A replacement for Spartan Ops.

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

I have been working on an idea for sometime now regarding replaceing Spartan ops with a new long lasting immerse game mode that uses the new innovations of the Xbox one along with raising the bar that Halo games have set. With this set up, 343 will be able to add new aspects to halo that it has never experienced before.

Name: undetermined

A team of 6 (guessing that Xbox one can handle a 6 player team) start off on a home base, the Infinity. (Or some other ship). Within this ship players get to see a new view of Halo that has never really been experienced before, a peaceful active military environment, no explosions or gun fire, just a look of what it’s like to be in service of the UNSC. Players have the ability to explore the ship and find new interesting things on board. When it’s time to play players return to the bridge and revive a weekly dossier that give them news on the current war and their objective including were said missions are located.

Players have the ability to control the home ship (infinity)and plot its course to any of the marked planets, structures, or installations on the map. Note that this is not like mass effects control’s, you plot a course not wiggle around the Infinity on a tiny space board. The Spartans them selves are not in control of the Infinity, you indirectly take control of the captain of the ship when you make these decisions. the locations that are in needed of attention to complete the weeks challenge are marked. Each planet will just hold a single map, this is where the real missions begin, with this new concept these missions can range from S&D, S&R, Firefights, Control and capture, even investigation. Back abound the infinity players can buy upgrades exclusive to this game type. Weapon and vehicle drops, air support, ext.

This new layout allows 343 to make missions WAY more interesting with players having to go explore the planet for them self’s, Although they have an idea, they only truly understand the situation when the boots are on the ground. With good story writing there are MANY more options then spartan ops or firefight, even though both will be available within this game.

This is designed to span as long as 343 wants to keep it going, added new missions and places to explore weekly or monthly, when players are done with all the missions, they can manage there loud-outs and plan for future missions with team mates aboard the infinity, players will bond mutual friend ships with charismatic characters that are always found on board the ship in the same locations, Weather a hanger engineer or the head chef. players will enjoy coming back from there missions and seeing what they have to say.

The galaxy map is free to explore without required mission, allowing players to have the free will to chart their own adventures, and maybe 343 can put some little surprises on the uncharted worlds. Although it seems like allot, its really just a fancy bunch of maps and missions and i’m sure the Xbox One can handle it.

I believe this with a new version of Firefight (If Xbox One can handle both) would have the best of both worlds, the return of a fan favorite game type, and this new fresh look at Halo would make Halo 5 a long lasting and amazing experience.
(Yes, i have realized this is allot like Mass Effects campaign, i am trying to think of a better layout to make it more unique)

Why this is a better replacement for Spartan Ops.
Spartan Ops required CGI cutscenes for every episode, these were not cheap and by making this a standard 343 doomed then self’s and didn’t make any more seasons past what they made pre-launch. This gives the abilities of “filler” mostly known in anime, weeks where 343 chooses to develop more interesting content, the weeks in the gap are filled with simple objectives (capture an enemy territory, kill a bunch of grunts, ext) allowing the world to always stay active.

How this can work.
Although this seems like a massive game, it’s really only pretending to be one. Players are only on one map at a time, everything else is just for show.

Sections/features:

The infinity: The infinity is a huge map consisting of a living, busy, and active atmosphere. Players will enjoy simply exploring and watching Marines do their daily work and RnR. Players will be able to find funny and unusual events from time to time on board the infinity involving UNSC lollygagging. Players must visit places on board to buy up grades and power weapons for load outs.
These are some of the locations that i would like to see.

*The armory - machines building weapons start to finish on a belt. players come here to up date there loud-outs.

*Engineering - gives more incite on how hard working on the infinity really is as engineers work day and night to keep infinities advanced tech running.

*War games simulator - Spartans can visit the war games simulator and locker room, although there is no live combat going on, players can jump into war games from here.

*Personal Cabin - This gives hints into your Spartans past life, with pictures of home planets and family, Sound track in here is soft and calm to show the Spartans emotional state in this room.

