lore-and-universe

[empty bloom]

I do wish we'd get more The Flood style novelizations of the Halo titles.

I feel like it'd smooth over a lot of rough territory.

[runic wharf]

It would help if Infinite's game world matched what the novel told more 🙃

[empty bloom]

TBF, you can find almost everything the book mentions in-game, apparently.

Or at least evidence

[runic wharf]

Some of it, yeah

[meager pier]

I’ve said this for a few years as well
I’d love to see Halo 3: Extended Edition that fills in some of the holes and gaps, especially during the best month trip to the Ark

[jovial crypt]

does anyone know what happened to vergil after odst

ik he’s in one of the books idk which tho

[empty bloom]

He was last seen on the Infinity with Sadie Endesha.

[jovial crypt]

so he could be on zeta halo?

[empty bloom]

Or dead.

[versed helm]

is there a canon reason why the brutes werent in ce and the reclaimer saga

[empty bloom]

They just weren't hired or present for one reason or another, typically just "Not seen". Like how jackal snipers were on Alpha Halo, but never got fought by Chief.

[versed helm]

ah

thank you

[versed helm]

So you think the HW2 marines, if they showed up again, would be shown with their cinematic appearance or their ingame appearance? They’re pretty much completely different

[stoic hamlet]

Cinematic, most likely.

Same for Red Team, and etc.

[meager pier]

How much do you want Red Team to appear in the sequel to Infinite?

[unique rune]

no

[versed helm]

Sadly red team dies fighting the endless

[plush compass]

But the endless died fighting The Assembly’s hijacked unidentified sentinel variants who they got from storming the Forge of incomprehensible knowledge which uses vastly different methods than normal forerunner assemblies that produce technology that works in completely different ways than other mainstream forerunner tech, such as using advanced door technology and harnessing the scream energy from terrified slipspace children who are sleeping, and those slipspace children are actually the germinating seeds left behind by the super secret precursor Illuminati who are just precursors who are evil but don’t really do anything evil, due to the fact that they were all wiped out by the GlupoDidact who travelled back in time to prevent them from causing the intergalactic war with the sharquoi tribe led by Dan the Dauntless, who uses ancient Meddler technology to create a weapon identical to a 2020 Chevy Silverado as a hammer which can hurt people in 6/2ths of a octometer

[plush compass]

They weren’t in CE probably because the covenant armada in CE just didn’t have or didn’t want any brutes stationed with them (or they did have brute forces but they all died on reach) and they weren’t in the reclaimer saga because the covenant in 4/5 still believed in the great journey and probably that the brutes were all traitors and heretics for initiating the great schism

[empty bloom]

Not really. It's not worth the narrative leaps you'd need to make to explain their presence and it just serves to harm the galaxy's scope, which is very much something Halo suffers from lately.

In fact, them being announced as cast for the next Halo game would heavily shake my confidence in the potential story.

[meager pier]

The group/characters that I’m fairly confident that’ll appear will be Arbiter & the Swords of Sanghelios, with the signal of Zeta Halo being sent out at the end of Rubicon Protocol

[lapis dome]

do i need to delete my mods if i want to play norm campaign online on mcc

[empty bloom]

I feel the same way about the Arbiter and Swords in this case. Arby's got a lot of his own fires to put out right now, and I'd rather not sacrifice narrative consistency for shallow nostalgic fangrabs.

[lapis dome]

my fren invited but i dont want to get banned if i join

[empty bloom]

It made sense for him to show up in 5-Jul's army specifically was made to fight Thel, and the campaign was designed in a way where them fighting through the Covenant on Sanghelios alongside Thel served goals for both sides.

[meager pier]

I think that’s mainly why they had the signal go out in the book, to have UNSC+SoS vs the Banished in the next game

[empty bloom]

That has nothing to do with the SoS and everything to do with the UNSC.

And as I said-outside of cheap nostalgia cash-ins, there's not really a significant call for the Swords to actually get involved, especially if the ring is so far outside of known space that even the Banished, who still have slipspace capability, can't actually get anywhere due to the lack of star charts for that region of space.

You need a good reason to send people places, and the Swords are still dealing with their own hotspots and flare ups against the Banished on their own front door.

[meager pier]

The signal mixed with Thel & Atriox alluding to a future fight between their forces in Outcasts, they’re very much getting readers ready to see this clash happen
Just watched they’re gonna wanna have Thel in the next game

[empty bloom]

And if that happens, I doubt it'll be on Zeta Halo's ground.

If it is, I'll rightfully decry the inanity of the move.

Same as I'd do with shoehorning in Red Team.

[empty bloom]

Also, not really alluding to much. Atriox knows he's a threat, Thel knows Atriox is a threat, and Atriox' forces proceeded to screw around on Sanghelios' holdings with impunity. That doesn't mean much.

And yes, I read Outcasts. I don't see solid ground to base the alleged allusion there, regarding anything that wasn't already happening.

[meager pier]

Oh, I'm fairly confident they want Thel and Atriox to fight each other at some point mainly because they've seen fans talking about how a fight between them would go

[empty bloom]

It'll end up being Atriox versus Chief again.

Just like how Chief took out the guy who should've rightfully been Locke's boss fight.

[lapis dome]

...

[meager pier]

Actually, Jerome will come flying in and finish off Atriox 😉

[empty bloom]

Try asking out of lore chat. For the record, unless it's a trainer or hack, you'll be fine.

[lapis dome]

ok

[empty bloom]

Sure, and I bet he'll give Thel a high five.

[meager pier]

They'll all get schwarma afterwards

[empty bloom]

I understood that reference!

[meager pier]

I'm hopeful Lasky will appear in the next game
Would be cool to see Chief rendezvous with the UNSC

Let's get Halsey as well 🤞

[grave pollen]

What happened to the infinite narrative events?

[carmine sleet]

Only way I could see Red Team showing up in the story is by Chief and co heading to the Ark again (Either because of UNSC reinforcements or stealing a Banished ship), which is more logical than Red Team and Spirit of Fire coming to Zeta, or if we have a new story that focuses on Red Team's efforts on the Ark against the Banished forces there

[orchid kettle]

Scrapped

They've more or less been replaced by Waypoint Chronicles, which are little snippet stories from various corners of the Halo universe

but don't really further the story of the Academy that was happening before

[stoic hamlet]

Logically this would happen on the galaxy itself, with either Swords or Banished attacking each other’s holdings.

Not both sides just… deciding to go to Zeta.

As Trench says, it’s asinine. There’s no real basis for it.

[meager pier]

Oh I think they’re gonna be fighting across the galaxy
However, I still think they’re gonna wanna get Arbiter to Zeta Halo, they wanna have Chief and Arbiter teaming up again

[stoic hamlet]

We need less people going to Zeta or the Ark, lol.

Not more.

I see what you mean, to be clear.

It’s just not what I’d do.

[meager pier]

It’s where the party’s happening, everyone wants to show up 😄

I’d love to see Blue Team make their in-game return, but i don’t think that’ll happen

For better or worse, I don’t think Locke will ever appear in a mainline game

[empty bloom]

I mean, that's just entirely worse.

For several reasons.

[meager pier]

I think Locke could work, but it's a shame that after how things went in 5 and the criticism afterwards I think has made 343 go, "screw it, he won't be in major installments down the line"
Maybe he'll be in a spin-off

[empty bloom]

It's a clear kneejerk.

I don't like clear kneejerks.

[orchid kettle]

Locke kinda has the issue of his interesting character journey being backstory instead of, you know, story

Best you can do honestly is go back and show us that story from however long ago it was

[meager pier]

Not a fan of over reaction, the Locke thing is similar, not completely, but similar to how criticism to Arbiter in Halo 2 played a part in his story being severely reduced in Halo 3, with Arbiter becoming a supporting character rather than co-leads

[orchid kettle]

I feel like the difference is that the most important events of Arby's life are unfolding during Halo 2

While Locke's turn from a naughty oni assassin to a heroic paragon is largely left as implied history

[empty bloom]

Well, technically, he went from angsty anti-UNSC contract killer to naughty ONI assassin to heroic paragon

[orchid kettle]

Yeah, but for some reason, Locke's two stories have them as heroic paragon only

and that's kinda the least interesting to follow

Like Locke sounds like a dude who's supposed to have a whole trilogy of books about his journey

but they just don't exist

[empty bloom]

Now they never will :>

[orchid kettle]

I mean, yeah, kinda just goes to show that you can't start a character off as an already fully realized, actualized individual

Showing how they got there is the real meat

[empty bloom]

I still find it funny that there was a lot of the early guessing games regarding Locke started with thinking Locke was a woman.

Because he had a thigh gap.

[stoic hamlet]

It would have been especially interesting if he wasn’t a heroic paragon in the games.

But more cynical and realist.

I mean I guess John kind of fills that role now, a little. But he’s always been more clinical and mission focused.

[orchid kettle]

If there's any character who's wasted potential, I'd argue its Miranda

because she just is dead

[empty bloom]

I mean, she's still a better use now than she was originally.

[orchid kettle]

and it feels like there's supposed to be something going on with her perhaps feeling inferior to her war hero father

and thats why she's just a reckless idiot, charging head first into bad situations

[empty bloom]

I mean, I always considered her a glory hound and figured it'd be a wrinkle too... Competent and out of scope for Bungie, to have people actually call her out for it.

The most you get is Hood basically going 'wait, what? Why the hell is this Commander trying to chase this supercarrier with a Frigate?'

[orchid kettle]

Instead of dying to fill a quota, it feels like what Miranda needed was for someone to take her aside and tell her that the reason her father was great wasn't because he was dumb and bumrushed the enemy

But because he did what was needed to be done, yadda yadda, inspirational speech

have a character even mention Jacob's existence after Halo 2

Like, every other named character in the original trilogy got some pretty decent expansion of their character in the original run of novels

even Jenkins

[empty bloom]

Well, aside from Stacker and Banks.

[orchid kettle]

but Miranda is just left out to dry because what story can you really tell about somebody who died before they even realized they were supposed to be on a character arc

[empty bloom]

And Dubbo.

I like to think that the NMPD Cop that has Stacker's voice in ODST is actually Stacker's like, uncle or something.

Who retired from the UNSC only to get stuck in a Covenant invasion in Mombasa.

[orchid kettle]

humanity in Halo is actually super inbred and thats why it sounds like the same five dudes are in every battle

[stoic hamlet]

Memory Agent though elaborated on him a teeny bit.

Also brought back bestgirl Parisa.

[orchid kettle]

Parisa is good

but I dont like thinking about Palace Hotel

[meager pier]

Sgt Stacker, where’re you at?

[meager pier]

If Offensive Bias is in the next game, how do you hope he's implemented?

[carmine sleet]

Have them be a fake out villain/secondary villain that works with Chief by the end of the game

Like, they don't want to help Chief until they realise that the logical way to defeat the enemy is by teaming up with him

[meager pier]

I'm thinking he's gonna be very "we need to stop the Endless at all cost" and will be at odds with Chief in terms of how to get this done, with a reconciliation between the two at some point later in the game

[carmine sleet]

Aye, exactly

And the disagreement in methods is what makes him fight against Chief

[meager pier]

Speaking of the Endless, I hope they're handled like Tormentors in Lightfall
Appearing not as much as the main enemy force, but every time they appear, they're much more difficult of an encounter, and is quite the fight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IsfQdOLeAE

[carmine sleet]

Why you gotta remind me of D2 and how it took them three years to finally give us an enemy related to the Pyramid ships?

[last anchor]

And how much of an overall let down it was.
Lol.
So long as the fight isnt like the Warden...

