Power Grenades and Equipment

Games Other Halo
1

D-Pad directions are the selectors for equipping a frag, plasma, Power Grenade or Equipment. Pressing the throw grenade button will throw which ever item you have selected.

Power Cores are ammunition for Power Grenades and Equipment but could be used to temporarily modify a weapon too.

Power Cores are dropped from Spartan corpses.

Power Grenades are items found on the map, never spawned with. Power Grenades are unique and powerful grenades that serve a more specific purpose than a frag or plasma. Power grenades are selected by pressing Up on the D-Pad.

Equipment is items similar to some equipment from Halo 3 as well as some new gadgets. You can hold one Power Grenade and one Equipment at a time. One of each type only, not two of one type. Equipment is selected by pressing Down on the D-Pad.

Power cores can act as modifiers for weapons. Holding B causes you to insert the Power Core into the weapon you are currently holding.

Performing an Assassination would automatically give you the Power Cores that your victim was holding.

Power cores will be easy to spot laying on the battlefield. They will be explosive while laying on the ground so shooting a Power Core a few times or throwing a grenade at a Power Core will cause it to explode. Power Cores become random map hazards that benefit the player who takes the risk to pick them up.

Gameplay would change over the course of the game as players attempt to gain their Power Grenade / Equipment of choice and the appropriate number of Power Cores to make it function.

All Power Cores, Equipment and Power Grenades are lost when you die. Whether or not you drop them onto the battle field for others to pick up could be a configurable option. The number of Power Cores it takes to make Power Grenades / Equipment function could be adjusted. The number of Power Cores to modify your weapon could be adjusted. Power Cores could be disabled entirely making Power Grenades / Equipment function as soon as they are picked up from the battle field. Pressing B to pick up Power Cores could be disabled to allow the player to automatically pick them up as he walks over them. The maximum number of Power Cores a player can carry at any one time could be adjusted.

Loadouts could be an option for custom games. You could let people choose their class which could include Power Grenades or Equipment off spawn.

2

In the Campaign Chief could use Power Cores the entire game. Cortana would even encourage Chief to use them. At the end of the game, as Cortana descends deeper into Rampancy, she could reveal to Chief that every single Power Core he used was really a Forerunner AI. She knew that Chief was obliterating unimaginable amounts of data every time he crudely shoved one of those glowing purple tubes into his gun but she let him do it anyway.

3

I’m not as sure about the power cores, but as for the rest…WINNING!!!

I was actually gonna post this myself, you had almost for the same idea I had, how crazy. The difference I had, was that of “power grenades” and “equipment”, there would be a need to allow use of equipment to not inhibit grenade use. this could be simplified with simply having an “equipment” button and the “Power Grenades” using the same button as the rest of your grenades.

examples of power grenades;

Bubble Shield, Health station/Regen. station, Power Drain, Nova/Orbital Flare, Jammer/Stealth Field(sticks and can make vehicles cloak), ammo beacon (replenishes ammo for any thing you have, as well as anyone else who walks up to it, limited use/timed) etc.

and for equipment you’d have stuff like;

Jet Pack (hold jump to use, double tap jump to hover, has fuel), Over Shield (body armor that adds it’s value onto your shields), Cloaking Device (has fuel), Repulser (uses short bursts to reflect on-coming attacks like armor lock did, but limited uses), Thrusters (if sprinting is allowed normally, super boosts your sprint to a bull rush that can hurt what you collide with, can be used with sword and gravity hammer for super lunges) etc.

ya know, equipment would be stuff that effect you like a new ability to enhance what you already do, or gives you some constant effect for a limited time. The power grenades are essentially equipement from halo 3, and the equipements would be improved versions of halo reach ones and power ups turned into equipment.

