New Canon Questions

Community Halo Universe
1

First off, Im just wondering how do these multiplayer maps stand in a canonical sense. Mainly whether the battles raging around them have any canon existence.

Anchor 9
Judging from its external appearance it cannot be the actual refit and repair station Anchor 9, It has numerous features that Anchor 9 lacks. Its location appears to be in a similar location to that of Anchor 9. There are at least 2 Frigates and some Sabres fighting an enemy that cannot be seen. Is there any canonical status to the battle seen?

Breakpoint
Short and simple, was this excavation site ever attacked by the Covenant or was it just glassed?

Condemned
Clearly as it says this is Gamma Station. Most of the Reach is already glassed, there are the debri of the UNSC Fleet meaning this must take place on August 30th or later. There is a Frigate engaging or Corvette. Is the Frigate and Corvette an actual piece of canon?

Highlands
As you can see there are 3 Covenant ships glassing the area, but more importantly there is a destroyed Pelican in the middle of the map. Is that the Pelican they were using in Halo First Strike? The points it is broken on match to those mentioned in Halo First Strike.

Unearthed
Was this mining facility ever attacked by the Covenant?

Now for some other questions

  1. Due the 2 moons of Reach orbit alongside Reach or are they stationary? They appear in the same place each time making me believe they must orbit along with Reach basically the opposite of the way Earth’s moon works.

  2. How many ships do you think the Supercarrier destroyed before being destroyed itself? There is a long line of debri seen and Carter says that all ships carrying nukes went down. Most ships are armed with some sort of nuke meaning the Supercarrier must have destroyed most of the Fleet. But that also means that a reinforcement UNSC Fleet must have arrived during or just after the attack on Ardent Prayer because the Marines in New Alexandria states that the Fleet scattered when the Corvettes showed up.

  3. What happened to the MACs? There were 20 on August 30th. When defending Sword Base Kat states that there were at least 4 platforms that could take out the Corvette. On Tip Of the Spear it is also mentioned that the orbital defenses were under attack. When the first invasion fleet arrives it is said to have exited slipspace “below the orbital defense grid”. That means the MACs were in a higher orbit. What this says to me is that the UNSC must have lost at least some MACs prior to August 30th. That means that Reach originally had more than 20 MAC guns and only 20 were left on Aug 30th. That means that any statements of there being 20 MACs prior to Aug 30th have been overidden unless the MACs were all evacuated to the small portions of Reach not under attack.

  4. During the end of ‘New Alexandria’ it is stated that Spartan Teams Gauntlet, Red and Echo Teams were evacuating civilians. Gauntlet and Echo have enever been mentioned before but is Red Team the same as the one is The Fall of Reach and First Strike?

  5. When Jorge jumps through space to the Pelican with the slipspace drives you can see massive explosions on Reach below. They appear to be just as or even stronger than a nuclear device. What could that have possibly been?

  6. What is the massive crater in Reach’s surface from?

Thanks for reading. All answers are appreciated :slight_smile:

2

> 1. Due the 2 moons of Reach orbit alongside Reach or are they stationary? They appear in the same place each time making me believe they must orbit along with Reach basically the opposite of the way Earth’s moon works.
>
> 2. How many ships do you think the Supercarrier destroyed before being destroyed itself? There is a long line of debri seen and Carter says that all ships carrying nukes went down. Most ships are armed with some sort of nuke meaning the Supercarrier must have destroyed most of the Fleet. But that also means that a reinforcement UNSC Fleet must have arrived during or just after the attack on Ardent Prayer because the Marines in New Alexandria states that the Fleet scattered when the Corvettes showed up.
>
> 3. What happened to the MACs? There were 20 on August 30th. When defending Sword Base Kat states that there were at least 4 platforms that could take out the Corvette. On Tip Of the Spear it is also mentioned that the orbital defenses were under attack. When the first invasion fleet arrives it is said to have exited slipspace “below the orbital defense grid”. That means the MACs were in a higher orbit. What this says to me is that the UNSC must have lost at least some MACs prior to August 30th. That means that Reach originally had more than 20 MAC guns and only 20 were left on Aug 30th. That means that any statements of there being 20 MACs prior to Aug 30th have been overidden unless the MACs were all evacuated to the small portions of Reach not under attack.
>
> 4. During the end of ‘New Alexandria’ it is stated that Spartan Teams Gauntlet, Red and Echo Teams were evacuating civilians. Gauntlet and Echo have enever been mentioned before but is Red Team the same as the one is The Fall of Reach and First Strike?
>
> 5. When Jorge jumps through space to the Pelican with the slipspace drives you can see massive explosions on Reach below. They appear to be just as or even stronger than a nuclear device. What could that have possibly been?
>
> 6. What is the massive crater in Reach’s surface from?
>
> Thanks for reading. All answers are appreciated :slight_smile:

  1. Don’t know, I don’t think such a huge moon (the onewith the ring) can orbit so quickly Reach… At least I think the smaller one has to be between those two gravity wells, so I think the can be like Earth’s but orbiting much more slowly.
    The smaller one would be trapped by Reach’s well, but when orbiting around it, it would hit the other moon’s gravity and change its course if the bigger didn’t orbit along with the small one. It’d be a very delicated balance and not very common. Making the combinated orbit of Earth and luna is already really dificult and requires time, and since Reach is stated to be younger than Earth…

  2. Not so many… the Savannah and some other frigates… I think the Fleet arrived just after the supercarrier’s destruction.

