- StateOfRuin
- |
- Exalted Heroic Member
Register at your local Vault Tec office today! The world might not be there tomorrow...
Okay, let's start with what we know. Reach was a UNSC Outpost, a military planet through and through. Everyone there was UNSC. This was where Spartan 117 - John was brought after being "kidnapped" from his parents and replaced with a clone, who would soon after die from "natural causes." He was trained by Franklin Mendez, whom I very much look forward to meeting in-game, and by a special Smart AI named "Deja." This is where the original 150 Spartan-II's were trained. However, Mendez leaves to begin training of the Spartan-III's with Kurt, a Spartan-II on the secret UNSC planet of Onyx.
Keeping all of this in mind, there are a whole slieu of new armors available to players that fit into the timeline. ONI is present and constantly updating armors, making them more advanced. Dr. Halsey has been working with AI and also doing other secretive type UNSC stuff. Not to mention, every class of every UNSC soldier could be found on Reach. Every weapon of any design, including captured Covenant tech, was there. We all know every mode of transport was there, and plentiful. Hell, if I remember correctly, one of the UNSC personnel drove a modified Warthog with an Archer missile rack mounted on top.
So, let's think about that. In Halo 3 we had descriptions on all of the armors proclaiming a special need and how they fill the niche. Hayabusa was made parallel to the MJOLNIR program, fixing the self-powered armor problem. EOD was created so that explosions would channel around the user's head, decreasing likelihood of decapitation or injury. It is now used for handling of explosive ordnance. CQB was designed for close combat and flexibility. EVA for survival in zero-gee environments (the suit even has built-in thrusters.)
Think about it... something for everyone's playstyle. A mix and match plethora of armor permutations. Basing the swappable parts on Halo 3's armor perm system, one could wear an EVA chest piece, a CQB helmet, and EOD shoulders to become a soldier that is equipped to handle zero-gee firefights, increased look sensitivity, and has a small resistance to explosive ordnance. Neat, eh?
Although, seeing how well the armor perm system went over in Halo 3, I would expect to see many more unlockables serving many more functions. Not to mention, a few more "Recon-esque" suits held back for very special occasions/circumstances.
Based on the graphic above, I see at least one female, three typical soldiers, and a large Spartan-esque character. Wouldn't it be pretty neat if you started your career as a regular enlisted marine? Then throughout your multiplayer campaign you worked your way up into better gear, until you finally land that powered armor, becoming a single unstoppable force to be reckoned with. I don't know about you, but I have chills just thinking about the possibilities.
Does anyone else have any armor ideas? I know CQB was already mentioned. Wearing the complete suit would give you a serious advantage in melee combat. Wearing parts would only give you a partial upper-hand. I'm interested to hear people's ideas!
[Edited on 06.06.2009 10:57 AM PDT]