Halo 1 & 2 for PC
This topic has moved here: Subject: Tutorial: Begginer stratergies and learning and surviving halo online
  • Subject: Tutorial: Begginer stratergies and learning and surviving halo online
Subject: Tutorial: Begginer stratergies and learning and surviving halo online
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

A tutorial on how to play halo better.

Noob Strategies for Survival and Learning



I’m relatively new to Halo Multiplayer, and though I don’t consider myself a complete “Newbie” anymore, I’m still close enough to that timeline in my playing that I now see things in a different light (uh, an “advanced Noob?”), and can see where I was blind to some things before.



So, I’ve written some basic Strategy & Tactics below in the hopes this will ease other Noob’s “weaning” period as they play their first few games. These are basic ideas to mitigate the Noob issue of: “OK, I’ve just spawned into a game, now what do I do?”.



The following guidelines are simply my opinions. Take’em or leave’em.



Strategic Guidelines & Etiquette:



Don’t get frustrated. Have fun. It’s a game. Expect to die. Play with honor, and enjoy. Ignore others who can’t do the same.



Don’t Team Kill (e.g. kill one of your teammates intentionally). If you accidentally kill a teammate, simply type a quick “Sorry” (or “sry” as an abbrev) message at your earliest opportunity. Hit “T”, type your message, then hit enter.



Don’t lag a game. If you are lagging (the little “X” icon blinks up several times at the lower right of your screen), quit the game voluntarily. I’m soon to upgrade from 56K dialup to DSL, and I can’t wait. TIP: When looking the list of servers over, click one and note the Ping Rating at the right. A LOWER ping number is GOOD (e.g. 180 or lower) a higher ping number is BAD (e.g. 250+). At 56K I’ve found I don’t have much success unless the ping rate is 270 or lower (and even that is high/questionable).



Keep your eyes open for key players, those with high kill ratios and/or flag running successes, which are reported to everyone at the end of each game. See who’s good, and what are they doing. I’d like to thank some players for their fine playing skills, and “manners”, that has been a help to me: Master Chief, NEW001, Quadzilla, freakinRITA, Mad Cow, AgentLED (sucker over the door. I got your number, buddy). There’s a bunch more, but these are the ones that immediately come to mind. If you see a “good player” running off to wreak some havoc (and he’s on your team), perhaps follow them and adopt a protective/support role to them. You’ll learn a lot.



Pay attention to TEAMWORK. Flow. Rhythm. Pretend you are watching a football game, but you are one of the players. Offense, Defense, Block/Tackle, Interceptions. Defense is sometimes overlooked, but can sway the game if you can KEEP YOUR FLAG POINT SAFE.



Learn the Maps. There is no easy answer to this one, unless you host your own game with a password so you can run around and learn the layout. Ya gotta know the Map to be really effective. If it’s a new map to you, do your best. Keep playing it, and you’ll learn its layout. TIP: Typically, you spawn with only basic weapons. The “good stuff” is scattered around the map. Learn where the grenades, good weapons, and health packs are.

Know the differences between game types. Important, as the flow of the game is significantly influenced by the game type:



Capture the Flag (aka: CTF): How to know: You hear “Capture the Flag” when you join, and you do NOT see “offense” or “defense” at the top left of your screen. Each team has a flag in their base. You have to assault the opposition’s base, take their flag, and return it to your base for a point. They do the same to you.



Capture the Flag (alt 1 – Safe Flag to Score): How to know: You hear “Capture the Flag” when you join, you’ve got the flag, cross your flag point, and you don’t score. Alternately, if you spawn into a game and you see your flag-runner running around with the other teams flag with an incessant “Red team has the flag . . . Blue team has the flag” announcement (each team has each other’s flag). To score, your flag must be at your base, and as long as each team has a flag, no one can score. This is a nice one as it forces a new flow to the game: Who hunts down the other’s flag first, while simultaneously each team tries to protect their own flag runner (or the flag runners try to hide successfully). As a Noob, pay attention to the game type, and PROTECT YOUR FLAG RUNNER if he’s got their flag, or KILL THEIR FLAG RUNNER if he’s got yours, depending on opportunity and circumstances.



Capture the Flag (alt 2 – Offense/Defense): How to know: You spawn into the game, you hear “Capture the Flag”, and you see “Offense” or “Defense” at top left of your screen. There is only one flag, which is given to Offense, and the game will switch Offense designation to each team every 2 – 3 minutes. Offense must plant the flag at the Defensive flag point to score.



