#lore-and-universe

1 messages · Page 109 of 1

modest marsh
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(Yes, he is also the distant ancestor of Franklin Mendez)

stoic hamlet
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If I had to generalize, I’d say the US missing the effects of both World Wars really affected the country’s psyche in the wrong ways.

You got “the good parts” ;(the sense of togetherness, the community) but not the bad (economic downturn, cities in ruin, population decimation)

modest marsh
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Well we didn’t “miss” the effects, we just mostly profited compared to the vast majority of the world lol

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That is to say there’s a big difference between the siege of London and pearl harbor

stoic hamlet
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Hence you missed them, lol.

Like, Canada (and Newfoundland before they joined confederation) was similarly positioned as the US, but they lost a lot of people, and suffered at some of the worst battlefields, like two battles of Ypres, The Somme, Cambrai, Vimy, Gallipoli, etc.

And then in WW2 Canada had the fighting in Hong Kong, Italy, and Holland, and the disaster of the Dieppe raid. Newfoundland lost so many in WW1 they didn’t even send soldiers as their own regiment. They didn’t have the population to sustain the losses

By contrast, American losses were much less drawn out and severe, and usually “had a point”.

But most of those prior battles (especially WW1) had no real point (because the war itself was pointless), and just saw hundreds of young men thrown into a slaughter. There was no righteousness there, no greater purpose.

modest marsh
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Yeah, true, the revelation of the Holocaust did a lot to recontextualize how America perceived foreign wars as necessary and moral

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I meant to respond to this but I am enthused by the idea of Brutes developing physical training regimens that they previously didn’t need in order to maintain a competitive advantage with their enemies, since I don’t really like this idea of everyone just having a fixed level of capability for the length of their lifespan if they’re not actively degrading

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Like in theory they should be training in intense gravity at least a couple hours a week just to prevent their muscles from atrophying due to the environment they evolved in

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They’re also clearly not above using stimulants/hormones, although their effects are probably even pronounced than they are in humans (which is to say, can prove dangerous if abused)

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Atriox doesn’t seem like he gets anything from a needle though

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And he’s oddly one of the only people to stay on his feet after getting smacked by a gravity hammer lol

stoic hamlet
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:p

modest marsh
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I think it should just be assumed everyone is on drugs to some extent in setting lol

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Even if it’s not shown/talked about much

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Like stimpack usage is handled very nonchalantly in setting the few times it’s mentioned despite it being a clear analog to amphetamines

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The grunts use infusion gas I guess which could help explain…a lot about their behavior

empty bloom
modest marsh
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They do seem like rather garish accessories if it isn’t some type of cybernetic device I guess

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If you didn’t suggest it otherwise I would’ve assumed it’s just a comm device of some kind

orchid kettle
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He also does literally have a power glove

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I do feel like the issue with explanations like "oh the Elite harness makes them stronger" or that some guys are just born stronger than others is that it kinda forgets about the absurd speed advantage Spartans should have in terms of reaction speed

modest marsh
orchid kettle
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if he just dipped his hand in medigel he'd be fine smh

modest marsh
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I 🫀 NANOMACHINES

modest marsh
orchid kettle
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i never really liked the idea of the elite harness having anything to do with performance since it kinda begs the question of whether or not the Arbiter is weaker than normal in the older poopier armor

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or if homeboy's unarmored arm is weaker in Halo 5

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Like I think its easier if armor is just armor in most cases

modest marsh
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Halo 2 itself introduces the idea the arbiter’s armor is older and thus has weaker technology to explain a gameplay mechanic that is thusly ignored in the subsequent entry

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But I guess technically halo 3 doesn’t really contradict halo 2 if the active camo limit is just arbitrary/not 100% accurate to gameplay

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(Ie He can keep it going for minutes if he doesn’t move a lot)

orchid kettle
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Its also only really potentially relevant in Outcasts to explain how Vale beat up for Elites at once

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but like, the story kinda already did that with the idea that they're old, fat, and out of practice

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and i dunno if energy swordsmanship really matters much in terms of strength

modest marsh
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It does due to the clashing being so energetic

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Since it makes a small explosion/shockwave at the point of impact

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Granted that’s obviously not really relevant in realistic sword play but almost every depiction we’ve had of energy sword duels makes it seem like they’re generating industrial arc flashes whenever the blades collide

orchid kettle
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Im just saying, the story already gave us a built-in excuse, and otherwise the idea that Sangheili get a boost from their armor only really came from an old encyclopedia that was infamous for ripping off halopedia

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Its never felt integral to Sangheili lore

modest marsh
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It’s implied that jackals also use some form of performance enhancing armor, skirmishers in particular

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It’s a logical extension of their technological capability as well as connects them to the Forerunners better if they do have some equivalent to their combat skins

orchid kettle
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like, higher ranked Elites could be stronger, not because the rank itself grants extra power, but because they were rewarded that rank for being so powerful and accomplished

modest marsh
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I mean, it’s a comorbidity

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Merrtocratious society rewards accomplished individuals with their greatest tools to accomplish even more

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Elites do seem to place a great deal of cultural significance to their armor so it would follow that it’s also practically important

orchid kettle
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Armor can also be important because its armor

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Like, you don't need an explanation for why armor would be used

modest marsh
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Well, at least from how it’s usually depicted, the only meaningful distinction between the armors used by elites is how strong the shields are and whether or not it has an active camo module

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Which is lame in my view

orchid kettle
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Yeah, or in Cole Protocol, if its safe to use in a hostile environment

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But like, Arby really is the source of my issue with the idea of Elite armor being more than armor

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Because this man has fought off assassins naked, tussled with a Spartan in an "infiltration harness" rather than his gold zealot armor, and then spends two games in outdated ceremonial armor

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and i think its just needlessly convulated to try and assign each outfit of his with an invisible power multiplier

modest marsh
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I don’t think it matters for a character like the Arbiter in particular because you’re right in that he’s always going to be presented as physically relevant/performant in whatever task he’s involved in no matter what he’s wearing

orchid kettle
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I think honestly the most you could figure is that even if the boost exists, its relatively minimal compared to a Spartan out of MJOLNIR and a Spartan in MJOLNIR

modest marsh
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That’s intuitive purely based on the fact that a naked Elite is almost certainly stronger than a naked Spartan in 9/10 cases

wispy pewter
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Speaking of armor the Halo 4 Infinity Marines look so ugly lol
They look like medics

orchid kettle
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I also feel like whenever an Elite is wearing armor in a non-combat situation its partly because the designers are kinda unsure of what Elites would be wearing outside of combat

modest marsh
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For some reason that design became the default

orchid kettle
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dare they go full space samurai and give them yukatas like in Legenda

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or just nondescript rags

modest marsh
wispy pewter
orchid kettle
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personally i kinda feel like more aliens should be naked

coarse hamlet
carmine sleet
orchid kettle
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I do feel like its a lil egotistical of us to assume that all intelligent life would gravitate towards clothing like we do

wispy pewter
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Wait they ARE medics

modest marsh
carmine sleet
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But also, there's a bunch of armour pieces which just don't seem to be documented anywhere for the Halo 4 marines

modest marsh
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There’s one of them that uses a more Halo 3 style helmet with a gold visor

carmine sleet
coarse hamlet
carmine sleet
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Ah, the ONI security guys on Ivanoff

orchid kettle
carmine sleet
modest marsh
orchid kettle
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ONI security forces do look a lot better in black

modest marsh
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They may not be actual medics but I guess “medic” is close enough for whatever they’re doing here

carmine sleet
carmine sleet
wispy pewter
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actually the marines guarding Halsey was wearing medic uniform tho

orchid kettle
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i do feel like with Halo 4 and the Wars design, at some point it feels like the UNSC is asking an 18-22 year old to keep track of way too many lil pieces of gear

carmine sleet
carmine sleet
modest marsh
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Even in Halo 5 when they appear in the background of cutscenes and in Warzone

carmine sleet
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Those are just the standard Halo 4 marine design, medics have very specific textures and armour pieces to denote they're medics, as seen in the image I shared earlier

wispy pewter
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they also use kevlar instead of those steel plates 🤪

orchid kettle
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somebody made a kitbash of the Halo 4 marine with the ODST multiplayer armor

carmine sleet
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Like, these are the medics

HTMCC-H4_MarineMedics.png
modest marsh
carmine sleet
modest marsh
orchid kettle
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personally i would have ditched the random floating plate of armor on the tummy that GEN2 tends to have

wispy pewter
modest marsh
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CE/Reach bro

carmine sleet
coarse hamlet
carmine sleet
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Fair

modest marsh
carmine sleet
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I'm not the one you need to convince health packs and medkits exist in the 2500s

modest marsh
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I’m not serious about them needing medkits to loiter in a hangar, but I think it’s a missed opportunity to not slap on one to their thigh

wispy pewter
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if they are medics where is their medi guns?

orchid kettle
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they have the regen field armor ability

wispy pewter
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I wonder if there are Spartan medics

orchid kettle
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they just have to throw their head back and scream and the healing aoe will spawn

modest marsh
wispy pewter
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but the Mjolnir fixes everything anyway

wispy pewter
orchid kettle
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There is a Spartan medic mentioned in the Battle for the Academy story

modest marsh
orchid kettle
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I always kinda figured the biggest reason for a Spartan medic would just be the fact that nobody else could lift an injured Spartan but another Spartan

wispy pewter
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why do railgun marines need to hold an entire container on the back

coarse hamlet
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Do we ever get a breakdown of unsc marine and army unit sizes and composition or would it just be inferences from books/games and filling in gaps with usmc?

orchid kettle
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you kinda just have to assume its the same as like, the US military

modest marsh
orchid kettle
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otherwise its just dudes with MA5s

wispy pewter
wispy pewter
coarse hamlet
wispy pewter
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that is an MTG card right there

orchid kettle
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with the new MA5 Ripsaw you kinda can

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The Ripsaw is apparently just a variant of the MA5 that's configured to better serve as, well, a SAW

modest marsh
orchid kettle
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throw in a marine with an M301 underbarrel grenade launcher and two other nerds and you got a fireteam that's starting to look pretty reasonable

modest marsh
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The medical-grade gravity plate he’d stuck to the warrior’s faded black chest plate was too damaged to lift the Spartan completely, only making the unconscious patient light enough to drag over the dirt, and still Lucas couldn’t accomplish the task himself. If he could just deliver the Spartan to the med tent or at the very least get him or her out of harm’s way— “He’s too heavy!” Jo shouted across the body, dropping the Spartan’s arm and looking desperately around the battlefield for another option as plasma bolts peppered the ground only meters from their feet. Determined, Jo pulled his rifle around to the front of his body and ran toward an abandoned Warthog. Lucas realized immediately what the PO intended. If they could hook the Spartan to the Warthog, they could drag him to the med tent.

coarse hamlet
wispy pewter
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They don't have Mjolnir ejection tools

orchid kettle
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Since the Ripsaw is a skin for the MA5K Avenger in Infinite, that means it DOES use a 60 round mag

modest marsh
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So a Sergeant Major might issue commands to a company-sized unit rather than a Captain

orchid kettle
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Ranks are also just kind of a meme in Halo as well

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hang in there Jenkins, maybe you'll make Lance Corporal one day

