The Black Mesa Research Facility, like many real-life laboratories and military complexes, contains technology and equipment critical to U.S. military and defense research that any hostile state or malicious group would love to have in their possession, not to mention they are there to ensure the general safety of the personnel at the facility. Many places in real life, be they jewelry stores, shopping malls, used-car lots or build sites, often have armed guards on duty.
TL;DR, Government-funded lab, and the government wants their investments (and the country) protected.
Yup. Buddy works for... something like this but grounded in reality. They have a Hughes MD500 "Little Bird" helicopter, with full heliport.
They are issued body armor, automatic weapons, and have some stuff like M249's in their armory. All I'll say is it's a Department of Energy facility, lol.
He wishes, but there's never anything going on - it's a security position. I did however just text him he works for Black Mesa Lite, so hopefully nothing goes wrong now.
Not necessarily, they are apart of Black Mesa’s security team, and Black Mesa is a private company that simply receives government funding. The government dosen’t directly pay their salaries.
In the beta, Black Mesa was an actual government facility, and the guards were Military Police. This was changed for release.
IIRC they're based off an extremely outdated model of hand grenade that hasn't been produced since like WW2 so apparently all the security guards have been stealing from some random giant cache of vintage hand grenades in the abandoned ICBM facilities and just trading them around
Nah, not really. Like others have pointed out, Black Mesa is a government-funded research center. They don't want anything (or anyone) slipping out of the facility which would compromise either national security or the plans of Black Mesa.
If anything, I'd honestly wager there isn't/wasn't *enough* guards. If I were the person in-charge of Black Mesa's operations/funding, I'd want that entire facility under lock-and-key, times a thousand. They work on some pretty serious technology.
I personally think the number of guards is fine, it's just that they seemed to be rather undereqquiped to deal with/hold off any serious hostile takeover (I don't mean the Xenian invasion)
To be fair, you do find a decent amount of armories and secruity lockers containing things like mp5s, shotguns, grenades, even some with rocket launchers and more heavy duty weapons. Its just with how horrible and chaotic the resonance cascade, most guards probably died before getting to those from the Xen aliens and HECU. Hell theres those two armories like the one during Surface Tension I think where the guard opens it up and the one in the Lambda sector that are absolutely filled with weapons and gear.
Yeah, it’s probably just that the Resonance Cascade threw Black Mesa into chaos so quickly and messed up the place so badly that the guards couldn’t organize and reach the heavier firepower.
It makes sense that they would be. Why would a secret US government research lab prepare for hostile takeover from the US military itself? An invasion force of that size from an outside nation would be detected long before it made it to black mesa, in which case the US military would be dispatched; if another nation wanted to steal secrets they'd try to do so stealthily, infiltrating the complex or planting spies. More guards isn't going to really stop that. They got hit with the once scenario that it doesn't really make sense to plan for.
To be fair they’re in the middle of ~~Nevada~~ New Mexico, realistically there aren’t any serious hostile takeovers that could happen. The security is for terrorist attacks, industrial espionage, or covert ops done by hostile nations.
All of which could be repelled by the armament they have.
I’m sure there was some sort of rapid response team to deal with any minor outbreaks that we just didn’t see. Most of the guards I’m sure were more “observe and report” with other duties like letting other personnel through checkpoints, doing basic maintenance, and making sure that protocols are being followed. I doubt that the guards that we see are just there to kill xen creatures. They are just armed just in case.
No BM is a private research facility and area 51 is government. Private is good because they are immune to FOIA requests and never have to disclose or justify shit.
The guards aren’t really there for the scientists. While they’re there to handle security measures internal and external, their being armed is because they’re overseeing a highly advanced US government funded facility. Black Mesa likely houses multiple top secret projects and technologies that various actors would love to obtain. Particularly, terrorists.
_Likely_ houses multiple top secret projects? My guy, they’re doing some shady stuff at BMRF.
