| R'ea'kuk-pattern command shuttle | |
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 An overview of the command shuttle, from the rear angle. | |
| Technical specifications | |
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Length: |
74 meters (244 ft)[1] |
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Width: |
63.7 meters (208.9 ft)[1] |
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Height: |
22.1 meters (72.5 ft)[1] |
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Other system(s): |
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| Usage | |
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Role(s): |
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Affiliation: |
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The R'ea'kuk-pattern command shuttle is a large command-scale dropship employed by the Covenant.[2]
OverviewEdit
Design detailsEdit
The R'ea'kuk displays many outward similarities to the Spirit family of troop carriers; in particular the Dextro Xur-pattern. It shares a number of features with the Dextro Xur such as the twin pronged hulls, though is equipped with additional capital ship-scale proselytization network relays and defensive augur arrays.[2]
UsageEdit
Befitting its name, the command shuttle served in a role comparable to the larger transport shuttles employed by the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) or various human megacorporations, working to ferry high-value Covenant military officers or political figures (such as Hierarchs, Minor Prophets, Ministers, San'Shyuum and Sangheili High Councilors etc) on their deployments outside of High Charity. In this role, they had many features such as capital scale proselytization network relays and specialty defensive augur arrays.[2]
Due to this usage, the R'ea'kuk was rarely deployed on the front lines during the Human-Covenant War, and the rare occasions in which it did make contact with human forces saw the UNSC devote considerable effort to target analysis and tracking of the individual shuttles encountered.[2]
Production notesEdit
The command shuttle is one of many vehicles cut during the production of Halo 2. Throughout production, the shuttle had two designs; one earlier, resembling the Dextro Xur-pattern Spirit dropship from Combat evolved and reusing its textures in a similar fashion to the Brhi Xur-pattern Leech boarding craft. During the original production of Combat Evolved, the Spirit dropship was originally intended by concept artist Shi Kai Wang to fly with the cockpit section facing forward, and the troop bay twin hulls following in the back. While an animation miscommunication caused the ship's direction to be reversed into the form now-familiar today,[3] the command shuttle as-developed for Halo 2 was originally designed to retain this original intent. As such, the craft's bow is the armoured middle pod, while the aft sections are the troop bay housing.
The model for the early command shuttle was unearthed by the Digsite project, and officially canonised in an issue of Canon Fodder[2] The craft was featured in the Milestone 1 Assault level developed c.2002 as part of early testbeds for Halo 2 gameplay - when the game was still mostly running on the Combat Evolved engine. Assault was to feature the command shuttle as the objective for a mission, in which the player would launch an assault on it and the Forerunner installation it was protecting, using stealth and air strikes to destroy the shuttle - with the Covenant reacting accordingly to the mission progress.[4]
In later-produced storyboards and concept art, the command shuttle was redesigned to be more visually reminiscent of the Kez'katu-pattern Phantom also developed for Halo 2, featuring numerous cannons and several laterally-mounted drop pod launchers. In the storyboards. the command shuttle was intended to be used to deploy the Arbiter and his Special Operations Sangheili during the level The Arbiter. It is also mentioned in the script files for the level deltatemple as the personal transport of the Prophet of Regret, before finally being seen in the final epilogue cutscene storyboards near the Flood-infested High Charity.
GalleryEdit
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Browse more images in this article's gallery page. |
Unused designEdit
Storyboards of a command shuttle inserting the Arbiter's team into the gas mine.
Storyboards of a command shuttle inserting the Arbiter's team into the gas mine.
Storyboards of a command shuttle inserting the Arbiter's team into the gas mine.
Storyboards of a command shuttle inserting the Arbiter's team into the gas mine.
A command shuttle can be seen in storyboards for the game's original ending.
Concept art for the command shuttle.
A blockout of the storyboard command shuttle design produced in Halo 2 development, that went unfinished.
ScreenshotsEdit
View of the shuttle's front.
A three-quarters angle on the shuttle's front.
A side orthogonal view of the shuttle.
The ventral surfaces of the shuttle.
SourcesEdit
- ^ a b c Based on the orthographic view here
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Halo Waypoint, Canon Fodder - Cutting Room Lore (Retrieved on Jul 26, 2022) [archive]
- ^ Twitter, Shi Kai Wang (@shiekthegeek): "So I'll state this upfront; the Spirit was always concepted with the tuning forks as the back. A miscommunication on direction for animation and 3D made it so the tuning fork faced forward. Ultimately we all agreed that felt more aggressive so we left it :)" (Retrieved on Jan 9, 2023) [archive]
- ^ Halo Waypoint, Digsite Deep-Dive (Retrieved on Jun 21, 2024) [archive]
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