Halo: Reach Forum
This topic has moved here: Subject: How long did the Battle of Reach last?
  • Subject: How long did the Battle of Reach last?
Subject: How long did the Battle of Reach last?

Um... I like Halo? I don't really know what to say. I'm a student at the moment, I hope to become a criminal profiler, and I enjoy pretty much everything as long as it's good.

I've heard many different answers on this ranging anywhere from 20 minutes to 3 days. I'm not sure which one's the real answer and I would like to find out. So how long did it last?

  • 10.25.2009 6:21 PM PDT

Were it so easy.

Try Halopedia for questions like this.

  • 10.25.2009 6:22 PM PDT

I am a whisper on the wind...

If we take into acount the Spartan Red team fighting on Reach then at LEAST 6 days. If not then around 3-5 hours.

  • 10.25.2009 6:22 PM PDT
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Im sure there was a lot of battles on Reach.

  • 10.25.2009 6:26 PM PDT

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From Halopedia: August 30, 2552 - September 23, 2552 (UNSC forces scattered)

So I would imagine the initial space battle to take a few hours then the ground battles pre-Glassing a few weeks. After Glassing I would imagine a week or two of guerrilla warfare.

Being the main UNSC planet, I doubt it would take a few days. There's plenty of fighting for a lengthy game.

  • 10.25.2009 6:29 PM PDT

Um... I like Halo? I don't really know what to say. I'm a student at the moment, I hope to become a criminal profiler, and I enjoy pretty much everything as long as it's good.

I did but it's kind of all over the place. It says that there was the main battle which had the covenant glassing the planet but that consequently there were other battles on Reach.

  • 10.25.2009 6:31 PM PDT

Signatures are for squares.

Space battle: Less than a day.

Ground battle: Less than a day, except for Castle Base, which the spartans held out at for nearly a week until chief rescued them.

  • 10.25.2009 6:38 PM PDT

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The Halo REACH Script (post thoughts in thread)

Writing Lead of Whisper Studios. Check out Heron!

Look... I'm on bungiepedia!

The Battle of Reach lasted for about an hour, then the orbitdal defense grid fell, and so too did the planet. Well... most of it. Then came the Battle for Reach, which lasted from August 30 until September 24 above ground (time dilated by Forerunner crystal), or September 7 ("real-time" not effected by time dilated Forerunner crystal) within the Forerunner complex.

  • 10.25.2009 6:41 PM PDT

Posted by: privet caboose
Space battle: Less than a day.

Ground battle: Less than a day, except for Castle Base, which the spartans held out at for nearly a week until chief rescued them.

Master chief didnt save them, the events of halo occured directly after the space battle, then the events of Halo 2

  • 10.25.2009 6:41 PM PDT

Signatures are for squares.

Posted by: HALOCRED3
Posted by: privet caboose
Space battle: Less than a day.

Ground battle: Less than a day, except for Castle Base, which the spartans held out at for nearly a week until chief rescued them.

Master chief didnt save them, the events of halo occured directly after the space battle, then the events of Halo 2


Somebody obviously didn't read Halo: First Strike.

  • 10.25.2009 6:43 PM PDT

Um... I like Halo? I don't really know what to say. I'm a student at the moment, I hope to become a criminal profiler, and I enjoy pretty much everything as long as it's good.

Then it's highly likely that John-117 won't be in the game, that the game will not feature space combat, and that the game will probably span a couple of days.

  • 10.25.2009 6:44 PM PDT

Signatures are for squares.

Posted by: ClosedJohn117
Then it's highly likely that John-117 won't be in the game, that the game will not feature space combat, and that the game will probably span a couple of days.


Or rather, it's highly likely. Because nearly all of the battle for Reach was spent defending Castle Base.

That's like an entire campaign of Only firefight.

Not much fun.

  • 10.25.2009 6:45 PM PDT
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I'm stubborn as long as I'm not wrong. Prove me wrong and you'll get an apology.

Posted by: HALOCRED3
Master chief didnt save them, the events of halo occured directly after the space battle, then the events of Halo 2


After Installation 04's destruction the Chief and Cortana found Johnson, a few marines, and an ONI Spook in a pelican.

Hi-jacked Covi ship.

Chief convinced them to go to Reach for recon and to see if there are any survivors.