as for the power core, I could kinda see it working under certain circumstances. if ya wanted to do the power core thing, I’d say don’t make 'em explode, grenades already drop from dead bodies that do that, we don’t want a dead body to be too hazardous. It sounded like you were saying they would stack effects, but that would really overpower them. power cores would need to be like, one per spartan, and have effects like “alternate fire” for your weapons. one could cause shots to ricochet with any weapon that shoots, but do slightly less damage, or maybe push back, and stuff like that, but if ya do stuff like napalm rounds for the shotgun or just raw extra fire power for all your munitions, everyone is gonna be fighting over it like crazy. It could lead to a frustration for players as well, perhaps too good if not done just right, ya know. it’d need limited use too, cause whoever has one is gonna be like a “VIP” in a deathmatch.

great ideas, I hope someone who can pull some strings sees some of this stuff!

4

Thanks for your post. It’s not common to find people that enjoy discussing new ideas without their posts consisting of “no that’s not halo”. Some grenade types that were brought up in another thread and then refined by me are as follows:

Gravity grenade - to combat campers, does low damage but flings players out from behind cover

Cyrogenic grenades - freezes enemy with a direct hit, frozen enemy can be used as temporary cover, freezing does not kill, a frozen enemy will eventually break free…arms first so he can fire then feet so he can move, a melee shatters the frozen enemy, throwing on the ground reduces friction, a steep ramp can be made unclimbable by a cryo grenade

Camo nade - creates a flat wall that hides Spartans and vehicles, makes it look like there is nothing behind the camo wall

Chain grenade - chain with two grenades on the end, is a “plantable” grenade not a throwing grenade, similar to a trip wire, chain has limited length so it can only be planted in narrow hallways, planting chain while standing and enemies can crouch walk under it, plant the chain while crouching and enemies can jump over it

Mortar grenade - takes a second to setup mortar tube, shoots grenade on a high arcing path to come down from above (best used on players behind cover), shows the path of the grenade on screen before you fire to help with aiming (similar to Gears of War grenades), high damage but small area of effect, takes a second to put away mortar tube

Health grenade - Halo 3 Regenerator but it can be stuck to players so the area of effect follows them

Party Ball grenade - bounces around and fires a lot of AR shots randomly in 360 degrees, appears as an enemy on radar, can be used to clear a room or for a distraction

Leech grenade - a creature that when thrown sticks to an enemy and slowly drains his health without popping his shields, leech grows larger as more health is drained, can be shot off by a team mate

Fire Grenade - Creates a pool of napalm-like liquid with flames on top. Anyone walking through the fire will take damage (50% shield damage). Players that walk through the liquid pool will continue to take damage, for a short time, even after exiting the flames (25% shield damage). A direct hit from a Fire Grenade would cause an immediate death. The fire pool would burn for about five seconds with the last two seconds dealing less damage to a player moving through (only 25% shield damage, not 75%). Throwing a Fire Grenade at a wall or ceiling will cause the flaming liquid to drip down, like a fire curtain, and catch anyone who walks through it on fire (no damage granted for standing in the fire pool like on the ground, only 25% shield damage per player, no slow down on last two seconds / continuous drip).

5

Good idea and I would like to see how it would work in Multiplayer. It would definitely be a game changer to say the least.

6

Leeches could also be thrown into water, like the ponds in Reflection, where they would feed on the harmless fish and reproduce creating a trap for anyone passing through those waters.

7

Thowing a cryo grenade it water would cause the water to become ice. I could see some interesting map design with this mechanic. For example a fountain, the big kind they have in parks like http://www.bigfoto.com/themes/fountains/fountain-z6tv.JPG, could be frozen and then the stream of water could be walked up. This could give access to a location that would be inaccessible otherwise.

Water seems to be becoming an interactive part of the map with Power Grenades. Leeches multiply in water, Cryo grenades freeze the water, Fire grenade won’t work in water. The water could be interacted with in different ways depending on what Power Grenade you had.

If the water was deep enough you could crouch in it and plant the Chain grenade so it was hard to spot.

You could even combine effects. First throw a Leech in the water and let it multiply. Then throw a Gravity grenade in the water, launch all the Leeches out with the blast, and watch them rain down on your enemies.