  3. No idea… but if that’s true it’d explain why wouldn’t they send S-II to protect Reach and focus in protecting Earth, giving Reach as lost when seeing how useless are MACs.

  4. I haven’t finished First Strike, but I think they can’t be S-II. Most likely other Spartan-IIIs who where pulled out from the other companies just like Noble. The ones at Lone Wolf, maybe?

  5. Plasma bombings, from smaller Covenant vessels, I think.

  6. Meteorite, most likely…

Sorry for my spelling, no-English speaker!

3

When making the maps I don’t think they paid too much attention to the storyline, more to the gameplay of the map, and just the general multiplayer bugs, glitches, etc. I’m sure they have some backstory, but I’m not the right guy to answer that. I read the books and I’m obsessed with campaigns and storylines, but I have no idea.

4

> First off, Im just wondering how do these multiplayer maps stand in a canonical sense. Mainly whether the battles raging around them have any canon existence.
>
> Anchor 9
> Judging from its external appearance it cannot be the actual refit and repair station Anchor 9, It has numerous features that Anchor 9 lacks. Its location appears to be in a similar location to that of Anchor 9. There are at least 2 Frigates and some Sabres fighting an enemy that cannot be seen. Is there any canonical status to the battle seen?
>
> Breakpoint
> Short and simple, was this excavation site ever attacked by the Covenant or was it just glassed?
>
> Condemned
> Clearly as it says this is Gamma Station. Most of the Reach is already glassed, there are the debri of the UNSC Fleet meaning this must take place on August 30th or later. There is a Frigate engaging or Corvette. Is the Frigate and Corvette an actual piece of canon?
>
> Highlands
> As you can see there are 3 Covenant ships glassing the area, but more importantly there is a destroyed Pelican in the middle of the map. Is that the Pelican they were using in Halo First Strike? The points it is broken on match to those mentioned in Halo First Strike.
>
> Unearthed
> Was this mining facility ever attacked by the Covenant?

Multiplayer Maps are usually no-Canon (like Avalanche), but I’ll try my best…

Anchor 9: the map could be another sister station or module. Or maybe just another view. I think it happens before August 30,

Breakpoint: as said in the development commentary, this was aparently part of the latchkey discover, the forward side, located under; and was brought there by Slipstream space by Forerunners. Probably the Covenant glassed the area around exposing the outter layers of ground and accelerating ice’s melting time span, but I don’t think it has been attaked by the Covenant.

Condemned: I don’t know, I don’t think they can’t be. That could be a lonely corvette looking for more Forerunner artifacts or something.

Highlands: That could be great, I’m thinking that as well! After that, that’s the same zone were Red lands on (Big Horn River)! :slight_smile:

5

Anchor 9: It’s just more detailed because it actually has a level built into it. The one in Campaign is just a background object. If you die and your body flies towards it, you can obviously tell it’s not scaled correctly with your Spartan because it is a background object.

Breackpoint: The object was hidden below the ice but the heat from the Planet getting glassed melted the Ice Caps and made it visible. It’s never said if this object it the same as the one from “The Package” or not.

Condemned: This is Gamma Station the Master Chief fought on. All the Maps should take place after he left but the battle did still rage for a while after the Autumn left.

Highlands: It’s a Spartan II training facility and yes that is the Pelican they jumped out of.

Unearthed: ALL Human installations were destroyed and attacked. It was an extermination.

1: They orbit

  1. Unknown

  2. They’re there and one was used at the end of SWORD Base. Reach is a larger planet than Earth and there were less MACs to protect it.

  3. It isn’t said if they are or not. You can hear Red Teams actions during the Radio transmissions found on Multiplayer maps.

  4. Anti-matter weapons are far more powerful than nukes. I’ve hear Anti-matter weapons make nukes look like you’re striking a match.

  5. Volcanic Crater? Meteor impact? It’s a Crater.

6

> First off, Im just wondering how do these multiplayer maps stand in a canonical sense. Mainly whether the battles raging around them have any canon existence.
>
> Anchor 9
> Judging from its external appearance it cannot be the actual refit and repair station Anchor 9, It has numerous features that Anchor 9 lacks. Its location appears to be in a similar location to that of Anchor 9. There are at least 2 Frigates and some Sabres fighting an enemy that cannot be seen. Is there any canonical status to the battle seen?

