Strider

"Oh my God... Striders really tore the hell out of this place..."

- Alyx Vance

The Strider is a large tripodal Combine Synth first seen in Half-Life 2.

Overview

 * Consisting of a brown colored beetle-like carapace mounted on three jointed legs, Striders serve as the Combine's main heavy ground assault unit.


 * The three long legs of the Strider are tipped with sharp spikes for impaling targets and clearing debris.


 * While walking about or attacking, Striders produce a host of different, electronic sounding vocalizations, such as growls, groans, whoops, and howls; when killed, they give a mournful cry.


 * In addition, Striders will leak a yellowy substance when damaged and apparently contain a biological cerebral unit that looks very much like a human brain (although considerably larger), providing evidence to the Synth being a fusion of living flesh and machine (the Strider is the only known Synth to possess any "organ" at all).

Application


Individual Striders are often used to patrol off-limits City 17 streets and provide heavy support for groups of soldiers. However, in full-scale military combat, Striders are used instead as heavy artillery to destroy all structures in an area as a means of removing all entrenched hostile forces. Striders fit both roles well due to their various weapons and remarkable maneuverability on even the harshest terrain (considering they are tripods, and extremely large). Despite their height, Striders can crawl through tunnels to chase enemy combatants and "dig" through underground obstacles using their warp cannon.

In wilderness areas, Striders are often accompanied by Hunters which act as escorts to destroy smaller targets. During the Combine offensive against White Forest, Striders are used to destroy the outer buildings surrounding the Resistance base, including the Magnusson Device teleporters.

Striders may also be transported to and from combat zones by Combine Dropships. When being transported they will fold their legs into a compact shape that allows them to be carried.

Weaponry
Besides impaling targets with their long legs, Striders are also armed with two ranged weapons. The first is an anti-personnel pulse turret mounted between a pair of compound eyes on the front of the Strider's carapace. The second (and by far more powerful) weapon is a warp cannon mounted on the Strider's belly. This cannon not only causes scenic destruction but also inflicts massive splash damage that will vaporize anything in proximity to the area of impact. Prior to the warp cannon's discharge, a thin blue laser indicates where the Strider is aiming and the air surrounding the cannon's barrel will be distorted by a blue aura.

Half-Life 2
In Half-Life 2, the Strider is first glimpsed walking along a barred street some time after leaving the Trainstation Plaza. It is accompanied by a City Scanner.

The Strider is seen again much later in the game, during the chapter "Follow Freeman!", during the Overwatch Nexus battle. There Gordon must defeat several Striders, helped by other Rebels, firing with their RPGs from the ground and the roofs. Soon after, a Strider confronts Gordon who tries to hide in a building. This is where the Strider is seen working with Shield Scanners that always reveals Freeman's presence to the tripod wherever he tries to hide.

Right after that building, Gordon finds himself into another battle and must defeat Combine soldiers and Striders with other Rebels. After defeating all Striders, Gordon reunites with Barney and Dog and enters the Citadel.

Within the Citadel, Freeman sees walking Striders ready to be released on the field, and fights one some time later.

Half-Life 2: Episode One
The first Episode One Strider is seen by Gordon and Alyx when they leave - at last - the City 17 Underground and see that Kleiner has taken over the Breencast network. There a Strider is seen walking from afar walking among rubble and does not notice the two characters.

Later at the Technical Trainstation a Strider and several Overwatch Soldiers attempt to prevent Gordon and Alyx to leave the city, the Strider acting as the game's final boss. After successfully defeating it with his RPG, Gordon and Alyx leave at last City 17.

Half-Life 2: Episode Two


In Episode Two, Striders are first seen among a Combine convoy walking to White Forest.

Some time after, at a short distance from White Forest, Gordon and Alyx's way are barred by an apparently dead Strider. It suddenly wakes up, but Dog comes from nowhere and jumps at it. A spectacular battle ensues, ending when Dog rips open the Strider's head and takes out the creature's "brain".

Striders are last seen during the White Forest battle, where they threat the rocket's launch, aided by Hunters. To defeat them, Freeman must use the Magnusson Device, or Strider Buster, introduced by Arne Magnusson. It is to be thrown at the Strider's main body with the Gravity Gun, then detonated by the bullet of any firearm. During the battle, the Striders destroy many of the surrounding buildings. After Freeman has taken them all with the Strider Buster and the help of the other Rebels, the rocket can be successfully launched.

Tactics

 * Striders tend to follow specific patrol routes when tasked with defending a certain area, making them fairly easy to avoid. However Shield Scanners sometimes accompany them, functioning as spotters for the Strider, searching inside buildings and other places of concealment for targets the tripod would otherwise be unable to see. However this symbiont behavior between the two Synths is only seen after the Overwatch Nexus battle.


 * The RPG is by far the most efficient weapon for killing Striders, as its rockets do the most damage, though it takes up to 5 rockets just to kill one in Normal mode. Grenades, SMG grenades, and Energy Orbs do about half the damage of a rocket. Unlike Gunships, Striders tend to ignore all projectiles launched at them, focusing on attacking the player instead.


 * Using the Magnusson Device against a Strider is not advised until all nearby Hunters are defeated, as they will fire at the device as soon as they see it.

Behind the scenes



 * Valve's Bill Fletcher used a giraffe/gorilla combo as animation reference for the Strider. He wanted the creature to capture the gracefulness of a giraffe and stomp and lead with its elbows like a gorilla when it walks, to convey a simian power. Of note is that Fletcher refers to the Strider as "he", not "it".


 * At some point in Half-Life 2’s development, the Strider was white, like the Combine Super Soldier, the Combine Assassin or the Overwatch Elite.


 * Early concepts depict the Strider with different heads, such as one only consisting of a cannon.


 * It was originally to be met in the Coast levels, at least near the Air Exchange.


 * According to one of the concept art pictures featured in ''Raising the Bar', the Strider's current design was already defined as early as in 2001 (as seen in the date in Ted Backman's signature).


 * The Strider is an indirect successor to the Combine Super Soldier.


 * The cut Combine Guard Gun is a similar weapon to the Strider's cannon; the cut Vortex Hopwire also produces similar effects. The cut Black Hole Gun, originally designed for Quiver, is also similar.

Trivia

 * The only way to spawn a Strider via the console is to activate "noclip", go up to at least the creature's height, and type into the console "give npc_strider". It will not use its warp cannon and will only walk if the target moves out of its line of sight and if the map has the necessary node structure.


 * Striders closely resemble the "tripods" described in H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, especially the warping cannon, which is much similar to the Heat-Ray from the aforementioned novel. Earlier Strider concept art further exemplifies the similarities.


 * The accuracy and rate of fire of the Strider's pulse turret was increased in Episode One.


 * The Strider has a strange method of firing with its pulse cannon, a variation of walking (that is, firing at a point near a target and slowly aiming towards it). It seems that when it focuses on a particular enemy, it fires a long string of shots: the first ones do not hit, but unless the enemy goes behind cover, the last few will always hit.


 * An Orange Box Achievement, "Giant Killer", requires surviving the Strider battle at the end of the Half-Life 2 chapter "Follow Freeman!". The Episode Two Achievements are "Neighborhood Watch" and "Defensive of the Armament". They involve saving all the buildings outside White Forest and preventing the Striders from reaching the base, respectively.

List of appearances

 * Half-Life 2
 * Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar
 * Half-Life 2: Episode One
 * Half-Life 2: Episode Two