Writing a Halo 4 Strategy Guide - Help Wanted

Games Other Halo
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When I’m done, I will be providing this document in its entirety to this forum, or I may even release a little bit of it at a time, I still haven’t decided.

Any way, this is the current table of contents, please let me know if you feel anything should be added to it:

For clan leaders, effective training.
Understanding what makes Halo different from other shooters
On “Cowardly Playstyles”
Knowledge vs Execution/Technical Skill
Superficial Improvement vs Actual Improvement
Choosing the right control setup, Walshy claw, bad vibrations, FPS sticks
Timing weapons and vehicles
Basic Teamwork
Understanding Range
Weapons Analysis
Vehicle Analysis
Armor Ability Analysis
Tactical Package Analysis
Support Upgrade Analysis
Ordnance Analysis
Power-up Analysis and stacking
Basic button combos
Motion Sensor (Radar) Analysis
Understanding the spawn system
Spawn Anchor / Locking / Blocking
Individual Tactics
Evasion Tactics, Strafing, Gandhi Hopping, Strongsiding, Ninja, Cover, Peak Shooting
Team Strafe & AA mixture
Why you should be using Buddy Teams
Team Strategy
Team Loadouts
Objective concepts
Spreading the wealth of firepower
Basic Communication Guide
Knowing when the death of yourself or your teammate is strategic, and letting it happen
Sabotaging vehicles
Lobby Abuse, setting the blacklist, host advantage, mic manipulation, etc
Exploiting the flaws inherent in Challenges / Achievements / Commedations
Decision making requires knowledge of the game, and enemy intel
Carnie holes / Head glitching, bullets are fired from the head
Signs of the enemy position, windows, Pit popups, gravity lift noises etc
Understanding what your opponent sees
Exploiting the kill cam both offensively and defensively, Ghost in the Fog
Baiting, Luring, and Leading your opponent
Retrograde Analysis
Applying Economics to Halo
Applying Infantry tactics to Halo, Wall of Fire, Hammer & Anvil
Concentration of Fire
Importance of formation
Importance of patience
Playing dirty (Not for those who believe in honorable play), spreading misinformation, cheating, party overflow, etc
Metagame Analysis, understanding the current environment.
Game Theory / The Nash Equilibrium
Some weapons suck today, but will be amazing tomorrow.
What prior Halo titles had, which currently are not in H4, but may be in H5-8
No such thing as a bilateral advantage, loose lips sink ships
Grenade physics, bouncing, dead drops, etc
1v1 vehicle tactics
Team vehicle strategy
Weapon counters, the dance of death, bullet grouping, sight picture
Launching a solo 2-pronged attack
Exploiting fixed paths of movement
Counting the rounds (When Ammo isn’t available)
Personal responsibility, being honest with oneself
Risk mitigation
General guide to Legendary Campaign

Also I’ve been working on it for a few months on and off. I’m currently at 48 pages. Expect it to be a while before this is released. Note that the Table of Contents is not in its final order, I haven’t decided on how to rearrange it yet.
If there is anybody who wants to assist me in this information gathering, please leave your GT here.

Update
Currently at 60 pages as of 9 Jan. Some sections aren’t entirely complete and were skipped and will be filled in later (More technical info which will require conformation before I pass it out). About to start the “Applying Infantry Tactics”. Given that I’m former Infantry this shouldn’t be too hard for me to do, but it will be one of the more expansive sections easily.

2

Nice, List of Contents you got there. Looking forward to reading them, myself, :smiley:

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> Nice, List of Contents you got there. Looking forward to reading them, myself, :smiley:

I hear you’re somewhat of a sniper, if you’d like to contribute some tips for it I’d be glad to include them.

4

> > Nice, List of Contents you got there. Looking forward to reading them, myself, :smiley:
>
> I hear you’re somewhat of a sniper, if you’d like to contribute some tips for it I’d be glad to include them.

Sure. I’ll see what I can do.

EDIT: I’m gonna see if I can add a tip on how to use Active Camo the “correct” way, instead of the “cheap-way”, if that’s alright with you.

5

Sir you have my curiosity.

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Wow. Can’t wait to read it. I assume you will be posting via PDF? That might be simplest for printing. Any chance of working in some visual -Yoink!-/illustrations/ Halo 4 concept art/screenshots?

How about gametype specific strategy? Galactic something-or-other Jedi could help with Grifball.

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This sound interesting. I would love to contribute to this guide, but I am of no help when it comes to skill. If you’d like, I could ask my friends who are actually good at halo!

