, in the short term. However, there was a much grimmer picture for the future.
The human race was swiftly reaching a critical mass on this tiny planet.
Closing in on 7 billion human beings. This is far too many.
On top of this, governments were having invisible wars behind the eyes of the public sphere.
We were fighting over land, resources, religion, it would only take one lunatic to press the button and cause a nuclear holocaust.
And while you all sat comfortable in your designer jeans, Earth was on the brink of destruction.
That was... Until the Union arrived. They created a world government. Meaning no warring between nations.
They destroyed religion, meaning no more fighting over superstitious beliefs.
They are requisitioning our resources, and putting them into something better and more sustainable.
Next question may be, why so much death?
The Union are weeding out the weak and criminally minded to deal with the overpopulation issue I mentioned beforehand. Harsh? Yes.
Necessary? Most definitely. This coupled with the suppression field will guarantee that our planet may reach manageable population levels again. When this happens, we may be able to reproduce again.
And new technologies and opportunities will be opened to us beyond the stars.
This is a real chance to better ourselves, our species, to prosper in the long run.
If you still have concerns, send us in your letters, or request a meeting if you want to talk with us personally.
You shall not be arrested for concerns expressed.
Resisting against this cause would be resisting our very own survival.
You have no excuse to be ignorant.