I think my mob battle could do with a couple of big spiky monsters…

(6:52) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Heroic. This shows how you can add two Hunters to a mob battle set-up, on PAL Xbox. It used to be a pain getting both of them out (there's a loading point issue to contend with), but I found a routine which now makes it quite easy.

Released June 4th 2019, gameplay recorded May 29th - June 2nd 2019.

00:02 (Marine handling) At the start here, I've acquired a Banshee and added a few spare weapons to the battlefield, along with a Ghost. I temporarily move the active Marines so they won't clash with any Hunters who may land in that area. It would be safe to leave the Pelican Marines where they are, as they'll be invisible to covies, but I don't want any in the battle (some might not even activate), so I kill them. Thanks to the active Marines being distant, this doesn't get me declared as a traitor. I take advantage of the dropped ARs to add a fully loaded one to my collection of spare weapons.

00:57 (Final bridge troops) Having triggered the second group of bridge troops already, I need to deal with the third. No trouble. I borrow a plasma pistol, partly for the covie slaying but also because I'm going to want it for weakening Hunters later.

01:17 (Double extraction) After killing most of the covies in the second room, it's time for the extraction work. First I make myself a safe opening for getting the lift checkpoint. That's partly for safety in case anything goes wrong, but the trigger also makes the music stop. I take one Hunter most of the way through the passage (to the final corner), then bring the other one along. Fortunately the first one hasn't moved much, and it's easy to close in and end up with both of the Hunters in the outer loading zone, which is the key thing. Sometimes the first one moves more though, and in that case you can end up having to do some tricky dodging in the passage, to achieve the goal. Or you can just revert to try again.

02:41 (Getting the first Hunter down) I lead one Hunter out and get him to the lower deck by breaking a glass panel underneath him. That's the easiest way - and amusing too! Then I fly off to bring back a delayed tunnel checkpoint for tries at getting him down - which is pretty easy as long as you're ok at dodging. Notice that I'm using the the right hand side rather than the left. That's because the ledge is more amenable there (a good stretch of it at least, where the bridge casts a shadow). You can use the left, and in that case you don't need to've moved the active Marines, but it's harder to get him to a part of the ledge where he'll bounce off, and I also think he's liable to take more damage (though that may not matter to you).

03:38 (Weakening and moving him) I want my Hunters to be chasing in battle, so I need to weaken them to rage mode. You could do that with plasma fire from the Banshee, but I prefer using a plasma pistol to do it in a more controlled and minimalistic way, which also doesn't endanger the Banshee.

04:03 (Repeat with the other) I repeat things with the other Hunter (using a different style of dodging just to show another option). This one doesn't hit the ledge right at the back, but it's still ok, and he then gets cushioned by a rock. After weakening him on the ground, I lead him away and make sure both Hunters are well away from the ground-level door - partly so I'll be able to get a checkpoint at the door later. Incidentally, this guy was the weak one, of the pair.

05:07 (Returning the Marines) After retrieving my needler, I get the three Marines running back to base. You might've noticed that they didn't shout anything when dismounting or (with the last guy) boarding. Apparently a speech anomaly developed. That's something I've had in other situations in the game. I potentially could've fixed it (as I've done in other situations), to ensure that passengers will yell stuff in battle, but that would've involved waiting around in the hog, and I didn't want to have that complication in the tutorial. It's rather a peripheral issue.

05:38 (Safety checkpoint) I then get a delayed tunnel checkpoint at the door, ready to trigger the ground battle. In reaching the door I stayed well clear of the Hunters. Certainly didn't want them chasing me again!

06:00 (The usual work) In regard to the rest (after triggering the battle), the only special aspect is that you might need to zap the Hunters to restore their chasing instinct (in fact, thus far I've always found that to be the case). I'm not sure exactly why. Did they slightly recover some strength, or was it related to my absence perhaps? I haven't investigated. In any case, it only takes a moment. By the way, the Hunters only chase if you're low enough. When you go above ledge height or thereabouts, they stop. So when you do this final zapping, make sure you're below ledge height.

Closing remarks Making this movie turned out to be quite a slog because it pretty much took three goes. In the first version I was trying to lead the Hunters out along the passage together, which entailed a lot of tricky and chaotic dodging around. Also, I wasn't doing Hunter weakening outside, because I hadn't yet realized the need for it. It became clear once I set up a battle. There were other shortcomings too. I switched to a second version which included better Hunter extraction, but by the time it was nearing completion at over 8 minutes long, I'd figured out a better extraction plan still, and there were some other improvements to be made too, so I started over. Third time lucky!

In the next movie I'll be battling using this set-up. The set-up actually turned out to be pretty special, because all four Elites are red. The Marines aren't going to like that at all!

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