*Recreation - The very first look in Halo history at 25th century entertainment, players get to watch soldiers relax and even maybe even partake in some games them self’s, invested players will come here on there own after missions just for fun.

Planets:

Planets are marked in three categories, blue for friendly occupation, Red for enemy territory, and yellow for planets that are under attack by both fractions. unmarked planets have no data to the UNSC and contents are very unknown. From Week to week, players will get a new list of objectives to complete and they have the chose to do witch ever one they want first. This lay out allows 343 to make missions much more immerse in interesting.

Unknown worlds - When you are in an unknown planet you are their at your own discretion. Coms will not be able to contact you from out side of the extraction point. These planets are never at a calm state and are usually swampy, dark, and wet. They can range from desert storms to tropical islands under heavy rain. Players can explore to their hearts content to find rare goods and secrets, but be warned, no one knows whats out their. Never go alone. Missions difficulty under here is unkown

Blue planets - Blue planets are mostly under UNSC control, only a few enemy strong holds remain, Missions here range from easy to normal.

Yellow planets - These are where most of the fighting takes place, Forces here are mostly at a stalemate with one another and the fate of these planets are unknown. Missions here range from normal to heroic

Red planets - red planets are totally under enemy control, forces will have seemingly endless reinforcements and missions here are set to legendary.

After each mission Spartans will receive an after battle report, telling them the outcome of the mission (Failed or completed). and a payout of credits. Credits here are separate from the rest of the game i can only be used here. What Spartans can buy can range from.

  • In mission close air support
  • In mission orbital support
  • In mission dropped reinforcements
  • ODST drop support
  • Power weapons and extra armor abilities and perks for your loud-outs
  • Special Armor that can only be unlocked here
  • In missions vehicle drop
2

Well, this and/or firefight would work

3

> Well, this and/or firefight would work

I would personally prefer this.

4

Here is what I would want to replace Spops with;

On an open world environment either a halo or a shield world, it starts out roughly the size of forge world (minus the elevations the mountains and fill the water areas with land) that large box, and you are given missions to fight for territory to maintain against the covenant.

Over time they can expand and reveal new areas of the map, and over the course of 2~ years the size of the map could have expanded anywhere between 5-10 times the original size of the launched map.

As you fight you gain xp towards your rank, you fight to secure objectives, items for research, or just to blow away the covies in these territories.

These territories however do not stay yours forever, you make a team with friends or something and each team shares the save (through the cloud) because over time the covies will secure that territory again if it isn’t kept up. Also if a team member is on or 2/4 they can go in and upkeep or even expand so when the rest of your team is on, they will all be on the same page and do their thing. Friends can join and quit your team on the fly with 6~8 max slots per team.

The spawn is a fortified unsc base that resupplies you ammo and vehicles, you can call in air drops for supplies or a hog. Once a few expansions hit and it seems a bit too large or heavily armored the base can begin spawning air vehicles for your team to use.

So this is my idea, its a miniature planetside 2 but with ai and has the ability to expand as time goes, this is the only reasonable thing they could make and expand in their time frame, because making 20 different maps with so many scripted scenarios takes alot more time than they would probably like. It would be simple, social, entertaining, and replayable.

5

> Here is what I would want to replace Spops with;
>
> On an open world environment either a halo or a shield world, it starts out roughly the size of forge world (minus the elevations the mountains and fill the water areas with land) that large box, and you are given missions to fight for territory to maintain against the covenant.
>
> Over time they can expand and reveal new areas of the map, and over the course of 2~ years the size of the map could have expanded anywhere between 5-10 times the original size of the launched map.
>
> As you fight you gain xp towards your rank, you fight to secure objectives, items for research, or just to blow away the covies in these territories.
>
> These territories however do not stay yours forever, you make a team with friends or something and each team shares the save (through the cloud) because over time the covies will secure that territory again if it isn’t kept up. Also if a team member is on or 2/4 they can go in and upkeep or even expand so when the rest of your team is on, they will all be on the same page and do their thing. Friends can join and quit your team on the fly with 6~8 max slots per team.
>
> The spawn is a fortified unsc base that resupplies you ammo and vehicles, you can call in air drops for supplies or a hog. Once a few expansions hit and it seems a bit too large or heavily armored the base can begin spawning air vehicles for your team to use.
>
> So this is my idea, its a miniature planetside 2 but with ai and has the ability to expand as time goes, this is the only reasonable thing they could make and expand in their time frame, because making 20 different maps with so many scripted scenarios takes alot more time than they would probably like. It would be simple, social, entertaining, and replayable.