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after nearly thirty years

modest marsh
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(This is almost certainly to accommodate Chief and Johnson since they’re the highest enlisted ranks of their respective branch)

coarse hamlet
orchid kettle
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this is kinda what i mean when i say that im fine with the highly abridged ranking structure of the Spartan branch

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on some level, for a story, you don't need much more than "Guy, Leader Guy" and "Big Leader Guy"

modest marsh
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Sgt Forge comes to mind, albeit that’s an exceptional case where he obviously should’ve received an officers commission already

orchid kettle
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isn't that an inverse with the UNSC navy where it seems like the bridge crew are purely officers

modest marsh
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Yeah, that’s also true

orchid kettle
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compared to the US navy where you'd have NCO's in there too

coarse hamlet
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maybe the navy is just absorbing all the officer candidates so the marines rely on enlisted

orchid kettle
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maybe there are NCO's and its just that only the officer characters ever matter

modest marsh
orchid kettle
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in TFOR Keyes' bridge crew is just like four kids but there's obviously way more than that in the Autumn's bridge in-game

modest marsh
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Which is why all astronauts ever have been relatively high officer ranks

orchid kettle
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in halo the enlisted navy men exist purely to hit the "wake up the Master Chief" button

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that's why that one guy from CE was so excited

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he would finally fulfill his life's purpose

modest marsh
orchid kettle
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According to ground command ODST officers are former enlisted

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except nobody told Denning for Silent Storm

modest marsh
orchid kettle
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where the Black Daggers appear pretty conventional if i recall

coarse hamlet
orchid kettle
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if you assume she meant UNSC, CMA, and select planetary defense forces like Spartan-IVs draw upon

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it kinda makes sense

modest marsh
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The “actual” MA5K is not in Infinite

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I’d have to assume the real one is no less than 30% shorter

orchid kettle
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Im kinda okay with the idea that the MA37/MA40 just is what most if not all MA rifles look like

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and its just a matter of which fore end/barrel shroud you slap on it

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i never vibed with the lil P90 grip of the MA5D

stoic hamlet
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Also, a nice touch, the MA5K designation is t even technically official, apparently.

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Like, even as a base designation.

orchid kettle
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i figure the idea is that you can carbinize any MA5

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which maybe is how you can square away the idea of the MA5B being the odst standard issue and also the 5K being a favorite of special forces

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maybe peeps are just modding their MA5Bs

modest marsh
orchid kettle
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i guess it'd be like how the "M7S" is just an M7 SMG with certain parts added on instead of a truly different production model

modest marsh
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(I kind of like the idea of the suppressor being integral on the M7S so it can accept supersonic ammo like the MP5SD)

orchid kettle
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I assume the Ripsaw is the same where any MA rifle can be "ripsawed"

modest marsh
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Although maybe it’s a barrel swap and the receiver is the same

stoic hamlet
orchid kettle
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and the one we have was probably just an MA37/MA40

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i also think in general its cooler for the UNSC to use the MA/MA5 for everything instead of making up a new thing for every lil role

coarse hamlet
orchid kettle
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like obviously for gameplay purposes, like variety and visual distinction, it makes sense how we have distinct rifles over five versions of the MA5

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but i also like permutations on the same weapons platform

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343, give me a "DMR" version of the MA5 where the ammo counter is just a scope like the FN2000 and my life is yours

modest marsh
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If it’s a screw-on suppressor that doesn’t really work

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Like, presumably Alpha Nine would’ve loaded their M7Ss with ammo they found in New Mombasa

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Since they’d necessarily chew through most if not all of their reserve ammo in just the first few firefights

coarse hamlet
orchid kettle
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I mean you also run into M7S's being used by non-ODSTs

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or at least, implied to have been

modest marsh
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That’s true but that’s obviously a gameplay thing lol

orchid kettle
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For the police I don't think its the weirdest thing to think that SWAT is running out here with suppressed smgs

coarse hamlet
orchid kettle
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in Sadie's Story there's also a moment where the police mow down a crowd with M7S's if I recall

modest marsh
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Honestly, no, that’s a good point, but I also think there’s reason to think there’d be just as many unsuppressed SMGs that aren’t present just because of gameplay sandbox constraints

coarse hamlet
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real, same with battlerifles all disappearing

orchid kettle
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Yeah

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to me the M7S only looks weird in the hands of the normie marines

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which I guess is why Bungie added the MA5C at all

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the fact that the AR isn't in firefight always told me that the AR was largely here as a prop rather than an integral part of the sandbox

modest marsh
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I don’t think the SOCOM pistols being in random caches should be interpreted literally at least

orchid kettle
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I could see it again mainly as like a SWAT thing, even if the police officers aren't explicitly swat I don't think?

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I know the officer with the cap and glasses uses an Automag, and I feel like that's partly there to identify him as the leader

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like the trope is guy with hat + pistol = in charge

modest marsh
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You get the impression that the NMPD are unusually militarized so random beat cops being issued full on military hardware isn’t that much of a reach, I just struggle to justify why anyone would want that as their carry pistol

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The original “SOCOM” pistol, Mk23, is this big bulky thing that’s meant to be used offensively in covert operations

coarse hamlet
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the nmpd are about as militarized as a big city in the us. swap out donated mraps and m113s for a pelican and its 1:1

modest marsh
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Uh

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I mean I’d say the fact that the baseline for military hardware in the halo universe being what it is already tips the scale

orchid kettle
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maybe they can load up the Automag with TTR or similar less than lethal rounds

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and the special aiming software or whatever helps preserve accuracy over a normal M6

modest marsh
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Like yeah a pelican is just a transport but it’s still essentially a C-130 with enough armor to stop anything short of a modern anti tank missile

orchid kettle
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to be fair with the Pelican-- we hadn't invented the Falcon yet

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or at least, ODST was stuck using what it had from Halo 3

carmine sleet
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And the Hornet wouldn't really make much sense as a transport within a city

orchid kettle
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sure you had a hornet but you can't very well expect one Hornet to pick up Alpha-Nine

modest marsh
orchid kettle
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Riding on the Hornet does look pretty cool though even if impractical

coarse hamlet
modest marsh
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I’m trying not to be uncharitable to the point you’re making but it’s like comparing a wagon to a train

orchid kettle
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Its weird they never made a Police Warthog for ODST now that I think about it

modest marsh
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If you want to keep it just the equipment they’re carrying, they’re still toting M90 shotguns which have enough bang to bisect about 7 protesters with a single shell

orchid kettle
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Shotguns do come with an assortment of less than lethal ammo

modest marsh
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That’s also fair

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In fact the 8g shell and pump action would make it uniquely capable in that role

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At the same time though, you have to reasonably assume they’re well stocked with buckshot

orchid kettle
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its really the .50 cal sniper rifles all over the precinct that's kinda worrying

modest marsh
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See, to me, that’s probably the most reasonable part of their arsenal

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lol

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You can disable a vehicle with a .50cal

orchid kettle
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Hmmm maybe the fact that there's no BRs in the PD actually means the BR is so popular that the officers took them all

modest marsh
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The BR which uh

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“Get to cover,” John yelled as he brought his BR55 to bear, spun on his heel, acquired a sight picture of his target, and put a single bullet through the neck of the green-clad Grunt. Private Jemison’s MA5B flashed to his shoulder and fired off a long burst as the first shot from the fuel rod gun sailed past the Spartan and the Marines and slammed into the tunnel wall a little more than twelve meters away. The nearly decapitated Grunt reflexively fired a second shot, which impacted the roadway less than a meter away from where it was standing.

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Does this to a grunt

stoic hamlet
orchid kettle
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I just think that bit from TFOR about Blue Team all using MA2Bs so they could share magazines sounded cool

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and logistically it seems like a hassle to start carrying this new exotic round nothing else in the galaxy fires

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in the case of the BR

modest marsh
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kills elite in single burst

orchid kettle
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Yeah but you could also apparently just get your hands on some special 7.62 rounds and start shredding Banshees by the truckload too

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or kill a Sharquoi in a single shot from half a kilometer away

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like if anything maybe the normal M118 round just kinda sucks

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but that doesn't necessarily mean you have to make a new gun that fires a brand new caliber

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you can just keep the caliber and make better boolet

stoic hamlet
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Not quite.

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This was done with the Ross rifle. It was chambered for the .303 that other commonwealth rifles used at the time, but it was intended to use much higher quality ammunition.

In WW1, it got supplied lower quality ammo and was basically unusable, combined with the trenches it just couldn’t function.

modest marsh
orchid kettle
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The DMR fires the same caliber as the MA5

modest marsh
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I know

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The specific example you’re referring to from Envoy I don’t think would be reproducible with an MA5 due to the inferior accuracy and presumably lower muzzle velocity

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Jai smashed the rest of the windowpane out and set the bipod of the DMR on the edge. It didn’t have the range of Adriana’s sniper rifle, but with the custom high-explosive ammo the Surakans used, it would do well enough at this range. He looked down through the scope. He made a tiny adjustment to find one Sharquoi lumbering up the street, shrugging off gunfire. Jai moved his aim up to the creature’s strange head atop its broad, muscled shoulders. He focused on the large lump on its forehead. He wasn’t sure if it helped it see or connected it to the chieftain. Either way, it looked vital. Jai held his breath. He slightly increased the pressure on his index figure until the rifle fired. The tissue on the giant’s head vaporized and Jai started breathing again. The Sharquoi stumbled and landed on its hands and knees. It crawled forward at the sandbags as it blood gushed from its head onto the road.

orchid kettle
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I mean the MA5's inaccuracy has always been kind of a meme, with the 300 meter figure clearly just being a reference to the funny Spartan number rather than an accurate reflection of how accurate a nearly meter long bullpup would be with a 7.62 round

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Its inaccurate because it must justify the existence of the BR and DMR as distinct entities

modest marsh
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This isn’t me saying the MA5 is inaccurate, I just would not expect this level of accuracy from virtually any rifle in general

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He’s hitting a very small target that’s moving lol

orchid kettle
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I mean Spartans do essentially have supernatural levels of accuracy

modest marsh
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Right, but the mechanical accuracy of the weapon is still relevant

orchid kettle
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Denning really liked doing this thing where the Spartans of Blue would calculate the ideal firing angle for whatever shot they were trying to land before the MJOLNIR'S computer could

modest marsh
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I’m saying that independent of Jai’s aim, doing this with minimal preparation would suggest that the DMR is uniquely precise in a way that the MA5 is not even if they’re technically firing the same bullet

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And like, that might not make sense using real world logic

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But it is the case that generally speaking the MA5 is only marginally accurate at a few hundred meters and not “can hit a head sized object at half a klick consistently”

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If it were then blue team should’ve had no problem downing the banshees in the TFOR prologue

orchid kettle
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They do down the Banshee?

