Might be a dumb idea here, but..
Keep things to the Half-Life universe to preserve the playerbase we've already got instead of trying to split it's opinions on series such as the Walking Dead, take something we know everyone here already admires and build upon that.
A separate server dedicated to perhaps a City or District that's completely overrun by zombies, headcrabs and similar entities (think Ravenholm but on a much wider, more populated scale) with some extra lore supporting additions such as viral infections, mutations... Experiments gone wrong?
Perhaps the area was a staging point for the Combine to research, poke and prod these lifeforms and fiddle with their genetic code to make more deadlier variants, one that could possibly ignore Overwatch personnel or carry some kind of mutagen, traits and behaviours advantageous to their survival and 'goal' of being sent to swarm the underground like an army of expendable soldiers even less resource intensive than sweeping with Civil Protection.
Maybe they finally cracked the code like they did with all the other lifeforms the Combine has suppressed and utilized for transport, combat / surveillance (i.e. Striders / Gunships), and these Headcrabs are more than just a parasite to be squashed underfoot but a serious threat to contend with.
Just throwing things at the wall to see what sticks, I'd enjoy a Resident Evil style setting where tampering too far trying to blow out the Resistance has backfired, and now whether Combine or Insurgent you've got it real bad as a result.
Keeping it in the Half-Life 2 setting and using the already exisiting Lore that Neb has built up around the game and the server also allows a lot more interesting events and storytelling, it could have an impact on the main server and also saves a whole lot of effort in creating new code, factions, locations and lore.
Keep things to the Half-Life universe to preserve the playerbase we've already got instead of trying to split it's opinions on series such as the Walking Dead, take something we know everyone here already admires and build upon that.
A separate server dedicated to perhaps a City or District that's completely overrun by zombies, headcrabs and similar entities (think Ravenholm but on a much wider, more populated scale) with some extra lore supporting additions such as viral infections, mutations... Experiments gone wrong?
Perhaps the area was a staging point for the Combine to research, poke and prod these lifeforms and fiddle with their genetic code to make more deadlier variants, one that could possibly ignore Overwatch personnel or carry some kind of mutagen, traits and behaviours advantageous to their survival and 'goal' of being sent to swarm the underground like an army of expendable soldiers even less resource intensive than sweeping with Civil Protection.
Maybe they finally cracked the code like they did with all the other lifeforms the Combine has suppressed and utilized for transport, combat / surveillance (i.e. Striders / Gunships), and these Headcrabs are more than just a parasite to be squashed underfoot but a serious threat to contend with.
Just throwing things at the wall to see what sticks, I'd enjoy a Resident Evil style setting where tampering too far trying to blow out the Resistance has backfired, and now whether Combine or Insurgent you've got it real bad as a result.
Keeping it in the Half-Life 2 setting and using the already exisiting Lore that Neb has built up around the game and the server also allows a lot more interesting events and storytelling, it could have an impact on the main server and also saves a whole lot of effort in creating new code, factions, locations and lore.
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