| Halo: Combat Evolved: Sybex Official Strategies & Secrets
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| Attribution information
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Author(s):
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Doug Radcliffe
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| Publication information
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Publisher:
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Sybex
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Publication date:
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1st edition: September 29, 2003
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Media type:
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Print (Paperback)
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Pages:
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240 pages
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ISBN:
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0782142362, 978-0782142365
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Halo: Combat Evolved: Sybex Official Strategies & Secrets is a strategy guide for Halo: Combat Evolved, more specifically its PC version. It was authored by Doug Radcliffe.
What makes Radcliffe's book unique among the many strategy guides available is that it contains Halo Story Bible canon information. So not only is it a good source for tips and tricks, but it also offers Bungie approved insights into the Halo Universe.
Survive a two-on-one battle against Hunters, assist the Marines at the Assault on The Control Room, thwart the Covenant, and successfully capture the flag on Blood Gulch. Halo, the world's best action game, blasts onto the PC, and this book is your indispensable guide to every aspect of the vast Halo universe.
Written with the full collaboration of Bungie Studios, Gearbox, and Microsoft Game Studios, this guide is packed with invaluable strategies, behind-the-scenes information, and winning tactics straight from the experts.
Inside you'll find:
- Complete single-player walkthrough so you can survive and complete Legendary difficulty.
- Analysis of every weapon, vehicle, and enemy in the game.
- Powerful strategies from hardcore Halo veterans around the world
- Exclusive Halo Story Bible excerpts that have never been published anywhere
- Tips and level design notes from the Bungie and Gearbox development teams
- Detailed maps of every single multiplayer level
- Essential tactics for dominating every multiplayer map and game mode
- Full compilation of Halo Easter eggs!
Other credits[edit]
- Associate Publisher: Dan Brodnitz
- Acquisitions and Developmental Editor: Willem Knibbe
- Editor: Heather Dweller
- Production Editor: Patrick Cunningham
- Proofreader: Patrick Cunningham
- Book Design: Owen Wolfson
- Book Production: Susan Honeywell
- Cover Design: Richard Miller, Calyx Design
- Poster Design: Lorraine McLees
- Contracts and Licensing Manager: Monica Baum
- Bungie Studios
- Gearbox Software
- Marc Tardif
- Matthew Armstrong
- Stephen Bahl
- Jennifer Burris
- Eli Luna
- David Mertz
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- Very special thanks
- Halo community members
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Halo Story Bible excerpts[edit]
HALO STORY BIBLE: MASTER CHIEF[edit]
The Master Chief is a second-generation product of the SPARTAN project: he was selected at age six and received intense augmentation and indoctrination as part of a super-secret military experiment. He began his career-after thorough political indoctrination and advanced training in weaponry and infantry tactics-as a Petty Officer Third Class. His first combat deployment was 2525, at age 14, participating in a spec ops mission against an anti-government separatist group. However, such missions were only a prologue.
Shortly thereafter, the threat of the Covenant was discovered. In November of 2525, the SPARTANS were issued the MJOLNIR Mark V armor, and soon became one of the UNSC's most effective surgical strike tools against the aliens. The Master Chief's ground engagements with the Covenant throughout the Outer Colonies, and into the Inner Colonies, number over 200, spanning a field career of more than 25 years. He has been awarded every major service medal except the Prisoner of War Medallion.
In order to force a peace, Earth's military commanders conceived a plan for a specially equipped team of super-soldiers to board a Covenant vessel, access the target ship's computer core, and pinpoint the location of the Covenant home world. Once this was accomplished, it was hoped the team could then be covertly deployed to capture the Covenant's leaders and broker a gunpoint truce.
Before the plan could be implemented, the Covenant arrived at Reach-the last major human naval base, and the training area for the SPARTANs-and obliterated the planet. Of the SPARTANs present, it is believed that only the Master Chief survived, fleeing the system aboard the cruiser Pillar of Autumn.
Though typically addressed by his rank (Master Chief) or by his service number (SPARTAN-117), his real name is John-117. His last name was deleted from the SPARTAN project records on Reach. This name is not used by anyone except his instructors and the SPARTAN-II science team. In fact, his name is not included in his military dossier. Only Doctor Catherine Halsey's secret files on Reach contained the "names" of the SPARTAN-II subjects. These records were presumed destroyed during the Covenant assault on the planet.
