Halo 3 Bootcamp

A while back, clanmate Malinko hosted a Halo 3 Bootcamp. Each night he went over some gameplay tips and then we had a practice game or two to work on our new skills. After each class, we posted some of the things we learned. Here's a summary of those tips. Some are well known some are not, but I think everyone learned a few things during the week and we all had a lot of fun. A big thanks to Malinko for doing this for us. Thanks to ProdigalFox, Naveeda, Flapjaxx, Queen, and others for posting these.

Back To Basics

*Crouch Jumping: make sure you crouch when you reach the top of your jump. Hitting crouch right after you jump won't get you as high.

*Laser: shooting while zoomed in slows down the reticle and makes it easier to hit your target.

*Grenades: Frag grenades explode about 2 sec after hitting a floor. I noticed that walls do not start the timer. When aiming your grenade throw, use the south-west corner of your reticle.

*Sword: Strafing to the left can help you escape a sword attack. Moving to the right doesn't seem to help.

*Melee: Damage is not different for running, jumping, or standing. A melee will completely take down a player's shield. Three BR shots then a melee will give a kill. One melee and then one headshot will give a kill.

*Carbine: 8 headshots for a kill. I assume 7 body + 1 head would work.

*If you find yourself the target of a sniper, jump in the air and repeatedly press the crouch button. This causes your head to shift up and down making bullets less likely to kill you. This is also know as a "Gandhi Hop"

*When shooting with the brute shot, if you are a distance aim a notch or two above the head for a headshot.

*If you find yourself in close quarters with the brute shot, 1 shot and a melee will kill your opponent.

*The pea shooter and magnum pistol are a good combination for duals. Shoot first with pea shooter to bring down your opponents shield, then cap them off with the magnum. The plasma rifle also works well for taking down the shield.

*If you find your aim is lacking, don't be afraid to change your controller setting to a lower sensitivity, even as low as 1 or 2. This will greatly improve your aim though you should be much more cautious and tactical in tight areas. Find the number that works best for you. That is the key

*One more thing that i learned was that if i pull RT with hammer and the reticle is red, it lunges forward and kills the guy in one shot. If its not red then it simply pushes the guy away with some minor damage depending on how far he is.


WTF is a 4-shot? Learn to love your BR

*The headshot hitbox from behind is much smaller than from the front. (giggle at will).

*There is one random crazy bullet that sprays out of the BR from time to time- as shown by lining us up on a wall and shooting the same spot over and over.

*Strafe opposite of what your enemy is doing- it will confuse them and make them use their thumb sticks more.

*6 or 7 bodyshots to kills with BR, only 3 bodyshots + headshot to kill.

*Even some chest shots and aiming high on the weapon is considered a headshot.

*There's a tiny little red dot that will show up in the BR reticule to show a headshot will register.... Just try looking for that when you're in combat

* Grenade then Headshot = kill
Make sure to throw the grenade ahead of the enemies path because there is a 2 sec delay from when the grenade hits the ground

* When you're running from an enemy, look down to make your head almost invisible.

* If an enemy has a 1 or 2 shot lead on you there's a few options.
1) If they're at distance, throw a grenade then go for a headshot to beat them
2) If you have cover, run away.
3) If you're about to die, throw a grenade at your feet to get them as they pass you. A grenade thrown at your feet while standing will stick and not bounce away.

* Low sensitivity makes for better accuracy. If you like to run straight into battle, you'll need higher sensitivity. Personally, I dropped mine to 2 a little while back and have noticed improvement.


The Grenade is your Friend. All grenades all the time.

* When bouncing a frag grenade, aim at the ground mid way between you and the target. The frag should then explode at the enemy's feet.

*When aiming your grenade, remember that you throw with your left hand so you need to aim a little to the right. The south-west corner of the reticle what you should use to aim.

* Your movement affects your throw speed. If you're running forward, your grenade will fly further. If you're backtracking, you're grenade will land shorter.

* This is just something I noticed during practice: When someone jumps, throwing a sticky where they will land is much more affective than trying to stick them.

* Grenades take out shields pretty effectively. Then, its headshots FTW.


Boom Headshot!!! Yep you guessed it....Snipes.

* Stand on a hill and move in a circle. This keeps your head moving side to side and up and down which makes it difficult for someone to get a headshot on you.

* Leading isn't necessary unless you are sniping across map.

* Aiming for neck gives you a better chance of making a hit and a good chance for a headshot.

* No-scope bodyshot + melee = kill

* Put the reticle at the height you want it and strafe to aim.

* For the no-scope game I changed my sensitivity to 1 and did pretty well

* When aiming at someone running, I'd put my reticle in their path and pull the trigger when they passed it. It seems easier trying to follow the target.

Posted by hubristes @ 10:42 pm EDT | Permalink | 3 Comments

coming soon?

