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The Coast Raids was a campaign of several raids conducted by Combine Regulars and Airwatch forces of the Sector 17 Overwatch against Resistance bases along the coastal regions outside City 17, situated predominately on Highway 17.
Though Combine attacks along the coast were not unheard of, these raids were born out of a wider Combine strategic effort to kill or capture Gordon Freeman, who had agitated rebellious sentiments within City 17, and formed part of a wider prelude to an armed revolution against Combine rule.
Background[]
While the Combine had a powerful garrison to enforce order within occupied City 17, control of the city's outer limits, particularly the countryside, largely eluded them. Control of the countryside was strategically unattractive to the Combine due to its heavy infestation with invasive species of Xen wildlife, particularly Headcrabs and Antlions, as a result, Combine patrols along the coast were comparatively less frequent, resulting in the increase of resistance activity in the region. Despite the danger Xen fauna populating the coast region pose to humans, a portion of refugees escaping City 17 or a previous resistance outpost are smuggled through the region, with a few refugees choosing to become residents of the region.
The coastal region beyond the city limits was chiefly comprised of disused ports, fishing communities, and small hamlets. The infrastructure along the coast has deteriorated as a result of combat and neglect. The only exception to this was the railway network, which Combine Razor Trains made use of to supply Nova Prospekt.
The Resistance held five major bases along the coast: Shorepoint Base just outside the Ravenholm mines, New Little Odessa, Bridge Point, Lighthouse Point, and the Vortigaunt Camp, located near Nova Prospekt's beach perimeter. Refugees traversing this route faced many perils; for example, they were required to use motorized transportation during the Antlion spawning season.
Prelude[]
Due to Gordon Freeman's arrival in City 17, Combine forces of the Sector 17 Overwatch were put on full combat alert with orders to kill or capture Freeman, who had been accorded a quasi-Messianic status by the citizenry, agitating rebellious sentiment. The Combine attempted to prevent his escape into the countryside by neutralizing the so-called Underground Railroad, however, these efforts failed, and Freeman escaped to the Resistance base of Black Mesa East. Sometime after his arrival, Combine forces launched a surprise raid on the compound, capturing rebel leader Eli Vance and his research on local translocation technology, including a prototype device, and was held in custody at Nova Prospekt.
While the Combine raid had been a strategic success, Alyx Vance and Gordon Freeman escaped the raid, with Alyx smuggling herself onto a Combine Razor train, and Gordon entering a tunnel that connects to a pre-war mining town called Ravenholm, which was populated by headcrabs and zombies, to reach the coast and reach Nova Prospekt. While in Ravenholm, which was abandoned by the resistance due to a headcrab shelling, the Resistance and the Combine lost contact with him.
The Campaign[]
Shorepoint Base to New Little Odessa
With the aid of the sole survivor of a prior shelling, Freeman successfully navigated through Ravenholm. Using the abandoned mines beneath the town, Freeman emerged along the disused railway that ran parallel to Shorepoint Base. Combine snipers had established nests along the railway to cover an assault against the base, which was successfully repulsed by the arrival of Freeman in the early hours of the following morning. Having been cut-off from all contact while in Ravenholm, Freeman was briefed on Eli's capture and internment at Nova Prospekt, and coordinated with Alyx Vance to rendezvous at the old prison to rescue Eli. The Resistance leader of Shorepoint, Leon, gives Freeman the Scout Car, a dune buggy that has a Tau Cannon attached to it, to evade the Antlions that spawn along Highway 17. Freeman successfully silenced two small Combine posts along the beach, one of which was used as a reconnaissance lookout to analyze the resistance outpost, New Little Odessa[8].
New Little Odessa to Bridge Point
Upon his arrival at New Little Odessa, the small Resistance garrison had been warned of an aerial attack by the Combine. The base's commander, a Colonel named Odessa Cubbage, provided Freeman with a laser-guided Rocket Propelled Grenade. Moments later, a Gunship attacks the base. The gunship inflicted minor damage and minimal casualties before it was shot down. Cubbage informs Freeman that a rebel outpost located near a Bridge had gone silent.
