Active camouflage

Multiple SpecOps Sangheili using active camouflage, with one also possessing overshield.

"One of those things is inside, and it is invisible!'"

— Cadet Thomas Lasky

Active camouflage, often shortened as active camo or av-cam, refers to a broad range of optical camouflage technologies that conceal its user or an object from visual perception by rapidly adapting to its surroundings. Although active camouflage originated from the Covenant—also inherited and adopted by its remnants—similar technology was employed by the United Nations Space Command, with personal active camouflage being directly reverse-engineered from its Covenant counterpart.

Overview

"Trust me, because I heard... uhhh... from a friend, that if you have active camouflage on and do a cries, it makes a big sizzle sound and everybody can see me hidin' in the corner."

— Dimkee Hotay shares his bad experience with active camo.

Covenant active camouflage conceals by bending and refracting light around the surface of the camouflaged object, masking its presence through advanced pattern realignment. The camouflage effect only reduces chances of visual detection; those using active camouflage can be observed by other means, including the motion tracker, noise, and environmental disturbances such as dust or footprints on soft terrain.

In addition to having reverse-engineered the Covenant active camouflage, the UNSC has developed several pieces of adjacent technology. One notable form of human-developed active camouflage operates on a different principle than the Covenant counterpart, using photoreactive panels to impersonate the surrounding environment like a chameleon. The UNSC uses photoreactive panels on its Semi-Powered Infiltration armor for optical camouflage, adapting to the object's background to account for movement. They conceal the wearer's infrared signature and to blend in with the surrounding environment. When combined with a Spartan-III's natural talent and training for stealth, it can be a very effective tool.

Development history

The Covenant active camouflage being studied at the ONI Ilex Facility.

Silent Shadow operative: "If we were to meet in battle as warriors—true warriors, you would fall, just as so many of your kind have fallen—to our swords and fire; under the weight of our boots. But you—you are not warriors. You are assassins. Weak and timid, you hide in the shadows—"

Jonah-B283: "Says the alien shit-heel who invented active camo."

— A Sangheili in the Silent Shadow and Jonah-B283 during a confrontation.

Even before they pooled their knowledge of sensor masking and optical camouflage techniques with the establishment of the Writ of Union in 852 BCE, the Sangheili and the San'Shyuum experimented with various active camouflage systems. Modern active camouflage devices incorporated some reverse-engineered Forerunner technology, with Covenant devices utilizing a distinct branch of "baffler" systems from the Forerunners. Whereas the Covenan't conventional active camouflage technology was reverse-engineered from Forerunner technology by the Huragok, the Jiralhanae developed the Cloaking module which similarly conceal its user by bending light rays around their position.

Acquired early on during the Human-Covenant War, the T-3 Refraction Dissonance Modifier/Camouflage module was deemed an essential piece of Covenant technology; thus, it was extensively researched by the Office of Naval Intelligence. Although it was officially reported that all UNSC efforts to prototype a working active camouflage unit had been met with failure, ONI's research eventually produced multiple reverse-engineered modules, which were compatible with particular armor and BDU types. Efforts at ONI Ilex Facility also resulted in the creation of the Multifunctional Emitter Prototype, a large device that could emit a field projecting the effects of active camouflage, as well as those of the overshield.

Usage

Personal active camouflage

"Show yourselves, assassins! The scent of your cloak is faint, but it still fouls the air."

— Atriox smelling active camouflage.

In the Covenant military, although personal active camouflage was a default component of Sangheili harness, it was most commonly used by members of the Covenant Special Operations (including both Special Operations Unggoy and Sangheili SpecOps Officers), Stealth Sangheili, and zealots. Arbiter Thel 'Vadamee's body armor was equipped with an older version of active camouflage, which has a limited duration compared to the newer version used by SpecOps troops. Covenant remnants have largely inherited the same pattern of usage among its troops; in the Banished, Sangheili under special operations and the Evocati order, as well as Warlords, often employ active camouflage in combat.

Roland-B210 employing his personal active camouflage.

SPARTAN-III Headhunters had access to a prototype active camouflage unit that was almost identical to the Covenant version, rendering the operator's SPI armor almost invisible, except that it only lasted three-to-four minutes and other systems have their power drained while it recharged. Produced by the Beta-5 Division, this experimental version of the active camouflage had its existence kept as a secret. By 2552, the UNSC has developed an active camouflage unit as one of many enhancement modules on the MJOLNIR Mark V armor, similar to those carried by Covenant Sangheili and Jiralhanae. However, its effect quickly dissipates with excessive motion or when taking weapons fire; thus, users integrated its usage alongside traditional stealth tactics rather than in lieu of them.