I’d say that almost everything you get to see during a playthrough ranges from top secret to -at the very least- high security-clearance stuff. Ballistic missiles and other army-grade weapons technology, teleportation technology, nuclear research, researching and experimenting on literal aliens, the list goes on and on haha
Yeah, quite honestly the main reason I think the guards should be better equipped is when you're staffing such a facility and an enormous number of the staff need TS-SCI clearances, you may as well give them some serious hardware to guard the facility.
The entire scientific staff definitely requires some level of security clearance, and those doing direct teleportation research like the Lambda Labs staff probably need TS clearance and some level of codeword clearance for whatever codeword the teleporters are under.
In case anybody gets any ideas about smuggling the anomalous materials to their dorms. They’re there on sight to fill you with lead, if you steal anything else like some secretive documents regarding xen teleportation expect to be shot down by firing squad. There’s also turrets in the facility by any armory to ensure that no scientists attempt to steal any firearms. They just have to be activated first
In that case I take it as the elevator wasn't recognizing the scientists' ID cards, but security guards could use an override of sorts, and not that security guards are in charge of maintenance per se.
Every National Lab has armed security. I used to go to one regularly and they had guards with rifles at the gates. This was in 2004.
The Labs have a lot of dangerous, toxic, and expensive stuff.
They also do a lot of classified consulting/R&D/project work for DOD and other federal customers.
I believe that Black Mesa knew about the hostile aliens from Xen before the resonance cascade, so the guards and the large amount of weaponry were probably there as a contingency.
They probably thought only one or two aliens might be released into the facility. As the resonance cascade was something they were sure wouldn't happen.
Of course they did. Didn’t you play the Questionable Ethics chapter. They were doing experiments on aliens long before the day Gordon shows up late to work that day.
Black Mesa is a hub of every sensitive technology the modern world uses:
It has a rocket launch pad which means rocket fuel.
It has nuclear material.
It has a hydro-electric dam that probably produces electricity for the surrounding communities.
It has an airport.
It has military training grounds.
It has missile production facilities.
It has a weapons proving ground.
Those are all real world things that require their own small cities of support workers to run and stay running. All of them require armed guards in some form or another through legislation because they are considered critical infrastructure or house highly dangerous materials.
Then you add in:
A top secret teleportation facility
A biome facility for storing and studying literal aliens, most of which are extremely dangerous.
A lab where literally every ethical boundary of modern science it broken and where said aliens are kept for dissection.
It's a wonder the guards only have pistols and that there isn't a permanent strike force stationed on site to not only defend against external security threats, but also contain internal security breaches. HECU was likely meant to be that force within the context of the universe and in the real world it would be stationed on site and the main security force for the base.
All that said, I've been to facilities similar to Black Mesa in the sense that they are huge city-like places with top secret missions or Ultra high security requirements because they build and house WMD's and they all have a militarized security force that is equipped and trained to go toe to toe with a literal enemy military if necessary. If anything, Black Mesa is way under what it SHOULD have for security given what it houses.
It's a top secret facility with strict access control. There's a checkpoint between every couple of areas to control who gets to go where and see what. You wouldn't want your anomalous materials handlers to see alien fauna labs, and you wouldn't want your autopsy surgeons to see teleportation research.
I think people would freak out if the shit happening their got out. Actually for that matter they did and because of that some aliens from another dimension showed up and wiped out all of earths military’s in 7 hours
It's almost like the executive decision makers had suspicions something might go away with all their experimenting and wanted some insurance against a resonance hiccup.
Only those who train in the use of the H.E.V. go through the Hazard Course, which involves the shooting range. And it makes sense, since that suit is designed to go into hostile environments (ie, Xen).
Well, it’s a top-secret government-funded facility that happens to be researching with a completely different universe that if went wrong in any way can easily end the world, so I think that’s a good reason why.
It's a highly classified government funded facility.
Go take a jaunt around Lockheed Martin in Dallas Tx and see how far you get without a keycard before you get stopped or shot.
