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Subject: Drones and Halo Reach
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Posted by: BTE
Posted by: Xharpan
it doese'nt look nextgen , looks good but not nextgen
If by next-gen you mean crappy, dark and colorless, I agree. It doesnt look next-gen at all.

Its all about adding them to the game with another type of enemy and not just the drones. Dont know about you but Drones in Halo 3 scared the crap out of me on Legendary. Their rate of fire is something to be scared of yet if they had a few grunts or some brutes throwing granades at you they would be one of the toughest enemies out there.

Drones you just kill 1, hide, wait for your shields to go up and then move on to the next one. This could be harder if you had something else throwing explosives at you, or moving around to flank you. The Drone AI is also quite dumb. If you stay too much time on a position they should have half of the drones, just go around and kill you instead of just staying still.

  • 06.24.2009 11:49 AM PDT
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they did shak things up in H2 if u pay attention when u go to high charity and it overun by the flood there are also orangeish redish drones that are never really explained, i kinda wanna know wat they were they didnt seem any harder to kill and they didnt use different tatics and if ur wondering they did fight with the regular green ones so dont read this and go lookin for an orange swarm

  • 08.17.2009 6:04 PM PDT

bungie just wanted to add a unique opponent to spice things up.
i wouldnt mind if they were a little strong and maybe had a queen though.

  • 08.17.2009 6:08 PM PDT
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I think drone swarm + hunter pair would be damn effective... and i think they tried to make them a little more formidable by making them able to pull you out of vehicles, but theyre still pathetic enemies.

  • 08.17.2009 6:23 PM PDT

Posted by: Raylette
I like the idea but you can't count Halo Wars as canon. But Drones have been a Covenant force since the beginning, soooo. I would expect to see a few.

Halo Wars campaign is canon. Brutes were not on the front lines in the battles between covenant and UNSC. Spirit of Fire can't inform the UNSC of the Flood because they used their Slipspace Engine to detonate the Forerunner world, meaning that they are drifting in space.



And to the OP, yes their will most likely Drones. To me, they're not let downs, because they can and will outmanuever you. Legendary was a pain with all of those bugs, especially on Crow's Nest.

  • 08.17.2009 6:28 PM PDT

I like the queen idea and agree that the drones should be added and made better enemies.

Taken directly from Halopedia:

"The Yanme'e are a eusocial species; meaning their society usually consists of a single reproductive queen"

Drones- Scroll down to Background, it is the second paragraph.

  • 08.17.2009 6:30 PM PDT
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I think Drones should be stronger. Sort of how they are on legendary. Maybe throw in some Jackals riding on their backs with Carbines.

  • 08.17.2009 6:32 PM PDT

Drones shouldnt be necessarily stonger, just more strategic and a more worthy enemy than they are.

  • 08.17.2009 9:38 PM PDT

I think every enemy needs to be redone for reach halo3 had the worse campaign of any halo game it wasn't even one of the better campaings in gaming overall, instead of making enemies rely on pure strength numers,armor and perfect accuracy along with always knowing your exact position and knowing every move you make weather or not your in the line of sight like halo 3 did I would rather have the enemy rely on tactics to make the game harder.

  • 08.17.2009 10:35 PM PDT

Posted by: sargent shade
I think every enemy needs to be redone for reach halo3 had the worse campaign of any halo game it wasn't even one of the better campaings in gaming overall, instead of making enemies rely on pure strength numers,armor and perfect accuracy along with always knowing your exact position and knowing every move you make weather or not your in the line of sight like halo 3 did I would rather have the enemy rely on tactics to make the game harder.


Thats a good idea. I hate how there are only a handful of times when the enemy doesn't know where you are until you walk into their view or fire a bullet. Like The Ark, the very beginning they don't know you are there until you walk out or shoot at them. I hate how the enemies 90% of the time know exactly where you are no matter what.

  • 08.18.2009 8:37 AM PDT
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Dark Jester 86 is the Gamer tag.

Drones are sort of like the oddball race really. I mean they all look like a freak show, but Drones really take the cake.

I think they have this poteintial that isn't yet reached, for instance, now that Phantoms are destructible, we should make Pelican's destructible (Not just cinematic destructible).

