#lore-and-universe

1 messages · Page 20 of 1

gilded mason
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Nobody said its name anymore

heady geyser
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Oh

wicked wasp
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How does Johnson go from a Staff Sergeant in CE to a Sergeant Major in Halo 2

bronze delta
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Looking now, but he's listed as Staff Sergeant in Halo: CE?

heady geyser
safe hawk
bronze delta
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It was the opening of Halo 2 that Johnson was promoted to Sergeant Major, but I can't clearly find where he's listed as Staff Sergeant

wicked wasp
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@heady geyser @safe hawk You do realize Halo 2 happened just days/weeks after halo CE? And Johnson would have needed to skip the ranks of gunnery sergeant, master sergeant, and first sergeant to be promoted to a SGTMAJ

wicked wasp
bronze delta
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Ah gotcha, thanks. That's a hell of a promotion! lol, E-6 straight to E-9

wicked wasp
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Cuz for some reason he’s now a pilot as well

bronze delta
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As a Spartan-I, I'm assuming that would come with being Special Forces

heady geyser
safe hawk
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Jacob Keyes was awarded captain during the events of reach

wicked wasp
safe hawk
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I believe it was lieutenant

wicked wasp
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Hmm

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Wasn’t he a lieutenant when they kidnapped John

heady geyser
wicked wasp
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Damn he woulda needed to be a lieutenant for decades

safe hawk
fickle viper
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Nice comment on 343's position. Explains why everyone is acting all irrational, emotional or gung-ho without any logistical support in what can only be described as a military disaster.

bronze delta
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Uhh... the only area without strong logistical support I can think of is any situation with Del Rio

fickle viper
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When I think about it, it's just a callback to what I wouldve liked to see a bit more. Im going to refrain.

safe hawk
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How exactly did 343 try to make Spartans cool?

fickle viper
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343 has Spartan 4 bros acting like children (and granted, they arent ONI indoctrinated trained youth but they're suppose to be UNSC), Spartans II not acting like a well-oiled military unit and in the last DLC I find the way that lady Spartan is acting a bit jarring. The act of her warbuddy sacrificing himself to obtain the AI is totally Spartan, but it gets overshadowed by some ill-placed bravado.

bronze delta
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The Spartan-IV's act like "Bros" in their downtime. That's actually pretty typical of military, and when the Job needs done, the Spartan-IV's rise to the occasion professionally and skillfully.

There aren't any examples that I can think of of Spartan-II's not acting like Spartan-II's.

As for Palmer? I'd expect nothing less from a career ODST. However she still commands well, leads her troops by example, and cares for her Spartans as fiercely and proudly as any Commander.

last anchor
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She doesnt send em to their deaths pointlessly and when dirty tasks need doing she does it herself.

fickle viper
bronze delta
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Realistically she's a fantastic leader

bronze delta
fickle viper
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Well, from my standpoint, if Halsey didnt meddle with the genetic code, we wouldve never had SuperJezus. So the Spartan IV's are just extra. Or has Halsey would say it, they aren't Spartans, but Hoplites, or something in that line.

bronze delta
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"Super Jesus"? Och...

Halsey disapproves of the Spartan-IV's because they're not her project. That does not make them inferior.

icy yoke
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IV were also engineered to survive... their lungs designed to breathe toxic atmosphere and their digestive system was tweaked to survive on tree bark and worms

bronze delta
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Don't forget their hearts are reinforced for endurance and their muscles anchored to their bones stronger to prevent tears

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Oh, and they can see in the dark; something the Spartan-II's cannot do without assistance

icy yoke
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And genetic augmented to slow aging process. Less freeze time in cryogenic suspension. In essence live normal lives

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The Spartan III whom survived were folded into program

orchid kettle
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which is kinda funny when they're both the veteran ODSTs on the team

bronze delta
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While a misjudgment, I wouldn't consider that an example of a "Bro" moment, though

orchid kettle
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I mean it IS intentional that De Marco is somewhat incompetent, which leads to Palmer replacing De Marco with Thorne

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and De Marco is one of the Bro-est bro dudes on majestic

bronze delta
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DeMarco was moved to command of Fireteam Bailey

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The only indication we have as to the reason is from Escalation; Madsen says that DeMarco was put in command of Fireteam Bailey because Palmer wanted Thorne to have command of Majestic. It doesn't say anything about DeMarco's conduct, and he's still in a Fireteam Leadership role

orchid kettle
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I mean, Im just picking up on what Spartan Ops is telling us

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Otherwise if the point is purely

bronze delta
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Spartan Ops doesn't tell us that; DeMarco is Fireteam Leader of Majestic all throughout the Requiem campaign

orchid kettle
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"Thorne is so good he should lead his own team"

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why have Palmer chew out DeMarco for his subordinates failings

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I mean spartan ops isnt all that well written so I could believe its just a scene with no point

bronze delta
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"Chew out" is pretty strong, and because they had a tactical error. It happens a lot more commonly than you'd think. But the fact remains that DeMarco is still Fireteam Leader of Majestic all throughout Spartan Ops, and transitioned to Bailey sometime offscreen between Spartan Ops and Escalation

orchid kettle
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Again

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In writing

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You show scenes for a reason

bronze delta
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And that scene was "You goofed up, don't let it happen again".

orchid kettle
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If you establish the idea that Hoya being dumb is DeMarco's faulf

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that tells the audience that DeMarco is flawed as a leader

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otherwise we're meant to believe Thorne was made to lead Majestic because he did a cool banshee hijack one time

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When I believe its supposed to be a combination of both

bronze delta
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And totally goes AWOL in a hissy fit. Thorne wasn't perfect either

orchid kettle
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DeMarco isn't right as leader, and the new guy Thorne sure is cool

orchid kettle
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which leads me to think its writer's error

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and not really intentional

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Because again, otherwise

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why have Thorne as leader

bronze delta
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I really think you're reading too far into things

orchid kettle
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On the contrary

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I think this is a very surface level reading of Spartan Ops

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Its just you have to remember its a story being made by people with scenes that are meant to communicate ideas

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Its not a peek into a real alternate universe where we just see a random day in Majestic's life

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Its important that DeMarco is failing in somehow as a leader that Palmer sees

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while this newcomer Thorne is doing cool stuff like hijacking banshees and saving the day

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Otherwise

bronze delta
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Then why was he maintained in a leadership role? Majestic isn't special, and in the storyline they're underperforming by the standard set by Fireteam Crimson

orchid kettle
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why have these scenes

orchid kettle
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Reed wrote Spartan Ops, while Schlerf returned from Halo 4's campaign for Escalation's early chapters

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and Schlerf seemed to want to smooth out some of the edges from Reed's characterization choices

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for example, Schlerf never really has Palmer complaining about eggheads, instead he focuses on how hard she devotes herself to protecting her friends and subordinates

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and in a similar manner, I think what Schlerf intended is to counter Reed's idea that DeMarco was just outright incompetent as a leader, perhaps because he thought it was a bit silly for DeMarco to be placed in such a position if he was so obviously not fit for it

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Of course Schlerf ends up not really giving much of a reason why Palmer chose to replace DeMarco with Thorne instead of giving Thorne his own team away from Majestic

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as certainly such a choice would only create friction between Thorne and Madsen

vast edge
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So.. Does Ilsa Zane actually have superhuman abilities without the suit?

bronze delta
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Fireteam Majestic is a brand new team in the opening of Spartan Ops. Rio De Janeiro was their first assignment. So when we see Hoya acting irrationally and DeMarco taking the brunt of it, we see a new team learning to mesh. And throughout Spartan Ops we see Majestic grow together and DeMarco learn to be a leader. He's not a bad leader, he's a new leader

orchid kettle
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Which is why I assume Thorne being leader is something they planned early on, they just didn't really communicate how he rose to the position very well

orchid kettle
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Which is pretty in keeping with Halo main characters, who are often the leaders of their units

bronze delta
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What doesn't track is DeMarco being a "bad leader" and being punished.... by being given leadership of another Fireteam.

orchid kettle
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I agree, I don't know what Schlerf's thinking was there

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I guess he kills the guy shortly after anyway

bronze delta
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Nothing in Spartan Ops indicates him being a bad leader either, really. We get one "Med Bay's waiting," with a stern look, and nothing more really

orchid kettle
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In writing

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scenes are important

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If the idea wasn't meant to be there

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you wouldn't communicate at all

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I agree that if you want audiences to remember it, and really internalize it

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You have to exercise reiteration

bronze delta
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AGAIN, that scene established a growing team. Not "DeMarco is a bad leader and he's going to get the can."

orchid kettle
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but I just don't think Spartan Ops is that well written

orchid kettle
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why kick DeMarco out

bronze delta
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Ask the writers of Escalation, because that's not done in Spartan Ops.

orchid kettle
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If Hoya being injured and DeMarco being chewed out for it is supposed to be him realizing he needs to step up and take being a Spartan seriously

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why does he get the boot

orchid kettle
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Escalation was supposed to be Spartan Ops Season 2

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and 343 once mentioned in a video that they had the story of Spartan Ops planned out for a few years

bronze delta
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It is common practice across the Spartan Branch to rotate squads. Even Blue Team had a rotating roster. DeMarco being moved to Bailey is nothing special, nothing indicative, and nothing out of the ordinary, really.

orchid kettle
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and I dont think Thorne becoming leader is something they just decided upon at the last minute

orchid kettle
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If you weren't supposed to think about it

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You wouldnt call attention to it

bronze delta
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He's mad about DeMarco dying

orchid kettle
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And about Thorne being promoted to leader and DeMarco getting the boot

bronze delta
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In that scene he projects his anger on Thorne, and then immediately apologizes for it.