8

> Wow. Can’t wait to read it. I assume you will be posting via PDF? That might be simplest for printing. Any chance of working in some visual -Yoink!-/illustrations/ Halo 4 concept art/screenshots?
>
> How about gametype specific strategy? Galactic something-or-other Jedi could help with Grifball.

“GalacticJedi2” And you’re right about him helping with grifball. I’ve practiced with him a couple times. I don’t think I killed him once. I went -56 or something the first time I played with him. He’s really good in other games mode too.

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> Wow. Can’t wait to read it. I assume you will be posting via PDF? That might be simplest for printing. Any chance of working in some visual -Yoink!-/illustrations/ Halo 4 concept art/screenshots?
>
> How about gametype specific strategy? Galactic something-or-other Jedi could help with Grifball.

I’m planning on uploading in both word document, as well as PDF.
Most visual -Yoink!- will just be snapshots, since I suck at video editing.
For example this is the photo for Stability Testing, because I wanted to see if it would increase your stability even if you weren’t being shot at…

http://postimg.org/image/d3e27s1rb/

There will also be some game type specific strategies, as there are minor differences in the way you play even the various types of slayer, but that’s still a ways out.

10

Maybe, in a team, designate different roles to different players. For example, have a sniper, a driver, a gunner, and a runner and gunner and how to coordinate these?
Just and idea, but great list, I’m interested in seeing the final copy :smiley:

11

Very nice guide! Might need this in the future :smiley:

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From the diversity of material and applicable skill level for knowledge of some of your subjects, it seems like a lot of these topics will go right over the head of your target audience. Most of the topics not related specifically to Halo 4 would make a great resource for new players to grow up with though, if written correctly.

I do hope you take the moral discretion as a true Halo player (which I’m sure you are to be going through all the trouble), to focus the text more on helping people improving with their Halo game, and not a bunch of different guides on “how to use the regen field with a team on Adrift” sorts of things. Do you know what I’m talking about? Minus a few sections in your contents e.g. loadouts and “cowardly”? play (which I can understand if they are brief and directs towards veryyyy new players) it seems like you’re on the right track :slight_smile:

A suggestion for your organization…doing it not only by topic but by information relevant to different skill levels (advanced meta game and strategy topics towards the end)

Good luck man.

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> > Wow. Can’t wait to read it. I assume you will be posting via PDF? That might be simplest for printing. Any chance of working in some visual -Yoink!-/illustrations/ Halo 4 concept art/screenshots?
> >
> > How about gametype specific strategy? Galactic something-or-other Jedi could help with Grifball.
>
> “GalacticJedi2” And you’re right about him helping with grifball. I’ve practiced with him a couple times. I don’t think I killed him once. I went -56 or something the first time I played with him. He’s really good in other games mode too.

Ok here are tips for quick scoring in Grifball, just be sure to have a team you can communicate with…
1. At the start, when rushing the ball, have one guy sit back in case the other team grabs the ball.
2. When running the ball, have your best tank run you in so yo can score. (It’s never safe to leave the ball carrier alone).
3. Launch your ball carrier into the goal. This takes time to perfect though.
Edit: Give me some time and I will add more to the list.

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> > > Wow. Can’t wait to read it. I assume you will be posting via PDF? That might be simplest for printing. Any chance of working in some visual -Yoink!-/illustrations/ Halo 4 concept art/screenshots?
> > >
> > > How about gametype specific strategy? Galactic something-or-other Jedi could help with Grifball.
> >
> > “GalacticJedi2” And you’re right about him helping with grifball. I’ve practiced with him a couple times. I don’t think I killed him once. I went -56 or something the first time I played with him. He’s really good in other games mode too.
>
> Ok here are tips for quick scoring in Grifball, just be sure to have a team you can communicate with…
> 1. At the start, when rushing the ball, have one guy sit back in case the other team grabs the ball.
> 2. When running the ball, have your best tank run you in so yo can score. (It’s never safe to leave the ball carrier alone).
> 3. Launch your ball carrier into the goal. This takes time to perfect though.
> Edit: Give me some time and I will add more to the list.

  1. Don’t let YouNoWho22 launch the carrier… for the record, that betrayal wasn’t on purpose.
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> for the record, that betrayal wasn’t on purpose.

Then you aren’t doing it right. Intentional bonks are best betrayals. Bonus points for sword lunge betrayals on your teammates who don’t have the ball.

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> > for the record, that betrayal wasn’t on purpose.
>
> Then you aren’t doing it right. Intentional bonks are best betrayals. Bonus points for sword lunge betrayals on your teammates who don’t have the ball.