In contrast to the MJOLNIR Mark V armor which used an armor enhancement module manufactured by UNSC, the MJOLNIR [GEN2] armor system was capable of incorporating Covenant T-3 active camouflage modules into its system. While it has seen extensive use among Spartans of all classes, Spartans assigned to the "Disruptive" tactical roles under Spartan Operations undergo additional training exercises to learn to effectively use active camouflage to ambush enemies. The UNSC counterpart in 2553 was considerably bulkier, being a large vertical container with a glowing green vertical panel, though by 2559, the UNSC module has drastically reduced in size into a palm-sized circular device.

For personnel not equipped with built-in active camouflage, it could be provided by a variety of devices, all of which vary is shape and sizes. Typically, the energy granting the cloaking effect is suspended inside a small, transparent pyramidal container, or a larger spherical force-field. Upon deployment, the energy previously contained inside the module envelops the user's armor, rendering the armor nearly invisible. Jiralhanae Stalkers employed Cloaking, a piece of single-use equipment with adjacent technology developed by the Jiralhanae. After the death of Gek 'Lhar, his corpse was looted by Fireteam Majestic. Spartan Gabriel Thorne took Gek's active camouflage module, which he subsequently used during the attempted rescue of Dr. Catherine Halsey. As an example of similar technology employed by the Precursors, the Defenders of the Sanctum were able to manipulate Precursor nanotechnology on Netherop to form armor on their bodies; the armors replicated the effects of active camouflage through the wearer's will.

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  The pyramidal module for active camouflage.

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  The Type-3 active camouflage armor enhancement module.

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  Gek 'Lhar's active camouflage module.

Vehicle active camouflage

PRO-49776 disengaging its advanced cloaking field, an outlier in UNSC camouflaging technology during the Covenant War.

Aircraft or ships could also be equipped with active camouflage systems, such as the Ru'swum-pattern Phantom, which has its own active camouflage generators onboard. Larger vessels such as supercarriers, or entire armies, can be effectively hidden from both plain sight and sensors by using external stealth systems that project a cloaking field, such as deployment spires and stealth pylons. The Banished similarly use cloaking generators, which were reverse-engineered from stealth pylons; similar technology is also on the considerably more mobile Klavbrig Workshop Shroud, which can project a cloaking field on surrounding infantry, vehicles, fortifications. Let 'Volir has also incorporated cloaking into the Eklon'Dal Workshop Marauder's capabilities, allowing it to conduct stealth operations when necessary.

UNSC Prowler stealth ships employ a variety of active stealth systems, including stealth ablative coating and texture buffer, which ultimately replicate the effects of active camouflage. This camouflage is not perfect, however, and cannot keep up with a constantly changing background such as a gas giant's atmosphere. More advanced stealth ships were developed, such as PRO-49776 using a form of cloak "bubble" similar to the light-bending energy fields used by the Covenant. This technology has not been observed in widespread use.

Other applications

During the Requiem Campaign, active camouflage was used to shield the seven HAVOK tactical nuclear weapons smuggled aboard the UNSC Infinity from detection by the ship's AI Roland. After Fireteam Crimson took out a Sangheili holding a cloaking remote, Roland realized this tactic. By tracking the energy signature from the cloaking generator, Roland was able to locate the warheads in the Engine Room and direct Crimson where to go to disarm them before they could be used to destroy the Infinity. Unlike conventional active camouflage, this type shielded the warheads from sensors but they could be physically seen by nearby persons without any issue. Later, in the Warrens, the Covenant hooked up active camouflage to their shield generators to prevent the human forces from finding and destroying them. Spartan Jared Miller was eventually able to identify the Sangheili who controlled the active camouflage and after Crimson took him out, the active camouflage dropped, revealing the generators.

Countermeasures

Jega 'Rdomnai's active camouflage rendered ineffective by a threat sensor.

"Chak 'Lok's cloaked. Hard to see. Use the Threat Sensor."

— The Weapon advises John-117 on countering Chak 'Lok's active camouflage.

