The simulation system of any RTS can at times be hard for the players to unravel exactly what is going on so today we are taking a quick look at the core systems comprising the Halo wars combat system. 

In Halo Wars every combat unit has an armor type and at least one weapon (often more), while each weapon has its individual damage, damage type and accuracy stats.  Every attack in halo wars has a specific weapon associated with it even special attacks such as grenades or canister shot have separate specific weapons just for that special to use.

Accuracy

The first item we will look at it is the accuracy system in halo wars and how individual projectiles are directed when fired at the enemy.  Every weapon has individual accuracy ratings that determine how accurate the attacks it makes are; the first rating is a straight chance to have the projectile be fired true while the second rating is used to determine how far off the aim is if the attack is not perfectly accurate.   After the projectile is fired all that is left to find out is what unit is actually hit as a weapon can “roll” a miss and the enemy can move into the projectiles path.

Damage

After a projectile actually hits a target comes stage two of combat where the armor type of the unit being hit and the damage type being applied are used to look up a damage modification.  The final damage is calculated by multiplying the base damage by this damage modifier. 

A simple example of this is a marine firing on a scorpion with his rifle which for this example we will say does 10 base damage, now then the scorpion is armor type “Heavy armor” and the rifle does damage type “small arms fire” so we cross reference small arms fire and heavy armor on the table and get 0.4 modifier.  The final damage will 4 damage done to the scorpion tank, calculated by taking the base damage (10) and multiplying Is by the modifier (0.4).

Wrap up

Overall the damage system is relatively straight forward with the main complexity coming from the number of armor and damage types but where feasible like type weapons share like type damage types.  The machine gun on a scorpion does the same damage type as on the warthog for example.  Also most game units have a fairly straight forward armor type except for a few special cases I will not be covering (but they are not important for this article).

Timotron

Some base Armor types in Halo wars

·         Light infantry:                    Marines, Grunts, Jackals, brutes, Elites

·         Heavy Infantry:                 Flamethrowers, Hunters, Cyclops

·         Medium Armor:                     Warthogs, Ghosts, Choppers, Wolverines, Cobras

·         Heavy armor:                     Scorpions, Wraith, Elephants, Scarabs

·         Aircraft:                                Hornets,  Banshees, Vultures, Vampires

·         Building:                               Bases, Buildings, Turrets

Some example damage types

•  
  • Plasma pistols and rifles
  • Plasma cannons on ghost, banshee and wraith
  • Heavy machine guns on warthog, scorpion and hornet

Heavy MG and plasma

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  • Wolverine anti air missiles
  • Turret anti-air missiles
  • Vulture anti-air missiles
  • Vampire heavy needles
  • Turret anti-air needles

Anti air missiles/ needles

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  • Marine grenade/ RPG special attacks
  • Grunt plasma grenade special attack
  • Warthog grenadier
  • Wolverine grenade mortar

Grenades

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  • Rebel snipers
  • Jackal snipers

Sniper attacks

•  
  • Flamethrower
  • Flame mortars
  • Covenant anti-infantry plasma mortar turret

Flames

Damage type/ armor type lookup table (real numbers from the Halo Wars database)

Ensemble, the developer behind Age of Empires,  has a long and successful history with the RTS genre, but even so Devine feels that Halo Wars is something special. “I believe we will be huge not just because I believe, but because when we put the controller in your hands, you will believe too,” he said.

When asked how much freedom Ensemble had been granted by (Halo creators) Bungie regarding the Halo story, Devine did mention that “there is nothing more important with the Halo canon than respecting it,” but that Bungie had been shown Ensemble’s work on the title and that they were allowing Ensemble to create the title as they see fit.

Devine said that Halo Wars‘ gameplay is going to be more action-focused than Ensemble’s previous RTS titles, which emphasized efficient resource management as much as where to aim one’s trebuchets.

According to Devine, Halo Wars will feature “no digging in the dirt”, a reference to the idyllic farms of Age of Empires, though he never quite defines what Halo Wars will feature as an alternative.

While we’re sure they were hoping for more solid information (specifically, some info regarding the plot) from the Q&A, Halo fans should be comforted to see a company with as much RTS experience as Ensemble working on their beloved franchise.

