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Subject: My last contribution: Heretic AI collection/megabattle on The Arbiter
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This will be my last H2 project until Halo 4. This is my finest work in H2, only second to the Councilors army: the ultimate Heretic Elite and Grunt AI collection on The Arbiter. This is also a potential megbattle (term coined by Rockslider). I have reason to suspect that it falls under the classification of megabattle because it has a lot of enemies in one area, they are affected by scripting, and they follow the player.

Battle highlights:

[Battle Preview]
[Battle Preview 2 with sound]

Table of contents:

Part 1
A0. AI collection tutorial
A1. Trigger points
A2. Enemy AI (Free-roamers and territorials)
A3. Friendly AI
A4. Retaining the Heretic leader

Part 2 [coming soon]
B0. Megabattle demonstration
B1. Checkpoints
B2. Enemy numbers
B3. Difficulty
B4. Gametypes, challenges, fun

This thread will soon be filled with deeeeeelicious krabby patties er I mean sophisticated data regarding the aforementioned AI collection on the Halo 2 level The Arbiter. And it's all thanks to womy and Grumpy for inspiring me with their endeavors and encouragements or I would have given up on this project. And let's not forget my buddies on this forum. :)

[Edited on 01.14.2012 4:14 PM PST]

  • 01.06.2012 2:15 PM PDT
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Reserved

Edit:

A0. AI collection tutorial... Done!

The demonstration video shows the standard routine for the collection. The collection begins after clearing the hangar for the Phantom because I believe you need to kill the initial Heretics that you encounter in the hangar to get the locked door to open.

A1. Enemy AI movement triggers

Trigger #1 - Going through this door triggers the hangar Heretics to go down to the 1st energy conveyor belt room.

Trigger #2 - Going through this door triggers conveyor belt Heretics and hangar Heretics to go to this room and beyond.

Trigger #3 - When you go through this door, nearby Heretics from the previous areas will fill the area below the Sentinel. If you go back and trigger the lz, you can get Heretics that were left behind.

Trigger #4 - When you go through this door, Heretics will go into this room.

A2. Enemy AI (Free roamers and territorials)

First, get acquainted with these terms.

Free roaming - can go anywhere
Territorial - strictly restricted to a spot, room, etc.
Semi-free roaming - no strict restriction to an area but with each trigger point triggered, they move on and don't return to the previous rooms

Now I can assure you that most enemies are semi-free roamers. But in case you're wondering...

Free roaming enemies:

-sword wielding Heretic Elite

Territorials:

-2 Heretic Grunts that spawn in the corridor before the 1st energy conveyor belt room
-2 Heretic Grunts that spawn at the end of the 2nd energy conveyor belt room
-2 Heretic Elites and 3 Heretic Grunts that spawn in the room after trigger point #4
-Sentinels

Unknown (probably territorial):

-2 Heretic Grunts on turrets
-the Heretic Elites and Grunts that spawn in the window room (right before the landing pad with the Heretic Banshees)


The rest are semi-free roaming, including the fuel rod gun Grunts. However, one or two might need to be killed to get trigger point #1 door to open.

A3. Friendly AI

Progress Report #1:

Right now, I have setup blockades on the elevator (the 2 supply cases flanking the middle one were originally upright IIRC) and right below the Phantom's gravity lift. In doing so, I have successfully contained a total of 3 Elites (1 was dropped off by the Phantom) and 2 Grunts (btw the 1 that was clutching the turret still has it :3), although I am disappointed that the game didn't consider the first 2 Elites and 2 Grunts dead and spawn 2 additional Elites and Grunts respectively via Phantom.

Of course, getting Elites is better than getting Grunts. Unfortunately, even if you kill the 2 Grunts, you'll just end up with another pair of Grunts from the Phantom. As the Grunt still has the turret, you could potentially get him to set it up at the window room if he survives that long. Then you could have some fun gunning down Heretics. :P

Also, any AI left in the hangar will disappear after the door closes. But the friendly AI still have scripting so one would need to setup (in advance) a barricade of supply cases in the room after the trigger point #1 door then release the friendly AI from their supply case prisons.

Progress Report #3:

Allies from the Phantom can be brought back to the lz and to the battle but they don't have scripting so you have to push them, get them to charge enemies for a melee, or give them swords or they'll just stand/crouch in place.

A4. Retaining the Heretic leader

Tired of seeing brown and gold?
Like playing 'Where's Waldo?'?
Want some authenticity to this apparently leaderless flock?
Or do you just like the color red?

