Headlong

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Headlong is a multiplayer map in Halo 2 that is set in the city of New Mombasa. This map is found mostly in Big Team Battle Matchmaking Playlists due to the size and number of vehicles, with Capture the Flag and Assault being the most common game types assigned. This map seems to be a port under construction. Some of the features are a half-assembled bridge, two teleporter systems, two floating cranes, Active Camouflage, an Overshield, and a large base under construction. The default vehicles for this map are two Warthogs (either a normal Warthog or a Gauss Warthog), two Ghosts, a Banshee, and a Scorpion or Wraith.

Strategies

The obvious tactic for this map in Slayer is to get to the high ground. The recommended weapons are usually a Sniper Rifle or a Battle Rifle, along with a short range weapon to complement them. Just stay in the buildings and pick off the players beneath you. However, it is safe to say that you won't be alone due to the fact that the map is only found in custom games and Big Team Battles. There is no cover in the center of the map so it's better if you stay in the buildings or on the catwalks that link them together. The best combination for this map is a mid-range and a short-range weapon, for example Battle Rifle and a Shotgun, the Battle Rifle being for open area encounters, and the Shotgun being for close-quarter combat encounters with opposing players. There are also about three areas of the map only reachable by Banshee. One of them is a large roof atop one of the buildings near where the Warthogs spawn. It is almost at the height which the game wont allow the banshee to fly above. This is a great place to snipe people from way afar and you can see a great deal of the map and if you run out of ammo, you can always jump.

Capture The Flag Strategy

This is a more direct strategy but usually works. When you go to attack the flag base, rather than making some elaborate route to attack the base, get two or three special teammates to run through the bottom of their base and have the rest of the team go to the base through the top. The distractions from your other team mates created at the top of the base will give way for you and your other teammates to go up to the base with no problems. Any player run into could be easily overcome by your teammates. Then grab the flag and instead of jumping down, run towards the lift and take that way out. Have somebody ready with a Warthog outside the building with the energy sword. When the player carrying the flag comes out he jumps in the warthog and goes to the base and returns the flag. The beauty of this technique is that you are not going to be as predictable as others you go through the airlift. You do not jump down and struggle and go on into a long battle over the flag. This is where most people either get the flag or lose it. However this tactic relies on a lot of good cooperation and communication between teammates.

Territories

• Gate Bridge
• Statue
• Alley
• Building Site
• Corner Building
• Construction Pit

Trivia

• It's notable that the monument in the center of the map is actually an obscured image of Bungie's "Seventh Column" symbol.
• Inside the yellow paneled building, there's graffiti that says, "Part of the Solution", a doodle of a hippo, and two signs in Bungie colors (white and blue) with a picture of a mans head with glasses and a picture of boots right above that sign.
• If you can super jump onto the building behind the crane holding the piece of bridge, look at the glass. You can see the giant structure of New Mombasa shown in the Halo 2 demo in the beginning.
• If you play alone in this level there will be trash in the corners.
• If you look carefully at the ground there will be vehicle tracks.
• Above the area where the Covenant machines are parked, there is an advertisement for a Civilian Warthog. If you zoom in on the sign, you can read it. It says: "Hog: Drive with reckless abandon in the new 12th gen hog. Comfort, luxury, bone crushing power. It's beauty and the beast."
• It is possible to force a way out of the map, through the invisible wall. Get in a banshee, and then have another player jump on top of your wings. Slowly fly to the very tall building with a door at the bottom, and a sloped roof. Flying towards the roof, you should hit a wall. The other player can jump off the Banshee, through the wall. Also, the Banshee can fly through the wall if flown slowly along the wall at an angle.
• A prime sniper spot is in a place that nobody can trace with ease. Two of these spots are on the structure at the bottom, and a ledge near the completed building with the Warthogs.
• If you go into the structure containing the Shotgun you can see a lot of barrels towards the back of the upper part of the structure, you will see a little thing sticking out of it. If you take a gun, you can shoot it off, and it will fly all around the room for a while. You can not do this with a Energy Sword, Shotgun, or a Rocket Launcher.
• Near the sea on the side with the warthogs there is a wall which looks just like the one from the Halo 2 E3 2003 demo at the final cut-scene before the phantom crashes.
• There are a few large flashing red signs on the level that flash the words "Evacuation Alert." This might be an indication as to why the city of New Mombasa is so deserted in the campaign levels.
• If you drive a vehicle over the edge of the harbor and into the water, you are killed instantly. The same goes for the banshee if you fly too low.
• In the machinima series Marlin the Elite, it is used as Marlin's hometown until he got evicted in episode 6.
• If you go up the ramp of the building where the bus is you will get killed because it won't let you explore more above.
• This level is believed to be haunted by one of the Ghosts of Halo using a sniper rifle.
• This is one of the multiplayer levels that has a ladder on it.
• In the area where you get the shotgun you will find 2 rusty long barrels. You can shoot the tips of these off with certain weapons and they will fly around shooting gas everywhere, like propane tanks in Halo 3.
• There is not a Golden Warthog on this map without the use of Mods. Many players had been tricked into believing so, but the rumor is in fact false.
• On Page 200 of the Strategy Guide for the Game by Piggyback, there is a typo that says that Colossus is the name of the map, not Headlong.
• If you have a person use a waith and rams you through any of the doors it will say,"killed by the guardians."