Keep in mind that his entire idea is based on 343i adding object grouping and fixing the normal objects. I am not saying that 343i should do this instead of including pelicans, phantoms, ect., but instead that this could be a possibility if they did include the features mentioned above.
I made a thread similar to this not too long ago, but it quickly died. So I figured that I’d improve the idea and post again. Please take the time to read through the entire post before commenting, and please comment constructively.
The Idea
This idea was inspired by this video that was posted in General Discussion a while ago. Basicly we take the same basic principle, using man cannons to propell forge objects through the air, and combine it with the feature of object grouping to create our own vehicles. This has been done before in Halo 3 with the Elehpant. Since normal objects will hopefully be fixed and actually act like they should you would be able to shoot anywhere on the vehicle for the vehicle to go that directions. Obviously this would have to be adjusted so that someone an the ground with a magnum couldn’t force a Pelican off course. The main propulsion would be strategically place grav lift(s) that would push the entire objects in a certain direction, or let the pilot decide on where to go depending on how they are placed.
Creating the Vehicle
Creating a perfectly balanced vehicle would take some time and a lot of testing. Perhaps you could put pallets covering the grav lifts using object grouping, that way when someone destroys that pallet the grav lft wil fall and one of the engines will be destroyed. To force it to stay in one position while nobody is inside with testing different grav lift positions over and over again you could place a pallet that’s not set to normal in the cockpit so that when it’s destroyed the vehicle will take off. If you made a big vehicle you could create turrets the same way you can now with ground vehicles, the possibilities are endless!
Possible Vehicles to Create
I thought a list of all the vehicles I came up with that would be possible would be helpful.
-Pelican
-Phantom
-Spirit
-Vulture
-Vampire
-Drop Pod
-Saber
-Seraph
-Any large ship created in forge already
-Made up vehicles
-Albatross
-Longsword
-Shortsword
-Flying Elephant
Please post your thoughts and please remember to keep them constructive.
Vehicles powered by man cannons would be unstable and unreliable, but a modular vehicle system is a great idea.
The video you offer shows that even the explosive force of a Concussion Rifle had virtually no meaningful effect on the flight path of the “hot air balloon”. And that was just one single building… A complex structure, like a Sabre or a Pelican, could be extremely difficult to rig.
However, the idea of a modular vehicle system in general is a great one. In fact, the Halo engine is already – to a limited extent – capable of it. People who have… eh, altered… some data at run-time have been able to mix-and-match vehicle turrets; for example, converting a Mongoose’s backseat to a Shade turret, or a Falcon’s cockpit to a Scorpion turret (it could still fly!). And all of this is just a side-effect of how vehicles have been set up since Halo 3 (if not even further back!).
What this means is that if 343 extends the currently-existing vehicle system – perhaps hooking the turret/seat system up to Forge and even to Megalo – they could actually give us fully-modular vehicles. A very basic body, some modular parts… Maybe program it as a vehicle with five or ten invisible “seats” that can be swapped into different parts/seats/turrets as necessary…
> Vehicles powered by man cannons would be unstable and unreliable, …
and impossible in anything other than forge…
Try replicating the video. You have to have a forger hold onto the building, or it will “fix” into place. I tried to use the same weapons and could not get it to budge.
> > Vehicles powered by man cannons would be unstable and unreliable, …
>
> and impossible in anything other than forge…
>
> Try replicating the video. You have to have a forger hold onto the building, or it will “fix” into place.
Well, OP considers the current implementation of Normal physics to be a bug (despite it being by design), so with respect to this idea, I don’t think the Forge-only limit is relevant…
Well I tried fixed and normal in customs and forge and I could not replicate what he was doing. So maybe I was doing something wrong. But it seems that someone was pushing it since even NORMAL will “sit” once it settles into place, and the lifts can make that happen. It would be nice if we had the map to play with and new how exactly to make it happen so we can study it more. The video alone doesn’t answer enough questions.
> > Vehicles powered by man cannons would be unstable and unreliable, …
>
> and impossible in anything other than forge…
>
> Try replicating the video. You have to have a forger hold onto the building, or it will “fix” into place. I tried to use the same weapons and could not get it to budge.
That is the sole reason why something like this wouldn’t work in Reach. As stated in the OP 343i would have to fix the normal setting, so that instead of fixing after a second of being still it wouold act like crates do in Reach. I’ve expeimented a lot with these building balloons, and I’ve found quite a few possible combinations to use, but its hard to use them because I have to quickly select each object.
> The video you offer shows that even the explosive force of a Concussion Rifle had virtually no meaningful effect on the flight path of the “hot air balloon”. And that was just one single building… A complex structure, like a Sabre or a Pelican, could be extremely difficult to rig.
This is also due to the fact that objects in Reach do not act normal, a Splaser wouldn’t have even moved that thing. If objects act like crates do in Reach in Halo 4 then this idea would work very well. Although I do love the idea of modular vehicles and I’ve wwanted them ever since I saw the modded Falcon with the Scorpion turret.
