Halo needs to be spiced up a bit. Not by changing the core gameplay elements, but by finding new and inventive ways to expand upon them.
And that’s where multiplayer space battles come in.
Now that 343 has some new and more powerful hardware to mess around with, I think this may actually be possible for Halo games, notably Halo 5.
Of course, I’m going to reference Star Wars Battlefront II Space Battles.
This was something truly unique and very, very fun that Pandemic Studios did with their game. I loved it back in the Battlefront days. Multiplayer space battles were incredible.
Get this. This game was made in 2005, which means that these battles could be pulled off with original Xbox hardware. We already saw in Reach that space battles were possible with Campaign, and that was done on the Xbox 360. This time, we’ve got the Xbox One, so there should be no excuses. The dedicated servers would also negate host advantage, something that could be abused in these online conflicts.
How It Would Work:
Factions
There would be two opposing factions: The Covenant and UNSC.
Brutes vs. Elites could also be an option, but they would have the same fighters and ships.
In Battlefront, you could play as different types of units, species, and soldiers. In Halo, I don’t think this would go so well, though it would be a cool idea. For the sake of balance, the UNSC would have Spartans, and the Covenant would have Elites.
Basic Gameplay
Basically, players on opposing teams launch from their own flagship. They would engage each other in dogfights through faction-specific spacecraft. Players could land in rival flagships and bring the fight to the enemy on foot while targeting the ship’s vital systems.
Player Ships
There should be at least four specific ship types:
General Fighters- These ships will be all purpose vehicles. They are decent at everything, but don’t excel in any certain area.
Fighters- These ships will primarily be used to engage other attacking ships.
Bombers- Bombers have the ability to drop many explosives on the enemy flagships, weakening it’s shields and damaging its key points.
Transports- Transports have the ability to hold many players inside of them. They will be used for ship boarding and as a possible mobile spawn point until destroyed.
UNSC
General Fighter- SABRE
Fighter- Broadsword
Bomber- Longsword
Transport- Pelican
Covenant
General Fighter- Seraph
Fighter- Space Banshee
Bomber- Vampire (?)
Transport- Phantom
Flagships
Flagships are the spawning areas for each team. They hold all spacecraft accessible to the players. These can be flown out of the hangar bay entrances.
Flagships slowly move around one another in a circular fashion. This is to just keep movement going and to have positions change. If one ships engines are disabled, it will stop moving, and, if the enemy flagships engines are still functional, it will continue to circle the motionless Flaghship.
Flagships have a main protective energy shield. This can be disabled overtime from sustained fire from spacecraft (bombers really do their part here) or from the inside. They also have point defense turrets that defend from player ships. They can either be manually used or they’ll just automatically shoot, though they aren’t that accurate or damaging. Finally, the ship has engines. If these are disabled from the interior or exterior, the ship will stop moving.
Flagships can also be boarded and damaged from the inside. On the interior, they have three main systems: Shields, defenses, and engines. Depending on the gametype, performing these tasks will greatly benefit your team.
UNSC
Halcyon Class Cruiser
Covenant
CCS Class Cruiser
Gametypes
Slayer:
Try to kill as many enemy forces as you can until the score limit is reached or time runs out.
Assault:
Try to plant the bomb in the enemy’s flagship and destroy it.
Capture The Flag:
With two flag, you’d have to go in the enemy flagship, snatch their flag, and fly back to your flagship to score.
One flag would have a flag floating in the middle of space, and players would have to grab it and bring it back to capture points around their flagships.
Invasion:
This could vary from map to map.
Attackers- Their goal is to board the enemy flagship and destroy it, but with a limited number of lives in each phase.
Defenders- Their goal is to keep the Attackers back and defend their flagship at all costs. They have infinite lives. (Or very many. Whichever works out better).
Phase I:
Attacking team starts off by killing a certain amount of enemy spacecraft in order to gain access to the opposing flagship.
Phase II:
Attacking team boards the enemy ship and kills a certain amount of players within the hangar.
Phase III:
Attackers have to press deeper into the enemy flagship in order to disable vital systems. This includes the shield generator, exterior defense turrets, and the engines.
Phase IV:
With exterior defenses offline, a scripted event takes place. A non-player operated Attacker dropship lands in the enemy hangar. With it, it brings weapons, ammo, and a bomb (nuclear for UNSC, anti-matter for Covenant). The attackers must take the bomb and fight their way to a planting point somewhere in the interior of the flagship. Once they plant the bomb, there’s a thirty second timer. Within this time, the Defenders will be able to diffuse the bomb, so the Attackers must guard it. If the bomb is defused, the Attacker dropship comes back again, but it can only return a maximum of three times. If the Attackers are unsuccessful within these attempts, they lose.
Phase V:
With the bomb planted, players have an additional thirty seconds to get out of the flagship. This is purely for fun and chaos. If you’re not stuck inside, players in spacecraft will witness the destruction of the Defender’s Flagship.
Locations
There are many possibilities for locations of battles. The Halo Universe is full of them.
High CharityParticipate in a section of the massive space engagement around High Charity and Delta Halo during the Great Schism. Brutes vs. Elites.
Installation 04 (Wreckage)-Fight amongst the ruins of Installation 04. There will be much debris from the ring and many asteroids and other dangers. UNSC vs. Covenant.
The ArkParticipate in the space battle above The Ark from Halo 3. UNSC and Elites vs. Brutes.
I’ve been wanting this since I saw that we could fly ships in space in Halo Reach. I continue to dream about a day when this may happen in Halo multiplayer, and, since 343 needs ideas for Halo 5 online, a new, standalone gamemode, and a fun and awesome experience, why not try to make this actually happen?
Halo could really benefit from something similar
