- anton1792
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- Noble Legendary Member
"Find where the liar hides, so that I may place my boot between his gums!" - Rtas 'Vadum
Spartan-I: Took place in 2491 until 2506 I think. (Though there was a program just like it almost 100 years prior, but I don't think it produced very many soldiers. Just research I think) These were experienced adult soldiers chosen from various areas of the UNSC armed forces. The Program produced 300 Spartan-Is during its operation period. They received augments, however as this was basically a first attempt at bio-augmentation on this scale it fell far short of the project's target. The subjects did receive some physical benefits, but in most cases these were outweighed by various long term medical issues caused by the augments, such as neurological diseases, and the benefits gained would have paled in comparison to the Spartan-IIs. What went wrong was that, at least in the fiction, adult DNA was not malleable enough to react well to the augments and apparently all sorts of nasty stuff happened, like fracturing DNA. They did not have any power armor. Sargeant Johnson was a participant in this project.
Spartan-II: Basically the most familiar Spartans. Master Chief is from this group. Started in 2517. It was found that once you passed puberty, the success rate of the augments began to drop. Before puberty, the subject's genetics were supposedly flexible enough to accommodate the augments. So they abducted 75 6 year old kids from all across UNSC space. These kids had to have a special set of genetic markers, otherwise the chance of failure greatly increased. They were also the genetic pinnacle of Humanity. When they got augmented, over half of them died and 12 were crippled, though those 12 would be "recycled" back into active duty; some as ONI Spooks, others as soldiers. They were trained for about 8 years before augmentation. They got given Mjolnir Mk IV power armor, which was steadily improved throughout the years and further increased their strength and reflexes.
Spartan-III: Started sometime in the 2530s. (I can't remember the precise year just now) The aim of this program was to make whole armies of cheaper, but nonetheless still deadly, Spartans. This program also had an improved augmentation regime, so there were no deaths or cripples as a result. However there were still genetic criteria that had to be kept within, but it was much larger than the one used in the Spartan-II program. There were 3 "batches" of Spartan-IIIs created - Alpha, Beta and Gamma Companys - each with 300, 6 year old candidates. These kids were orphans, saved from colonies destroyed by the Covenant. They were offered a chance for revenge and they all took it. They were trained for a total of 6 years before being given the augmentations and were given something called SPI armor - no shields and no strength and speed enhancements like Mjolnir, but significantly cheaper. It also had limited active camouflage like capabilities. The Spartans from Noble Team are from this group. (Though they each come from different companies. Emile, Jun and Carter are from Alpha; N6 and kat are from Beta. Jorge is a S-II)
Spartan-IV: Uses adult volunteers once again, just like Spartan-I. It is presumed that this means that adults can be successfully made as physically effective as Spartan-IIs or IIIs. They use Mjolnir Mk 7 armor as far as we can tell. It was started a few years before the war ended from what can be seen as well.
[Edited on 03.06.2012 9:20 PM PST]