This is how to stop the Heretic leader from going in his Banshee and leaving. It works 90% of the time. His presence adds realism to the collection. It can't be Heretics without their voice and face, a living monument of truth!! Plus, it's pretty cool to have all the Heretics together. For practical reasons, keeping him from leaving will allow you to have a Banshee that does not trigger the enemy Banshees to spawn. And he can be used as a meatshield or to block doors.

The key is to go near him, wait for him to stop talking, then start shooting the ground near you with a fuel rod gun and sword lunge at him. If he stops and does his turn-around surprise animation, then it worked. But you must time it right or he'll still go into the Banshee. It happens quite a lot so this isn't terribly difficult. I'll get a video of some of my near successful attempts uploaded later. Btw, I got him to the top of The Arbiter. :)

[Edited on 01.14.2012 4:19 PM PST]

  • 01.06.2012 2:16 PM PDT

Halo 2 > Halo 3 > Halo 3 ODST > Halo Reach > Halo CE

Based on campaigns.

Sounds cool

Why are you not doing anymore projects?

  • 01.06.2012 3:37 PM PDT

Wait, last contribution? Are you giving up Halo 2? Going back to H3?

Sad panda :(

EDIT-
Posted by: Sliding Ghost
This will be my last H2 project until Halo 4.

Well, that pretty much sums it up. Will you still enlighten us with you're posts?

[Edited on 01.06.2012 5:06 PM PST]

  • 01.06.2012 5:04 PM PDT
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Section A... Done!

The tutorial (incomplete) + chock-full of data, screenshots, and videos are up.

I'll update it if there's anything more to add.

And because you guys probably want to see the result of this collection before considering doing this, here's a preview of one of my challenges: Lobby Defense (without abiding by my skull rules which I'll introduce later. I only turned on Mythic, Thunderstorm, Black Eye, and Catch). :)

Did you notice the weapon hoard? The teeming horde of Heretics? That fuel rod gun that makes your fingers twitchy, that you just want to hold?

Posted by: Mark V guy
Sounds cool

Why are you not doing anymore projects?
The agony. The hours. The disappointment. For example,

-I wanted to have 60 Councilors vs. Tartarus so many times and I've never managed to have a battle last more than 2 minutes.
-I wanted to do the Outskirts AI collection and such but I can't save all of the marines/I don't have the patience to go back and forth like Grumpy does.
-I wanted to get a cp with 6 Ultra Elites on Metropolis that I got from the Scarab via Banshee boarding and I never got one.

This (the Heretic AI collection) is the only project that has gone well (and it's more enjoyable and convenient).

As it is unlikely for me to embark on the other levels I haven't tested (i.e. Delta Halo, Gravemind, Sacred Icon), as I'm not one for exploring, fighting on alien homeworlds, or Flood battles, and as I'm just about finished with the levels I've been working on (CS doesn't have large AI collections. Neither does Oracle and Uprising), there isn't really much left to do.

So I want to send this one out with a bang.

There's nothing more kickass than Elite vs. Elite battles. I'm exploring the possibility of including friendly AI in this battle. The supply cases work very well in blocking the friendly AI, as long as the crates are on their side, horizontally rather than on their face. I hope to get at least 4 Elites as support.

Posted by: InvasionImminent
Wait, last contribution? Are you giving up Halo 2? Going back to H3?

Sad panda :(

EDIT-
Posted by: Sliding Ghost
This will be my last H2 project until Halo 4.

Well, that pretty much sums it up. Will you still enlighten us with you're posts?
Yep, I'll still be around to provide test results, suggestions, and strategies. That's what I do best and what I enjoy. Tricking is not for me. I only do AI collections because there aren't much people that would waste their time with it. I mean The Covenant mega AI collection. No one anticipated it, not even Bungie (or they might not have put in a trigger that kills off most of the Brutes). I suspected it was possible and I was right.

  • 01.06.2012 10:10 PM PDT
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Update! Commentary up for the tutorial. It's in the annotations. Quick links are in the description.

As for the lobby battle preview, that's not the only area you can have the battle at (it's my favorite though). There's much more you can do with this collection. Skulls add even more fun to it.

By skull rules, I mean turning on certain skulls (i.e. Ghost) when Black Eye is on so that it will be more difficult to exploit Black Eye's effect as well as Covenant flaws (stumbling from melee while shielded), as well as making the enemies fight more actively (i.e. Angry, Armory). And of course, no Sputnik. That makes melee combat too easy. If one turns on Sputnik, he must only try to melee Elites when the Elite has his back turned, for realism and difficulty.

H2 Firefight... what ODST should have had and CEA should have done right: friendly AI that follow you and fight with you. I plan on making this a reality today (unless I'm not feeling like playing) as I bring Mythic enhanced friendly AI to the battle.