Freeman leaves New Little Odessa and arrives at Dock 137, a former warehouse district which was currently occupied by Overwatch soldiers, under attack by Antlions due to the dock's thumper having been deactivated. After neutralizing the Combine personal stationed at the dock, Freeman shoots down a second gunship, resulting in the gunship crashing along the highway. Further up, a platoon of 12 Combine troops occupying a house have detonated explosives along the cliff face, blocking Freeman's path, however, the troops stationed at the house were neutralized, allowing Freeman to navigate around the debris. A Combine checkpoint at the Petroleum Station was also destroyed, including the loss of an APC powering a forcefield that blocked the road.
Bridge Point to Lighthouse Point
Prior to Freeman's arrival at Bridge Point, Combine forces had neutralized the base, with both of its rebel occupiers killed by venomous parasites. This post had been one of the most strategically important along the coast; nestled directly beside the railway bridge that supplied Nova Prospekt, it provided the Resistance the opportunity to severely disrupt Combine supply lines. With the road blocked by a forcefield, a Combine platoon occupying the outpost forced an engagement with Freeman. Successfully neutralizing the Combine unit, Freeman made his way along the ramshackle maintenance walkways beneath the bridge to reach the far side, where he disabled the forcefield, and shot down a third gunship.
Moving on, Freeman passed through a subterranean tunnel blocked with the wreckage of a destroyed rebel convoy, with all eighteen occupants either killed or mutated. Just beyond the tunnel, Freeman encountered a large house which had been captured by a pair of Combine troops, who were observed to be burning the corpses of the previous rebel occupiers[9]. Two additional Combine checkpoints were cleared[10] by Freeman before reaching Lighthouse Point, the end of the coast road.
Lighthouse Point to the Vortigaunt Camp
Shortly after his arrival at Lighthouse Point and with no more road to use to evade their patrols, the Combine launched a fierce assault to capture the settlement, consisting of five dropships supported by a gunship. Though the gunship was shot down and the first four squads were repulsed, a fifth squad succeeded in capturing the base as well as Freeman's Scout Car. Freeman successfully escaped the attack and navigated the Antlion-infested beaches to reach the Vortigaunt Camp, the last major rebel outpost before Nova Prospekt.
Aftermath[]
The results of the raids were mixed. Combine forces had periodically attacked rebel outposts along the coast before Freeman's arrival, and appeared to be gaining the upper hand, having captured Bridge Point and numerous smaller settlements, thereby cutting the rebel settlements off from one another, and preventing a smooth escape for refugees leaving City 17. Freeman's capture became an emergent factor of the Combine's raids, as Freeman's whereabouts were unclear prior to his successful escape from Ravenholm.
The Resistance lost two major outposts: Bridge Point and Lighthouse Point, although the former was cleared of Combine control. The Combine assaults on Shorepoint Base and New Little Odessa were repulsed. Freeman successfully traversed the coast evading capture and also cleared a significant stretch of Highway 17 of Combine troops, thereby providing the Resistance with the opportunity to re-occupy them; by the end of the raids, only Lighthouse Point remained firmly under Combine control. Coupled with the failure to neutralize Freeman, the Resistance had been handed the strategic initiative, enabling him to conduct a raid against Nova Prospekt, which became a decisive factor in inspiring a general revolt against Combine rule.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1
Episode One: The story so far on Half-Life 2's official website (Archived)
- ↑ Counting all humans and vortigaunts along the coast from Shorepoint Base to the Vortigaunt Camp, including all those which are corpses or zombies
- ↑ Assuming all dropships seen are unique entities
- ↑ Counting all dead in combat, corpses encountered, and zombies. Also includes the 1 survivor of Lighthouse Point, presumed dead, hence 36-37
- ↑ Wounded at Shorepoint Base
- ↑ Assuming the player kills all Combine soldiers they encounter
- ↑ Assuming the player destroys the APC powering the shield by pushing it over the cliff at the Petroleum Station, also 1 APC was destroyed at the Dock
- ↑ One includes the APC under attack by Antlions by the fishing boat dockhouse, the other is the post with the binoculars
- ↑ This is the house mined with Rollermines
- ↑ One being the base with the road traps designed to flip the Scout Car, the second is the battery puzzle where a Dropship lands a squad of troops