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Absolutely nothing indicates that DeMarco got "the boot"

orchid kettle
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I mean, aside from everything I said

bronze delta
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Because again, Majestic is nothing special. They're not an elite team, they're just another Spartan Fireteam that happens to be the focal point of the storyline

orchid kettle
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Actually in the encyclopedia they're mentioned as one of the best teams on Infinity

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I didnt really get the sense of that either in Spartan Ops, to be fair

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I guess you could say coming in second to Crimson is still a very high bar to clear

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Though then you'd think Shadow would still be cooler than Majestic...

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and then yeah, I thought Osiris is supposed to then be the coolest dudes around

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If you then consider what the encyclopedia's appraisal of Majestic is, then maybe the "punishment" is being removed from a highly valued unit, to a one that isn't seen as such

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even though yeah, in Spartan Ops itself, I didn't really get the sense that Majestic was particularly special

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and surely all spartan teams would be cool enough that ranking them would be kinda pointless because they all get the job done

bronze delta
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Being on a Fireteam that's being entrusted to secure and guard a delegation from the Sangheili and the Jiralhanae, accompanied by Upper Command and the Spartan Commander of the Spartan contingent of the Infinity is hardly a punishment.

orchid kettle
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yeah but Bailey doesn't even color coordinate

bronze delta
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So?

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Neither does Blue Team

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Or Osiris

orchid kettle
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I was making a joke

bronze delta
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Ah

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My apologies there

orchid kettle
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it does seem like Majestic being all blue was supposed to hint that other spartan teams color coordinate

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but I don't think we've ever seen another team do that

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except maybe Shadow in that Pixelflare render?

bronze delta
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Or the various random Spartan-IV's of the Infinity

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Of course, it could also be that they're a new fireteam, that they haven't earned the freedom to individualize their colors

orchid kettle
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i kinda assume that anytime you see somebody in the Halo 4 campaign default GEN2

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thats just a placeholder NPC

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because the comics dont feature anyone in campaign default

dusk jetty
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I’m currently making a story to tie all my armors in infinite and 4 and 5 into one Spartan. Which brings me to a question, how expensive was gen 2 armor? I’ve heard that it’s sort of like free for corporations to make, and the UNSC buys them, making them cheaper, but I’ve also heard that they’re far more expensive then gen 1.

orchid kettle
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They're supposed to be cheap enough to mass produced

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Which also is why in New Blood, Buck complains about the paint chipping and the armor falling apart during combat

dusk jetty
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That’s helpful.

orchid kettle
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Whats strange is that according to the encyclopedia, Mark VII/GEN3 is both cheaper and durable than GEN2

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what breakthrough in MJOLNIR manufacturing caused this, I have no idea

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I also always assumed that out of everything that makes up MJOLNIR-- the external titanium plating was probably the least expensive component

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compared to reactive liquid crystal or whatever

dusk jetty
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I’m assuming they’ll expand on it more at a later date, like they usually do. I would like more gen 2 armor redesigned for gen 3 though, especially tracker.

unique rune
# dusk jetty I’m currently making a story to tie all my armors in infinite and 4 and 5 into o...

We've never gotten even approximations of cost, oddly enough, unlike the whole "costs as much as a battlegroup" that one of the novels gave for fitting all the S-IIs with GEN1 Mk.IV.

I assume the standardized components are probably what are cheaper and easier to manufacture compared to GEN1, then with all the variations prototyped and produced there must be some more specialized and idiosyncratic parts that are significantly more costly than some of GEN1.

orchid kettle
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There's "As much as a dropship"

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But it's like from Air Assault's body description in 5

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where apparently somebody was trying to find a way to get the suits fit for unaugmented personnel use

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so its unclear if GEN2 costs as much as a dropship, or this hypothetical non-Spartan Air Assault suit

icy yoke
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Cost of production is economics of scale. As Spartan armor became more proliferated on battlefield. DEmand for parts to replace components urged models to come out.

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Think this way. The first CPU to go on sale was Intels 4004. 15 bit interger, and
2,300 transistors and cost 60 bucks when on sale in 1971 (445 today)

50 years later, Apples M1 Ultra costs 400-600.... has 115 BILLION transistors.

bronze delta
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I would also think there's an element of how capitalistic the UNSC is, and if things are over-inflated for profit or not

patent dagger
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so what's the status of the UNSC in 2559, like, does Earth still exist as a UNSC homeworld or nah?

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or has everything been torn to shreds

orchid kettle
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Sydney is gone, Luna is more or less gone

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everyone's been living under Cortana's thumb for a year

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and concept art of a city set during this time doesn't paint a super hopeful picture

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its probably still where most humans in the galaxy live

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but honestly Id be surprised if there even IS a UNSC after a year of Cortana hunting them down and getting ambushed by the Banished at Zeta

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it feels like just too many devastating losses after another

patent dagger
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alright

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cause the dialogue painted it like there were still people left

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just not really

orchid kettle
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There IS this idea too that after the Covenant war, a lot of outer colonies more or less finally got the autonomy they've been clamoring for as the UNSC doesn't really have the resources to bring every last world back into the fold

orchid kettle
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I mean I guess we know for almost a fact that the Spirit of Fire is still out there

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fighting the good fight on the Ark

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and with Halo Wars 3 canned, they may get folded into the main storyline

patent dagger
orchid kettle
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yeah some of them fled to other worlds when Cortana took over

patent dagger
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same book also said "what was left of the UNSC corps" in reference to zeta halo

orchid kettle
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i dunno tho if Hood really still has a fleet

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i get the sense that the world was just like, a little bunker him and serin were going to hold out in

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rather than like, a secret fortress world

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The Academy is out there in space too

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and Im sure this last hidden Spartan training planet has some ships in orbit protecting it

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problem is, I assume the Academy storyline is happening during the six month gap

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since you hear about how they just lost contact with Infinity during the tutorial

patent dagger
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Six months gap between what though

orchid kettle
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so for all we know, there may not be an Academy by the end

orchid kettle
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and when the Pilot finds him and wakes him up

patent dagger
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ohhh

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because there were uh

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several

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gaps

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Halo 3->4 (especially this one since they were able to completely rebuild the UNSC)
Halo 4->5
Halo 5->Infinite Intro

orchid kettle
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well there's spartans in GEN3 in both the Academy storyline and Infinite

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and like I said, we hear about the Infinity going missing in the tutorial

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now granted I have no idea how long of a gap it is between the tutorial, and the lone wolves showing up in a stolen phantom

patent dagger
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I just wonder where they came from though

orchid kettle
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I guess our Spartan has graduated?

patent dagger
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I haven't been paying attention to the academy storyline at all lmao

orchid kettle
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because then we're recruited into the Lone Wolves

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and I assume that wouldn't happen if we were still in training

patent dagger
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Plot has to happen

bronze delta
orchid kettle
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you will get ONE(1) cutscene per season

icy yoke
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Earth is geopolitical capital. However it's not functionally important. More a case of morale

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UNSC is multi entity capacity

sharp silo
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How many Longswords could the Pillar Of Autumn have?

obtuse crow
sharp silo
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Thanks!

obtuse crow
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You are welcome.

icy yoke
sharp silo
icy yoke
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True but matter if the small or larger cousin longsword could fit. 8 bays also served transport.

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Accommodate transportation for carriers, pelicans and vehicle bays

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.... did UNSC have something akin to shielding for bays open to vacuum of space to keep atmosphere in

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🤔

bronze delta
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Not at that point, I don't think

wicked wasp
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it could prob fit more than 1 in each hangar tho

obtuse crow
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The pillar of autumn had 12 pelicans though.

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“5 GA-TL1 Longsword fighters[1]
12 D77-TC Pelicans[1]
2 D96-TCE Albatross[1]
20 M808B Scorpions[1]
60 M12 Warthogs[1]
9+ M145D Rhinos (previously)
18+ Class-3 Bumblebees
216 M8823 SOEIV drop pods[1]
1000 Naval personnel[1]
800 Marines[1]
400 ODSTs[1]
79th Infantry Battalion
Army personnel (unknown complement)[6]
UH-144 Falcons” full complement based off of halo pedia.

bronze delta
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To be fair the Autumn also apparently had a 3 kilometer race track with a bridge section, so perhaps it's a bit... manageable.

rotund bloom
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So question
What was the original plan for Operation Uppercut
Idk if I'm missing something but it seems like, originally, any Marines/Spartans were sent to die no matter what.

unique rune
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Presumably would've been to set up the slipspace drive on a timer, then evac on the Pelican

bronze delta
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Yup, set the timer, then get the hell out of there

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But then the Savannah got destroyed and the timer broke

unique rune
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Timer broke, Pelican also broke

All the supporting unaugmented personnel are probably intended to have been killed as well, leaving 052 and B312 as the only two remaining to pull it off

wicked wasp
bronze delta
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👀

wicked wasp
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Also, are they army troopers or Air Force?