Yep. Of course, the canonical status doesn’t really go beyond “two frigates and some Sabres fought something near Anchor 9,” but it doesn’t need to be anything more specific than that.

> Breakpoint
> Short and simple, was this excavation site ever attacked by the Covenant or was it just glassed?

Not known for certain, but if the site was close enough to the one Dr. Halsey was working at, then it would have been destroyed along with hers in the ending cutscene of “The Package.”

> Condemned
> Clearly as it says this is Gamma Station. Most of the Reach is already glassed, there are the debri of the UNSC Fleet meaning this must take place on August 30th or later. There is a Frigate engaging or Corvette. Is the Frigate and Corvette an actual piece of canon?

Interesting observation, with the dates and everything. I never even thought about that. But yes, the frigate and corvette did canonically fight each other (presumably this is near the end of the massive naval battle fought on August 31, and the frigate is one of the few UNSC ships remaining).

> Highlands
> As you can see there are 3 Covenant ships glassing the area, but more importantly there is a destroyed Pelican in the middle of the map. Is that the Pelican they were using in Halo First Strike? The points it is broken on match to those mentioned in Halo First Strike.

You are exceptionally observant. Yes, it has been confirmed that it is the same Pelican.

> Unearthed
> Was this mining facility ever attacked by the Covenant?

Yes. The site is not only a titanium mine, which the Covenant could presumably make use of if they wanted, but is described as having “significant tactical value.”

> 1. Due the 2 moons of Reach orbit alongside Reach or are they stationary? They appear in the same place each time making me believe they must orbit along with Reach basically the opposite of the way Earth’s moon works.

As far as I can tell, this has never been addressed, but your explanation makes sense to me.

> 2. How many ships do you think the Supercarrier destroyed before being destroyed itself? There is a long line of debri seen and Carter says that all ships carrying nukes went down. Most ships are armed with some sort of nuke meaning the Supercarrier must have destroyed most of the Fleet.

I suppose, but consider that the number of ships stationed around Reach at the time was relatively small, given that the majority of the UNSC fleet was off fighting battles away from there.

> But that also means that a reinforcement UNSC Fleet must have arrived during or just after the attack on Ardent Prayer because the Marines in New Alexandria states that the Fleet scattered when the Corvettes showed up.

Perhaps, but not necessarily. Nearly a week and a half elapses between the end of “Long Night of Solace” and the beginning of “Exodus,” and the Army trooper’s statement is pretty vague. He could easily have meant that there were a few UNSC ships assigned to guard the space above New Alexandria and the surrounding area, which were forced to retreat when the Covenant sent the corvette battlegroup to that location. I also find this explanation more likely because the trooper refers to “the corvettes,” whereas the fleet that arrived at the end of “Long Night of Solace” was obviously composed of a variety of different (and much larger and more formidable) Covenant ships.

> 3. What happened to the MACs? There were 20 on August 30th. When defending Sword Base Kat states that there were at least 4 platforms that could take out the Corvette. On Tip Of the Spear it is also mentioned that the orbital defenses were under attack. When the first invasion fleet arrives it is said to have exited slipspace “below the orbital defense grid”. That means the MACs were in a higher orbit. What this says to me is that the UNSC must have lost at least some MACs prior to August 30th. That means that Reach originally had more than 20 MAC guns and only 20 were left on Aug 30th. That means that any statements of there being 20 MACs prior to Aug 30th have been overidden unless the MACs were all evacuated to the small portions of Reach not under attack.

Interesting. I’m not still not sure what exactly supports the claim that there were originally more than twenty MAC platforms, though. Just because the orbital defenses were under attack doesn’t necessarily mean that some of them were destroyed (for that matter, they may have meant that the Covenant were targeting the orbital defense generators, as they did on August 31, rather than the platforms themselves). But, again, your theory still seems perfectly plausible.

> 4. During the end of ‘New Alexandria’ it is stated that Spartan Teams Gauntlet, Red and Echo Teams were evacuating civilians. Gauntlet and Echo have enever been mentioned before but is Red Team the same as the one is The Fall of Reach and First Strike?

Yes. Red Team was already on Reach before being assigned to the Pillar of Autumn to execute Operation: RED FLAG.

> 5. When Jorge jumps through space to the Pelican with the slipspace drives you can see massive explosions on Reach below. They appear to be just as or even stronger than a nuclear device. What could that have possibly been?

Plasma bombardment.

> 6. What is the massive crater in Reach’s surface from?

As someone already said, a meteor impact. Reach’s surface actually has a lot of craters, if you look closely. This is most likely due to a combination of the Epsilon Eridani system only having one known gas giant to absorb the majority of the meteor impacts and Reach being significantly larger than Earth (see: http://www.halopedian.com/File:Reachtoearth.jpg), which gives Reach a greater gravitational pull.