Now i’m not saying this is a bad idea, in fact it is a very good idea. But their is one big problem. In planet side you are fighting Real time players, the ratio in a battle field from player to AI is about 6. Planet side can hold up to 2000 players in one game. that means that this server could be controlling up to 12000 AI in one game, i don’t think Xbox One can handle that. With my idea the battles are confined to medium battle grounds while pretending to be a massive galaxy at war.

6

From the first section, it sound like you want to turn Infinity in to the Citadel from Mass Effect, interesting :slight_smile:

7

Personally I would like Halo Xbox one to come with firefight built in and spartan ops as DLC, or the other way round.

8

I actually had a similar idea as well

In Sops there is a hub world where I can talk with other players ; the hub world is Infinity. Here I can walk around in the Infinity, chat with other players and NPCs, engage in war games , or take on missions to fight the Covenant , Flood, Prometheans , or Forerunners. The levels are procedurally generated( certain specific ones aren’t) and can take place on different worlds, space stations, or ships similar to warframe . The levels can take about 10 mins to 45 mins , and can be either linear or open end like Reach or the first level in Halo CE . I can do them either by myself or up to 3-5 others(or dozens in special missions) .The objectives can be either or a combination of assassinations( going through a level and kill a high ranking enemy), clearing infestation of flood , hacking and gaining access of information, base defensing , infiltrating and destroying a base, stealing forerunner tech , rescue missions , clearing out an area etc. The idea is to let 343 have more time to develop better quality and unique levels while the players can play the generated levels.
Some of the planets are persistent to and can allow dozens of players on the same area.

The ship itself is persistent and can be upgraded through a xcom style system ,by the coordination of all players on the Infinity . Sometimes to progress through the story players must work together to gather resources to make an object( a reactor, an armory , etc) . But some areas are optional like the engines or the turrets. The infinity can become under attack and the upgradable parts of the ship can be destroyed or damaged .

The missions will be split in different sectors(either on a planet , solar system , or star cluster) each controlled by different enemy factions; the further I’m in an enemy sector the harder it is , but the more rewarding it will be … sometimes you will have to venture deep in an enemy sector . The gameplay will change. You will get less ordinance drops , sometimes no custom loadouts , can’t call in vehicles or weapons yourself , etc . You will have to salvage weapons and gear to succeed, this encourages players to make tougher choices and approach objectives differently like being more stealthy. Sometimes you can complete secondary objectives like destroying jammers and AAs to able to get ammo crates , ordinances , etc . But they won’t come immediately , they would come via pelican because the infinity doesn’t cover that far in , and the pelican itself can be shot down.

Each sector can be captured and controlled by unsc , but they can be come under attack. The objectives and game types will be appropriate when this happens . If an enemy faction tries to steal a forerunner artifact , then it can play like invasion with AI or like firefight .

These mission can either help advance the story or not , but there are still scripted story based missions like there is now.

Special mission are events that take place in later parts of the story, these mission are designed to be epic in scale. Imagine you and dozens of other spartans and marines landing in a city full of Covenant , you and your allies must accomplish a series of objectives to drive out the Covenant from the city or a planet was taken over by the flood and you and (many)dozens of spartans and marines are the last living creatures , so you must hold out until the timer runs out .