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Cuz they coulda been army pilots

dusk jetty
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I think they were marines

wicked wasp
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Coulda also been navy

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💀💀💀

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Coulda been any unsc branch

bronze delta
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They were Air Force

wicked wasp
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It would be cool if we got to see naval special warfare in a halo game

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Like NAVSPECWARDEVGRU

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or naval special warfare development group

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Aka seal team 6

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How come this server has 245,771 members but I can expect only 3-4 people to be active in here

bronze delta
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That'd pretty much be NAVSPECWAR

wicked wasp
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That’s what it is

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NAVal SPECial WARfare command

bronze delta
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Aye, but having a "Seal Team 6" is redundant with the existence of the Spartan Branch. We not only see Naval Special Warfare, we actively play it.

wicked wasp
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Like not spartan

bronze delta
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There wouldn't be anything else, really

vast edge
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That's why I asked why is Airborne still around when ODSTs are in the mix the other day

vast edge
icy yoke
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MONORAIL 🚝

orchid kettle
last anchor
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They're Army special forces, for behind enemy lines work and long range individual patrols.

pallid thicket
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The fact that his callsign is Echo 216 feels like a callback to Foehammer aka Echo 419

bronze delta
icy yoke
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If not tram horizontal elevators. In Star Trek this is called a turbolift and operates in both directions. Computer control maglev pods....

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Cairo station also had trams 🚋 to move

bronze delta
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Also funny about callbacks; I'm playing Hlao 2 and just had a Marine say "Mira! it's a Mark 6!"

wicked wasp
wicked wasp
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anyone else a fan of the halo 2 odst armor?

orchid kettle
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I like the body, but I prefer the classic Halo 3 style helmet

meager field
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from what I gather, the primordial infected the Gravemind -- do we know anything about the Gravemind's personality before its mind was infected?

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and does the Gravemind know its brain is infected by the Primordial? (and if so, does it have any desire to get rid of the unwelcome parasite?)

bronze delta
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Other way around, sort of. The Primordial became as one with the Gravemind, which itself was a result of a subsect of the Precursors attempting to "wait out" the Forerunner genocides. The Gravemind and the Primordial are essentially one and the same

meager field
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according to the video I watched, ancient forerunners were decent but they became prideful and arrogant once their technology started getting better than precursor's technology

bronze delta
uneven maple
abstract timber
plush compass
steady sierra
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Y’all so weird question but I generally know Chief as like a quiet stoic person with some emotions deep within in the games but I don’t know much about the extended universe, is there any moments where he kinda just like spazzes out? Like let’s his emotions out wildly briefly? Weird question since I’m not very knowledgeable about the EU but had to be asked since I just finished that damn tv series 😭

unique rune
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Nah, he’s generally pretty stable in that regard outside of the games. The Paramount TV series is… something else.

dusk jetty
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Talked about how he “wasn’t ready to die” and such

steady sierra
# unique rune Nah, he’s generally pretty stable in that regard outside of the games. The Param...

Ahh so him having like basically emotional disregulation being reckless and just pissed a lot is a paramount thing gotcha, thought it might’ve had some basis since the creators said that people who loved Halo will “love the show” and I saw the characterization and was like “um, is this actually Chief?” 😭
EDIT: I do get they’re different timelines I was just confused as if there was basis to his characterization in the EU

steady sierra
vast edge
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Were there any leaks about where 343 originally wanted to go with Halo 6 and the Created conflict?

boreal bane
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We don't allow leak discussion here

bronze delta
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There is no Halo 6 only Zeta

dusk jetty
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There’s no leaks, I think all concept art is official. It looked about the same, just with some changes, chief still had gen 2, and cortana was still alive. Might’ve been a side story with arbiter too

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Can’t really tell much from all of them.

orchid kettle
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I assume the idea of Chief confronting Cortana on a Halo ring, only for her to realize she was wrong milliseconds before death is something they've always planned on

dusk jetty
orchid kettle
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considering Halo 5/HW2 end with Cortana getting a halo ring

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and i find it hard to believe she'd just be evil through and through

dusk jetty
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I think they had the idea of the story long before development started from the looks of it

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I have to say though, if halo infinite took place immediately after the destruction of infinity, and we got to fight with Spartans, marines and odsts, but kept the Open world concept, I’d be so much happier.

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I don’t like being alone. ☹️

icy yoke
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Besides math and science. They were taught history and literature as well as philosophy. To study nature of morals and even discern right from wrong

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Whew....air conditioning

wicked wasp
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I think it’s funny that when they were loading up the pelicans to land on the ark they didn’t give johns pelican a co-pilot

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So Johnson is forced to take up controls

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Btw Johnson ain’t a pilot

icy yoke
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Wasp was one first Army vehicles to receive shielding. Were shield upgrades adopted to other vehicles like Pelican,etc

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We already saw a shielded Warthog

hazy shadow
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Pretty sure there's a shielded Pelican in H4/5... They exist, though super rare.

unique rune
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I don't think there've been any Pelican models with energy shielding

plush compass
icy yoke
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Of 343 just got off Infinity for a while we could explore other UNSC ships

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We have only seen Anlace in background shots. I dont think we ever saw in action

tiny oracle
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How many Spartans know the flood beside chief

tribal trench
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So presumably there are established fireteams that have that specific task, and military contractors that probably also know bits and pieces of what the flood is

cyan crow
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Was John Specifically called master chief for some reasons, or was all Spartan II's given that rank?

unique rune
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John was given a field promotion to MCPO for Operation: SILENT STORM.
Most Spartan-IIs held the rank of Petty Officer Second Class, though some would be promoted to SCPO or even receive commissions to advance further up, like LTJG Fred-104, who outranks John nowadays but will often still defer to his command.

cyan crow
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Mhmm
Looking to make a fan made spartan team for a fic comprised of Cal from the Babysitter, the Klutz 1337 and Daisy from the short where the spartan trainees escaped their ONI kidnappers only to return home and meet their clone counterparts with Noble Six joining after the events of Reach and even receiving thier Own AI partner like Cortana was but in the form of Monika from DDLC and was curious whether if they would be Master chief rank or not

icy yoke
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Together they, the unfudgeables

vast edge
abstract timber
wicked wasp
wicked wasp
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There are other master chiefs

orchid kettle
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I guess to ensure no audience confusion

wicked wasp
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Alright that makes sense, change every other master chiefs name so they don’t get confused with one of them

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Why don’t they just change johns name

orchid kettle
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Dr Admiral Master Chief

wicked wasp
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Also the fact that every marine calls him sir when he’s not even an officer

orchid kettle
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I think they do that with Johnson as well

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at some point

wicked wasp
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They do

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“Yes, sir, Sergeant.”

orchid kettle
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honestly you could have figured that in this 26th century fusion of all of Earth's militaries

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they just call anyone a higher rank "sir"

wicked wasp
#

Exactly bro

orchid kettle
#

Like stuff that gets classified as "early series weirdness" could have just been carried over to give the UNSC its own flavor

wicked wasp
#

Also why do they call him sergeant all the time

#

I know damn well you wouldn’t call a SGTMAJ a sergeant

#

Especially in the marines

orchid kettle
#

i guess because in the first game, Johnson was just "Sergeant NPC"

#

like Stacker

#

and Halo 2 onward, he becomes a major character

bronze delta
icy yoke
#

I'm pretty sure MCPO is highest enlisted rank

bronze delta
#

It is, yes, but there wouldn't be just one

#

That's MCPO of the Navy

#

Which, it should be noted, John-117 is not; I'm unclear off the top of my head if the UNSCDF has that rank

dusty ferry
#

It’s kinda funny how atriox keeps getting stuck on forerunner artifacts

orchid kettle
#

"Oh no I'm stuck, Step-Chieftain!"

dusk jetty
#

“Again?”

unique rune
dusk jetty
#

It was gonna happen at some point lol

dusty ferry
#

Atriox really needs to stop, this keeps happening

#

Maybe retire to the opposite side of the galaxy

dusk jetty
#

I do really hope chief and atriox face off again though, those 2 are so cool

unique rune
#

they should have a dance-off

last anchor
#

I would like to see what Brute dance looks like

orchid kettle
#

Isn't that an Easter egg in Reach's New Alexandria level

#

or is the Brute just the DJ, not one of the dancers

unique rune
#

There’s Brutes as the DJ and bartenders IIRC
but all the dancers are Grunts

#

Upon returning to Club Errera, a Jiralhanae will act as a DJ, with multiple dancing Unggoy throughout the club. Three more Jiralhanae are found acting as bartenders to the left and right side of the club, as well as beneath the club entrance, who will sometimes start dancing like the Unggoy when the music stops.
Huh. I suppose there are a couple (potentially) dancing Brutes.

vast edge
abstract yarrow
#

Hmmm, so Sloans aware of Irratus. That’s interesting. It looks like they might be using that as a way to push some of the Created back towards humanity. If you’re going to have a bad AI with the bad aliens instead of clear Organics vs AI.

