I’m bringing this up only because it concerns me that 343 are going to reuse the same vehicle health system from Halo 4. People generally agree that Halo 4’s vehicles were weak because of the ability to spawn with the PP/PG combo. However, while this was certainty a major problem, it wasn’t the only problem. Most of Halo 4’s vehicles seem to have been ported from Reach’s engine, because, like in Reach, shooting at vehicles with small arms fire in Halo 4 (pistol, AR, BR, DMR) damaged them a significant amount. This needs to end for Halo 5.
Vehicles used to be an item of power on the map, something that you could load up and reap havoc on the enemy team with, regardless if it was a Ghost, Warthog, or even a tank. You couldn’t just unload a mag of BR ammo into a Warthog and instantly have the engine catch on fire, you had to actually aim that weapon at the driver or gunner to cripple it. Either that, or find something else on the map that would damage the enemy vehicle. This is the way it should be, because players shouldn’t spawn with an easy counter to everything they come up against in a match, especially vehicles.
So here’s my proposal:
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Small arms fire does negligible damage to vehicles. By “negligible”, I mean burning your entire AR/BR/DMR ammo reserve (3-4 clips) on a Warthog should barely dent the vehicle at most. This will also include the Sniper Rifle, which, in terms of gameplay, should primarily function as an anti-infantry weapon, not an anti-tank rifle. Since most of these weapons fall into the precision weapon category, they can and should be used to pick off the driver/occupants of the vehicle.
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Explosive weapons should be the go-to weapons for damaging vehicles. Weapons under this category include but are not limited to: Grenades, Rockets, Spartan Laser, Fuel Rod Gun, Plasma Launcher, Brute Shot, Concussion Rifle, Grenade Launcher, Sticky Detonator, Railgun, etc.
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In addition to explosive weapons, turrets should also do significant damage to vehicles as well. These include but are not limited to: Mounted Machinegun Turret, Mounted Plasma Cannon, Missile Pod, Shade Turrets.
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If the two anti-vehicle options above are not adequate enough, there are also other vehicles that can be used against enemy vehicles as well. Vehicle boarding is another option that has been present since Halo 2, if every other option for tackling enemy vehicles is taken.
If 343 considers these 4 listed points when implementing vehicle combat, then I feel that vehicle gameplay will be a lot more enjoyable for everyone. Post your thoughts on vehicle combat below.