UNSC technology and halo 5 ideas.

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Why is the UNSC so behind in technology regarding their infantry?

They have huge industrial capabilities that allows them to make entire fleets in under a month, they are an FTL capable civilisation, they somehow have nuclear power plants that allows them to power several MAC stations that allows them to fire a 3000 ton slug at 12,000km/s and fictional material that allows them to make super structures such as orbital elevators and half km ship that can fly like jet fighters in atmosphere as well as being ridiculously strong compared to anything that we have today.

Bottom line is they are an advanced civilization, way pass anything we have today. But then we have their infantry who is so behind when compared to how advanced they are in other areas. Still using modern ammunition, marines by then should have at least some form of power armor even if its just an exoskeleton thats meant to take the waight of carrying heavy equipment. And there weapons that should be an order magnitude better then what we have today, and not 1980 = 2558 or 2525 = 2558 in terms on how much they are the same and not changed. But their are the few exceptions like the sntanchion, Gauss turret on their warthog thats fires a 25 x 100 mm round at mach 40 apparently, the hard sound rifle, and the Spartan Laser. But then there is their setandard equipment such rifles that fire 7.62mm AP rounds, rocket launchers that fire rockets an order magnitude slower then modern rockets, and their sub machine gun that should be considered a BB gun when fireing it at an armored soldier.

Really kind of hope that 343i modernizes the UNSC to year and technology ratio as bungi depiction of what a 2554 military should be, is way off. I really want to see some awesome futuristic looking human weapons, gauss rifles, gauss sniper rifles, some DEW like the Spartan laser.

I am not afraid of change like some are, only if the change is for the better. Don’t want halo to follow COD foot steps and just stay the same (if people want a true halo game, they should just play halo 1) yea do I want halo to keep some of it halo like qualities but I also want change. I don’t know how many agree with me, this is just my opinion on what I think, that the UNSC needs a military overhaul new weapons introduce into the halo verse, maybe some enemies to accommodate the new weapons and some new UNSC vehicles.

So my new question is, what do you guys think 343i should bring into the table? Should they just make the next halo an exact replica of some previous halos with a better engine or should 343i make the next halo feel like a next gen game? And my other question is what can 343i do to make the next halo feel like a next gen game but still keep its halo feel to it?

2

The UNSC weapons should feel relatable.
Not alien.

3

I’ve always wondered this. You’d think 500 years from now we’d be beyond simple projectile weapons. I think 343 stated that the choice was made to make the UNSC feel like the underdogs compared to the Covenant.

4

If I remember correctly it was mentioned in one of the books why humans stopped with projectile weapons. Don’t ask me which one but it was more on the lines of those type of weapons worked and there was no need to go any further with them.

5

> I’ve always wondered this. You’d think 500 years from now we’d be beyond simple projectile weapons. I think 343 stated that the choice was made to make the UNSC feel like the underdogs compared to the Covenant.

343i never stated this, Bungie did.

Humanity had a long time of peace. After global peace on earth happened, that lasted until humanity spread too thin across the galaxy and the Insurrection started.

During this several-century long peacetime, there was no requirement to advance military technology, and so all attention was put on scientific development that led to interstellar travel and wide-spread colonization.

During the insurrection a lot of old technologies were brought back and barely-advanced. Such as the standard ballistic weaponry. And it was more cost-effective to focus on development of more computerized armour systems. Such as the Smart-Link HUD that rendered weapon Iron Sights, and other attachments mostly obsolete (leading to sleeker weapon designs like seen on the AR and Magnum, as well as making scopes more of a “backup” function in case your HUD is damaged).

Some advancement in weapons technology also led to MAC/GAUSS/Railgun technology, as well as basic directed energy tech like the Spartan Laser.

As-per why in-game rockets and the like travel slower/make less impact than modern day technology well… That’s entirely gameplay mechanic related. Besides, we are also Spartans, we perceive time slower than a human being, and our extremely futuristic armour protects us from things that would normally kill a human being (which is why I GREATLY disagree with ideas like 2 hit kill melee, or extremely high blast radius on frags because it makes sense that a Spartan can take more damage than that… Even from another Spartan).

Not to mention, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” directly applies.

But as per 343i and the CURRENT fictional timeline, the UNSC has turned the Covenant into the underdogs. Captain Lasky can be directly quoted saying (in paraphrase as I don’t have the cutscene in front of me), that the UNSC is now the primary major power in the galaxy.

