Hello fellow armchair Admirals and Halo fans!
In the wake of the disappointing story of Halo 5 and the conclusion to Escalation, we have the UNSC Punic class carrier and Covenant CAS carrier models are being released to bolster our fleets in the table top game Halo Fleet Battles. To those not in the know, the Punic has up until recently remained no more than a casual mention as the UNSC Trafalgar, flagship of the Reach defence fleet, destroyed as the planet fell. It is very much the precursor to the UNSC Infinity. From the stats shown thus far this ship has some serious potential- built to quell the insurrection (Charybdis IX) it served as force multipliers through the Covenant war, with (Estuary) each being and irreplaceable loss (Reach) It is armed with two Super MAC’s (think Cairo Station) and multiple mini MACS, along with point defence canons and possibly millions of Archer missiles. It is also able to deploy multiple squadrons of Longsword (or Sabres) and even four underslung Frigates.
Now with such capability, a responsible Captain would be required, someone who would excel at carrier action… this is where Eric Nylund comes in. 343i have carte blanche to give this ship character, to give it the rightful attention it deserves and make us emulate these feats in our own battles. Nearly all of the ships available and coming soon have been given love in the lore department, but the Punic is sorely lacking. With Joseph Staten currently penning a novel about the CAS shadow of Intent, what better time to get Eric Nylund back for one more Halo Novel. That guy is a master of Halo space combat, and characterising admirals, from Keyes to Cole to Patterson to Stanforth, he has crafted many memorable battles that colour the way I play. If Nylund isn’t your cup of tea, perhaps Tobias Buckell can return, having done an ‘admirable’ (see what I did there?) job fleshing out Keyes and the UNSC Midsummer Night in the Cole Protocol. All I ask is that 343 get someone with penache to make this ship legendary.
I’d love to hear your thoughts, who would you want to write it? What would the plot be? Any ideas for who the Captain of AI would be? Would you want the story of the UNSC Trafalgar, or a new ship?
Grizzlei and other ship lovers, I await your comments!
When has the Punic carrier been mentioned in the lore? I would love to hear more about one but have never heard of one before.
This is the ‘new lore’ provided by Spartan Games on their website (information has been approved by 343i)
“The Punic and its sister ships were the first of a new breed of warships drafted to fight a new style of colonial war in the waning years of the 25th century. Officially designated Space Control Vehicles, these massive carriers could transport and sustain entire Colonial Military Authority (CMA) expeditionary and interdiction campaigns in the remote Outer Colonies for months at a time, crushing dissent and terrorism before it could fester and spread. At least, that was the intent before Covenant fleets threatened humanity with extinction.
Punic-class supercarriers have served the UNSC well in numerous campaigns and holding actions during the Covenant War, including the heroic last stand above Estuary and as the base stations for decisive counterinsurgency and evacuation operations on Charybdis IX. Unfortunately, the destruction of each supercarrier also means an irreplaceable loss of the elite crews and materiel that slowly erodes the UNSC Navy’s overall effectiveness. By 2552 only a handful of Punics’ remain space worthy, including the Trafalgar, pride of Reach’s defense fleet.”
Other than that it gets a brief mention in Halo the Fall of Reach novel and Halo First Strike. Neither of these two sources give much detail other than identifying it as a ‘massive ship’ and referring to it as the UNSC Trafalgar, a super carrier.
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> This is the ‘new lore’ provided by Spartan Games on their website (information has been approved by 343i)
> “The Punic and its sister ships were the first of a new breed of warships drafted to fight a new style of colonial war in the waning years of the 25th century. Officially designated Space Control Vehicles, these massive carriers could transport and sustain entire Colonial Military Authority (CMA) expeditionary and interdiction campaigns in the remote Outer Colonies for months at a time, crushing dissent and terrorism before it could fester and spread. At least, that was the intent before Covenant fleets threatened humanity with extinction.
> Punic-class supercarriers have served the UNSC well in numerous campaigns and holding actions during the Covenant War, including the heroic last stand above Estuary and as the base stations for decisive counterinsurgency and evacuation operations on Charybdis IX. Unfortunately, the destruction of each supercarrier also means an irreplaceable loss of the elite crews and materiel that slowly erodes the UNSC Navy’s overall effectiveness. By 2552 only a handful of Punics’ remain space worthy, including the Trafalgar, pride of Reach’s defense fleet.”
> Other than that it gets a brief mention in Halo the Fall of Reach novel and Halo First Strike. Neither of these two sources give much detail other than identifying it as a ‘massive ship’ and referring to it as the UNSC Trafalgar, a super carrier.
That’s great news.
Now all we have to do is wait for it to be released and see how it does in battle.
(in ‘Halo fleet battles’ I mean) 
If Nylund comes back I’d rather him do a novel that has to do with our core characters in the franchise rather than do a novel on the backstory for a ship. His writing skills are wasted on something that is so in the background. I don’t care if the book is required reading to understand Halo 6, I’d just like him to do it.
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> If Nylund comes back I’d rather him do a novel that has to do with our core characters in the franchise rather than do a novel on the backstory for a ship. His writing skills are wasted on something that is so in the background. I don’t care if the book is required reading to understand Halo 6, I’d just like him to do it.
Im with this guy
He’d do a great job but the book would feel like a UNSC Infinity story with the serial numbers filed off.
I like the idea about a background story of this marvelous ship. However Eric Nylund hasn’t writen a halo novel in years, so I doubt he is very willing to get back into it (don’t get me wrong: I love his work). Also, Nylund works for Microsoft so if anyone is going to let him write this novel, it’s not 343.