is it possible for combine to win and install their portal, if so how would it affect the game?
From what I have noticed these days while playing, I have seen that the resistance is the main side and the one who has things in their favour, the is only portrayed as a strong empire but in game its actually not
i mean, if we go full strict-hl2 lore analysis mode the combine will most likely eventually be coming back in full swing (as long as there isnt another gman/freeman intervention)
at the end of one of the games when the citadel falls (ep1?) there's a kleiner speech, here's an excerpt
[...]Combine forces currently stationed on earth are now isolated units, stranded. However, this is most likely a temporary sate of affairs, as we once learned to our dismay, even the relatively tiny fracture at black mesa gave our enemies an opening which they were able to force even wider, as they poured through in greater and greater numbers. In addition to the completely xenotheric species, there are many modified post human allies still remaining on earth who will be doing the utmost to re establish lines of communication and supply with the larger forces. Even so, there is greater reason for hope now than at any time in the past decade.[...]
He also mentions that the left-over combine units (OTA and stalkers in this case since he refers to post-human allies) are actively working on re-establishing communication with the combine
Kleiner also mentions that they've made significant scientific strides under the combine occupation, most likely referring to the teleporter, and the rocket they launch at the end of episode 2, which if I remember correctly was intended to close the portals that let the combine attack earth
We don't know what happens after that cause that's the last game (chronologically) in the series
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That's from the strict game lore perspective, from a server lore perspective we have this piece of information
Now to most, the campaign for Earth seems to be at a stalemate. Many cities, particularly in Europe, face unrest and insurrection. However, these have yet to meet the same level of conflict that ensued in City 17 – their citadels still stand even with their portal systems severed; they continue to house Combine tools of war. LAMBDA’s inner circle and its next-steps remain veiled to their distant allies, and Freeman’s spontaneity coupled with his quasi-mythological status leaves him just that, a myth rather than a practical resistance asset. Ending this limbo will not be through one fell-swoop operation, but a lengthy conflict in the hands of fragmented cells.
The server is set in the world after Ep2, and all of the conflicts so far have been happening in Eastern Europe (The Sea of Azov (first map) and now we are somewhere further north, so somewhere around the Ukraine area, City 17 itself is Sofia, Bulgaria according to the CP app template)
So there is a significant amount of resistance against the combine (In Europe specifically, we don't know much outside of it aside from the fact that there's been a mass exodus from America due to Xenian infestations)
Like the text says it can pretty much go either way with both sides being evenly matched, and we don't know much until the lore continues to develop
So pretty much its a race against time with rebels having to prepare and stop the oncoming mass-invasion (using whatever technological advantages they may have to their advantage like the teleporter and the portal storms rockets) and the combine rushing to re-establish communications
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From a gameplay perspective the resistance has always been favoured out of fairness for the gamemode since theyre at a severe disadvantage and the main protagonists of the series itself, in order to make the server more fun and sustainable