6

> > I’ve always wondered this. You’d think 500 years from now we’d be beyond simple projectile weapons. I think 343 stated that the choice was made to make the UNSC feel like the underdogs compared to the Covenant.
>
> 343i never stated this, Bungie did.
>
> Humanity had a long time of peace. After global peace on earth happened, that lasted until humanity spread too thin across the galaxy and the Insurrection started.
>
> During this several-century long peacetime, there was no requirement to advance military technology, and so all attention was put on scientific development that led to interstellar travel and wide-spread colonization.
>
> During the insurrection a lot of old technologies were brought back and barely-advanced. Such as the standard ballistic weaponry. And it was more cost-effective to focus on development of more computerized armour systems. Such as the Smart-Link HUD that rendered weapon Iron Sights, and other attachments mostly obsolete (leading to sleeker weapon designs like seen on the AR and Magnum, as well as making scopes more of a “backup” function in case your HUD is damaged).
>
> Some advancement in weapons technology also led to MAC/GAUSS/Railgun technology, as well as basic directed energy tech like the Spartan Laser.
>
> As-per why in-game rockets and the like travel slower/make less impact than modern day technology well… That’s entirely gameplay mechanic related. Besides, we are also Spartans, we perceive time slower than a human being, and our extremely futuristic armour protects us from things that would normally kill a human being (which is why I GREATLY disagree with ideas like 2 hit kill melee, or extremely high blast radius on frags because it makes sense that a Spartan can take more damage than that… Even from another Spartan).
>
> Not to mention, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” directly applies.
>
> But as per 343i and the CURRENT fictional timeline, the UNSC has turned the Covenant into the underdogs. Captain Lasky can be directly quoted saying (in paraphrase as I don’t have the cutscene in front of me), that the UNSC is now the primary major power in the galaxy.

But even so, 500 years from now, we should be beyond simple projectile weapons, whether there was a period of peace or not. That’s half a millennium of technological development. Even advances in other departments would eventually be intigrated into the military. Even now, the US military is making gradual advancements in cloaking and exoskeleton technologies.

7

It boils down to the fact that we’re talking about a video game. The UNSC weapons simply need to feel different than the technologically advanced Covenant and Promethean ones.

8

> > > I’ve always wondered this. You’d think 500 years from now we’d be beyond simple projectile weapons. I think 343 stated that the choice was made to make the UNSC feel like the underdogs compared to the Covenant.
> >
> > 343i never stated this, Bungie did.
> >
> > Humanity had a long time of peace. After global peace on earth happened, that lasted until humanity spread too thin across the galaxy and the Insurrection started.
> >
> > During this several-century long peacetime, there was no requirement to advance military technology, and so all attention was put on scientific development that led to interstellar travel and wide-spread colonization.
> >
> > During the insurrection a lot of old technologies were brought back and barely-advanced. Such as the standard ballistic weaponry. And it was more cost-effective to focus on development of more computerized armour systems. Such as the Smart-Link HUD that rendered weapon Iron Sights, and other attachments mostly obsolete (leading to sleeker weapon designs like seen on the AR and Magnum, as well as making scopes more of a “backup” function in case your HUD is damaged).
> >
> > Some advancement in weapons technology also led to MAC/GAUSS/Railgun technology, as well as basic directed energy tech like the Spartan Laser.
> >
> > As-per why in-game rockets and the like travel slower/make less impact than modern day technology well… That’s entirely gameplay mechanic related. Besides, we are also Spartans, we perceive time slower than a human being, and our extremely futuristic armour protects us from things that would normally kill a human being (which is why I GREATLY disagree with ideas like 2 hit kill melee, or extremely high blast radius on frags because it makes sense that a Spartan can take more damage than that… Even from another Spartan).
> >
> > Not to mention, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” directly applies.
> >
> > But as per 343i and the CURRENT fictional timeline, the UNSC has turned the Covenant into the underdogs. Captain Lasky can be directly quoted saying (in paraphrase as I don’t have the cutscene in front of me), that the UNSC is now the primary major power in the galaxy.
>
> But even so, 500 years from now, we should be beyond simple projectile weapons, whether there was a period of peace or not. That’s half a millennium of technological development. Even advances in other departments would eventually be intigrated into the military. Even now, the US military is making gradual advancements in cloaking and exoskeleton technologies.