[meager pier]

And technically we finally did get a Darkness species, just crammed into a single individual 😝

[carmine sleet]

Don't remind me, I dislike that decision for the big bad in Destiny so much

[last anchor]

Bungies tryin their best

[stoic hamlet]

It had so much potential

And then it’s just…. That.

[meager pier]

The Witness is basically President Business, on a Universal scale

[wise snow]

Were there any other Spartans present in New Mombasa or the surrounding area when the Covenant came?

[last anchor]

Not that we're aware of, no.

[versed helm]

Yo

[tribal trench]

I believe Linda went back to Earth with the Chief after the Alpha Halo incident

however I don’t think she was ever mentioned in any extended media after the Unyielding Hierophant

well

regarding Earth at least

[random igloo]

where can we send images

[tribal trench]

you can’t

[random igloo]

well

[tribal trench]

however you can use an image hosting site like Imgur and post the link here

[random igloo]

i need a weapon

[empty bloom]

Is the weapon in the form of a dated joke

[tribal trench]

¯_(ツ)_/¯

needed to copy that

[stoic hamlet]

Blue Team are mentioned as having fought all over Earth in the two weeks John spent in cryo on the In Amber Clad while heading to Delta Halo in Ghosts of Onyx: including but not limited to:

• underwater operations off the North American coastline

• operations in Antarctica

• operations in South America and the Caribbean

And we know at least some Spartan III’s were fighting in the Sol system, like Owen-B096

[tribal trench]

thanks

[stoic hamlet]

Any time~

[orchid kettle]

Its funny how Hunt the Truth frames the battle of Earth as just Chief defending New Mombasa and heroically driving the aliens off

when ODST shows us that like, 12 hours later, there were already more Covenant ships arriving

And of course, fighting clearly continues to happen for the next few weeks or however long it takes Chief to come back

[last anchor]

Months, actually.

The battle we see during the end of Halo 2 is the same fight, continued. The Battle of Earth raged until the portal was unearthed and Truth took every last ship he had with him
There were Brute straglers all over the place afterwards apparently, so they just...left whole packs behind I guess?

[stoic hamlet]

Technically it ended in mid December.

[last anchor]

That was when the fighting on the Ark stopped right

[stoic hamlet]

Earth went on a little longer, from memory.

[orchid kettle]

no it was when we turned Glyke into a memory

[dusk jetty]

“Skill issue. Cya in hell.”

-prophet of truth to these brutes, probably

[patent heron]

[orchid kettle]

But yeah, all things considered, it sounds like a pretty large, long battle that we only really see snippets of

Like, a couple months is more or less how long Reach lasted

Nevermind how the rest of Sol went down, since we know Mars and Luna got attacked

but I don't think we're told much else

[quiet shoal]

Is SPI’s strength closer to a mjolnir or odst bdu

[carmine sleet]

ODST BDUs, Mjolnir is leagues better than SPI

Granted the Mirage armour exists and is kinda like SPI but up to the standards of Mjolnir

Since it has energy shields and whatnot

[orchid kettle]

Well as far as we know, ODST BDUs dont augment your strength at all

SPI also has those fancy rift gauntlets that increase their grip strength on top of the SPI's usual exoframe

Which may be how the IIIs can snap Elites in half without MJOLNIR

they may just have that kung fu action grip

[stoic hamlet]

SPI does augment strength, just not as much as MJOLNIR. ODST doesn’t augment strength period.

[orchid kettle]

dat halo 5 concept art tho

[stoic hamlet]

Mhm. Absolute shame it never got used.

[orchid kettle]

who knows if the idea of ODSTs in HULC suits post-war is even canon

considering we've never seen a post-war design beyond the H2A design

[stoic hamlet]

On the topic of SPI though, technically it’s more like MJOLNIR than anything else.

I mean, by the end of the war every suit is basically a smorgasbord of each other.

SPI has MJOLNIR pieces, MJOLNIR has SPI aspects, both use stuff from other BDU’s, etc.

[orchid kettle]

I kinda wonder if Nightfall exists because ODSTs were planned to be in 5 and have cool exoskeletons

[stoic hamlet]

And then MIRAGE [GEN1] exists.

[orchid kettle]

but nightfall doesn't really look like the concept art at all

We also have mention of other exoskeletons designed for normies, like OSTEO or Project ARTAIUS

So it might just be the case that after a certain point, exoskeletons just aren't that rare

[stoic hamlet]

Mhm.

There’s an unofficial… “saying”(?) not the right word, by some at 343 where they treat “MJOLNIR” as essentially a catch all in-universe for a certain weight class of powered armour.

Like how you have say… “Hoover” is a specific brand of vacuum cleaner, but many just use it as a catch all term.

Mirage is explicitly not MJOLNIR, it doesn’t come from MJOLNIR’s development pipeline and etc. it’s stated to be from another “architectural family”.

But it’s still considered “MJOLNIR” in-universe.

[orchid kettle]

so, normies can wear Mirage

and that counts as wearing MJOLNIR

[stoic hamlet]

Well, two types of MIRAGE… maybe three.

Mirage [GEN3] has less strenuous augmentation requirements. But you still need to be augmented.

SPI can be worn by anyone.

Mirage [GEN1] we don’t know.

[orchid kettle]

That's kinda the confusing part

who are these half-Spartans

(also have they really not found out a way to construct the super special crystal layer so that it DOESN'T snap bones in two?)

Oh there's also another weird tidbit in Halo 5 where it says Air Assault suits were once considered for unaugmented Delta-Six personnel

And, I, uh, have no clue if that's supposed to mean that GEN2 (but only Air Assault for whatever reason) works for normies

Hellbringers have dialogue as well that imply they're wearing exos themselves, which is interesting considering they're dudes using tech from 2531

[wanton notch]

abominations that should be retconned tbh

[orchid kettle]

Spartan 1.1s confirmed

👌

I honestly kinda would be down to retcon Spartan 1.1s out of existence just so people would stop thinking Forge is one

[runic wharf]

Which Forge? Rion?

[orchid kettle]

John Forge

His dad had Boren's Syndrome which is basically code for being an ORION candidate

since its not really clear that Boren's Syndrome was a real condition before it was used to cover up neurological oddities present in former ORIONs

Forge fought an Elite and won, so naturally fans are quick to attribute that to him being superhuman

(even though it's really more like Ripa defeated himself)

[runic wharf]

Him being particularly resilient is what have folks put him down as a 1.1

I mean, taking a 1400N gut punch is a bit

Well, intense

[orchid kettle]

Yeah but that punch is also aimed directly into his armor

though I like to think Forge was mortally wounded from that anyway and that's partially why he was so quick to volunteer himself for the sacrifice

[runic wharf]

I could see that

[orchid kettle]

Spartan 1.1 is also just a weird concept, especially now

According to the latest encyclopedia, successful ORION augmentees received relatively minor benefits from the program

and were otherwise indistinguishable from the average Marine without conducting some invasive medical tests

And this fits with how Johnson is portrayed in Contact Harvest

Chief punches a man, that man dies

Johnson punches a man, that man just has a bloody nose

He's just not overtly superhuman

Hell, Spartan 1.1s apparently cant get drunk because their body filters it out too fast or whatever

But Johnson is drunk when he flies into that rage and punches the bouncer

so the 1.1s abilities just don't line up with them merely inheriting their parent's superpowers

its apparently because ONI did a super secret augmentation procedure on them as newborn babies and nobody noticed

even though spartan augs seem like they take an extended amount of time to complete

and have never been done on babies

Also Forge is way older than the other Spartan 1.1s, because even though their parents should be in their 80's like Johnson was in 2552, they're still plucky teenagers

[shadow dragon]

Anyone else wanna see Red team, Blue Team, Fire Team Osiris and the Arbiter fight along side the Chief against the Banished?

[carmine sleet]

All in one game?

[stoic hamlet]

Ditch Arby and Osiris.

Add Grey, Naomi and Omega, for the II’s reunion.

[carmine sleet]

Grey Team my beloved... Oh how I need a game about them

[meager pier]

Imagine if Blue Team, Red Team, and Gray Team all reunite

[shadow dragon]

Why Ditch Arby?

[meager pier]

What was done to Black Team was totally disgraceful

[stoic hamlet]

He’s not an S-II~

[shadow dragon]

Ok? And? Arby is cool. Chief and him are good bubs

[patent heron]

arby is rad asf

[stoic hamlet]

Ye, but I was just bringing in the other S-II’s, as Red Team otherwise feels like kind of a weird inclusion without the rest.

[shadow dragon]

Ahhh. I just poppin in the convo lol

my b

[stoic hamlet]

Nah you’re good fren~

[lone plover]

what the range of assault rifle in cannon?

[tribal trench]

probably similar to the range of the modern SCAR-H

[orchid kettle]

Hovers somewhere around 300m-500m depending on who you ask

the 500m is kinda an extrapolation from Halo Oblivion that I honestly don't 100% think should be taken as hard confirmation

[stoic hamlet]

Effective range and maximum range are two different things, as well

[quiet shoal]

Effective range is like 20-50 feet

According to combat ebolved gameplay

Not to be taken seriously btw

[last anchor]

Look up the ballistic tragectory capabilities of the 7.62x51mm NATO and go from there.

Bump it up a bit based on the presumption powder composition has been massively improved in 500 years

[stray hamlet]

https://images.app.goo.gl/9RYcUGZmLywnwmUZ6

What exactly is this wallscroll depicting? I see it in Halo 3 merch and promos but I don't know what is happening in this photo.

[empty bloom]

The Ark portal opening.

[arctic ginkgo]

People who Have every halo book👇

[stoic hamlet]

I will in one month.

[meager pier]

Let's travel overseas 😁 😱

[stoic hamlet]

I do need a vacation

[rich token]

343i please give me the mark iv for season 6 please

i need it

[carmine sleet]

I don't see how saying that in this channel is gonna help you get Mark IV

Plus, whatever armour is planned for season 6 is most likely close to finished and ready for release by now

[ripe dagger]

Is it just me or do the forerunners seem like jerks other than the Librarian.

[tribal trench]

they were

[unique rune]

is kind of the point

[tribal trench]

They considered themselves the pinnacle of existence

[orchid kettle]

I dare say the Librarian is still a jerk

just in a more condescending, creepy way

[ripe dagger]

Yeah which is kinda dumb because the Precursors created them and the entire universe

[ruby canopy]

I would argue that just because something or someone was created doesn’t mean they can’t surpass their creator

Like ai and humans. Ai is vastly superior

[surreal glen]

The entire conflict began because of the Forerunner's arrogance

[ruby canopy]

Same thing with the created conflict

[ripe dagger]

Valid point there never thought about it like that

[surreal glen]

I thought it was pretty obvious

The story of Halo that we have been following is a mirrored version of the original conflict

[carmine sleet]

Define surpass in this context. Because I wouldn't call trying to wipe out your creators and subjugating the other species of the galaxy a good thing the Forerunners did

[surreal glen]

The Forerunners had their moment of clarity and redemption when they decided to die during the activation of the rings while letting all the other species come back to repopulate the universe after the Flood had been dealt with.
The fans who support the "Forerunners are human" argument don't understand that going for that first idea completely ruins the original conflict by not making the Forerunners a different species and instead just have humanity exist, go extinct and then come back later

[orchid kettle]

if they're so special how come they cant live past seven years and can't reproduce

at least, reproduce without making a fragmented, faulty copy of themselves that probably has an even shorter lifespan

[surreal glen]

That's just human AIs

Forerunner AIs are immortal

[orchid kettle]

yeah but those may not be fully sentient

i dunno its weird

[ruby canopy]

Perhaps technological limits or limits installed by humans to make sure those things don’t happen

[orchid kettle]

GS turned out to be a digitized human

which is effectively what a smart AI already is

[ruby canopy]

Overall intelligence. Creativity, memory, processing speed/power

[surreal glen]