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And they down many more in SoR

modest marsh
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Not with their MA5s

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Well, Chief does in SoR, yeah

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But that engagement was a lot more protracted

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The Spartans, without hesitation, fired on the alien fliers. Bullet hits pinged from the fliers’ chitinous armor—it would take a very lucky shot to take out the antigrav pods on the end of the crafts’ stubby meter-long “wings.”

modest marsh
# modest marsh Well, Chief does in SoR, yeah

Chief also shoots through the armored cowling and kills the pilot as opposed to disabling it by hitting a weakspot or getting a ricochet like what was described in Nylund’s books, because of course the Infinite banshee in particular may as well be made of paper by comparison to the CE banshee

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Maybe because it was maneuvering faster the bullets had a higher relative velocity and could penetrate more? I’d hesitate to say the MA40 is arbitrarily stronger than the previous MA5 models just because it’s newer

orchid kettle
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Also characters in Halo are just weirdly against using different firing modes sometimes

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No matter how controlled your burst is, its categorically gonna be less accurate than a careful semi-auto

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Contact Harvest I think is one of the few times characters do swap modes, with Johnson using semi, burst, and even full auto with his spiffy new BR

modest marsh
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I mean yeah I feel like that’s just a waterfall effect of gameplay mechanics informing how things “should” work even in the non-game fiction

orchid kettle
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though maybe that chapter originally had Johnson with an MA5B? Because he also mentions depleting the 60 round magazine which otherwise feels very MA5B-coded

stoic hamlet
orchid kettle
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ye

stoic hamlet
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I believe it’s also done in Ghosts of Onyx a few times.

orchid kettle
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i think Bryne is using semi auto with his M7S as well when he does the two to the chest, one to the head thing to those innie prisoners in the prologue

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for the classic assault rifle specifically, it feels rare

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as if you'll break the space time continuum if you have it step on the BR's toes

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oh wait, Dinh used full auto with his bandit rifle in the S2 cutscene

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though it was a dream sequence

stoic hamlet
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Interestingly, double checking, most times the MA5K is described in Ghosts of Onyx, it’s mentioned as being suppressed.

Which makes sense, considering, but it’s neat to acknowledge.

modest marsh
modest marsh
stoic hamlet
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It’s full auto in Nightfall as well, I think.

orchid kettle
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its weird in Fred's case because the reach DMR always had a full auto setting on its model

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but the M395 doesn't

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at least i don't think it does

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He has a short barrel DMR too in the cutscene

stoic hamlet
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I’ll need to check divine wind, but I think it’s full auto there as well?

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Briefly, anyways.

orchid kettle
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or i guess more so a standard length barrel because its a bullpup so it'd still be pretty long?

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and if anything the normal DMR length is kinda overkill

icy sonnet
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Custom DMR?

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I imagine Spartans get that privilege

vagrant ocean
modest marsh
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It’s stated in the text he’s using custom explosive rounds

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“custom high-explosive ammo the Surakans used”

vagrant ocean
orchid kettle
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The Surakans actually grow the bullets themselves from the Carrowian soil

vagrant ocean
orchid kettle
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the bandit rifle is the M392

modest marsh
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I think even if they do use the same ammo, a DMR is always going to be presented as unusually precise even if it’s not that different from other rifles

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Just because that’s how it works in the game

orchid kettle
#

well until now strangely enough with the Bandit, which somehow has a shorter red reticule range than the sidekick

modest marsh
#

Well that one is a bit more nuanced

orchid kettle
#

the bandages hurt the accuracy

modest marsh
#

Since I’d argue RRR is a distinction of point-aiming vs actual aimed fire

orchid kettle
#

or rather, its proof that the poor rifle was wounded in battle

#

its trying its best

modest marsh
#

I forget, the EVO variant has the exact same RRR as the regular bandit?

orchid kettle
#

Im not sure what the exact differences are besides the scope honestly

#

its never felt super different imo

#

and in a way scopeless felt better for zooming in since you couldn't be flinched out of scope

stoic hamlet
#

That’s more just a gameplay thing, though.

#

It’s interesting actually because Spartans should have good vision well beyond the maximum effective range of even their scopes.

orchid kettle
#

if they're using smart scopes though doesn't that mean their eyesight is only as good as the camera's resolution

modest marsh
#

Which isn’t to say redundancy is a bad thing since the visor can fail but

#

Seeing stuff at 300 meters or whatever is never once suggested to be a function of their raw eyesight

#

He tapped the side of his helmet and zoomed in on the site. The drill was enormous, much bigger than the Locust he and the others had taken down before—it was as big as the surrounding houses, if not bigger. However, the plasma beam it emitted was wider and brighter. Victor counted five Elites on the ground, and none of them looked like they were equipped to fight. They stood in a clump, conferring together, their eyes fixed on the drill. Grunts churned around them, jumping up and down, knocking up against one another. A pack of Brutes at the edge of the scene bellowed at the Grunts with triumphant nods. Celebrating, Victor realized with a cold slow creep of dread. They’re celebrating. Immediately, he zoomed in as far as his HUD would take him. The image was blurred a little at the edges, but he could still make out the beam of the drill shooting straight into the ground, ringed by the charred wreckage of the neighborhood. The light flickered and burned at his eyes.

#

Like even whatever Victor is wearing here allows him to IMAGE ENHANCE such that you could argue a magnified scope would just be redundant

#

Vaz settled behind the gun and hung on as Osman bounced the Hog over every dip and boulder. The heavy trailer didn’t help its handling at all. At three hundred meters, with a bit of help from his visor’s optics, Vaz could see ‘Telcam’s face. Bastard. Well, at least he didn’t have to smile at the thing.

#

Making out someone’s face at 300 meters is a tall order without something on the order of 10x magnification

stoic hamlet
# modest marsh Seeing stuff at 300 meters or whatever is never once suggested to be a function ...

Saber/the Gammas at least can easily pick out individual Sentinals at over three kilometres away:

About three kilometers distant, she could just make out what appeared to be an alabaster tower rising between the humps of two dunes, one green and one gold. There seemed to be a tendril of gray smoke rising from its top.
“What about that?” she said, pointing. “Is that the Cartographer’s tower?”
”Never seen one,” Mark said “But that’s my guess, given all those sentinels pouring out of it—Aggressors, by the look of them.”
“Huh?” Veta asked. Mark wasn’t even using his Longshot sight, but she knew better than to doubt a Spartan-III’s augmented vision. “You mean that gray smoke?”
”Uh, yeah…,” Ash said. “Only it’s not smoke.”

modest marsh
#

This is the part where I admit I never finished reading divine wind after getting spoiled about the ending

orchid kettle
#

at what point is your vision too good

#

and like human beings start looking hideous to you

#

because you can see every last pore and vein and pimple

modest marsh
#

I guess you also have to factor the visibility of the locale

wispy pewter
#

3km away? Bruh they have the zoom of a main battle tank that is crazy

icy sonnet
#

I would expect Spartans to simply have better eyesight. And for them to have naturally better night vision. And then we put them in a helmet that adds to that.

minor sky
#

Whats the average hight of a grunt, again?

icy sonnet
modest marsh
#

Depending on which aggressor model you’re talking about

#

The halo 4 ones being roughly half the size as the infinite ones

#

Sentinels are deceptively large…

versed helm
#

What is y’all’s favorite Halo book? I like silent storm Flawless

#

Granted I haven’t read every book yet but I own a TON of them and they’re all sitting on my shelf

orchid kettle
#

like I dunno, being crammed into what is essentially a full helmet VR headset sounds less appealing than just looking at the world through a tinted pane of glass

#

imagine the eyestrain

modest marsh
#

their super eyes can handle it obviously

#

but this would still have to apply to odsts

#

since they use the same tech

orchid kettle
#

In my writing I just assume its more straight forward

#

otherwise you have this idea that the characters are like projecting an image of their face onto the visor whenever the visor turns "transparent"

#

you could also argue that ODST armor may not even have that many sensors like MJOLNIR does

modest marsh
#

I mean, i think we're meant to assume its more akin to augmented reality as opposed to a fully virtual all of the time, the visor just also has the capability to go full VR

orchid kettle
#

Yeah, and AR is fine

modest marsh
orchid kettle
#

personally if I can help it I prefer it if the tech can be forgotten about

#

i feel like if you wrote an ODST and constantly brought up their 26th century tech, it'd start kinda blending together with how Spartans are written

modest marsh
#

like to get a similar effect of a Spartan's singular MJOLNIR package, a platoon of ODSTs in concert probably have similar coverage/resolution

orchid kettle
#

The old encyclopedia gave ODSTs motion sensors as well but personally I don't vibe with it since the removal of the motion sensor is one of the big changes between Chief and Rookie

#

Ive also mentioned multiple times how I feel like in the context of a story, a character could just hear an enemy they couldn't yet see or something

modest marsh
#

Motion sensors were technically something ubiquitously available circa TFOR, it was just a question of whether or not its embedded in an individual suit of armor

orchid kettle
modest marsh
#

theres also more marginal distinctions you can make like the level of fidelity being significantly different, since MJOLNIR radar can pinpoint people through walls in real time whereas the ODST tacmap only gives you a rough location using a series of pings

modest marsh
#

"they're using ECM" boom, you're golden

orchid kettle
#

I always think of Babysitter and how it kinda downgrades UNSC to make it easier to parse for an audience that has to view these characters from a third person perspective

modest marsh
orchid kettle
#

Like how they have a compass on their wrist they look at for directions, or how I think they whip out normal binoculars when according to GOO they could just "squint" and have the helmet zoom in

modest marsh
#

there's also the possibility this is a recent upgrade, since VISR 3.0 wasnt apparently a thing until the battle for earth

modest marsh
#

And if Victor is just wearing a CH52 helmet in Meridian Divide, well, thats yet another example of late or post war tech being brought into the past because its now synonymous with the baseline setting

#

i dont remember if it was ONI kit, i'd have to read back, but to your point i think its a mistake to make tech like that remotely common or accessible as it undermines the deliberate retrofuturism of the non-spartan units

orchid kettle
#

which we know ODSTs have but also isn't it neat if a character can get their sling caught on a tree branch as they fall off a cliff

modest marsh
#

you're right, it adds texture

#

scan lines aside, getting a picture this clean at almost 800 meters in inclimate weather is insane

fossil pier
#

so can someone explain how exactly forunner and humans are related? Did they just have a common ancestor then split and have all their ancient wars and stuff that was shown in halo 4?

torpid depot
modest marsh
#

Forerunners were elevated from a primal hominid millions of years prior to the evolution of modern humans by the precursors

#

So we’re very distantly related

#

There’s also the fact that due to eons of voluntary, species-wide genetic engineering, the biological traits of forerunners as of the flood-era Ecumene are about as biologically distinct as they could be from their own “natural” state

#

To be clear, the reason why the Forerunners decided to try and wipe out the Precursors was because in order to make room for a new steward race, the Forerunners themselves would have to be destroyed, or at least diminished to the point their civilization may as well have never existed so as not to upset the balance of power

#

From their perspective it was a tragic but just act in order to preserve their species

#

Not unlike the High Prophets perpetuating the Covenant religion despite knowing that it was a falsehood, because it would all but guarantee that their species would be destroyed

coarse hamlet
modest marsh
#

He got over it

#

I’d say Didact is the real winner here lol he got a happy ending

coarse hamlet
#

Didnt he die twice? Or 3 times if you include the other didact

modest marsh
#

His body was destroyed just the one time in the escalation comic but he was composed, so his essence is preserved in the Domain

#

He then went on a spirit quest and learned the error of his ways

coarse hamlet
#

Not only did a comic steal my kill but they didnt even kill him?

