Get launched up by the barrier force, and maybe reach the top of the column!

Posted September 22nd 2024 (material originally in Exploring the entry chamber from 2017, then separated out and augmented)

In my article Exploring the entry chamber I described the bouncy invisible barrier you eventually encounter when flying down the shaft in a Banshee. If trying to fly through, you get sprung back up by a force which acts on your Banshee whenever it's below the barrier. Well, that force can be put to very good use. The following material was originally in that 2017 article, but I've now separated it out into this dedicated piece to give it better exposure; and besides, it wasn't so much concerned with exploration anyway but was rather an offshoot activity, and a major one at that. So let's get to it.

Force-launching (in two varieties)

If you blast or shunt a Banshee down to some place below the barrier and then manage to reach it, you can do something rather interesting. When you board, the barrier force suddenly takes effect and violently shoots the Banshee up! I call this 'force-launching'. Ideally what you want to do is delay a checkpoint until ready to launch. Then you can launch again and again. It's a major recreation and you can have a lot of fun with it.

I cottoned on to this phenomenon for myself when I got a Banshee down to an alcove just below the barrier. That leads to what I now call 'shallow' force-launching. But you can do some even stronger launching from the bottom of the chamber. That's what 3rdPerson had done long ago, at the end of his 2006 video on reaching the bottom. You get much more speed, and I was able to get two spectacular payoffs out of that. I call this 'deep' force-launching, to distinguish it from the shallower version I first knew. I'll cover this stronger type first.

Note: I may go into details on all this later, but in the meanwhile see the written commentaries for the various movies if you're interested. Or, explore for yourself!

Deep force-launching basics

How do you set things up for force-launching from the bottom? My movie BCM251 shows how, starting from a point where you've already blasted a Ghost down to a platform at barrier level. You end up with a checkpoint at the bottom, ready to launch. The movie then demonstrates lots of launching, including getting into the ceiling room and onto a panel (through there are easier ways to do those things). See also BCM340 for further examples.

Column ascent, wahoo!

Earlier I mentioned that deep force-launching has two spectacular payoffs. The first one is that you can send yourself through the ceiling with enough exit speed to ascend to the top of the column! Thus pulling off a major trick. This was demonstrated in BCM252, which as far as I know was the first time someone had reached the top.

But then in BCM253 I showed an aim-based way of precise launching which made ascent easy and reliable, rather than being something that tended to take a fair bit of effort (which it previously had). With that technique, Banshee steering is controlled by where you aim your weapon prior to boarding. So once you hone in on an appropriate aim for ascent, you'll be able to get up again and again, just by repeating that aim. So you should definitely check that out.

Needless to say, ascending the column is a lot of fun. I suggest having a sniper rifle, because a light-amplified zoomed view is good, not just on the way up after bailing, but also looking down from the top of the column (see pic).

When 3rdPerson released his movie, BigGruntyThirst commented in the HIH thread "I must say, wouldnt it be possible to have the shee bump you through the ceiling and get you on top of that pillar?" The belated answer, eleven years later, is yes! And it's surely the biggest possible launch and landing in the game. I later learnt that reaching the top of the column had been one of the major targets on the list of arch-tricker Spasmodic - but he was just glad to see me do it.

Incidentally, you can go considerably higher than the top of the column. There seems to be a ceiling though. A pointy ceiling. The invisible walls seem to converge to either a point or possibly a small area.

Also, breaking out into the void

The other spectacular payoff you can get from deep force-launching is to break though the chamber's roof and sail out into the void (with Banshee left behind) - and potentially with incredible speed. But see my separate article for this other major trick.

Shallow force-launching

Force-launching from an alcove just below the barrier is less explosive, but still plenty of fun. BCM231 shows how I set up for some of this 'shallow' force-launching with a checkpoint ready to launch. It involves using a second Banshee (note: there's a Shade in the movie, but it's a holdover from BCM230 and becomes irrelevant). In regard to the Banshee's position for launch, bear in mind that you want to have it sufficiently near the edge of the alcove that it doesn't end up clattering the alcove roof when you launch.

As for the launching, check out BCM232 for starters. That was my main launching show, and a key aspect is that you can bail and land on rings, platforms and alcoves. However, there's also BCM233 which shows a remarkable mid-air reboarding trick you can do, plus there's BCM239 in which the Banshee is made to deflect off the outer edge of the alcove roof so it gets sent across the shaft.

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