Though, when he was quizzed on how Ensemble would court fans of the series with their titles, Devine said “I think the fans are a very intelligent bunch–just read the forums–and are looking for a new Halo experience.”

We’ve read those forums he mentioned and can’t tell if Mr. Devine has a razor-sharp, hilarious sense of sarcasm, or if he was being sincere. Anyone care to guess?

The Halo theme was written, composed, and performed by Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori; and the MJOLNIR Mix features guitars performed by the Grammy Award winning guitar hero, Steve Vai.

“It’s a real pleasure to hear one of the best loved and most iconic themes from Bungie’s Halo Universe in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock,” said Marty O’Donnell, Composer and Audio Director for Bungie Studios. “As longtime fans of the Guitar Hero® franchise, it was great to collaborate with Neversoft and Activision/RedOctane to offer this exciting free download to our fans.”

When Halo 2’s downloadable content joined the Internet, it effectively split the Matchmaking population into the “haves” and the “have-nots,” Bungie was readily aware of the problem that caused, and has rectified it in Halo 3″…..”Simultaneously all of the DLC maps will be rolled in to the regular Matchmaking playlists as well and then as folks are getting matched up, the game will take into account who has what maps in the matchmaking process.”

Lets hope for us “have nots” that this doesn’t make our lobby wait times any worse. Have not I say? Yes, I don’t plan on downloading the maps, even though I play way too much Halo for my own good. They plan on making the maps free to download in the spring, just when they are ready to unleash a few more maps. Do YOU think 3 maps are worth 800 points?? Compared to other recent DLC offerings this isn’t exactly a super value, so I’m waiting till the spring. You could argue that with the Forge capabilities the new maps are totally worth the price, but I still don’t have a custom games search, so I won’t be making that argument

Halo: Contact Harvest is written by Joseph Staten, Bungie Studios’ lead writer and one of the original creators of the Halo game trilogy. The book marks Joseph Staten’s first foray into novel writing, but he has served as a writer and cinematics director for Halo (2001) and Halo 2 (2004) and the record-breaking Halo 3.

In Halo: Contact Harvest, Staten reveals the state of the Halo universe leading up to humanity’s devastating first contact with the Covenant —a chance encounter that catapulted mankind into a struggle for its very existence. Readers will experience the start of the Human-Covenant war from the perspective of Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson, Master Chief’s legendary confidant and mentor.   As readers follow the young Sergeant’s adventures, they will gain terrifying insights into both the Covenant’s genocidal fury and the vicious civil war that threatened to destroy humanity’s fledgling interstellar empire, even before the Covenant got their chance.

Halo has emerged from the video game world as a global phenomenon. Its latest installment, Halo 3, garnered more than $300 million in its first week alone, making it the fastest selling video game ever, and one of the most successful entertainment properties ever. With a fully fleshed-out universe of heroes, villains and epic scenarios, the novels expand the universe to give fans a grander view of the game environments and characters they encounter.

To date, over 20 million copies of the games in the Halo trilogy have been sold worldwide. The record week one sales comes on the heels of the previously announced $170 million in sales in the U.S. within the first 24 hours of the game’s release, which marked not just the biggest videogame launch, but the biggest entertainment launch in history. The Xbox 360 title beat previous U.S. sales records set by blockbuster openings for entertainment events like the release of Spider-Man 3 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Additionally, more than 1.7 million copies of Halo 3 were preordered in the United States, making it the fasting pre-selling game in history, surpassing the previous record-setting pre-sales of Halo 2.

Officially the US will get it on 20th November, while retailer Amazon believes we will have it on 26th November. Microsoft Europe was unavailable to comment, helpfully.

The two-hour soundtrack contains some really rather impressive music from Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori, which has been recorded by a full orchestra and voices of real people who can sing.

It is one of the most memorable scores from one of this year’s biggest games, and we had a chance to talk to O’Donnell about it at the Videogames Live concert held recently as a part of the London Games Festival.

Pop over to our Halo 3: Music To Watch Armageddon By article to find out more