dusty ferry
#

so like, is holopuppy a real thing

#

is it a canon part of halo lore

unique rune
#

Presumably it is canon

dusty ferry
#

nice

dusty ferry
#

that characterizes a lot about the unsc and ueg

#

hologram dogs are probably somewhat affordable if its being advertised to families

#

that says a lot about the tech level and capacity to handle advanced tech for families

obsidian thistle
#

No reason for it not to be

#

Nintendogs but holograms seem like something that humanity would do eventually

dusty ferry
#

its perfect for people with allergies

obsidian thistle
#

(Virtual pets in general go back a long time. I just used Nintendogs as its one of the more "fun" ones)

tiny oracle
#

how did carter from halo reaches pillar of autumn starting cutscene get hurt?

gilded mason
#

Hit by something at high speeds, it seems

icy yoke
#

Probably shot by infiltrates trying to take the Pelican

tepid light
#

There's an easter egg in The Package where, if you do it right, you find a room with a bunch of random stuff, one of which is a picture that shouldn't have been able to be taken according to the time of the game

#

The picture is of master Chief holding a carbine rifle on Africa, Earth, which shouldn't be possible because he'd still be on the Pillar of Autumn on Reach

#

Although I think it's purely just a reference to the game Halo 3

heady geyser
#

Thoughts on the second part of the firewall event lore

heady geyser
dusk jetty
#

I just read it. I originally assumed that Iratus would be a “villain” for a couple seasons then Peter out or whatever, but if Sloan is interested in him, it could take the multiplayer story in a very interesting direction

#

Rebuild the ranks of created with alien brains

#

I would love to see a sangheili AI

abstract yarrow
#

Hmm. I still think this might be an elaborate troll and Sloans in prison or Irratus is going to snipe him.

I liked the fight scene they had with the Chimera and the Spartan. That was fun and I think the concept is quite strong.

I am just struck by the hypocrisy of the Banished using an AI whilst ostensibly threatening to wipe out humanity because AI are so dangerous.

Also I am 90 percent certain that next AI we get will be one of those “good” Created who have decided to make amends.

abstract yarrow
# dusk jetty I just read it. I originally assumed that Iratus would be a “villain” for a coup...

Oh yeah, they could do an AI for each of the Covenant species.

Well Sloan talks about their communications being limited after Cortana died. If they’re consistent with some stuff they talk about in Halo 5 then that means they can’t really control the Prometheans and Guardians properly. Which Encyclopaedia backs up. So they don’t really need more AI, they need to get more soldiers which is what Sloan seems to be thinking with the Executors.

It’s not the way I thought they could go. I figured if you wanted them to go low tech (I know it’s not framed that way) then you’d go down the UNSC clanker robots route.

heady geyser
abstract yarrow
#

I am curious about if this focus on AI is just a one and done or if it’s going to be a recurring thing.

Like it’s a double edged sword. Is doing stuff with the Created in multi Intel being done because they aren’t off limits for game development. Main reason we got very little post Halo 5 lore before Infinite dropped was because, concept art bears this out, they weren’t sure until quite late in the process how they would approach it. So you basically got terraforming and vague peripheral books. Or is it suggesting they are going to be a big part of the story going forward.

tiny oracle
#

Why is the dock at the end of halo reach pillar of autumn called a dry dock?

bronze delta
silent cairn
#

post 343 guilty spark here

unique rune
barren magnet
bronze delta
#
  • shrug *
unique rune
#

uhm ackshually he was created by a private company called Lux Voluspa

bronze delta
#

Mmm, true, yeah

icy yoke
#

How Sensors aboard UNSC ships generally operate in respect to FTL signal propagation

dusty ferry
#

can you guys settle an arguement for me?

#

is there a way to aim to more efficiently deal with energy shields

#

in lore

unique rune
#

Nothing I can think of other than "at the target".

flat kernel
#

There is no weak points in the vast majority of energy shields i know of

#

Anywhere you hit does the same amount of damage

icy yoke
#

Play wise. Lore wise....Energy shielding is universally dispersive. Thus no piece hardware is any more vulnerable

#

The goal is brute consecutive force overloads shield

empty bloom
#

It's the most expedient way, because you aren't tricking your enemy into lowering it in anywhere important.

icy yoke
#

UNSC is still new with shields and their enormous power consumption made them design Hull integrated shield matrix. In essence shield generators line the ships hull, when an impact is detected MORE energy is dumped into the neighboring unit

empty bloom
#

As they can reduce its thickness in areas, so.

icy yoke
#

Covenant ships use ship projectors to layer a contour bubble over the vessel in essence protecting all surface.

#

Infinity was exception because she was so massive her shields sustained Some damage but still successfully destroyed a enemy vessel

#

This design criteria was seen in Star Treks depiction of shields.

#
  • Enterprise (NX) 22nd century had No shields. Instead used a rudimentary tech called polarized hull plating where energy was added to superconductors in the hull increasing its rigidity and hardness 50-100x
#

23rd Century shields are thin, Hull contour hugging fields

#

24th century shields (TNG, beyond) shields are bubbles. Because increased power generation allow field emissions several meters beyond the hull.

#

However late 24th Century shields again return to hull shaped conforming barrier

obtuse crow
orchid kettle
#

I have to assume these spots can't take as much damage

#

because otherwise why not always be ultra-thin everywhere

#

i also kinda assume Elites and Brutes have a weak spot when it comes to their mouths, since surely they can like, pick something up and eat it

#

like, can a Brute bite you in a fight, or will he just be biting down on his own energy shielding

orchid kettle
#

This idea that there's just this split second, one in a thousand shot they're making consistently that normal people usually can't

#

Like in First Strike, you have Blue Team popping Elites in single BR bursts

#

Or in Halo 3, when Chief shoves a Magnum in Arby's mouth-- would that have actually done anything, or would Arby's shields have protected him

wicked wasp
#

Yooo

#

Just got unmuted

#

Cuz I was tryna say a word

#

That’s not even that bad

wicked wasp
#

I think it’s funny that John just somehow knows how to operate every single piece of military equipment in the UNSC’s arsenal

#

And Thel Vadam knows how to fly the Forward Unto Dawn somehow too lol

tribal trench
#

It’s speculated that some form of AI subsystem assisted in that

#

The same one that likely helped Johnson get to the ring in the first place

orchid kettle
#

it probably helps that some vehicles like the scorpion and mantis are partially controlled via your mind

wicked wasp
tribal trench
#

Well… yes

orchid kettle
#

Even though the scorpion has never been been the focal point an action scene in the book since The Flood

wicked wasp
orchid kettle
#

everyone in the UNSC has a brain chip

tribal trench
orchid kettle
#

and the scorpion/mantis interfaces with that

wicked wasp
#

Oh yeah true

tribal trench
#

Neural lace in your brain helping with some mechanization

wicked wasp
#

Wait so every marine has a chip too

tribal trench
#

Yep

#

You can see it on the back of Lord Hood’s head in the Halo 2 cutscenes

wicked wasp
#

Couldn’t cortana take that out tho

#

After halo 5

#

I’m not sure cuz I’m halo bad blood she couldn’t take out their mjolnir

tribal trench
#

She never did

#

So assumedly not

orchid kettle
#

or maybe its just not Bluetooth and instead the exclusive microsoft frequency that lets xbox controllers connect wirelessly

#

and apparently is why third party xbox controllers are always wired only

#

actually, going back to shielding

#

shouldn't Chief be breaking his own shields every time he personally smacks an alien

#

thanks to newton's third law

#

I guess this could be why we're always using the guns to thwack aliens in-game

wicked wasp
#

We need a DLC about Alpha-Nine for infinite

wicked wasp
#

Also when is halo 3: anniversary

#

And odst anniversary

tribal trench
orchid kettle
#

Well, would being thin mean they don't affect the structural continuity of the rest of the shields

#

or do they constitute a weakpoint

#

since otherwise, why not have the shields be ultra thin across the body

#

shielding in Halo seems to function like a form-fitting bubble around the person. No matter where you break through, the whole thing pops

#

You know, you shoot an Elite in the arm, and the shielding across the whole body fails.

tribal trench
#

I think shields have greater thickness around different parts of the body, but is all connected to one power source

#

For the sake of penetration stopping power

#

In most games for example you can shoot right through a Elite’s shields and hit the guy behind him without breaking the shield

#

So I guess the thin bits would be a weak point

#

But yeah if one part breaks then obviously the whole thing pops

wicked wasp
#

How does the UNSC work when it comes to where people are from

#

What if there is like French speaking people

#

And English speaking people

#

Are there like different units for different languages

orchid kettle
#

I assume its a case of like

#

English is the "official" language of the UEG/UNSC

#

but since so many colonies have a history of largely being one ethnic group that got on a ship and settled on their own planet

#

you kinda cant help it that some people in the colonies speak a lot of spanish or hungarian or whatever

#

Well I say "so many", but I think we just know of Madrigal, Reach, and Harvest

#

where it seems like the settlers can point towards some region back on earth that they came from

#

Of course you'd think in reality, after 500 years of wandering the stars or however long, settlers would start saying stuff like

#

"Oh yeah I was born on this colony but we didn't like it so we moved to another planet, but we didn't like that either, so my family moved to THIS planet."

