Rejoined landing battle
Posted January 28th 2007, expanded January 23rd 2025, updated later
Associated movies
Try this. As soon as you hit the beach at the start of the level, depart the scene by running off to the left. As you get into the next stretch of beach the battle soon freezes behind you, and as such, you'll be able to rejoin it later. But before doing that, you can now make various preparations as desired, allowing you to fight the battle in novel ways!
The main thing is to get a Warthog. There's one near the entrance to the interior of the island, and while you're in the vicinity you could also get equipped with covie tech if you like, including a set of plasma grenades. However, another option is to proceed to the security substation and use it, so you can then get the rocket launcher which turns up with a crashed Pelican. There's also a Warthog there, plus a medkit if you need one. And of course, you could also have an overshield by then, which will be quite useful in battle (and which allows you to rocket a covie at point-blank range and still be okay).
After making your preparations, save a checkpoint somewhere to complete the set-up (you can use the repeatable checkpoints around the island's periphery). Then you'll always be able to get back to that point if needed (bear in mind, a checkpoint will normally be due at the end of the battle). For a few more set-up details or tips, see later. Two example set-ups are shown in BCM544.
Let me also say, you'd be well advised to use Heroic or lower to begin with. On Legendary the battling is pretty severe and there are also issues regarding the set-up work, which I discuss later.
Rejoining the battle
When you rejoin the battle, typically the Marines will still be alive, though on Legendary they may not be for long! Most of them will probably be near the various rocks which Grunts were using for cover, and a few of those Grunts may've already been killed. It's partly random as to how far the Marines have progressed. In some set-ups they may've got quite a way, in other set-ups not so much, which is preferable. However, see my later advice for things you can do to minimize the Marine advance.
One thing you can enjoy is quickly picking up a chain-gunner, then driving around splattering covies (and trying to avoid the Marines swarming around). But if you have the launcher of course, you might want to just jump out quick and get busy with it! Or indeed, with any other weapons you have.
It's important to realise that you can rejoin the battle from either direction. The 'normal' direction would be anticlockwise around the island, so you arrive where you left and will be heading in the direction of Marine advance. But making a rear approach is fun too, and I'll elaborate now.
Rear approach
If you drive clockwise around the island so that you eventually approach from the enemy's rear, that drive is good fun in itself. There are various covies you can enjoy splattering along the way (depends exactly what route you take), and there's even some stunt potential, driving off the edge of the hill near the main facility (see my movie for one place to drive off the hill). You'll also pass a dropship outside the facility, and as you speed on, it catches up and overtakes (possibly firing on you), which makes quite a spectacle.
As you arrive at the battle area, the group 3 covies (to use the terminology of my article Tackling the landing battle) may still be just standing around, and you might be able to give them a nasty surprise before joining the Marines, who could probably do with your help pronto. Alternatively you could give these covies a wide berth, in which case they might not even notice you.
Mischief
Instead of getting into the thick of battle, there are also other things you could enjoy, of a more mischievous nature. In particular, if you make a rear approach you can send in a long-range rocket to take out the oblivious group 3 covies. Or you could creep up (hidden from sight by a large rock) and let 'em have it close up!
Here's another idea. Rather than supporting the Marines, you could just let them die, then send in rockets from distance, preferably from so far off that the enemy doesn't realise you're there (e.g. from well out in the water). To get the most out of this idea however, I suggest using a dedicated set-up in which you wiped out the Marines as soon as you disembarked from the Pelican. That way you'll have the maximum number of enemies to kill.
Battle music option
If doing a clockwise drive to make a rear approach, you'll be going past the main facility. As such, rousing music will start, and it's pretty good for the forthcoming battle. However, if you don't want the music, just skirt around the relevant trigger area by driving out in the sea.
You also have the option of triggering this music as part of your set-up. BCM545 features an example of this, oriented around approaching the battle in the normal direction. I can certainly recommend setting up like this, as the music really adds something.
Minimizing the Marine advance
When you disembark from the Pelican and head into the next section of beach, my advice is to head to the right of the Grunt hill (the hill destined to acquire Grunts on top), rather than going along the sea-facing side. That early direction is optimal for freezing the battle as soon as possible (you'll namely be crossing a certain 'freezing line' in around 6.5 seconds; see pic), and consequently the Marine advance will be minimized. As such, when you rejoin the battle later, they won't be quite as deep into enemy territory as otherwise, which makes for better playing. You're not so left behind, and it can a bit easier or safer to pick up passengers.
But also, whenever you're rejoining the battle in anticlockwise direction, preferably recross that line in the same vicinity so the battle unfreezes as late as possible, relative to your arrival. That will minimize the amount of time the Marines get to advance further, before you're on the scene.
Note: at the time I made BCM544 I hadn't looked into the issue of Marine advance minimization, so these recommendations weren't indicated (and in fact were not used, except that with one of the battles, I happened to rejoin in optimal manner as described). I touched on the issue at the start of BCM545 however.