Increase the amount of vehicles and weapons in the next halo , that seems obvious , but I explain. Allowing more weapons will increase more play styles and gameplay options . And another dynamic is buying them and calling them in like section 8 . So if I’m in a big open map I can call in a warthog or a mongoose , but it’s limited by currency and once it’s destroyed I would have to buy another ; so I would have to buy in bulk. Its the same for weapons , but only for certain power weapons . If I die using a rocket launcher or spartan laser it would be consumed .

9

> > Here is what I would want to replace Spops with;
> >
> > On an open world environment either a halo or a shield world, it starts out roughly the size of forge world (minus the elevations the mountains and fill the water areas with land) that large box, and you are given missions to fight for territory to maintain against the covenant.
> >
> > Over time they can expand and reveal new areas of the map, and over the course of 2~ years the size of the map could have expanded anywhere between 5-10 times the original size of the launched map.
> >
> > As you fight you gain xp towards your rank, you fight to secure objectives, items for research, or just to blow away the covies in these territories.
> >
> > These territories however do not stay yours forever, you make a team with friends or something and each team shares the save (through the cloud) because over time the covies will secure that territory again if it isn’t kept up. Also if a team member is on or 2/4 they can go in and upkeep or even expand so when the rest of your team is on, they will all be on the same page and do their thing. Friends can join and quit your team on the fly with 6~8 max slots per team.
> >
> > The spawn is a fortified unsc base that resupplies you ammo and vehicles, you can call in air drops for supplies or a hog. Once a few expansions hit and it seems a bit too large or heavily armored the base can begin spawning air vehicles for your team to use.
> >
> > So this is my idea, its a miniature planetside 2 but with ai and has the ability to expand as time goes, this is the only reasonable thing they could make and expand in their time frame, because making 20 different maps with so many scripted scenarios takes alot more time than they would probably like. It would be simple, social, entertaining, and replayable.
>
> Now i’m not saying this is a bad idea, in fact it is a very good idea. But their is one big problem. In planet side you are fighting Real time players, the ratio in a battle field from player to AI is about 6. Planet side can hold up to 2000 players in one game. that means that this server could be controlling up to 12000 AI in one game, i don’t think Xbox One can handle that. With my idea the battles are confined to medium battle grounds while pretending to be a massive galaxy at war.

No no no no what I meant by planetside is the general idea that there is territory that you gain and lose over time. The size and scale would only reach maybe half of one of those maps in planetside once the map is done in the 2-ish years the game has been out. The ai itself loads when you enter into different territory section and the engine will randomly dispatch 3-5 phantoms (not all at once) while you fight for territory control. Also if some objects are extremely valuable than it might send more like 10 phantoms over time of the fight as with drop pods too. The most enemy ai around might reach only up to 70-80 max, not 12000, and remember halo could do this with 40 ai on the 360, so if the xb1 can’t handle triple that, then I will be supremely shocked since it can handle 64 real time player servers (xb1, not halo…yet…hehehe) on games like bf4, and there was alot of things happening in that game besides players shooting eachother lol.

10

this is actually a pretty cool idea

11

With a little bit more action, this could be golden. I think it’s well time Halo strayed from the linear shooter.

12

Let’s say I’m playing Halo 4.
On the Main Menu, there’s Campaign, War Games, and whatever else.
When you select War Games, you enter the Infinity and you can walk around and go to War Games Matchmaking, Customs, Forge, Spartan Ops/FF, and Theater.
Or you can go to the Infinity Roster and see what your friends are doing and join their matches.

This would be great!
I seriously believe 343 should do this.

13

Why dont they just make it live action? kind of what spielberg is doing, except based solely on SpOps. If Brad Pitt can look like a 95 year old man in Benjamin Button, then i am pretty sure they can pull off just about anything with the use of CGI and make-up.

14

Put both firefight and sops in but make sops like freeroam where you choose what mission you feel like doing.

15

> With a little bit more action, this could be golden. I think it’s well time Halo strayed from the linear shooter.

The action takes place during the missions, once a player has chosen a destination and enters the planet, basically this is were the Spartan Ops mission starts. Also extra implementations can happen, like during the entrance of the planets atmosphere or exiting it.

