{"id":26126,"date":"2016-03-27T08:32:53","date_gmt":"2016-03-27T13:32:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/?p=26126"},"modified":"2016-03-27T08:32:53","modified_gmt":"2016-03-27T13:32:53","slug":"canon-fodder-close-quarters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/?p=26126","title":{"rendered":"Canon Fodder: Close Quarters"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a reblog from Halo Waypoint:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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By GrimBrother One
\nISSUE 68<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Welcome back, folks, and thanks for joining us for another round of your favorite Fodder. Last week, we took an early look at the fiction behind the upcoming Warzone map, Skirmish at Darkstar, chatted canonical competition, and more. This week, we\u2019re going to take a look at some of the sweet new loot that will be accompanying our next content update for Halo 5: Guardians<\/em>, Ghosts of Meridian. Up today is a Mjolnir variant for the up-close-and-personal crowd, a particularly lovely and lethal gravity hammer, and some highly modified UNSC materiel. Before we dive in too far, I do want to give personal congratulations to Counter Logic Gaming and its members \u2013 LETHUL, ROYAL 2, SNAKEBITE, and FROSTY \u2013 on taking the Halo World Championship\u00a0last weekend, as well as a cool one million dollars. And congrats to fan-hero Brett \u201cNaded\u201d Leonard for taking home the series MVP, and to each and every team for bringing their best to make the Halo WC and absolutely outstanding event. Hopefully, as Halo fans, you\u2019ll take an opportunity to celebrate them as well, because trust me, as competitive Halo continues to grow and succeed, we will all <\/em>benefit. But back to business, let\u2019s lore!<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

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GHOST PROTOCOL<\/h2>\n

\"cfghostmeridianmodule-7734cea48b2944a284c3accd302d206e\"<\/a>Our next hot drop of continuing content for Halo 5: Guardians<\/em> is drawing near, and this week we wanted to dive a bit deeper into some of the sweet new sandbox additions you’ll be able to get your gloves on when it all goes live. There’s a new Mjolnir variant to don, some vicious new hammers to swing, and a couple of powerfully pimped rides with which to storm your opponents’ proverbial castle with. Let’s go ahead and take a look at what’s coming up.<\/p>\n

Dynast<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Armor<\/strong>: The DYNAST is a “brawler” armor variant that excels in close-range firefights through a combination of resilience and improved situational awareness.<\/p>\n

Helmet<\/strong>: Having in many ways effectively replaced older CQB and CQC designs, the DYNAST helmet shell is covered by layers of compressed carbon nanotubes and hyperdiamond sheets, making it fantastically durable . . . and expensive.<\/p>\n

HFFL:<\/strong> I still think this looks more like a human version of the Elite Storm armor. Take a look and see for yourself:
\n\"Swords<\/a> \"Swords<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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LOOKING FOR A LITTLE PAYBACK?<\/h2>\n

One of my favorite additions that the Ghosts of Meridian update will bring is the addition of some sweet custom gravity hammers with which to crush your foes with. We thought it might be cool to highlight one of these in particular this week, as it’s very name will carry a subtle significance among long-time Halo fans, especially ones who love some of the Covenant’s more… brutal members.\u00a0For this particular group of fervent fans, I offer this brief respite, a narrative oasis if you will, within the split-lipped showcase of our oftentimes Elite-centric atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Tartarus’ Gavel<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Tartarus was a ruthless Jiralhanae chieftain whose meteoric rise through Brute society and the Covenant military was fueled by vicious bloodlust and cunning politicking. By 2552, Tartarus had eliminated or surpassed all opposition in his quest to serve the at the Prophet of Truth\u2019s right hand atop the Covenant empire, overwhelming all opposition among his own people to become Chieftain of the Brutes. At the Battle for Delta Halo however, Truth\u2019s plans for Tartarus to crush the Elite\u2019s opposition to his rule would be undone at the eleventh hour by the Arbiter Thel \u2018Vadam and a small but united contingent of human and Sangheili forces. Tartarus\u2019 death at the Arbiter\u2019s hands ended the chieftain\u2019s plans to unify his fractious species, but his legend still inspires ambitious Brutes eager to build their own legacies. <\/em><\/p>\n

During his ascent to power within the Covenant, Tartarus used his relationship with the Prophets to reward loyal lieutenants with advanced weaponry secretly forged within the Sacred Promissory. These vicious and unique instruments of war helped assure the rise in both position and influence of his own pack, and cemented key loyalties when grander machinations began to unfold. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

IT PUTS THE LASER IN THE MANTIS<\/h2>\n

Specializing in security technology development and small arms, Hannibal Weapon Systems, based out of Kotka, Pori of New Carthage, now primarily focuses on the manufacturing of Mjolnir armor systems. Additionally, HWS has also recently been working with the UNSC on some particularly impressive prototype upgrades to various vehicle systems, two of which will be finding their way into your REQ collection soon in Halo 5: Guardians<\/em>. In addition to providing our normal fictional context, we thought it would be fun to grab one of 343 Industries\u2019 incredibly talented Vehicle Designers, Tim Temmerman, to give some extra insight on the development of these new toys, both from a fictional and <\/em>development perspective.<\/p>\n

