Get covies out of normal bounds using a Falcon and a dropship.

Posted November 13th 2011, updated later

• Introduction
• Getting them out
• Variations on the method
• Handy checkpoints afterwards
• Working out of bounds
• Fun out of bounds

In the article Grunts on my Falcon I talked about getting covies on top of your Falcon and taking them for a ride. While writing about that, an idea struck me. How about if I get one or more covie riders on top, then escape from normal bounds courtesy of a dropship? Trouble is, it didn't work. When the dropship starts to depart, riders quickly slide off. However, with a bit of adjustment to the plan, there is a way to get covies out of bounds. You can make them ride back out on top of a dropship, and get them on top of your Falcon again later! Details follow, along with ideas for things to do with them. The upshot is, this greatly expands the amount of fun you can have with covies on a Falcon.

Here's my standard method. At the lower evac zone (the one with a stream running past it), wait for the second dropship to arrive. There's normally a checkpoint before it flies in, which is good because the next bit of work may well need multiple tries. Move in to pick up a disembarking covie on top of the Falcon - or possibly more than one - then quickly rise up over the ship and freefall into place in the fork ready for escape, trying to get the covie to lose his footing and regain it on top of the ship. That transfer isn't easy to control, but let's assume you manage it.

When the ship departs, surprisingly he stays in place on top of it, which is quite unlike the case for when you try to ride on top like that. The ship passes out of normal bounds and eventually stops and shrinks to nothing. As it shrinks, the covie remains motionless in mid-air as if still supported by the ship as it was before shrinkage. When the ship finally vanishes, he may continue to remain there, or he may fall as if having lost support; it seems a bit fickle. Anyway, fly underneath him when you're free of the ship's hold, and it's possible to get him back on top of the Falcon. He'll probably do some falling as you move his way, so to some extent you have to intercept him. But it's not too hard.

If you miss him however, or if you deliberately let him fall, all is not lost. The shrinking happened near a massive sloping pinnacle and you can expect him to end up intact on the slope (possibly near where the pinnacle joins with a smaller one). As long as he's reasonably accessible to begin with, you should be able to push him up the slope with the Falcon's nose, and at the top he tends to be scooped up on the nose, especially if he was on a steep bit (which helps the nose get under him). Very convenient! You might even scoop him up before he's at the top.

If you fall out of the dropship's fork before getting through the barrier, it's worth speeding back to try to escape with the final dropship. Assuming it takes you through the barrier, it'll probably then cause the covie to fall from where he was left suspended in mid-air, if he was. Sometimes it's quite a smack and can kill him. But if not, you can potentially recover him from the slope as just described.

Tips

The tips I gave for picking up covies in my earlier article apply here just the same.

In regard to a covie who fell onto the slope, he may initially be obscured by a cosmetic surface, especially on the lower areas. If he's totally hidden you can judge his location by the fire coming through the surface, and also by your reticle turning red. With a bit of pushing in the right place, you'll hopefully be able to get him higher up where he'll soon start emerging.

Here are some variations on getting covies out.

Two-stage affair

If you're finding it too much of a rush to do the pick-up and get covies transferred and settle into the fork for the escape, there's scope for doing things as a two-stage affair instead. Having picked up covies from ship 2, you could wait for ship 3 to arrive, to do the transfer and escape with that one.

More covies

If you want to try and get lots of covies out of bounds, you could first transfer some onto ship 2 so they get taken out, then when ship 3 comes in, transfer more and escape - and hope that the ship doesn't kill any of the ones suspended in mid-air from ship 2.

Using the first ship

You could try using ship 1, but it doesn't hover as long as the others, and you'd be very hard pressed to get covies transferred and settle into the fork in time. I did manage to get a Grunt transferred after many tries (the transfer happened after the ship had risen up; I had to pursue it), but didn't have time to enter the fork. In Theater mode I later saw that when the ship shrank (way over towards the relay outpost), the Grunt initially stayed where he was but then fell to his death.

Using the higher evac zone

You could try using the higher evac zone but it's a rather cramped area and none of the ships hovers long enough to make things convenient. I gave it a go for maybe twenty minutes without success. If you do try it here, I'd recommend using ship 1 because the later ships are much harder to escape with.

Getting a covie out of bounds can take quite a few attempts, so you don't really want to be having to do it each time you want to have some out of bounds fun. Fortunately you don't have to. You can arrange a situation in which you've got a checkpoint with a covie (or multiple covies) already out of bounds, ready to be taken places. Ideal for playing about with him. Here's how.

First get him and yourself out of bounds using dropship 2 or 3 at the lower evac zone. If he falls onto the slope, push him up until he's quite near the top. If instead you manage to pick him up in mid-air, get him dropped off onto the slope high up, fine-tuning his position if needed. Either way, the point is to make him ready to be quickly scooped up off the top of a steep bit of slope when you return later. If you now go and get a checkpoint, you'll be nicely set up. Each time you want to take him somewhere, you'll only need to fly to the pinnacle and scoop him up. Obviously you could instead set things up so he's on some other slope ready to be scooped up, but I'll stick with the pinnacle for my description.

