Great mod so far. Maybe add some more weapons, something like the Mythic overhaul weapons. LMG's, different shotgun types, the commando, etc. would all fit great in this all out battle kind of map. I think it's great so far but adding more weapons to the sandbox always is a plus especially for firefight. Keep up the awesome work.

It may be difficult to describe, but you can add several lines of defense, and gradually, the enemy will sweep them away, and you (on the side of the people of course) will gradually retreat to the main building, which will be the most protected.

Originally posted by Chris Hansen:

Great mod so far. Maybe add some more weapons, something like the Mythic overhaul weapons. LMG's, different shotgun types, the commando, etc. would all fit great in this all out battle kind of map. I think it's great so far but adding more weapons to the sandbox always is a plus especially for firefight. Keep up the awesome work.

As of now, there are few weapons I might intend to add into my mod. The LMG you mentioned is an example of a possible fit, given that it fills a role that is otherwise absent in my current sandbox. Other possibilities exist, as well, such as the M7 submachine guns from Halo 3 and ODST, but having too many overlapping weapons is a problem that I wish to avoid. I also don't want to include things that look out of place alongside Reach's artstyle, so I really wouldn't bet on seeing many assets from other Halo games.

In terms of unique additions I have thought of, I would be interested in including a tripod-mounted version of the Warthog's heavy machine gun, fed from belt boxes rather than its massive feed canister and manually laid rather than motorized. It could be an interesting feature of the UNSC defenses, but is not something I feel prepared to take on with my primate knowledge of asset development. Similarly, I would also like to include the LMG mounted on a tripod much like the GPMGs in Halo 2.

Originally posted by Dimadm:

It may be difficult to describe, but you can add several lines of defense, and gradually, the enemy will sweep them away, and you (on the side of the people of course) will gradually retreat to the main building, which will be the most protected.

What you're describing is exactly what I've set out to do. My original (and current, God willing) vision was to have a much larger set of prepared defenses, truly reflective of a UNSC Army infantry company's potential resources. I wanted more extensive fortifications in and around the main structure, another machine gun emplacement on the ridge overlooking the pond and many more friendly personnel to occupy the additional positions.

I also wanted something clear for the player to be defending, such as the company command post beside the spawn area and a casualty collection point I would have set in the alcove behind it. These would have been filled with special NPCs (officers, medics, wounded troops/civilians) with scripted duties to perform until they were disturbed by enemy action.

As you might guess, the reason that these things aren't present isn't just because implementation is difficult and takes a lot of time. It's because I seem to have run up against a fundamental resource limit that I don't know how to address. I am currently trying to figure out ways to "fix" the map scripting not to cull things that I want to treat as permanent, and then after that I will be trying to "compress" asset usage by making custom one-piece bunkers and other objects so that I don't have to use hundreds of individual sandbag bits to build my fortifications. That should help a lot, and maybe I'll be able to add in more AI and other things because of it.

Originally posted by Bush Wookiee:

Originally posted by Chris Hansen:

Great mod so far. Maybe add some more weapons, something like the Mythic overhaul weapons. LMG's, different shotgun types, the commando, etc. would all fit great in this all out battle kind of map. I think it's great so far but adding more weapons to the sandbox always is a plus especially for firefight. Keep up the awesome work.

As of now, there are few weapons I might intend to add into my mod. The LMG you mentioned is an example of a possible fit, given that it fills a role that is otherwise absent in my current sandbox. Other possibilities exist, as well, such as the M7 submachine guns from Halo 3 and ODST, but having too many overlapping weapons is a problem that I wish to avoid. I also don't want to include things that look out of place alongside Reach's artstyle, so I really wouldn't bet on seeing many assets from other Halo games.

In terms of unique additions I have thought of, I would be interested in including a tripod-mounted version of the Warthog's heavy machine gun, fed from belt boxes rather than its massive feed canister and manually laid rather than motorized. It could be an interesting feature of the UNSC defenses, but is not something I feel prepared to take on with my primate knowledge of asset development. Similarly, I would also like to include the LMG mounted on a tripod much like the GPMGs in Halo 2.

Makes sense. I can see how you wouldn’t want to add things that break the style of the map but yeah I think the LMG, silenced rifles or maybe even the assault rifle with under barrel grenade launcher would fit pretty well with this map.

Minor Request: If it's possible, can we have an option to have some marines respawn each set? Not all marines every set - that'd take away from the atmosphere - but some might add to the feel. That way our allies can experience the same hopelessness, woo hoo!

Originally posted by MarkJerue:

Minor Request: If it's possible, can we have an option to have some marines respawn each set? Not all marines every set - that'd take away from the atmosphere - but some might add to the feel. That way our allies can experience the same hopelessness, woo hoo!

I am currently looking into scripting a Pelican or Falcon to reinforce the player's position if the majority of the friendly troops are killed. I would want to limit the number of times this is done, though.

Originally posted by Bush Wookiee:

Originally posted by MarkJerue:

Minor Request: If it's possible, can we have an option to have some marines respawn each set? Not all marines every set - that'd take away from the atmosphere - but some might add to the feel. That way our allies can experience the same hopelessness, woo hoo!