I'm European and always think this is an American thing. Reading the comments I guess I'm not that far from reality. (No offense, I understand high military society and guns everywhere being a thing)
Gee, i wonder why a secret area-51 like facility that develops weapons for the US army and conduncts experiments with confidential teleportation technology that could reshape the course of human history, would need security
Black Mesa is government funded and they work on a lot of highly confidential machinery and research that can’t even get out to the general public let alone terrorists. That’s why they have locked doors with retinal scanners and armed guards everywhere as well as different levels of clearance. In some chapters of HL1 and its expansions you can see that Black Mesa has been researching Xen and its inhabitants well before the resonance cascade even happened, and clearly only authorized personnel were aware of this.
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Probably the same reason the HEV suit, what should just be a standard radiation suit, comes with an AI that keeps track of what weapons and ammo you have.
No of course not,the damn place should have had a hell of a lot more guards and a lot more heavily armed. Literally everything in that place is extremely dangerous.
Secure government facility, end of or slightly pkst cold War, trade secrets, advanced tech, litteral xenobiological research, freaking ICBMs (space rockets but can be used the same if modified), this is not shit you want to have messed with, my dad is retired EPA and post 9/11 they had tons of security, even before they had a wmd lab for dealing with potential soviet/russian/Chinese/terror cells bio weapons or dirty bombs/full on nukes that is both an even more secure area but they legit before 9/11 had armed guards there 24/7
The Black Mesa Research Facility, like many real-life laboratories and military complexes, contains technology and equipment critical to U.S. military and defense research that any hostile state or malicious group would love to have in their possession, not to mention they are there to ensure the general safety of the personnel at the facility. Many places in real life, be they jewelry stores, shopping malls, used-car lots or build sites, often have armed guards on duty. TL;DR, Government-funded lab, and the government wants their investments (and the country) protected.
Yup. Buddy works for... something like this but grounded in reality. They have a Hughes MD500 "Little Bird" helicopter, with full heliport. They are issued body armor, automatic weapons, and have some stuff like M249's in their armory. All I'll say is it's a Department of Energy facility, lol.
Killer Egg and M249s, bro’s playing GTA IV TBoGT in real life fr
He wishes, but there's never anything going on - it's a security position. I did however just text him he works for Black Mesa Lite, so hopefully nothing goes wrong now.
Yeah the quieter the better, seems like a serious job. At least now you have a new inside joke for yourself and your friend.
Oh, he's already a half life fan. Nabbed a HECU patch off him a while back. He's a good dude, maybe he'll be our Gordon Freeman.
Or our Barney Calhoun, security role considered.
If it is Black Mesa Lite then it's also just an Resonance Cascade Lite.
RESONANCE CASCADE LITE! 30% LESS ALIENS!
EXTRA ALIENS SOLD THROUGH PARADOX INTERACTIVE SIZED DLCS!
Nuclear plant. Got it.
It's actually not, but even if someone guessed exactly what/where it was, I'm not doxxing myself or my friend by confirming it.
Yeah fair enough. Lots of guns at my workplace, too. It's not a secret place or anything but I'm feeling coy.
This and because it’s a video game
Close the topic
Big, if true
Why does the SCP laboratory have armed guards?
To shoot anyone orange
why not
because [REDACTED]
What this guy said. Close the thread.
Man really felt the need to add a tl;dr for five lines of text.
That would make the security guards government employees right?
Not necessarily, they are apart of Black Mesa’s security team, and Black Mesa is a private company that simply receives government funding. The government dosen’t directly pay their salaries. In the beta, Black Mesa was an actual government facility, and the guards were Military Police. This was changed for release.
I'm more curious about the copius amounts of hand grenades just lying around. You can get some well before the military ever shows up.
They have like a box of grenades in the meat freezer of all places.
Every nuclear power plant has a cache of grenades that's mandatory to be there
I knew a nuclear power plant that had an automatic weapon in an OP on the main access road.
sometimes they even leave ropes to get to them
Which you can use for big pits
You’re allowed to have the bull squids too you can have 5 percent
The shrapnel is the seasoning.
IIRC they're based off an extremely outdated model of hand grenade that hasn't been produced since like WW2 so apparently all the security guards have been stealing from some random giant cache of vintage hand grenades in the abandoned ICBM facilities and just trading them around
This is a hilarious "prison currency" theory to kick around between the guards.
I mean, knowing what I know of people who worked security in secure locations, that's entirely a believable thing to happen.