You have to understand that in the present of Halo, humanity is very behind on technology

At least compared to their rivals

[ruby canopy]

In my personal belief. I don’t think anything in life is better than the other or can ‘surpass’ another. I suppose surpass in this instance just means more dominant species/thing. And intelligence seems to be the most important trait for that, if humans are any example

[meager pier]

Though Precursors are vastly superior to everything, where even the Forerunners can't comprehend their existence
Outcasts implies that they may actually exist outside of space and time

[ruby canopy]

I suppose vastly superior in like understanding the universe/ space and time, or creating it if they did. But it makes me wonder how they were so defenseless to the forerunners for all of their intelligence

[meager pier]

I actually do think they created the Universe
The reason they didn't strike back is they were curious to see what the Forerunners would do, and how far they'd go, a scientific curiosity
Plus, corporeal death means nothing for them, as that's not their true existence

[ruby canopy]

I’m curious about their creation of the flood. Was that an accident? I thought that was their act of revenge to the forerunners. But I honestly can’t remember now

If it was an act of revenge it leads me to believe they were defenseless. If it was an accident then I could see how letting the forerunners continue with slaughtering was more of a scientific curiosity

Or maybe they weren’t defenseless but just had one hell of an idea for revenge I guess

[meager pier]

It seems to be an accident, however, some speculate that the Primordial planned for this to happen
The Flood wasn't really created by the Precursors, but a form of the Precursors, as they live and die in multiple corporeal life forms

[ruby canopy]

Very interesting . Well, I have to take back them being surpassed

Maybe they still can be.But I imagine the forerunners and ancient humans weren’t that close

If ai were left off their chains it makes me wonder how close they could get

[meager pier]

Even AI couldn't, as there was a Precursor AI named Abaddon, that, while powerful, doesn't even close to the nature of the Precursors themselves

[ruby canopy]

Either abaddon was a very kind/content intelligence, or had limitations placed

[meager pier]

With the Precursors likely existing outside space and time, I imagine even the greatest AI wouldn't be able to understand that, let alone combat that

[ruby canopy]

An insanely intelligent ai with access to domain and just guards it

I think from examples of the forerunners and humans, where both of their ai becomes more powerful than them. And with the real world fact that mechanical processing is much faster than biological, I just can’t see the precursors not having the ability to create an ai more powerful than they are

Unless precursors are some kind of mechanical being. I’m glad we don’t have much information on the precursors for the mystery, but it is super hard to speculate not knowing a damn thing about them

[meager pier]

I think they are mind/consciousness, which even AI would be like "huh?"

[umbral summit]

Are the aliens racist

In halo

Like do they hate each other

[orchid kettle]

Kinda yeah

the covenant have a whole caste system going on with Prophets on top, Elites as their right hand man

and everybody else is kinda varying levels of subjugated

[carmine sleet]

It's important to note that, like humans, the different alien species of the Halo universe don't share singular thoughts. Individuals have their own thoughts and feelings about the other species and the events that led them to the various alliances and factions that exist

Like yes, there are plenty of aliens that despise humanity, even after the war

But there's plenty that are interested in cooperation with humanity, whether that be for money or to the benefit of both species

[meager pier]

Here's a fun though experiment, where do you think the series would've gone if Bungie had been able to have the entire 3rd act to Halo 2 that Joe Staten originally intended? I think it would've been about Humanity and members of the splintered Covenant joining forces to stop the Flood

[empty bloom]

https://tenor.com/view/that70s-show-oh-is-that-what-were-gonna-do-today-were-gonna-fight-red-forman-gif-16369724

[meager pier]

Nothing to fight about, it's a fun discussion

I could've seen after whatever Halo 3 might've been, we could've gone back in the time of the Forerunners, as was the premise of the long cancelled MMO Titan https://www.halopedia.org/Titan_(canceled_game)

[ruby canopy]

I’m not sure about that. Could be, but thinking too much about consciousness has me saying that too. What constitutes consciousness and if ai are capable of it, is quite a can of worms

[meager pier]

This is just my spinfoil theory, so nothing official, but my theory is that the Precursors are mind/though/consciousness and through their thought, they brought the Universe into existence, and from that, they wanted to experience the Universe they began as countless lifeforms

[ruby canopy]

That is an interesting theory. That sounds like the universe is a simulation of sorts. I often wonder if the precursors are the end all be all of the universe, or if they had a creator as well

That is a nice one though. The fact that they simply just wanted to experience what they created seems almost playful in a sense

[meager pier]

In Halo, there are confirmed to be other universes (not the comic version of multiverse though it seems), as shown in Last Light, Forerunner reaction drives destroy newly formed universes to get vacuum energy (vacuum energy is a real science) to power their stuff
I think Precursors may be responsible for all universes, as they're described as wanting nothing more than to create

[ruby canopy]

That makes sense. If they are responsible for this universe I would suspect they have made others. Though I never knew that it was confirmed within halo that there are other universes

[meager pier]

@ruby canopy This is a little piece of lore that's freaky and borderline Lovecraftian, there are large masses in space called "anchors" that Forerunner ships would vanish, and when they returned, the crew were so traumatized by what they saw or experienced, that they would need extensive therapy to return to normal

[ruby canopy]

Dear lord. If that don’t make you wonder wtf

[meager pier]

Gonna be interesting to see what Precursor stuff might be revealed in coming games, as the evidence is leaning towards the Endless are either Precursors or a species uplifted by the Precursors and are carrying out their goals

[sonic lagoon]

How are the flood affected by radiation and acid?

[empty bloom]

They likely don't care about either very much.

[dusk jetty]

Probably not a whole lot. They are still “living” in the practical sense, so maybe a little more resilient. Fire and cold temps seems to be their weakness.

[versed helm]

Not all to sure if this should go here but wouldn’t it make sense from a lore perspective to play odst before 3? The ending of odst sets up 3 so it only makes sense, this is for a friend btw

[carmine sleet]

Yes but it's not like you need to play ODST to understand Halo 3

[sonic lagoon]

What about acid looks like in doom? How would they fare against such acid?

[unique rune]

I mean. Acid is acid. What with the Flood being a living and constantly adapting and reacting being, it can synthesize what it needs to shield itself from and neutralize acid.

[atomic rampart]

What I belive the flood to be is humanity's trial by the precursors, the forerunners were simply the catalyst for the flood's creation, if Humanity fails then the flood triumphs & Humanity is devoured, should Humanity succeed than it will receive the mantle of responsibility, but what do I know lmao

[obsidian thistle]

Ah mine and Bacons personal research project.

We occasionally try and find Halo MMO stuff.

Only reason that page is decent is due mine and his research.

[sonic lagoon]

How does it do that? Do you mean like the crawlers bunching up to decrease damage?

[unique rune]

Uhhh no I just mean organic synthesis and secretion

The Flood could produce mucus or some other similar substance to protect against an acid attack until it can produce a basic substance to neutralize whatever acid is being applied

[empty bloom]

Some of the Hazmat armors do also express the distinct possibility that flood forms can utilize neurotoxins and such.

[meager pier]

The project might’ve been interesting, especially how they would’ve had it set during the Forerunner era, yet the Covenant species would have their Covenant weapons
Makes me believe UNSC and Covenant would’ve gone back in time to the era of the Forerunners and all the craziness that would ensue

[obsidian thistle]

I just find it sad that people judge it on the concepts (That were given a level of "this is a mix of stuff that will and wont be in the MMO") and not the stuff me and Bacon later found that give a better picture of that project.

[meager pier]

And a lot of the art pieces was more about tossing ideas around in the early development section, not what the final game might’ve looked like
What I do wonder is if Joe would’ve consulted on the story department of the game

[obsidian thistle]

I adore the Brute and Jackal models!

(Especially that gravity hammer)

https://www.halopedia.org/images/9/9f/MMO_GravityHammer.jpg?20201002173210

Look at it

Its beautiful

Gives a Fist of Rukt vibe that later hammers lost.

(Honestly... while I adore the new hammers, I do wish there were others like that)

[meager pier]

@obsidian thistle The designs that I’m curious are those little elven aliens dubbed “demon”

[wise snow]

So i replayed halo 2 for the first time since I first played it and I was wondering what the “I am a monument to all of your sins” line from the gravemind is supposed to mean

Is there any meaning to it?

[surreal glen]

It can be interpreted in different ways

Keep in mind Halo has a lot of biblical references

In the Bible there is a great flood caused by the wrath of God which caused a reset for the world, only saved by Noah's ark
Coincidentally, Precursors created the Flood as a punishment for the Forerunner's arrogance and they nearly caused the end of the universe if not because of the construction of the Ark (wink wink) and the Halo rings

As for why he refers to himself as the monument to your sins when talking to the Chief, who is human, is probably because of Bungie's original (and scrapped) idea that the Forerunners were human

[wise snow]

Ah, I’ve heard of some of these details but never put them together, thank you!

I always figured the idea of the forerunners being human would’ve been cool

[orchid kettle]

The Gravemind seems to also consider the firing of the Halo rings themselves as a sin, which makes sense

Human Weakness from Halo Evolutions makes it seem like the Gravemind's goal is to unite all life, effectively granting them all immortality inside him

Creating a "paradise on earth", so to speak

so naturally he'd be pretty annoyed that the Forerunners were in his way, and they went as far as to kill trillions just to stop him

that is if he truly believes in that goal, of course

but I dunno, I think that makes the Flood kinda spookier if they have benevolent intentions

[surreal glen]

What the Flood seeks has some merit to their own twisted manner
If everything and everyone is part of the Flood, then every conflict would be over
It would suck tho

[orchid kettle]

but it involves ripping you apart and mutating your body

while your mind joins the collective

[orchid kettle]

honestly you could argue its not that different than just everybody being composed and getting to hang out in the Domain

[surreal glen]

It becomes complicated because the Flood is what remains of the Precursors

And

[orchid kettle]

the Didact seems to be having an afterlife of sorts after all

[surreal glen]

Precursors are the gods and creators of life in this universe

[orchid kettle]

actually, now that I think about it

this kinda just sounds like the Great Journey

get zapped by a superweapon, hang out in "Heaven" forever

"Heaven" being the ancient alien internet

[surreal glen]

That is a cool concept

That every faction is fighting for similar goals but with different methods

[runic wharf]

Honestly

I think the flood know and intend Misery

It Is punishment; Recompense for what happened

But in the punishment, you will have unity, liberation from death, and ultimately be just one being, one will, across the cosmos

You Get your happy ending through misery

A shared, all-encompassing, all-devouring, never-ending misery

For what does misery need but company

[meager pier]

It's unknown if the Domain is actually an afterlife of sorts, as the Librarian tells Chakas in Renegades that his friends aren't actually in the Domain, but actually his memories of them/echoes

[sonic lagoon]

Would this mucus be like the green liquid from that Halo CE level?

[unique rune]

I mean, it could be? Or it’s just… mucus. Like the kind that your own stomach produces so it doesn’t digest itself.

[sonic lagoon]

Would color would it be?

[hot zodiac]

The green liquid is reactor coolant from the Truth and Reconciliation.

[unique rune]

Probably colorless, given that healthy mucus tends to not have any color.

In any case I’m just spitballing based on what I assume how the Flood might react to an acid attack given some of the things that actual biological systems do to protect themselves from highly acidic conditions.

[sonic lagoon]

How would the flood excrete said mucus? Mucus membranes?

[unique rune]

Hell if I know

The Flood is weird biologically and its cells are functionally very flexible

It might need to develop specialized mucous membranes, it might not

[sonic lagoon]

Do the flood not have digestive enzymes?

Other than the combat forms.

Leftover from their bodies.