Personal active camouflage does not hide its user perfectly; the user's motion may leave behind a shimmering effect that is detectable by eyesight. Atriox was able to detect the use of active camouflage through smell. However, it is possible he was just smelling the users themselves rather than the cloaking field, and was calling them out for its use.

Active camouflage could be countered through unconventional means. Talcum powder and other atmospheric particles can disrupt the systems, causing the technology to overload and fail; SPARTAN-IIs William-043 and Kelly-087 notably threw talcum powder at their enemies to overload their camouflage generators on Reach in 2552. The device also generates a considerable amount of heat, leaving its user visible on human thermal goggles and some variations of the SRS99C-S2 AM sniper rifle. The humans of Alpha Base on Installation 04 used this advantage when their base was infiltrated by cloaked Sangheili, equipping their fireteams with infrared goggles allowing them to easily see the attackers.

Generally, optical analyzers could detect minuscule Doppler shift of bending light around the camouflaged object. Users of personal active camouflage could also be detected on the motion tracker. The low-light vision mode on the UNSC's VISR can detect users of active camouflage on the heads-up display, though they are outlined in the orange coloration—denoting the cloaked entity as a static object or structure—rather than the standard green or red outlines, which denote allies or enemies respectively. The Threat Sensor, a piece of wrist-mounted equipment compatible with the MJOLNIR [GEN3] armor, highlights the silhouette of cloaked enemies on the user's heads-up display.

In-game information

A cloaked Stealth Sangheili exposed by his uncloaked energy sword in Halo: Combat Evolved.

The active camouflage is an equipment available to players and non-playable characters across the Halo games. It turns the character model near-invisible for a limited time, leaving behind a shimmering effect that distorts whatever is behind the character. Firing a weapon, throwing a grenade, using equipment, meleeing, and taking damage will reveal the player character for a short duration, and then return them to a hidden state. The effect persists even when the player is inside a vehicle.

The cloaked effect can be rendered ineffective by other elements, however. When used in association with an overshield, the active camouflage becomes completely useless due to the additional shielding effect over the character's body (except in Halo: Combat Evolved). In Halo: Combat Evolved (and its Anniversary release) and Halo 2, a cloaked character's energy sword remains visible.

Halo: Combat Evolved

In Halo: Combat Evolved, the active camouflage is a power-up that appears as a glowing blue orb of energy encased in a clear glass pyramid. The player picks up the active camouflage by making contact with the object; after picking up an active camouflage, the player's model is near transparent for 45 seconds. In this state, the player is completely invisible to the non-playable characters unless they fire their weapon or take damage from weaponsfire. It is available in five levels during Halo: Combat Evolved campaign: The Truth and Reconciliation, Silent Cartographer, Assault on the Control Room, 343 Guilty Spark, and Keyes.

Halo 2

In Halo 2, the active camouflage is available in two forms. It is a power-up in multiplayer and functions like it did Halo: Combat Evolved, lasting for 45 seconds. In campaign, it is readily available while playing as the Arbiter, replacing the Master Chief's flashlight. Using any attack will cause the active camouflage to deactivate, and the player must wait for it to recharge before using it again. The active camouflage's duration varies depending on the difficulty, though the recharge sequence always takes 10 seconds. On Easy and Normal, it lasts for seven seconds; on Heroic, it lasts for six seconds; on Legendary, it lasts for four seconds. There is a circle on the player's HUD that shows the amount of time left for both the usage of the active camouflage and the recharging sequence. The active camouflage is available to the Master Chief with the Envy Skull enabled; however, the Master Chief's HUD lacks the meter. This can also be combined with a glitch which allows the player to reload from a checkpoint, after saving and quitting, and turning off the console, with infinite active camouflage.

Halo 3

Main article: Cloaking

In Halo 3 multiplayer, the active camouflage power-up is no longer contained inside a pyramid construct; instead, it appears as a large, glowing blue energy enclosed by a spherical construct. Its duration was reduced to 30 seconds. Its effects do not always extend to particle effects on the character model. Wearing the Bungie Armor, which adds a flaming effect around the helmet, is an obvious giveaway, because the fire is still visible while under the effects of active camouflage. The lights on a gravity hammer can also be seen when camouflaged.

An Elite with Poor Camo in Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Halo 3 also introduced two options for the quality of camouflage under the custom game settings:

• Poor Camo: The player has camouflage that might fool a Grunt.
  • The player is still somewhat visible.
• Good Camo: The player has camouflage that will fool an attentive Elite.
  • This makes the player almost invisible, but the light is distorted within the player's shape.

