Halo Waypoint

There will be an update coming out to the Xbox Live dashboard later this week. It includes support for Facebook, Twitter, Zune, as well as Halo Waypoint. I've been playing with these features for about a week now in the Beta test program and they're pretty cool. The Facebook app has a really slick photos interface that is actually cleaner than the native photo interface on the Facebook website. Halo Waypoint is a cool new destination for all things Halo and includes a bunch of "Waypoint Achievements." While these aren't new achievements for your gamerscore, they are based on the in-game achievements from Halo 3, Halo Wars and Halo 3: ODST. Unlocking Waypoint Achievements leads to Avatar awards. You can check out my avatar on Xbox Live to see what's available. As you can see from the in-set graphic, I've already maxed out my Waypoint career, but presumably, most of you will have things you can still unlock when Waypoint goes live for the world.

Best Strategy Game 2009

http://g4tv.com/gphoria2009/index.html?cat=76

Halo Wars wins G4TV's aware for Best Strategy game this year. w00t! I agree, because I got promoted to Major, lolz.

Xbox Live Activity

With last week's XBL activity update, Halo Wars has now dropped out of the top 10 list. This is the final nail in the coffin for Halo Wars, officially removing it from clan night consideration. OmniscientDeath, BeerMonkeee and I are still playing it pretty regularly, but I definitely could not tell anybody to go out and spend $60 on this game when you could just borrow it from us later. Left 4 Dead continues to be strong in the #7 spot and will continue to our primary clan game for the near future. Survival Mode has been a lot of fun on the weeks with only a few players, and Versus mode should be tons of fun on the new maps. Halo 3 and Halo 2 continue to reign at #1 on top of the overall and orignal Xbox lists. If folks are interested in trying either one for a clan night or two, I am happy to consider it, just leave a comment here.

XBL Activity

DLC really drives Xbox Live activity. The Mythic Map pack DLC pushed Halo 3 back on top of the lists, above the two Call of Duty games. And the Survival pack DLC bumped Left 4 Dead all the way up into the #5 spot last week. Halo Wars clings to the top 10 in the #10 spot.

Halo War Updates

Details on two upcoming downloads have been released by Ensemble Studios.

The first, a free title update, was previously posted about on this blog. They've also announced some tweaks to the air units:

• The Covenant Vampire is getting a boost, with its attack damage being increased by 15% with every upgrade.
• The Anders' Hawk, is being made more expensive, going from 900 to 1350 supplies. In addition, her Cryo Bomb upgrades are also going up by 50% at every level.

A DLC pack has also been announced. It includes new achievements, so I would assume that it will not be free. It adds three new multi-player game modes:

• Keepaway Mode: This is the Halo Wars adaptation of "Capture the Flag." Teams battle it out to capture a free-roaming Forerunner Sentinel to score points before the other team. Capture three to five sentinels to claim victory.
• Tug of War Mode: This mode is all about having a stronger army than your opponent. Defeating enemies is essential, but success is determined by a combination of the army, buildings, and resources left standing in the end.
• Reinforcement Mode: All active battle units are provided in successive waves. Adapt to their tactics and use the ever-changing set of units to outwit and outlast the enemy.

Strategic Options also adds four new Achievements worth a total of 100 points:

• One and Done: Score the winning point in a game of Keepaway against Legendary A.I.'s
• Pull Hard, Pull Deep: Win and never trail in a Tug of War game
• Freak on a Streak: Gain at least 15 population from a single wave in a Reinforcement game
• Living Loving Bug: Obtain a Scarab during a Reinforcement game

Halo Wars Rock, Paper, Scissors in More Detail

Tim "Timotron" Deen, Lead Technical Designer on Halo Wars, gives more insight on the "Rock, Paper Scissors" aspect of the Halo Wars combat system.

Coming into any RTS (and Halo Wars is no exception) can be a daunting task for new players as they learn the relationships of the game units, especially game units that are not direct counter or game units that are just soft counters. As such this article will attempt to delve into a more detailed look at the Halo Wars counter system and dissect it for the players into a set of discrete rules and show how the rules apply to the game. Finally before we start a term used often in this article is “RPS” which is shorthand in a RTS for “rock paper scissors” and is used to describe the rule sets that govern which units win fights.