[dusk jetty]

Leftover? Probably, but I doubt flood need digestive enzymes. It’s possible they would enzymes during the infection process, because they use different parts of the body to change another, so they would need some way of breaking it down, then building it back up.

[last anchor]

They just mutate whatever they come into contact with into more Flood Super Cell

[runic wharf]

omnomnom, biomass

[carmine sleet]

I don't think eating Flood biomass is a good idea

[sonic lagoon]

If the flood don’t eat, what do they do? Absorb?

[vast oracle]

i want to say the flood consumes kind of like mold, it assimilates cell by cell until only it remains in the biomass. that's just my theory

[dense falcon]

So I was cleaning up some tables and it somehow got me thinking

In Halo 2, where Cortana mentions she needs to stay behind to ensure High Charity blows up if Delta Halo is activated, couldn't she just have left a sub-routine behind to do that and the original copy leave with the Master Chief safely?

A sub-routine would've ensured:

• Cortana's original plan and parameters towards the mission would be executed
• The capital city of the Covenant would be destroyed, ensuring a path to their downfall before Halo 3
• Contain the outbreak of Flood and subsequent transfer of the Gravemind, giving it nowhere else to go, or at least forcing it to rely on smaller ships.
• The sub-routine would be deleted as soon as High Charity blew up, following Cole Protocol.

I remember from Last Light that AIs don't like to be fragmented, but Cortana left a sub-routine to land the Pillar of Autumn safely, and for what we know, Cortana never recovered that part of herself and it didn't seem to bother. Hell the sub-routine may count as a dumb AI but it would still get the job done.

[hot zodiac]

If you believe Cortana, she wanted to leave nothing to chance. She also seemed pretty keen on talking to the Gravemind.

[orchid kettle]

I think also at this point in the series, we haven't really explored the idea of AI being able to split themselves in order to accomplish different tasks independently of their other pieces

like Cortana gets the power to replicate herself in First Strike by taking it from the Covenant AI aboard the ship, but its clearly full of drawbacks

but yeah going by the power set AIs have later on, Cortana has very little reason to ever actually leave the armor

[surreal glen]

Cortana also had to fight Mendicant Bias to get control over the systems in High Charity

[sly wave]

Wasnt that part of mendicant supposed to be on the keyship tho?

[next rapids]

didnt keyes just crash it into a cliff by himself

[sly wave]

He did but the subroutine was still active, i belive its in the book (the flood) that once PoA finally made it down the subroutine made a broadcast to all the troops

I dont think they really mention it afterwards tho, maybe but idk

[next rapids]

fortnite rizz???????

is fortnite canon in halo

actually

[dense falcon]

He did, but at the last seconds before the crash he ordered his crew to give all control to Cortana's sub-rourine.

[sly wave]

Ah forgot abt that part of the book💀

Eh it's noon and i havent slept since 2pm on thursday i dont have enough brain cells to rember stuff

[latent olive]

I have a question.
Is there a difference between the marines suits/armor from halo CE and Halo 2?
Like how master chief went from MKV to the MKVI, did the marines have a similar change, or is it still technically the same mark of armor, just different design?

[dense falcon]

Marine uniform is different than Spartan armor. It can have mixed designs and pieces. You can't really put "Mark" on it

But, to answer your question, the armor plates became a lot less exposed in Halo 2

[latent olive]

So, game accurately, they still technically use the same armor from CE in halo 2?

[dense falcon]

It's armor you have to give to thousands of soldiers in different kinds of ops that have different requirements, not all of it is going to be the same

Here's an excerpt from Halopedia

"While different iterations of the BDU feature different armor models, all possess roughly equivalent durability. Lighter body armor, such as the ballistic assault vest, is used in lieu of standard-issue gear during some operations."

[latent olive]

Okay, cause the reason I’m asking is that I’m remaking CE into a movie, and I was going to use H2A marines, just didn’t want to receive any hate for my decision haha.

[carmine sleet]

I don't think people are gonna hate on it if you used marines from H2A

[latent olive]

Positive 👍

[orchid kettle]

https://halo.wiki.gallery/images/thumb/c/c2/HW_Render_Infantry_1920-crop.jpg/1600px-HW_Render_Infantry_1920-crop.jpg

The H2A marine reuses the Halo Wars design, which itself I think was meant to be a reinterpretation of CE

You got that classic brown and tan coloring, the helmet shape is closer to to CE than the newly released 3

They both probably feature the most actual coverage,

With armor on the thighs and forearms

Of course the Reach design also seems like it's trying to be a new take on the CE Marine, given the return of the green eye piece, similar coloration, and just the general fact that the game is a prequel to CE

but while HW is going for a stylish, action figure-like design philosphy, Reach is trying to be more grounded and tacticool

Its honestly hard to pinpoint with the Marines which designs are meant to be new uniforms in-universe, and what is just a design change between games

Apparently Halo Uprising is like the only time we've ever seen Halo 2 and Halo 3 marine designs used at the same time

though the Halo 2 body armor is called the "M52B", which I guess naturally implies the existence of an older M52?

[last anchor]

Or a variation of it intended for a different role

[orchid kettle]

ODSTs arent much better tbh

but i guess at least with them, fans have more or less settled into H3 or H2A camps

[surreal glen]

I blame that on Halo 2

Halo CE gave marines a sci-fi look with a grayish uniform clearly inspired by Aliens

But Halo 2 changed them to standard military green uniforms

[orchid kettle]

Yeah Halo 2 in general wanted the UNSC to look a lot more tacticool

Its why everything is a dull olive drab and the guns are black bricks

[stoic hamlet]

I think H2A is a great compromise myself.

If they just had the eye pieces and goggles both it’d be great. Peak marine design.

[last anchor]

So long as we've permenantly stepped away from the Halo 4 design, Im good. I was not a fan of the helmets and weird ballistic padding in 4.

[empty bloom]

I liked that look.

[obsidian thistle]

Uprising is a weird thing aha

Stuff change designs between issues

Its wild cause you know that is partly due to stuff getting pushed back.

Took a year and a half for all 4 issues to get released.

Issues 1 and 2 clearly use a more Halo 2 focus with a slight Halo 3 theming.

With 3 and 4 using a lot more Halo 3 stuff cause the game was out for awhile at that point

[meager pier]

I hope we get a comic in the near future, that as well as a spin-off 🤞

[obsidian thistle]

Almost 5 years since the last unique Halo comic thing

April 3, 2019 was when the last issue of Lone Wolf released.

Kinda makes me a lil sad

This is the longest period we have had since comic releases

(And weirdly the longest we haven't had a comic release in series history. Took 4.7 years from the release of TFoR to get the first one. Which is the old record)

[meager pier]

Something that'd be awesome if we get a comic that further expands on the war on Zeta Halo

[fossil imp]

im thinking of getting more into the halo lore. What would be a good comic or book to start?

[carmine sleet]

The Fall of Reach is a good place to begin

[terse swallow]

question, is there any spartan "B356"

i posted some art in https://discord.com/channels/471722331820130324/1195955575968776284

and i wanna double check if i got it right

[vague meadow]

Hi

[carmine sleet]

We don't have any known Spartan with that designation in canon as of now, though given how Beta company started off with 418, it's possible there is a Spartan III out there with B-356 as their number

[terse swallow]

ok cool! so it fits into lore

[carmine sleet]

Aye

[obsidian thistle]

I will however say!

Do you have a specific thing you are interested in?

Cause I have a few routes you can go

There is the Halo Mythos route! That is effectively a TLDR of the universe up to Halo Wars 2. That should in theory give you a taste of a lotta stories released up to that point and if any take your fancy... you can just ask!

If you are interested from the start! The 4 "The Original Series" novels are a great start! Most Halo fiction grows of that! (Just make sure you get the 2019 releases)

You could pick a random series that you may be interested in! I just dont recommend the Forerunner Saga until you are familiar with some Halo media

You could go head first into Halo: The Rubicon Protocol!

Thats the main tie in to Halo Infinite atm. And doesn't require a lotta prior understanding of Halo media to get it!

[sonic lagoon]

So is anything in Halo cold resistant?

[daring viper]

what do elites eat??

[carmine sleet]

There's plenty of armour and clothing designed for dealing with cold environments that exists in Halo, such as Mjolnir or the armour worn by Cryo Troopers

[carmine sleet]

Livestock from their homeworld and their colonies as well as various non-meat based foods they produce

[daring viper]

is anything specific mentioned

[dense falcon]

A grain called irukan, fruit, livestock meat from an animal called Colo

These are basics listed by Jul 'Mdama during his time imprisoned in a human facility

There's also another animal called Kuscatu

[orchid kettle]

I always got the sense that they'd be big on seafood

you know, because they're Space Japan

[fossil imp]

I am more interested in the ancient lroe the ones that I beleive created the forerunners if I have that correct, the precursors

[last anchor]

The Colo is also mentioned in the audio logs in 5.
According to them, they smell.

[last anchor]

Sangheilios has large and very dangerous oceans. The Sangheili were oceanic navigators long before they took to the stars.

Rtas remembers accidentally stepping on posions sea urchin equivilents in Shadow of Intent

[dusty pilot]

imagine if noble team went to Halo on the Autumn.

[stoic hamlet]

Not much would change grand scheme, I don’t think.

Maybe they’d have been able to evac with the T&R like the survivors planned

[last anchor]

Alpha Halo might have been slightly more interesting

[orchid kettle]

It honestly always felt like Elites cared a whole lot more about being a sailor than actually being a boots on the ground soldier

given how every important named Elite character is a shipmaster or fleetmaster or whatever

and obviously Nylund has them as not even showing themselves directly until 2552 in the original print of Fall of Reach

and it sure seems unlikely that every ship before then was purely manned by Jackals

[last anchor]

I think that has more to do with the Covenant being a space based nation than anything really.

[orchid kettle]

It also just never really made sense to me that a warrior race would think its dishonorable to ever bleed

but it perhaps makes a little more sense if they largely think of warfare as sitting in your comfy chair and shooting lasers at heretics

[empty bloom]

Which makes it weird that elites hate being seraph pilots.

[pallid knoll]

is that why we only see them in Reach?

[wise snow]

Could there be small factions of Forerunners or ancient humans that exist outside of the galaxy? I read somewhere that many fled the galaxy before the firing of the rings.

[opal trellis]

So i just played through infinite, i know i am abit late to the party there, but i got a few questions lorewise i cannot find answer to by googling

• who is helping master chief and the weapon throughout the campaign there are a few times where someone is helping them, like opening the teleporter at the end of auditorium etc. is it just remnants of cortana or ? like this one bugs me the most, because its referenced quite a few times something is helping them but we never get the answer.
• why is the harbinger an endless ? their cylix dont look alike at all, and from what i can find on reddit and on articles no one really go into debth about it except maybe saying the endless are multiple races or the harbinger was researched on so she look different.

[surreal glen]

The first one is not confirmed, it was intentionally unexplained in the story, but the most theorized thing is that it was an AI, potentially Mendicant Bias

As for the second one, yes, the cylix does look like her

[opal trellis]

i mean at the ending the "endless" cylix we see atriox find doesnt look like the harbingers cylix and they call the harbinger race for xalanyn, why have 2 names for them. i can only see that being the reason if the theory that the endless are multiple spieces, but all the cylix atriox find at the end are the same icon

[surreal glen]

The cylix Atriox finds at the end is not one of a Xalanyn

[opal trellis]

but the harbinger is a xalanyn correct? and people call her an endless what i am confused about

[meager pier]

She is Xalanyn, we don’t know why her Cylix has a different icon on it
I’m guessing it’s because she was as part of the ruling class

[stoic hamlet]

We do technically se a Seraph in H2, just not flying. And we see a few in H3 before the Ark battle begins

Seraphs are heavy fighters meant for space combat, they don’t do well in atmosphere and Banshees are better for ground assault

[scarlet quiver]

From my understanding, yes. It leaves the possibility open that 343 could write other Forerunners into future stories and games.

