Suggestion: alt fire weapons.

Games Halo Infinite
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Image source: SPV-3 mod halo:CE

Been thinking about this, In halo’s lore unslung 40mm grenade launchers exist for the battle rifle and Ma5, but we never see them. We also know from halo 3’s manual that under barrel shotguns exist as well. So I was thinking how can these be added with out screwing with the “golden triangle” that is halo’s guns, melee, grenades, gameplay.

then it hit me, they can be worked into it by “replacing” the grenade side of it while the weapon is active. this can throw a curve ball in combat if done right, but I do know it could also result in a meta chain reaction that ruins the balance if done wrong. This ain’t CoD so secondary weapons would need to be highly balanced and tested.

For this reason I have 4 weapon ideas each being a basic weapon with an attachment. These would be seen in custom games and on power weapon spots in comp games.

Weapon one: MA5 Helljumper
Lore: used by ODST personel this MA5 is equipped with an m301 grenade launcher (the unslung launcher int he lore) this launcher carries four 40mm smart link rounds (halo reach GL shots).

function: game play wise upon tapping the grenade button it will fire the 40mm grenade just like in reach, upon holding it it will do the remote detonation mode.

gameplay niche: a spoiler of sort in the general flow, the ability to lay an EMP trap with the 40mm and burst down the crew makes it highly valuable, a skilled spartain can even use it as 3 weapon combo firing the grenade to take out a shield bursting the hostile with MG fire then swapping to their other gun and killing another target at range.

Weapon two: BR 77-bright
lore: A medium close range stealth version of the battle rifle, equipped with a suppressor and a 37mm m301 loaded with sangheile designed less then lethals. These grenade round produce an EMP effect on direct impact draining shields and blinding the target.

function: Noob combo but with a twist unlike the plasma pistol its grenades do not have the light guiding, that combined with them being direct impact only makes it harder to pull off especially do to the drop, but at close range one can easily tap a target then hit them in the head.

Gameplay niche: Light vehicle disabling and target blinding with standard BR roll.

Weapon three: Ma5 breaching
lore: used by police more then the military these MA5’s are equipped with a 2 shot under slung shotgun. Said shotgun was designed for door breaching as such is normally loaded with thermite explosive charges. For a combat roll it has been loaded with UNSC standard buckshot.

Function: the grenade key will instead fire a double barrel shotgun burst firing 2 shells at once, this is a close to medium range shot designed for weakening multiple hostiles. Though it comes at a cost, the shotgun carries only 1 reload of spare ammo, unlike the primary shotgun which carries around 2 reloads.

Gameplay: punishing people that group up, the only one not on power weapon tier, meant to be a spawn area pick up weapon.

weapon four: Swords close defense carbine
lore: designed by the swords right before the rise of the created this Covenant carbine has a nice red and gold paint job, attached bellow is a UNSC style forgrip which can be adjusted for human or sangheili hands, bellow that is a modified type 1 energy dagger.

function: has a 1 melee charge “energy sword” that is “reloaded” when the main weapon is reloaded.

gameplay niche: no clue I just think it would be cool to have a carbine with a bayonet.

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As fun as it would be, they most likely won’t put this in. They’ll want to stick to guns that are distinctive, with no “hidden” features. If someone is shooting at you with an assault rifle, you don’t need to worry about getting surprised by a sudden shotgun round, emp burst or explosive. There’s a reason why the under barrel grenade launcher in games like Call of Duty was nicknamed the “Noob Tube”.

At best, we’ll get more weapons that have fire modes that involve holding down the trigger.

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> 2533274825081591;2:
> As fun as it would be, they most likely won’t put this in. They’ll want to stick to guns that are distinctive, with no “hidden” features. If someone is shooting at you with an assault rifle, you don’t need to worry about getting surprised by a sudden shotgun round, emp burst or explosive. There’s a reason why the under barrel grenade launcher in games like Call of Duty was nicknamed the “Noob Tube”.
>
> At best, we’ll get more weapons that have fire modes that involve holding down the trigger.

In call of duity they have two names, noob tube, and pro pipe. IT isn’t the under barrels themselves that are called that, it is the players and how they use them. Noob tube is someone who uses it up close for an easy kill, pro pipe is someone who uses it how it is meant to be.

that can easily be prevented in halo by making none of them one shots just augments to your damage.

But yeah I would like charge change weapons as well.