HALO STORY BIBLE: MJOLNIR MARK V ARMOR[edit]
The MJOLNIR Mark V Assault Armor is currently the most advanced piece of tactical military hardware in human hands. Each suit costs as much as a small starship. The MJOLNIR armor is the brainchild of Dr. Catherine Halsey, and the SPARTAN-II program was, in large part, Halsey's attempt to create a soldier whose physical capabilities would be sufficient to interface with her vision of the final phase of project MJOLNIR-a fully neural-linked system with an integral on-board AI using the human mind for parallel processing. Such technology did not exist when work began on the Mark I prototype.
The MJOLNIR armor is composed of a multilayer alloy shell over a thick black armored bodysuit. The plates have an iridescent refractive coating to disperse energy-weapon attacks. The armor's inner structure is composed of a revolutionary reactive metal liquid crystal. It is amorphous, yet fractally scales and amplifies force, doubling lifting capacity and increasing reaction time by a factor of five. Unfortunately, the system is so reactive, normal human beings cannot use the suit without injuring themselves. Only an augmented human such as a SPARTAN-II can safely wear MJOLNIR.
HALO STORY BIBLE: CORTANA[edit]
"Cortana" is the AI assigned to the Master Chief as his MJOLNIR Mark V AI system. She was also to act as the Pillar of Autumn's shipboard AI until the team reached their target. Cortana is highly intelligent and adaptable, and assists the vessel's crew in tactical matters.
Her self-determined guise is female, with a dry, witty sense of humor and even elements of a hot temper. She is fiercely protective of the Master Chief, the crew, and her ship.
She is capable of navigating Halo's computer system, intercepting and translating Covenant battle transmissions in real time, and providing the Master Chief with mission waypoints, cartographic data, and tactical advice.
Following her experiences on Halo-where she spends considerable time listening in on Covenant networks-Cortana is probably the best source of intelligence on the Covenant in human hands.
HALO STORY BIBLE: HUMAN WEAPONRY SLANG TERMS[edit]
► Human pistol: go-mag, cannon, hand cannon, power-drill, HE pistol
► Assault rifle: AR, pop-gun
► Shotgun: gauge, waste 'em (for WST, the manufacturer), hammer, deck clearer, universal translator
► Sniper rifle: lightning rod, flagpole, religion (as in, "this weapon gives the target religion by sending him to meet his maker")
► Rocket launcher: jackhammer, pain, spanker
► Flamethrower: DP, toaster, dragon, torch
► Fragmentation grenade: frag, damage (as in, to "toss a handful of damage"), firecracker
HALO STORY BIBLE: GRUNTS[edit]
Grunt culture has been largely erased by their incorporation into the Covenant. They are essentially a slave race. Their home world is a swampy planet with a methane atmosphere and naturally occurring pillars of fire.
Grunts obey the other Covenant races out of fear, because they have no political power in Covenant society. However, within the Grunt community there is a strong hatred for other species, and a belief that someday a dynamic Grunt leader will lead them to freedom on a methane-rich paradise world.
Due to their low status, Grunts are not permitted by the Elites to possess family names. They do value their ties to their offspring, but are usually separated from their families at an early age by the requirements of their service to the Covenant. The Grunts resent this greatly, but are unable to muster any effective response. Examples of Grunt names include Yayap, Linglin, and Gagaw.
HALO STORY BIBLE: JACKALS[edit]
Jackals have little status in the Covenant hierarchy, and are subservient to all but the Grunts. While technically they stand as equals with the Grunts, the reality is that Jackals are usually in an elevated position. While the other races consider the Grunts beneath notice, the Jackals are often purposefully cruel in order to assure themselves of their own superiority.
Jackals are not permitted by the Elites to have more than one name. but Jackal society has never placed a premium on such things, so they don't care. Examples of Jackal names include Yeg, Jak, and Bok.
HALO STORY BIBLE: ELITES[edit]
Elites consider the other client races to be below them in all ways. The Elites are the only known race permitted to build and operate starships within the Covenant, though the crews are always composed of a mix of races.
In the Elite culture, names are considered a privilege. Only things of importance are named. The Elites generally consider humans to be nameless, and resent the fact that humans have assigned the label "Elite" to them, as humans have no standing to be naming things.
Because names are important to the Elite society, each element of the name has a meaning. Elite names are constructed from a series of parts. An example is Ado Mortumee. "Ado" is his given name, which is all he had until he was considered an adult. As an adult he earned the right to carry the badge name "Mortumee." This name is made up of three parts: MOR (an adjectival descriptor, such as "fast" or "deadly"), TUM (a creche name, basically his family line), and EE (an honorific indicating he is a participant in the military). Most Elites will have names with this kind of construction.
