I’m placing this in the Universe section because I’m discussing locations from the Lore. Warzone will play out the same way it always does, I just wanted to talk about locations throughout the Halo Universe you’d like to see make an appearance as a simulation. Some locations I’d like to see…
Installation 00
The Ark took heavy damage when Installation 04B destroyed itself. Indigenous fauna is mostly gone, the surface is covered in extreme weather and the artificial star has been weakened. We know that after the UNSC/SoS stopped the activation of the Halo Array, the UNSC began setting up research facilities on the surface. I think a map taking place around these facilities would be interesting. I would make this a night map, with UNSC structures lighting up most of the map so we can see. When you look up in the sky in one direction you will see the damaged sun barely producing any light and in the other direction you will see the Milky Way Galaxy shining brightly. Of course it depends on where the facility is positioned, but you may also see one of the Ark’s large arms.
Assault Carrier
I think Warzone could use a Covenant themed map and an Assault Carrier would be a great place to do this. The map could either take place inside the Assault Carrier, perhaps in some kind of atrium/preserve, or it can take place on the surface of the ship. At first I thought this wouldn’t be a good location because Warzone Assault shows us dropping in like ODSTs and that would make things difficult, but then I remembered that’s exactly what we were doing at the start of Halo 3: ODST. We can drop into the city structure on top of the ship and fight on the surface. The skybox could include UNSC ships firing down onto the ship and it could take place in space or maybe the atmosphere of a planet. It would be neat if you looked up into the sky and saw ripples in the ship’s energy shielding as UNSC weaponry impacted.
Warzone Boss: Rhul 'Salmutee
Derelict
Not to be confused with Derelict. After reading the description for the Hellcat armor which says, “Built of knowledge stolen from enigmatic ruins on a dead world and materials stripped from the vault of a shattered starship” I thought it would be interesting to see this crashed starship. Perhaps the map could be set up like Halo Reach’s Boneyard, with the crashed ship in the middle of the map, torn apart to allow players and vehicles to pass through it to fight the UNSC research bases on each side. The ship could be intact enough to be a third capture point so we can enter this Ancient Human starship and see more of the architecture and technology. We’ve seen plenty of Forerunner stuff lately, time to branch out.
Charum Hakkor
Yes I would like to see more Ancient Human locations. The UNSC already has Sothra Hakkor in its Wargame database so it’s possible Charum Hakkor has been discovered as well. The crumbling ruins of the old arena where the Primordial was held captive would be neat to see. They were heavily damaged and left in ruin when Installation 07 was test fired in the system and it would be interesting to see how much of those ruins have been reclaimed by the planet after sitting empty for 100,000 years. Even if the Ancient Human and Precursor structures were shattered and broken, there could still be enough behind for the UNSC to begin excavating. The map could be similar to Unearthed or Breakpoint, with alien structures sticking out of the ground and UNSC facilities built around them.
The Rubble
Independent base built out of an asteroid field by the survivors of Madrigal. It would be neat to see some of these habitats visualized, especially after the tease in the Halo 2 Anniversary terminals. Perhaps instead of fighting off the Prometheans when we first land, we fight some neutral/Insurrectionist human soldiers. Or they can be replaced with Jackals, since they helped make the Rubble even though they were only gaining their trust long enough to get the location of Earth or other human colonies. Perhaps you could look up and see the UNSC Midsummer Night?
Warzone Boss: Zhar 'Needsalastname
Zone 67
ONI facility located on the planet Onyx. It’s gone now and the Trevelyan Dyson Sphere remains in its place, but the UNSC Dusk could have taken detailed scans which could be used for a Warzone simulation. Zone 67 was built on top of Forerunner ruins, which turns out to be a massive city later unearthed by active Sentinels. It would be really neat to fight inside a Forerunner city since we’ve never done that before. We’ve fought on plenty of ruins but a complete city? Not yet and I think that would be neat to see. It would also be neat if we could look to the south and see Camp Currahee, where the Spartan-IIIs trained.
Warzone Boss: Voro 'Mantakree
Santrap
Had to edit this to include Sandtrap. This is a multiplayer map from Halo 3 and it’s a map I’ve wanted to see make a return for a long time. It never did get added to Halo 4 but I think it would be an interesting map for Warzone after a few tweaks. It appeared to be an excavation site, so it can be dug out even further to reveal more of the ancient structure. Perhaps seeing more of it could shed some light on what it is and what it might be for. With more of the structure unearthed, they could add more to it for extra bases and capture points. I was always kind of fascinated in the large towers surrounding the excavation site. They look Forerunner, but they’re black instead of grey/silver. Is there any reason for this that we could learn about on an updated map? In Warzone you spawn a vehicle by coming up through the floor in some vehicle bay. It would be neat if the UNSC Frigate, perhaps the Aegis Fate again, landed and you spawned inside and exited it’s bay. Or they could replace the Elephants with Mammoths and your vehicle would spawn inside of those and get pushed out the back.