Imagine the ending of a level, and a Pelican is to your location. You as the player might have just gone through an intense fight, and so you sincerely beleive it is the final part of the level, then when the Pelican comes into view, all of the trees around you (Maybe even the ground busts open, I don't know, some dramatic entrance) shake violently as the drones fly faster than you've ever seen them.

Sure, they have guns, but why not utilize the spikes on their forearms? (I know in Halo 2 they had those). So they fly to the said Pelican, latch onto it, maybe a bit of skin opens up and reveal some spike, and they start pounding on it, or they could simply have that whole strength aspect to them (Like ants) and start ripping bits off of it, like the back thrusters, or maybe, just simply the back hatch, then once inside you see gore splat against the cockpit window and the Pelican tumbles down.

I also beleive they should incorporate a formation. I want to see them flying with style, in multiple formations. The horde formation was okay the last few games, but I want to see some odd designs, that really give them that school of fish look.

I also don't think a Drone Queen would be much of a boss. Even if she produces drones while battling, they would come out with a plasma pistol or anything. Larva Maybe just eggs.

If there were a queen I would want the entrance to be like this:

A Harbinger Covenant ship is carrying an odd box object in the center (I realize box is... odd, but still at least you have that moment of "Wha???") I'm talking, a huge box, or some other type of container, and then it drops it in the battle field. From your position you could either wait, and watch an Elite attempt to open the box, with some sort of control on the side, or if you fire, the box begins to shake, and out of it, unfolds a Queen, screaming at a high pitched sound, that I actually want to hurt the players ears.

Some sort of appearance, I mean even though walking into a dark room and having a chamber shut behind you would be more dramatic, it just reminds me of the Flood.

Presentation, really. The container isn't the best idea, but it's not something a player of the game is used to seeing. Maybe a Marine base is filled with drones, and you fight underground and keep going deeper, until you get to the queen (A very insect like environment. Underground.)

As far as the queen goes, I'm not sure how she'd fight, but I could see the wingless drone guards (As mentioned in Contact Harvest) standing upright, with maybe something as dramatic as spears, and guarding her, then a fight breaks out, and you have to kill the queen, but these guards will keep coming (Like the Regret fight in Delta Halo.)

It's hard to add anymore thought into it, because I can only assume what they look like, and I have a base design in my head that I refuse to let go of so I only see possibilities of it being very weak in combat (Unlike a Xenomorph queen)

I think drones should rip people out of vehicles (within reason).

I think they should be able to pick people off the ground (At least your fellow Marine).

I think it'd be great to see 50 of them spiral out of a Covenant cruiser's grav-lift.

Sure, they could duel wield, why not? I think they should stick to the walls more. We always fight them on a wall or in the air, but what if they were on the ceiling? Imagine they took up every square inch of a room? You'd need to really rely on the bubble shield.

They could latch onto Phantom's and fire from the top.

Or anywhere. Make them crazy.

They could pick up a marine, and a Phantom turret could just incinerate them.

Put them in the woods where the player might not see them. They should have been in the first level of Halo 3, where all of the Jackal snipers were. True, that was a sniper part, and I understand and accept that that was a decent part, but with scenery like that, take advantage of it.

Maybe a have a woods with just drones in it, and have them sleeping against the walls. If the player fires at one, they wake up, sort of like how Grunts slept in Halo 1.

I think Halo should bring back the stealth elements of the first game. This would go good. Imagine you tried to make it past the drones without startling them, and then half way in, you fail.

Maybe if you were crazy enough, you'd have 30 of them lift a Warthog and drop it off a cliff.

Maybe they'd pick up a Jackal sniper with their legs, and wah-lah, flying sniper. I'd imagine their ability to fly is an advantage the Covenant are smart enough to properly utilize.

Maybe I'm not being realistic, but then again, we don't know too much about the drones, so unlike other races, there is a lot of creativity to be put.

  • 08.18.2009 9:27 AM PDT

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Posted by: chickenlittle
Posted by: odmichael
Posted by: Tulsk
i think drones are the WORST enemy ever created. there's literally nothing worse than a butt load of those things flying down outta nowhere and annihalating (sp?) you with plasma pistols
The thing is drones have a LOT of potential. They are the only flying units in the Halo universe that can strafe in combat. I think making them more agile would make them a harder target making them more of a challenge.
While they would be more of a challenge, they were never once mentioned in the novels, before or after REACH fell. It's fairly safe to say that you'll be fighting only Elites, Grunts, Jackals, and Hunters.
I doubt we will see the same POV we saw in the novels for the battle of Reach (Spartan-259?) so we can see Drones, Brutes, Flood, Sentinels, etc. depending on the direction Bungie wants to take.