Slayer. How to know: You hear “Slayer” when you spawn into a game. Free for all kill-spree, every man for himself.



Team Slayer. How to know: You hear “Team Slayer” when you spawn into a game. Killing spree between the two teams. Don’t kill your own team-mates.



Odd Ball. (Don’t know the precise rules on this one). How to know: You hear “Oddball” when you spawn into a game.



Learn your weapons. You are gonna die a lot before you become proficient with them. But, common to all: Make the shots count! Hit the target, or if a rocket or grenade hit the anticipated spot where the target will be, not where they are right now. TIP: The PISTOL is a great secondary weapon. Learn it. Good players make kill after kill with the pistol.



Train your eyes to frequently flick to your “radar” at lower left of your screen. Red dots are bad guys. TIP: This is a “movement sensor”. If someone stops moving, they don’t show.



Learn the vehicles, in particular how to drive the Warthog 4 wheel assault buggy. The Hog is, item for item, one of THE most FUN vehicles I’ve ever seen on a game. Easy on the wheel, don’t over correct . . . unless it’s an intentional maneuver! J



Learn how to MOVE, both on foot, and in vehicles. If you are waiting in ambush, that’s one thing. If you are in the open, you’re sniper-fodder if you are standing around.



Each server may “load out” its map differently, depending on the tastes of that admin. I’ve seen tanks and banshees in Blood Gulch, or not. Keep on your toes. You see a hot-shot vehicle in front of you, TAKE IT.

Noob Spawn Tactics (for the most part CTF oriented)



You’ve just spawned into a game. What do you do? Following are things that typically snap through my head in rapid-fire succession when I spawn into a game:



1) MOVE, MOVE, MOVE, MOVE! Side to side, forward or back. If your base is swarmed, you will be instantly targeted as you spawn.



2) Validate WHAT TEAM YOU ARE ON: Red or Blue. Look at the top of the screen: Are you Red or Blue? You may have just played for an hour on another server as Red, and now you are Blue, and you mistakenly start shooting your teammates cause you are still thinking “red”. (Hanging my head in shame, Master Chief).



3) Don’t step in front of a moving friendly vehicle. Your buddy may be pulling the Hog out for a run, not realizing you are moving around to get in.



4) Dodge ramming enemy vehicles.



5) Get your bearings (while moving!), and if your base is under attack, kill invaders. (don’t kill your own teammates). Use grenades on enemy vehicles!



6) Once you have spawned safely, and aren’t in immediate danger, identify the game type by listening as you spawned, and look for data at top left of your screen to see if it’s a modified version of CTF (e.g. Offense/Defense, or nothing).



7) ID the Map you are on by looking around, and decide: Offense or Defense strategy? If you are unfamiliar with the map, or you are new to the game, a Defense role is a good start.



8) GRENADE UP & Weapon Up (if you can). Look around, and pick up any grenades lying around, and if available switch out to a better weapon. Learn where the spawn points are for weapons and grenades. TIP: Plasma grenades will STICK to someone if they are hit with it. J (they can run, but no way to hide . . . BOOM!).



9) If defensive, look around and ID entry points to your base. There will be more than one unfortunately, but pick a spot you think is advantageous and move to position. Don’t be a sitting duck standing around in the wide-open. You want someplace that lets you get the first shot or grenade off. Look for “defensive choke points” (if any) the enemy must enter through. If you have the benefit of one or more teammates on defense, don’t leave approaches uncovered, DEPLOY TO COVER ALL ENTRANCES BETWEEN YOU. (e.g. You cover the left entrance, and I’ll cover the right). If you hear your buddy firing, consider movement to help if your approach is still clear.



10) If you are going offensive, consider a gunner role in a Hog before a driver’s role, if you haven’t driven a Hog before. Make a few rides as a gunner, then try driving one. You’ll gain some kind of feel for Hog driving dynamics. Don’t let Hogs ride off without Gunners! If not a Hog, pick a vehicle and GO! Vehicles make GREAT weapons. Run’em over! (but NOT your teammates). Opinion: If it looks like all or most of your team has swarmed out of your base on an offensive run, consider a defensive position regardless, to keep your flag point safe. Grenade up, pick the best spot you can, and pay attention to your motion-radar.


[Edited on 3/28/2005 11:11:35 PM]

  • 03.28.2005 11:10 PM PDT
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT


11) Rocket Launchers on Hogs give you three shots, then a lag while each reloads. Rockets require you to lead your target, and practice is required. Don’t waste the shots. The chain gun throws out continuous high-speed lead. Keep the target in the cross hairs as long as possible. Waving the chain gun around does nothing but waste lead, while the enemy is pouring it into you.



