LIKE A BOSS

Since E3, Warzone has enjoyed quite a bit of buzz around the Halo community, and while the brand new mode is making an understandably big splash with the multiplayer-centric realms of fandom, the exciting addition to AI-controlled enemies and allies to the fray have piqued the interest of many a story-lover. This week we thought it would be nice to give you another peek into some of the fiction behind some new additions in Halo 5: Guardians, this time focusing on how the Warzone “Bosses” fit into the picture. Here’s some context…

War Games simulation technology has become increasingly sophisticated, with the UNSC leveraging it at all stages of training. Spartans are almost constantly engaged in War Games, familiarizing themselves with new weapons, enemies, and environments to solve the progressively complex and hazardous tactical problems they will face in the field. In effort to more accurately synthesize live fire battlefield conditions, and with new threats constantly emerging, the programmers and training personnel aboard the Infinity have enhanced their simulation scenarios to create Warzone, a combined-arms training program that pits Spartans against a wide range of Covenant and Forerunner enemies, as well as each other.

With Infinity at the tip of the spear, their Warzone designers have access to many of ONI’s internal War Games map datasets and technical intelligence reports, allowing them to pull together data on hundreds of different combat encounters, think-tank exercises, and secret observations to create unique high-threat enemy simulations. These “Boss” constructs can be representative of a singular exceptional opponent, or an amalgamation of multiple combatants created to test particular combat strategies and threat-response loops by UNSC troops. For training purposes, these Bosses are identified by specific colorations within Warzone to indicate their threat level.

An example of one of these bosses is Baron ‘Sraom, based off the exploits and experience of an ace Banshee pilot from the renowned house of ‘Sraom. Trust me when I say, whether of Covenant or Forerunner origin, these boss units will begin to develop their own personalities among Spartans as they are encountered throughout various Warzone scenarios. You’ve only seen the tip of that iceberg. And yes, you’ll notice an slightly adjusted spelling of the aforementioned Baron’s name. We hope you’ll pardon the E3 vowel movement.

TRUTH & RECONCILIATION

Q: In Halo 2, Rtas says that the Arbiter’s armour is quite old, hence the invisibility won’t last as long as the newer ones worn by fellow Elites accompanying him. Yet, at the end of Halo Wars, the then Arbiter dies in the shield world, which eventually explodes. Hence the armour provided by the prophets in Halo 2 shouldn’t be older than 20 years. Could you explain?

–  SternuS

A: The armors held in the Mausoleum of the Arbiters are all ancient and storied. The loss of Ripa ‘Moramee’s armor was mourned, but it’s important to remember that the armor adorning the various Arbiters is not a single set passed on from one individual to another.

Q: Are the marines featured in the Warzone gametype real humans learning how to fight alongside superior soldier (Spartans) or are they AI simulations just like the Covenant/Prometheans?

–  USS Galactica

A: The UNSC Marines that assist the Spartan fireteams in the Warzone scenarios are AI-driven components of the simulation, and are not live participants of the training, both practically and fictionally.

CF: CHATTERNET

Next week we’ll be debuting a new little section called Canon Fodder: ChatterNet. How does it work? Glad you asked! Normally, we’re the ones culling through all your questions (and boy do you folks like asking questions!), and trying to give you answers where we can. Well this time, the tables are turned! Occasionally, you’ll see a thread pop up in the Universe forums where we’ll ask a question of the community, and then pull a few different answers for inclusion in an upcoming Canon Fodder.

Your question for next week’s Canon Fodder:

What are your favorite Spartan armor designs, and why?

More details can be found at this week’s official thread. Hop in and tell us what armor you love donning in the Haloverse!