Actually even the “simple” projectile weapons are quite advanced. Look at the MA5 rifles. AK level reliability, very good accuracy (watch Forward Unto Dawn, that should be considered over how it is in gameplay), integrated electronics, currently-implausible firing mechanism.

9

> > > > I’ve always wondered this. You’d think 500 years from now we’d be beyond simple projectile weapons. I think 343 stated that the choice was made to make the UNSC feel like the underdogs compared to the Covenant.
> > >
> > > 343i never stated this, Bungie did.
> > >
> > > Humanity had a long time of peace. After global peace on earth happened, that lasted until humanity spread too thin across the galaxy and the Insurrection started.
> > >
> > > During this several-century long peacetime, there was no requirement to advance military technology, and so all attention was put on scientific development that led to interstellar travel and wide-spread colonization.
> > >
> > > During the insurrection a lot of old technologies were brought back and barely-advanced. Such as the standard ballistic weaponry. And it was more cost-effective to focus on development of more computerized armour systems. Such as the Smart-Link HUD that rendered weapon Iron Sights, and other attachments mostly obsolete (leading to sleeker weapon designs like seen on the AR and Magnum, as well as making scopes more of a “backup” function in case your HUD is damaged).
> > >
> > > Some advancement in weapons technology also led to MAC/GAUSS/Railgun technology, as well as basic directed energy tech like the Spartan Laser.
> > >
> > > As-per why in-game rockets and the like travel slower/make less impact than modern day technology well… That’s entirely gameplay mechanic related. Besides, we are also Spartans, we perceive time slower than a human being, and our extremely futuristic armour protects us from things that would normally kill a human being (which is why I GREATLY disagree with ideas like 2 hit kill melee, or extremely high blast radius on frags because it makes sense that a Spartan can take more damage than that… Even from another Spartan).
> > >
> > > Not to mention, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” directly applies.
> > >
> > > But as per 343i and the CURRENT fictional timeline, the UNSC has turned the Covenant into the underdogs. Captain Lasky can be directly quoted saying (in paraphrase as I don’t have the cutscene in front of me), that the UNSC is now the primary major power in the galaxy.
> >
> > But even so, 500 years from now, we should be beyond simple projectile weapons, whether there was a period of peace or not. That’s half a millennium of technological development. Even advances in other departments would eventually be intigrated into the military. Even now, the US military is making gradual advancements in cloaking and exoskeleton technologies.
>
> Actually even the “simple” projectile weapons are quite advanced. Look at the MA5 rifles. AK level reliability, very good accuracy (watch Forward Unto Dawn, that should be considered over how it is in gameplay), integrated electronics, currently-implausible firing mechanism.

I don’t know, I just feel that the MA5 wouldn’t be that difficult to create now. But either way, I couldn’t care less what the UNSC uses, it just semed a little odd to me.

10

Something to add, the UNSC has been in a losing war for almost 30 years. They suffer heavy losses on both space and ground and victories were won with heavy losses. The UNSC could have cut does casualties down by giving their soldiers better equipment and better weapons. The money or credits they spend to build a single frigate could have been put to at least attempt to give their soldiers better fire power by coming out with better weapons. If the UNSC did this they could have saved billions by holding the covenant back long enough to at least evacuate a good percentage of a planets population. But in the end they still lose because the covenant will win most of the time in space but the UNSC could have inflicted more damage on the covenant and saved more people if their infantry didn’t get slaughter almost every time. Wars can force a civilization to advance when face with extinction or just simply just come out with better ways to kill, but regarding the UNSC, they didn’t make such advancements, or that’s how bungie made it look like. The UNSC focus a frigates worth of credits on the spartan II project but didn’t bother to put the same amount of resources and man power to give their military an overall better chance in fighting the covenant.

11

I fell that they may have invested more into space ships than infantry I because it is usually best to avoid planet fall altogether if possible. The amount of enemies on ship can kill by destroying one other ship is much more than better equipped infantry. Seeing as how projectile weapons still work relatively fine against Covenant and Prometheans alike things seem well. It may else be more efficient to make billions of bullets rather than figure out to make and manufacture energy cores for other types of weaponry. Metals would be pretty easy to find in such a vast network (at least compared to now) of planets. Still I concede that they probably could’ve stood to make better equipment. At the very least heat resistant and cooling armour to give better protection against Covenant Energy weapons. These are just the things I could think of from a logical stand point. Still maybe Bungie just thought that it’s always nice to have the option to feel a rifle blasting out bullets.

