Fixing Prometheans for H5

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

I can see how it was supposed to work. All three enemy types were supposed to be mixed and the combat would become dynamic and engaging and based around reacting to enemy actions.

You engage a Promethean, Crawlers and a couple of Watchers by shooting at the Promethean. Crawlers rush you, you disengage from the Promethean and engage the Crawlers, Watcher protects the Crawlers, focus on Watcher, down Watcher and finish off Crawlers, move to Promethean and second Watcher starts rezzing the Crawlers.

Didn’t really happen in game. First and foremost: Watchers are cowards. The minute they start taking damage they run away, they also didn’t stick with their troops well enough to make use of that Hardlight Shield to protect Crawlers.

That needs to be fixed.

I also want to see more Promethean units.

They currently have no equivalent to the Jackal Marksman. We have an equivalent to the Jackal Sniper with the Sniper Crawler but nothing to the Carbine wielding Marksman.

There’s also too few enemy types with the Watcher’s specifically performing the Jack of All Trades roll. Break up their functions into separate units. Have one type of Watcher specifically follow allies, constantly shielding units from direct fire and grenades (concerning their grenade catching ability, let us shoot the caught grenade to explode it.) Have another hang back, rez downed allies and set up turrets (both the big ones and Sentry Turrets) and maybe even spawn in weapons for the Prometheans to pick up.

And lastly, have one specifically for combat to simulate Jackals/Drones from games past, even give them a suicidal option where they rush you with a charged Boltshot to replaced suidical Grunts. They do charge their Boltshots in game but they never try to make good use of it. Crawlers could benefit from this behavior as well.

And finally: Make the enemies visually distinct. The Prometheans all blend together no matter how many fins or colored lights you splash on them. There is only one type of Watcher and Sniper Crawlers are not only rare but visually look the same as regular Crawlers and Alphas, and both look similar to each other.

Also for your consideration: Composed Covenant.

Humans + Composer = Promethans.
Grunts + Composer = ???
Jackals + Composer = ???
Skirmishers + Composer = ???
Brutes + Composer = ???
Elites + Composer = ???
Drones + Composer = ???
Hunters + Composer = ???

2

How did I miss this?

You’re absolutely right, the Prometheans did not help each other out, nor did they help their Covenant allies.

And yes, the minor visual differences are disappointing.

The Covies should have been like in Halo 1/2 where they all look the same with minor differences and the Prometheans should have been like Reach Covies (i.e. Drones) with major visual differences. It was the other way around in H4. :confused:

3

> Humans + Composer = Promethans.
> Grunts + Composer = ???
> Jackals + Composer = ???
> Skirmishers + Composer = ???
> Brutes + Composer = ???
> Elites + Composer = ???
> Drones + Composer = ???
> Hunters + Composer = ???

Humans + Composer = Promethans.
Grunts + Composer = Promethans.
Jackals + Composer = Promethans.
Skirmishers + Composer = Promethans.
Brutes + Composer = Promethans.
Elites + Composer = Promethans.
Drones + Composer = Promethans.
Hunters + Composer = Promethans.

Composed Forerunners looked exactly the same as composed Humans. I don’t see why anything else being composed would be put in a different shell when any species. could be put in that shell.

4

> Humans + Composer = Promethans.
> Grunts + Composer = Promethans.
> Jackals + Composer = Promethans.
> Skirmishers + Composer = Promethans.
> Brutes + Composer = Promethans.
> Elites + Composer = Promethans.
> Drones + Composer = Promethans.
> Hunters + Composer = Promethans.
>
> Composed Forerunners looked exactly the same as composed Humans. I don’t see why anything else being composed would be put in a different shell when any species. could be put in that shell.

But that’s boring as dirt.

5

> Humans + Composer = Promethans.
> Grunts + Composer = ???
> Jackals + Composer = ???
> Skirmishers + Composer = ???
> Brutes + Composer = ???
> Elites + Composer = ???
> Drones + Composer = ???
> Hunters + Composer = ???

Just to inform you, the race that you compose isn’t going to affect what machine it creates. You could use a composed Grunt essence in a Promethean Knight and the only difference there would be is that it would cower and run very often.

In other words, having different forms of Prometheans from composed Covenant wouldn’t make canonical sense.

6

> > Humans + Composer = Promethans.
> > Grunts + Composer = Promethans.
> > Jackals + Composer = Promethans.
> > Skirmishers + Composer = Promethans.
> > Brutes + Composer = Promethans.
> > Elites + Composer = Promethans.
> > Drones + Composer = Promethans.
> > Hunters + Composer = Promethans.
> >
> > Composed Forerunners looked exactly the same as composed Humans. I don’t see why anything else being composed would be put in a different shell when any species. could be put in that shell.
>
> But that’s boring as dirt.