The active camouflage is not available in campaign; instead, it is replaced by the Cloaking equipment. Cloaking functions in the same way as active camouflage once did, though, being an equipment, it can carried by the player until they deploy it; this is offset by its 12-second duration. Melee attacks, shooting, throwing grenades and using equipment will negate the effect of the power-up. As an NPC, the Arbiter uses active camouflage at certain points of campaign; furthermore, if the Arbiter is unintentionally removed from the playable area, he respawns with an additional effect that implies he is deactivating his active camouflage.

Halo Wars

In Halo Wars, active camouflage can be granted to The Arbiter Hero unit and the Elite Honor Guard unit through their respective upgrades, Ghastly Vision and Cloak.

Halo: Reach

The active camouflage in Halo: Reach has undergone many major changes. It is now available as an armor ability to both Spartan and Elite players, lasting up to 45 seconds with a recharge time of 15 seconds when fully depleted. As a secondary effect, when used, it doubles as a Radar Jammer, scrambling the motion tracker of the user and all enemies within 25 meters, making the user harder for enemies to detect on their motion trackers. This function can be both beneficial and detrimental to the player; on the one hand, it can make enemies easier to ambush, however, it also informs the enemy team that someone is using active camo nearby. This can backfire on the player by making the enemy team more perceptive to possible ambushes. The active camo also greatly reduces the volume of all sounds for its user, making it more difficult to notice a grenade being thrown or a nearby enemy firing a weapon.

The strength or effectiveness of the active camo also varies depending on whether/how fast the user is moving. When standing still, the player is rendered almost completely invisible. Moving slowly or crouch-walking will slightly decrease the quality of cloaking, although the user is still hard to spot. Enemies in campaign and Firefight will detect the user after a while. As such, it is far less effective than previous iterations. When moving faster than crouch-walking speed, the active camobecomes much less effective, cloaking the user only partially (similar to the Poor Camo from Halo 3' custom game settings). The player's movement speed does not affect the rate at which the armor ability meter drains.

The freedom for the player to control when they activate their camouflage makes it much more effective, as it allows for use in the most opportune situations, instead of restricting the player to activate it on pickup. However, the reduced hearing and radar jamming effects require the player to be more aware of his surroundings than usual, and must also take care not to move too fast.

Though left out of the base game's multiplayer, the active camouflage power-up appears in Halo: Reach's Anniversary Map Pack in "Anniversary" gametypes; its physical appearance is similar to that in Halo 3. It once again cloaks the player for 30 seconds.

Halo 4

In Halo 4, the active camouflage armor ability lasts up to 18 seconds with a recharge time of 16 seconds when fully depleted. Additionally, the jammer no longer makes false hostile contacts appear on the motion sensor, rather it makes neutral contacts appear and in a much tighter grouping than before. Therefore, it not only prevents the user from using it to trick enemies, but possibly gives away their location. Despite this, it still is an effective tool for hiding outside of cover and ambushing enemies.

Halo 2: Anniversary multiplayer

In Halo 2: Anniversary multiplayer, the active camouflage power-up once again takes on the appearance of a pyramidal container as a pickup item. It lasts for 45 seconds.

Halo 5: Guardians

In Halo 5: Guardians, active camouflage is a power-up that can be picked up in Arena or requisitioned in Warzone. While active, the user is invisible to the motion tracker of enemies as long as they are not sprinting. Moving while crouched no longer deteriorates the quality of camouflage, though moving faster would. It now displays a meter on the HUD that shows the remaining duration of the power up, and shortly before it runs out, the player will be notified via a quiet beeping sound.

In Warzone's Requisition system, there are three REQ cards for active camouflage.

Image	Name	Rarity	Sale Price	Energy Cost	Description
	Active Camo I	Uncommon	75	energy	Active Camo creates a refractive field that provides optical masking. Quick movements and offensive actions destabilize the effect. Short duration.
	Active Camo II	Rare	100	energy	Active Camo creates a refractive field that provides optical masking. Quick movements and offensive actions destabilize the effect. Medium duration.
	Active Camo III	Ultra Rare	150	energy	Active Camo creates a refractive field that provides optical masking. Quick movements and offensive actions destabilize the effect. Long duration.

