Halo Wars 2

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MyrHerder

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This is a general discussion thread for Halo Wars 2. Feel free to discuss gameplay, design, or lore. Just remember to keep spoilers in spoiler warnings, and no posting about leaks. Thanks!

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To start off, I just watched the E3 trailer, and noticed a few things that i haven't heard the online discussions mention. It looks like they have H2A ODSTs and Mk IV or V Spartans. But the literature provided by 343 said this game takes place just after Halo 5, with the Spirit of Fire crew awakening above a Banished planet. Maybe these ODSTs and Spartans were onboard the Spirit of Fire since HW1. Maybe the troopers, Spartans, and Cyclopses got a nanobot upgrade like Chief did before Halo 4. If that's the case, where were the ODSTs during HW1?

Thoughts?

https://youtu.be/kjN1eWhzPeA

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I saw it a few days ago and my god it is AMAZING!! A few things that did seem out of place were the ODSTs as MyrHerder said but I think it is because they were in cryo sleep for lik e20 and a bit years so it makes sense for these dudes to have the H2 armor

Also in the shot where the brute chieftain walks next to the missiles, I saw that he has an ODST chest plate attached to his belt
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And I don't know why but I think Captain Cutter looks Awesome!!
I don't know if its his authority of a Captain or just how cool he looks walking through the battle field

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And I geeked out at the 1:14 mark !! ODSTs AWESOME!!! that scene was so well done!
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Wow... I'm going to have to rewatch this tonight on the big screen to see that ODST belt. That's awesome detail.

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The Red Team Spartans have Mark IV armor - it's been visible multiple times and it won't be changed.

The weird thing is - in Halo Wars BETA you see a Mark VI Spartan in the menu - IMO it's a teaser for Halo 3 Anniversary - a menu was leaked online, but it hasn't been officially announced.


I'm very happy I was right the whole time saying Halo Wars 2 will take place in 2558. :]
Or rather now... in 2559

The thing what makes me wonder is - WHERE IS THE FLOOD. Or where will it be. It was teased that a Flood infection form was onboard the Spirit of Fire with alarm to abandon ship... Yet we see just the Banished and everything fine.
So.. I'm curious. Awaiting the return of the Flood.

As for the trailer. PORN PORN PORN. Blur Studio delivers.
Captain Cutter looks A LOT better. When I compare his earlier appearance to now - earlier he looked like a drunkard, hehe.

Loved the Mark IV armor on the Reds.

AND THE MOMENT THE ODSTs dropped from the sky and crashed into the machines. WOW.
It was an amazing moment. I totally geeked out when watching the trailer during the E3.


As for the ODST armor - 343i changed their design. It might be just that. But notice the ODST chest plate on that Brute Chieftain's stomach? It looked like Halo 2/3/ODST chest, not the H2A.

It doesn't really make sense, because during Fall of Reach the ODST armor was normal, then Halo 3/ODST as well, so just to explain it made no real sense for H2A armor... how I can explain it is - H2A armor was experimental in testing phase? Or rather, it was the old armor and the troopers still haven't received their newer armor yet.


Also, Halo Wars 2 is going to take place on Ark, AKA Installation 00.
After Halo 3 the Ark was not destroyed, of course, just damaged. Humanity had came there again and started establishing research bases and such stuff.
So I guess all the new tech comes from there?

I know it's RTS, so partially because of that the Spirit of Fire will most likely have so much personnel and troopers to deploy.


But I guess all newer UNSC tech will come from these research bases.
As for Spartans - Mark IV was very very behind Mark VI John-117 had. Mark IV still don't have any shielding and a lot more.

BUT DAMN RED TEAM LOOK SO COOL IN THEIR MARK IV ARMOR! I'm so happy they look so cool, just like in Halo Wars.



As for the Banished... the new faction.

My guess is it's just another faction that was created after Covenant fell.
We had the Remnants led by Jul 'Mdama, but also we knew there are MORE factions.
Factions which are still against humanity.

While there were some peace talks with a Brute Chieftain in 2558, we already knew that there are many Jiralhanae which are highly against humanity and still believe in Covenant.
So... I guess it's one of these factions.

Actually, the Banished is a mercenary group.
 
I don't watch their content. In fact I strongly dislike Halo Follower - while their content might have been decent or good in the past, they are total crap now. :/
 
Chiefwannabe Yeah i watched the follower video, no mention of why SoF suddenly had H2A ODST on board. The rest- Red Team, souped up Cyclopses- all makes sense. And if they picked up the troopers on the Ark, i would expect them to be H3 style.
CommanderPalmer what do you mean 343i changed their design? Other than H2A and the occasional matchmaking skin, 343i hasn't included ODST in any campaign because Spartan IV pretty much replaced them. The Spartans even use drop pods in Warzone mode.

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CommanderPalmer what do you mean 343i changed their design? Other than H2A and the occasional matchmaking skin, 343i hasn't included ODST in any campaign because Spartan IV pretty much replaced them. The Spartans even use drop pods in Warzone mode.

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I meant they changed the design in H2Anniversary.
Well, we'll see if it'll be a permanent change, when they release the Halo 3 Anniversary, cuz there are also ODSTs.

No. You're wrong. Even if there are Spartan-IVs, there are still MANY ODSTs left.

The Spartan-IVs aren't a big army, there are barely few hundred of them. Counting all Spartans - only several hundred.

In fact - ODSTs could have been in Halo 5. 343i made some new concepts for new armor for them. Even better - there was an idea for ODST with a dog!
The armor looked cool, but yeah, it wasn't used... Maybe in future games.
 