16

@OP

That is WAY too Mass Effect. No, no. That won’t work.

That said, I do like the idea of being able to explore the Infinity, maybe every Spartan has their own room/lobby which they can design (basic stuff) that you can show off to your friends such as placing pictures of your Theatre screenshots or maybe a set of statues that you gain from doing stuff in-game (tied to achievements, maybe) as well as basic color lauouts.

Maybe we could go down to the armory to test new weapons and Loadouts, and we might even be able to watch other people’s live action games from a railing outside the holographic training room. If you want to que-join your friend, but he’s already in a game- instead of waiting in the menus without doing anything you could actually watch the match from behind a glass. Maps would be laid out below you and you could walk around them in the railing, then (if someone quits) you could instantly join in.

When you’re ready for Spartan Ops of whatever replaces it, you’ll need to go down to the hangar and take a Pelican drop-ship down to complete your missions (be it Firefight or Spartan Ops of whatever) on a number of preset maps on the planet’s surface. But let’s limit it to one planet, shall we. Just the thought of bringing a Galaxy Map to Halo makes me shudder. I guess if the Spartan Ops story takes us to more than one planet it would be okay (as long as there is some kind of a mission log that allows us to replay all the missions whether you played them before or not).

Obviously all of this should be completely optional and there should definitely be a quick and simple way to do each of those things in the menus. But it would be really fun to gather parties in your lobby (your personalized apartment on the Infinity) before taking your group down to the War Games entrance. If there’s one thing they can do to really make the canonicity of multiplayer fun, it’s something like that. Of course, Elites should still be playable- even if not on the Infinity, it should definitely become available when you join a game of matchmaking.

17

> @OP
>
> That is WAY too Mass Effect. No, no. That won’t work.
>
> That said, I do like the idea of being able to explore the Infinity, maybe every Spartan has their own room/lobby which they can design (basic stuff) that you can show off to your friends such as placing pictures of your Theatre screenshots or maybe a set of statues that you gain from doing stuff in-game (tied to achievements, maybe) as well as basic color lauouts.
>
> Maybe we could go down to the armory to test new weapons and Loadouts, and we might even be able to watch other people’s live action games from a railing outside the holographic training room. If you want to que-join your friend, but he’s already in a game- instead of waiting in the menus without doing anything you could actually watch the match from behind a glass. Maps would be laid out below you and you could walk around them in the railing, then (if someone quits) you could instantly join in.
>
> When you’re ready for Spartan Ops of whatever replaces it, you’ll need to go down to the hangar and take a Pelican drop-ship down to complete your missions (be it Firefight or Spartan Ops of whatever) on a number of preset maps on the planet’s surface. But let’s limit it to one planet, shall we. Just the thought of bringing a Galaxy Map to Halo makes me shudder. I guess if the Spartan Ops story takes us to more than one planet it would be okay (as long as there is some kind of a mission log that allows us to replay all the missions whether you played them before or not).
>
> Obviously all of this should be completely optional and there should definitely be a quick and simple way to do each of those things in the menus. But it would be really fun to gather parties in your lobby (your personalized apartment on the Infinity) before taking your group down to the War Games entrance. If there’s one thing they can do to really make the canonicity of multiplayer fun, it’s something like that. Of course, Elites should still be playable- even if not on the Infinity, it should definitely become available when you join a game of matchmaking.

Their were allot of people that said that Spartan Ops was just a copy of MW3 spec ops. It just needs it’s own halo touch. I know it looks like Mass Effect in your head but with a little handy work it can be made into its own game. Some of the stuff i think im gunna take out that resemble Mass Effect too much, like the characters that talk on the Infinity.

18

> From the first section, it sound like you want to turn Infinity in to the Citadel from Mass Effect, interesting :slight_smile:

I have to say that is what i am thinking. A halo that is alot like Mass effect with a bit of roll playing in it. Sign me up

19

Can players choose sides like UNSC vs Covenant or UNSC vs Prometheans?

20

Hi moderators. Thanks for locking this bumped topic