this campaign opens up a new section of the world map after the game is completes and starts with a cutscene once you beat the game/or the DLC before it depending on how things go.
OPENING SCENE
Here be pirates
The DLC starts with a slip space rupture happening above the shattered section of Zeta halo, a large covenant super carrier flying through it, the ship is on fire, UNSC Pelicans and covenant spirts are departing from it.
the weapon speaks up: "chief we got an unknown contact, they have both UNSC and Banished transponders, I… I don’t know who they are.
chief: Pirates.
Weapon: Are they helpful?
chief: Maybe, Echo 216, we need to follow that ship.
Echo then follows the crashing ship as the ends up hitting a chunk of the shattered ring, another chunk of the ring colliding with it. The play space for this DLC is 3 large chunks of land with the super carrier connecting them. the carrier acts as a large indoor open world section with sections of it being levels. like the uper spine or an area bellow where it colides with the fore runner structures.
Terrain types
The 3 major Terrains in this area, are SWAMP, COVENANT SHIP, and FORE RUNNER STRUCTURE.
Story
the story starts shortly after Echo 216 lands near the ship, a crash Pelican is nearby with several Innserectionist troops fighting the banished. Upon approaching they open fire on cheif only for their squad commander to tell them to stand down.
At this point the Squad leader introduces themselves (a female Insurrectionist armed with a flamethrower) And begrudgingly tells Chief what is going on after he asks. Turns out this Pirate group has been under constant attack from the Banished and the created after raiding a UNSC base. They where making random jump after jump and in their last one something took over their control system resulting in their current situation. Chief asks what they took, but the leader refuses to tell him. Only saying if he helps them he will find out.
This leads into the first open world section, where the Inserectionist squad leader asks chief to help them set up an FoB they have a few condors left, though their slipspace drives have long sense been cannibalized to keep the main one running.
This leads the player to fight their way to a flat area in the swamp where you will get a cutscene of a condor dropping in an FoB and a few Innies and jackals to defend it.
From this point on you have full access to the area with the story beats leading you from place to place in and around the ship, meeting the Shipmistress A skirmisher, and her crew helping them fight of the banish and in the end destroying a slipspace crystal that the banished are desperate to get a hold of.
ENEMIES AND ALLIES
This DLC includes a few new enemies and a few new allies. the main one being allied and enemy humans who are not UNSC. After the crash several banished units are brought in made of UNSC defectors or Pirates. Friend from foe in this area is hard to tell.
Insurrectionists
Role: ally
weapons: Flamethrowers, Ma5b’s, bulldogs, commando’s, SMGs, DMRs, battlerifles, storm rifles, carbines
Info: While not as heavily trained as UNSC marines, these guys are cunning and willing to do things UNSC marines are not, you may see an Innie drop their gun and start chucking grenades like mad, or pull out a combat machete and go berserk, they are unpredictable which can be a problem in the heat of battle or a good thing. These guys can hijack vehicles like chief can.
abilities: Melee berserk (When low health has 10% chance to pull out a machete and go to town.) Grenade berserk (when at low health has a 5% chance to just start chucking grenades). hijacker (can take and drive vehicles)
Banished Comandos
Role: Enemy
weapons: anything. (normally spawn with shock rifles or bulldogs)
Info: With Esherum dead the Banished human forces are allowed back on the front line, held back and out of the fighting do to the old brutes hate, these guys have been waiting for combat. While most of these guys are not much of a threat, a few have been seen wearing UNSC gear and transponders watch out as they may try to ambush chief by acting as an ally only to stab him in the back when he gets close.
Note: disguised ones have the banished symbol on their left shoulder.
Jackal Pirate
role: ally/ enemy (3rd party enemy when they become hostile. will fight the banished and the player)
weapon: any jackal weapon, can be given any one handed weapon by the player. Like sidekick pistols.
info: at the start these guys are allies, and in some places on the map they will remain such, but part way through the story they swap sides joining the banished when the bounty on chief is announced. Though a few remain allies even after that. the allies can be seen by their green shields while enemy ones have standard orange shields.
bugger
role: Neutral 3rd party
weapon: plasma pistols, sidekicks, needlers
info: Seen only in the ship, these where the pirates maintenance crew a small hive of buggers, but their queen was killed in the crash (corpse is found in a mission) leaving them aimless and frenzied. They will attack anyone and anything that gets near their queens body (the engine room of the ship). And later as they spread out they will only be hostile if fired upon.