As for ancient humans, that would be very intriguing.
Pretty sure we would all buy that book.

[meager pier]

For a spin-off game, would you like a game set during the Human-Forerunner War? I think that could allow for some great avenues both story-wise and gameplay

[abstract wren]

I would'nt want that. I would prefer a more gritty story like against Insurectionnist of during the foundation of the UNSC.

[meager pier]

The Insurrections didn’t really begin until the late 25th century, the UNSC was founded n 2163

But I understand what you’re saying
I would like a game like that as well, nothing stopping Microsoft from allowing both games to be made

[abstract wren]

I'm not saying otherwise.

[meager pier]

1 game that would also be a fun installment is getting to play as Gray Team in some more subdued and covert game

[carmine sleet]

Grey Team mentioned!!! I have been summoned!!!

I'm actually (Extremely slowly because I have life and also been kinda lazy about it) working on a level featuring Grey Team

But yeah, give me more Grey Team

[carmine sleet]

I have no interest in seeing games set during that period when the Forerunners reigned over the galaxy

[meager pier]

@carmine sleet Not just Gray Team, would be cool if a game starring Black Team was made

[sonic lagoon]

Do genetic hybrids exist in Halo?

[meager pier]

Genetic hybrids as in what? Human and other species? No

[carmine sleet]

I need to read the Black Team comics to properly decide if I want a game based on them

[last anchor]

Nor are they possible I would assume.

[orchid kettle]

Black Team kinda have the same issue as Blue, where they can largely be defined by one or two character traits and thats about it

but they're also dipped pretty thoroughly in donut steel sauce, considering they're supposed to be super duper top secret Spartans that not even the other Spartans know survived the augs so they can be ONI's personal attack dog

even though, I dunno, the two missions we see them on don't really seem to be all that different than what Spartans do normally

[orchid kettle]

oh and they're in a super cool prototype suit of MJOLNIR to explain why they all look like they're wearing Mark VI before Mark VI was a thing

though what fans seem to be really hung up on is how two members of Black team used to be romantically involved as teenagers

which I dunno why that's all that strange when we have since learned about characters like Soren and Daisy and how much they break the mold when it comes to typical IIs

[wanton notch]

Black Team could've been cool but ||they got wiped pretty easily||

[ruby canopy]

Wiped pretty easily by the forerunner’s best warrior

Pretty important detail considering that a grunt has a better chance of killing master chief head on than chief does the didact

[empty bloom]

No, you don't get it, a Spartan II should be able to solo the god of monothiestic settings.

[orchid kettle]

to be fair, Didact very specifically gets a -900% debuff to his intelligence whenever Chief is within twenty feet of him

[scarlet quiver]

This would make a great book series actually.
Or video format.

I would be all about it.

[plush compass]

Why wasn’t Blue Team at the award ceremony at the beginning of Halo 2?

[empty bloom]

They were off receiving their own armor briefs and getting mental health checkups, apparently.

[dusk jetty]

Also got pulled off by an ONI agent who tried to interview them without authorization iirc

[stoic hamlet]

They were debriefing FLEETCOM about First Strike.

[surreal glen]

Yes, what better story to tell than one about the origin of the objects which this very franchise is named after

I also passionately dream about a prequel game where Johnson is the protagonist, maybe during the first Human-Covenant war years in Harvest

[quick stump]

Halo lore good

👍

[tight saddle]

Haha yes nice nice teo

[silent tiger]

does rakshasa have shields? There's 0 emitters on the armor

and the armor is surprisingly modular, they'd have to explain how the shields would warp around the additions to the armor

and there's no fusion generator/battery that I've seen, yet I think it's "semi-powered" like SPI/Mirage IIC

[empty bloom]

Rakshasa is, for all intents and purposes, a fully functional variation of MJOLNIR. Shield emitters utilize both visual and nonvisual waveguides, some of which are built into the plating itself (It is not always the glowing marks).

As for where the power core is, there's two options. The first is like Mirage IIC, stored under the chestplate. The second option is in the back, the 'anchor' point on the spine.

[empty bloom]

Additionally worth noting that you actually aren't seeing Rakshasa's techsuit, IE the 'meat' and 'bones' of MJOLNIR, when you look at it in the Armor hall; You are looking at, for the most part, a cloth covering that coats the majority of the slim techsuit layer, which is only visible on parts of the gloves and at the ankles of the armor. None of the armor plating short of the helmet is the 'bottom' of the armor, it is all cloth oversuit and alloy plating over titanium weave techsuit.

[empty bloom]

As for the latter option, my vote is the back. It's in about the same spot as the rest of MJOLNIR's cores (The two large 'engine' parts on Mark VII are not actually the reactor; The hexagon on the back is. The 'vent' on the back of Mark Vb is similarly roughly the core's location).

Rakshasa is a long term high endurance suit, more akin to a long term extreme survival suit with stealth on its side than the short-term maximum performance Mark VII line or the antique yet stubbornly reliable Mark Vb. It's the suit you send Sam Fisher or Solid Snake in, not your heavy hitting wall-to-wall loud combat doorkickers like the majority of Spartans.

[silent tiger]

I thought the entire purpose of shield emitters was that they had to be visible. And how is semi-powered armor hosting a personal shield system?

[orchid kettle]

honestly its kinda unclear what makes it semi powered

I think Nylund just wanted the acronym to sound like "SPY"

[unique rune]

Mirage in general isn’t just semi-powered either IIRC
it’s essentially just budget MJOLNIR derived from SPI architecture, just with cheaper and less robust components

[empty bloom]

Unfortunately for you, you thought wrong.

[stoic hamlet]

And even then, there’s some overlap as Mark V pauldrons were compatible with baseline SPI in 2552.

Really, it’s a smorgasbord at this point.

[empty bloom]

More of whatever the hell that mess that jackals eat was.

[orchid kettle]

To be fair, at least in Reach, the shoulder pads don't seem to actually have waveguides in them

they're just a hunk of metal shaped a certain way

[empty bloom]

We don't really know what a waveguide actually looks like. I always assumed it was built into the hollow spaces of armor assemblies and under the surface, because we know the waveguides aren't the lights-and honestly, I'm not even sure the lights were ever actually shield emitters, as many things that canonically have shields still lack those lights.

[orchid kettle]

My only real evidence is the fact that Six's armor still works even if they decide to go shoulderless

and does Mark VII and all da cores

so i think they really are just "supplemental deltoid protection"

[empty bloom]

For example, GEN2 Argus completely lacks lights of any kind on its armor. In fact, a lot of late stage GEN2 actually lacks light emissive elements.

[empty bloom]

Well, I know games=/=canon ability, but the shields do cover the plating when the character is hit.

[unique rune]

They’re weirdly absent from Chief’s Mk.VI GEN3 too

[empty bloom]

I wouldn't say weirdly at this point. His GEN2 also lacked the lights.

In fact, it seems like the lit-up versions of GEN2 were practically in the minority.

[unique rune]

Yeah, I know his Mk.VI MOD doesn’t have them, I just thought it was odd given how similar GEN3 is to the GEN1 models of Mk.VI

[empty bloom]

It's not lit in Legends either.

[unique rune]

Default Mk.VII GEN3 also doesn’t have them for whatever reason

Maybe the lights are just status indicators and MJOLNIR’s designers realized it’s not a good idea to communicate that info to whoever’s shooting at you

[orchid kettle]

i assume they can be shaped to some degree. Because by the same token, don't your wrist, thigh, and chest attachments flare up when hit too

[empty bloom]

Yeah.

Well, it's a few inches over you, so I think it might just, uh 'smart' shape?

[orchid kettle]

granted sometimes you can just shoot the barrel of somebody's sniper rifle

so i dunno

[empty bloom]

Like, I think that may be the delineating factor between Halsey's plans and what MJOLNIR could do before, if we're assuming the spaulders don't actually have waveguides in them. The shielding automatically extends over 'parts' of the armor.

But she wanted them to be controllable for... Some reason.

[orchid kettle]

yeah, and shaping the shield was always supposed to be a feature of Mark VII

[empty bloom]

Grunt bouncers, bodyguards and such also lack shielding lights.

So I'm pretty confident in saying the lights either were, and are no longer, shield emitters, or never were shield emitters.

[carmine sleet]

Maybe the lights were there to indicate that the armour was turned on? But with later iterations they decided to ditch it

[orchid kettle]

I figure the lights coinciding with the shield status is one of those things that's just meant to be a neat visual easter egg for the player's sake

and you're not really supposed to think too hard about the practicality of it

[unique rune]

probably

Given Bungie’s habits I’m sure it was just “wouldn’t it be cool if the glowy things synced up to shields” or something

[orchid kettle]

I mean, I do think its cool

I think they first did it with Halo 2, and the parts that light up for Elites are those weird orange sacks on the arms and legs

[last anchor]

Some UNSC materials officer, smashing his fist on the table;
"I dont CARE how much it costs we're making it MODULAR!"

On shield lights/projectors; its a possiblity that they were specifically a thing for the wartime suits since they needed to be rolled out as fast as possible.
With the "peace" after 2553 its likely they were able to refine the technology further and compress it.

Same way early plane radars were massive walls of antenne whereas modern ones are small enough to be mounted in a hand held device for police officers

[stoic hamlet]

I mean tbf, making it modular makes a ton of sense.

If we’re gonna have a billion (not really but you know) different versions of the same thing, may as well make sure it’s cross compatible

[last anchor]

And cross branch as well.

[empty bloom]

Already a thing, tbf.

Just out off the top of my head, there are non-Spartan versions of;

Air Assault
Rockeye
Recon
ODST
Nightfall
Mako
Talon
Military Police
Enigma
Nearly all Osteo ComEng Suit Helmets
Nearly all Mirage IIC Helmts

Plus, there's several helmets that are likely shared with that aren't explicitly named as variants of regular UNSC equipment, or are otherwise based directly off of but are not similar in many ways to regular UNSC equipment;

EOD (Real job title, why are you wasting Spartans on EOD?)
Scorn (Mentioned as being a big deal that raises alarms at ONI, meaning it problably predates at least the IVs)
Pathfinder (Based off of UNSC Army Pathfinder unit architectures, apparently)
Torchbearer (Full ground-up GEN3 rebuild of the Hellbringer armor's helmets)
Pilot (It's... It's in the name.)

[silent tiger]

dagnabbit

[silent tiger]

well that’s pretty obvious tbf, it’s a stealth suit. And regular SPI is powered, but I think it’s really just the helmet and camo panels as opposed to actual power armor. Everything else on it is mechanical I thought, like the force-amplifying gauntlets

[orchid kettle]

There's a breakdown on the SPI armor that includes it featuring an "exoframe"

I think all you need to be "powered armor" is some manner of assisting the wearer's movement instead of burdening them

like you know, your car features power steering

its just instead of a magic "reactive crystal layer" like MJOLNIR has, SPI probably just has motors and hydraulics similar to contemporary exoskeleton designs

[opal trellis]

so the librarian believe the humans geneseed are better or could surpass that of the forerunner and taking up the mantle. but considering the ancient human lifespan was in the 100's and forerunners in the 1000s wouldnt the forerunner be better at it since they had such long lifespans to become more "wise" to some extent.

[empty bloom]

Actually, humans had lifespans closer to that of Forerunners in the ancient past, with the career of Forthencho spanning at least a thousand years.

One of the most significant issues noted by Guilty Spark/Chakas was that one of the ailments inflicted upon humanity by the Forerunners was a highly trunicated lifespan.