  • 08.18.2009 9:30 AM PDT
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Dark Jester 86 is the Gamer tag.

Oh, and to touch on what I said, yes I read all of the books, Comics, Graphic Novel, Art books, and have read all of the bios on Halopedia, and I understand that in the Fall of Reach Brutes and Drones were not reported.

But if you play around with it, I'm sure there are ways to add them in. Maybe you can play as another Spartan right when you touch down, one of the lost groups, and there, you have a new character you'll play as for a bit, and you'll have a new story with new elements.

I realize this is off topic, but while on the subject of enemies, I don't want brutes. If they're added, put them in the end. If not, oh well. This should have a nice Vintage Halo 1 ring to it.

  • 08.18.2009 9:31 AM PDT

I like where you are going but you are getting a little overboard lol. I think since Flood isn't in Reach or at least better no, Drones should be completely makeover I guess and that would replace the Flood.

  • 08.18.2009 9:34 AM PDT
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Dark Jester 86 is the Gamer tag.

Perhaps it was a bit extreme... Ahahahaaa.

I just want to be able to take this species seriously though, and it's hard to with their current attributes.

  • 08.18.2009 9:48 AM PDT
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Posted by: odmichael
Drones are one of the Halo series been the most let down of an enemy if you ask me. While it's fun to take a turret shoot them all down with one turret shot, there's really no strategy involved. Drones are seen usually without other enemy units. You usually just fight ONLY Drones. Well what fun do you get from fighting 7-10 bugs with a BR or 20 with teammates and a turret? Now we all know brutes were not supposed to be on Reach. However, no one has said anything about drones. Plus Brutes were in Halo Wars. Therefore, it would make some sense to see Drones appear on Reach.

What I am getting at is the combat mechanic for drones in Halo: Reach should be changed in order to make the drones a worthy oponent. For starters, in the Halo universe you only see Drones with plasma pistols (most commonly) and needlers. Well for Halo Reach, how about we see them dual wield some weapons? Drones like other covenant units should be able to dual wield weapons such as the plasma rifle. Drones are a little more ominous than let's say elites. Thus, they should scare people. Have them pop out of the dark and strike. Maybe have like 15 pop out of a city sewage hole or something. However, there's more.

Since drones are insects, shouldn't they have a queen (such as sentinals have enforcers in Halo 2)? Another fun mechanic in which could be added to the drone aspect is the development of a drone queen which could come out to the battle field and show no mercy. The queen could be a lot tougher, maybe it releases other drones. Overall, if Drones are present in Halo Reach, the way you fight them should be revamped.

drones weren't actualy trained for combat, they were used as scouts and engineers... the brutes used them as shock troops when they started getting engineers, Yan'me should be upgraded though... AI and weaponary, they should cover/augment ground troops and vehicles... Imagine in firefight for example, a spirit/phantom/shadow dropping off a wraith, a hunter pair, 3 brutes, a squad of grunts and having Yan'me (drones) come flying off the hull or out from the doors... complete and utter chaos, and that's what makes games fun... learning to cut through the -BLAM!- and win

[Edited on 08.18.2009 7:14 PM PDT]

  • 08.18.2009 7:13 PM PDT

If they were integrated better into the gameplay they could have been great.
e.g. drones backed up by snipers to distract you from the flanking active camo elite that kills your team. Fun

  • 08.18.2009 7:20 PM PDT
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i like the idea of a Queen but y stop there y not make other more powerful or bigger drones, but i dought bungie will do it

  • 08.19.2009 10:53 AM PDT
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Imagine fighting a swarm of Drones while flying a Banshee :-)

Drones should definatly be upgraded. For example, you are fighting a swarm, that is armed with plasma pistols/rifles. You nearly beat a swarm, and more come out of nowhere. Drones definatly have alot of potential, and a swarm shouldn't be able to be beaten by one good stick.

  • 08.19.2009 11:04 AM PDT

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A swarm armed with PRs would be a serious threat. They are still pretty tough on Legendary in my opinion but some variety would be nice. Carbines Drones would be ridiculously tough.

  • 08.19.2009 11:27 AM PDT

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