HALO STORY BIBLE: HUNTERS[edit]
Hunters almost never associate (or indeed even communicate) with other Covenant client races, save for the Elites. They are dismissive, scornful, and arrogant to the "lesser" Covenant races, and are utterly contemptuous of their foes. Hunters were forced into the Covenant by the superior starship technology of the Elites-on the ground they were always victorious. Faced with extinction by orbital bombardment, they joined the Covenant.
Hunters have three names: personal name, bond name, and line name. The personal name is given at birth. The line name represents the genetic heritage, being the name of the most successful Hunter of his ancestors. If a Hunter reaches a certain level of status, his offspring will have his personal name as their line name. The bond name is taken between bonded pairs, a relationship about which little is known. Bonded Hunters consider themselves brothers and are fiercely protective of each other. Examples of Hunter names include Igido Nosa Hurru and Ogada Nosa Fasu.
HALO STORY BIBLE: THE PILLAR OF AUTUMN[edit]
Vessel Identification: UNSC Cruiser C709
Commanding Officer: Captain Jacob Keyes (as of 2552)
Description: The UNSC Cruiser Pillar of Autumn is a Halcyon-class cruiser, pulled from long-term storage in 2550 to serve as an emergency support ship in the Zeta Doradus Theater of Operations.
The only noteworthy design feature of the Pillar of Autumn is her internal superstructure. The structural system was designed by Doctor Robert Mclees (cofounder of the Reyes-Mclees Martian Orbital Shipyards). It was, at the time, deemed unnecessarily over-massed and costly due to a series of cross-bracings and interstitial honeycombs. The design was subsequently dropped from all further production models. The Pillar of Autumn and 10 other vessels were the only ships-out of 50-to be built with this type of superstructure.
HALO STORY BIBLE: HALO[edit]
The name "Halo" is derived from Covenant battlefield transmissions, translated by Cortana. A more literal translation would be "Ring of Heaven" or "Ring of the Gods." Halo orbits a large gas giant (Earth Survey Catalogue Number B1008-AG, nicknamed "Threshold"), suspended at the Lagrange point between the planet and its largest moon, Basis. The ring has a 24-degree axial tilt from the gas giant's orbital plane, which means that any point on the surface receives sunlight for half of the time it is on the sunny side of Threshold, and for none of the time it is on the dark side. This gives the ring a somewhat unusual day-night cycle in which it is dark three-fourths of the time. There is, of course, no sunrise or sunset in the traditional sense.
HALO STORY BIBLE: THE PELICAN DROPSHIP[edit]
The standard method of deploying troops from orbit to ground is the D77-TC "Pelican" Troop Carrier. The Pelican has a capacity of three crew (pilot. copilot. and flight engineer) and 10 passengers in its rear bay (though it can accommodate five additional standing passengers in a crisis). It is equipped with electronic systems hardened against EMP; heavy armor; a 70 mm "chin gun" controlled by a gunner and an IHADSS (Integrated Helmet and Display Sight System-essentially wherever the gunner looks, the chin gun follows); rocket pods; jamming and detection gear; an onboard weapons locker (which can hold weapons and ammo for up to 30 troops); and computerized mapping gear.
HALO STORY BIBLE: COVENANT DROPSHIP AND BATTLE CRUISER[edit]
Covenant dropships are angular, horseshoe-shaped craft with personnel bays along the exterior of each "leg." Between the extended personnel bays, an energy field fluctuates visibly as it generates the ship's antigravity propulsion (similar in appearance to the energy pulse of the "gravity lift" elevators the Covenant use to commute between the ground and hovering ships). In addition to the pilot, the ship is crewed by a single gunner for the underslung bubble-shaped plasma-gun turret-similar to the shade but with a higher rate of fire. Each troop bay can hold four fully equipped Covenant warriors, who deploy when the long panel doors on the bays swing downward as the ship approaches the ground.
Covenant battleships are long, vaguely manta-shaped spacecraft capable of launching dozens of fighters. They are typically armed with several dozen energy weapons. Covenant capital ships come in varying classes and sizes, though military observers note that there is a great deal of variance-weaponry, length, estimated tonnage, fighter complements, speed, and so on-within a particular class.
External links[edit]
Halo reference books
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| Italics indicate to be released items.
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