Edit:

Update! I made a slight adjustment of my rules. Ghost skull is not a required skull during the Black Eye skull lobby defense challenge anymore because it's simply too overwhelming.

[Edited on 01.07.2012 12:08 PM PST]

  • 01.07.2012 7:25 AM PDT
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Update! Here's a demonstration video of another gametype/challenge. I call it LZ (Loading Zone) Battle Royal. Phantom support is optional but for a cp, one must get in one of the Banshees.

Without modded weapons, you're going to have to resort to dual wielding Needlers because it quickly escalates into a cqc battle. Battery weapons don't come in handy other than the beam rifle. The sword won't last you long enough unless you only use it to drop Heretic Elite shields. And meleeing them to death just doesn't have that awesome feeling.

According to my testing, a fuel rod gun, carbine, and grenades or dual wielded needlers, carbine, and grenades are the best options for the battle. GBD and Sputnik can potentially make things more explosive and crazier but I intentionally turned them off so I could have grenade piles and so I couldn't exploit Heretic Elite melees. I also turned off Ghost because it makes it too difficult. As I mentioned before, this is cqc stuff. So I only turned on the realistic skulls: Catch, Famine, Angry.

Edit:

Here's another one. Pink explosive fun at 4:08.

[Edited on 01.07.2012 4:12 PM PST]

  • 01.07.2012 3:45 PM PDT

This is some very nice work, i admire yours and Grumpy's patience in doing these kinds of things, makes me want to fire up Halo 2 Xbox/Vista to try some of these myself. Very interested to see the final video, may i suggest uploading in a widescreen format so it takes up the whole youtube screen?

Should carry on with these projects dude!

  • 01.07.2012 5:44 PM PDT
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Posted by: Wilis_kid
This is some very nice work,
Thanks!

Posted by: Wilis_kid
i admire yours and Grumpy's patience in doing these kinds of things,
I admit Grumpy's work is far superior to mine.

Posted by: Wilis_kid
makes me want to fire up Halo 2 Xbox/Vista to try some of these myself.
Splendid! That's what I made this thread for. :)

Posted by: Wilis_kid
Very interested to see the final video, may i suggest uploading in a widescreen format so it takes up the whole youtube screen?
I'm hoping my final video will feature friendly AI vs. the Heretics.

I'll consider that. But I can't guarantee it. Perhaps Sony Vegas will allow me to get a video in widescreen. I don't know how to get the videos in widescreen. I blame YT for adjusting their video player...

Posted by: Wilis_kid
Should carry on with these projects dude!
The other levels don't interest me. I just tested Oracle again and I couldn't get anything out of it:

-sending the elevator all the way down (I got off as soon as it started) then meleeing Rtas down will still result in him teleporting
-saving friendly AI is pointless because other than the Grunts, the Elites will end up deleted after the cutscene where the Heretic leader locks himself in
-taking Rtas Vadum up to the elevator (you simply need to move him to a certain location then you can deal with the Flood and Sentinels and meleee him up) results in him staying still but once you hit the lz after activating the elevator, he disappears
-most Heretics are territorials
-sticking the Heretic leader before triggering the cutscene can cause him to drop his plasma rifle and become weaponless but he doesn't charge you. However, his plasma rifle appears in the cutscene and it makes it more consistent as the Heretic leader is weaponless when he climbs on his Seraph

The only level that I haven't tested but currently interests me is Gravemind, but I doubt there's any AI collection I can do on it, other than getting the marines to the Mausoleum fight and perhaps 4 Hunters at the same time.

  • 01.07.2012 7:33 PM PDT

"No Mission Too Difficult, No Sacrifice Too Great—Duty First!" - The fighting first's motto.

Losing internet 9/7/2012 until i don't know when. See you starside folks.


Fada beo Halo 2!


Posted by: Mark V guy
Sounds cool

Why are you not doing anymore projects?


Good question. I have no idea why people are doing this, path1k is doing it until the H2 anniversary, and now Sliding Ghost, so i don't know man :p

  • 01.07.2012 7:57 PM PDT


Posted by: Chief077

Posted by: Mark V guy
Sounds cool

Why are you not doing anymore projects?


Good question. I have no idea why people are doing this, path1k is doing it until the H2 anniversary, and now Sliding Ghost, so i don't know man :p

I'm getting a little worried. We might just die :(

  • 01.07.2012 7:58 PM PDT

"No Mission Too Difficult, No Sacrifice Too Great—Duty First!" - The fighting first's motto.

Losing internet 9/7/2012 until i don't know when. See you starside folks.


