Ok, so take this post lightly. This is my backstory to canon-ize all weapons and mechanics that have taken place over the course of the Halo games. I shared this story with my friends, and figure I would let you all know as well to ease any questions you may have in your mind, regardless of how ridiculous any of this sounds. This is why things are the way they are…
Allow me to begin.
Halo: Reach
So we begin our tale with the earliest story installment. Noble team is outfitted with improved armor capable of using attached armor abilities. Other Spartan-II’s do not have this option. All weaponry is the current tech for both Covenant and Humanity.[Halo: Combat Evolved
Oh man, a lot of stuff went down. As chance would have it, no one managed to grab a DMR or Grenade Launcher while boarding the Pillar of Autumn. The technology is considered lost. During flight, the engineers aboard the PoA work on current tech aboard the ship. They decide to improve upon the Assault rifle by using smaller, less powerful rounds, allowing the weapon to use a larger clip. Further tech goes into Pistol mechanics to improve it’s effectiveness.
The Covenant had to hurry off Reach to catch up to the PoA, and accidentally left behind their Needle Rifles and Focus Rifles. The Brutes and Skirmishers were left at Reach to mop things up, but the Brutes quickly became hungry, and decided to eat all of the Skirmishers, leaving them extinct, and excluding them from further games. The Brutes are also greedy, and didn’t allow the rest of the Covenant to take their Spikers to chase after the PoA. Plasma Launchers were considered too bulky and inefficient, so they were all thrown away (covenant doesn’t recycle!).
Halo 2
Well, you blew it up. Master Chief was in such a hurry that he forgot to bring any weapons home with him! Thus, all Assault Rifles are lost, and blueprints of the god-pistol are gone forever. Humanity is real upset about losing their main assault weapon, and must instead outfit all soldiers with SMG’s. Humanity just couldn’t recreate the good ol’ fashioned pistol, and thus had to come out with a newer version which lacked firepower and scope functionality. Further research has gone into Rocket Launcher tech, and has now equipped each launcher with a lock-on capability. Due to the new pistol lacking range, new research has gone into the development of the Battle Rifle. Master Chief had a lot of down-time while flying to Earth, so he decided to work out and pump some iron on the way, and is now strong enough to dual-wield small weapons. Unfortunately, we used up all the power in our Spartan Lasers, and they need new batteries. Even more unfortunately, Spartan Lasers require D batteries, which are impossible to find!
The Covenant went and picked up their Brute forces that they left on Reach, and are pretty angry when they find that the Brutes ate all of the skirmishers, and used all the Needle Rifles and Focus Rifles as firewood. Whatevs, they decide that that took balls, and thus decided to give the Brutes promotions. It is now Winter, and the Brute’s have started to grow their winter coat. Due to the Brutes’ excessive partying and fighting, their Spikers are all out of spikes. While awaiting a new shipment of spikes, the Brutes have started using Red Plasma Rifles. A few covenant engineers pick out a burnt-up Needle Rifle on Reach, and decide to further the technology, thus creating the Carbine. Having lost their Focus Rifles, the Covenant was getting pretty angry about getting picked off by Human snipers, so they further their research into developing Beam Rifles. The covenant accidentally put their shipment of needlers into a “shrinky-dink” machine, making their needlers smaller, and dual-wieldable. However, this also reduced the size and effectiveness of each needle.
Halo 3: ODST
All Battle Rifles were being used by marines off-world, and by people playing multiplayer, thus, no BR could be spared for the ODSTs & Marines in New Mombasa. ODST’s are given cool super suppressors and scopes for their pistols and SMGs to make them stealthy.Halo 3
So while Master Chief was off-world, Salzman from Accounting in the UNSC found blueprints for an early version of the Assault Rifle in his desk. It was a version that used the asthetics of the more recent H1-era AR, but with the smaller clip and stronger rounds of the Reach AR. It was immediately put into production. At this time, we were finally able to locate some D batteries for our Spartan Lasers, thus allowing us to use it once again. Master Chief heard about Armor Abilities, and wanted in on that action, but wasn’t allowed. Instead, he had to use the prototype, “equipment”. Due to economy, weapons just aren’t made the way they used to. Thus, rocket launchers no longer had their lock-on ability, and magnums had to be made with cheap parts. On the bright side, production of BRs boosted, and now UNSC forces are able to use them!
Brutes received a new shipment of spikes, and were once again able to use their Spikers. Human scientists finally found the “on” button on the energy swords, allowing Humanity to use them finally.
Halo 4
So Master Chief was asleep for a real long time, and so he wasn’t able to work out. Due to that, his muscles have shrunk a bit, and thus weapons are too heavy for him to dual wield. After the Human/Covenant war ended, Humanity returned to Reach, and found the old DMR’s, and began to reproduce the rifle for current use. They also found grenade launchers, but the projectiles used in them were outdated, so they overhauled the whole weapon, and created the Sticky Launcher. Further weapon research has brought new weapons to the table, such as the Rail Gun. The UNSC Infinity has brought said weapons to Requiem, where Master Chief will be able to use them. The UNSC packed up their boxes, but they aren’t sure if they left the boxes of SMGs on the counter at home or not. Master Chief partied too hard, and passed out in cryo sleep for a long time, and Cortana had to change him out of his dirty suit and into pajamas. She decided to upgrade his suit while she was at it so that he would be able to use Armor Abilities. As further weapon development continued, weapon engineers found a way to increase the BR’s accuracy and speed, but had to sacrifice bullet strength slightly.
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So that is my (ridiculous) canonization of all Halo weapons and mechanics across all games to date. If I forgot anything, please let me know, and I’ll try to explain what really happened, and why things are the way they are.
A little more research into modern human weapons and variety and into the Halo Universe should prove eye-opening.