Halo 3: Improvement Techniques 2.) Recognizing Position

Yesterday I spoke about radar; how important it is and how to interpret it. Today I'm going to deal with other information readily available on your screen and how to process it. Remember, this is for beginners, or people new to the Halo universe.

When you play with a team in match making or custom games, information about your team mates is available if you only look, and sometimes information about your enemies can be garnered indirectly. By now you have noticed the little arrows above your team mates heads that point down to them and list their indentity (like D45, or T63). Tons of information that can help you know where to move on a map are in these indicators. Those arrows light up different colors to let you know exactly what situation your team mate is in. If it lights up red, your team mate is being shot. If it lights up yellow, you know your team mate is shooting someone. If it lights up bright white, that just means your team mate is using the communicator channel and is speaking. This is helpful if you are trying to make sense of some of the information he is relaying.

Asides from these color indicators, other information can be deduced just from those arrows lighting up. if you see an arrow light up red or yellow, that must mean at least one enemy is attacking or being attacked. If you happen to be some distance away from this battle, and know you can't help, this is a piece of information you need to keep in mind. I say this because if your team mate dies and you see his big red X, you now know at least one enemy's general location.

Knowing this location is important, especially if none of your team are anywhere near this battle. If this is so, that means that area is now a possible spawn point for the enemy because they have cleared the area of your troops.

Another scenario is if you see your team mate's arrow turn yellow, then red, and then he dies and you see a red X. This, in all likelihood, means your team mate faced at least a pair of attackers. You can deduce this from the fact he shot first. Generally in Halo, he who gets off the first shot lives to fight again. If he goes yellow, that means he got off the first shot, and if he/she is even the least bit proficient in killing, they should have lived through the battle. The only logical explanation is whoever they shot at had help from at least one person.

There are exceptions to this. They could have been sniped, or hit with rockets, or sliced up with the sword or hammer, but there are other indicators that would suggest to you these things happened. If he was sniped, you would hear the sniper rifle easily. It is the most distinct sounding weapon in the game. If he was rocketed, you'd hear that as well, and the hammer makes a bit of noise as well. If you don't hear any of these indicators, then chances are your team mate was at least double teamed.

Many times you can tell just by how long it takes for his arrow to turn colors from yellow, to red, to X just how many enemies your team mate is facing. If it only takes one second, and happens extremely fast, and you hear none of these indicators, chances are it was more likely 3 people he was facing. If it took a couple of seconds he probably faced 2, and if it took more than that, he either faced one, killed him, and then faced another immediately after.

So how does this information help you to be better, especially if you might be too far away to help, or even engage the enemy with any reasonable chance of surviving? IT GIVES YOU INFORMATION. Take the map Valhalla as an example. Everyone knows in team slayer games each team spawns in a different base. If you are in your base, and you see two of your team mate's arrows in front of you, one off to the right and one off to the left, you have some information to help you make a choice of where to advance in order to put yourself in a position to help either team mate, or receive help from one or the other. This is naturally in the middle of the two. Now you see two arrows in front of you. Where is the third arrow of remaining team members? instead of swinging around looking for it and wasting time, you can safely guess he is either right behind you in the base, or will be soon enough after he respawns. You now, without asking anyone anything and clogging up lines of communication, have gleaned some important information of your team's placement.

Now say as you are advancing to the middle, you notice the team mate's on your left arrow turn yellow, then red, and then he sports a spiffy new red X in about the space of 2 seconds. From this information you can safely assume there are at least 2 enemies to your left. What should you do? You can't attack them head on. That would pretty much be suicide. If they handled your team mate in quick order, they will probably handle just you in quick order. So what do you do?

Well, you can safely assume at least 2 enemies are to your left. you know these guys killed one of your team mates. You can assume they plan on staying left and advancing on your base for some great spawn killing, or heading to the middle. Where won't they be? They probably won't be heading back to their base. Rarely to players retreat in Halo games. is kind of pointless to do so because the respawns are so quick. Their rear is now possible avenue of attack. Also take into account you have a team mate behind you, and another that will be behind you on respawn. You could wait for these two to catch up to you, and then attack. That would seem to be the most prudent course of action. It gives you numbers.

Now let us take another situation. You respawn after dying across the map from your normal respawn point. You turn and look at your base and see 3 team mate arrows around your base, but no one is yellow or red, and your team mates seem to be heading out away from the base. You need to use your brain and recognize you didn't spawn with your team because an enemy is in your main spawn point. You have 3 team mates around the spawn point who are clueless to this because they didn't spawn. Tell them you know an enemy is in your base, in your spawn and let them gang up on him instead of letting the enemy wait until he can pick them off one at a time. It might not show it in the physical stats, but you are responsible for that kill because you kept your head.

Now we've dealt with basic screen information that can help you make decisions, let's move on to the meat of this blog, KNOWING WHEN AND WHERE TO MOVE AND ATTACK.

Obviously this game is fast paced and frenzied. Many people complain and say it isn't tactical at all because of this fact. I disagree. I believe this is what makes this game the ultimate thinking man's game. Many people don't consider it tactical because Halo 3 doesn't really work well for those people who enjoy static plans. A static plan one that doesn't change. People who enjoy sitting still and sniping, or hiding around a corner waiting to attack, are generally people who enjoy static plans. They like them because all thoguht is removed from their purpose in the game. All they have to do is sit, wait, and shoot. In Halo this doesn't fly. Halo is so fluid by nature, only a fluid plan, or one that is open to initiative by individual players, can work in it. The best way to explain this is to say, instead of making plans to hold an area and stop the other team from entering it, your team must make plans to go after objectives like power weapons, then you next priority should be to find a defensible position, and then you should find and kills the enemy. After you do this, you should rinse and repeat because the power weapons respawn, and their very locations are generally in indefensible positions.

So how do you know what YOU should do? You need to recognize your weaknesses and strengths in the game. You need to know where your team mates are (look for the arrows), you need to know where the other team is (again, look for the color of the arrows, and your radar's red dots) and you need to know your estimated travel time around the map.

I say estimated travel time because you need to know the layout of each and every map like the back of your hand. If you know four enemies are on your left down a hallway and they are focused on your team mate on the other side of that hallway, runn down that hallway throwing your grenades and charge. If, however, you know they are there, and they know you are there and they have the numbers, run away. Don't just run anywhere. Run to your teammates so they can help you, but don't run in a straight line. Use cover. If the enemy is chasing you from behind, and you are running away, it is only a matter of time before you die. try running around a corner cutting off their fire on you for a few precious seconds and then resume quicktime to you team mates. When doing this, SELF PRESERVATION is key.

And that is the subject of tomorrow's blog, SELF PRESERVATION. But for tonight you assignment os as follows: continue trying to use you radar with quick glances, but now try integrating looking for the arrows above your team mate's heads and make educated guesses about their situations and the location of the enemy. If you good at this, you'll find your kills and assists (assists in most people's minds are just as good as kills) go up. Good luck tonight.