I am currently looking into scripting a Pelican or Falcon to reinforce the player's position if the majority of the friendly troops are killed. I would want to limit the number of times this is done, though.

Not sure how plausible this would be, but maybe it could be a reoccurring secondary objective to call in a reinforcements, where you have to leave the safety of your lines to activate a comms beacon to signal help, an AA gun to clear the skies, or a modified version of the orbital strike as a ordinance drop that calls in a pelican instead. I feel like this would keep with the desperate fight atmosphere.

Originally posted by Sexual Yoda Gaming:

Originally posted by Bush Wookiee:

I am currently looking into scripting a Pelican or Falcon to reinforce the player's position if the majority of the friendly troops are killed. I would want to limit the number of times this is done, though.

Not sure how plausible this would be, but maybe it could be a reoccurring secondary objective to call in a reinforcements, where you have to leave the safety of your lines to activate a comms beacon to signal help, an AA gun to clear the skies, or a modified version of the orbital strike as a ordinance drop that calls in a pelican instead. I feel like this would keep with the desperate fight atmosphere.

I'd honestly suggest putting the Marines respawning on a timer first (5-15 min, randomly if possible so players can't abuse the spawning mechanic to their advantage). You could potentially have them spawn in a doorway that is one sided so the player can't go through it. I've seen this done on other maps and it works very well, you'd be amazed how desperately you'd cling to just one ally for assistance letting the map keep the desperate atmosphere.

Once that is accomplished and uploaded then I'd work on something more complicated. My gf and I are determined to beat every Firefight map on Heroic difficulty and this is the last map (modded or regular) we need to do it on. But in truth, it's extremely difficult to play once your allies are down and with the beefed up baddies, they fall pretty quickly.

Originally posted by talgie22890:

Originally posted by Sexual Yoda Gaming:

Not sure how plausible this would be, but maybe it could be a reoccurring secondary objective to call in a reinforcements, where you have to leave the safety of your lines to activate a comms beacon to signal help, an AA gun to clear the skies, or a modified version of the orbital strike as a ordinance drop that calls in a pelican instead. I feel like this would keep with the desperate fight atmosphere.

I'd honestly suggest putting the Marines respawning on a timer first (5-15 min, randomly if possible so players can't abuse the spawning mechanic to their advantage). You could potentially have them spawn in a doorway that is one sided so the player can't go through it. I've seen this done on other maps and it works very well, you'd be amazed how desperately you'd cling to just one ally for assistance letting the map keep the desperate atmosphere.

Once that is accomplished and uploaded then I'd work on something more complicated. My gf and I are determined to beat every Firefight map on Heroic difficulty and this is the last map (modded or regular) we need to do it on. But in truth, it's extremely difficult to play once your allies are down and with the beefed up baddies, they fall pretty quickly.

I'll look into trying that. Thanks for the idea!

I know this might be a lot on your end but can you give us an option to play as a marine/trooper or ODST for this? I think it suits well for the atmosphere having all regular folks fighting on this map.

Originally posted by Arquitens:

I know this might be a lot on your end but can you give us an option to play as a marine/trooper or ODST for this? I think it suits well for the atmosphere having all regular folks fighting on this map.

Honestly, you can easily replicate this by just wearing the ODST stuff.

I have a few suggestions if your interested

I think you should block off the side stairwell from access. Both the basic design of the map as well as your additions don't complement having a side access. Both the wraith spawns and your AA guns are on the opposite side of the map and all 3 drop pods land in the center. Also the current design of the strongpoint makes that section very disconnected from where most of the action is.

I think you should lower the seraph's hitpoints if possible, as it stands it is currently impossible for an AA gun to even take down their shields let alone stop them from making a bombing run. I think the ideal scenario for the seraph's vs. AA guns is that AA guns should be able to sometimes stop a strafe but not always. If that's not possible the AA guns should be able to destroy one of the before they fire

I don't know what level of control you have over the marine's AI so this might be a big ask, but is it possible to force the marines to stand near the railings when they are idle so they can shot at things outside the strongpoint? At current they kinda slowly shift around into odd places and like to stand out in the open.

Another potentially big ask is that i'd like it if the gaps between waves were shortened. At current its very common for waves to get entirely wiped out before reinforcements can even get to the map resulting in lulls in the action that i feel are a bit out of place with the intent of the mod.

One final suggestion is that i feel you should afford more protection from wraiths and seraphs. there's at least a dozen and a half marines that have absolutely no protection from them and i feel that the main purpose of having wraiths ans seraphs isn't to kill of the marines so much as to make it dangerous to tread outside the strongpoint. As part of this i think you should increase the seraph air strikes from every round to every wave, but only of the marines get so better protection from them.

I just wanted to say i love the map, but i just have a few things that i personally think would be good changes. Basically just remove the one phantom drop point directly above the spawn point, almost every time ive played this, the troops dropped by that phantom wipe out every single marine and odst, leaving me all alone the rest of the set. apart from that, theres just a small issue with the AA Guns in that they stop working at random and cannot be reactivated for the rest of the game. Thats all, hope you see this.