It’s the MK2 grenade aka “pineapple grenade” and was replaced in 1969.
Police and serious security forces *do* sometimes field grenades. Though having grenades and *not* automatic weapons is a little strange.
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Sure, but I meant I would think they would have their own submachine guns or assault rifles before grenades.
Gordon does use an mp5 on the training curse so...
Ah, that's true actually.
Nah, not really. Like others have pointed out, Black Mesa is a government-funded research center. They don't want anything (or anyone) slipping out of the facility which would compromise either national security or the plans of Black Mesa. If anything, I'd honestly wager there isn't/wasn't *enough* guards. If I were the person in-charge of Black Mesa's operations/funding, I'd want that entire facility under lock-and-key, times a thousand. They work on some pretty serious technology.
I personally think the number of guards is fine, it's just that they seemed to be rather undereqquiped to deal with/hold off any serious hostile takeover (I don't mean the Xenian invasion)
To be fair, you do find a decent amount of armories and secruity lockers containing things like mp5s, shotguns, grenades, even some with rocket launchers and more heavy duty weapons. Its just with how horrible and chaotic the resonance cascade, most guards probably died before getting to those from the Xen aliens and HECU. Hell theres those two armories like the one during Surface Tension I think where the guard opens it up and the one in the Lambda sector that are absolutely filled with weapons and gear.
Yeah, it’s probably just that the Resonance Cascade threw Black Mesa into chaos so quickly and messed up the place so badly that the guards couldn’t organize and reach the heavier firepower.
Yeah, when you have an enemy that can literally teleport right behind you, it's pretty hard to organize any sort of effective defense.
It makes sense that they would be. Why would a secret US government research lab prepare for hostile takeover from the US military itself? An invasion force of that size from an outside nation would be detected long before it made it to black mesa, in which case the US military would be dispatched; if another nation wanted to steal secrets they'd try to do so stealthily, infiltrating the complex or planting spies. More guards isn't going to really stop that. They got hit with the once scenario that it doesn't really make sense to plan for.
To be fair they’re in the middle of ~~Nevada~~ New Mexico, realistically there aren’t any serious hostile takeovers that could happen. The security is for terrorist attacks, industrial espionage, or covert ops done by hostile nations. All of which could be repelled by the armament they have.
Black Mesa is in New Mexico.
Whichever honestly.
they're all the same
I’m sure there was some sort of rapid response team to deal with any minor outbreaks that we just didn’t see. Most of the guards I’m sure were more “observe and report” with other duties like letting other personnel through checkpoints, doing basic maintenance, and making sure that protocols are being followed. I doubt that the guards that we see are just there to kill xen creatures. They are just armed just in case.
To be fair, nobody was expecting a facility wide portal storm to be combined with a government invasion, and later on, a nuke.
When I was younger I always thought BM was supposed to be Area 51 or a similar type of thing, which explains the guards and firearms around.
Isn’t BM literally just Area 52?
No BM is a private research facility and area 51 is government. Private is good because they are immune to FOIA requests and never have to disclose or justify shit.
It is an "Area 51 type of thing." It's literally a government research facility in the southwest desert that studies aliens in secret.
Yeah but I meant when I was younger I literally thought it was THE Area 51 lol
Technically, they are both government facilities, but that’s were the similarities end
That we know of....
The guards aren’t really there for the scientists. While they’re there to handle security measures internal and external, their being armed is because they’re overseeing a highly advanced US government funded facility. Black Mesa likely houses multiple top secret projects and technologies that various actors would love to obtain. Particularly, terrorists.
_Likely_ houses multiple top secret projects? My guy, they’re doing some shady stuff at BMRF. I’d say that almost everything you get to see during a playthrough ranges from top secret to -at the very least- high security-clearance stuff. Ballistic missiles and other army-grade weapons technology, teleportation technology, nuclear research, researching and experimenting on literal aliens, the list goes on and on haha
Yeah, quite honestly the main reason I think the guards should be better equipped is when you're staffing such a facility and an enormous number of the staff need TS-SCI clearances, you may as well give them some serious hardware to guard the facility.