Fada beo Halo 2!


Posted by: InvasionImminent

Posted by: Chief077

Posted by: Mark V guy
Sounds cool

Why are you not doing anymore projects?


Good question. I have no idea why people are doing this, path1k is doing it until the H2 anniversary, and now Sliding Ghost, so i don't know man :p

I'm getting a little worried. We might just die :(


I'm breaking from my H2 projects right now to play CEA and MW3 for a few days, but what they're doing is worrying me too

  • 01.07.2012 8:23 PM PDT


Posted by: Chief077

Posted by: InvasionImminent

Posted by: Chief077

Posted by: Mark V guy
Sounds cool

Why are you not doing anymore projects?


Good question. I have no idea why people are doing this, path1k is doing it until the H2 anniversary, and now Sliding Ghost, so i don't know man :p

I'm getting a little worried. We might just die :(


I'm breaking from my H2 projects right now to play CEA and MW3 for a few days, but what they're doing is worrying me too

I know what you mean. I've been playing Reach a lot, while neglecting Halo 2. I've found some cool things, but I get angry at myself for not being more active with Halo 2.

  • 01.07.2012 8:52 PM PDT
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It isn't that bad guys. What I'm doing right now will take me several weeks to finish. That's still a long time.

Right now, I've found a flawless strategy to get the allies on the elevator, blocked, unharmed. This time, I sent down the elevator to make sure the blockade would hold before getting the allies to go on it. Sending it down awards me with a sweet checkpoint.

[Edited on 01.07.2012 9:02 PM PST]

  • 01.07.2012 9:01 PM PDT


Posted by: Sliding Ghost
It isn't that bad guys. What I'm doing right now will take me several weeks to finish. That's still a long time.

I guess.



Right now, I've found a flawless strategy to get the allies on the elevator, blocked, unharmed. This time, I sent down the elevator to make sure the blockade would hold before getting the allies to go on it. Sending it down awards me with a sweet checkpoint.

Are speaking of the Oracle here?

  • 01.07.2012 9:13 PM PDT
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Posted by: InvasionImminent

Posted by: Sliding Ghost
It isn't that bad guys. What I'm doing right now will take me several weeks to finish. That's still a long time.

I guess.
Actually, it might take me longer. Sending down the elevator in advance was a bad idea. Now the damn Elites are running against the wall like crazy, moving the supply cases.

Posted by: InvasionImminent
Are speaking of the Oracle here?
The Arbiter.

  • 01.07.2012 9:24 PM PDT


Posted by: Sliding Ghost
The Arbiter.

Totally forgot their was an elevator. Oops.

  • 01.07.2012 9:44 PM PDT
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Posted by: InvasionImminent

Posted by: Sliding Ghost
The Arbiter.

Totally forgot their was an elevator. Oops.
Not a problem.

Now for my progress. My old methods of containment weren't working so I let them out and resorted to a special prison made with the supply cases I brought + ones in the hangar.

Behold, Stonehenge!! Praise be the Forerunners for their ingenuity. There's no way those sneaky bastards will escape this prison. It's 100% fullproof!!! And soon, that Phantom will drop off my 3rd Elite... and he won't escape! Bwahahahahahaha!!!

[Edited on 01.07.2012 10:45 PM PST]

  • 01.07.2012 10:42 PM PDT


Posted by: Sliding Ghost

Posted by: Wilis_kid
This is some very nice work,
Thanks!

Posted by: Wilis_kid
i admire yours and Grumpy's patience in doing these kinds of things,
I admit Grumpy's work is far superior to mine.

Posted by: Wilis_kid
makes me want to fire up Halo 2 Xbox/Vista to try some of these myself.
Splendid! That's what I made this thread for. :)

Posted by: Wilis_kid
Very interested to see the final video, may i suggest uploading in a widescreen format so it takes up the whole youtube screen?
I'm hoping my final video will feature friendly AI vs. the Heretics.

I'll consider that. But I can't guarantee it. Perhaps Sony Vegas will allow me to get a video in widescreen. I don't know how to get the videos in widescreen. I blame YT for adjusting their video player...

It should be under the settings in Sony Vegas somewhere...i'm not proficient with using it yet myself unfortunately. However, Windows movie maker does have a very simple method, in the project tab the aspect ratio is a simple matter of clicking 16:9 however i'm not sure you'd like to use that for the sake of making it widescreen etc

  • 01.08.2012 7:27 AM PDT


Posted by: Sliding Ghost

Behold, Stonehenge!!

By the rings....