modest marsh
#

He’s effectively dead in the sense that he’ll probably never be heard from again but technically his consciousness has been preserved

#

If you just pretend that he got composed when he fell into the vortex in Halo 4 it’s effectively the same thing

modest marsh
#

In contact harvest for instance it seems clear that Staten intended all humans to fall under the reclaimer label

torpid depot
modest marsh
#

It being cryptic/vague is mostly a consequence of Bungie being indecisive

torpid depot
orchid kettle
#

I think part of it was the fact that actually linking contemporary humans to an ancient space faring civilization is pretty difficult if you're trying to entertain the idea that the story is set loosely in "our future"

#

in terms of like, the actual logistics of it

torpid depot
#

I always assumed that earth was an experiment

#

That long ago the human forerunners sent their genetic code into vast retrograde to view life growing on a green-zone planet

orchid kettle
#

Paul Russel has since stated on twitter that another writer on the Halo 3 terminals he knew had this idea that forerunners were merely just early humans who got scooped up one day and handed the keys to the castle

#

He never names this co worker though and we don't know which terminals specifically this person helped out on, but you do have this idea in one of the terminals or maybe Iris where the Librarian just feels an intense spiritual connection to Earth despite never knowing of the planet before

#

and the implication seems to be that the Librarian has somehow on an instinctual level recognized the Forerunners' true homeworld

#

The terminal translates her name for the planet as [Eden], which aside from just being a pretty garden paradise, was of course also the place Adam and Eve were cast out from

modest marsh
#

Right, after being tempted with the “Apple” (knowledge)

torpid depot
#

Man came out with some REAL LORE. I applaud you sir thank you for the refresher salute

orchid kettle
#

There's also apparently life on [Eden] that the Librarian is very interested in, somehow convinced that they "hold the answers to our own mysteries"

#

again implying that she just happened upon this world with cavemen

#

and feels some sort of connection to the planet and the people

#

which i think is where Russell's coworker's interpretation comes into play

#

that humanity split into two, much like the San Shyuum as detailed in CH

modest marsh
#

It gets missed because of the 343i era retcons but even the Greg Bear novels retain subtle allusions to this idea, it’s just made more convoluted because of the introduction of a separate ancient human space fairing empire

#

If you removed that part it clicks into place a lot easier with what Halo 3 was implying

orchid kettle
#

whats unclear honestly in Russell's scenario is how Chief is "a forerunner" in Guilty Spark's eye

#

because sure, forerunners are human, but not all humans are forerunner

#

itd be like accusing Chief of being Italian or something

#

the only thing that would make sense to me is that the surviving Forerunners, however few, settle on Earth and mingle with the original humans

#

and the two groups return to one

torpid depot
modest marsh
#

This is where I lean on the fact that Spark thinks Chief is the Didact because of his rampancy but I realize this isn’t the most popular interpretation among purists

orchid kettle
#

well thats kinda the thing with the Iso-Didact isnt it

modest marsh
#

“Didact” being “whoever fired the ring the first time”

orchid kettle
#

I doubt his story was ever in Bungie's mind

#

but his end where he casts off Forerunner technology to live a humble life with his chosen wife

#

sounds like itd be the missing link if the planet he exiled himself to was ancient Earth

modest marsh
orchid kettle
#

because as is-- bro is either dooming his children to a painful, lonely existence

#

or there's some freaky stuff happening on that planet

carmine sleet
modest marsh
#

But because our hero has “learned from his past life”, he breaks the cycle

#

“Genocide is never acceptable” etc etc

orchid kettle
#

also-- a man and woman being the only survivors of the original forerunner civilization would obviously sound like an Adam and Eve parallel

#

mainly in just how they're a man and a woman starting anew

#

of course now the metaphor is getting a bit confused because they'd be cast into Eden...

modest marsh
#

Where do the dinosaurs figure into this

orchid kettle
#

oh those arent real in halo

modest marsh
#

It was a forerunner hoax

orchid kettle
#

wake up sheeple

modest marsh
#

They created fossils as a PRANK

carmine sleet
#

They thought it'd be funny

torpid depot
#

oh my god there are so many things i cant say rn

orchid kettle
#

does anyone in Halo ever mention knowing what a fossil is

#

after the halo rings fire, that is

carmine sleet
#

There's just one Forerunner sat in a control room watching humans finding "fossils" and laughing at them

modest marsh
carmine sleet
#

Exactly

orchid kettle
#

i guess in Halo 2's cut ending you do literally have this idea of at least one original Forerunner chillaxing on Earth

#

though its not clear if he was always a corpse in the box

#

or if he chilled for a bit and then climbed in the box and died

modest marsh
#

I think it’s more like a sentinel buried him on earth after he died

torpid depot
#

i replied to the WRONG MESSAGE DUDE

orchid kettle
#

personally i never vibed with the explanation that humans are just a random Earth primate that the Forerunners decided to broadcast their genes into

modest marsh
#

In renegades

orchid kettle
#

man do i hate the librarian

#

the series paints her as humanity's benevolent god mother

modest marsh
#

You can just say you hate women dude come on

orchid kettle
#

but ultimately she's just another colonizer. She never learned from the Forerunners' mistakes, and kept meddling with the development and culture of any species

modest marsh
#

Girls aren’t allowed to do ANYTHING

orchid kettle
#

it felt like the forerunner saga existed to show us how the Forerunners ultimately deserved what they got

modest marsh
#

have you considered she was really good at astrology so everything she did was moral and justified in the end

orchid kettle
#

but then everything surrounding the Librarian is about how humans need to emulate them and follow their lead as much as possible

torpid depot
modest marsh
#

It’s not necessarily unrealistic for Halsey to think about that but I question the need for Traviss to include that in the story

stoic hamlet
#

Technically there’s also Lucy and Olivia.

Both would be capable, as far as we’re aware.

#

Also potentially whoever was in the Slipspace pods. We don’t know the make up of Katana, or who the other ONI personnel weee.

#

They were all wounded, of course, but maybe they’d find a life worker Huragok to help with that. Or something.

modest marsh
#

Well, from Halsey’s PoV

stoic hamlet
#

The same would be true of Linda and Kelly though, by that logic.

But yeah.

modest marsh
#

She doesn’t know Lucy isn’t subject to the gamma mutation yet

#

Which is what she’s worried about

stoic hamlet
#

Mhm.

modest marsh
#

I think it’s a reasonable concern that without actual medical intervention, Olivia’s hypothetical children wouldn’t survive due to their brain development being compromised by the mutation to their frontal lobe

stoic hamlet
#

It is an interesting hypothetical.

In the sense I don’t know it would be passed on, off the top of my head, but I could see a case for either or.

modest marsh
#

Well, regardless of what the baby itself ends up with, Olivia herself would be a liability in that situation

#

Not to get into the minutiae of childbirth but I can’t imagine Spartan-boosted physiology combined with the inherently traumatic experience would mix well with a gamma’s berserker rage

stoic hamlet
#

Maybe? I don’t think the birth would be an issue.

Or do you mean the mood swings, cravings and etc?

We know they can keep their smoother supplies lasting a long time, at least a full year without resupply.

#

The beserker aspect is also an odd one, because aside from Olivia’s one moment in Last Light it’s never really featured before or since, even by her.

modest marsh
#

My understanding was they were on a time crunch in Glasslands but I could be misremembering, since they’d have already spent days fighting

stoic hamlet
#

Time did get funky in Onyx.

If they could find/access the engineers, as Lucy did, it would dramatically prolong the time they could survive, even ignoring the smoother situation.

Months turned to days turned to hours, after all.

#

Though who knows how that would affect a pregnancy.

minor sky
#

This question has been floating around my brain for a little while now and I gotta ask you guys-
Do you think it would've been better if Halo 4's opening level had you wind up a Covenant ship? Both as an inversion of CE's opening and to properly introduce Jul's Covenant?

#

I've been thinking about this since before Infinite came out and did a similar thing with Warship Gbraakon

#

Kind of stimmed from the issue of the destroyed half of the Dawn being a bit of a limited playspace

untold viper
#

Halo 4's opening overall feels kinda weird to me, especially if I play 3 and hop straight to 4 because for some reason the segment never clicks as one complete part in my mind, like you traverse the destroyed semi-functional dawn and then you fight enemies and then you're outside, it's all just disconnected in my mind. I don't see how else they could've done the opening following from Halo 3 though, but I do agree with you
Like the Dawn in it's damaged state can't take the beating from the boarding crews and is at risk of becoming such a flimsy tin can that in order to not get sucked into the vacuum of space or into the shield world's gravitational pull, Chief has to board a nearby covenant vessel. It would've been cool, and it could have done a much better job at organically introducing Jul's Covenant because I had no idea about what motivations were behind that specific Covenant aside from being allied with the Didact

minor sky
#

My idea would be that once Chief reaches the Observation Deck a Corvette or Cruiser flies overhead and tractor beams the Dawn on-board

modest marsh
#

If you go over to the crashed covenant ship debris, there’s a communications device that Cortana can patch into and explain that the covenant have been waiting outside of requiem for years

minor sky
#

Yeah but thats kind of a band-aid over a bullet wound

#

Hell, the proper terminal that explains this more directly isn't even in the game

untold viper
#

Jul's covenant sounds really interesting but I have yet to complete Spartan Ops nor do I own an Xbox with which to play Halo 5, where to my knowledge Jul gets assassinated in the first mission?

minor sky
#

Yeah pretty much

#

Jul's Covenant occupied a weird space in lore. They were both "the NEW Covenant" and also had a lot of details kind of left unexplained

#

Like they were never given a proper name beyond "Jul 'Mdama's Covenant"

#

Some media reffered to them as the "Storm Covenant" but that was a mistake

untold viper
#

Storm Covenant does sound much better than just "Jul 'Mdama's Covenant"

#

Has a real ring to it

modest marsh
#

I prefer “Covenant Remnant”

untold viper
#

That does sound more fitting from my understanding

minor sky
#

They had no major narrative presence in Halo 4 beyond being there for the player to fight. Spartan Ops tries to rectify this but to very mixed results, and by the events of the 2nd game in "The Reclaimer Saga" their leader is killed in a cutscene and they are completely beaten by the end of the game

minor sky
#

Per Halo Escalation:

"What does it mean to be 'Covenant' today? A hundred warlords claim they rule the Covenant, but each of them leads only a small faction."

modest marsh
minor sky
#

Sure but, for the sake of the narrative, that tends to be confusing

untold viper
#

Also Reach's anniversary is soon and the Halo YouTube Channel has another anniversary video planned, do you guys reckon we'll get a new Noble Team prequel waypoint story like Winter Contention since the ODST anniversary week also came with Venezian Sonata IIRC?

#

Or if they do, would it be a prequel with the old cast or continuing Jun and Rosenda's story

minor sky
#

Hm. Not sure

#

Maybe something Noble Six related?

#

Insane to think its been that long since Bungie made a good game Halo Reach came out

stoic hamlet
#

I’d hope it’s about Red Team.