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> 2533274918614694;3:
> > 2533274825081591;2:
> > As fun as it would be, they most likely won’t put this in. They’ll want to stick to guns that are distinctive, with no “hidden” features. If someone is shooting at you with an assault rifle, you don’t need to worry about getting surprised by a sudden shotgun round, emp burst or explosive. There’s a reason why the under barrel grenade launcher in games like Call of Duty was nicknamed the “Noob Tube”.
> >
> > At best, we’ll get more weapons that have fire modes that involve holding down the trigger.
>
> In call of duity they have two names, noob tube, and pro pipe. IT isn’t the under barrels themselves that are called that, it is the players and how they use them. Noob tube is someone who uses it up close for an easy kill, pro pipe is someone who uses it how it is meant to be.
>
> that can easily be prevented in halo by making none of them one shots just augments to your damage.
>
> But yeah I would like charge change weapons as well.

I do agree that the grenade launcher and underbarrel grenade launcher in Call of Duty could either be incredibly skillful or extremely dumb lol. That said I think the main reason that something like this wouldn’t work as well in a game like Halo is that generally you want to know in an instant what an enemy is capable of killing you with. For example if I see someone with an AR in their hand I should be able to know instantly how I should and should not be able to approach that enemy. This of course wouldn’t be a problem at all if every single AR you can pick up had an underbarrel shotgun attached. But if there were some ARs that were just normal ARs and some had attachments to them it could lead to instances where you die trying to push someone with an AR while you had no idea they also have a mini shotgun. This could be balanced out if there is a way to visibly make a modified AR look distinct enough in a player’s hand that you could tell at a glance that it’s different.

I guess that’s kind of why people didn’t really like the req weapons in Halo 5. Not only were they kinda rng to get but there were so many variations, some which did more damage and some that increased knockback, and there was no reliable way to tell which one you were going up against until you actually started getting shot. I guess what I’m trying to say is that generally in Halo you should be able to tell what an enemy player is capable of doing just by looking at them unless they are holding a sneaky weapon like the energy sword. Although personally I would like the energy sword to be visible on a player’s body somewhere. Since equipment is a big thing in Infinite now as well I hope that when someone is holding equipment it also is visible.

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They already did this with several of the Promethean weapons. And the Plasma Pistol has always been an alt-fire weapon.

I think the main reason they won’t do it in Infinite is because it muddies the sandbox by making weapons too versatile. If your gun already has an under-barrel grenade launcher, then there’s no point in having a dedicated grande launcher, which removes a sandbox element. Same for under-barrelled Shotguns etc.

Halo is trying to step away from the era of shooters having several guns that just do the same thing but feel slightly different while doing them. And instead towards a sandbox of guns that all do entirely different things.

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> 2533274810177460;5:
> They already did this with several of the Promethean weapons. And the Plasma Pistol has always been an alt-fire weapon.
>
> I think the main reason they won’t do it in Infinite is because it muddies the sandbox by making weapons too versatile. If your gun already has an under-barrel grenade launcher, then there’s no point in having a dedicated grande launcher, which removes a sandbox element. Same for under-barrelled Shotguns etc.
>
> Halo is trying to step away from the era of shooters having several guns that just do the same thing but feel slightly different while doing them. And instead towards a sandbox of guns that all do entirely different things.

this is why the idea is focused on custom games and PvE modes… I think I wrote that in the main post if I didn’t oops.

In a standard mode yeah hands down this wouldn’t work but in custom games and PvE it would be like having a 3rd weapon. Also on the why have a dedicated GL, the reason is simple ammo ammount.

The under barrel one would only have like 2 shots where the dedicated could have like 16

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> 2533274918614694;6:
> > 2533274810177460;5:
> > They already did this with several of the Promethean weapons. And the Plasma Pistol has always been an alt-fire weapon.
> >
> > I think the main reason they won’t do it in Infinite is because it muddies the sandbox by making weapons too versatile. If your gun already has an under-barrel grenade launcher, then there’s no point in having a dedicated grande launcher, which removes a sandbox element. Same for under-barrelled Shotguns etc.
> >
> > Halo is trying to step away from the era of shooters having several guns that just do the same thing but feel slightly different while doing them. And instead towards a sandbox of guns that all do entirely different things.
>
> this is why the idea is focused on custom games and PvE modes… I think I wrote that in the main post if I didn’t oops.
>
> In a standard mode yeah hands down this wouldn’t work but in custom games and PvE it would be like having a 3rd weapon. Also on the why have a dedicated GL, the reason is simple ammo ammount.
>
> The under barrel one would only have like 2 shots where the dedicated could have like 16

Again, it’s just not necessary. The campaign will have shotguns and grenade launcher type weapons in it. Under-barrel attachments and alt-fire only serves to make aspects of the sandbox obsolete in those modes too.