Now then a detailed look at the Halo Wars RPS reveals that it is a layered system of 3 RPS systems with a specific order of priority in application. Also each RPS system provides a different flavor to the game and serves to provide a specific combat flow purpose. Additionally the RPS relationships are split into the two separate buckets of “soft kill” and “hard kill”, “soft kill” relationships are where the units have a medium advantage in combat and “hard kill” is where units have a very strong advantage in combat.

• Highest priority RPS
  • Counter unit RPS
    • Counter units hard kill their countered unit type
    • Counter units are soft killed by mainlines that they do not counter

• Mid level RPS’s
  • Scout unit RPS
    • Hard kill counter infantry
    • Soft kill air
    • Soft killed by mainline infantry
    • Hard killed by mainline vehicles
  • Spartan RPS
    • Limited hard kill normal vehicles and air
• Lowest priority RPS
  • Basic unit RPS
    • Infantry beat Air
    • Air beats Vehicles
    • Vehicles beat Infantry
    • Mainlines are better than counters against buildings*

Note: * the cobra and wolverine has a minor siege counter role as a special bonus for UNSC.

The counter unit RPS provides hard counters to punish players who attempt to run a single unit army and is the highest priority counter system. Next the scout unit RPS provides balance in the early game against counter infantry and air before their main counters come online, while the Spartan RPS provides a specific counter to vehicles in tech level 1. Finally the basic unit RPS provides a low level bias to the combat so that the units not directly involved in a higher level counter system will still have a rule that applies to them.

The final item to cover in this article is to go over just what categories units fall into in halo wars for defining what they are. First all units have a role category assigned to them such as mainline or counter, and second they have a unit type assigned to them such as infantry or vehicle. The combination of those two items defines the unit’s base combat relationships to other units.

Unit Categories

• Role
  • Mainline unit
  • Counter unit
  • Scout unit
  • Special unit

• Type
  • Infantry
  • Vehicle
  • Aircraft

One caveat before concluding is that results will vary in actual game play due to players employing micro management of units and in situations where the opponent has superior upgrades or numbers. Now with that caveat said hopefully this article will give everyone an idea of how RPS design is expressed in Halo wars and why many of the units have the combat advantages that they do.

p.s. Here's a partial chart of Hard and Soft Counters below. Click for huge:

EXP Required for Halo Wars ranks

I've previously posted about the Halo Wars ranks, but wanted to provide a little more detail now that we've been playing it a little more. We've logged 11-20 multi-player games each over the last month, and averaged 2,136 points per game. We are all currently Recruits and have been consistently getting matched against teams with Majors and at least one Commander. Assuming our average of 23 minutes per game, these are the approximate number of games and times it takes to make each rank:

• Recruit (1 pt): 1 game (23 minutes)
  
• Lieutenant (80,000 pts): 38 games (14.5 hours)
  
• Captain (200,000 pts): 94 games (36 hours)
  
• Major (400,000 pts): 188 games (72 hours)
  
• Commander (800,000 pts): 375 games (144 hours)
  
• Colonel (1,600,000 pts): 750 games (288 hours)
  
• Brigadier (2,400,000 pts): 1,124 games (431 hours)
  
• General (3,200,000 pts): 1,499 games (575 hours)

The Ranks are clearly totally unrelated to TrueSkill, as our TrueSkill has been increasing exponentially without a corresponding increase in Rank.

Halo Wars Title Update

A title update to be released in the near future has been released for Halo Wars. The first piece of news is that the Prophet of Regret's speed on land has been reduced to match the other leaders. This helps balance the Prophet Rush that was stymieing a lot of players. The second piece of news is that the Flaming Warthog and the Honor Guard Wraith will now be available in Multiplayer battles against other players. More to come later, I'm sure.

Halo Wars Reviewed

Halo Wars: Cutter vs Prophet of Regret Rush

From Bonfire Studios:

The most consistent problem I’ve read about in the forums is people struggling to defeat the Prophet of Regret rushing their base early in the game. Here are some step by step tips as Captain Cutter that should help you in your struggle to defeat this popular rush.

If you notice your opponent is the Prophet of Regret (use the ‘back’ button at the start of the game to see an opponent’s leader) then you can be pretty sure that he’s going to rush. Luckily as Cutter you can build defenses and a solid economy at the same time thanks to your unique unit, the Elephant. Here is a typical early game strategy for Cutter when up against the Prophet:

Immediately send your initial Warthog to scout the Prophet’s base, this is important in combating a rush. While you’re scouting with this Warthog you should be training an Elephant and have 2 Supply Pads building.