12) If you are at your base, and you hear “(the other team) Has The Flag”, and you know it was there a second ago, FIND THE SUCKER, right now! He snuck in around you, and is within your reach somewhere, with YOUR flag. Be prepared to lob a grenade at an escape vehicle or his cover-buddy.



13) Support your Flag Runners! This takes practice, and each situation is different, but the bottom line is: Your flag-runner must make it to your base and plant the flag (or must plant the flag at the enemy base if it is Offense/Defense CTF). A) Keep the base safe from invaders for a safe return by your flag runner (and to keep your flag in position if it’s that flavor of CTF), B) “Block” for your runner if he’s being chased/intercepted, and you are within range to help. This requires initiative on your part to travel in an intercept, and/or to clear a travel path, or to keep the base clear/open. Make a decision, and execute with focus.



14) If you are on offense with someone who will be grabbing the flag, COVER THEM during the grab! If a Hog is involved (a 2 Person Hog load out is always one driver, one gunner. If there’s a driver, ignore the passenger seat and go for the gun in the rear), my opinion is:



· 1 Person: Driver & flag runner, one person. Fast and sharp. Get back with that flag in one piece. Run over immediate targets in your way, but focus primarily on DRIVING. If you’ve driven to, and gotten the flag, but you can’t get to the Hog to drive back, KEEP MOVING, and run an alternate route if available (on foot, or take a different vehicle). Your opponents might hesitate a moment or two thinking you will try to come back to your original vehicle.



· 2 Person: Driver is also flag runner. Gunner covers through whole run. Hot point is the grab, and the start back out. COVER THE DRIVER WHILE HE GETS THE FLAG.



· 2 Person (alt): Gunner jumps out ahead of the driver for the flag (tsk-tsk-tsk): Driver- JUMP OUT AND EITHER COVER ON FOOT, OR JUMP IN THE BACK OF THE HOG AND COVER WITH THAT WEAPON. Ex-Gunner will then have to be smart enough to pop into the driver seat for the run back. If you are an experienced Hog driver, it may be possible to cover by driving the Hog as a weapon (don’t run your returning flag runner over though).



· 3 Person: Several options here. As a default, perhaps: Driver drives, Gunner Covers, Passenger jumps & grabs the flag. During the grab, the driver can help keep the Hog safe with some minor maneuvers. Don’t run your flag runner over as he approaches for the ride back! Depending on the situation, perhaps both driver and passenger jump for the flag, passenger covering on foot, gunner covering from Hog, driver going for the flag, then both retreating quickly to the Hog. Opinion: On foot covers: Sacrifice yourself for the flag runner. Tie the opposition up with you if you have to, to give your flag runner time to make it to the escape vehicle, or to base. I’m not talking about wasting yourself, but change tactics if need be to a non-retreat, aggressive mode at the pick up point to tie the enemy up, and protect the flag runner.

  • 03.28.2005 11:12 PM PDT
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT


Miscellaneous



See who else is playing. Press/hold F1 to see the list of who is playing on each team.



Melee Kills. If you are close to someone and hit your “F” key, you will punch your opponent. Do this from behind, and it’s an instant kill. Learn to use it, and retrain yourself in close quarters: Move into the opponent and whack them if you’ve got a weak weapon, or if you’ve run out of ammo, instead of always moving away to keep your distance. Takes practice, and if they’ve got a shotgun or something you’d be dead, but you’d be surprised how often you can win a combat by smacking your opponent (even with the flag! J).



What to do about “Super Weapons”? (Rocket Launcher, Tank, Fuel Rod Gun). Kill them, while not getting hit in return. Lotsa luck (but possible, with practice). Remember tip #1? Move & dodge, and use your pistol & grenades, or your own “biggy” gun if you’ve got one.



What to do about Snipers?: Kill them, once you figure out where they are located. Look for the smoke trails in the air for rifles, and around you at “hidden spots” for closer-in pesky pistol shooters.



What’s the translucent blue cube-thing, and the pyramid-thing? The cube will boost your shields for a while, and the pyramid will cloak you (almost invisible) for a while. You see one, pick it up.



What’s the green glowing door? (if the map you are playing has any). A teleport. Walk through it and come out somewhere else. Good players know where they go, and make deadly use of them.



The Ghost hover-craft: The Ghost will slide left to right, as well as forward and back, just like you do on foot. It has one weapon only, but running people over kills them too.