Still a working title at this point.  Well, the whole thing is still an "idea" at this point.  Stay tuned...

Posted by hubristes @ 10:37 am EDT | Permalink | 1 Comments

Teamwork

A while back, Kade47 ( I am Shogun) made a great post about teamwork HERE. Read his first entry called "1ne". A lot of my blogs have been about working with a team that you don't play with regularly. Its still very possible to play well together, but I think having a regular team to play with would vastly change the experience. Luckily, I played well with clanmates Spidey, Flapjaxx, and Phazemasher and we decided to stick together as a team. I'm pretty pumped about the team. It's likely that I'll be the worst player on the team, but I'm guessing they don't realize that ; )

EDIT:  forgot this teamwork link that Enemy posted in our clan forum:  *Top Halo 3 Teams 4v4 Video Archive*



In other news, I got a promotion recently. Yep, still a 29 in TS with over 600 EXP now. Staff Captain and the 'gold bars of shame' that come with it is a dreaded rank. Its immediately pointed out by timmies and supposedly makes it very clear that you suck. For some reason, it also seems to imply that you're gay. Fucking timmies. I was trying to avoid that rank by going into TS with only players I could count on. That still didn't work. One night, after explaining some of my troubles, a clanmate said "The problem is you're playing for rank, not for fun".

Wow. Later, I was almost embarrassed. I'm a casual player. I don't care what timmies think. I don't really care if I do suck at Halo. My clanmates don't care about rank. What was I worried about? So, I said 'screw it'. I played for fun. I had some great social games. I got some double EXP weekend action. Both of which I was starting to avoid so I wouldn't rank up based on EXP. Kind of silly looking back. For the record, I don't blame anyone for wanting to rank up. I still want my star. I just won't be putting my rank as a higher priority than fun. Now, with my promotion the pressure is really off. Game on!

Posted by hubristes @ 3:24 pm EDT | Permalink | 5 Comments

Mongoose Mowdown

I was never really worried about achievements.  I got all the campaign ones just because they're fun to see and I like the campaign mode.  I went for a few of the MM achievements and picked up a couple more just by playing the game.  The only achievement I really wanted was the Mongoose Mowdown.  I just liked the shoulder armor that came with it.  I tried and tried, but driving a mongoose around on a small map during a FFA match was just a K/D killer for me.  Add to that, the fact that I really don't like FFA.  I wound up with a 15 in Lone Wolves only because I was going for a few achievements.  Sadly, I got fed up and that level 15 sat for months.  I have quietly longed for those sexy armor pieces the entire time.
 
Recently, a couple clanmates posted about their adventures in LW and gave a little advice so I decided to give it another go.  I'm a dedicated Halo player, I deserve that shoulder armor.  Here's a long winded account of my quest to complete that armor set.
 
Game1:  Slayer on Isolation  
Sweet, I get to try for it my first game.  Okay, the goose is fired up, the timmies are flocking to the top of the hill, this should be easy.  Why did I have such a hard time with this before?  Off I go...  I scream up the hill and drive straight towards a damaged player... almost there... almost there... he jumps out of the way.  And I hit a tree.  And flip over.  Uh oh.  Somehow I managed to jump up and kill the player I just missed and then kill the other guy chasing him.  Double what?  Whatever, back on the goose.  
 
I make a couple more runs and finally found another good roadkill candidate.  I ran square into him.  Yes!  No.  No achievement.  The prick still had full shields.  Oh and I ran into a rock.  And I flipped over.  Once again, I AR'd him and the guy following him.  Double Kill, bitches (saying it is like a reflex now).  Geez, these guys where bad.  I could totally win this game if I wasn't so obsessed with this insanely retarded achievement.   Anyway, it wasn't happening.  Oh well, it was just the first game.
 
Game2:  Oddball on Snowbound
Grr, not a bad game, but not what I need tonight.  Oh what's this?  A veto?  Another veto.  One more... got it.  Ah yes, the timmies hate objective games.  Sweet.
 
Game 2a:  Slayer on High Ground
This match seemed to have a completely different breed of players.  All of them had spike grenades.  All of them.  All the time.  I don't know how, but they did.  I"m sure that I'll be featured on a few future timmy montages.  No achievement this game.
 
Game 3:  Slayer on Epitaph
I could probably use a little break from my futile four-wheeling foray anyway.  Game on.   A few minutes later... Damn, that was embarrassing. I only had 8 kills.  As a dose of salt for the wound, I lost a level also.  This achievement was going to have to happen fast or it was never going to happen at all.
 