If he goes Temple first then you can assume his Prophet will be on his way to your base pretty soon. If you see a Temple first do the following:

1. Lock your Elephant down near one of your forward turret sockets and build a small army of Flamethrowers. (usually between 3-5)
2. Build a turret on the socket nearest your Elephant

The combined firepower of the Elephant, Turret, and Flamethrowers will be enough to put the Prophet in his place long enough for your superior Cutter economy to take hold and give you the upper hand in the game. If the Prophet is not putting early pressure on you then use your small Flamethrower army to capture one of the Forerunner structures (preferably a Supply Elevator or Reactor) that may be located on the map. From this point on it’s about making correct unit decisions and minimizing the effectiveness of his Prophet. Do not mindlessly waste units against the Prophet’s shield, instead aim at engaging him in a larger conflict where you can trap him and cast disruption bomb. A strong force of Marines and Flamethrowers early can quickly decimate the Prophet if focus fired properly. Continually scout your opponent to stay a step ahead of his strategy and be ready to add some Warthogs to your army if you see that your opponent is beginning to mass Jackals.


If you see the Prophet goes with a Warehouse first:

1. On a map with good forerunner structures send your initial Elephant near these and train enough Flamethrowers to take the structure (5 is usually enough for any structure).
2. Use this bonus (normally an elevator or reactor) to really push your Cutter economy to a strong advantage over the Prophet
3. Once the Prophet makes it to your base now he’ll usually be accompanied by either infantry units or Banshees, make the appropriate counters to these units and your superior economy should win the game. As Cutter training units from your Elephant as well as a Barracks in your base and some Warthogs from your Command Center can give you a very strong force in little to no time at all.

A typical Cutter build order against the Prophet will look something like this:

, Supply Pad, Supply Pad, , Supply Pad, Supply Pad, Supply Pad, Barracks, Reactor

I hope these tips help you to score a few wins against what looks to be the most popular rush at the moment.

Halo Wars Progress Tracker Updated

I've updated my tracking workbook in Microsoft Excel 2007 format that allows you to track your progress easier and give you a better idea of how to get your achievements as quickly as possible. I've added the full UNSC and Covenant Tech Trees with resource costs for each item. Version 3 is posted, feedback is welcome.

Halo Wars Ranking System

[Article from Bonfire Studios]

Ranks in Halo Wars are earned by accumulating score from Public Matchmaking games on Xbox LIVE.

Your Service Record shows your current Rank, Score and how many more points you need to rank up. Your Rank is also visible as an icon next to your gamertag when in a game lobby, post game screen and other areas.

There are eight ranks available in Halo Wars. You start as Unranked and then are promoted to Recruit upon completing your first Public Matchmade game.

There are two bonus modifiers that can boost your score by a percentage. To earn the bonus you must complete a Public Matchmaking game and NOT disconnect. If you win you receive an additional 40%. If you lose you get an additional 20%. If you're getting omgwtfbbqpwned, don't get mad and disconnect because you're still in line for a nice little bonus. :) And if you're knocked out of the game early and want to leave you'll still receive your 20% bonus so don't feel you need to stay until the end.

Halo 3 Back on Top

The release of the Mythic Map Pack in conjunction with Halo Wars last week pushed Halo 3 back to the top of the Xbox Live activity list. GTA IV is still holding position at #5 following its popularity boost with the Lost and the Damned expansion pack. Halo Wars debuted at #6, with the demo continuing to be popular at #8. Left 4 Dead has fallen back a little bit to #7, but I would expect that to climb back up as the noise from the other single player games falls out.

Halo Wars Skulls and Black Boxes

There is a Skull and a Black Box hidden on every campaign level. The Skulls all require killing a certain number of enemies before they appear. Here are some tips that OmniscientDeath and I picked up on our playthroughs.

• Xbox Life has the best guide for Skulls and Black boxes I've found yet, including screen shots
• Xbox Life only goes up through Mission 12 however, so for the last three, Xbox 360 Achievements does an adequate job
• Unlike Supply Crates, Skulls and Black boxes can be claimed with any unit, including air units. In fact, some are only accessible with air units.
  
