From what I can tell S-IVs are nothing special. The only thing that makes a S-IV different from a S-III is that they are volunteers. The only thing that could make them different is if they have S-II augmentations instead of S-III. S-II is surgical and chemical. S-III is exclusively chemical augmentations that have some of the same things that S-II augmentations have.
Also could it be possible that there are several dozen or more S-IVs that were Gamma Company survivors? We know they went on some mission, and I bet the survivors were sent to Earth after that mission.
Also I doubt that all S-IVs wear MJOLNIR like they do in Halo 4’s multiplayer. MJOLNIR is still expensive. Naomi has Mark VII (which must be more expensive than Mark VI which just came out a few months before) and I’m pretty sure that Fred, Kelly and Linda will receive Mark VII as well.
> Is the Spartan program still secret? Or is it open for all the UNSC?
well, if the spartan IVs are volunteers, it can’t be a secret, can it?
pretty sure the spartan program went public during the human-covenant war, hence the MIA twist.
> > I’m pretty sure the IIIs were volunteers as well. I’m sure that there will be some differences for Halo 4, though…
>
> Uhm… no. They weren’t…
Well the Covenant destroyed their home planet and killed their families, so they were orphans, Kurt asked them if they wanted revenge, they wanted it, so technically they volunteered, but if they knew what they were going to have to go through beforehand, I don’t think they would’ve.
> > I’m pretty sure the IIIs were volunteers as well. I’m sure that there will be some differences for Halo 4, though…
>
> Uhm… no. They weren’t…
Well, technically they were. They were young orphans who were asked do they want to kill the aliens that murdered their families. They definitely didn’t understand what they were doing, but they definitely did it from their own free will.
What comes to differences between Spartan IIIs and IVs, I believe the differences are mostly in the augumentations given. Spartan IVs might have slightly more advanced augumentations due to technological and medical advancements. It might also be that their armor is Mjolnir, or at least closer to it than the SPI. While it definitely isn’t cheap, I believe the costs have been majorly cut since the previous iterations. Especially with all the research they have made on Covenant and Forerunner technology.
> > > I’m pretty sure the IIIs were volunteers as well. I’m sure that there will be some differences for Halo 4, though…
> >
> > Uhm… no. They weren’t…
>
> Well, technically they were. They were young orphans who were asked do they want to kill the aliens that murdered their families. They definitely didn’t understand what they were doing, but they definitely did it from their own free will.
>
> What comes to differences between Spartan IIIs and IVs, I believe the differences are mostly in the augumentations given. Spartan IVs might have slightly more advanced augumentations due to technological and medical advancements. It might also be that their armor is Mjolnir, or at least closer to it than the SPI. While it definitely isn’t cheap, I believe the costs have been majorly cut since the previous iterations. Especially with all the research they have made on Covenant and Forerunner technology.
New tech is ALWAYS more expensive then old tech, forerunner tech would blow the price of Mjolnir into Saturn’s orbit