More battle talk

Tactics with Warthog buddies

Here's some chat relating to the use of Warthog buddies, applicable to many situations.

Slick parking and preparation

Because the enemy are often likely to be arriving in seconds, it can be quite important to park well first time, so your companions have a good line of fire (whether dismounting or not). You don't really have time for fiddling around with a three-point turn when an Elite is coming around the corner with a plasma rifle! Typically, you want to swing the hog around to just the right angle as you park.

With practice you can get both occupants dismounted as you move past them with barely a pause, before taking up your own position. In some cases, speedy preparation can make the difference between getting overrun in seconds or keeping the enemy at bay.

If you've got time, you may like to quickly drive the empty hog out of the way somewhere, so it doesn't end up blocking Marines. A Marine who rolls behind the hog is liable to just stand there uselessly as the battle continues; he's too dumb to move back into a position where he's got a clear shot at the enemy.

Lines of fire

The effectiveness of your defence will partly depend on your own positioning and the lines of fire you arrange for your Warthog buddies, most notably the gunner if you're letting him stay on the gun. Rather than staying near the hog, you might like to try something more imaginative like setting up a crossfire situation. For example, you might be able to tempt covies through a gap, leaving them open to your companions on one side. One advantage with crossfire is that Jackals will find it impossible to shield themselves from both lines of fire. Another strategy is to position things so that for the most part, you and a chain-gunner take responsibility for different lines of enemy approach.

Chain-gun elevation

One thing to remember with the chain-gun is that it can't aim lower than a certain angle relative to the vehicle. That's why the gunner can be defenceless against covies who get really close; especially the short grunty variety! You want to make sure the gunner is going to be able to aim low enough to cover what you intend. This is particularly relevant if you're having a gunner up on the plateau, tackling enemy coming up from the sides. It can pay to do a test run in which you take charge of the chain-gun yourself and check if the positioning will give effective lines of fire.

Protect your buddies

If you want to keep your Warthog buddies alive, you're going to need to pay special attention. The two biggest threats are these.

(1) Elites with needlers. It only takes a few seconds of their rapid fire to send a Marine up in a pretty pink cloud. Target them before they start firing. You might also try to draw their fire to yourself. At least you can dodge well, unlike your buddies. If you're really committed you could even jump in front of a Marine to take the brunt of the needles. But rather you than me!

(2) Grunts lobbing grenades. One throw and you can probably wave bye-bye to the targeted Marine, because they're pretty hopeless at getting out of the way when on foot, and they can't move at all if they're still aboard the hog. It's up to you to be alert and keep the Grunts off; and to watch your ammo to make sure you don't run out at just the wrong moment. If you hear "Everybody duck!" or whatever, you'd better have good reflexes because you've only got a moment to take the grunty critter down before he throws.

Cyborg rampage

With any battle plan executed from a static location, you'll find that the Elites tend to arrive relatively early on, giving you the most intense and life-threatening phase of the battle. Out of necessity you'll smite them down of course, and pretty soon there are just Grunts and Jackals to deal with. They can still be a serious threat though, especially if they've got your shield bleeping. But when you're in good nick and their numbers are low enough, you might like to break from your defence position and go on a free-ranging cyborg rampage to mop them up with extreme prejudice. Good fun! It's at times like this that I like to do a bit of Grunt or Jackal launching, courtesy of a couple of plasma grenades attached to their heels or rear ends, heh heh!

Sniping from afar

If you like sniping with the sniper rifle or pistol, the rockslide megabattle provides quite a shooting gallery, especially if take care to maximize the enemy count. For example there are great sniping possibilities in the Far area defence and Lifeboat area defence, where you have a horde of enemy coming at you across a plain. The Island plateau defence is another excellent sniping situation. But aside from any specific plans such as those, you can always just move around the periphery of the rockslide area looking for opportune targets - possibly trying to remain undetected. See here for advice on getting a sniper rifle topped up, ready to take into battle.

Increasing the challenge

Here are some suggestions for bumping up the challenge, within a given difficulty level.

Lose the gunner

One thing I almost always do on Heroic after parking up, is make the gunner dismount. In most situations he's otherwise just too powerful, making things too easy. I also like to make the passenger dismount, to give him mobility and to make things more realistic. Plus he'll be able to throw frags.

Impose weapon limitations

Another idea is to limit yourself to the assault rifle, which puts you at a pretty severe disadvantage when faced with an Elite's plasma rifle. Or limit yourself to only one weapon. You could also limit yourself to a certain number of grenades, or forbid yourself any plasma grenades, or suchlike. On Heroic I often try to defend the plateau with just an AR and frag grenades, which is quite a challenge against an intense attack.

Go solo

You could leave any Warthog buddies behind, at the expense of also losing their contribution to the atmosphere. But it's perhaps not much handicap if you were only going to let them fight on their feet, as they're so ineffective - except for when they finally get around to lobbing a few grenades and manage not to fumble them.

Forbid splattering

You could deliberately avoid splattering any enemies as you drive in. Actually, splattering Grunts is dangerous anyway, as you can easily be left with a plasma grenade stuck to your bodywork. Satisfaction aside, it's simply not worth the risk if you're playing seriously. But there's nothing to stop you having fun making enemies dive clear.

Making up challenges or competitions

With a bit of imagination you can easily make up challenges for yourself, or competitions for a group of you playing one at a time. Here are some ideas.

Scoring systems

Choosing a particular battle plan, you could make up a scoring system based on the number of survivors and your remaining health (e.g. add the number of survivors to the number of health bars you're left with). As a single player, you could then do a handful of battles and take your average score as the final result. Or, you and a rival could each do that, and whoever gets the highest average score wins.

Time attack

How quickly can you dispatch the enemy? Impose whatever limitations you want; e.g. you could limit yourself to a pistol, disallow grenades, leave the Warthog behind, whatever. You could make the Warthog occupants dismount, then drive to a particular location before allowing yourself to start your carnage. You could demand that you survive with perfect health.

Mow 'em down

If you like mowing down the enemy in the Warthog (and who doesn't?), you could have a challenge based on how quickly you can mow down the entire enemy contingent. Bonus points if a buddy shouts "Roadkill!" or complains that he "just had this thing washed".

Warthog racing

Another Warthog idea is to do some racing, either against the clock or another person. You can decide the route, then do ten laps or something. Include a huge jump off the island plateau to add to the fun. All this while, the enemy will be taking potshots at you; and probably getting quite confused as you orbit around. To reward skillful driving, try to make the route include some tricky weaving or something.