The Banshee: Flys more like a plane (no right or left slide, per se), and has two weapons: Left-click for the primary weapon (continuous fire possible), and right-click for a fuel-rod launch (takes a couple of seconds to recharge).



The Scorpion Tank. Drives like you would expect, and has two weapons. Left click fires the cannon, and right-click the machine gun. Reload progress of the cannon is shown at the bottom of the cross-hair/reticle in your HUD as small dots appearing left to right. TIP: You can be shot out of this thing pretty easily, to my surprise. Use your cannon shots WISELY due to reload lag, and take out dangerous targets first. Use the machine gun liberally while the cannon recycles.



The WartHog. Fish-taily, but with only a small amount of practice you’ll love this thing. Steer SMOOTHLY, unless you actually want to perform an immediate donut. Ramming: Ram an enemy Warthog broadside, and you’ll send it flying in a tumble. Run two Warthogs head on, and one of them is going airborne, without clear kowledge of which one. Having a gunner in a Hog dramatically improves the vehicles effectiveness. If you are high-speeding around a corner, a quick flick of your finger off & on the gas again is almost like down-shifting (sort of). What I’m trying to say is there are accelerator control possibilities available, if you play around a little and get the feel for it, instead of just flooring it all the time.



Spawn Camping. For Noob’s who don’t know what this means: Your opponents are deployed around your base where you spawn, typically with the more powerful weapons, and slaughters you as you spawn each time. Those 1 to 2 seconds to get oriented when spawning, not to mention spawning with, relatively speaking, “puny” weaponry, can make this a nearly unrecoverable situation. You spawn, you die, you spawn, you die, your opponents crow over how great they are, and you die some more. This is a more difficult topic to deal with than first appearances may suggest, but, for whatever it’s worth, I’ll offer my opinion:



Aggressors - Play with honor. If the situation has become a spawn-camped controlled state, I’d suggest the aggressors willingly move back, much like a boxing match when a ref steps in and says: “Break!”. You don’t loose much by doing so, as the tenants of CTF are still in place: The real points are in flag running against opponents who can fight back. Free for all kill-sprees are what Slayer is for. If you’ve established an unbreakable spawn camping situation, give the game a break, and back off.



Victims: This is not always cut and dry, and is more or less of a problem depending on the map. Blood Gulch, IMO, is more possible to recover from, than say, Danger Canyon, and strangely enough, is almost conducive to it. In Blood Gulch, it’s a more open area, and while some frustrating Hog dodging has to occur, if you are good with your grenades, you CAN fend this off. Part of the allure of Blood Gulch is the open-area dueling. However, other maps have spawn points in enclosed spaces, with no room to maneuver. You spawn with a rock wall to your back, your opponents up on your platform and to the sides with rockets and fuel rod guns, with no where to go, and no way to apply enough firepower to break the hammer lock. In those environments an opponent can totally dominate the spawn points, with no hope of recovery if they are serious about it, have the heavier weapons, and have any skill. The point: It’s not always 100% cut and dry each and every time, on each and every map, that an “unfair” spawn-camping situation is in effect. An aspect of war is “the best defense is a good offense”, etc., etc., so pay attention to protecting your base from intruders, as well as running offense. They do want to kill you, and they are coming to your base to do so.



So, that’s it. All that wonderful wisdom. From someone who was trounced several times today. Ah, well, we all have bad days I suppose, and of course, there is that old saying:



“No plan survives contact with the enemy . . . “ Or something like that.



How do you know if you are getting better? Watch your stats at the end of each game, that’s the objective benchmark important to you. I’ve gone from 2 – 4 kills on average, to about 12 – 18, with a high of 35 I think (now I gotta reduce my death rate! ;) ). I’ve gone from never getting close to any of the “good players”, to frequently killing them. Even though their scores are higher than mine, the point is I’m starting to score back. I used to never make a successful flag run, now it happens frequently.



Enjoy the game, learn from the good players, and your skills will naturally evolve.



Keep at it. It’s a blast!

  • 03.28.2005 11:13 PM PDT
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

Pretty good !

  • 03.28.2005 11:59 PM PDT
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

:)

  • 03.29.2005 1:55 AM PDT
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

I shall take some tim to add to your wonderful Tutorial KayJay (seems your becoming quite the guide go to man hehe).

Advanced Strategies and Tactics:

trying to keep all of these strategies in your head can be overwhelming but just play and eventually it'll all come to you. A side note though these are more of clan tactics as they require some teamwork but sometimes you find players who know what your doing.