It doesn’t matter if it’s “Boring as dirt”

A Halo Game MUST adhere to canonical policies in terms of concept; and frankly, why would the Didact even want to compose other species?

7

I don’t really like the “compose the covenant” idea. That doesn’t make prometheans better. It just makes prometheans the old coveneant with shinier graphics.

Forerunner weapons already feel like reskins, lets not turn the prometheans into reskins.

Also didact still believes in the mantle, the only reason he justifies composing humans is as punishment for what they’ve done.

That’s not to say you don’t raise good points about how similar all the prometheans feel.

8

> It doesn’t matter if it’s “Boring as dirt”
>
> A Halo Game MUST adhere to canonical policies in terms of concept; and frankly, why would the Didact even want to compose other species?

Well, I think it matters rather a lot if it is boring as dirt and I also don’t think it would be the first time a Halo game has taken liberties with the cannon. And for good reason. Gameplay is the top priority.

OP has good ideas and variety to the Promethians would only be welcome. This could also be achieved by giving the covies Forerunner combat skins etc.

The way I see it, the covies will be faded out as enemies, gradually replaced by Forerunner/ Promethians as the Human:Forerunner war round 2 gets underway.

9

I must be the only person who doesn’t think the Prometheans are terribly broken or flawed in Halo 4.

I would like Promethean Knights to teleport less often, and for Watchers not to flee the scene so easily once they are being shot, and instead to strafe to make it harder to shoot them.
Also, seeing as it will be next gen hardware, improved AI would be great as well.

10

In my opinion, Watchers shouldn’t have any direct offensive capabilities. They should only support other units via shields, grenade deflection, and spawning crawlers.

To make up for the lack of an offensive air unit, Sentinels should return, sporting their trademark beams.

Knights need a serious overhaul. I think their base movement speed should be much slower, but that they should be capable of very long jumps and bursts of speed in straight lines. This would make them depend more on Watchers for cover, while still leaving them able to dash at the player for melee attacks. Their shields also need a much slower recharge time than in H4.

Crawlers are tricky, because sometimes I see them working as intended in Halo 4, and other times they act like Infection Forms. Generally, their behaviors should include rushing for a melee if there’s any other kind of unit with a ranged weapon nearby (because one source of bullets can be dodged, while several sources will always force the player into cover), and they should be made to climb walls and ceilings to flank the player much more often. I hardly ever saw that in Halo 4, aside from when it was scripted.

Finally, I feel they need a heavy unit. For this, I’d suggest a Sentinel Enforcer. It can easily force a player into cover, allowing Crawlers to advance on a player’s position. They could also serve as troop deployment, airdropping Knights onto a battlefield (because having Knights teleport in seems illogical when we’re not on their “home turf”).

PS: The Needler shouldn’t be able to supercombine when used on Prometheans. It would force situational use of a weapon that’s fairly overpowered in the campaigns of most Halo games by making about half of the player’s enemies immune to the weapon’s main function. It also doesn’t make sense that you can supercombine on Prometheans, since needler rounds only explode in organic tissue.

11

> I don’t really like the “compose the covenant” idea. That doesn’t make prometheans better. It just makes prometheans the old coveneant with shinier graphics.
>
> Forerunner weapons already feel like reskins, lets not turn the prometheans into reskins.

It’s not about redoing the skins for the Covenant and using them to replace Covenant and/or Prometheans but creating a uncommon unit that adds a wrinkle to the gameplay.

> Also didact still believes in the mantle, the only reason he justifies composing humans is as punishment for what they’ve done.

He also composed his fellow Forerunners when they willingly offered to fight the Flood. The Storm Covenant are in a position to willingly offer themselves up to composion. They might even see it as a form of transcendence.

12

> I don’t really like the “compose the covenant” idea. That doesn’t make prometheans better. It just makes prometheans the old coveneant with shinier graphics.
>
> Forerunner weapons already feel like reskins, lets not turn the prometheans into reskins.
>
>
>
> > <mark>Also didact still believes in the mantle, the only reason he justifies composing humans is as punishment for what they’ve done.</mark>
> >
> > That’s not to say you don’t raise good points about how similar all the prometheans feel.
>
> He threatens to Compose ANY species that dares pose a threat to the Forerunners. Just saying.
>
> As for potential Covenant-Promethean units not being possible because the shell is always that of a Knight…you do know Monitors could be made with the Composer right? It would not be unlikely for new units to be developed and created to augment the strengths of those Covenant. We are talking about a fanatical sect that has members religious enough to stay on Requiem even when it was going into a star, Composing is easy service compared to that.