8

Throwing the Cryo grenade at a ceiling could create an ice stalagmite that could be shot and made to fall on an enemy passing underneath. Like the stalagmites in Halo 2’s Waterworks.

9

woah, slow down fusion lol. I think your good idea is becoming a bit to much work for it to get read over. I love the idea of power grenades, and am fond of the new equipment ideas I suggested, but I don’t know if we should write up a huge all encompassing list for what each of them do until 343i decides to tell us they like the idea. we don’t want to lose them with a splursion of “must haves” that we attach to already good ideas.

that said, I don’t want to stunt your creativity, I just don’t want ya to dowse a good idea with a bunch of other ideas that could deter from it’s simplicity. I think having stuff like cryo grenades freeze water could be quite a hassle for programers, especially when they don’t even know how to incorperate them and have them be balanced yet, little less creating new destructable walls and cover on solid surfaces, which I don’t think it would do realisticly.

having a sticky version of a deployable one way giant force field could do that kind of thing much easier, and have a lot cooler implications. I do see cryo nades making a solid layer of ice on water, but I don’t see it being stable or something you would be able to stand on without falling through, so it’d just be the same freeze animation you’d see on the ground showing up on the waters surface right? that would be the easiest way to do and have it look good I can think of.

10

Cryo grenades being able to freeze water into ice that you can walk on turns them from stricly an offensive weapon to a path modifier. You could choose to use the cryo grenade to aide in combat or to allow you to take an unexpected route and sneak up on your enemy. It makes the players make decisions regarding the best use of the cryo grenade. Would the cryo grenade help me more in combat or would it help me more to come at the enemy from an unexpected angle of attack like over a frozen lake?

Frags used to be used for grenade jumps as well as a offensive weapon. I am trying to make the Power Grenades be multi purpose as well.

11

I have been trying to think of common themes among the Power Grenade and so far I have come up with:

-area denial - discourages enemies from entering an area
-enemy confusion - draws the enemy’s attention or masks something that should draw the enemy’s attention
-offensive weapon - hurts enemies

12

actually that is a good idea. I don’t know if cryo would create solid surfaces so much as it would make any surface “hazardous” to touch for a given time, like a napalm grenade but it’d be harder to notice.

actually they used a tactic like this back in WW2 I think, where they would freeze patches of earth on the battlefield so that when the sole of a heated boot made contact with it the difference in heat and cold would cause the physical reaction of cumbustion, occasionally blowing off an enemy soldiers leg.

you could have cryo grenades do that to any surface, while also having a chance to “freeze” you to it, slowing you down or stopping you dead. it would be a form of a proximity trap.

a giant one way shield sticky nade, would be a great way to do the whole “path obstruction” thing. you could also have a “foam” grenade that does a similar thing, just holds everything in a large area in statis for a bit, and obstructs large areas, while also becoming a large mound to run up and jump off or use for cover, etc.

13

The cryo grenade can temporarily turn water to ice so players can walk on it. A fire grenade would melt the ice.

Player A thinks he is being sneaky and throws a cryo on the water and goes to sneak behind the enemy team.

Player B was watching Player A. Player B waits until Player A is on the ice then throws a fire grenade at the ice.

Player A falls in the water and dies.

14

or, player-A deploys one way shield device to block off a pathway during an objective game while also creating a ramp for those coming from the other direction.

Player-B throws a power drain and deactivates it while player A was crouched at the top of it for vertical support and cover, and Player A is now power drained and without cover.

I don’t know if cryo and incindiary need to do that same role, but I can see them both creating a form of "path obstruction. Incindiary is very effective on infantry, and cryo would be very effective vs, ground vehicles, but both could be countered by each other, and both could have long lingering effects with large radius, so that they could help manipulate map control tactics, especially in objective games.

I just don’t think the “freezing water” and “melting ice” stuff works, especially when certain maps will likely be in polar regions where everything is covered in ice, or sunken areas where you are underwater for great portions of the map.

