You could just not drive the tank, it's the same thing on the second level. I got it this time and it was a fun change of pace.

You have to earn that tank and earning that tank is through having a keen eye and exploring. There's also sentinels around the mission fighting you and others, unless you want more?

@HoLY-MOsey Have you ever looked for a skull in one of these games? Those are generally the easiest easter eggs to find and even those require a guide if you aren't intending to scour a mission for multiple hours. So no, it isn't required to have a "keen eye" in order to see a massive unlocked door on a mission all about going through said doors. I would go as far as to say you'd practically have to try to avoid finding it. Also, I already made it very easy to understand what I think could be done with the sentinels if you bothered to read the whole post. I do recognize however, that it is almost a full page post and many people are going to bounce off of it based off of word count alone.

Apothos lähetti viestin:

@HoLY-MOsey Have you ever looked for a skull in one of these games? Those are generally the easiest easter eggs to find and even those require a guide if you aren't intending to scour a mission for multiple hours. So no, it isn't required to have a "keen eye" in order to see a massive unlocked door on a mission all about going through said doors. I would go as far as to say you'd practically have to try to avoid finding it. Also, I already made it very easy to understand what I think could be done with the sentinels if you bothered to read the whole post. I do recognize however, that it is almost a full page post and many people are going to bounce off of it based off of word count alone.

I did read it, ya dingus. No need to get all antsy LOL!

@Apothos
You have a point about the scorpion tank disrupting the original flow of the original narrative of the level. However, I would interject that it is intended as a reward for completing the bonus objective or “side mission” if you will, meaning that it is entirely optional and not necessary to progress through the mission.

@HoLY-MOseynewusername2.0 Thanks for the heads-up as to what Ruby said in regards to the future of this mod. Also, you chose to ask a question tied to the post that already answered it and yet you read the entire thing and still chose to ask it??? Incredible twist.

@ Capt._Foley I understand it is entirely optional but it is also way too easy to achieve and hurts the most important set piece in the mission. It's what the entirety of Two Betrayals is slowly and expertly (especially in this mod) building towards. Which ultimately doesn't matter, AFTER your first playthrough. I've thought about it more since I initially posted this however, and while I still think it breaks the "rules" of design that Bungie clearly upholds when it comes to balancing encounters, it could still work. The whole sequence would have to take place earlier obviously, but if the tank was given to you during the middle section of the mission (the part where you have to get in a banshee and take out the second pulse generator), then it would still be immensely helpful ( in fact moreso), and it wouldn't hurt the pacing at all. All that part does is emphasize that the covenant still have a solid foothold at that exact moment.

To make a long story longer, I still don't like the reward at all and honestly I would prefer if the event ended in a loss no matter what, eventually the Flood forces are simply too much for you to keep the marines alive and you have to escape. It would make more tonal sense for the narrative, given that in the original, after the Library, Chief is entirely alone, with a slight glimmer of hope with Keyes and Foehammer, just for those to be crushed too. It just makes narrative sense. Halo doesn't have a happy ending, and I think that's part of what makes the first game so special.

Nobody is reading a third paragraph in a comment section BUT some fun could be had with eliminating this event altogether. Instead of getting an opportunity to help them, at a certain point in the mission, you hear the marines over the radio (which the start of the event already does) and you hear their desperation, and it logically flows with them getting massacred. Which would certainly lean into the horror elements. Say what you want about DOOM 3, but that beginning sequence with everyone on the radio dying, is extremely effective. Thanks for joining my TED talk.