When you get back to a Grunt, he'll typically jump about a bit in amusing fashion. If you bring the Falcon's nose in towards him at a fair speed though, he'll put his paws over his eyes as if fearing a collision. Cute!

Relay outpost checkpoint and dismount checkpoint

You can trigger a checkpoint by getting the relay outpost loaded (see here for loading advice if you haven't done it before). A bonus with this is that you'll then have a further checkpoint available, namely the 'dismount checkpoint' as I'll call it, associated with the 'ADVANCE INTO RELAY OUTPOST' prompt. It can be triggered anywhere just by dismounting. There are various ways you could use it.

A simple way is to fly back to the pinnacle and dismount somewhere close, though not so close that the checkpoint gets cancelled due to enemy threat. This way, you won't have so far to fly each time you want to pick your covie up. I was able to get the checkpoint after landing in the area where the pinnacle joins with a smaller one. From there you could be at your covie inside ten seconds or so.

Another way is as follows. Pick up your covie then land at some place where he won't hop off; for example the high invisible surface not far from the pinnacle (head west and it's about 340 feet up). When you dismount, the checkpoint will initially be delayed due to his proximity, but if you sprint clear you can potentially get it before it gets cancelled (you've got a few seconds). You'll then have a checkpointed situation in which the covie is already on the Falcon. Extra convenient! I've had no trouble doing this when using a Grunt with a plasma pistol on Normal, but don't expect it to work if he's got a needler. I couldn't get the checkpoint in that case; I suspect it gets delayed too long by the needles in flight. Another area where he won't hop off is along the road leading to the relay outpost (which is out of bounds except for a bit near the broken bridge), or the adjacent ground. With that in mind, you could actually have taken him with you to the outpost in the first place, got it loaded, and got the dismount checkpoint right afterwards (saving time).

One other way to use the dismount checkpoint is to just keep it in hand for when you get your covie to various places where you want to have fun with him, or at least closer to such places. You'd dismount and get clear to get it, as just mentioned. On certain surfaces (e.g. invisible ones) he'll stay aboard, which might be what you want. For example this can be useful when you're going to attempt something tricky such as dropping him somewhere precarious. The idea would be to get a checkpoint near where you're going to make the attempts; obviously good for efficiency.

Elite squad checkpoint

Here's another checkpoint option. If you left at least one Elite alive in the field before rally point alpha, you can trigger a checkpoint by wiping out the squad - easily done with the cannon while remaining out of bounds. However, first you'll need to get the area reloaded by descending over a pinnacle near the start of the level, as described in my article on the wandering dropship escape method.

Why might you use this option? It's probably the one to use if you're interested in taking your covie back past rally point alpha, because the scenery will be correct. Once you load the relay outpost, that creates some new crude surfacing over the early area, and although it's possible to then get the area reloaded, the crude surfacing remains, giving you a dual-surfaced affair.

Reloading the valley area

Whichever of those checkpoint options you use, a consequence is that much of the valley area will have got removed - and sealed off by invisible barriers. However, you can always get it reloaded while remaining out of bounds, by entering the appropriate trigger area. From above the relay outpost or thereabouts (e.g. if you just got the outpost loaded), you can do it by heading roughly north or slightly east of that, past the right of the mountain behind the outpost, at an altitude of 400 to 440 feet. Actually, once you get to that mountain you could turn east to head for the valley's massive central mountain and you'd still hit the trigger area. Another way of doing things is to get to a point above the valley's first waterfall (currently missing), and descend.

Allied concerns revisited

If you have any allied passengers, you might want to get rid of them (out of bounds) before getting your checkpoint, because they can be a nuisance as I mentioned in the 'Allied concerns' section of my earlier article. Hopefully you eliminated Carter and Jorge in advance and also didn't pick up any troopers, but that would still leave the issue of Jun appearing in the rear right seat about 80 seconds after the reinforcement ships are triggered.

If you don't prevent his appearance by taking the seat yourself, you can still get rid of him fairly easily. One way is to dismount against a slope or something so he gets ejected. One place I did this was against the hillside by the path which leads to the relay outpost. Another way is to take a passenger seat (or get more than 35 metres away), probably causing him to head for the pilot's seat. Beat him to it or eject him, and try to fly off quick. If he just stands around rather than going for the pilot's seat, move him clear by pushing or whacking, then fly off. Pushing may be quicker, and it also saves you hearing the same one or two lines of protest over and over (terrible work from Bungie there).

My earlier article included plenty of advice on transporting covies, but here are some things of special concern for working out of bounds.

Mysterious friction zones

You have to be wary of your rider getting swept off by a strange friction effect in various places. There's often a sound with it as you pass through, a bit like sandpaper or some sort of swishing, and he may make noises as if uncomfortable. Sometimes you don't get the sound and he'll get pushed along the Falcon anyway. Either avoid such zones or go slow in them, because it's very easy to lose your cargo. It's still quite mysterious to me but maybe I'll get a better understanding of this business later.