You forgot ball bonk betrayals…

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> > > for the record, that betrayal wasn’t on purpose.
> >
> > Then you aren’t doing it right. Intentional bonks are best betrayals. Bonus points for sword lunge betrayals on your teammates who don’t have the ball.
>
> You forgot ball bonk betrayals…

Nope, those are too easy.

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> From the diversity of material and applicable skill level for knowledge of some of your subjects, it seems like a lot of these topics will go right over the head of your target audience. Most of the topics not related specifically to Halo 4 would make a great resource for new players to grow up with though, if written correctly.
>
> I do hope you take the moral discretion as a true Halo player (which I’m sure you are to be going through all the trouble), to focus the text more on helping people improving with their Halo game, and not a bunch of different guides on “how to use the regen field with a team on Adrift” sorts of things. Do you know what I’m talking about? Minus a few sections in your contents e.g. loadouts and “cowardly”? play (which I can understand if they are brief and directs towards veryyyy new players) it seems like you’re on the right track :slight_smile:
>
> A suggestion for your organization…doing it not only by topic but by information relevant to different skill levels (advanced meta game and strategy topics towards the end)
>
> Good luck man.

I’ll take your advice on the skill level organization. One of the difficult things for me is knowing what people know. I suggest things based on my understanding of the game/strategy and people reject it because their level of understanding is different. I don’t mean to imply either that I know everything about H4, but I definitely put in more thought behind my strategies/tactics than most do. I have to because my BR just isn’t that good so I rely on them over superior accuracy.

Thanks to everybody here who has commented, don’t take offense if I don’t reply, I’m on campus right now and class is about to start. Take care.

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This is an ambitious project for Halo 4. I wonder if you will be able to release it far enough ahead of Halo 5 for it to have any relevance? If Halo 5 actually turns out to be Halo 3 good, will anyone be playing Halo 4? I’m just saying if you’re going to do it, do it quick, man!

Also, do I detect some AA bias? Halo 4 is all about Armor Abilities and their upgrades. I don’t think even 343i understands the concept of AA’s, and it’s proven difficult to get that concept across to players that went without them for ten years. Many people think Bungie just put them in the game for the hell of it, and 343i should just take them out. The first is not true and the second isn’t going to happen. Will your strategy guide embrace Armor Abilities.

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> This is an ambitious project for Halo 4. I wonder if you will be able to release it far enough ahead of Halo 5 for it to have any relevance? If Halo 5 actually turns out to be Halo 3 good, will anyone be playing Halo 4? I’m just saying if you’re going to do it, do it quick, man!

A lot of it will be conceptual for that reason. So when I go over things like weapons, I’ll go into depth on why the BR is good, rather than simply stating that it is a 4sk, I’ll cover other factors which other players might not think to look at.

With new titles there will always have to be some changes to tactics/strategies, while others will still be viable. For example taking note of how many respawning players there were in CTF was rendered irrelevant at H4’s release due to instant respawn. Other things like understanding the spawn system, understanding how to time weapon drops, etc, I don’t believe we’ll see much of a change in.

> Also, do I detect some AA bias? Halo 4 is all about Armor Abilities and their upgrades. I don’t think even 343i understands the concept of AA’s, and it’s proven difficult to get that concept across to players that went without them for ten years. Many people think Bungie just put them in the game for the hell of it, and 343i should just take them out. The first is not true and the second isn’t going to happen. Will your strategy guide embrace Armor Abilities.

No I don’t mind AAs, and pro-AA and anti-AA tactics will be included. I’m just saying it is easy to trick yourself into thinking that you’re doing better than you really are. Think of the Zerg Rush from StarCraft. It was a relatively effective tactic which required minimum skill, so people used it. People at higher skill levels were able to beat this tactic because it is only so effective. It is easy to say “Well the AR/Melee combo works for me, so I won’t bother learning anything else” and stick with it, only to lose to better coordinated teams who know how to mitigate the AR Rush tactic.

In the specific example I gave on Ragnarok, the focus isn’t really the AA, it is the fact that the Camo Sniper keeps the team’s respawn zone locked towards their base, making it harder for everybody besides the sniper to do well.
You must consider the effect your actions have on the team level, not just the individual one, which is a hard thing for people to start thinking in those terms, and especially the ones who don’t understand how the spawn system works.

That isn’t to say that these players are malicious in their intents, they try to get more kills than deaths to help the team, but because they only account for limited factors, they aren’t making the efficient play.