[opal trellis]

i see i had misunderstood then, i thought they had a smaller lifespan, then it makes sense

[empty bloom]

It is noted he had 'visibly aged' in the 53 year war against the Forerunners, according to the Didact, but that could just as easily be the stress of the position.

Or Didact noting things no human would really pay attention to, akin to noting a guy's hairline receding by one hair or two over a week.

[last anchor]

His armors ancilla kept track of it as a tactical support database.
Victory conditions based upon his foe going bald

[empty bloom]

Victory Conditions include making the enemy mald

[dull surge]

I'm pretty new to the halo story, so sorry if this is the answer to this most obvious thing ever but what happened between halo 2 and 3?

Chief ends 2 on the space ship and begins 3 falling from space and a couple characters are on earth when they were'nt before

[dense falcon]

The Chief went on board the Forerunner keyship, tried to assassinate the Prophet of Truth, couldn't, and ended up having to use a door that was part of the ship to leverage his fall

This happened in a Marvel comics issue.

As for the explanation for the arrival of Keyes, the Arbiter, and Johnson to Earth... I don't know if there's media that mentions it.

[dull surge]

huh

Is external media ever important again or is the rest optional

[hot zodiac]

The comic was "Halo: Uprising", and no offense, but I do think it was obvious/optional. MC entered and existed the craft within the games, all we learned relative to him was he spent a bit fighting aboard it. The characters on Delta Halo returning to Earth can just be easily assumed to have traveled back there via a ship.

Going foward from Halo 3, the question is one of a bit of controversy. In between 3 and 4, two book trilogies (Kilo-Five and The Forerunner Saga, K5 being present day) were released to explain backstory leading up to Halo 4.

I'd say if you consider Halo: Uprising important, you'd likely want to read them. But I'd have considered the novel in between 1 and 2 (First Strike) to have given more answers relatively, so if you weren't looking for an explanation then, maybe not! 🙂

[orchid kettle]

At the end of Halo 2, Johnson and Miranda were hanging out with Arby and Half-Jaw, so they hitched a ride with them back home I'd assume

[empty bloom]

That's the canon explanation, yeah. We know nothing about what they did aboard that week long trip but that's supposed to be what went down.

[worn needle]

Random question! Was the M363 RPD Discontinued by the UNSC?

[unique rune]

Impossible to definitively say but probably not

[worn needle]

Just checking for a character of mine, a pal said they did.
Thanks Nova!

[scarlet hinge]

there's no reason to think they did

just because something doesn't show up in a game, it doesn't mean it stops existing

[drowsy mesa]

New intel
https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/reckoning-intel#S5Intel4

[carmine sleet]

Reap-X mentioned!!!

[drowsy mesa]

possible Forerunner stuff in Season 6?

[dusk jetty]

Possibly, a new equipment module maybe?

Maybe armor core?

Something to do with Mjolnir probably

[orchid kettle]

invincibility power up perhaps?

like from halo 3's campaign

which i assume was never added to multiplayer precisely because its OS but better

[surreal glen]

Halo 3 made very weird decisions

I understand not adding invincibility to the multiplayer because even though it only lasts for a few seconds, it's broken

But the flare meanwhile, is only in campaign for some reason, when it actually would have been useful in multiplayer
In campaign IT DOESN'T EVEN AFFECT THE AIs

[unique rune]

To be fair, I think the flare is meant more as something for the AI to use against the player and would probably just be annoying in multiplayer

[latent olive]

I need all accounts of what thal Vadam(ee) (The Arbiter) was doing during halo CE.

[unique rune]

have fun
https://www.halopedia.org/Thel_'Vadam#Life_as_Supreme_Commander

[latent olive]

I indeed will.

[cursive scarab]

Dutch, Romeo, and Mickey did become Spartan-IV's like Buck. The Rookie however never had a chance as he was killed on a mission against the United Rebel Front in 2554. However, Jun-A266 told Buck that had the Rookie survived, he too would have been offered a place in the Spartan-IV Program

is this true?

[surreal glen]

Yes

But nothing really special really, basically everyone in Alpha 9 became a Spartan

[cursive scarab]

So the rookie did become a spartan IV

or no?

[surreal glen]

No

He died

[cursive scarab]

oh

[empty bloom]

This reminds me, the page of trivia for Rookie on Halopedia should be updated from

-Jonathan is often seen asleep. Minutes before he was dropped into New Mombasa, he napped by his pod while the rest of the squad conversed. Upon crashing within the city, he remained unconscious for six hours. One month after his mission in New Mombasa, while the rest of the squad and Sergeant Major Johnson interrogated Vergil, he slept beneath a staircase.

to

• Jonathan is often seen asleep. Minutes before he was dropped into New Mombasa, he napped by his pod while the rest of the squad conversed. Upon crashing within the city, he remained unconscious for six hours. One month after his mission in New Mombasa, while the rest of the squad and Sergeant Major Johnson interrogated Vergil, he slept beneath a staircase. Additionally, in the aftermath of the Draco III Rebellion, he took a dirt nap.

[cursive scarab]

yeah they should update it

also i need to know the odst ranks for making odst squads

[empty bloom]

We already know ODST ranks. They're Marine ranks.

[cursive scarab]

I don’t know the marine ranks either

[empty bloom]

To post a let me google that for you link or not to post a let me google that for you link

[cursive scarab]

ok

[surreal glen]

Jonathan?

[cursive scarab]

thats the rookies real name

[latent olive]

What happened to the prophet of stewardship after he got caught by the UNSC?

[arctic ginkgo]

ODST Lore, anyone?

[scarlet hinge]

he got captured when Silva's battalion stormed Truth and Reconciliation

minutes later Truth and Reconciliation got blown up by McKay

minutes later Installation 04 got blown up by Chief

everyone involved died

[orchid kettle]

yes

[wise snow]

So I noticed that Shipmaster and Arbiter have very similar last names, Vadam and Vadum. Is this a mistake or is the one letter difference intentional?

[warm talon]

It's their families names.

[dense falcon]

(Not a mistake)

[wise snow]

Ah, thank you

[last anchor]

Fans have theorized there was a split in Sangheilio's history and they were at one point a singular family but some variation of internal politicing, assasinations, and just Being Sangheili (tm) lead to a split.
Part of why they're so close as well as being competent leaders and warriors. They share ancient blood.

None of this has been confirmed of course but the more details we get about how Sangheilios operates the more likely it seems.

[stoic hamlet]

Cadet branch is also a possibility.

[orchid kettle]

i like to think the difference of a single letter changes the meaning of their name radically

like you know, how words work

[velvet raven]

Why was Mickey allowed to rejoin Alpha Nine after defecting to the insurrectionists? Doesn't the UNSC execute traitors as a rule?

[empty bloom]

Being an insurrectionist or traitor is not necessarily a death sentence, unless you're killed in the prosecution of your traitorous act.

As for Mickey, he's a Spartan supersoldier in a time where those are in thinning supply. It sucks, but the UNSC-in-Exile also needed rebel contacts for supplies and counter Created/Banished ops, and Mickey could provide some. He's on a repentant retainer, in other words, and he is not fully trusted.

Another example of an Insurrectionist turned UNSC troop is LtCol Kinsano.

[orchid kettle]

I dunno how it is in the military, or the fictional 26th century military, but in the civilian world at least, people aren't executed immediately

usually they're detained for years, constantly appealing the decision

so, who knows, maybe it was something like that

Mickey probably didn't have a lawyer of course, but maybe circumstances meant that it was worth more to keep him alive for a bit

and that eventually pays off when its time to make friends with the rebels who happened to be living on a planet Cortana couldn't detect

[opal trellis]

I was wondering why didnt the forerunners make the halos self destruct once they fired. It just seems like a pretty dangerous tech to just leave behind.
I understand they left the monitors behind to watch over Them and experiment etc but they could have built research labs or non Galaxy destroying super weapons instillations for the same purpose.

Also why did the forerunners not clean up some of their tech from the worlds they reseeded like the prophets homeworld. Seems kinda bad to leave a key ship behind there considering they figured out how to operate it in 2k bc.
Especially considering they wanted humanity to reclaim their leftovers.
Just seems counter productive or atleast leave extra tech behind on earth so humanity could evolve faster. I know the portal to the ark was on earth. But humanity didn’t really find it before covenant came along

[wild raft]

Does anyone have a top-down (or bird's eye view) image of the CSO supercarrier? I'm making a mod for a game and I can't find an image to use.

[latent olive]

Was Kelly in cryo with the master chief on the pillar of Autumn?

[ruby canopy]

No. Linda was, but she was clinically dead

[latent olive]

Did they recover her cryo capsule after the destruction of installation 04?

[ruby canopy]

Yeah

[latent olive]

Okay, and Johnson and chief brought her back to the station right?

[ruby canopy]

I actually can’t remember the details too well of what happened to her between ce and halo 2. They had other missions in between, like returning to reach

[latent olive]

They returned to reach?!

[ruby canopy]

She was brought back to earth eventually iirc

[ruby canopy]

Yes they did!

I recommend the book first strike, it fills in the gaps and is an excellent read

[latent olive]

I thought chief and Johnson overtook the Ascendant Justice, and warped to the station in halo 2?

[ruby canopy]

They didn’t want to do that as it would violate the cole protocol. I forget exactly why they returned to reach, but they were looking for a human ship to take back to earth

[latent olive]

So they took the covenant ship to reach, to find a human ship?

[ruby canopy]

Im not sure if that was the whole reason, but that was part of it

[latent olive]

And I’m sorry, I hope I’m not bothering you with pointless questions @ruby canopy.
This is all for a movie series I’m putting together, and I want it to be lore accurate.

[ruby canopy]

It’s not a bother. I enjoy helping with what I can!

I’m a little hazy on the details as it has been years since I’ve read the older books

[latent olive]

Yeah! I just really want to know the details, could you perhaps point me in the right direction? You gave a book, but idk if it’s free to read anywhere.
Of if theres halopedia or something?

[ruby canopy]

You could definitely find details about the books story on the internet. I’m not sure if there is a free read/audio on maybe YouTube

First strike then ghost of onyx I would say is a good start

[latent olive]

Those two books take place between CE and H2?

[ruby canopy]

Ghost of onyx takes place during halo 2 I believe. It’s about what the other Spartans were up to during that time

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tiNP8zl9QHY&list=PLPjyIHuHJw322NhwPjC_tq6uqXvEfmEFM&index=1&pp=iAQB

Found this channel that does audio for the book

[latent olive]

You mean like blue team?

[ruby canopy]

Yeah

[latent olive]

Oh interesting!

[ruby canopy]

There is a lot more to it that I won’t spoil, but ghost of onyx is one of my favorites

[empty bloom]

The Forerunners were (justifiably) terrified of the Flood coming back. Being able to purge the galaxy as many times as needed was considered mandatory, such was the threat of the flood.

As for the tech left behind, much of that was unintentional.

[carmine sleet]

Wasn't the Keyship on the Prophet homeworld one that crash landed?

Because I would guess that they felt it wasn't worth the effort to recover it with the threat of the Flood

[dusty ferry]

it crashed after the rings were fired afaik

mendicant was trying to land it on earth or somethin

[wanton notch]

So in the ending of HW2, Anders finds the Guardian that presumably ties into the Halo 5 ending with Cortana. The last scene is where the Guardian seems to be ready to fire/EMP, which would make a pretty interesting cliffhanger IMO

My only question though is, where exactly does Anders go?

[empty bloom]

We don't know!

Like many fun things in a post 5 world that have yet to have any answers whatsoever.

[wanton notch]

Too true lol

[plush bolt]

Mjolnir mk v was introduced in 2552 correct

[pallid knoll]

2551 according to Reach

[orchid kettle]

Anders went to a farm upstate

where she'll get to spend her days chasing rabbits

[tribal trench]

I wonder if anyone still owns a Luger in 2560...