But I know 99% of the community doesn’t know they exist.

steady terrace
#

I realized a plot hole in Halo 4. I might be overthinking it. Technically, wouldn't the flood still be with the Chief? What I mean by this is that, during Halo 3, when Chief goes to the flood-infested Holy City of High Charity to save Cortana, he steps on flood muck(the biomass on his boots). When the Chief went into cyro-sleep, the flood became dormant due to the cold. So when Halo 4 happens, Chief wakes up and leaves the cryo-pod. Wouldn't the flood become active again since he's out of the cryo-sleep due to temparture rise? He did have a good amount flood muck on his boots. Again, I might be overthinking this. I just realized that after playing Halo 3 and the Halo 4 campaign again.

vagrant ocean
#

You’re overthinking. It wasn’t exactly biomass, just mucus

steady terrace
vagrant ocean
#

He was basically ankle deep in snot.

obsidian thistle
minor sky
#

I swear some of the Mega sets reffered to them as that

#

Or maybe I'm misremembering

obsidian thistle
#

Which I always took as a sorta Lance the Covenant used

#

Filled with Storm roled soldiers

spiral compass
#

Why is the Brute shot not in Halo Infinite?

obsidian thistle
#

30 hours. But jeez that art goes hard

#

Maybe this is why Ben was put on the John-117 gig.

modest marsh
#

It’s very possible the supercell dies off when frozen in cryo given how effective cryo bombs are on the flood in Halo Wars

modest marsh
#

There’s no lore reason for the absence of any weapon in any halo game, it’s just a sandbox choice

#

Ie canonically the Elites in Halo 4 and 5 likely used plasma rifles, repeaters, and pulse carbines instead of only the Storm rifle as their primary weapon

stoic hamlet
empty bloom
minor sky
tight badge
#

How authoritarian is the UEG

modest marsh
# tight badge How authoritarian is the UEG

There’s not much reason to think that the civilian government itself is any more authoritarian than modern representative democracies, but due to wartime policy the government has taken a much more military junta-esque stance under the leadership of Lord Hood using emergency powers, with these powers being surrendered back in the post war era

#

The main difference is ONI gradually gaining more and more influence over the decades such that they often control policy indirectly by narrative framing the happenings of the world due to their unparalleled surveillance capabilities

orchid kettle
#

The fact that nobody in-universe ever seems to have a problem with the Insurrection outside of the extremeness of their methods kinda tells me that there's a justifiable reason in-universe for so many people to be fed up with the UEG

#

Of course you could argue nobody brings that up because then Halo has to get the tiniest bit political

#

But like you have this idea that in Contact Harvest, Johnson gets as many dirty looks as he does nods of approval when he shows up wearing his uniform on Earth during the height of the Insurrection, which suggests that there's a 50/50 split of opinion more or less

#

and I feel like in a setting where ONI otherwise has so much reach and power that they can hide the true impact of the Covenant War from people for decades, the idea that they're failing to keep Earth's people convinced of the UNSC's righteousness is pretty damning

#

In TFOR as well I've always argued that I think you're supposed to question the legitimacy of the characters' claim that human society is on the verge of being destroyed by insurgents "and raiders"

#

Because in TFOR specifically, the UNSC are depicted as particularly ruthless and flippant about the cost of human life. You have this idea that Keyes was brought onto the Spartan Program briefly by Halsey because Keyes refused to testify against a superior officer when said officer got a bunch of cadets killed, choosing loyalty (if not to that particular superior officer, then the very fact that the main in question was a superior officer) over justice or what's "right" or anything like that

#

Mendez and his men just absolutely love abusing John and the kids during training, and during the exercise where they stole that Pelican/Albatross, John was convinced that the evil men who were gleefully about to bash Fred's head in could not have been with Mendez, because "Mendez and the instructors would never hurt us!"

#

smash cut to John in Mendez's office, where the latter reveals that those child-beating enthusiasts were, in fact, his men.

#

There's more examples of this, from Mendez purposefully sending those ODSTs to their deaths to test John's abilities, to Halsey and Mendez not caring one bit when its mentioned an instructor was killed in a hand to hand exercise by accident

#

Personally what's always felt the most damning to me is just this idea that Watts' fleet had already been smashed to pieces before Halsey and Keyes even started looking for the Spartan children, and then eight years later, they send Blue Team to capture Watts as part of a test run. And lo and behold, there's no hint that the former Innie leader was up to anything or had been doing much of anything in the interim, besides some piracy I guess.

#

But personally plotting the destruction of human civilization? Hardly.

wispy pewter
#

isn't the UEG a democracy

#

The Unified Earth Government functions as a representative democracy[1] The UEG is headed by a President.[14] The government maintains executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

#

it is

orchid kettle
#

Of course in TFOR alone, I don't think Watts was ever positioned as like, the Insurrectionist Leader or anything, with Halsey herself claiming that there's been hundreds of conflicts and that "humanity" has always been "on the verge" ever since they left Earth's gravity well

wispy pewter
#

then why don't innies vote for change instead of rebelling

#

dummies

orchid kettle
#

Though I think that only adds to the idea that the modern Insurrection itself wasn't anymore extreme than any other conflict in human history

#

Like, by Halsey's own words, its been like this for nearly four hundred years

#

In which case, I feel like TFOR's implication here is that Halsey's claim that they're here to save "humanity" is more so because she thinks the Spartans and any future supersoldiers like them will make war a thing of the past

#

That like, the UNSC's power will be so overwhelming that there will simply never be trouble again

#

rather than the idea that the Insurrection itself was uniquely capable of wiping out humanity

orchid kettle
#

though again in TFOR, he's just specifically the rebel guy from John's home planet

obsidian thistle
#

Say what you will about adaptions or Brian Reed but that was in my opinion one of the best adaptions of a book to comic (outside the ending which follows the book TOO faithfully and doesnt connect to First Strike well lol)

modest marsh
modest marsh
#

Well, pick most transatlantic colony revolts and you’ll notice a similar pattern

#

For both practical reasons, like comparatively small populations and the distance between locations, as well cultural ones, like differences in religion and philosophy, the imperial power has little incentive to provide the colonists equitable voting power

#

And, well, that voting power would just give them economic leverage when the whole point of colonies is to extract capital

orchid kettle
#

And that Johnson himself is experiencing a crisis of self where he believes he's selling his soul fighting for the UNSC's "dirty war"

modest marsh
#

Recruiting is also down in most western democracies

#

I think Contact Harvest itself is representing that post-post 9/11 disenchantment with GWOT which like, yeah, turns out people start getting bothered by pointless wars that kill hundreds of thousands of people

orchid kettle
#

Still makes me a lil upsetti spaghetti when people read that "They made us killers, Avery." line from Bryne and all they can be bothered to take away from it is how he could be a cool secret supersoldier like Johnson too

modest marsh
#

🙈

#

I think it works with both, if only because it doesn’t lose the thematic bite if the idea is they both share resentment towards what the ORION program accomplished/failed to do

orchid kettle
#

Sure, it just always felt like to me the sentiment is that anybody shooting colonists in the name of Earth is in the same boat

#

though this is also just part of my own frustration with the fanbase where it can feel like story and the themes of that story takes a backseat to "L O R E"

modest marsh
#

The way I see it is they both feel particularly bad about it compared to most because of what they’ve been through, and although their experience isn’t exclusive, it’s “enhanced” by the fact they were sold a snake oil solution that makes them only good for war

#

And they’ve internalized that differently

#

Byrne took the path of embracing that as part of who he is, whereas Johnson gradually began doubting himself

orchid kettle
#

For Bryne I wonder if throwing himself into the identity is in a way trying to hide from the reality of the situation

modest marsh
#

If I’m going to make any other argument in favor of it for the purposes of storytelling, if Byrne is an ORION it only makes their relationship that much more intimate, there are no secrets between them and he can truly see Johnson for what he is and resents the fact that he’s trying to run from that

orchid kettle
#

I just have an innate dislike of it because in general I feel like trying to link characters to ORION is part of this obsession with important characters needing to have some relation, however minor, to Chief and friends

modest marsh
#

that’s a good reason to find that bothersome, but if I had to say, creating that parallelism doesn’t detract from the themes of the story if the whole point is to add to the critique of the UNSC’s jingoistic approach to every problem

#

I can’t read Staten’s mind though

orchid kettle
#

I also just kinda figure from the perspective of the ORIONs, it was just a failed program they took part in years ago that was all things considered little more than a brief diversion in their life

#

rather than the thing that defined their life like fans treat it as

modest marsh
#

Eh, 10 years?

orchid kettle
#

Well if Johnson spent just as much time awake as he did asleep in cryo, then it'd only feel like five

modest marsh
#

That’s a pretty full career onto itself, and assuming that most of them were green at the time, it would be an impressionable experience in my view

orchid kettle
#

Im just saying I don't think ORIONs would even really appreciate being called "ORIONs"

modest marsh
#

You’re right, that’s true

orchid kettle
#

I just don't think its nearly as foundational to their identity as it is for any other Spartan

modest marsh
#

In fact I would go as far as to say they’d on the whole probably hate the fact that Halsey tried to “honor” them by retroactively designating them Spartan-I

#

It’s clearly not something important to Johnson’s identity anyways, since it’s still this vague secret deep lore thing

orchid kettle
#

Especially in a setting where seemingly everyone in the UNSC knows the IIs were kidnapped kids

#

but somehow the civilian population doesn't?

modest marsh
#

Oh I didn’t even consider that

stoic hamlet
#

Tbh, considering the official story is that John enlisted at 16 (and Mendez actually enlisted at 16), the only ones who’d probably actually raise red flags would be the III’s. The II’s wouldn’t really need to lie about their ages as they could have easily just used cryo as the excuse.

But then, no one ever actually acknowledges cryo, so…

tacit trench
#

Do elites have any instruments? I believe they could have wind instruments that are played with bellows rather than by blowing in with lungs because no suction with lips

wispy pewter
#

They have instruments of war

sleek vigil
#

Recently, upon some further inspections, I came to the realisation that Reach's skybox makes even less sense than it already does.

To begin, the two moons themselves have already stretched and tore through physics, yet it becomes even worse when you realise the whole host of planets that reside next to Reach.

Reach is Epsilon Eridani II, and it is most certainly in the habitable zone. Fair and square. But this is where we run into problems. There is Epsilon Eridani III, also known as Tribute, which, make no mistake, is a habitable planet, second to Reach. With that knowledge, one must reasonably be able assume that Tribute also belongs in the habitable zone. We might be able to fit in one more planet inside the habitable zone as we have seen a system with 3 potential worlds in the habitable zone.

Yet, we do not see such a planet in Reach's skybox, especially considering Tribute would be as large as Reach. From the arrangement, we can also extrapolate that it also it must be receiving even less Ranlight, considering Epsilon Eridani is supposed to be an Orange-red Dwarf that'd would naturally cast a amber and slightly muted hue on Reach — and Bungie, who made the sky stylishly red with smoke and haze, did not care enough to make the sky actually red — thus, logically, it would not be unreasonable to come to the conclusion that Tribute must have a even darker skyline — it's either eternal golden hours or newcoming of souron.

It does not end there, unfortunately. There is Epsilon Eridani IV, a poor planet that did not even have the luxury of being named, but it is most definitely known as a insurrectionist base. While there is no piece lore that informs us of it's distance from the star, the name Epsilon Eridani IV compels us to acknowledge this planet as the 4th planet, also possibly the 3rd habitable planet within the habitable zone which is highly unlikely.