The entire scientific staff definitely requires some level of security clearance, and those doing direct teleportation research like the Lambda Labs staff probably need TS clearance and some level of codeword clearance for whatever codeword the teleporters are under.
Dude I worked at the National Archives...the national Archives, the nerdiest, most non deadly place on earth and we had armed guards.
In case anybody gets any ideas about smuggling the anomalous materials to their dorms. They’re there on sight to fill you with lead, if you steal anything else like some secretive documents regarding xen teleportation expect to be shot down by firing squad. There’s also turrets in the facility by any armory to ensure that no scientists attempt to steal any firearms. They just have to be activated first
They're prepared for unforeseen consequences
Clearly not, the Resonance Cascade got out of hand pretty quickly
To guard the donuts and coffee
Nobody fucking with the microwave today 😤
security guards seem to also do some maintenance for some reason seen when barney gets sent to fix the elevator at the start of blue shift
In that case I take it as the elevator wasn't recognizing the scientists' ID cards, but security guards could use an override of sorts, and not that security guards are in charge of maintenance per se.
There’s armed security at the mall I go to there would def be a ton somewhere like Black Mesa, with all its expensive and deadly government machinery.
It’s a military research facility. We hire guards for malls — why not hire guards for a base that’s developing quantum superweapons?
*otis*
Every National Lab has armed security. I used to go to one regularly and they had guards with rifles at the gates. This was in 2004. The Labs have a lot of dangerous, toxic, and expensive stuff. They also do a lot of classified consulting/R&D/project work for DOD and other federal customers.
Someone needs to verify your passport
Can't believe I had to scroll this far to find this
Sorry, I was 11 hours late :(
I believe that Black Mesa knew about the hostile aliens from Xen before the resonance cascade, so the guards and the large amount of weaponry were probably there as a contingency. They probably thought only one or two aliens might be released into the facility. As the resonance cascade was something they were sure wouldn't happen.
Of course they did. Didn’t you play the Questionable Ethics chapter. They were doing experiments on aliens long before the day Gordon shows up late to work that day.
It's been a while since I last played. My memory was a little hazy.
No worries brother
And based upon blue shift, they’d been experimenting with aliens and teleportation as far back as the 70’s
Probably to put down any Science team rebellion attempts.
The security guard pulling out his glock 17 after seeing the 80 year old nerd walk 2 steps away from his lab
Don’t you know not to fuck with the science team?
Who ever heard of an amputee security guard?
well, if they weren’t armed, they wouldn’t be of much use
“Hey, stop that!”
The warrior cry of walmart security
I dont know.. maybe because its a government funded top secret science research and development company that had ties with the military...?..
In case there's a resonance cascade
Someone has to keep the scientists in line.
because it's a governmental military complex...?
Black Mesa is a hub of every sensitive technology the modern world uses: It has a rocket launch pad which means rocket fuel. It has nuclear material. It has a hydro-electric dam that probably produces electricity for the surrounding communities. It has an airport. It has military training grounds. It has missile production facilities. It has a weapons proving ground. Those are all real world things that require their own small cities of support workers to run and stay running. All of them require armed guards in some form or another through legislation because they are considered critical infrastructure or house highly dangerous materials. Then you add in: A top secret teleportation facility A biome facility for storing and studying literal aliens, most of which are extremely dangerous. A lab where literally every ethical boundary of modern science it broken and where said aliens are kept for dissection. It's a wonder the guards only have pistols and that there isn't a permanent strike force stationed on site to not only defend against external security threats, but also contain internal security breaches. HECU was likely meant to be that force within the context of the universe and in the real world it would be stationed on site and the main security force for the base. All that said, I've been to facilities similar to Black Mesa in the sense that they are huge city-like places with top secret missions or Ultra high security requirements because they build and house WMD's and they all have a militarized security force that is equipped and trained to go toe to toe with a literal enemy military if necessary. If anything, Black Mesa is way under what it SHOULD have for security given what it houses.
Passoortvplease!!!!