Grunt/Elite pirates
role: ally/3rd party hostile
These guys act as a hostile to both chief and the banished at the start of the DLC, though there are small pockets of them that are allies, most notably in story missions for the DLC. But for the most part these guys fight both the banished and the UNSC.
NAMED NPCS
Susana
Species: human
faction: insurrectionist pirate
weapon: flamethrower
susana is the first contact you have with the Pirates and your main contact through out the DLC, she is rather headstrong and a bit stereotypical in her words. One of her jokes is “In another life I would have been a hellbringer” She will direct you to her boss as part of the story and is your main ally in regaining control of this section.
Her main role is she directs the condors to set up the FoBs that the UNSC take control of. She doesn’t like it but in her words. Beats being meat for the brutes.
The Mistress
species: T’vaoan
faction: Pirate (allied)
Weapon: human sniper rifle (and modified sanghellie cloak)
The mistress is Susana’s boss. This Skirmisher talks down to chief after they meet though does recognize him as their best chance of survival. When her own jackals betray her half way through the story she sticks with Chief acting as overwatch in several story missions of the DLC. While she doesn’t betray chief that is more because she knows the banished want her head as they put a bounty on her as well.
WEAPONS
With this DLC a few new weapons are added. Most notably the flamethrower, DMR, and SMG. A few covenant weapons are added as well. will keep detail to a min as this isn’t integral to the idea.
Flamethrower
info: A standard issue UNSC defoliant projector. Comes in two types UNSC, and pirate. Teh pirate one weighs less has less ammo and less range. While the UNSC one has more ammo and a longer range. Both act as heavy weapons that you can order from FoBs.
DMR
the standard weapon of the human insurrectionists, slower to fire then the Commando the DMR has a bit more of a punch and a two stage scope with 2 and 4x zoom options.
SMG
Used by the banished and pirate human forces as well as the grunts the SMG is a high rate of fire side arm option. Has a unique ability to deploy its stock reducing fire rate and increasing range. With the stock folded acts as a short range bullet hose, with it deployed acts as an Ma40 with a 60 round mag and a few more rounds to kill on target (against spartans at the least)
Storm rifle
Used by the pirate forces mostly their jackals. This plasma LMG is a beast on the battle field able to overwhelm hostiles with rapid fire plasma. Is considered an automatic power weapon.
vehicles
Oddly enough this mission set is focus on tight on the ground levels with a few airborn fights. As such the only new vehicles are Pirate versions of the banshee, Falcons, and the dreaded vampire, as well as a few hog variants one for the pirates (a flamethrower hog) and one for the banished (up armored with scrap cannon)
Vampire
info: an old covenant vehicle used by the pirates for its stasis beam, before they raided the UNSC base for a slipspace crystal the pirates would use the stasis beams on these to freeze cargo ships so they can rob them. Now though the banished have access to them, and will use the beam to force Chief out of any air vehicle if he gets to close. To bad the vampire is easly boarded.
the vampire is a 3 seat vehicle, a driver and two gunners, the gunners control side mounted plasma cannons while the driver controls the stasis beam and a heavy needler. The beam acts as an EMP which holds vehicles in place. Though it can’t be active while the needler is. vehicles grabbed by the beam can easily be pummled by the two gunners.
Falcon
We all know what this is, I don’t have to describe it, just give it the nose gun version.
Flame hog
first seen in halo wars 2, these warthogs are armed with a heavy flamethrower instead of a chaingun, making them extremely good against infantry, at the cost of range. A bonus is the flame can overheat vehicles burning the drivers out with out destroying the vehicles (a trait of all flame weapons)
Banished hound
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info: the banished’s custom Hog modification, up armored, its wheels replaced with anti grav spikes, and given a scrap cannon. This beast is a 3 man ghost control wise, and armed and armored to deal with most situations. Is seen driven by banished human troops through out the DLC.