Sorry- that's what i meant. 343i never used ODST in game for 4 or 5. They still exist in expanded universe, but no love in the main games. Just the (late) H4 matchmaking skin and Nightfall. Sorry if my disdain for 343i is showing through.

Personally, I thought H2A ODST weren't too different from H2 original ODST. They were always different than H3/Reach design.

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IMO the ODST armor in Halo 4 was just a quick fan service.

Nightfall is an armor for ONI operatives (still originates from ODST armor). Because we have it in Halo 5 available for Spartans, I bet it's just because of that REQ system.

True ODST Spartan armor is the Helljumper armor, the one Buck is wearing.


As for newer shown in Halo 4/5 - we've seen UNSC Infinity only. Infinity is like a home for Spartans. There are like 300-500 Spartans onboard, so there is no real need for the ODSTs too.


I agree, personally I really liked the Halo 2 Anniversary ODST armor. It was really nice, bit different and yet the same ODST we knew.



I'm curious how they'll place the H2A ODST in canon... Cuz, it was bit strange to fit new design between Halo: Reach, CE and 3/ODST, especially when everything is happening just at the same time...
 
The matchmaking variants in Reach, Halo 4, and Halo 5 (Nightfall variant) have always been fan service imo. They are Spartan Mjolnir variants paying homage to the real troopers. And yes, Halo 4 & 5 campaign focus on the Infinity, which specializes in Spartans over ODSTs. I get that. But the fact that Mk V and ODST weren't included in Halo 4 matchmaking until the first title update (probably after much complaining from the fans) makes me think 343i doesn't have respect for these classics; they see them as reminders of Bungie and the old, slow Halo. Same attitude Palmer has towards the Chief (no offense).

I suppose you could say H2/H2A was the old variant, still in use on Spirit of Fire and In Amber Clad, and Nightfall was an ONI variant in use around the same time, incorporating some improvements (like the newer helmet and chest plate). Then those improvements found their way into the general rank and file in the form of the new model, which was slowly phased in, first on Reach, then on Forward Unto Dawn (H3) and Say My Name (H3 ODST). That would explain both being used in overlapping instances. In real life, you rarely see a clean cut between old and new tech; they always phase in.

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so can we talk about the one big thing I seen on halo follower the other day... how in the world did they reach the second or first ark because they didn't have a slip space drive and I high doubt they where close to in at the end of halo wars.
 
MyrHerder
Well, I can't say anything for the Halo 4 ODST and H5 Nightfall other than being fan-service and just to get more REQs. True ODST Mjolnir is the Helljumper variant.

Well, we never seen the Nightfall armor earlier, only in 2556 - by Locke and his squad.

I could think the ODSTs in Amber Clad (for now, unless 343i changes the look of the ODSTs in Halo 3 Anniversary,etc.) had more experimental armor, the newer generation, while all other ODSTs we know, had the normal one.


Analyzing further, we had a picture in Halo 5's campaign, Hunt The Truth:

HtT-Blackbagging.jpg


Still, if I look at such screenshot from the trailer, I can't help it but feel they made the chest and shoulder plates bit bulkier:

HW2-Trailer-ODST_deployed.png


ALSO, here is a screenshot of the ODSTs in Halo Wars 2. As you can see, they have the normal ODST chest plates... So, we might just see two generations - just like the Bungie Pelican and 34i3 Pelican.
For now I think the old Bungie ODSTs are from the Spirit of Fire, while the new 343i ODSTs are from the UNSC research bases.

HW2B_ODST.png



While I like some parts in 343i's design, I still prefer some parts from Bungie's design - like the helmet, chest, etc.


foxleader - they were drifting in space for 30 years... we don't know what happened during these 30 years and we still don't know how did they get to the Ark. The trailer and current info didn't explain anything.

There is also no explanation as in 2558 when Spirit of Fire was still drifting on course to an unknown planet (which might be the one where the Banished reside), there was an alarm to abandon ship and a Flood infection form.
Yet, Halo Wars 2 takes place in 2559 - so where is that Flood, etc.
 

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CommanderPalmer that's a possibility. My opinion based on style, is that the H2 / H2A / HW2 Trailer ODST looks like a early design, with bits of armor and pouches strapped on a black bdu, while the H3 / Reach / HW2 Gameplay ODST looks like an established design, with specialty armor pieces from an assembly line.
foxleader I personally think they wake up over a Banished-occupied planet and over the course of the campaign they will find a portal to the ark.


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so can we talk about the one big thing I seen on halo follower the other day... how in the world did they reach the second or first ark because they didn't have a slip space drive and I high doubt they where close to in at the end of halo wars.

The spirit of fire and its crew were in cryo sleep for 28 years with no one controlling where they were going( a bit like chief and cortana at the start of halo 4) and it was totally a coincidence that the drifted to the ark( or was it fan service?)

I think the point with the ODSTs that we're missing here is the timeline.
The ODST combat armour has seen little modifications and fixes over the hundred or so years its been around .
At the time the spirit and its crew went into cryo, they had the Halo 2 ODST's onboard. 20 years later in halo 2 the same armour was being used on the campaigns on new Mombassa and on installation 05. during the 20 years ONI or whoever makes the ODST armour probably went through some design flaws in the armour and built the Halo 3 ODST/ Halo 3 variant and it was issued between Halo 2 and 3.
Now that spirit of fire is out of cryo and is faced with the banished, they still have the original ODST's onboard and they are being used in the fight on the ark.
 
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