#

it just makes it easier for us to hear that a planet is largely filled with people descended from the American midwest

scarlet hinge
#

meridian was mostly french

orchid kettle
#

yeah

#

Though you'd think Paris IV would also be Space France

#

maybe Paris IV is named after Paris Texas

tribal trench
#

Aren’t they named after the star?

orchid kettle
tribal trench
#

Paris the star, IV being the 4th planet from the star

orchid kettle
tribal trench
#

Like earth is technically Sol 3

orchid kettle
#

maybe you'd feel inclined to make the Paris system where all the space frenchmen went

scarlet hinge
#

they named paris after the god, clearly

orchid kettle
#

I also assume New Jerusalem is largely Hebrew

#

given the name and how we hear about it being a strong religious community

scarlet hinge
#

also RE: nationalities in the UNSC, I believe that The Life depicts a lot of Ukrainian ODSTs

tribal trench
#

Most of it was filmed in IRL formerly soviet coal/oil refineries and quarries

scarlet hinge
#

i hope we hear from Tarkov and co. again some day

orchid kettle
#

Chief also asks a guy about his dialect in Palace Hotel I think

scarlet hinge
#

oh yeah actually that's kind of funny you just reminded me

orchid kettle
#

i forget if it was a real dialect or one thats supposed to only come into being in the 26th century

tribal trench
#

Does anyone know who the cast of that ad was anyways?

scarlet hinge
#

in silent storm they mention an "outer colonies accent"

tribal trench
orchid kettle
#

that sounds synonymous with just "Not American"

tribal trench
#

Probably a similar accent as Meridian

orchid kettle
#

like on Reach, obviously the people out in the frontier are speaking Hungarian, but the people in New Alexandria sound pretty American

heady geyser
scarlet hinge
orchid kettle
#

though the militia guys you run into in Nightfall sound American too

scarlet hinge
#

i like how randall was able to keep his hell hull accent throughout many years of spartan indoctrination

tribal trench
#

Some of… Grey team, I think? Are also mentioned as having strong Slavic accents

#

It was Grey or Black team, I can’t remember

orchid kettle
tribal trench
#

Whichever one was in Envoy

scarlet hinge
#

there's also a few members of noble team

orchid kettle
#

In the audio books, Adrianna has quite the accent, yeah

#

im sure its mentioned in writing

scarlet hinge
#

iirc, Kat was voiced by a woman from israel

tribal trench
#

Yeah Jun and Kat both definitely have accents but I can’t place where they are from

#

Israel, huh?

#

Very interesting

orchid kettle
scarlet hinge
#

i agree

orchid kettle
#

like surely when most of your agriculture worlds get glassed

#

that'd be a big deal

#

even if you're sitting pretty back on Earth

scarlet hinge
#

there was an interesting note in one of the Fireteam Raven biographies about how many of the residents of Reach/New Alexandria were sheltered from the realities of the war, and genuinely thought it would never come to them

#

so even relatively late into the war, the civilian population of Reach was fairly ignorant of the war

orchid kettle
#

Battleborn kinda feels like that a bit too

#

Like how the kids were just living their normal lives until the unthinkable happens

scarlet hinge
orchid kettle
#

which is a neat story beat, sure

scarlet hinge
#

which is pretty neat

orchid kettle
#

but it feels like if you're an outer colony in the 2540's

#

You probably expect to get invaded any day now

scarlet hinge
#

Marcus was barely school-age when first contact between the Covenant and humanity occurred. As the years rolled on, he was surrounded by a New Alexandria population steeped in a false sense of security that the Covenant attacks that appeared with greater frequency on the newsfeeds could never happen to them. Marcus himself wasn’t so sure and and dedicated himself to being prepared in case the seemingly unthinkable happened.

#

there is an interesting perspective to be had, in that a generation or two of people grew up for whom the existence of the Covenant and the war was just a normalised fact of life

#

it's an idea that'd be interesting to see explored in a more intentional manner

orchid kettle
#

I guess what I mean is not just like, civilian mindset

#

but also in terms of how the war has messed up the supply train

#

Like, in the 30's, the UNSC outright outlawed any ship travel that wasn't military

#

surely not every world is perfectly self sustaining

#

and if colonies still rely on the Pony Express method for interstellar communication

#

that has to be awful

scarlet hinge
#

i suppose one way around that, in a sense, would be the induction of all freight to be under the purview of the UNSC Department of Commercial Shipping

orchid kettle
#

I guess what Im getting at is that the loss of Harvest and worlds like it should be felt more strongly

#

This idea that inner colony luxury and quality of life is diminished when most of your food source is just gone

tribal trench
orchid kettle
#

during the war, the UEG more or less is taking a backseat

#

and the UNSC is in charge

orchid kettle
#

and if you consider how many food-producing worlds are going up in smoke, it must be hard taking on new people when you don't even have the means of feeding yourself long term

scarlet hinge
#

they operated a large fleet of mostly-unmanned freighters

tribal trench
#

Huh

#

I just have forgotten

icy yoke
tribal trench
#

True, we do have real time translation technology in halo

#

Even works with elites

icy yoke
#

So.... punching someone, HARD. Doesn't violate shield weakness. Another is how often likely to get shot in the hand? Shields greatest protection is torso, thigh femoral area and head.

tiny oracle
#

Is Cortana’s body based off younger Halsey

tribal trench
#

Theoretically, yes

empty bloom
#

I always found it weird that she's one of maybe 3 Smart AIs to do so.

dusty ferry
#

Supposedly, she was attractive

#

Key word supposedly

empty bloom
#

IIRC Cortana pointedly made herself look more attractive than her (Cloned Brain's) donor.

#

For reasons.

dusty ferry
#

I like Iratus and how he is a big tiki mask

empty bloom
#

Granted, I don't think Halsey's unattractive even at the age she's depicted at now.

tribal trench
dusty ferry
#

It’s more creative than the majority of human with minor changes

#

At least for most of the smart ai I know of

empty bloom
tribal trench
#

How does she get misunderstood?

empty bloom
#

Convos we've had about 5.

tiny oracle
empty bloom
#

When I said "3 AIs to do so", btw, I did mean "base themselves off of their donor".

#

I highly doubt Roland or Deep Winter based their appearance off of their donor.

tribal trench
#

Deep Winter was the AI of the…?

empty bloom
#

He based his appearance after an old man with a cape and an ice cane, and would use holograms to 'frost over' parts of what he interacted with.

#

Though, when he was nearing decommission he opted to stop with the frost gimmick and changed his appearance to that of a single snowflake.

#

"Huh, that's freaking weird, when did Halsey die?"

#

It's weird that he had to have known where Cortana came from, if Cortana looks like younger Halsey.

#

So I don't know if he just didn't care, or didn't know and was thrown off by the blue.

icy yoke
#

Cortana was emulated from clone Halseys brain

#

Second physical appearance of AI is inconsequential. They cam look like whomever they want

#

Smart AI iona had 2 appearances, as a mature young lady, but when frightened would revert to a chili or child esque appearance

safe hawk
dense falcon
#

Some of the Blitz cards are unlockable as wallpapers at the Xbox App's achievements section, but is this true for only those that are available for achievements? Or can I find the rest of the cards that aren't on the Achievements section as a wallpaper somewhere?

image.png
fair hazel
#

I realy enjoyed the fractures story this week

obsidian thistle
heady geyser
zealous panther
#

There's a place near "The Tower" called "The Redoubt of Sundering" was this place found in the campaign? It's a prisoner culling facility for weeding out soldiers, weak and uninjured.

orchid kettle
#

Ya'll ever think about how the silenced SMG has been used to massacre civilians-- twice

#

Once in Sadie's Story, and again in HtT season 2

empty bloom
#

I mean, it's just an SMG with a suppressor. Not exactly the most riveting civvie killer.

empty bloom
orchid kettle
#

Im just saying-- I can't think of too many incidents in the story where civilians have been mowed down by human gunfire

#

Only really the two, and the M7S was involved in both

#

unless you count Johnson turning that random truck driver that may or may not have been a rebel into manburger helper

zealous panther
empty bloom
zealous panther
#

I gotta look at it so I can get an perspective of a person in the Rubicon book

zealous panther
scarlet hinge
#

plenty of images on this page

dusty ferry
wicked wasp
bronze delta
#

Leonidas is the AI of Laconia Station, that trains and houses Spartan-IV's

last anchor
#

Oh hey, Trench is here. Ayy

empty bloom
empty bloom
surreal glen
#

Of course the Halo universe would have an AI named after the most famous spartan

empty bloom
#

I was genuinely surprised that it didn't happen way earlier.

empty bloom
#

It happens

wicked wasp
#

i coulda sworn it said iv

#

how do yall think ce would have looked if b312 did get on the pillar of autumn

#

would more people have survived

last anchor
#

Nah

orchid kettle
#

i mean, I guess if one extra person gets in that longsword, even if its just Six

#

then yes technically more people would have survived

bronze delta
#

Bigger factor would be if the Devoted Sentries were still there or not. If Six got on the Pillar of Autumn, Emile still would have been killed by them, and everyone on the Autumn would have died as well

obsidian thistle
#

Yesterday was a good day! I worked out how to fully read Halo 4s Covenant! 😀 That was a whole process but finding letters for it all reminded me of Halo 4s Forerunner I translated!

bronze delta
#

Oh very cool! Is there a guide online somewhere?

obsidian thistle
wicked wasp
#

do spartans get to choose what armor they use

unique rune
#

Sort of

#

They can request certain parts based on mission or specialization needs but are largely discouraged from picking things based on aesthetic preference if I recall correctly.

scarlet quiver
obsidian thistle
#

If I wanted to be accurate... H4: FUD would be "first"... maybe some misc trailers for Halo 4.