Game 4:  BRs on The Pit
Once again, not what would help me accomplish my goal.  Who would veto BRs on the Pit?  BRs are great.  The Pit is great.  I vetoed anyway just as a matter of principle.  And then another veto followed mine.  Hmmm, is it possible?  Could it happen?  With the timer ticking down I had to act quick.  Do I play through this game or do I do what it takes to accomplish the goal that has torn at my soul for far too long.  I'm not proud of this, but I'd do it again... in the shrillest voice I could muster, with all the immaturity I could pull from that little boy inside me, I did it.  I yelled "VETO! VETO! VETO! VETO! VETO!"  
 
As if I had summoned the demons of timminess themselves, the vetoes arose.  I felt dirty and oddly oily, but it was what I needed to do.  I couldn't just wait for the right maps all night, I had to take action. 
 
Game 4a:  Slayer on High Ground
Ah, here we go again.  I almost had to force myself to mount the goose.  I tried a little more strategy, just keeping to safe paths so I wouldn't have to turn around much.  It started to get kind of fun again just racing around and not getting killed constantly.  I bumped a few players but no kills. 
 
Then, right before me, a player's shields went dead.  BR'd by another, he was helpless.  I had to turn quickly to meet him and wound up just barley clipping him.  Oh well, moving on... and then I saw it.  The splatter medal.  Never have I been so happy to see such an image.  I had it.  Or did I?  No achievement popped up.  fuck!  fuck fuckity fuckin fuck! 
 
Oh wait, there it is.  It's just delayed a little bit. SWEET!  I got it!  From there, I was able to focus on the game some more.  I went on a killing spree and wound up in second place so I got my level back too. 
 
BEHOLD!


Posted by hubristes @ 7:01 am EDT | Permalink | 5 Comments

Don't Die

I’ve mentioned my “don’t die” strategy many times before but never in detail. Much of this may be a review of my old topics so I’ll skim over some information. Of course, I’m still a work in progress so please comment on any criticisms you may have.

When I spawn, my first priority is weapons. I go for the BR first but a Carbine will do fine. Then I look for sticky and/or spike grenades. Sometimes there’s a lot of action going on at spawn so I may need to just jump into battle with my AR blazing to support a teammate, but I always remember to upgrade as soon as I can. 

Next, I look at my teammates. I always try to be within range of at least one teammate. Bunching up is a bad idea, staying with AR range is best I think. That keeps you far enough apart to avoid being a double kill but close enough to team shoot and gives some room for movement. I keep behind cover as much as possible but never stay in such a small place that I’d be an easy grenade kill. Caves and tight hallways are deathtraps.

When I have an enemy in site, I first throw a grenade and then start shooting. This is where it gets tricky. As soon as you shoot someone your location is broadcast to the other team. My shield is quickly going down. If I know I have the jump and will likely get the kill, I keep shooting. If I’m suddenly double teamed, I take cover (which I’ve made sure is close). It only takes 4 BR shots to kill you. If I’m going to loose the battle I run after two shots. A third shot will be taken as I turn around and I can’t afford the fourth.

When I run, I hopefully already have an escape route in mind. This allows me to look straight down, which hides my head from being hit from behind. I run to my safe zone or just keep running until my shields recover. I usually try to run in the direction of a teammate. It’s likely my pursuer has taken some damage so running to a teammate will lead the enemy into a trap that he can’t win. Even if I die, my team gets a kill and we break even. 

Another tactic for running is grenade placement. When I’m running away, I throw grenades differently. I look for obvious paths for the pursuer and place grenades as blockers. I’m not trying to kill the opponent at this point; I’m trying to stay alive. A grenade landing at a doorway just before the enemy arrives will cause some damage and make him hesitate. If I throw it as runs through the door, it’s likely he’ll jump and avoid death. He may still take damage, but now he’s in the same room and finishing me off. If I can’t block the path of travel, hiding behind a corner with a sticky in hand is a good way to make sure you at least break even. A short range stick is better than a melee anytime.

The next part of not dying is realizing a good opponent is using these same tactics. If I have the advantage and the enemy starts to run, the first instinct is to chase. That’s a bad idea. He’ll be throwing grenades in your path and running towards teammates. Try to use an alternate route to cut him off or just let him go. 

Communication should be happening throughout this entire process. Calling out a pursuing enemy’s location is especially fun. It’s a beautiful thing to see three BR shots land on an enemy that almost kills you.  Calling out an enemy location as soon as you see on will cause your team to react sooner and make your death much less likely.

So that’s the jist of it. Most players don’t run until it’s too late. Realize you’re going to take hits as you run so leave early unless you know you have the advantage (first shot). The next major mistake players make is poor escape routes. Have one planned that ideally leads to your teammates.  These are the kinds of things I've worked on to lower my death count and they're working.  Now, I need to work more on getting my kill count up.  Perhaps I run too much or too early.  Perhaps I need to learn some more offensive strategies.  I don't know, but it sure is fun trying to figure it out..

Posted by hubristes @ 12:46 pm EDT | Permalink | 0 Comments