My handy guide to turning a gold Elite into a pyrotechnic display…

(6:39) Level 4 ('The Silent Cartographer') on Easy. This tutorial shows how you can set up a goldie firework - a frozen gold Elite you can launch into the sky and have a lot of fun with. Plus there's a quick launch at the end. I've used Easy here as it usefully minimizes covie threat in the set-up work, making things a breeze. So go set up your own goldie firework!

Released January 3rd 2017, gameplay recorded December 30th 2016 - January 2nd 2017.

00:02 (Exiting the facility) Heading up to the surface, I get a checkpoint in the top room after wiping out the covies, then I run past the gold Elite and into a waiting hog. He's easily led away towards my chosen launch area, but before we get there I pull clear to get and save an arch checkpoint, for making tries at finishing off.

01:17 (Getting him to a good spot) After getting him chasing me again (he's a bit hesitant until he has another growl), I accelerate away, hoping that he'll stop in a good place, ideally near the ramp-like hill. Just before reaching a checkpoint trigger line at the far end of the beach, I swing around a rock and head back via the sea (staying distant so he won't start chasing again), to check where he stopped. Looks like a good area. He's already looking my way so I don't need pistol fire to make him face the way I want, but I fire anyway and he side-steps in front of a small rock. I'm happy with that, so I reboard the hog and drive directly away for a while, so he'll hopefully lose track of me and remain facing this way. Then I curve around and head for the main facility.

02:44 (Freezing him) Going back over the loading point gets him frozen, and on my way back to him I get an overshield - then another arch checkpoint.

03:05 (Testing and tweaking) There's a bit of testing and tweaking to be done now. First I check for convenient launching. Actually I already knew it would be ok because of familiarity with the release lines, but I'm showing you what you'd typically be doing. Satisfied with his position, I revert and weaken him, then arrange weapons, then consolidate and test. My testing for the layout isn't very thorough (could've done with more for the sake of demonstration), but thanks to past experience I'm confident things are ok, and that my spare weapons aren't too close to the Elite. Incidentally, I have no frags - otherwise you would've seen me ditch them during this phase.

04:57 (Final checkpoint) Now satisfied, I revert then wait a few minutes for the music to end, as I prefer not to have it playing during my firework fun. I get a handy delayed checkpoint triggered by killing a Grunt I spared earlier; the last of his group. He got a bit of a shock there eh?

05:47 (Release lines) Just to help you out, here's a graphic showing the two release lines in the area. As it happens, my Elite is in a good position for using either one.

05:54 (Quick launch) I'll be showing firework fun in the next movie, but here's a quick launch to finish off with a bang. This one uses two plasmas and two rockets, then 51 needles. 51 takes him right to the verge of suffering the next needle bang, and consequently the bang goes off right after I release him. The plasmas go off very soon after, because the 51 needles ran down their fuses a lot. He flies high out to sea, and I score an ambitious rocket strike for good measure.

Closing remarks Scandalously I only released two level 4 movies in 2016, so I figured I'd better get a lot more busy on the island in 2017. There are certainly plenty of movies to make there. This one gets things off to a start - and watch out for the follow-up coming soon!

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