12

> > > I’ve always wondered this. You’d think 500 years from now we’d be beyond simple projectile weapons. I think 343 stated that the choice was made to make the UNSC feel like the underdogs compared to the Covenant.
> >
> > 343i never stated this, Bungie did.
> >
> > Humanity had a long time of peace. After global peace on earth happened, that lasted until humanity spread too thin across the galaxy and the Insurrection started.
> >
> > During this several-century long peacetime, there was no requirement to advance military technology, and so all attention was put on scientific development that led to interstellar travel and wide-spread colonization.
> >
> > During the insurrection a lot of old technologies were brought back and barely-advanced. Such as the standard ballistic weaponry. And it was more cost-effective to focus on development of more computerized armour systems. Such as the Smart-Link HUD that rendered weapon Iron Sights, and other attachments mostly obsolete (leading to sleeker weapon designs like seen on the AR and Magnum, as well as making scopes more of a “backup” function in case your HUD is damaged).
> >
> > Some advancement in weapons technology also led to MAC/GAUSS/Railgun technology, as well as basic directed energy tech like the Spartan Laser.
> >
> > As-per why in-game rockets and the like travel slower/make less impact than modern day technology well… That’s entirely gameplay mechanic related. Besides, we are also Spartans, we perceive time slower than a human being, and our extremely futuristic armour protects us from things that would normally kill a human being (which is why I GREATLY disagree with ideas like 2 hit kill melee, or extremely high blast radius on frags because it makes sense that a Spartan can take more damage than that… Even from another Spartan).
> >
> > Not to mention, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” directly applies.
> >
> > But as per 343i and the CURRENT fictional timeline, the UNSC has turned the Covenant into the underdogs. Captain Lasky can be directly quoted saying (in paraphrase as I don’t have the cutscene in front of me), that the UNSC is now the primary major power in the galaxy.
>
> But even so, 500 years from now, we should be beyond simple projectile weapons, whether there was a period of peace or not. That’s half a millennium of technological development. Even advances in other departments would eventually be intigrated into the military. Even now, the US military is making gradual advancements in cloaking and exoskeleton technologies.

Last time I checked, we aren’t at a state of world peace as of right now. Besides, I’m sure that if every nation worked together, we could probably get to another inhabitable planet by now.

13

> > > > I’ve always wondered this. You’d think 500 years from now we’d be beyond simple projectile weapons. I think 343 stated that the choice was made to make the UNSC feel like the underdogs compared to the Covenant.
> > >
> > > 343i never stated this, Bungie did.
> > >
> > > Humanity had a long time of peace. After global peace on earth happened, that lasted until humanity spread too thin across the galaxy and the Insurrection started.
> > >
> > > During this several-century long peacetime, there was no requirement to advance military technology, and so all attention was put on scientific development that led to interstellar travel and wide-spread colonization.
> > >
> > > During the insurrection a lot of old technologies were brought back and barely-advanced. Such as the standard ballistic weaponry. And it was more cost-effective to focus on development of more computerized armour systems. Such as the Smart-Link HUD that rendered weapon Iron Sights, and other attachments mostly obsolete (leading to sleeker weapon designs like seen on the AR and Magnum, as well as making scopes more of a “backup” function in case your HUD is damaged).
> > >
> > > Some advancement in weapons technology also led to MAC/GAUSS/Railgun technology, as well as basic directed energy tech like the Spartan Laser.
> > >
> > > As-per why in-game rockets and the like travel slower/make less impact than modern day technology well… That’s entirely gameplay mechanic related. Besides, we are also Spartans, we perceive time slower than a human being, and our extremely futuristic armour protects us from things that would normally kill a human being (which is why I GREATLY disagree with ideas like 2 hit kill melee, or extremely high blast radius on frags because it makes sense that a Spartan can take more damage than that… Even from another Spartan).
> > >
> > > Not to mention, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” directly applies.
> > >
> > > But as per 343i and the CURRENT fictional timeline, the UNSC has turned the Covenant into the underdogs. Captain Lasky can be directly quoted saying (in paraphrase as I don’t have the cutscene in front of me), that the UNSC is now the primary major power in the galaxy.
> >
> > But even so, 500 years from now, we should be beyond simple projectile weapons, whether there was a period of peace or not. That’s half a millennium of technological development. Even advances in other departments would eventually be intigrated into the military. Even now, the US military is making gradual advancements in cloaking and exoskeleton technologies.
>
> Last time I checked, we aren’t at a state of world peace as of right now. Besides, I’m sure that if every nation worked together, we could probably get to another inhabitable planet by now.