HANNIBAL MANTIS<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Hannibal works closely with the UNSC in its efforts to incorporate new weapons technology on existing vehicle chassis. Advanced Mantis with heavy armor, rapid-fire gauss cannon, and experimental ion field missile warheads.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

“With the Hannibal vehicles, we wanted to create a feeling of this experimental tech that\u2019s barely contained and brimming with this unpredictable and lethal energy. That was the design behind the Hannibal Mantis \u2013 it\u2019s sort of a \u201cwhat-if\u201d Mantis that isn\u2019t ready for full production, but hints at some of the skunkworks tech being developed.<\/p>\n

“Since players are pretty familiar with the base Mantis, we also wanted to provide a bit more strategy for skilled players \u2013 something that\u2019s useful in the hands of a novice but absolutely deadly when used to its full potential. To that end the shields have been boosted a bit, and the downtime when your shields are broken is reduced. While the overall armor is not as high as an ONI Mantis, if you can quickly engage and retreat with the Hannibal Mantis, you\u2019ll be able to manage your shields easier and stay alive longer.<\/p>\n

“The chaingun has been replaced with a slower-firing, but brutally heavy hitting Gauss repeater.<\/strong> It\u2019ll overheat quickly, but if you manage your heat well and fire precisely, you can deal massive damage to enemy vehicles. The missile launcher is a favorite of mine, and plays into the whole \u2018unpredictable and lethal\u2019 aspect of the Hannibal. When each missile hits it releases several submunitions that cause sporadic and wide-spreading damage.<\/strong> This weapon was designed to damage or take out clustered groups of infantry.<\/p>\n

“Lastly as we played into the Hannibal experimental tech theme, we added an EMP overcharge to the normal Mantis stomp attack<\/strong>. This is very useful for disabling nearby vehicles and expands on the tactics that can be employed with this Mantis.”<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tim Temmerman, Vehicle Designer, 343 Industries<\/p>\n

HFFL:<\/strong> Wow, this mantis sounds BEASTLY!!!! I can’t wait to get my hands on it!<\/span><\/p>\n

HANNIBAL SCORPION<\/strong><\/p>\n

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This is but one of Hannibal Weapon Systems’ tank test beds fitted with the latest in vehicle-borne directed energy weapons. Advanced Scorpion with heavy armor and fast-discharge laser<\/strong> currently undergoing trials within UNSC Infinity War Games.<\/em><\/p>\n

“As with the Hannibal Mantis, the inspiration behind the Hannibal Scorpion was a skunkworks-style prototype military vehicle that isn\u2019t quite ready for full production. With the rarity and high-level of this vehicle, it gave us an interesting position from which to design a new Scorpion. Thanks to a massive Spartan Laser type beam weapon mounted to the Scorpion cannon and a heavy-hitting gauss repeater turret, this might be the most lethal vehicle in the Warzone lineup<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

“I admit I\u2019m a huge fan of beam weapons, and since the days of Halo: CE I\u2019ve always wanted to see what a beam-equipped Scorpion would play like. The Hannibal theme with this Scorpion opened the door for this, and from the first prototype we knew the beam cannon was going to be awesome. As an added layer of depth for more advanced players, the beam cannon works well because rather than an instant, single-hit projectile, the beam damage is spread out over a fraction of a second. That doesn\u2019t seem like a long duration, but it opens up different attack methods, like a sweeping attack that lightly damages multiple targets, or a concentrated attack that drives all the beam\u2019s energy to a single target.<\/p>\n

“In keeping with the Hannibal theme, we\u2019ve reasoned that a prototype military corporation might reuse some of its best assets across multiple platforms. To that end you might notice that the Hannibal Mantis gauss repeater behaves very similar to the anti-infantry turret placed on the Hannibal Scorpion. Aside from damage tuning for balance, we wanted to establish a connection across multiple Hannibal vehicles where you can start to recognize the tech in which this corporation specializes. Same goes for the blue accents, paintjob, and the sort of \u201cunstable\u201d and overcharged effects that let you know this isn\u2019t a standard Scorpion.<\/p>\n

“The art and audio teams did a fantastic job communicating that raw power and deadliness in the design, and I for one can\u2019t wait to lay down some serious beamage with this thing!”<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tim Temmerman, Vehicle Designer, 343 Industries<\/p>\n

HFFL:<\/strong> Again, WOW!!! I’ve had my commendation for Scorpion kills done for some time…but I KNOW I’m going to pull this beauty out for a test ‘kill’ or two!<\/span><\/p>\n

WZF, MATE?<\/h2>\n