#

Now, we've stretched the limits, which would render this planet is even more dimmer. Of course, Eridani IV is also not seen in Reach's skybox either, but I wouldn't bother.

Yet, it doesn't end there. There are three more to go. There is; Beta Gabriel, Circumstance, and Tantalus. While their distance from the star remind unknown, we would also be able to say that they must be either be inside or far outside the habitable zone, and unfortunately, we've already stretched the habitable zone too far.

Beta Gabriel, maybe we could say it is located outside the habitable zone, since the description says it's largely uninhibited. However, it also says the planet is used by rich entrepreneurs who stayed there, using it as a resort. You cannot possibly fit Beta Gabriel into the habitable zone. I'm orbit outside the habitable zone, now the sky would be even dimmer, perhaps not even providing nescessary nutrients for the plants, yet Beta Gabriel is supposed to be habitable and luxurious enough for corporate overloards. If this was the Solar System, a terrformed Mars would be fine because our Sun is much brighter and hotter, something Epsilon Eridani isn't.

At the least, Circumstance is accurate... Circumstance is a planet most popular for its universities, which would imply it's quite a habitatable world. This planet is would be even far from the habitable zone. Classical physics has already said goodbyes to what would actually be a snowball planet. And then, finally, Tantalus — described as a human colony destroyed by the Covenant, which needs no further explanations as to why it could not possibly be a human colony in the first place — it would be snowball, or a neptune, too far from the habitable zone, too far from the already dim star.

The utter disregard for basic planatary physics by both the author and Bungie baffles me.

#

I hear you — the person with the loud 'it's just fiction' text to share. I have heard you before, therefore you must not waste the precious time of yours.

Happy Anniversary, Halo: Reach!

wispy pewter
#

Interesting

thorn spindle
#

well...

coarse hamlet
#

I dont remember the skybox in long night of solace enough to remember if they gave the star the red hue but i could see reach itself being handwaved away as not being orange by some atmospheric composition. We have a yellow star and blue sky on this rock because of that

#

Thankyou for the analysis, neat to think about

sleek vigil
# coarse hamlet I dont remember the skybox in long night of solace enough to remember if they ga...

That's not nescessarily how it works. In the final cutscene, Reach 2589, we see clearly blue sky, confirming what we saw so far as mostly smoke, haze, and clouds.

About atmospheric composition - maybe you could explain it with some subtle alterations, but you cannot fundamentally change it. Reach has near identical composition to Earth, ala Habitable Atmospheric Conditions.

We have a G-type yellow star that emists white light composed of full spectrum of colours, and our planet with its atmospheric composition, is good at scattering shorter wavelength, blue and violet, better than the others. Epsilon Eridani emits light that lacks a lot of blue or violet, making the planet with Earth-like atmosphere to scatter a soft orange/amber glow.

Venus looks 'hellish' and red, but it's uninhabitable. If you want Reach to have such an atmospheric comparison that it would present a bright blue sky from predominantly red and orange light...

vagrant ocean
#

I love how tistic the community is sometimes.

worn wolf
#

rule of cool >>> laws of physics

#

seeing the other planets in the system looks cool therefore we can see them

#

i could be spreading lies and misinformation but i believe epsilon eridani is based on a real life solar system that is just believed to have a gas giant in it

modest marsh
#

halo's cosmology is different from the real world's

#

thats already explicitly the case due to the fact Forerunner meddling means that certain star systems in setting are the result of their astroengineering

#

since you know, they could literally move planets and entire stars as civil projects

#

there's a higher density of habitable terrestrial worlds than should be realistically possible with our current understanding of the galaxy, and some existing planets and stars mightve been destroyed or moved from where they "should" be

sleek vigil
sleek vigil
sleek vigil
modest marsh
#

oh thats not what i was implying, just explaining discrepancies in real world astronomy like the fact certain planets we've identified dont resemble their halo counterparts at all

sleek vigil
sleek vigil
orchid kettle
#

Early Halo was big on setting the colonies in real world star systems regardless of how much sense it made

sleek vigil
#

That's not nescessarily a problem though.

orchid kettle
#

never forget Harvest being in Epsilon Indi even back in TFOR

worn wolf
#

feel as though you could hand wave this away by assuming the forerunners wouldnt move a planet to a new system where its likely to cause orbital chaos and destroy things

orchid kettle
#

so you have this idea of the UNSC fleet taking weeks to reach Harvest from Earth or Reach

sleek vigil
#

I am not asking for them so show AEgir on Epsilon Eridani. I am, however, wanting to see the fictional system be somewhat practical and not make physics look like an afterthought.

orchid kettle
#

despite, what, not really being that far away all things considered

#

especially when in TFOR you have this idea of the Sigma Octanus reinforcements showing up within 24 hours of Keyes' call to fleetcom

sleek vigil
orchid kettle
#

Epsilon Eridani specifically has the issue of Staten mistakenly thinking it and Eridanus were the same system

sleek vigil
orchid kettle
#

so we end up with Epsilon Eridanus in Contact Harvest, where John's homeworld of Eridanus II is also mentioned to be in the same system

sleek vigil
#

I don't know why there's a star system in Halo named Eridanus, with Eridanus II in it.

worn wolf
#

space explorers found a new star system and called it eridanus

orchid kettle
sleek vigil
#

It's like having 'Solar System' and 'Sun System'.

sleek vigil
orchid kettle
#

but it certainly feels like you're supposed to think that Elysium City is in "Epsilon Eridanus" because that's repeatedly mentioned as the problem child of the colonies

#

CH in general is just really weird on the UNSC side of things and its hard not to feel like it exists in stark contrast to Nylund's setting outside of course Harvest being the first world attacked and being fairly remote compared to other colonies

#

You have intra-system slipspace travel, only seventeen colonies with Harvest being the seventeenth, no mention of "Inner" and "Outer" colonies

#

the very idea that the Insurrection is primarily focused in the "heart of UNSC power" instead of the outermost worlds, despite Halsey claiming that there's been hundreds of conflicts in the outer colonies before the Spartan Program

#

Like details are close enough that it's hard to tell if its just Staten asserting his preferred interpretation of the universe or if he's just vaguely recalling what he can from Nylund's book that released half a decade earlier

soft plank
#

How do you reload a needler, like how does the crystals just pop up once you shake the gun ?

stoic hamlet
modest marsh
#

The top part probably lifts up and you insert it, like the Needle rifle

stoic hamlet
#

But yeah I know Staten’s idea of the HCW was that ground engagements were super uncommon and human space was much farther apart.

It was less a protracted war and more “occasionally covenant and UNSC ships would meet, they’d fight, then there’d be years or more between engagements.”

modest marsh
#

Of course the problem with the needle rifle cartridge is that it’s smaller than the individual projectiles it shoots, but this is true of a lot of halo weapons

stoic hamlet
#

Dirt kind of has that, initially, actually, where Gage spends two years just aboard ships.

last anchor
#

The war did last 30 years ish

stoic hamlet
#

Yeah, but current lore has it as actually being a much hotter war than what Staten seemed to envision.

spiral compass
minor sky
#

Quick question-
Did Chief or Cortana send out a warning to any UNSC survivors on the ring before they blew up the Pilliar Of Autumn?

modest marsh
# minor sky Quick question- Did Chief or Cortana send out a warning to any UNSC survivors on...

“The AIs managed to link up a few hours ago. It turns out that the Chief is alive, Cortana is with him, and they’re trying to rescue Keyes. Once they have him they’re going to rig the Autumn to blow. The explosion will destroy Halo and everything on it. I’m not a fan of the SPARTAN program, you know that, but I’ve got to give the bastard credit. He’s one helluva soldier.”

“It sounds good,” McKay said cautiously. “But how do we get off before the ring blows?”

“Ah,” Silva replied. “That’s where my idea comes in. While you’re down cleaning out the sewers, I’ll be up top, making the preparations necessary to take the Truth and Reconciliation away from the Covenant. She’s spaceworthy now, and Cortana can fly her, or, if all else fails, we’ll let Wellsley take a crack at it. It would be a stretch—but he might be able to pull it off.

From The Flood

#

In the game itself foehammer comes in to pick up Chief and cortana

obsidian thistle
#

There was also the second survivor group that we dont know the story of

minor sky
#

Like with Dubbo and Stacker?

gusty star
#

I think he’s talking about the pelican from First Strike

empty ermine
#

the pelican from first strike was johnson’s

#

as far as i remember there was no other pelican

#

all that was left was Dustin Echoes

coarse hamlet
#

How did this Dustin Echos fella get off of Halo?

obsidian thistle
#

According to Believe a character called Thomas Chang was a survivor.

https://www.halopedia.org/Thomas_Chang

Halopedia
Thomas Chang

Sergeant Thomas Chang (service number 01866-10032-TC) was a UNSC Marine who served during the Human-Covenant War, and was a veteran of engagements such as the Battle of Installation 04. He participated of the Battle of Mombasa, earning the rank of sergeant, but he was ultimately killed in the battle.

#

If we pair him with Dubbo and Stacker

#

Thats a second survivor group

gusty star
#

I think Thomas has prob been retconned by this point lol

coarse hamlet
#

What work retconned it?

gusty star
#

I’m not saying it’s been officially retconned

#

It just is an obscure snippet of marketing from almost 20 years ago that has not had any follow-up since

#

It’s just kinda inferred

coarse hamlet
#

Watch as the ce remake prominently feature sergeant chang as a main character

empty ermine
#

i do in fact believe that, canonically, chief and johnson are the only two UNSC members to come back from installation 04

gusty star
# obsidian thistle If we pair him with Dubbo and Stacker

Honestly I might go as far to say that it’s up to interpretation whether or not these two were actually present at the Battle of Installation 04 at all

The only time I believe they actually appeared was in-game, they aren’t mentioned to have been there in any subsequent material. This leads me to believe they were simply Easter eggs

worn wolf
#

you will play as thomas chang on LASO

carmine sleet
modest marsh
#

And Chipps Dubbo appeared in the Memory Agent audiodrama

gusty star
#

Not the wider story

languid violet
#

does halo have an analog horror side to it?

modest marsh
worn wolf
#

imagine carrying a baby for 9 months and naming it chips dubbo

empty ermine
#

it’s the aussie way

obsidian thistle
#

We only know they exist in events following CE

#

Them being in CE could be non-canon

#

Bungie used character archetypes

#

They may have had "names" but it was loose lol

#

Chang is the route to getting then in CE honestly

#

As if Chang is fully canon

#

Then Stacker and Dubbo have a way off the ring

modest marsh
# obsidian thistle Them being in CE could be non-canon

I mean…

The last seven years of Stacker's military career had, by pure chance, been inexplicably connected to humanity's greatest hero, and it was for that reason that Captain Thomas Lasky had selected him to lead the Ninth Platoon for these exercises.

"You have unique experience, Master Sergeant." Captain Lasky had said to him aboard Infinity a few days ago, before adding with a smirk, "One day, it'll make a hell of a memoir."