• Mission 1 Look Daddy! skull: The tricky thing here is having enough Grunts available to kill. You want to be sure the Spirit dropships don't get killed before delivering their Grunty payload. I recommend rushing into Alpha base and taking out the Wraith before the Shortsword is called to extend the battle. Then concentrate on the Covenant units around the edge of the base, ignoring the ones that get dropped in until the end. Be sure to leave a unit right next to where the Skull spawns (see Xbox Life screenshots) because you have very little time after the 100th grunt is killed to grab it. It's easier to just switch to that unit with Down on the D-pad, then to try and race a Warthog back.
• Mission 5 Fog skull: I recommend not jacking Wraiths until you've killed all 5, otherwise you may run out of Wraiths that spawn.

Halo Wars Campaign Special Achievements

There are special achievements associated with each campaign level. Here are some things OmniscientDeath and I picked up on our playthroughs.

• Xbox 360 Achievements has a decent achievement guide posted
• Mission 1 Everything's Better with Bacon: This is hard because your Warthog gunner tends to kill grunts before you can splatter them. I recommend using the queue movement command. If you press and hold "X", your unit will go there after it's done with its current action. Send in one Warthog at a time and click "Y" on the Grunt as soon as its visible so the gunner stops shooting. Immediately (before your hog gets to the Grunt), queue up a Warthog move to retreat back out of range so that your Warthog automatically turns to come back as soon as possible and doesn't gun down any remaining Grunts. Do the same thing at Alpha Base, but be careful to position Forge and your Marines well out firing range. It took my 81 Grunts to get 50 splatters. Take your time.
• Mission 3 Coveneant "Hot Drop": You don't have to get all 5 kills at one time. If you don't get all 5 the first time, just turn the bridge back on and try again.
• Mission 4 The Real Winner: See the screengrab from Xbox Life. Open the console next to the black box and Adam should come running out.
• Mission 7 Micro Manager: You can get this by just hitting the Scarab with the MAC cannon, and not moving any of your units. The only caveat is that the Scarab will likely burn through the ruins and start hitting your base before you can get enough MAC blasts in. Spend your time building up resources. The Scarab will take out the closest turret and closest building before starting on your command center. Once those are gone, just keep building Supply Pads in the empty space, the Scarab will hit that one first before going back to your command center. It costs 100 resources every time and they go quick, so be sure to keep an eye on your MAC recharge time.
• Mission 10 The Procrastinator: Recommend building Scorpions and Wolverines to escort the Gremlins.
  
• Mission 12 Battened Down the Hatches: As soon as it starts, use all your resources to build Cyclops until you max your headcount. Don't forget about the two airlocks furthest from the power core. Be efficient, it takes almost exactly 4 minutes on easy if you are perfect
• Mission 15 Thinkin' About My Doorbell: Be careful, when you open a door, the glass panels fall away. Any ground units you have parked on them will die. Also, the doors will only if you have cleared all the aliens away from the control panel.
  

Halo Wars Tips and Tricks

OmniscientDeath and I have played through the entire campaign, collecting all the skulls, black boxes and special campaign achievements. Here's some general tips:

• Playing campaign on co-op is more fun than playing by yourself.
  
• The game can get laggy though, so recommend a fast connection.
• Budget about 7 hours to get through on Easy if you're working co-op on skulls and black boxes.

Halo Wars Community Site

Ensemble Studios has put together a community site for Halo Wars not unlike bungie.net. Looks like they will be offering a good variety of stats, though it does look largely skewed towards multi-player. The only campaign offerings they have now are medal chests for skulls and black boxes.

On the front page of the site, they have posted the entire Halo Wars tech tree. Very useful until you memorize everything.

Halo Wars Progress Tracker

There are 50 achievements in Halo Wars that span 15 campaign levels, 14 skirmish levels, 6 leaders, skulls, black boxes, local play and Xbox Live play. I've created a tracking workbook in Microsoft Excel 2007 format that allows you to track your progress easier and give you a better idea of how to get your achievements as quickly as possible.

Version 1 is posted here. Feedback is welcome.

[Update March 10, 2009] Version 2 is posted with bug fixes and improved progress tracking.
[Update March 12, 2009] Version 3 is posted with bug fixes and full tech tree with resource costs.

Prima Games Halo Wars Convenant Unit Overview Part 2

Covers Wraiths, Locusts, Banshees, Vampires, Scarabs.

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Left 4 Dead.

In other news, the RTS game Halo Wars hits stores today. I pre-ordered it, so am available to play if anybody wants. I'm not going to make it a clan game unless the entire clan clamors for it, but am happy to play after clan night or on other nights. I'll have the Legendary Collectors Edition, so can play Halo 3 Mythic Maps as well as campaign co-op or any of the multi-player modes.