Man cannon
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
"The Homo Sapien Propulsifier, otherwise known as the Man Cannon" -Sarge
"It fires men?" - Pvt. Simmons
"Yes, and also Grifs. Come here, Grif." -Sarge
-From Red vs. Blue Beta Complex special
The Man Cannon is an object in Halo 3 that tosses a player through the air to another part of the map. The user is unprotected while in mid-air, but can still attack other players. It is much like the Covenant's Gravity Lift technology, possibly the Covenant learned this from the Forerunners. The Man Cannon also works as a replacement for the teleporters in previous Halo games.
While the name specifies a man, the cannon will launch anything that enters it. Unfortunately, its strength will be diminished when heavy objects such as the Warthog drives through it, and the cannon will not launch them as far.[1]
As of now, this device has only been featured in the Halo 3 Multiplayer map Valhalla, Narrows, Epitaph, and Guardian, but similar devices can be found on the Halo 2 Multiplayer Maps Desolation, Ivory Tower, Ascension, Gemini, Headlong, and Colossus. Similar devices are also present in Halo 2, such as the covenant antigrav lifts found on the multiplayer level Midship, and the air lifts found in the multiplayer levels Foundation, Tombstone, Warlock, and Ivory Tower. As shown in the new Halo 3 Vidoc, Bungie created the Man Cannon to replace the teleporters because it adds far greater challenge and risk to the gameplay. For example, a player may be sniped while in mid-air. It also adds some advantage, as this player still can attack the other competitors.
Trivia
- Almost anything can be sent through the man cannon. This includes the flag in a game of CTF.
- Throwing grenades (except spike grenades) through the man cannon might surprise anyone waiting for you to come through.
- Light vehicles such as the Warthog and Mongoose can travel through the Man cannon.
- In RVB (Red_vs_Blue) it was called the "Grif cannon", The name comes from Sarge who never ceases to show his hate towards Grif
- On maps like Valhalla, in games where there are many players in, always try your luck with the Man-Cannon by pushing a Fusion Coil to it, and who knows, you may get lucky.
- The mancannons placed in Valhalla and Narrows can be shut down if you use the map Overload Glitch. This makes it a lot easier to place objects such as spawn points, grenades and teleporters close to or even on the mancannon. If the round or game is ended the map is no longer overloaded and thus, activates the mancannons again.
- Taking the last point in mind this trick allows for some fun gameplay. Think of people respawning and immediately being propelled half way through the map. Or if you place a sender node teleporter in the (inactive) mancannon and a receiver node teleporter somewhere else, the speed the player gains from the mancannon will result in ejecting the player from the receiver node to whatever direction the receiver node is directed.
- The main difference between a grav lift (for example the one on colossus) and a mancannon is that it is more powerful and at a more horizontal angle. However, the main grav lift on epitaph can not be called a mancannon because it doesn't look like those present on Valhalla and Narrows. It also makes a different sound when used.