Olly olly oxen free

Chief saved other Spartans, an Admiral(believe it was an Admiral at least) and Dr. Halsey.

more stuff

Halo 2

[Edited on 10.25.2009 6:54 PM PDT]

  • 10.25.2009 6:54 PM PDT

Stop PMing me if you are group recruiting.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Despite the Covenant Glassing Reach, there were still survivors in CASTLE Base. Dr. Halsey and a group of Spartan-II's discovered a Forerunner artifact. John-117 and a group of UNSC occupying a Covenant ship eventually returned to Reach and saved any survivors. Halsey and some Spartans then went to Onyx, where more Spartan-III's awaited from training.

[/SPOILER]

  • 10.25.2009 6:55 PM PDT
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I've got the book right in front of me:

SPOILER

MC's ship blasted away from reach once all hope was lost and the big MAC guns were destroyed. They did this at 0647 hrs August 30, 2552. Granted, the covenante destroyers hadn't technically glassed the planet, but the Spartans on the ground were nuking the place and the covenant ships would be there in seconds after moving from their ready positions through slipspace.

It's hard to tell exactly when the battle started, as you get a view from the Pillar of Autumn who is moving towards Reach (but is only 20 min. out at the start). But the Pillar started moving towards reach at 0519 on August 30, 2552.

So with the start time being what I propose and the end time being around 0647 hrs, I'd say it lasted about 90 minutes. I'm sure others know more about the books than I do, but I can't imagine the battle really taking too much longer, as the Covenant could glass a planet pretty quickly.

[EDIT] Seeing the post above, I guess my point is that it's hard to define. It all depends on what you consider to be the battle. I'd say once the majority of the planet is destroyed and there isn't significant resistance, it's over.


[Edited on 10.25.2009 7:06 PM PDT]

  • 10.25.2009 7:02 PM PDT

Clearly Reach was solely occupied by CASTLE and no other places.

  • 10.25.2009 7:13 PM PDT

i don't care how many ships the covenant have, but there's no possible way that they could turn an entire planets crust to glass in a couple of hours, unless of course one of their ships are the size of the death star (even that is a high improbability)

  • 10.25.2009 7:14 PM PDT

Signatures are for squares.

Posted by: All of humanity
Clearly Reach was solely occupied by CASTLE and no other places.


Once the orbital guns fell, and the UNSC fleet was decimated, the covenant glassed all of Reach except for Castle Base, because of the Forerunner artifacts held there.

  • 10.25.2009 7:15 PM PDT

(;3=

Posted by: dangerbyrnes
i don't care how many ships the covenant have, but there's no possible way that they could turn an entire planets crust to glass in a couple of hours, unless of course one of their ships are the size of the death star (even that is a high improbability)


they didnt just glass it for hours they were at it for days (i think that they had been glassing the planet for a week when cheif came back to search for survivors)

  • 10.25.2009 7:22 PM PDT
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Posted by: dangerbyrnes
i don't care how many ships the covenant have, but there's no possible way that they could turn an entire planets crust to glass in a couple of hours, unless of course one of their ships are the size of the death star (even that is a high improbability)


I disagree. Their weapons were extremely large. The UNSC's large MAC guns were as large as their biggest ships. Something firing a 3000 ton projectile is pretty big. Now think about the Covenant who had bigger weapons than that, not to mention tons more ships. On top of this, you're solely thinking about shooting the entire face of the planet with projectiles. Don't forget that the book mentions a lot of the damage done to glassing the planet is due to the superheating of the atmosphere by the plasma. The heating of the atmosphere is what glasses the planet, not hitting every square inch of the planet.

Sure, some will survive under ground and it could take the Covenant months to kill everything. But IMO, destroying 99.9% (or close to it) of life on the planet would constitute the end of the battle.

  • 10.25.2009 7:25 PM PDT

i'll prove it.

heres the earth and the moon i'm assuming reach is approximately earth size

go to -2000X that is halo in front of our moon

here's high charity next to halo

here's the dreadnought next to high charity

heres the dreadnought next to a covenant capital ship

do you now see how tiny most of the covenant ships are compared to a planet?... even high charity (if it had a glassing beam) would take days to glass our moon.

i have a feeling bungie will probably retcon the time it took for the battle of reach to occur. (i wouldn't mind a retcon like that though, i personally want the whole game to be on reach not one or two levels)

[Edited on 10.25.2009 7:45 PM PDT]

  • 10.25.2009 7:32 PM PDT