Whether there’s world peace or not, nations are still innovating. Otherwise, we wouldn’t get more advanced phones and cars, and the military would still be using biplanes. Just because there isn’t world peace doesn’t mean it’s impossible to innovate technologically. Like I said, the US military is gradually creating more advanced technologies. So forgive me if I expect a lot 500 years from now.

And I’m not saying I’m against Halo’s portrayal, just that I couldn’t help but think that humanity should be a little more advanced.

14

There is no logic to the tech of any of Halo or the vast majority of SF. This is to make it interesting and fun. Just accept it and enjoy it for what it is.

After all, if you want to depopulate a planet from space, you just need to throw rocks. Think how much damage a big meteor will do.

The whole idea of infantry in such a technologically advanced society is mostly unfeasable - robots would by then be capable of handling almost all military functions. Heck, it’s close already.

Oh, and just so you know, in real life it takes more than a health pack or hiding for a bit to recover from being shot too!

This is why Halo is better than real life.

15

They did, but it didn’t do much, the UNSC needed like a 3 to 1 ratio to even the odds in space. Like I said the UNSC will still lose most of the time because of the huge technology gap between the UNSC and the covenant, but if they invest just a small tiny percentage on their infantry they could have inflected more damage on the covenant maybe have won more victories or won does victories without the extreme losses. Before the war the UNSC or ONI invested the equivalent of a frigate worth of credits into the Spartan II project, the UNSC could have easily made the same investment into upgrading their infantry. If the UNSC had better prepared or had invested more in upgrading their infantry they might have held reach for allot longer, they might have held the covenant back long enough to save more civilians, they could have inflected more casualties on the enemy and not force the UNSC to cover up how badly they are losing.

regarding bungie sticking with modern ammunition, I just saw it as they doing it so to have the feel of how badly out matched human kind is. But mostly I saw it as bungie/343i doing it to appeals the MLG community the MP community. They want a game with modern weapons and guys with power armor but make it feel like you are not really in a power armor other then the shields. Pretty much halo multiplayer is just another COD multiplayer CQC with out the kill streaks and some abilities, the shields are not really shields but health and a limited number of weapon types and everything has to be balanced to appeals a specific group of gammers.

16

I would think that the UNSC would at least be beyond pump action shotguns. But as for making Halo feel next-gen, well, that’s kind of a difficult thing to answer, because it depends on your personal opinion of what makes a next gen game.

17

Well I even notice today with my countries military they are investing more into advanced jet fighters and intelligence then ground troops and infantry. Most wars these days are fought in the air or by sea then on the ground. Still need to have well trained ground forces for security and tactical operations though.

18

> Well I even notice today with my countries military they are investing more into advanced jet fighters and intelligence then ground troops and infantry. Most wars these days are fought in the air or by sea then on the ground. Still need to have well trained ground forces for security and tactical operations though.

Yeah, this is generally how I see future warfare working. I mean, when you have a warship that can glass a continent, you no longer really need infantry except for special operations and protecting against infiltration.

The covenant don’t really seem to have had much point really landing troops beyond elites being all samurai warriors.

The only time we really hear of ground combat during the time of the forerunners is in h4’s terminals, they seem mostly absent from the novels. Infantry probably most just guarded ship’s interiors.

That being said, the human arsenal is meant to be relateable and easily noticeably different than covenant (and now forerunner) weapons. If our guns all fired lasers too, it’d all feel very samey. There’s also a strange visceral feel to firing traditional fire arms, its why Gears of Wars sticks almost entirely to them.

19

The UNSC had over hundred years of peace if I remember correctly. That’s why civilian technology is so advanced, while military technology is lacking.

20

UNSC should just integrate some of their current tech to the current weapons they have or some new weapons.

*Spartan Rifle - single shot rifle when scoped you can hold the trigger down for mini cannon like laser rounds.
*Gauss Sniper - Pretty much a railgun/sniper mix.
*Magma Shotgun - a shotgun that used molten shells

and so on and so forth, just add features to the weapons without making them OP. In my opinion the covy weapons need to be stronger and the forerunner weapons need to be at the top of the tier.