Helping the crashed Pelican area Marines
Posted September 18th 2024 (material originally in Seven extra Marines and a hog from 2006)
The battle in the crashed Pelican area is normally triggered as you reach the step leading down to it, on foot or in a ground vehicle. But more generally it's triggered when you enter a certain area sufficiently low down. If you're keen to keep the three Marines healthy (perhaps to add to ten Marines you got using the seven extra Marines trick) or just want to have some novel fun wiping out the covies fast, here's my advice.
Banshee blitz
A Banshee comes in very handy. The simplest method is to fly low over the step and round the corner to blast the covies a moment later (as seen in BCM41). That can devastate the main crowd, though they'll probably still need some finishing off.
Another method is to fly high enough to avoid triggering the battle yet, go around the corner a short way - still a few metres back from the big tree - and let the Banshee sink vertically down. When you get low enough, the covies materialize (if you weren't too far forward) and you can send a blast into their midst before they even know what day it is. You can even fire your shot before they spawn, if you care to anticipate their appearance.
Scorpion surprise
Or how about using the tank? This is the most devastating method of all as it delivers a far more powerful blast than a Banshee.
Fly over the step high enough to avoid triggering the battle yet, then land and board the tank. Move it onto the stretch of snow on which the Marines will spawn, have it aimed at where the covie mob will appear, then back it up past the tree. When you get back far enough, covies appear and BOOM! - a single well-placed blast can take out the whole lot, leaving just a few off to the left further away. The Marines will quickly board, and at that point it's worth making sure Johnson has a clear line of fire with his sniper rifle. Finishing off shouldn't be much trouble.
Note: To minimize the danger of your shell hitting one of the Marines, be left of centre as they spawn on the right. One other potential bit of trouble is that a shell might go well beyond the covie mob, even if your aim looked good. To try and avoid that, keep your elevation fairly minimal.
Getting sneaky on foot
You can also tackle things on foot after flying over the step high enough to avoid triggering the battle yet. Back up like I indicated with the tank, ready to slaughter the main mob when they appear. The weapons of choice for this are the sniper rifle, rocket launcher and pistol. I favour starting with the rifle, poised to bring down the Elite with 2x zoom. But an extra tactic you can use is to throw a grenade in advance, triggering the covies just as it's about to go off. That should help things along rather nicely.
Doing without a Banshee
If you don't have a Banshee, I'd suggest running in with a sniper rifle or rocket launcher at the ready - my usual approach when playing through the level 'normally'. If you opt for the rifle, pick out the Elite quick to try and cause panic - but also quickly bring down any Grunt about to throw a plasma.
Instead of running in, you could instead drive in with passengers on a Marine-retaining Warthog, then hop out. That way you'll have a chain-gunner to help out, and he won't dismount. But on the minus side he might be a bit overzealous and shoot friendlies in the back!