#

You could argue this is vague enough that it’s excluding CE but I feel like that doesn’t really fit with the idea that he’s “inexplicably connected” to Chief

vagrant ocean
obsidian thistle
#

Where CE requires the second group (which I hope exists) but may not

modest marsh
#

Right, I just don’t think that’s how it reads though because of out of universe context

minor sky
#

I prefer to believe that Stacker and Dubbo were on the Pillar Of Autumn

earnest pier
#

I think I know who did it and why the species that make up the covvies exist

#

If you notice the hands, the Elites, Brutes, Grunts, Jackals, "prophets," and even the Drones, all have the same hands as The Endless

#

I believe The Endless seeded their species before The Rings fired so that they would go about opening up forerrunner stuff until they started popping open the Cylixes with them in it

#

Also I know The Endless have some connection to The Flood cus Harbinger says "Now I shall talk and you shall listen" beat for beat exactly like Gravemind in Halo 2

#

no I haven't read all the books yet

#

either that or The Endless' seed species would fire the Rings. But instead they choose to kick the bear that is humanity because one of their elders told them to

#

if it wasn't for The Endless' arrogance passed onto them, they would never have gone after Humans and the Humans would have never stopped them from firing the Rings.

#

of course this isn't Word of God, and I'm just speculating

#

I'm only really sure about the hands thing

wispy pewter
#

If Naomi survived Reach…..
Someone else could too

stoic hamlet
wispy pewter
#

Someone name ending with six

stoic hamlet
#

Yes, Jun-A266, I just mentioned him. :p

#

I know you mean Noble Six, but that’s not his name. That’s his callsign.

carmine sleet
#

Plus Six has been confirmed dead so many times now that they have them listed under "super dead" to make it clear they're not coming back

gentle berry
#

Im confused. Am i right in saying the chronological order of the games is

reach
1
2
3
Odst
4
Wars
5
wars 2
infinite

#

is that right?

marble lion
#

No, on chronological order it would be. Wars, Reach, CE, 2, ODST, 3, 4, 5, Wars 2 and Infinite.

If by release order it will be. CE, 2, 3, Wars, ODST, Reach, 4, 5, Wars 2 and Infinite.

gusty star
#

And that the Forerunners reseeded them themselves?

carmine sleet
#

Yeah, the Endless are a species the Forerunners had no clue about until after Halo was fired. One which survived Halo's fire, something none of the Forerunners had accounted for in their plans, not just because of the potential risk of Flood infected Endless, but also because it posed such a threat to the plans the Forerunners had for humanity

empty bloom
carmine sleet
#

They should do it anyway

coarse hamlet
empty bloom
#

Like Six's death is one of the few narrative points Reach has

#

And y'all hate it?

#

Even I don't hate Reach that much

carmine sleet
#

There's also just nothing to be gained from bringing Six back from the dead, especially when Six's death is the first thing we are presented with in Reach, we enter the story knowing how it ends. Why undo the ending years later?

vagrant ocean
#

Spartan-B312 is dead.

unique rune
vagrant ocean
#

It’s been 15 damn years irl and 8 bloody years since he died in universe.

vagrant ocean
minor sky
#

I like to believe that if canonically a marine did survive until the end of Long Night Of Solace that Jorge would've made it off the ship and somehow that would've caused a butterfly effect with all of Noble Team making it out alive

stoic hamlet
#

One in New Alexandria, likely whoever was flying the Pelican as well.

Probably also someone at the mass-driver.

carmine sleet
#

I think had Kat survived New Alexandria, she might've been put on escort duty for Halsey at the end of The Package

minor sky
#

FTR this is all a silly idea stimming from the fact that you can beat Long Night Of Solace with marines alive

modest marsh
#

Jorge still technically doesn’t have a way off safely without a reentry pack like Six has

#

Granted the reentry pack itself seems like a bandaid explanation itself that otherwise doesn’t have any attention drawn to it

#

Seems a little silly for such a device to exist in the first place

carmine sleet
#

I imagine there would've been more on the Pelican they brought the bomb on

#

Or they really didn't think the Pelican's thrusters would get hit by plasma

minor sky
#

I mean with Chief falling to Earth at the start of Halo 3, I don't really think that Jorge surviving a fall to the surface is that hard of a leap

modest marsh
#

For one, Chief’s fall was mostly controlled and the approach angle was very shallow

#

He landed in soft jungle soil instead, say, the rocky side of a mountain

stoic hamlet
#

Also he had a shield to dissipate the heat.

modest marsh
#

Jorge is wearing his old Mark IV armor with modifications applied to it and not brand new mark vi

#

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say there remained the narrow possibility of him surviving but frankly his odds were still really bad if there wasn’t some dedicated equipment to help facilitate reentry

#

The precedent set by the rest of the Spartan-IIs in much better circumstances already paints a pretty bad picture of what would happen if he tried swan diving off the ardent prayer

vagrant ocean
#

Without that he’d be toasted

modest marsh
#

That’s what I meant by “controlled”, functionally it acted as both a sail and heat shield, in the former case it’s really obvious how much it changed his trajectory after he dismounted the anodyne spirit

vagrant ocean
#

Aaaaah

modest marsh
#

And yeah, as far as where he landed, him not slamming into one of the many nearby rock faces is pure dumb luck

#

Ignore halo 4 where Didact’s slipspace rupture blasts him into the interior of requiem’s core and he wakes up in a cratered rock

carmine sleet
modest marsh
#

The secondary impact was at a much slower velocity

#

Chief only sustained a small fraction of the impact force

#

And, well, I do think it still matters because of approach angle, since you might be skimming the ground instead of smacking into it perpendicular

#

And the other thing with rocks is that they tend not to be very flat

wispy pewter
#

Do Spartans float tho

earnest pier
coarse hamlet
stoic hamlet
vagrant ocean
#

I wonder what the punk scene looks like in the 26th century.

minor sky
minor sky
fair hazel
wispy pewter
#

Taylor Swifts music can be considered classic by the 26th century

analog moth
#

ew

empty bloom
#

That's not an ew.

#

Kid Rock , Kanye, Drake? That'd be an ew. Swift's fine.

carmine sleet
#

Now I'm tempted to make my own Spartan have a thing for listening to anime OPs

stoic hamlet
#

I think it would be termed whatever the 21st century is termed, as an era.

#

(E.G Medieval, Renaissance, etc.)

dense falcon
#

"The first age of brainrot"

wispy pewter
#

If Japan still exists in Halo then they are still making anime

frigid heart
#

Excuse me Mr Arbiter could you just destroy the whole earth

frigid heart
long ore
glass pine
#

Might actually be since it doesn't affect the wider scope of events

#

We caught a glimpse of the actual sanghelios and the elites culture as well

long ore
#

But then again, "Halo Infinite" arcade cabinet is also in the game itself as well...

glass pine
#

oh I see

#

Yeah, unsc propaganda XD

#

They made anime promoting the fight

long ore
#

plus iirc Spartans figures are also canon especially due to some young girl holding a Yoroi figure and then a kid holding a repainted to look like Chief figure

#

(wait shoot, is Yoroi semi canon too?)

modest marsh
#

It’s also directly tied into the short story Midnight in the Heart of the Midlothian

#

The Package also depicts the death of two Spartan-IIs which I wouldn’t consider insignificant by any stretch, and is also the origin of the current designs for Blue Team including Master Chief

#

Not really as important to the wider plot but Infinite’s map Forest takes place on Heian, which is the planet depicted in The Babysitter containing suspiciously human looking ancient ruins

#

The Duel depicts Fal Chavamee’s fall from grace along with the title of Arbiter becoming a form of punishment, which is directly referenced in Halo 2 Anniversary’s terminals

#

So really that just leaves Origins and Odd One Out as not being narratively significant at all, but then again even Cortana’s rampancy was first foreshadowed in Origins with her avatar glitching red on the Dawn, something that was also carried into Forward Unto Dawn and Halo 4

modest marsh
#

Firewall/chimera is the main exception to this principle, as it is a theoretical outcome that is being considered by the Created rather than something that has come to fruition

#

There are many “noncanon” armor cosmetics that may have canon implications, but aren’t really something that can be considered canon onto themselves because the framing device isn’t strictly consistent in-setting

#

For example, there’s a visor coating called “Royal Prelate” in Infinite whose description reads “Forged for those who lead the return” with the manufacturer listed as 343 Industries, indicating that the visor being used by Spartans is noncanon, but is potentially meant to be a hint at what’s going on in setting

worn wolf
#

always thought it was strange how often the early books depict spartan 2s dying

stoic hamlet
#

Though there is an explanation for that, as the Field Manual and Ghosts of Onyx mentions they were kept from the most dangerous missions.

worn wolf
#

yeah i cant imagine them wanting to waste spartan 2s

#

still felt a bit odd though, only really though about it now that the story of naomi 010 and beta red was expanded on a bit

wispy pewter
#

Halo legends introduced Cal just to kill her

worn wolf
#

i cant believe japan would do this

#

was it halo legends that had the spartan gundam suits

#

or was that imaginary

wispy pewter
#

Spartans never die

wispy pewter
worn wolf
#

have they ever appeared in canon since or was it just a bit of fun for them

stoic hamlet
wispy pewter
#

Prototype I think

#

its more advanced than the unsc mechs because it has bubble shielding

worn wolf
#

whoever invented the bubble shield in universe is so much cooler than whoever invented energy sheilding and its not even close

wispy pewter
#

I think it was solomon or arthur that had a parent that was searching for them alongside Staffan

wispy pewter
worn wolf
#

energy sheilds cornered their market

#

the bubble sheild didnt have a chance

thorn osprey
#

Bubble shields would be pretty good for marine machine gun emplacements

wispy pewter
#

It’s so much cooler as well

#

Since its 360 cover unlike the shields in infinite

#

The one you can throw I mean

worn wolf
#

dont suppose it'd be out of place in infinites sandbox if they ever felt like adding new things to it

thorn osprey
stoic hamlet
#

Lore wise they’d likely be stronger, yeah.

#

Though shields in game are not as strong in lore anyways.

wispy pewter
#

Maybe it still exists but it’s not in infinite

thorn osprey
wispy pewter
#

R6 flashbaack

thorn osprey
#

I could see the bubble shield working better if you're in a disabled scorpion, for example.

