Want to be able to checkpoint after getting launched? Here's how!

(5:15) Level 2 ('Halo') on Heroic. Here's a demo of setting up for self launching via Warthog catapult, with the very useful ability to get checkpoints after landing somewhere interesting. The key is to've triggered the rockslide dropships. That gives a timed sequence of checkpoints; one for each of the final three ships. In the next movie I'll put this set-up to good use!

Released September 8th 2019, gameplay recorded September 2nd-6th 2019.

00:02 (Initial killing) At the start here, I'm using a base save I already had (or rather, a copy of it). Stacker's on the gun, armoured and in full health, but I'm planning to get him in the seat later (still undamaged). I drive in through the left entrance. That was mainly to have some variety because I used the other entrance in BCM371. I'm glad Stacker didn't manage to kill the Jackal. I want the Jackal to be in my eventual save, for possible fun.

00:16 I set about killing most the surface troops, especially the Elites (there are five on Heroic). If you kill enough (16 on Heroic), the survivors spawn and head up. That's the option I'm going for here as it makes for shorter combat later (after returning from the rockslide), which is advantageous. It's not essential though. You can see the spawning on your tracker and you may hear voicing too, as I do here ("I think they all ran away"). There's potentially also a checkpoint (not shown here, but I got it right after the cut at 1:28).

One thing you'll notice though, is that after a while, some surface troops may head underground. You might need to pursue them if you want the survivors to spawn. My footage includes four Elite kills. The final Elite headed underground near the end (I was looking for him after sniping the red around 0:58), but quickly came back after I triggered the survivors, and I sniped him on my way back to the hog - and there was also a Jackal I killed. Those are the only two kills not shown.

01:28 (Passenger management) Back at the hog, I get the passengers out because I want to (a) keep Stacker undamaged and (b) be in full control of killing at the rockslide. Marines seems quite safe in that particular area; but you could always drop your guys in the valley instead (that's what I would've done if I'd had the hog near the other entrance).

01:47 (Rockslide work) The only essential thing to do at the rockslide is trigger the succession of four dropships, which is done simply by entering the trigger area. You have an option about that though. If at least three covies remain after you leave the rockslide area, there'll be a delay of almost two minutes before the first ship spawns. That's what I suggest you go for - as seen here where I ignore most of the Grunts (my trigger finger got the better of me with one guy though).

If you want to top up with ammo, which I strongly recommend (for possible later fun), it's probably a good idea to kill the Elite (or two on Legendary), to panic the Grunts. That's what I did here. Had to be quick though; the covies were attacking early!

02:32 (Final killing) Back at the cliffside area, I get Stacker into the seat by parking the hog with the gun nearest the other guy. Then there's just a bit more killing to be done, so the Pelican finally arrives. Unusually, it triggers when there's still a Grunt left. I heard his voice but couldn't see him. Possibly he was still underground. Anyway, it doesn't matter.

If the survivors surfaced earlier, there's a danger that they'll get wiped out by the last few covies before you get back into the action. That would cancel the Pelican arrival. This is why getting them spawned in the earlier work carries a bit of risk. However, on Heroic things normally seem to work out fine. I'm not sure about Legendary. One other possibility is that when you return, the covies have been eliminated, in which case you may find that the Pelican is already arriving. That may still be okay though.

02:58 (Finishing off) I finish off as usual, except that for fun I ditch the unwanted gunner up on the hilltop, rather than down below. I drop him well away from my parking spot though, so there's no danger he'll run to reboard while I'm fiddling around parking. I'm fully loaded with grenades, and almost full on ammo. Good to have, for possible later fun.

While things are getting finished, the first rockslide dropship spawns (not seen), something referenced in a caption. That sort of timing is fairly typical.

03:40 (How the save turned out) This final sequence of clips illustrates how my save turned out, and it's also to give you an idea of what you can expect in regard to the rockslide dropships.

To cover the minor aspect first, I've got two valley dropships, each of which dropped a Grunt. The one at the rockslide entrance is new, and spawned when I got the Pelican or thereabouts. The other one was from earlier, spawned after dealing with the hillside survivor area where I got Stacker. You could hear it humming during my initial work in the cliffside area. These ships leave when you look at them.

As for the rockslide ships, ship 1 is only just leaving. Almost two minutes after my save checkpoint, ship 2 spawns on the right. Then almost another two minutes later (109 seconds), ship 3 spawns on the left; and shortly after (when troops are disembarking), six minutes of climactic music begins (because the rockslide area is now the final survivor area that needs handling). Then almost a minute later (51 seconds), ship 4 spawns on the right.

In regard to ship 4, originally I had a different clip, but later I worked on getting a better one (with better sniper tracking etc.), and used a save in which I'd delayed the ship 3 checkpoint until the music started. Then I noticed that sometimes when I loaded up the save to record a clip, there was a loud cymbal crash with the spawning, making things a lot more amusing. A lucky quirk of timing, I guess. So I focused on that, and got this good clip. For fun I also timed my two sniper shots to the beat of the music.

Closing remarks Why did I use Heroic rather than Legendary? One reason was, I wanted to get more experience of self launching on Heroic. It actually feels pretty much the same as Legendary except that when you survive the boost, you're typically left with three or four health bars rather than five. Stacker seems to survive the boost about as much as on Legendary (or at least that's the impression I get). The other reason is, I thought Heroic would be better in regard to fun I might have after landing. One aspect of that is, on Legendary you don't get any valley dropships. Here I've got two, making the valley more interesting.

One other bit of advice. When doing such a set-up, make use of saving to guard against things not turning out well. For example you could save a checkpoint on first entering the cliffside survivor area. In my case I was starting from a checkpoint obtained shortly before entry. Specifically, I'd got one at an entrance to the hillside survivor area, after emerging and destroying the valley Banshees.

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