Blackout

“

Bathed in frozen moonlight, this abandoned drilling platform is now a monument to human frailty.

”

Blackout^[1] is a multiplayer map featured in Halo 3 and is a remake of the Halo 2 map, Lockout . It is featured as one of the three maps in the Legendary Map Pack that became available on April 15, 2008.

Setting

Main article: UNSC Weather Station Z/41

Blackout takes place on UNSC Weather Station Z/41, in the Arctic on Earth.^[1] The station was originally a privately owned research platform. The stark location and imaginative rumors about alien life forms stored at the remote station made it a tempting site for reimagining in War Games.^[2] The station has racks of glacier core samples, Doppler radar and other pieces of research gear strewn about, and an Aurora Borealis overhead.^[1]

Design

The map is built around a helicopter pad. Branching off of this pad in all four directions are buildings; each building has an upper and lower level, and two of them have a third floor. These two towers have been dubbed the "Sniper Tower" and the "BR Tower" as these are the weapons which spawns atop each of them. The Sniper Tower (where the sniper rifle spawns) is the smaller of the two, and the BR Tower is the larger. The other two buildings consist of a walled room that leads to the BR Tower, and a tall building that has an "Air Lift" in it, a large fan which propels air, and you, upwards. The Air Lift building has an exit at the Helipad and the lower level.

Forge

In the second most recent ViDoc, multiple forge items from Blackout were revealed. They include detailed staircases, man-cannons, standard doorways, portals, and blocking doorways, shield doors, and newly edited shipping crates that stay once they are placed. Another new object is the FX filter. Using these will change the tint, contrast, brightness, and overall color of the map, and it is recommended to experiment. You may combine them, to make cool effects. The barracks on Blackout contain a basketball hoop, and the battle rifle tower is now featured with windows compared to being fully opened.

The level is not an exact replica of Lockout, as there are several noticeable differences. Several jumps have been removed to limit mobility around the map, as well as the removal of a "window" in the Library area that does not allow the players to see under the middle of the level. Players also cannot shoot from the bottom level of the "BR" Tower to the bottom level of the "Sniper" Tower. The following are some activities in Forge that the player can do.

Doors placed in certain entrances usually make Infection Mode more interesting and challenging.
Using the doors you can block off whole rooms of the level, this small change alone can change the way the level plays, in respect to movements of the players, effectively changing the entire dynamic of the game.
If you pick up a turret while somebody's in it, then push him or her as far up as possible, you can send him or her past the barrier and he or she can float objects way above the level. But there's a death barrier if you go too high.
Through a glitch in Forge, you are able to spawn a teleporter inside of the smokestacks. Once inside, however, the player has very limited mobility, and if moved in a certain spot, will be killed by the Guardians or the death will count as a suicide.
When closing off rooms, make sure that there is no vertical way to get in, or find some way to block off said entrances.
The Large Shield Door fits perfectly over the larger gap in the wall on BR3, creating a good safe haven where you can let your shields recharge.

Strategies

A numbered pic of the Sniper tower on Blackout

1) The Sniper Tower, 2) The Air Lift room, 3) The Helipad.