#

But a tldr, this used

  1. Halo 4 and some lucky guesses that worked out.
  2. The Halo 4 Covenant Weapon Trailer. This gave us letters outright confirming many in Halo 4.
  3. Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn.

Then we were kinda stuck for years.

Then Haruspis gave us the challenge to translate the Halo Infinite Bandit... and it ended up though trial and error that it used the Halo 4 Cipher.

This lead to us getting a few extra letters during that whole process.

Once we got the extra letters. I went on the hunt...

And found Halo 5 actually had stuff you can read thanks to the new stuff we had from Infinite. Written on the Data Pads the Elites hold in some missions, written words of the numbers 1 to 9. (Maybe 10 but I never saw that) That gave us more letters...

Then it came down to us missing four letters...

#

I then decided to hunt around in places I didnt consider after being pushed by some folks! And you can see the results of that in the Tweet I linked!

#

@scarlet quiver hope that clears that up

boreal bane
obsidian thistle
#

I am just amazed we even got the last 4 letters

#

I almost gave up till I was pushed to keep the hunt going lol. As I thought I exhausted my routes.

#

I had two routes to go. Spartan Ops. And the Legendary Crate Data Drops.

I chose the latter and got lucky

boreal bane
dusty ferry
#

so what does the bandit actually say?

obsidian thistle
#

Sangheili/Covenant Words.

Shuku actually is a word we seen before!

20230415_191032.jpg
icy yoke
# wicked wasp do spartans get to choose what armor they use

Beginning Spartans like II, general armor considerations were largely identical. With some mods like Linda and Kelly. Because sniping or up close. Given enormous cost $$$ UNSC cared little for applications of diverse armor manufacturing. Thus adding further cost to already expensive experimental technology.

#

So I believe MK IV and MK V derivatives had minimal customization.

#

Very few Spartan III even given MJOLNIR armor

#

But by 2530s customized and individualized hardware started to creep into design.

#

Spartan IV from ground up armor customization was critical. Because they were incorporating technology as substitute fir intensive physical augmentation and strength/endurance capabilities.

bronze delta
#

I think there was something in Halo 4's Collector's Edition that said something about Spartan IV's getting to pick their kit

dusty ferry
#

a lot of GEN 2 sets are tech demonstrations, so presumably, there is variation for the purpose of data gathering

dusty ferry
#

at least, based on the games we have

#

and all the weird Mark IV types we have seen over the years

#

gen 2 sort of has mix and max, but this gets abandoned when thrusters are made standard to GEN 2

#

though, that could be game mechanics

orchid kettle
#

doesn't Envoy take place during the Created conflict

#

Gray Team blew up that Sangheili world without realizing the war was already over, and we're told they were put into cryo for six years

#

and I believe at one point, when Hekabe is mentioning all the bad stuff thats happened to him and his people, he mentions their homeworld being shattered

#

which sounds like what happened to Doisac

fair hazel
obsidian thistle
bronze delta
scarlet quiver
#

Since you went into the Legendary Crate Data Drops instead of you Spartan Ops (great choice by the way), then I might scrummage through the Ops just to see what i can find. You have me so intrigued as to what can be found.

bronze delta
#

I remember seeing a meme of the guy aggressively explaining something to a girl at a sports game, and the text was all in Sangheili. I was able to translate it with an old cypher (I believe it's the Hierarchical Covenant text)

scarlet quiver
#

Niiiiice.

bold trellis
#

What is 343 Guilty Spark?

gilded mason
#

A Forerunner AI

unique rune
#

Everyone always asks "What is 343 Guilty Spark" and never "How is 343 Guilty Spark?"

gilded mason
#

Cuz the latter would take a 10-page essay. 😌

bronze delta
icy yoke
#

100,000 years and going

obsidian thistle
#

The symbols start as Covenant then turn English

#

(As my laptop aint great I opted for the option I could look into)

vast edge
#

So since the process to make Spartan IVs is way less invasive than Spartan IIIs, and even less invasive than Spartan IIs, will the next generation of Spartans not need chemical enhancements at all?

orchid kettle
#

I dunno if its accurate to say they're less "invasive"

#

considering for IIIs, they just take a nap, get pumped full of supersoldier serum for a bit, and they're gucci

#

while IVs have to get extensive surgery

#

organ replacements, their bones are coated with titanium, muscles infused with more titanium or whatever the undersuit of mjolnir is made of

heady geyser
dusty ferry
#

Yeah, the augments for the IIIs were just better versions of the S-II ones

#

Because tech marches on

#

Presumably, they can do better now, given variants of that procedure have been used for medical purposes

heady geyser
#

Ever think S-V program will be a thing or no

gilded mason
#

Doesn't seem like there'd be a point

dusty ferry
#

I mean maybe? Some of the lore indicates a step above Spartans vaguely exist

#

Akis-II lore description

#

Some scant references to corporate super soldiers

unique rune
#

With the way S-IV is structured I doubt an S-V will ever formally be a thing

uneven patrol
#

God why is Xytan ‘Jar Wattinree so underrated? Don’t see anyone talk about him.

gilded mason
#

Probably because he was in a single book released almost 20 years ago and then died unceremoniously in that same book.

uneven patrol
#

but mah 11 foot elite….

#

he still cool af though

#

how do you think he’d fair against chief?

gilded mason
#

¯_(ツ)_/¯

uneven patrol
#

or rather Tartarus, maybe?

#

Whatchu cooking up there psycho

icy yoke
unique rune
#

50% functionally dead after initial round of augs
work of art
lol

dusty ferry
#

I mean, mass production is an art of its own

#

Wait, you mean S-II

wicked wasp
#

okay its kinda funny that b312 literally goes and participates in a SPACE BATTLE before coming back down to the surface and just continuing on with regular infantry fighting

dusty ferry
#

B312 has actual range in terms of mission parameters, which is interesting

#

You see a lot more specialization in the S-III teams

wicked wasp
#

yes but i find it funny that hes just a spartan in one mission and in the next hes literally FLYING A SABRE

#

not that anyone cares, but i think the reason that there is only army ranks in the spartan fireteam thing in halo reach is because since they are stationed on reach they are only expecting to see army ranks and therefore uses the army's paygrade for everything. for example, a cpl in the marines would be labelled as a spc since an e4 in the army is a spc and an e4 in the marines is a cpl

icy yoke
#

One thing I assumed As UNSC continued development Shield technology. Did apply to buildings and cities to protect against attack.

orchid kettle
#

The funny thing about bone extension, assuming the procedure is similar to what we do now

#

extending the limbs introduces a structural weakpoint in the skeleton, and its strongly advised that anybody who has undergone the procedure stay away from an athletic career

#

i guess if you wrap the whole thing in titanium its a moot point-- but still

tribal trench
#

Do we know if they wrap it in titanium or infuse it with titanium?

orchid kettle
#

Its called a "titanium and composite sheathing" in the Spartan Field Manual

#

and for the IIs and IIIs, the idea is that the bones are coated

#

rather than outright replaced or modified on a cellular level

orchid kettle
#

Like something in the vein of the Chimera armor core, where the operator is a cyborg fused with the armor to the point barely any hint of humanity remains

#

Though I know fanfic writers want stuff like Delta Company or Spartan-Vs to be a return to child soldiers

heady geyser
#

Why not adult volunteers

tribal trench
#

Because halo fans love indulging in Warhammer-esque highly unethical mutations and augmentations on children in the most grimdark-style setting possible

gilded mason
#

Eyup 😔

orchid kettle
#

personally I don't necessarily disagree with the idea that Spartans have made a sort of Faustian bargain here, where they have been granted great power at the cost of their soul or humanity in some way

#

meaning that power, while great and fun to watch, isn't something the audience would actually want to sacrifice so much of themselves for

#

its just kinda short sighted of the fanbase to think that you can only accomplish this via child soldiers

#

While with the IVs, at times, it feels like the story wants you to believe they have it all

#

they have the great power, and rarely any of the trauma

#

and I can understand why that kinda rubs people the wrong way

#

It can feel like it wants to purely indulge with the power fantasy of being a supersoldier, while the character's status as such seemingly has little negative effect on them

scarlet hinge
#

the issue with the IVs is that the first major introduction to them was Fireteam Majestic, and they're pretty well written as far as the idea of taking a meathead marine and giving him steroids to turn him into a supersoldier goes - problem is, that such a person isn't very likeable

orchid kettle
#

Thats kinda why it feels like the only way you can make IVs interesting is to lean into that idea that they think being a Spartan will be a easy thrill ride with no strings attached

#

only to find out that, wait a second, I don't want to be government property all my life

orchid kettle
#

you'd have to peel the curtain back a bit and reveal the meathead marine persona is just a mask they wear to hide their insecurities

#

or something like that

scarlet hinge
#

valid

#

either way, it means that the general perception people have of the IVs as a whole was founded on Madsen and DeMarco

orchid kettle
#

yeah, and they're not likeable on a surface level

#

nor are there any other layers to explore

scarlet hinge
#

general perception I get is that it's fairly commonly said that if Shadow team from Infinite were the first introduction to the IVs, as a concept, they'd have been much more successful

#

(not that I can say either way, I haven't played infinite or read Rubicon)

orchid kettle
#

Personally I think Bad Blood is the best showing of a Spartan-IV team

#

of course in that book, its more so about the group dynamic of alpha-nine

#

and them being super is kinda incidental

#

but that's probably the best way to go about it. Just make good characters, and if they happen to be able to snap Elites in half, neat.

orchid kettle
#

But I feel like the issue with that is how it can feel like we just have more IIs in the story-- except we don't know what made these characters they way they are like we do with real IIs

#

outside of the implication that exists for all UNSC veterans; that they've seen a ton of war and lived through a lot of tragedy.

orchid kettle
#

I'd hate to bring up this eons old debate, but I honestly wonder what people who believe humans were never considered Forerunner would think if Halo really did end with Bungie's departure.

