So I went to thinking… What would these vehicles possibly look like? But before I get into that, for the people who say that the Promethians won’t utilize vehicles:
Well it would make sense that any tactical fighting force uses a combination of light infantry (Promethian Crawlers), heavy infantry/spec-ops forces (Promethian Knights), and infantry support units/drones (Promethian Watcher).
Also, to supplement the infantry, the fighting force would need vehicles to rapidly deploy units, such as dropships, and also possess anti-armor/vehicle capabilities, such as tanks or artillery).
I highly doubt that the Forerunners really relied only on infantry, and we also see in the Forerunner Saga the use of War Sphinxes and Bornstellar Mentioned that in the Didact’s seed ship there were vehicles to be used by Promethians and Warrior-Servants.
So I would venture to say that we will see at least three new vehicles for the Forerunner’s in Halo 4: a light-recon vehicle (similar in role to ghost or mongoose), a heavy armored vehicle (like the wraith, scorpion, or even a scarab), and at least one type of air unit (most likely dropships…)
Here are some ideas on what they may look like, as the art direction for the Promethians is very similar to the Ceph in Crysis 2.
Dropship:
Ceph Dropship
The Dropship in Crysis 2 can demonstrate some features likely present on a Forerunner Dropship. Promethian Knights in Stasis could be dropped off of these ships in hard-light pods (similar to the ODST pods) and strategically surround enemies. Also, as previously seen in the Promethian Watcher, the circular blade-less “tilt-rotors” would also be a likely sight on a Forerunner Dropship. This ship would most likely be armed with a turret that would fire a sentinel-style beam weapon, as this seems to be a favored air-unit based weapon for the Forerunners (seen in 343 guilty spark and the Sentinels). This weapon would dissolve enemies it kills. Placeholder name: Promethian Dropship
Heavy Armor:
Ceph Pinger (Armored Vehicle) concept art
Ceph Pinger in-game
The Ceph Pinger may also show us a sneak peak of some features that the Promethian vehicles will utilize. The first of which is it being a legged, armed gun carapace. I can see the Promethians using such a vehicle, as it would be greatly contrasted in comparison to the returning vehicles, giving the vehicle a significantly more exotic look and feel. It could take a punishment, but would travel much slower than more traditional halo armored vehicles. Also, it would fit the organic-like style the forerunners preferred for their tools of war. These would possibly have “jump-jets” to leap some distance, and make up for its slow speed somewhat (similar to how the Wraith has boost.) Possibly armed with a repeating light-machinegun (as in they fire hard-light), and a main Heavy light-cannon that would be about as powerful as a scorpion shell. Both weapons would also disintegrate enemies that are killed by them. This vehicle could possibly be 2 passenger and player pilot-able (one driver/ main-gunner, one secondary gunner.) Placeholder Name: War Sphinx
Light-Reconaissance Vehicle:
I really couldn’t find a suitable photo for this one, so I decided I would make my own idea here. This vehicle would be the Promethian Light-Bike. It would be a little longer than a ghost and would hover about 4-5 feet off the ground when activated. Lift would be provided by two medium sized forerunner fan less “tilt-rotors” that are located at the fore and aft of the vehicle. It would fit two passengers and allow the driver to shoot a light-gun about the same power of a ghost. Disintegrates enemies killed by the gun. The “windshield” would be made of hard light and would protect the driver from forward approaching enemy fire for a few rounds; it would start off blue and turn redder and redder until it breaks. This would regenerate like armor shields after a period of time.
Hijacking Forerunner Vehicles
What if the Forerunner vehicles, since they can operate on both ancilla and also biological drivers, you could “jack” these vehicles by ripping out their ancilla pods… For example, the War Sphinx idea above, the spartan could board the rear part of the vehicle, put their hand on holographic interface to open an maintenance access port, rip out the ancilla pod, and the vehicle would then “transform” slightly on the interior to allow for an operator to occupy the inside. This maintenance port would then become the access port to the cockpit and if the driver left the vehicle, it would go into standby mode, waiting for another operator. The controls systems for the vehicle could be similar to the forerunner interfaces in Halo Wars, as used by Professor Anders, and would work off of thought instead of manual control.
So what do you guys think about this? Could you see the Promethians rollin’ around in vehicles similar to these? I encourage you to make your own Ideas below and post them for everyone to enjoy! Also, please leave your feedback in the poll above. Thanks guys!