Invisible surfaces

Be careful not to fly into an invisible surface. After a while you get used to where they are though, so it's not a big concern. A separate matter is that covies apparently don't find such surfaces inviting. They won't hop off onto one, as far as I know. Potentially useful.

Loading zone issues

At any given time, the main map area will have various large holes in it for ground that isn't currently loaded. Such holes seem to be sealed over by invisible surfaces. If you load a section, another is likely to disappear. I've covered some details of that, either in this article or others, and the gist of it is, if you want to take your rider to any area, you have the option of doing so after getting it loaded if necessary. Also, I've never had a rider vanish when I'm getting something loaded. Riders are robust in that sense.

Having got a covie out of bounds - or maybe even multiple covies - what novelties can you enjoy with him? Here are some ideas based on my own playing about.

Grunty on a mountain

One obvious idea is to drop him in a really high place. A Grunt on top of a mountain makes a very cute sight! The highest peak is behind the relay outpost, at about 651 feet. I had a Grunt on the knife-edge of ground at the very top. There's also the impressive mountain in the middle of the valley at about 322 feet. Once you've got your covie up there and taken a nice snapshot or whatever, you might like to nudge him off, heh heh.

Balanced on a wind turbine

Or how about marooning him on one of those wind turbines which look like upside-down whisks? Having previously dropped myself off on one of those, I decided it was time to get a Grunt onto one. There are three accessible ones near the lower evac zone, and if you get the relay outpost loaded there's another back towards the start of the level (near a waterfall).

I got my Grunt onto the one near the start of the level. I first got him onto the nose of the Falcon then get the nose rested on the top. The rotating top seems to have some pulling power and can quickly draw him off, at which point you can pull away to admire the sight. I expect you can ease him off a rotor in a similar way. For additional fun, see if you can tag him from a nearby hill.

Top of a waterfall

I took one Grunt to the top of the waterfall, quite a way back towards rally point alpha. He hopped off and almost immediately threw a plasma at the Falcon. Geez, there's gratitude for the ride eh? Come to think of it, if you've got the Catch skull on, I suspect you could get some entertaining action with Grunts throwing grenades at you from high places you've dropped them. That's assuming they don't try throwing them on the actual journey though; I haven't actually tried this stuff with Catch.

High invisible plane

Or how about getting him onto one of the high invisible planes over certain missing areas? One time I did that with an Elite, I also had Carter and Jorge along for the ride. When I dismounted and backed off a way, Carter hopped into the pilot's seat but the Elite ejected him. He didn't board as the Falcon still wasn't empty, but if the Falcon had been empty and he had boarded, where would he have flown to? I still need to check that out.

Back to the start

Take him back to early parts of the level. I took a Grunt to the very start where the Falcons put down. He did a bit of running as if having sensed a way home, but soon got stopped by scenery. I also took him near the Elite squad I'd bypassed (three remained) but he didn't run to them for support. They didn't seem too impressed with him either; a plasma came in when I was trying to push him towards the Elites with the Falcon's nose, and that was the end of things. It may even have tagged him.

Freefall fun-ride revisited

In my earlier article I mentioned the hilarious freefall fun-ride activity. Within normal bounds you can't fall very far, but now you're outside you can continue the activity for much longer without needing to ascend each time. Just get somewhere where there's a heck of a long way to fall. You could ascend way up above the main part of the map, or fly out beyond any kill-barrier and start falling from there.

Grunty fun at the relay outpost

For another idea, how about taking him to the relay outpost? I took a Grunt there and kept him up top until I'd wiped out the enemy attack with the Falcon, then I got him dropped off in the forecourt. I was subsequently able to push him through the door, where he had some fun zapping Kat with his plasma pistol while she was working. But when the door eventually closed, she whipped out her pistol and got swift revenge.

Incidentally, there were a couple of tactics I employed to get the Grunt inside. Instead of pushing him directly, I pushed a small container against him. That not only keeps you safe from damage, it also tends to keep you undetected. Consequently he doesn't take evasive action; he just lets himself be pushed. It was certainly a lot safer than using the forklift, which he grenaded a few times with tragic consequences.

The other thing was, I had to keep the other Spartans (aside from Kat) out of the way so the Grunt wouldn't get killed. They were all aboard the Falcon. After some failures, during which I wished more than ever that I could just kill the whole damn lot of 'em, I eventually did it by keeping the Falcon blocked behind the big grey structure in the recessed corner of the forecourt (off to the right as you look at the door).

To boldly go where no Grunt has gone before

How about a voyage far out from the core area? I took a Grunt south to the lake and then sank through the ground until we finally landed on the invisible surface far below - at which point my altitude was -2734 feet.

Grunt vs Dropship

Here's one other amusement. If a covie is suspended in mid-air after ship 2 has shrunk and disappeared, wait for ship 3 to arrive and smack into him. Nasty accident.

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