[empty bloom]

Museums.

[pastel pulsar]

Those are fun to shoot

[empty bloom]

There's some guns that make sense to have some weirdo repro'ing them in the 2500s; AKs, Deagles, anything super popular from really old media.

[pastel pulsar]

Pretty hard to come across tho

[empty bloom]

As well as 'serial numbers filed off' repros of hunting rifles.

[pastel pulsar]

That’s true

[wanton notch]

Didn't we see an AK in the TV series?

[vernal bolt]

was the flood ever fully eradicated or is it still just roaming around the wreck of high charity/the ark?

[dusk jetty]

Still around, just contained

Within that locale

[wanton notch]

The Flood actually makes an appearance in the campaign for Infinite

[empty bloom]

And we see a Deagle in Shadows of Reach.

[wanton notch]

Within one of the cylixes

[dusk jetty]

Not confirmed but possible

The cylix highly resembles an infection form

Which would make sense because zeta halo is like the #1 flood research place

[wanton notch]

It's...literally an infection form lol

That's why it's also being guarded and monitored

[dusk jetty]

I haven’t seen anything saying it is, so I avoided confirming it in case I was wrong. Simple as that.

[stoic hamlet]

Notably, pretty much all of Blue Team wonder if it would actually fire.

On the topic of older weapons though, I feel like we’d be much, much, much more likely to see interplanetary wars and weapons from the 2200’s-2300’s around rather than weapons from our time period, even as reproductions.

There are certainly people today who make matchlocks, for example, but they’re so niche the odds of you ever encountering one in the wild are basically nonexistent.

Same for WW1 and WW2 reproductions, and those are just about a hundred years old.

[empty bloom]

The mythos of the AK is such that I wouldn't be surprised if someone on the frontier made a living selling them by the mass produced truckload.

[last anchor]

Especially with minifacturing printers.

Considering the UNSC can flash-print something like the M6H, hacked civilian printers could probably make the internals for something like an AK with ease.

Wouldnt mind weilding an HMG-38 at some point. The Commandos a good start but I want to use more older style weapons.

[tribal trench]

it’s not like they would be bad either, given their modern reputation

rough, rugged, common ammo types, easy to make replacement parts for

allegedly will work even when covered in mud

which, true or not, will be a reason that people on an interstellar frontier would buy one

[orchid kettle]

isnt it feasible tho for the MA series of assault rifles to also be from the interplanetary wars

considering the MA5 series specifically is over a hundred years old

[empty bloom]

I always figured the HMG-38 would be not too dissimilar from the Kramer from Aliens.

Slow-firing, but hard-hitting.

Which is still really weird because the HMG-38 looks like an SMG, not an HMG, but whatever.

[stoic hamlet]

Sure. More than likely the MA1, or whatever, was first used then, perhaps.

But that’s my point.

Why make a ton of AK’s if you’ve got Koslovic, Friedan, and UN weapons all about? I feel like the weapons of far more significance, especially to Outer Colonists, would be the weapons first used by humanity as they ventured into the stars, not, you know, the guns from the planet they (most of them, anyways) hate.

[empty bloom]

Cheaper, proven, more readily available design specs.

It's why open bolt SMGs are likely one of the other most common frontier guns.

[orchid kettle]

the MA1 should just be the Starship Troopers assault rifle

[empty bloom]

It'd be more accurate to say I think AK derivatives would be popular.

Not literal AKs.

Just things that are the legally distinct counterparts.

[stoic hamlet]

More proven than the weapons used in space?

That’s kind of a given, really. No one’s using original AK’s anymore, even today.

[empty bloom]

Not many farmers are shooting varmints in vacuum.

[stoic hamlet]

Idk, I feel like the design specs of interplanetary wars guns would be far more readily available.

[empty bloom]

But what makes those significantly better?

Most of the fan's beliefs about the hows rely on assumptions made about improvements in powder.

And bullets.

[stoic hamlet]

What makes the AK or the M4 better?

Why not go for a good old side by side coach gun? Or a Matchlock, by that metric. We were using the Matchlock for over 400 years, a much longer service life than the AK or M4 or the Deagle or what have you.

What I mean, really, is the idea that, for whatever reason, you’d see outer colonists or just people in general use guns of the contemporary period over weapons designed later on down the timeline.

Obviously the reason you’d actually see these weapons appear in a Halo book or game or something is because we the audience know them, whereas if you told the reader that some outer colonist in a book was using “an MA1C, a rifle infamous during the interplanetary wars and Jovian Moon’s campaigns” they would have no idea what that was, even if logically it would make far more sense (but still probably be just as insane, lol)

Basically, it’s just me being obtuse. I don’t like it because it’s not done for any other reason than an audience Easter egg. There’s no substance to it, no point to it. It robs us of a chance to “see” an actual weapon that would probably be common in this environment, and it robs us of some world building.

it also just reeks of fanfiction edgy OC’s, lol

[empty bloom]

I generally just figure the person selling it or using it is a stickler for the old school design. It doesn't pop up enough in fanfiction enough for it to be a real issue there, but it does pop up enough in canon, explicitly named no less, for there to be a feasible suggestion at an explanation. Repros of firearms being sold-even if it's just a repro of the guts and body-is hardly that strange.

[queen nexus]

Did the Forerunners have any ground vehicles? I mean, they had starships, but I mean like cars or tanks or somethin

[meager pier]

https://youtu.be/5oMvwWkL0IY?si=Jk-bbMe4aFLoM4VF

Interesting video, however what’s interesting is that in Outcasts, it’s implied that the Precursors truly exist outside of space and time, and Vale mentions some ONI research/studies into what they can find about them

[latent olive]

How the the covenant find out about the silent cartographer, and the “weapons cache”?

[empty bloom]

Yes and no. Most of their major vehicles seem to have been hybrid air-ground vehicles, which kinda makes sense when you can outfit literally everything you own with personal antigrav and make slipspace jumps with your specie's equivelant of pajamas.

[queen nexus]

Huh…

Thanks

[meager pier]

Not canon, as we never got it, but there was supposed to be a mission in Halo 2 where we we would pilot a Forerunner tank

This is a render of the model https://www.halopedia.org/images/0/00/PXH_Ftank.png?20220716181440

[queen nexus]

That helps, thank you.

[unique rune]

YT-2400 lookin thing

[last anchor]

I would very surprised if they didnt have some kind of ground equipment tbh.

Also now I really really want that Infinite Warfare remake where it takes place during the interplanetary war.
I know it would require a lot of work but its so close already.

[carmine sleet]

They searched the ring for the cartographer and likely stumbled across the Flood containment facility while they were doing that

[latent olive]

It didn’t sound like that in the game.

[orchid kettle]

According to The Flood, the UNSC thinks its a weapons cache because they heard an Elite say he was delivering a bunch of weapons there

though if that Elite can be believed, it sounds like they were already fighting the Flood and the troops there needed a resupply

which still doesn't answer the question of how they goofed up and let the Flood out

best I can honestly figure is that the Forerunners don't label anything, and all it took was one curious Grunt to open a door they shouldn't have

because in CE at least, it seems like you only really needed to be a human reclaimer in order toactivate the Ring

but it didn't seem like you needed admin privileges for anything else

Compared to Infinite where you apparently need to be a Reclaimer to open a cylix, and that's what the one Flood infection form we see in-game is contained within

[stoic pond]

I'm sure this has been asked thousands of times on here, so forgive me for digging up old news. But what is the size of the UNSC's forces? (Navy, Army, Marines, etc)?

I've seen many different estimates

[empty bloom]

Short answer, we don't have a solid estimate beyond low billions of estimated manpower.

The best estimates for numbers we got is educated guesses on total Spartan numbers, and even that isn't solid.

[wanton notch]

It also doesn't help the Infinity is still unaccounted for

We don't actually know #s of survivors after Infinite

(if many at all)

[scarlet quiver]

😩 yea.
So much left unanswered....

[empty bloom]

I tend to count total ever over total minus casualties for brevity's sake.

Especially since we don't know how many Spartan personnel were killed during the Created uprising, just that it was far from zero.

[stoic hamlet]

We can’t really say.the only thing we fully now is that in Shadows of Reach Infinity seemed to have a full complement of personnel.

[empty bloom]

There are Spartans that are not on the Infinity. The ones who died on Laconia, for example.

Those died to a Created act during the Created uprising.

[stoic hamlet]

Oh, sorry, that wasn’t meant as a reply to you, it was meant as a reply to @wanton notch

[empty bloom]

Ah

[carmine sleet]

We also have facilities like the Academy from Infinite's multiplayer. Did we get a number for how many Spartans train there?

[wanton notch]

Do we have an accurate headcount of Spartan IIs still out there?

[empty bloom]

No.

[wanton notch]

We know Blue Team, Red Team...

[empty bloom]

Assuming 343i doesn't change the number again, there were 14 active IIs-Blue, Red, Gray, Naomi, and Omega.

As of April 2559.

[wanton notch]

Which is crazy because we started with what, 33 or so in Class I? And an unknown amount in Class II.

[carmine sleet]

One day we'll learn about Nicole in canon... One day...

[dusk jetty]

At minimum, 8, iirc, There’s you, Arygna, Dinh, Elkund and the 4 in the academy cutscene

But there’s no reason why there shouldn’t be more

[stoic hamlet]

Class II is no longer a thing (thankfully)

[wanton notch]

Oh good

[orchid kettle]

is it hard confirmed that we no longer love bees

[empty bloom]

We HATE those

[surreal bay]

I love pollution

[normal narwhal]

How many spartan classes are there? I know there’s at least 4

I mean like spartan 1s spartan 2s spartan 3s etc

[empty bloom]

Spartan Is were only named such retroactively.
Spartan IIs were Spartans like Linda and Fred.
Spartan IIIs were 3 companies; Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Gamma had additional augs over Alpha and Beta that affected the frontal lobe.
Spartan IVs came in two stages.

The first stage was a series of 10~ Spartan IVs as adult candidates who were given enough augmentations to match a "Spartan" (A II or III, tentatively), with the IVp out of armor and the II or III in armor. Of these 10, 1 survived the procedures and was driven mad.

The second stage-Palmer, Locke, Buck, et cetera-was a series of Spartans who were adult candidates who are 'weaker' (Cause barely known, actual difference unknown) than IIs or IIIs. They number in the 3K+ territory, and have minor person-to-person augmentation differences to accomodate for physiological differences.

So splitting hairs technically:

Spartan I (Orion)
Spartan I.1 (Children of Orions)
Spartan II
Spartan IIIA/B
Spartan IIIG
Spartan IVP
Spartan IV

[normal narwhal]

Thank you

[silent tiger]

@normal narwhal worth noting the IV’s are marginally weaker than II’s and III’s in the same gen-armor, and it’s presumed by fans to be because previous augments were more invasive, ie: Titanium coating on the bones is absent from the IV’s iirc in favor of largely chemical enhancements to accomplish the same task. The goal of the IV’s was the cost-effectiveness of the III’s on a much larger scale with less recovery time from augments, which explains their apparent “deficiencies” like having to go in for “check ups” for their specialized augments, lest they suffer unexplained side-effects

[empty bloom]

IV augmentations are actually extremely invasive, to include the implantation of a nanocarbine lattice into the bones. Not over, into.

It's part of the reason IV augments are so confusing-they have a carbon nanotube structure inside their bones.

That should make them hypothetically stronger than the unknown ceramic compound over II bones, but yet it doesn't.

[silent tiger]

“relatively” less invasive would’ve been better word choice, my bad. They’re less split open than the II’s were for theirs and recover far faster due to better tech

also I thought II bones were coated in Titanium of some sort

[empty bloom]

IIs use a Ceramic Carbide compound for bone augs.