Halo Wars 2

In Halo Wars 2, the active camouflage is available to a number of UNSC and Banished units, such as the UNSC Sniper and the Elite Honor Guard. Shrouds and cloaking generator project an area-of-effect that cloak nearby units or buildings. Let 'Volir and The Arbiter have Leader powers that can cloak units temporarily. Cloaked units cannot be targeted by enemies unless there they are revealed by units that can detect cloaked enemies (such as the Nightingale or Engineers).

Halo Infinite

In Halo Infinite's multiplayer, the active camouflage is activated via a 2-second animation similarly to Halo 5: Guardians, rendering the player invisible for 30 seconds. With power-up items now functioning like equipment, it can now be used at will, similar to the Cloaking in Halo 3. As such, if the player is killed before they can use it, or while in the process of activating it, they will drop the equipment, which can now be picked up by another player. Active camouflage in Halo Infinite behaves like a hybrid of the active camouflage seen in the original trilogy, and the active camo seen in all the games since Halo: Reach. If the player is simply moving and strafing, the camouflage remains consistent, but the camo fades out if they sprint, make any attacks, or use an equipment.

Active camouflage is used by a number of Elite enemy types. SpecOps Elites tend to always have their active camouflage activated, while Ultra and Warlords will active their active camouflage once their energy shields have depleted. Its effects can be negated through the use of the Threat Sensor.

Non-canon and dubious canon appearances

Silver Timeline

Main article: Silver Timeline

Active camouflage is used by Covenant Sangheili.

Production notes

• The active camouflage, as well as overshield, were requested by Hardy LeBel as a feature for Halo: Combat Evolved's multiplayer. After seeing their inclusion in multiplayer, the designers for the campaign added both pickups to the campaign.
• Changing the graphics card settings on Halo: Combat Evolved for PC (lowering the quality and effects) makes active camouflage users appear as an easily-seen gray, opaque silhouette.
• During the Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta, the active camo module had "UNSC" printed on it even when being used by Elites; this was corrected in the final release.

Gallery

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  The active camo power-up in Halo: Combat Evolved multiplayer.

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  A Spartan using active camouflage in Halo: Combat Evolved multiplayer.

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  A Spartan using active camouflage on Halo: Combat Evolved for PC.

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  The active camouflage power-up in Halo 2.

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  A camouflaged Stealth Sangheili aboard Cairo Station in Halo 2.

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  The active camouflage power-up in Halo 3.

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  Bungie Armor and active camouflage in Halo 3.

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  The active camouflage power-up in Halo: Reach.

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  The active camouflage being used in Halo: Reach Beta.

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  The active camouflage being used in Halo: Reach multiplayer.

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  The active camouflage power-up in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary.

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  A Stealth Sangheili using active camouflage in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary.

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  Active camouflage in use in Halo 4.

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  Active camouflage in Halo 2: Anniversary multiplayer.

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  A Spartan using active camouflage in Halo 2: Anniversary multiplayer.

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  A Spartan-IV using active camouflage in Halo 5: Guardians.

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  HUD icon for the active camouflage in Halo Infinite.

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  A Sangheili Warlord fading away with active camo in Halo Infinite.

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  Okro 'Vagaduun using active camo in Halo Infinite.

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  A Spartan-IV carrying an active camo module in Halo Infinite.

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  A Spartan-IV activating an active camo module in Halo Infinite.

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  A Spartan-IV with active camo in Halo Infinite.

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  A Sangheili with an active camo module in Halo: The Television Series.

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  The same Sangheili activating the active camo in Halo: The Television Series.

List of appearances

Halo: Combat Evolved (First appearance) Halo: The Flood Halo: First Strike Halo 2 Halo: Ghosts of Onyx Halo 3 Halo: The Cole Protocol Halo Wars Halo 3: ODST Halo Legends The Package Halo Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe Headhunters The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole Halo: Reach Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Halo 4 Spartan Ops Halo: Spartan Assault Halo 2: Anniversary Terminals

Halo: New Blood (Mentioned only) Halo: Last Light Halo 5: Guardians Halo: Fractures Oasis Halo: Smoke and Shadow Halo: Tales from Slipspace Hunting Party Halo Wars 2 Halo: Envoy Halo: Collateral Damage Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual (Mentioned only) Halo: Shadows of Reach Halo: Divine Wind Halo Infinite Halo: The Television Series Season One Contact Halo: The Rubicon Protocol Halo: Outcasts Halo: The Television Series Season Two Sanctuary Halo: Empty Throne