#

Like, are they (Forerunners) just this incredibly mysterious people we were never meant to know much about

#

Every other thread gets more or less addressed by the end of 3, but the meaning of "Reclaimer" is forever lost?

icy yoke
quartz locust
orchid kettle
#

well they're "Reclaimers" either way

#

they're just not Forerunners

quartz locust
#

In halo 3 they were forruners

boreal bane
bronze delta
#

This again?

cerulean topaz
#

Iirc the whole change was due to Halo 3's development coinciding with the movie pitch, as well as aftershocks related to Halo 2's development woes

#

Its documented Marty wanted Humanity and Forunners to remain the same (and his word does carry weight with Halo 3, since he was also responsible for killing Johnson and Miranda), however its also well documented other folks within Bungie wanted Forunners to be ancient aliens unrelated to Humanity (possibly due to the movie pitches)

#

In the end, 343's founding cemented the Ancient Aliens direction as the final direction the series was taking.

While it could wind up being retconned later along with the entire Reclaimer era (Fractures have made it possible to do after all, and it wouldn't be the first time somethings been retconned in Halo), its unknown if they would do so at this point.

orchid kettle
#

bungie has made their choice

#

But Halo does end with Reach, as we hear could have been the case if Bonnie Ross did not step in

#

In the grand scheme of the halo universe, in that situation

#

what is the point of the forerunners

#

are they just a dangling thread, a mystery box Bungie never got to open

#

or was the point that we shouldn't ever know that much about them

cerulean topaz
#

Ah, essentially the same situation the Morbots from Metal Arms fell into

orchid kettle
#

What situation was that

cerulean topaz
#

Literally your hypothetical is what happened to them

The game introduced them in the same way as the Forunners and Chozo of metroid fame, and due to the series dieing after its first installment, never explained anything about them other than they played a huge role in the planets history/game lore

#

That in mind though, I'd say Halo leans more towards the Chozo than Morbots. enough lore existed through the trilogy and prequel that even ambiguous, their role was of an ancient race during an age of peace, forced into strife and sacrifice that saved the galaxy at the cost of their own people.

bronze delta
cerulean topaz
#

Claim the terminals protect that lore? Nope, mendicent bias was altering them, and the issue is solved

bronze delta
#

No, that's not how Fractures is working, and there's more than sufficient Main Lore (i.e. everything published by 343 Industries as mainline games) to support the two species

cerulean topaz
#

You're literally citing 343 Industries games as being why you can't write off 343 Industries lore, when the whole point of declaring the 343 Reclaimer era as a Fracture is to remove the 343 industries era lore and games to reset the series back to the point in which Bungies departure occured.

#

And thats not even including the fact that using Halo 3's ending as the point where a split in the timeline occured is literally a Fracture, as now you have two different timelines

#

which remember, is how they justified the Silver timeline

dusty ferry
#

can we not complicate halo with timelines

cerulean topaz
#

I mean, 343 kinda opened that pandoras box. at the very least it could be used to try and seperate the series from the negative reputation its gained

bronze delta
unique rune
#

And thats not even including the fact that using Halo 3's ending as the point where a split in the timeline occured is literally a Fracture, as now you have two different timelines
which remember, is how they justified the Silver timeline
...Since when has that been a thing?

#

It doesn't even line up with how the Silver Timeline is structured given that it's still a tail-end Covenant War thing

bronze delta
#

They're trying to capitalize on the presence of Fractures to cleft the current games from "The Canon" and... I don't know, do a hard reset? Bungie's not coming back, Halo 4 directly follows Halo 3, and I am so tired of entertaining this division

terse sage
#

There is something that I have been confused about in Halo Wars 2

#

How tf does Jerome carry Isabel around when he is wearing Mk 4 mjolnir?

bronze delta
#

Y'know, that's actually a really good question.

dusty ferry
#

they have specially modified Mark IV suits by some unknown point

terse sage
#

But wasn't that a major upgrade of the Mk 5? That is could carry an AI?

dusty ferry
#

yeah, the Mark IV mod i'm talking about is manufactered on the spirit of fire to bring their equipment closer to mainline unsc stuff of 2558 or whenever it takes place

#

its why the have unique scorpion models and the like

unique rune
#

Mainline production Mk.V's big step up from the Mk.V[B] model was full AI integration, which Mk.IV also lacked. It's possible that Mk.IV might just have some multipurpose utility slot that an AI chip is compatible with but isn't able to integrate into the suit's systems from.

#

John appears to insert Jenkins' helmet recorder chip in the same spot where Cortana's data chip went in CE so I'd wager it's most likely something of that nature

terse sage
#

Is this for mark 4 or 5?

#

Interesting

#

Like a mix of GEN 1 and GEN 2 tech?

dusty ferry
terse sage
#

How did they get the GEN 2?

dusty ferry
#

It was just lying around on the ARK apparently

#

and Serina had been optimizing designs, so Jerome may have just had a new helmet on at that point

terse sage
#

Spartans really earned the name Demon

wicked wasp
#

I just had an argument with a bunch of little kids in roblox about UNSC Marine Corps aviation being part of UNSC Naval Aviation

dusty ferry
#

We gotta get them youngins

bronze delta
#

UNSC Marines aviation?

dusty ferry
#

is there an archive of all the waypoint lore posts?

unique rune
#

Halopedia maintains an archive of it... somewhere. I'm bad at website navigation so I've never quite figured it out

icy yoke
heady geyser
dusky parrot
#

Didact is alive

dusty ferry
#

huh

vast edge
#

I learned that Frank O'Conner left 343 so I looked him up and it seems like he retconned Halo's Universe?

gilded mason
#

Nope, just people wanting to find a scapegoat

#

Or rather, he was simply part of a larger group of people that wrote some stuff that had approval from the rest of Bungie

vast edge
#

So 343 retconned the Halo Universe?

gilded mason
#

Bungie retconned the Halo Universe as well.

vast edge
#

I remember Guilty Spark telling Master Chief that is was Forerunner in Halo 3, but Halo 4 said Humans were a separate species that fought the Forerunners

gilded mason
#

The Halo 3 terminals and the Halo 3 pre-release ARG implied/said that humans and Forerunners were separate

vast edge
gilded mason
#

Frankie wasn't the only writer. He was part of a group of Bungie writers

vast edge
#

Ok... but didn't the prophet of truth say that humans were descended from forerunners?

#

OH and Gravemind calling Master Chief child of the forerunners

gilded mason
#

Bungie was divided amongst itself regarding the human-Forerunner connection

#

Hence those scenes

dusty ferry
#

especially post Halo 2

#

halo 3 and contact harvest are the last times you get any real evidence of the connection

#

and contact harvest was written by a guy who was on administrative leave during Halo 3's development

vast edge
#

I'm just learning about the retcon so I'm new to all this

gilded mason
#

Ah. Yeah, for a lot of us, this is at least a decade-old news

vast edge
#

Oh so who else at Bungie said that Humans are Forerunners are separate?

gilded mason
#

I forget. I don't really keep track of the nitty-gritty

vast edge
#

What about the term "Reclaimer"? It means to take back something that you once owned

#

Guilty Spark only calls the Humans reclaimers and not the other various species of the covenant

#

My mind is getting blown right now

#

I'm about to replay the original trilogy and pay more attention to the story elements

gilded mason
dusty ferry
#

the original retcon was that humans and forerunners had some common ancestor species in the distant past

#

this uhh, got changed

#

kind of

vast edge
#

When Guilty Spark was going through the Human's database he said it's great to "have a record of all of our lost time"....**Our lost time?

gilded mason
#

I guesssss that could also be recontextualized as a hint towards Spark's own true nature?

vast edge
#

apparently that was in Halo CE

gilded mason
#

Yes

vast edge
#

Ok so you're saying that the Halo universe was retconned but by Bungie?

dusty ferry
#

yeah

vast edge
#

Hmm aright I'll look at the later Bungie halo games and see

#

Wait wait wait but at the very climax of Halo 3 Guilty Spark flat out said "You ARE Forerunner"

unique rune
#

It's not really apparent in the main bits of Bungie's campaigns

#

Buried in the Terminals of Halo 3 and some associated ARG stuff

gilded mason
unique rune
#

They had two teams writing all the stuff and never quite had the time to unify it all before launch

vast edge
#

Wouldn't Halo 3 been the opportune time to retcon?

gilded mason
#

They did. In "the Terminals of Halo 3 and some associated ARG stuff"

vast edge
#

At the climax of the game?