It's a top secret facility with strict access control. There's a checkpoint between every couple of areas to control who gets to go where and see what. You wouldn't want your anomalous materials handlers to see alien fauna labs, and you wouldn't want your autopsy surgeons to see teleportation research.
Nope, never
I mean, black mesa is kinda of an small city itself so it maks sense
it's basically like area 51, thats why
you ever wonder why there's so many armed guards in area 51?
I think people would freak out if the shit happening their got out. Actually for that matter they did and because of that some aliens from another dimension showed up and wiped out all of earths military’s in 7 hours
It's almost like the executive decision makers had suspicions something might go away with all their experimenting and wanted some insurance against a resonance hiccup.
Would you prefer the guards armless?
Same reason the HECU switched to urban combat training before the incident.
Maybe it's because it's a top secret military installation..?
I'm more concerned about the fact that the scientists must go to a shooting range during training
Only those who train in the use of the H.E.V. go through the Hazard Course, which involves the shooting range. And it makes sense, since that suit is designed to go into hostile environments (ie, Xen).
Well, it’s a top-secret government-funded facility that happens to be researching with a completely different universe that if went wrong in any way can easily end the world, so I think that’s a good reason why.
It's a highly classified government funded facility. Go take a jaunt around Lockheed Martin in Dallas Tx and see how far you get without a keycard before you get stopped or shot.
To make sure none fucks the aliens
I'm European and always think this is an American thing. Reading the comments I guess I'm not that far from reality. (No offense, I understand high military society and guns everywhere being a thing)
Its american.
If Gordon went rouge it would be very dangerous, after all he's a highly trained professional
They're a govt funded research facility.
it's a government funded top secret research facility. need i say more?
Grunka Lunka dunkity darmed guards
Probably because they're doing heavily illegal experiments on alien fauna
because we need more worldbuilding ig
They have a bunch of secret weapons and portal tech, not to mention creatures from another dimension.
Gee, i wonder why a secret area-51 like facility that develops weapons for the US army and conduncts experiments with confidential teleportation technology that could reshape the course of human history, would need security
Have you ever been around a group of PhD's in a lab? You'd want a bunch of guards too! Not for your protection, mind you; for theirs
Why are Black Mesa preparing for Unforeseen Consequences? Are they stupid?
The barneys are actually an experiment. They are clones of a single person.
Black Mesa is government funded and they work on a lot of highly confidential machinery and research that can’t even get out to the general public let alone terrorists. That’s why they have locked doors with retinal scanners and armed guards everywhere as well as different levels of clearance. In some chapters of HL1 and its expansions you can see that Black Mesa has been researching Xen and its inhabitants well before the resonance cascade even happened, and clearly only authorized personnel were aware of this.
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Probably the same reason the HEV suit, what should just be a standard radiation suit, comes with an AI that keeps track of what weapons and ammo you have.
NASA is literally guarded like this
America...
Didn’t the guards also double as maintenance?
Oh you know, just a top secret government funded research project.
If anything the security at Black Mesa wasn't tight enough.
No of course not,the damn place should have had a hell of a lot more guards and a lot more heavily armed. Literally everything in that place is extremely dangerous.
Top secret research facility Home to hostile alien life being experimented on and studied Some of the most advanced military hardware
Because that's how Government funded facilities work
its a government facility lol of course they have guns
Yeah that's too many valuables in black Mesa not to have guards.
That might be my fault
I mean it’s basically Area 51
Probably because it's a top security facility holding so much high value technology, as well as holding valuable personnel like scientists.
Secure government facility, end of or slightly pkst cold War, trade secrets, advanced tech, litteral xenobiological research, freaking ICBMs (space rockets but can be used the same if modified), this is not shit you want to have messed with, my dad is retired EPA and post 9/11 they had tons of security, even before they had a wmd lab for dealing with potential soviet/russian/Chinese/terror cells bio weapons or dirty bombs/full on nukes that is both an even more secure area but they legit before 9/11 had armed guards there 24/7
All you need is one mad scientist with a Tau Cannon to destroy the entire facility.
It’s so you can catch me later, and I’ll buy you a beer.
its government funded, obvi theyre gonna put guns in it
so a 27 year-old would be owed like 50 beers