#

Like warpig in COD4 could use a bubble shield

wispy pewter
#

Wait do ODSTs have personal shields

thorn osprey
#

No

#

Only spartans have shields in their armor

wispy pewter
#

RIP

thorn osprey
#

Makes ODSTs that much cooler than they already are, though

stoic hamlet
#

Spartans didn’t have shields on a mass scale until the end of the war, it should be said.

thorn osprey
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Not only are drop pods dangerous but even if they make it down to the ground, they could get melted as soon as their pods door shoots off

wispy pewter
#

They have colonies 100light years in every direction no way humanity didn’t find a metal stronger than titanium

vagrant ocean
empty bloom
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Titanium A is specifically an alloy with an unspecified mix and construction method.

vagrant ocean
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Hence why it’s used for MJÖLNIR

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And vessels.

empty bloom
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Oh wait, I'm wrong

vagrant ocean
#

But again, plasma is very very hot

empty bloom
#

Titanium A actually is clarified

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"Titanium-A consists of high-grade Titanium-50, specially-strengthened and reinforced at the molecular level with stacked nanotubes, elastic polymer composites and intermetallic laminates"

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Okay so it's basically ultra high tech Damascus Titanium, as opposed to low tech Damascus Steel.

sonic lagoon
stoic hamlet
carmine sleet
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Also like, retconning the shield thing (Beyond what they have already done to make Red Team have shields) would just be weird, since one of the big things with Mark V was the energy shields. Suddenly changing it so Mark IV natively had energy shields would take that away from the Mark V

orchid kettle
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Reach itself kinda already gave us the out with the implication that Mark Vb was a thing in 2551

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which isnt a lot of time but hey we stuffed like 5 games in the latter half of 2552 alone

carmine sleet
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Yeah, that's true

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I just don't think we need any more retcons to give us stuff in the war where Spartans have energy shields

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Unless they're gonna be carrying very large generators on their backs and they have to stop and cycle the thing to get them to recharge or something

orchid kettle
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Im also personally of the mind that if we have to revisit the Covenant War, I'd prefer we'd do it in a spinoff with a totally different gameplay style

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rather than like, just another FPS where we're a spartan trying to recover a forerunner macguffin before the aliens do

carmine sleet
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But I doubt Halo fans would like having to manually restart their shields

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And agreed there, best for spin-offs and not mainline titles

orchid kettle
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dare i say

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Halo XCOM

carmine sleet
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Like, give me my horror game on a damaged space ship in 2541 where we see a civilian trying to survive stealth Elites

carmine sleet
orchid kettle
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You should, right now

carmine sleet
#

I need money first

orchid kettle
#

XCOM 2 is apparently on sale for 3 bucks on steam

modest marsh
#

Titanium-A is a catch all term for a construction material that uses titanium w/ nanotube reinforcement but could in fact be a polymer-based composite to explain why some designs don’t even look metallic

modest marsh
# wispy pewter They have colonies 100light years in every direction no way humanity didn’t find...

Broadly referred to as "Titanium-A," stacked nanotube-reinforced titanium and elastic polymer composites provide excellent protection against both hypervelocity impacts and directed energy weapons. Warships are fitted with thick plates, while civilian vessels have only what is needed to prevent superficial damage from micrometeorite impacts. More advanced armor plating, which was introduced late in the war, incorporates superconducting elements to lessen the effectiveness of Covenant plasma weapons.

#

“Broadly” meaning really it’s just a category of metamaterial as opposed to a specific formula with varying qualities

modest marsh
# wispy pewter Wait do ODSTs have personal shields

It is entirely possible that a select number of non-Spartan special purpose units have been issued energy shield derivative equipment, but unlikely to have the same efficacy as the shields we associate with MJOLNIR

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Even with the Mark V, the standard shield systems contained in MJOLNIR are a straight upgrade over the Covenant technology (at least compared to rank and file Jackals and Elites) in terms of their performance in the raw amount of damage it can dissipate as well as the rate it can recharge, but that doesn’t mean that shields always need to be that effective in order to be useful

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You also have the option to use reactive defense systems like what we see with the Autumn class cruisers where damage is mitigated post impact

vagrant ocean
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Even minor shielding that can withstand falls would be useful.

modest marsh
#

It’s a little vague how shields dampen impacts like that

vagrant ocean
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But it still stands.

modest marsh
#

To some extent it really seems like shields cancel inertia from external forces but that’s not always consistent

vagrant ocean
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Shielding could also be used to reinforce containers for volatile materials.

#

It could just primarily be an issue with a cost effective way of running them.

empty bloom
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I'd crosscheck with the 2020~ issue of the book and fix it myself but I'm touching grass rn

modest marsh
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I’m not saying it’s strictly wrong, just pointing out that it seems like before the 343i games, Ti-A was more consistently depicted as a metal but especially with the GEN2 armors and the general move towards more curved surfaces with greebles, it seemed to behave a lot more like plastic than machined metal

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The new encyclopedia is thus a compromise between the old idea of it being a special metal alloy and the newer depictions that make it seem like super scifi polymer

crude walrus
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Hi guys just a question. What would be UNSC procedure if they setting up an away party to land on a planet.

wispy pewter
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energize

modest marsh
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We know it’s more or less SOP to set up an FOB using prefab structures, although it’s a little unclear how this is generally facilitated outside of what’s shown in Halo Wars where it’s either Herons or Pelicans dropping entire metal structures to set up semi permanent bases

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The way that it’s set up also makes me wonder if it can float in water like a contemporary aircraft

wispy pewter
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I think about a couple hundred ODSTs died trying to land on Netherop

carmine sleet
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The ODSTs that died on Netherop died in Owls

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The ship in that concept art is not an Owl

stoic hamlet
carmine sleet
#

Ah, my bad, been a while since I last read it

vagrant ocean
modest marsh
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It’s seemingly a capital ship of some kind, given that it’s named “UNSC Olympus”

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Smaller than a corvette, but not quite a dropship

vagrant ocean
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You see where I was going right?

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Calling it an Egret?

modest marsh
#

Sure, although i think it’s better to delineate the animal naming convention from self contained warships

vagrant ocean
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Eh, I think it could just be a huge drop ship like the Heron or Darter

modest marsh
#

If it has a bridge and hangar, that reads as a capital ship, not a dropship

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Dropships have troop bays and cockpits

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The winter class prowler arguably should’ve been what the owl ended up being

stoic hamlet
#

At least it isn’t as bad as the Condor.

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But it is roughly the same issue.

crude walrus
modest marsh
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I think that’s going to depend on the operation and ship compliment, because for example if this is special operations or reconnaissance mission I don’t think it would be advisable for any of the naval officers to be present on the ground, let alone the captain

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Both Jacob and Miranda Keyes more or less defy the “sensible” option to delegate responsibility to their subordinates, but admittedly those are exceptions under extraordinary circumstances

orchid kettle
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For Keyes you could argue in CE (the game, not the Flood novel), it's really unclear just how many survivors you even have at your disposal

harsh path
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yeah the novel does alot of expanding and assumptions and if you go by the book over 50+% of the ships crew got off the ship

#

just bought and read the flood a few weeks back

orchid kettle
#

The intention could have been that it was just Chief, Keyes, and Echo 419 in terms of like, named characters and the rest were just a vague number of marines

coarse hamlet
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given how many flood marines you fight in the game over half the crew surviving makes sense

modest marsh
boreal bane
empty bloom
#

Damn, right smack in the middle of my classes.

sleek vigil
#

Perhaps you may have noticed this, I did recently - Marty's music often rarely develops beyond few seconds of interesting and memorable cues. The only melody he extended and devoleped is the Warthog Run theme, through different variations and such, apart from that — the rest are just cues.

Halo fans have a prejudice towards the newer Hall music, so much so that they will defend music written in a trailer music format. Where is Marty's 8 minutes of fully self contained and developed piece, something that can be comparable to 117 by Kazuma Jinnouchi, or combination of To Galaxy and To Galaxy (Extended) by Neil Davidge? And, you must adore Marty's habit of, often, essentially reusing the same piece again and calling it a leitmotif, as opposed to how Kazuma Jinnouchi arranges and develops his leitmotifs for different moments and story beats.

It is undeniable that Marty's music is 'iconic', but that should not be shielding his works from criticism. I invite you to think.

wispy pewter
#

Marty McFly

empty bloom
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It's not bad. But that says about as little as can be said. It's passable work for a game made in the 2000s.

fair hazel
empty bloom
#

By the time of Reach, I feel more of his work was offloaded to more capable musical talent, and by Halo 4's time it was handed off to people with a far better grasp of music.

pallid thicket
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Okay a bit of a hot take but Rookie’s death at the hands of humans kinda poetically fits considering he was almost killed by a human who betrayed him in the game

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Also I’m told that Mickey’s parents being Innies is lore that dates back to the Bungie days

orchid kettle
#

Which I do think Halo 4 and even Infinite did though I struggle to really recall any moment in 5's story where the music was ever really notable

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Im sure the individual tracks are fine but I mean more so how it never felt like the soundtrack was ever given the spotlight

#

Infinite would probably have the same problem if they didn't love that Banished tuba

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Though I guess you could argue Infinite's gameplay having so much more quiet downtime than 5 is more of a problem since Infinite DOES have the player's ear pretty often but rarely takes advantage of that

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compared to 5 that can at least make the excuse that it's too full of character dialogue and gameplay action sound effects

stoic hamlet
#

Considering, you know, it’s Insurrectionists that kill him, and Dirt features them pretty heavily.

sleek vigil
sleek vigil
# orchid kettle Maybe I just don't really have an ear for music but I feel like ultimately all t...

I do understand, but I don't think there's anything wrong with expecting more devolepment and sophistication.

To demonstrate; Marty wrote this little motif for Chief and Cortana, which in Keep What You Steel and The Package, yet he never actually bothered to develop that beyond the piano melody, while Neil Davidge took a simple 3 note figure and made it into a whole 8 minutes of profound sense of grief — Green and Blue.

carmine sleet
minor sky
#

The lack of 117 in Infinite was a let down

carmine sleet
#

Agreed

orchid kettle
#

Like I don't think its unreasonable to expect a bunch of memorable boss battle tunes in a game with so many named bosses, but I don't think I could point to any beyond the super sentinel fight for its techno beat

#

and even there I think you do kinda have to adjust your audio settings a bit to make the music louder to really hear past the gameplay

orchid kettle
#

Personally I think you need more than that to be "poetic" or "ironic" or anything like that

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I feel like Rookie himself is too much of a blank slate to even have a poetic death

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You can't rhyme with a blank page

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That's why it always felt like the best way to give Rookie's death meaning, if that was even New Blood's goal, would be to only characterize the Rookie after his passing, stripping him of his player avatar status completely

orchid kettle
#

And in the premission interview, Mickey claims to have only seen Earth from a window once

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but if he lived on the moon, he'd see it every day

pallid thicket
orchid kettle
#

I also personally envision Luna as a very rich neighborhood, owing to how there's never any mention of valuable resources on the moon that would warrant its colonization, and how it obviously sounds like it takes a lot more effort keeping a bunch of artificial habitats running for hundreds of years versus settling an Earth-like planet

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Like dont get me wrong, terraforming Mars also sounded like it was probably quite the money sink, I always got the impression other colonies outside Sol were never quite as desolate as Mars

pallid thicket
orchid kettle
#

But I imagine both Mars and Luna exist largely for symbolic reasons in the UEG

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I mean once Mars has been terraformed it can stay terraformed, but Luna you could argue only really has the appeal of being the most gated of gated communities

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There's seemingly nothing else there but the Luna OCS, a bunch of corporate offices, and a secret ONI base on the "dark side"

pallid thicket
#

Even though they don’t call it the “dark side” anymore

orchid kettle
#

It feels like it should purely be a place for big shots, or at least, people whose entire purpose is to keep the big shots comfortable

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So you have this idea of Mickey's folks coming from the lap of luxury, even if they're underpaid workers, they still would have lived their whole lives swallowing pro-Earth propaganda

sleek vigil
orchid kettle
#

Its imo such an extreme case that it warrants its own explanation via a chronicle or something to justify, and not something you can so easily handwave

orchid kettle
#

Personally it makes more sense to me if Mickey's homeworld either gets retconned to a colony outside of Sol with anti-earth leanings, or if his parents were just protestors that got labeled "traitors" when they died from some overuse of force

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and the cover story is just how the UNSC decided to justify themselves