Cold Storage

“

Deep in the bowels of Installation 05 things have gotten a little out of hand. I hope you packed extra underwear.

”

Cold Storage is a Halo 3 multiplayer map, and a remake of the Halo: Combat Evolved's Chill Out. It was released for free on the 7th of July, 2008.

Setting

Cold Storage is set in the Flood research facilities deep in the bowels of Installation 05. Scattered across the surface of Delta Halo were containment facilities designed to continually analyze Flood samples kept in various states of development. This particular facility specialized in determining the extremophilic thresholds of Flood-infected specimens before 2401 Penitent Tangent's lax oversight led to a containment breach.^[1] A large Monitor, attached to the ceiling, can be seen on the map and will track players in its vicinity. A Flood tank form can be seen in containment in one of the cryo tanks, while Pod infectors roam free on the exterior of the map.

Design

Being derived from a Halo: Combat Evolved map, many changes needed to be made to Cold Storage to bring it into line with Halo 3's updated physics and graphic design. Many of the jumps and railings have been tweaked, like those on Blackout, but they stay well within the layout of Chill Out.

The Cold Storage Monitor in the ceiling follows players' movements, but will stop once they leave the room. The monitor will even observe invisible players which can be used to your advantage or theirs.

The map's mood is considered "competitive", and it is best played with small FFA Slayer games or Team Doubles. Combat tends to be rather chaotic, and because of the multitude of teleporters, it is very easy to get from one area to another and smite your opponents. The only noticeable change to the map's weapon layout is that Chill Out's M6D has been replaced with a battle rifle.

Strategies

Maintaining control of the top of the map is key to victory. But make sure that you have one of your teammates watching your rear. Due the many teleporters on the map, it is easy to be flanked.
Having the high ground with the sniper rifle is very effective on Free-For-All matches.
Predicting your opponent's spawn is very important, especially for Team SWAT.
It is very simple to find, "invisible," aka people who have active camo engaged. Simply follow the large monitor when it switches back and forth between you and the other player.
The bridge in the middle can be jumped on providing easier access to the other side.
Don't go to the lower areas unless absolutely necessary, it is easy to get bombarded with rockets or grenades
Hiding on the platform next to the rockets can surprise anyone that tries to secure the rockets.
If you jump from the ramp to the wall with all the empty test tubes inside, you will stick to a narrow ledge. Here you can be easily killed, but a lot of players don't bother to look up, giving you some easy assassinations.

Forge

There are only a handful of new Forge Objects available for Cold Storage, including Energy Barriers similar to the ones on Avalanche and Forge Filters that affect the color and overall tone of the map. The soccer ball is once again included, and the Mongoose and Ghost can be placed in as well, though the map is not especially designed for the vehicles. It is the only map that isn't from a map pack that has color filters.

The flamethrower is available for use, but can only be added in Forge. Teleporters have a new design to them, as they now have a circular base instead of the usual three-pronged base. They also have blue-violet color rather than the usual green aura.

Cold Storage reports

Main article: Installation 05 containment failure report

In the 5/30/08 Bungie Weekly Update, the a mysterious transmission was posted attached to the end of the update, detailing the initial outbreak of the Flood on Installation 05 due to the lax containment measures on the part of 2401 Penitent Tangent.^[2] On 06/06/08, another transmission was attached to the end of another weekly update.^[3] The logs were later posted on Halo Waypoint.^[4]

Cold Storage Report One

REPORT: CONTAINMENT FAILURE
LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility; [delta site] has experienced catastrophic specimen containment failure. All apertures into facility will be locked until further notice. Atmosphere evacuation and [reduction of ambient temperature] protocols have already been enacted. Request maintenance and security detail [at earliest opportunity]. [8 minutes] elapsed since initial containment failure.

REPORT: CONTAINMENT FAILURE
Waiting for maintenance and security detail. [32 minutes, 9 seconds] elapsed since request.

REPORT: CONTAINMENT FAILURE
Still waiting for maintenance and security detail. [24 hours] elapsed since request.

REPORT: SECURITY BREACH

LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility; [delta site] has experienced a security breach via emergency [slip stream space] transportation conduits. Emergency [slip stream space] transportation conduits have been placed in recursive mode to contain unauthorized hostile life forms. Request emergency security detail. Still waiting for primary maintenance and security detail. [2512332 hours, 14 minutes, 6 seconds] elapsed since initial request. 

REPORT: DERELICTION OF DUTY
[[2401 Penitent Tangent]] has been lax in the areas of maintenance and security.