#

instead of some terminals?

gilded mason
#

Two different camps, remember

dusty ferry
#

yeah, the terminals and ARG were written post campaign

vast edge
#

omg

unique rune
#

Two major teams writing it all and due to the hectic nature of game development, especially as launch approaches, they just never had the opportunity to smooth it all out

#

Bungie Halo development pretty much always reads like a disaster and it amazes me they ever got any functional games out

vast edge
#

that seems so odd to greenlight a retcon after everthing is done by a different camp

dusty ferry
#

by this point bungie was planning destiny

unique rune
#

I mean a lot of the time the higher ups aren't gonna be that concerned with the details

#

Just amounts to "sounds good get it done 👍" because they have more important things to be worried about than some dialogue and weird text thing that mildly contradict each other

dusty ferry
vast edge
unique rune
#

what

#

internally it literally was Bungie doing the retcon

gilded mason
#

Bungie is Bungie. Whatever Bungie does means Bungie does it.

dusty ferry
#

they stay with the retcon after the terminals though

unique rune
#

what difference does it make if the big man up top doesn’t care about the specifics

vast edge
dusty ferry
#

we mean management

unique rune
#

If the “humans and Forerunners are different” thing was that important to one of them then I’m sure someone would’ve stopped it

But clearly they went “this story direction is fine even if it doesn’t 100% line up with our original plans”

vast edge
gilded mason
#

It's not an easter egg

unique rune
#

Even if they had to rush to get things done that doesn’t mean they aren’t paying attention

If the difference between humans and Forerunners was ever that contentious a point then someone probably would’ve killed it

But clearly they went “no this is fine” instead

vast edge
#

If the terminals were animated or had voice over, then the terminals might have passed though Marty O'Donald and the other main story writers. Since it's just text, all you have to do do grammar check and copy and paste it.

#

It's like Bungie built all these story elements from Halo CE and even in Halo 3, just to say "jk lol" in some terminals

unique rune
#

I mean I feel like the idea that the “main” campaign writers are the only ones whose decisions that somehow matter is silly
considering longtime Bungie employees like Paul Russel were deeply involved in the process of writing the Terminals

gilded mason
#

All throughout the trilogy, they were altering details and retconning things, just not usually things that were visible to fans

vast edge
gilded mason
#

Stuff ¯_(ツ)_/¯

vast edge
fair hazel
#

People need to understand what a retcon means in the first place

#

And what it isn’t.

#

A retcon isn’t when something that wasn’t set in stone is expanded upon or clarified.

orchid kettle
#

or at the very least, perform some incredible mental gymnastics to make everything fit

#

when you have to pull the "its true... from a CERTAIN point of view" card on dang near every piece of dialogue

#

you know there's a problem

#

to say nothing of how CH comes out a month later, and once again muddies things

#

I don't really get how the terminals are "approved 100% by Bungie"

#

but CH is Staten going rogue

#

as if you don't have to submit the draft for publishing

#

But this is why I bring up how, in the context of purely the Bungie saga

#

the Forerunners don't have anything going on

#

if they're not human

#

its really no wonder why Halo 4 needs three books worth of setup and explanation

#

Because when they're not human, we really don't have that much information about the Forerunners. There's nothing thematic about them being separate entities.

orchid kettle
#

And I think that's the way to go for these "ancient hyper advanced civilization" tropes

#

if characters don't have a personal connection to them

#

they're just pretty artifacts and thats it

orchid kettle
#

that Precursors showed up, snatched up some cavemen, and gave them cool toys

#

I guess for the memes

#

But this does line up with that one bit from IRIS, where a Forerunner is freaking out over having just discovered humanity on Earth

#

right before the rings fire

#

and thinks that studying these humans will unlock the Forerunners' own mysteries

#

which doesn't make sense if these cavemen arent related to the Forerunners in some way thats immediately apparent

#

it also doesn't really work in the current canon either, since now, these cavemen would have been placed here as a result of Humanity losing the war with the Forerunners

#

so there's no reason for their existence to be a "mystery"

#

personally, while I can accept this interpretation, thats contingent on whether or not some Forerunners returned to earth and integrated with the rest of the humans there until they were all one race

#

Since otherwise, Guilty Spark would still be wrong in calling Chief a Forerunner, because in Paul's interpretation, Forerunner is like a specific human ethnicity

#

akin to calling Chief an Italian when he has no Italian ancestry at all

orchid kettle
#

and in the context of Halo 3

#

the twist isn't "humans are forerunners"

#

its "every antag is lying to you"

#

and that's just not a more interesting solution

#

because the implication is that there IS no twist

#

and like I keep saying-- what do the Forerunners even have going on if they're not human

orchid kettle
#

Like, Darth Vader going from the killer of Luke's father to his father is a change/twist that makes things more interesting because it increases the personal connection between these two characters

#

It doesn't remove the connection

cerulean topaz
# bronze delta That's not how this works. "343 Reclaimer Era" is mainline Lore, following Halo ...

And the point raised is that it could be written out of mainline lore fairly easily, and justified using a concept 343 introduced themselves to do so. Nothing you keep reiterating has dismissed that fact.

I get your a fan of the EU as it is, but if they wanted to do a hard reset on 343's run with the series, thats the route that would likely be taken. Should they do it? I can't say with certainty, however the 343 games are a mess in regards to being a trilogy, and doing so would give whoever takes over next a clean slate to distance themselves from the bad reputation 343 management gave the series over the years

#

Tldr:
Could they? Yes.
Should they? It remains to be seen.

orchid kettle
#

To be honest, I'm not so much advocating for 343 stuff to be retconned

#

More so just pointing out that in the context of a Halo that only existed in CE-Reach

#

Forerunners being separate doesn't mean anything

#

Regardless of who made the change

#

its just a bad change

bronze delta
#

As I said yesterday, I am so exhausted with this round-about

bronze delta
# cerulean topaz Tldr: Could they? Yes. Should they? It remains to be seen.

It does not "remain to be seen", it flat out won't happen. Mainline Canon has established them as separate, and it's not going to be made a Fractures just because you and others don't like the direction.

If anything, there'd be a Fractures timeline where Humans are actually Forerunners and all the antagonists saying it weren't crazy, as there's far less canonical support for that at this point.

wicked wasp
#

Isn’t Johnson MARSOC or something

#

Or Force Recon

orchid kettle
#

I already find it easy to see the Bungie Saga as its own complete narrative

#

and honestly no matter what you did, any attempt to make a sequel would inevitably go against the idea that Halo 3 was the end

#

unless you just made prequels Reach style on different planets forever

#

but I don't think that's very sustainable

#

Of course the issue with 343 material is that its not a complete narrative, as it can feel like each game is trying to be the start of a brand new trilogy, tossing what came before in the trash

bronze delta
cerulean topaz
bronze delta
bronze delta
cerulean topaz
#

More definitive 343 canon

bronze delta
#

Yeah, it does not matter

#

Bungie are not gods, and their word isn't the only word. 343i is at the helm, and they run Halo. Mainline Halo.

cerulean topaz
#

Again; it does of your stated goal is to write 343's lore out of canon

bronze delta
#

Bluntly put, that's a stupid goal.

#

If that's your goal then just leave it at Halo 3 for yourself.

orchid kettle
#

as they lost their key forever

bronze delta
orchid kettle
#

CE informs the events of Halo 2 though

bronze delta
#

And all of the 343 games "inform" one another

orchid kettle
#

Spark rejoins the narrative, its why Arbiter is the Arbiter

#

nothing about CE is undone

#

spark even hinted at the existence of other rings in Halo CE

cerulean topaz
orchid kettle
#

"Once the other installations follow suit"

bronze delta
#

And nothing about any preceding 343 game is undone -- is this going to be another not-so-merry-go-round?

cerulean topaz
#

It kind of is

#

especially infinite

orchid kettle
#

I mean, they very much were. Its pretty infamous at this point how the Infinity crew got banished to the phantom zone for all of Halo Infinite

#

5 insists the Mantle's Approach actually totally just teleported away at the last second instead of being destroyed, so thats why Cortana's alive

bronze delta
# cerulean topaz *especially* infinite

Oh you mean the game that directly follows the Created Uprising, with entire new armors and measures against AI intrusion, and a UNSC decimated by both Created actions and Banished actions due to the Created's actions? Mmmm, yes, completely separate.

orchid kettle
#

I had a whole write up earlier about how Cortana returning in any capacity about her great farewell story was a pretty big mistake

bronze delta
orchid kettle
#

Except he's not REALLY dealing with her death

#

Thats more so in Infinite

#

Ironically, Infinite ends up being a better sequel to 4 than 5

#

especially in terms of themes