Confuse 'em: Usually when the other team hears that there flag has been taken they tend to spaz out and start moving toward your base to kill the flag carrier.And to keep yourself from getting killed, just STAY IN THE BASE. find a place to hide in their base and wait for about 10 seconds. Then it's just a matter of following them from behind and by the time they realize your actually behind them. more than likely it'll be too late and your team mates will have moved to cover you.

One Whack: another thing to remember is it only takes One hit to the back to kill someone. This is especially useful when you have the flag as that is the only attack you have. The most effective way to do this is to go through a teleporter and immediately back up once your through the enemy will follow you and you'll already be behind them. Just act fast before they realize what's going on.

Teleporter fun: in maps like BG where the teleporter is almost always used by players to lazy to walk an extra couple feet there are other effective tactics to use on them,

Tactic one: Camp the teleporter, by this I mean kill anyone thats not on your team that goes through it, If you have a vehicle it is made even easier to do just keep running over the teleporter exit. Many WILL complain of your prudish tactics but just remember that there is no rule book saying you can't camp, And your not spawn camping so it's their own fault they keep walking through the teleporter.

Tactic Two: just park a vehicle on top of the exit of their porter thus slowing their transportation down. allowing you and your team to push the fight closer to the enemy base, this is especially effectife in Ice Fields if y ou are skilled enough to get a ehicle to their teleporter. Just make sure it IS their teleporter and not your own....

Round 'em Up and Shank Their Lightbulb Grease: This one requires two people who KNOW what they are doing and is used almost exclusively on Icefields, Blood Gulch, and Infinity. get you or your buddy to drive a warthog and the other to man the turret. Have the driver circle the enemy base. while you shoot any enemy's in sight and he runs over them. Once it seems clear run in the enemy base. The gunner gets out and grabs the flag while the driver drives around to the exit on the exact opposite side of the base (DO NOT park up top of the base in Infinity as one well placed grenade will finish you both off and have only succeded in giving the other team a warthog!) you get in at the other exit to the base and haul back to your base for the flag capture. by picking them up at another exit you succeed in fooling any player whos just trying to kill you. Plus you feel really 1337 after a succesful run.

I can post vehicle tactics but too lazy right now, I wanna go play!

  • 03.29.2005 7:23 AM PDT
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

Great post KayJay that is very helpful! I've just gotten into PC online within the past month.......usually play under the name Master Chief so maybe that was me out there....did I by any chance roll a Warthog on top of you? lol well I did say "sorry"

Well your post has me all charged up to go play ... I got discouraged last week when I joined a game full of jerkwads. I mean the server name did nothing to indicate it was a private / stunt game etc., but these guys acted like stuck-up idiots.

So how do you avoid that kind of situation, should you say something like "mind if I join?" when you 1st spawn (I usually at least say Hi)

btw do you play under the name KayJay or something else? Would love to be able to find games I know are being played by cool ppl.

  • 03.29.2005 8:28 AM PDT
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

I hate my copy of Halo. I had no choice but to use the copy my brother got that was a cracked one. I cant get a new one so I am very sad. If I ever achieve getting all the stuff I need and have left over money, I may get the real version. Sorry Bungie if you take this seriously but I have no choice.

  • 03.31.2005 1:08 AM PDT
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

give me ur email adress i'll send something to u that'll help ur guide. its huge so i don't feel like typing it

by the way, u just need the right cd key right? its not the copy of a cd or anything?

[Edited on 3/31/2005 4:09:24 AM]

  • 03.31.2005 4:08 AM PDT
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

Lead your shots with ALL weapons. That means aim infront of your enemy. Learn the most common strategies from watching players and learn to work together eg. covering, planned attacks. Also for any of you out there who don't know what Halo Custom Edition is, I suggest you go get it. It is way better than just halo PC. O an look at the links in my sig for more indepth strategies.

[Edited on 3/31/2005 2:38:02 PM]

  • 03.31.2005 2:37 PM PDT
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

for those of you using a macintosh, don't bother looking for the CE edition. you'll just have to stick to the regular version.

Not meaning to take the thread off topic (and STILL working on that latin...),
Yout3

  • 03.31.2005 2:48 PM PDT
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

wow wat a waste of time typing stuff everybody knows already

  • 03.31.2005 3:15 PM PDT
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

I can see why your not liked on the forums. This is a guide for NEW people.

[Edited on 3/31/2005 4:03:57 PM]

  • 03.31.2005 4:03 PM PDT