Shock Roach

The Shock Roach is a living weapon featured in 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 HECU soldiers other than Shephard.
 * A Shock Roach that has been separated from its host will attack Pit Drones, despite both being Race X.
 * Secondary Fire makes the Shock Roach look around when held down. Strangely, if shots were fired, this will stop the ammo regeneration while used.
 * When going through other maps with Shock Troopers by console other than the map where the Shock Roach can be first obtained, they will not attach to the player even when he has no Shock Roach yet. In the map where the Shock Roach can first be obtained, it will act like other Shock Roaches when the player typed in impulse 101 making it impossible that the first Shock Roach is a weapon.

List of appearances

 * Half-Life: Opposing Force