IV augs are really weird because they're full of augs that sound better on paper.

Titanium A joints, Carbon Nanotube bones, not-spleen spleens, muscle tissue grafts.

Personally, I always figured the difference was a marginally different one than IIs on terms of an adjustment period.

Like, a IV and a II with 25 years of active experience would be roughly equal, but the difference is that IVs don't have those 25 years of 'settling'.

[silent tiger]

wow, I stand corrected. Kinda crazy. Personally I attribute the IV’s being “weaker” as 343 not trying to overstep on fans’ image of the II’s in their first game in the series

[empty bloom]

It can be both!

[silent tiger]

this only really strengthens my belief in that

[silent tiger]

also very true, most old IV’s are only about 8 years into augments, right?

[empty bloom]

It's also worth noting that words are really specific here. IVs actually aren't the only Spartans that need regular checkups, for example-Chief is noted in the MCC menus as being a decade out of date for an aug check.

[silent tiger]

huh, didn’t know that either

[empty bloom]

Yep. And their default armor config-Recruit Armor-is literally built entirely around keeping implant rejection from happening due to combat stress.

[silent tiger]

yea, also why I kinda miss it in Infinite. It’s basic but added to the story of the IV’s being new to it all

made upgrading out of the “training wheels” of mjolnir in 4 feel cool

[empty bloom]

I'm a huge sucker for IVs because I find them more interesting due to things like that. That and the fact that they tend to specialize way harder than IIs or IIIs did.

For example, the only known certified MJOLNIR technician who is also a Spartan is a IV.

[silent tiger]

that’s why I hate when people say the IV’s are “pushovers”. They survived the whole War without fancy armor or weapons or tactics, and then got to become the heroes that saved their lives. Could’ve been a really cool narrative for Spartan Ops to pursue if they made another season or put it in 5

[silent tiger]

Tanaka🔛🔝

[empty bloom]

https://tenor.com/view/wwe-handshake-gif-10358416

This fella, he gets it.

[silent tiger]

they’re possibly the best iteration of the Spartan program, and until recent books and games they’ve been kept back largely due to what I can only really describe as “purism” or nostalgia of the II’s and their portrayal in Spartan Ops

which I didn’t even really dislike because if I survived a war and got fancy armor I’d probably take a while to realize the weight of it too

which most IV’s do, because most have seen just what Spartans have done for humanity and what it means to literally fill those shoes

[empty bloom]

I always figured the spot of weakness for IVs should be more of the 'overly cautious' variety.

Like

For example

Eklund spent most of the war as an Army Ranger. Which means she spent most of the war fighting hard-fought battles alongside recruited 'civilian' auxilaries.

No armor. No backup. No Navy. No retreat.

IIs spent the war with better and better gear, safer and safer missions, as their strategic importance outweighed the risks it took to send them.

[silent tiger]

well, save for special units like Black and arguably Gray team who were basically sent in as 3-4 man armies

kinda surprised Black team lived as long as they did

shame the Didact got them

[empty bloom]

I always found it funny that people got upset that they died to the Didact.

Like

Nah

It makes sense that he bodied them

It's more of a shame that he did so offscreen

[silent tiger]

well obviously lol, it’s more that it’s a really crazy stroke of misfortune that they survived so long off the grid to just happen to run into an alien god they didn’t know existed

and get wiped basically instantly

[empty bloom]

I should make a render of them post-defeat but pre-Blue finding.

[silent tiger]

would be sick

[empty bloom]

I do also wish we'd see more Spartan Combat medics. We really only got the ones alluded to via the MCC Suture set and the armor variants we see in Infinite.

[silent tiger]

on an unrelated note, did Six fight humans for most of the war before Reach? I keep seeing people say that he was a “one man army” but he basically just did what every Headhunter does, except against fleshy humans and not 8-12 foot lighting-fast monsters like lots of other Spartans

[empty bloom]

There is not a single confirmed deployment of B312 against Covenant forces pre-Noble.

[silent tiger]

then he got reassigned bc Thom died and was cracked up to have such a crazy service record, but I think it’s just bc he was committing war crimes for ONI and not because of truly remarkable stuff

[empty bloom]

Well, that's kinda the thing, right? Six has a great combat record against what Spartans were made for, which makes sense-Every gen of Spartan is utter overkill against other humans.

But against Covenant-first and fastest failiure Six ever got.

[silent tiger]

true

[empty bloom]

Six was literally at the mercy of a Zealot before Reach even fell, and only got away due to Carter's interference.

[silent tiger]

exactly this

people keep saying he then somehow survived “days alone” during Lone Wolf when it only takes place 3 hours after he drops from Carter’s Pelican and he has failing armor by then

[empty bloom]

I have a whole running theory about how that works for Lone Wolf.

Specifically-Six is the last survivor of the 14 man Spartan 'remnant' squad.

[silent tiger]

doesn’t really matter since Lone Wolf was a meta-commentary sendoff from Bungie 3/4 into development and was never meant to be analyzed this much but still

[empty bloom]

There's 13 corpses on Lone Wolf, and they're positioned at what is apparently a rendevouz or triage point along the main exit egress from Azsod.

Six is one of two corpses on the main turret structure.

[silent tiger]

that’s what I think. He probably made it about an hour and a half prior, they all died, we fight as him in his last hour

[empty bloom]

Yep! So there's more on that too.

The majority of corpses are stationed along the egress route; About 8 corpses line that route, a dirt road away from the Autumn's launching point.

Six is next to another dead Spartan on a turret. If you stay on the opposing turret from the body you die to aircraft, much like the other Spartan died to.

And finally-when Six dies? He is on the map border away from the Autumn's launching site, on the egress road.

Six dies while he is routed from the last position.

[silent tiger]

interesting theory, never even thought of the strategy of it all

[empty bloom]

It actually tells a good deal, but it's also partially guesswork due to a lack of real intel.

Educated guess, Gauntlet and Echo were assigned to the evac towards the Autumn.

[silent tiger]

wish Bungie cared a bit more about the story they told in their last game lol

[empty bloom]

I mean, if they cared more, they wouldn't have dedicated it to Reach.

Ultimately, there's parts of Reach I love and parts I don't.

[silent tiger]

especially since it messed up a bit of the timeline of Reach’s fall and the Autumn’s arrival to Halo

[empty bloom]

I prefer the month-long grindhouse mudfight that Reach is due to Halo Reach, personally.

Makes it feel more... Important.

There's a lot of Halo I'd prefer being done more, ah, interestingly?

[silent tiger]

like the Rookie’s death

[empty bloom]

I actually love his death tbh

It's very fitting

The camera dies instrumentally, violently, having a big impact but a small role.

[silent tiger]

hot take lol, would’ve loved at least a mention in the games or screen time, whether it be a camo or dying in some major battle

[empty bloom]

Hot take doesn't mean wrong, just unpopular.

[silent tiger]

of course

his death was done well as motivation for Buck to become a Spartan with the rest of Alpha Nine but I guess it’s more of the shock that it was off screen and sudden that rubs me wrong

[empty bloom]

I honestly strongly dislike how A9 was handled postwar either way, aside from just Buck specifically.

[silent tiger]

which is the point, narratively speaking

[empty bloom]

They shouldn't have all been augged.

And they especially shouldn't have stayed together.

[silent tiger]

how come?

[empty bloom]

It comes across as shallow fanservice.

And I am honestly vehemently against fanservice if done without a sensible purpose.

I get Buck, right? Guy 100% deserves it.

Guy canonically took out 2 hunters solo.

Not even a joke.

[silent tiger]

wouldve loved Mickey’s betrayal more if he was an ODST

[empty bloom]

The actual canon version of his mission in ODST involves those Hunters. Absolutely crazy.

[runic wharf]

I wish Mick stuck as an innie

[silent tiger]

because his whole reason for defected was that he didn’t want to fight Humans, but the IV’s weren’t mainly designed for that like the II’s. ODSTs are already spec-ops trained for counter-insurgency. Would’ve made more narrative sense if he was more connected to that disconnect

[silent tiger]

he would’ve died quick lol

[empty bloom]

Part of the theme of post-HCW Humanity was actually repeating the same mistakes.

overly defensive, prickly.

[runic wharf]

And that’d be fine

[silent tiger]

fair

[runic wharf]

Martyr a rebel, happens all the time anyways

[empty bloom]

Willing to make risky judgement calls.

It's why K5 never bothered me-it's not a good look, but it's not supposed to be.

[silent tiger]

do we even know what happened to Gamma’s crew with ONI at the onset of the Created Conflict?

[empty bloom]

Gamma's crew, IE the uh... Ferrets?

[silent tiger]

wondering if 343’s gonna expand on how this major narrative soft-reset is gonna affect the 50 plots they had running

[silent tiger]

yea

forgot the name

[empty bloom]

what few we know of are under deep cover and are interacting with the SoF's crew.

[silent tiger]

they’re with the SoF??? Crazy

[empty bloom]

As they were with the Keepers.

Keepers went to the Ark.

[silent tiger]

forgot about that

still crazy that the SoF has just been chilling on the Ark with outdated gear wiping the Banished

[empty bloom]

A bit of a bad pull, if you ask me.

But then, I feel like a lot of the things after 5 have been poor judgement calls made to appease a recalcitrant fanbase.

[silent tiger]

well, outdated manufacturing, they technically have modern UNSC blueprints due to the research outposts on the Ark

[silent tiger]

true that

kinda wish they’d settled on the Banished as a major enemy instead of having the Created idea around the same time

having them collide in Infinite and have to see the aftermath 6 months later through cutscenes felt like a mess

[empty bloom]

I can see both existing at the same time. Either way, the UNSC is effectively actually the UNSC-In-Exile.

Even with Infinite's chain of events.

[silent tiger]

and leaves so much unanswered for the pretty well-developed plots already running, for what they were worth

[empty bloom]

I'm pretty firmly in the park of 5's dislike being a double edged sword of a poorly realized plot alongside mismanaged and misdirected media literacy concerns.

Great concept executed poorly and fan-curated in bad faith post-release.

[silent tiger]

I’m more mad that the marketing had nothing to do with the story

[empty bloom]

Eh, I didn't like the marketing as much as the release campaign, so.

[runic wharf]

K5 was pretty solid as a whole, minus some travis-ings (and poor elaboration)

[empty bloom]

Traviss honestly had a surprisingly solid grasp of ONI's direction for someone who allegedly didn't do a lot of research.

[runic wharf]

I think the lack of research benefitted

It was less based on preconceptions that way

[empty bloom]

I mean by that point she was an old hand with fascist workshopping due to her work with Republic Commandos/Imperial Commandos and Gears storylines.

[silent tiger]

I was excited. In hindsight it was a pretty basic “the hero turned rogue, why?” trope but it seemed framed to allude to some larger plot about the UNSC’s flaws and possible corruption. “Hunt the Truth” was probably my favorite series of trailers years ago

[empty bloom]

I tend to view that sort of plot as a franchise jumping the shark.

It's something that smacks of poor creative interpretation versus a more nuanced arc as the final campaign presented-Chief operating incorrectly based off of his own presumptions further based upon his own starts of darkness.

[silent tiger]

true, but I was a younger kid who was oblivious enough to fall for it. Either way, it’s more the fact that they switched the preexisting bait-and-switch with a plot that came out of left field

[runic wharf]

Indeed; RC, in particular, had a lot of influence in how she approached things

[empty bloom]

It might smooth it over to know there was actually very little workshopping between the advert and campaign teams.

It's why the disconnect was so vast.

[silent tiger]

I could tell lol

It’s like lying three times, except the third one isn’t as bad but you’re just mad it happened twice before and happened again

[empty bloom]

Personally? I like the Created, as a concept and faction.