Cold Storage Report Two

LOG: QUERIED ADJACENT FACILITIES
LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility [alpha, beta, gamma, epsilon, zeta, and kappa sites] have all replied [systems normal] within expected constraints. This would tend to signify that the containment failure was purely mechanical in nature; perhaps a manufacturing flaw. As no [outside agent] has accessed [delta site] in the past [874068942 hours, 4 minutes, 46 seconds]—[allowing for a 61360-hour, 54 minute, 2 second margin of error]—sabotage would seem unlikely.

LOG: REQUEST UNANSWERED
LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility; [delta site] is currently being held at [.01 atm] / [184K]. Local maintenance and security hubs have failed to reply within expected constraints. [Bumping maintenance and security request up] to [quadrant oversight].

LOG: REQUEST UNANSWERED
LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility; [delta site] is currently being held at [1 atm] / [278K] as atmospheric seals were showing signs of stress. [Quadrant oversight] has failed to reply within expected constraints. [Bumping maintenance and security request all the way up] to 2401 [PENITENT TANGENT].

LOG: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO FACILITIES
LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility; [delta site] emergency [slip stream space] transportation conduits have been accessed by unauthorized parties.

LOG: FILED COMPLAINT TO INSTALLATION 00
2401 [PENITENT TANGENT], monitor of Installation 05, has been lax in the areas of maintenance and security. Requests for aid in said areas have gone unanswered by both 2401 and [subservient] systems well beyond expected constraints.

Theories

The first time stamp 2512332 hours, 14 minutes, 6 seconds is the equivalent of 286 years, 9 months, 18 days, 4 hours, 48 minutes, 20 seconds. The second time stamp is equivalent to 99,779 years, 6 months, 21 days, 21 hours, 36 minutes, 40 seconds. The margins of error time stamp is equivalent to 7 years, a reference to Bungie's love of seven.
It is possible that the "slipspace transportation conduits" are part of the teleportation grid on the Halos, which were used by 343 Guilty Spark and Cortana on Installation 04, and taken over by the Gravemind on Installation 05. It is also possible that the "slipspace transportation conduits" are referring to the teleporters on the map. That would mean that they each lead to another teleporter on the map because they are in "recursive mode". It would also explain how the Flood form from the broken test tube managed to escape and infest the area outside, even though the facility has no openings or exits to escape from.

Trivia

A player stuck inside the test tube.

Production notes

Cold Storage, known in development as Smuggler, was first hinted at in the 05/23/08 Bungie Weekly Update.^[5] In the subsequent weekly updates for the next two weeks, the Cold Storage Reports would be released hinting at the map's circumstances and setting.^[2]^[3] Cold Storage was officially announced by Bungie at MLG San Diego on June 14, 2008, in which it was first shown in an exhibition game between Bungie members; Lukems and Shishka, and MLG Pros; Karma and Legend,.^[6]^[7] The next few updates would continue to show more screenshots and images of the map,^[8]^[9]^[10] before it was announced to release on Bungie Day.^[11] On the week of release, a ViDoc and a breakdown were posted on Bungie.net.^[12]
Cold Storage was chosen for development as, at the time, there were few maps of a Forerunner theme being developed. The idea to bring the Flood in came as inspiration from ideas briefly touched on in Halo 2, and a desire to explore the concept more. One of the goals with the level was to make the majority of the level's colour come from lighting to create visually distinct rooms. The Flood being contained outside the playable area, for the most part, was due to not wanting to change the map's layout too much, and due to the map Isolation already allowing players to see the Flood up close and personal.^[12]
It was joked about in the ViDoc, And On the Seventh Day, which Bungie had wanted to call this map ‘‘Cold Sore’’. Bungie said, however, that this name wouldn't work.
A part of this map's "Walls" were, until recently, used as Bungie.net's wallpaper. They are folded out structures that seem to be power cells of some sort.

Miscellaneous

The Large Monitor is one of very few objects that spike grenades will not stick to, just bouncing off instead.
Oddly, this map has tags for the invincibility equipment in it. The item can be modded onto the level.^[13]
The Flood on this map will sometimes react to the players. Some of these reactions are:
- If you stand at the Flood Room windows for long enough, some Pod infectors will come over and scrape at the glass as if trying to attack you.
- If you stare at the Tank Form long enough it will twitch as if it's trying to growl at you, then continue to remain motionless leading to the belief that this Tank Form is merely a prisoner and not a dead test subject.
Using the Forge Turret Glitch, it is possible to get inside the Tank Form's cryo-container. Once inside, your player model will pass through the Tank Form, yet when you melee it in the mouth, it will make squishing noises. Shooting it in the mouth will make "Flood blood" come out. Shooting anywhere else will give you the same effect as shooting a wall. plasma grenades can stick to the Tank Form as well, with the exception of the head.
The Turret Glitch can also be used to access the area with Pod infectors; immediately exiting Edit Mode after bypassing the glass windows can in some cases prevent a player from dying.