Getting a set-up preview
There's something further you might like to do, which also relates to minimizing the Marine advance. After departing, there's a checkpoint just before the section of beach containing an overturned Warthog. Save it, then board the hog and drive back (as if into battle) to see what the initial state of the Marines is going to be like if you were to continue the set-up work. If it's unsatisfactory (e.g. maybe one guy tends to die almost as soon as you're on the scene), scrap things and start over.
I especially recommend this preview routine on Legendary as the set-up work is relatively painful. It's worth being sure that the outcome isn't going to disappoint.
Fast completion recommended
If going to the substation, it's good to complete your set-up quite fast. Why? Once you've disembarked from the Pelican, there seems to be a countdown of about six and a half minutes until Echo 419 is automatically triggered (as if the game has given up on you) and Cortana announces "Area secure". That will happen unless the Pelican has already been triggered via combat. The latter is preferable, so it's good to have as much time as possible. Therefore, complete your set-up with minimal delay.
On Heroic it can be done in about four minutes (or a bit longer if you make an extra trip to get battle music triggered), which would leave you with about two and a half minutes for triggering the Pelican via combat. A good amount of time. On Legendary you're going to be a fair bit slower due to the strength of enemy opposition, but you can still get a good result. See my special advice below for Legendary set-up work.
If the Pelican does come in early, two Marines will run directly to the dropped hog, taking them out of the main action. Not ideal! That's one reason why it's not good for the Pelican to be triggered early.
Possible removal of Marines
Here's another set-up detail if going to the substation. Don't bypass too many covies or the game may remove the Marines - presumably due to some strain. The exact situation isn't clear to me, and there may in any case be some randomness, but I suggest that you at least kill most or all of the guys on the narrow rising path, and also the Grunts at the substation entrance. On Heroic I've found that sufficient. You can use an overshield to largely bypass the nasty mass of covies in the grassy interior.
Setting up on Legendary
When I tried to create a Legendary set-up involving use of the substation so I could get the rocket launcher, Echo 419 got triggered as I was running for the substation exit, past the inner covies. "Area secure", said Cortana. This premature triggering was in itself no good. But when I completed the set-up anyway, I found the battle area wiped of personnel, so there was no fighting to be had at all!
The same happened on a second try (see pic). Apparently then, the set-up routine I'd been using for Heroic (reflected in my initial movies) just wasn't working. There was something different about Legendary. However, I was able to set things up okay, by killing more covies than I would've bothered with on Heroic. It's something I tried, thinking that perhaps the game had been under too much strain from enemy numbers.
Specifically, I recommend wiping out the path entrance guards. That's what I did, and I think that's what made the difference. Wiping out this group is in any case a good idea because you then get a checkpoint from which to make attempts at tackling the path speedily - something quite hard. As for the task of wiping out the entrance guards quickly, here's my suggestion. First use a well-placed frag grenade to wipe out the entire Jackal circle, then kill the Elite quick. That'll leave you with only a few panicking Grunts to slay.
Another new thing I did in my set-up work was make use of frag grenades to help me make it through to the substation - because the opposition is way more severe than on Heroic. You can later get replacement frags from the supplies near the path entrance - e.g. after triggering battle music, which is what I was doing.
Another tip. On disembarking, Stacker tends to lead the charge on the right, and because of this, I had some set-ups where, upon my return, he was pretty much certain to die in the next few seconds. To try and counter this, I tried something new. When departing, I threw a frag to make him dive, interrupting his run. I think it helped. But at any rate, it led to some satisfactory set-ups.
The battling on Legendary
As for the battling on Legendary, it's rather tough! If you want to save any Marines, you need to get right down to business and stick it to the covies hard. Check out BCM546 for some of my efforts.
I must also say, it's quite frustrating how the Marines are apt to charge past the group 2 covies without properly dealing with them. This leads them straight into a murderous hose of fire from the final covies. It's like they have a death-wish ("Hey guys, look at those Elites and Jackals over there. Let's go see how quickly we can get killed"). Because of this tactical idiocy, you have to be really fast in dealing with the previous covies, if you're to stop the Marines being slaughtered. Or alternatively, though it's not very satisfying, you could leave some of those covies alive in order to keep up with the Marine advance, and then finish them later.
This Marine death-wish is also a tangible aspect on Heroic, but isn't so critical as the enemy fire is far less severe. It only really started annoying me when I stepped things up to Legendary.
Incidentally, doing a rear approach isn't much good if you're interested in trying to save the Marines. By the time you reach them some will likely already be dead. You'll be doing well to even save one!
Acknowledgement
Thanks to fellow cyborg Jim Huang who put me onto this theme with an email in February 2006, which suggested running off to bring along a Warthog (an idea I've also now seen mentioned in a 2002 forum post, so evidently it goes back quite a way). I subsequently tried to enhance the idea a bit by adding a rocket launcher into the proceedings - something which enhances just about any situation, wouldn't you agree?