15

If a player was standing in shallow water and a cryo grenade hit the water it would freeze his legs in place. He would be unable to move or turn but able to aim and fire.

16

again, with stuff like that, the coding begins to become an issue and you end up making a couple of engines just for one weapon to work. I think freezing water is getting a little to complex, especially when were talking about a whole slew of new “power grenades” each one incorperating new ways to play as well as game balance and other things to work out.

I know ya really like the freezing water idea, but I just don’t know if I see it realisticly working on “halo”, especially if you want all the other stuff to be included like power grenades in general, as well as equipement, new game mechanics, and whatever else their gonna do.

17

Overall, these ideas are creative. However, This is not in any way, shape, or form Halo.
Leechs? Power grenades? Forerunner AI?

Leechs, I say no. I found the spaces in the bridge on Damnation to be frustrating enough.

Power grenades, kind of cool but I can already envision problems and mishaps involving people over using them like armor lock.

As for the Forerunner AI…

Have you ever played halo? Not to be mean but I found that suggestion to be asinine at best.

If 343 went in this direction they might as well hire Cheech and Chong to create the games.

However, I sympathize with you, When I was younger I had ideas like this that I thought were awesome.
When creating ideas like this you need to take multiple questions into consideration:

How have previous halo games worked in comparison to these ideas?

Will these ideas alter the gameplay significantly? If so, what steps need to be taken in order to ensure that the game still properly functions like a first person shooter?

Is this what the majority, or at least a substantial number, of players want?

Do players value in-depth multiplayer such as this, or more simplistic shoot-and-ask-questions-later style gameplay (Halo: Combat Evolved being an example).

Please consider revisions to the original ideas, lest another far less mature and forgiving person than myself comes and places their own opinions.

18

> again, with stuff like that, the coding begins to become an issue and you end up making a couple of engines just for one weapon to work. I think freezing water is getting a little to complex, especially when were talking about a whole slew of new “power grenades” each one incorperating new ways to play as well as game balance and other things to work out.
>
> I know ya really like the freezing water idea, but I just don’t know if I see it realisticly working on “halo”, especially if you want all the other stuff to be included like power grenades in general, as well as equipement, new game mechanics, and whatever else their gonna do.

^This.

A good prerequisite for such detailed brainstorming like this is to ask whether or not current gaming systems can handle it. The last 10 BTB games I played in reach had glitched at one point or another. And that was just while using the vehicles. that’s without leeches, freezing water, etc.

19

I think maybe 2 extra types of grenades would be the max cause much more than that would be difficult to keep track of (sorta like Halo 3). As for other grenades ideas ouside of stickies, frags, and 2 others, they could be incorporated into equipment. How about a portable man canon that flings you about twice the distance you can sprint and jump? That would combine the gravity grenade (throw it behind a camper and they get flung out) and the use of the ice grenade to walk across water.

As for the power cores, how about you have to pick up 5 or so to buff your weapons, but if you die with more than one, you only drop one. That way a person has to get a killing spree in close quarters, which is pretty difficult unless you have a power weapon, which the power cores wouldnt appy to.

20

> I think maybe 2 extra types of grenades would be the max

There would only be two types of Power Grenades per map. There would be a bunch of Power Grenades available to place on maps because something like a Fire Grenade would have extremely limited used on a map lacking chokepoints, like Hemorrhage, but be invaluable on a CQC map.

Regarding the interactiveness with water: Fire, ice, and leeches all have a link to water. Water is a natural thing to have on a map. Almost every Halo 2 map had some way to interact with the environment. Power Grenades interacting with water is similar. For example:

A symmetrical, two base map has three paths that lead from one base to the other. One of the paths has uncrossable water blocking it. If you know that your team has both cryo grenades then you don’t even have to defend the water path. Using your knowledge of the map and your knowledge of who has the Power Grenades you can play more effectively. Depth added to gameplay.