It’s not a question of “would it be cool?” Because yes, it would. But if Halo Reach, and all the games that followed have taught us anything, it’s that adding a feature that seems really cool when you imagine it, like Jetpacks! Custom Loadouts! Giving Elites unique stats! Thrust! Shoulder Charge! Armor Lock! Ground Pound! Etc. Often doesn’t gel with Halo’s identity as a shooter.

Is it cool? Yes. Does it work? No.

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I loved the plasma caster in halo 5, and i was surprised to find that they hadn’t put any weapons with a secondary firing mode in any previous game. Love the weapon ideas. while it’s more of a perk than a secondary mode of fire, i think it would be really cool if certain weapons did more melee damage than others. Like why does the needler, a weapon covered in needles, do the same amount of melee damage as the plasma pistol? The differences shouldn’t be severe, as that would obviously create balancing issues and be hard to keep track of, but i think it would just be more of a cool detail that makes more sense.

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> 2533274810177460;7:
> > 2533274918614694;6:
> > > 2533274810177460;5:
> > > They already did this with several of the Promethean weapons. And the Plasma Pistol has always been an alt-fire weapon.
> > >
> > > I think the main reason they won’t do it in Infinite is because it muddies the sandbox by making weapons too versatile. If your gun already has an under-barrel grenade launcher, then there’s no point in having a dedicated grande launcher, which removes a sandbox element. Same for under-barrelled Shotguns etc.
> > >
> > > Halo is trying to step away from the era of shooters having several guns that just do the same thing but feel slightly different while doing them. And instead towards a sandbox of guns that all do entirely different things.
> >
> > this is why the idea is focused on custom games and PvE modes… I think I wrote that in the main post if I didn’t oops.
> >
> > In a standard mode yeah hands down this wouldn’t work but in custom games and PvE it would be like having a 3rd weapon. Also on the why have a dedicated GL, the reason is simple ammo ammount.
> >
> > The under barrel one would only have like 2 shots where the dedicated could have like 16
>
> Again, it’s just not necessary. The campaign will have shotguns and grenade launcher type weapons in it. Under-barrel attachments and alt-fire only serves to make aspects of the sandbox obsolete in those modes too.
>
> It’s not a question of “would it be cool?” Because yes, it would. But if Halo Reach, and all the games that followed have taught us anything, it’s that adding a feature that seems really cool when you imagine it, like Jetpacks! Custom Loadouts! Giving Elites unique stats! Thrust! Shoulder Charge! Armor Lock! Ground Pound! Etc. Often doesn’t gel with Halo’s identity as a shooter.
>
> Is it cool? Yes. Does it work? No.

I don’t understand your logic in saying it would out mode the normal weapons. Well balanced it would just be another tool. This isn’t CoD where an underbarrel is just the main weapon but unslung. This is Halo, they can have different stats. The under barrel by its nature would be weaker then the main line solo verson.

Take the shotgun, I would rather have a normal shotgun over the under barrel if given the option as more ammo, and better range/accuracy is needed for it. Where as the under barrel in the suggestion above has no accuracy what so ever spreading its damage over a wide area and just weakening targets but lacking the kill power.

Jetpacks have become a mainstay of halow though as well. they are a good mobility tool, and are perfect for snipers, the fact they are being replaced with a grapple hook in this halo shows their niche was good the implementation wasn’t.

Also half of what you are taling about isn’t problems, Elites don’t have different stats, thrust wasn’t a bad item, armor lock is fun as hell. the only one that was actually bad for the game was custom loadouts.

Things fit the sandbox easily the problem isn’t that the problem is how well they fit and peoples opinions. I see mine is completely different from yours.

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Just bumping this topic as well alt fire modes have been confirmed so what type of alt fire weapons should be added?

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The heatwave is an alt-fire weapon, if ya didn’t know.

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> 2535448497705415;11:
> The heatwave is an alt-fire weapon, if ya didn’t know.

Why I bumped the topic, wondering if people can give other ideas. This topic was made before that was confirmed.