As mentioned above, you can shoot the Fusion Coils to launch the sniper rifle toward you.
You can camp in the center room (under the Helicopter pad), on the slanted walls; a shotgun is recommended.
If you inch up on the wind tunnel, in the lift room at the top, you can fall down without being shot back up.
Blackout has, just as Lockout, many combinations of death defying jumps. Learn the map, and use these to drop down behind your enemy or in your enemy's blind spot. One handy jump is from BR1 to BR2. Along the wall on the hatch that you can drop through from BR2 to BR1, there is a little ledge that you can jump on. If you jump on the ledge, you can jump up to the next floor. This is useful when there is someone above you because it will surprise him or her and it is quicker.
Control of the open areas depends on control of the Sniper Tower and the sniper.
A great way to kill the opposing team is to control the air duct, Sniper Tower, and helipad. Concentrate your fire when you see them.
When holding the helipad in Swat, patrol the ramps. Many people go up the left one. You can get many kills and save your buddies if you can kill the enemy fast.
The bottom floors are a common area for firefights, so throw a few grenades into the gaps on the other side to soften them up for your teammates below.
If you have the high ground, you can jump to give yourself an even better height advantage. Sometimes your opponent will back up only to fall to their deaths!
While alone on BR3 (third floor of BR Tower) always watch behind you. If you are alone and your teammates are covering other points of the map, your opponents usually spawn below you at BR2 or BR1, offering a perfect chance for them to come behind you.
Many players often take the sword without bothering to look in the corner. You can hide in the there and easily assassinate them. It is risky because the sword user can see you and easily kill you, but if he fails to see you it can be quite humiliating.
The yellow walls can be jumped on top of, giving you a vantage point of the walkways below.
Always remember that when you are on Top Lift, you can always jump to Elbow if there is an enemy there, a teammate in trouble or you just want to make an escape. This escape is actually better than dropping down the hatches on the side because you can get fragged easily.
When playing Team SWAT, if you spawn at Lift in the beginning of the game then do not go up the lift. Your enemy will most likely be expecting you and you will be killed as soon as you get up. If you spawn at Rec Room, then look towards lift. If there's nobody there or you killed him or her already, then look towards Elbow. You can usually get some kills early in the game this way.
Try to place your grenades carefully, many can bounce and sail off the side of the map.
Unlike in Lockout the bottom passage is not entirely lined up, or at least less so than Lockout. This was probably meant to reduce long range battles down the passage and make it an easier area to traverse.
As in Lockout, close-ranged weapons are key.
You can drop down about halfway at the airlift, armed with a close range weapon you can ambush another player.

Trivia

Production notes

Blackout's code name was Moonlight Sonata during its development due to the level's dark night-time sky, and as an allusion to one of Beethoven's works.^[3] Originally, the map was to be set in an oil derrick, but this changed over time. The weather station designation was arbritraily chosen by artist Paul Russel,
Another idea for the map's setting was to be a partially destroyed Strato-Sentinel on The Ark, near the planetoid in its center.^[4]
During the production of the Legendary Map Pack, Assembly was originally going to ship alongside the other two maps.
Blackout was almost not made, as Guardian already existed in Halo 3 and was also inspired by Lockout.^[1]
Blackout was recreated in the Halo Mash-Up: Minecraft Evolved.^[5]

Miscellaneous

Bungie claimed that one of the only differences between Lockout and Blackout is that the needlers were replaced with Brute Spikers.
Bungie claims that the model for Blackout was rebuilt because the original model of Lockout was too messy and chaotic to work with.
The map is slightly larger than Lockout in some aspects and areas: the battle rifle tower is actually larger, the Barracks are smaller, and the platform next to the Sniper Tower is larger.
Upon falling off the platform, a splash can be seen after your character lands in the water. On other occasions, if your character lands in the water flat on his/her back or stomach he/she will land and slowly sink downward into the ocean.
The windows throughout the map are identical, including their reflection. The windows were originally made for the Barracks (opposite the lift). The reflection when you look in these windows is a blurry view of the lift area. If you look into the other windows (bottom of sniper tower are easiest to see), you will see the same image.
Blackout is a favored map for Team SWAT because of its mix of mid and short range combat.
The room right behind the sniper spawn cannot be entered. Even using glitches to get your way in will result in death by the guardians.
Interestingly this map has been a hotbed for the Ghosts of Halo, perhaps none-too-surprisingly, as the first Ghost of Halo was reported at Lockout, Blackout's predecessor.
Blackout, along with Cold Storage and Orbital, are the only maps in Halo 3 that do not spawn a Brute Shot by default.
Exactly every 5 minutes, a red comet will soar over the sky for a split second. This also appears in Sandbox.
Bungie stated in the Legendary Vidoc that you can block off all the doors in Blackout if you want to with doors. However, there is not a large enough supply of doors to block all the ways inside.