Praise be the Forerunners for their ingenuity. There's no way those sneaky bastards will escape this prison. It's 100% fullproof!!! And soon, that Phantom will drop off my 3rd Elite... and he won't escape! Bwahahahahahaha!!!
*laughs in an evil fashion*

Yes! All according to plan!

  • 01.08.2012 7:33 AM PDT
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Posted by: Wilis_kid

It should be under the settings in Sony Vegas somewhere...i'm not proficient with using it yet myself unfortunately. However, Windows movie maker does have a very simple method, in the project tab the aspect ratio is a simple matter of clicking 16:9 however i'm not sure you'd like to use that for the sake of making it widescreen etc
Neither am I. I only use it for big files because WLMM is so slow!

Well, I could put yt:stretch=16:9 in the video tags and then compare it with the WLMM output video. But I'm not sure if the tag works anymore. I'll try HD output though.

Posted by: InvasionImminent

Posted by: Sliding Ghost

Behold, Stonehenge!!

By the rings....



Praise be the Forerunners for their ingenuity. There's no way those sneaky bastards will escape this prison. It's 100% fullproof!!! And soon, that Phantom will drop off my 3rd Elite... and he won't escape! Bwahahahahahaha!!!
*laughs in an evil fashion*

Yes! All according to plan!
lol :P

Well, I wouldn't say that. I couldn't get the sword Elite. He's a major hazard and not worth bringing. I gave up on the fuel rod gun Grunts as well because they kept moving the supply cases. But other than that, indeed, I have done it! >:D I think I lost only 1 Grunt btw. The video's in HD widescreen (I think. I chose 1280 x 720).

Now here is my next diabolical plan:

I have to melee several supply cases through the door then block the door with a supply case to prevent the Heretics from following, then setup a partially completed blockade of supply cases (just enough room for the Heretics to get past) near the lz. After which I get all the Heretics past the door then block it again, release the friendly AI, get them to go through the door and to the blockade, trigger the lz and get a cp. And when I come back for my buddies, they will retain scripting to proceed.

But if that goes horribly wrong, as it likely will, I'll just have to push Grunts all the way to the loading point after getting the flock of Heretics into the 2nd energy conveyor belt room. *shudders* THE AGONY!!

It's made even worse because of the fact that Grunts get killed easily and there's a huge number of Carbine wielding Heretic Elites but I suppose I could mod the Grunts so they're invincible (I misinterpreted the information on Halopedia. It's talking about the ledge that kills the Heretic leader. There's no way I'll be able to get the Grunts there without killing the Heretics). But without mods, what I'm really hoping for is that the turret wielding Grunt deploys his turret for me to use. I could give the other Grunt a fuel rod gun (I didn't merge the 3 so I could have the option to give them to my allies).

  • 01.08.2012 5:13 PM PDT

Posted by: Sliding Ghost


Arggh.

So much good information but such a large headache. Will read tomorrow or later today if my headache goes away.

  • 01.08.2012 5:19 PM PDT
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Posted by: InvasionImminent
Posted by: Sliding Ghost


Arggh.

So much good information but such a large headache. Will read tomorrow or later today if my headache goes away.
Well I didn't try the first way. It's impossible.

I'm so close to doing the second one I can almost taste it! >:D

Also, one should turn on the Thunderstorm and/or Mythic skull somewhere before the lz. Why? Because of the Sentinel's EMP deaths. By turning on aforementioned skulls, one can melee them to death, also sending them flying in the direction you meleed them.

Finally, you have to kill at least 1 Heretic Elite or 2 Grunts for the 4 Grunts at the end of the 1st conveyor belt to spawn. I'm not sure about the fuel rod gun Grunts or sword Elite but should any of you try this, you'll want to kill them too.

  • 01.09.2012 1:04 PM PDT
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Update! Wow, I am tired of bs lz deletion inconsistency... I setup a blockade of 4 supply cases in advance then go back to fetch the Elites and Grunts after spending 10 minutes herding the Heretics into the 2nd energy conveyor belt room only to find the supply cases deleted, as well as 1 Elite. In total, I wasted 30 minutes of my time for nothing (other than the realization that Elites can moved down ramps faster by going on their heads and meleeing them). :(

  • 01.09.2012 1:53 PM PDT


Posted by: Sliding Ghost

But if that goes horribly wrong, as it likely will, I'll just have to push Grunts all the way to the loading point after getting the flock of Heretics into the 2nd energy conveyor belt room. *shudders* THE AGONY!!

Is that possible? I tried to do that before and they were stubborn. But then again I didn't have thunderstorm on and to this day I don't know if heretics whip out swords.

[Edited on 01.09.2012 2:00 PM PST]

  • 01.09.2012 1:59 PM PDT

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