• Splatter marks on the ceiling
• Pre-blasting for rapid repeat launching
• Precision aiming
• More ideas for fun
• Oddities and observations

If your firework gets enough boost to reach the high white ceiling of the area and he's still suffering the effects of needles, he's liable to leave a big splatter mark formed from multiple sprays of blood. A typical mark is easily visible with the naked eye but you'll want a zoomed sniper rifle to see it well. Try to catch things as they happen. In that case you can see the mark rapidly form in a sweep of patches. You may also briefly see your Elite against the mark as a tiny white silhouette, which is not just amusing but also gives you a sense of the size of the mark. These things are big! Once I saw my Elite silhouetted for quite a while because needle explosions were keeping him up near the ceiling. Nice! Just prior to the mark's formation, you'll have lost sight of the Elite in the mist, though you can still see hazy pink explosions.

There are often black spots among the blood stains. To judge from experiments on the ground, these arise from the tinkling of needles in between needle bangs. Sometimes you'll get several of these needle marks making a line, indicating the Elite's path.

You can also get splatter from plasma grenades going off, though it's difficult to achieve because the timing of the explosion has to be just right. With needles it's routine and the marks are also more varied and interesting I think. I like seeing the different shapes the splatter marks make or suggest. One time I swear I saw a Grunt waving at me, and another time I got something very much like a 'W'. Was the Elite trying to tell me something? Maybe "Wort wort wort", one last time?

Getting a closer look

If you fly up in a Banshee for a closer look at the mark, you'll find that you can't reach it. There seems to be an invisible barrier in the way, and although you can get fairly close, the view isn't as good as using a sniper rifle on the ground, unless perhaps you dismount for a quickly snatched view with zoomed sniper rifle as you fall to your death. Depending on the mark's location however, you could potentially get a closer look with the sniper rifle by dropping yourself off on the tower or one of the two platforms or - higher still - the second ledge running around the entire area. The mark will persist for over three minutes before fading, so there's plenty of time. Both of my pics here are high views for clarity.

Suitable launch methods

The first thing I want to say about suitable launch methods is that it's a good idea to use my pre-blasting technique. It'll save you a whole lot of laborious rocketing or Scorpion fire and you'll be able to produce splatter marks at a much higher rate.

So now the question is, how much blasting, tagging, and needling to use? In the following I'll only be talking about getting splatter marks from needles, as things are quite different for grenades and I haven't looked into that much yet. I'll also be assuming that any blasting with rockets or Scorpion shells is sending him pretty much straight up (you'd potentially need more blasting and needles if he goes off at an angle), and that any needling is in the chest (the dynamics could be different if it's elsewhere).

First let's consider rockets. 10 rockets can do the job, coupled with 4 needle clips. With 14 rockets he'll probably be going fast enough that he only needs 3 clips, and with 20 rockets you could reduce that to 2 clips, saving you time on the needling for each launch. If using only 10 rockets (which would let you send both Elites up, using 1 launcher on each of them), an alternative to using 4 needle clips would be a basic 2-grenade tag launch or something bigger, providing extra boost. With 2 grenades you'd want 61 needles for a proper tag launch, but actually just 3 clips should be ok (the grenades will still go off fast), saving you a reload. With 3 grenades however, 3 clips would give a proper tag launch.

One thing to mention about grenade blasts is that they do add an element of randomness into things. If using grenades at all, you might want to make sure they go off very early into the launch. I get the impression that with a longer delay, the bang seems to be able to divert the trajectory more, which wouldn't help - though it might not matter if your Elite is going up fast enough.

As for the Scorpion, it's a bit clumsy for aiming your Elite, but using 25 shells will shoot him up fast enough that you'd only need 1 needle clip to get a splatter mark. However, the marks would probably be richer if you used 2 clips. When I tried 50 shells, I was able to get splatter mark with only 7 needles - just enough to cause a single needle bang; but using 13 needles caused two bangs and gave a richer mark including black spots.

When giving the Elite such extreme speed, I think the resulting splatter marks may be more concentrated (less expansive) than when using slower ascents, but I'll probably check more into that later. Another difference is that the Elite is likely to bounce off the ceiling fast, meaning that you have less chance of seeing him silhouetted against the purple.

You've also got the option of Banshee blasts. They're a lot weaker than Scorpion blasts but there's far less shudder of the controller (assuming you've got vibration switched on), so I certainly find them a lot more comfortable to do. Once the Elite has been killed with a first blast or two, it's easiest to let the Banshee just rest stationary on the ground. With 25 blasts you can get splatter marks with just 2 needle clips, though 3 might give richer marks. With 50 blasts I was able to get marks with just 1 clip.

I may have more to say on all this later. I plan to do a movie on this stuff, and at that time I'll probably explore a bit more. One idea I have is that if you can get the Elite to be levelling out as he nears the ceiling, he might leave a really long splatter mark. Could be nice!

Double the splatter

If you send both Elites up at once and your aim is good and you have a spot of luck besides, you could get a pair of splatter marks close together or even overlapping. It could be quite a challenge but I think it would be interesting. It's also just fun to see the Elites going up together, especially if they happen to stay really close.

Just for the record…

I knew you could get these marks when I first posted on Elite fireworks, but I had the wrong idea about them. All I said at the time was that "If you use enough rockets to send an Elite flying up, he may leave a big purple splat-mark on the misty white 'roof' of the area". I thought the blood was from the freaky impact of his body, but during my 2010 revision I realized that it's actually formed from the sprays of blood flying off him from the effects of needles and potentially grenades. So he's not really going SPLAT! after all.

As long as you haven't triggered enemies through the pass that leads into the spiral path area, there's a rather useful modification you can make to your set-up. You can get one or both Elites 'pre-blasted' with rockets or whatever, then get a new checkpoint. You'll then be able to do repeated launching more rapidly. It's a time saver, and can also be useful in giving you advance knowledge of where your fireworks might fly. I'll say more about uses in a moment, but first here's the technique in more detail. It's another new development with my 2010 revision of the article.

Modifying your set-up

Blast one or both Elites however you like. Rockets, Scorpion blasts, whatever. Most likely you'd be interested in aiming an Elite in a particular direction, so you might be needing to take some care about it. If he drops any grenades in his vicinity, you might want to pause your blasting to remove them, or revert and start over, else they could go off and interfere with your intended aim.

With the blasting done, switch to whatever weaponry you'll be wanting to use after your forthcoming new checkpoint. If you've done all the rocketing you're interested in, that would most likely be a needler, with sniper rifle as secondary for the subsequent viewing.

Go to the pass. There's a huge rock on the left of the entrance. Jumping continuously, advance maybe a metre past the rock, just far enough to trigger enemies beyond (watch for red dots on your motion tracker). Importantly you'll have avoided crossing the release line which slices diagonally across the pass a bit further on as indicated in the picture, so your Elites remain frozen. There's a checkpoint associated with the triggering of enemies, but because you're jumping it gets delayed. Head back and get into position for doing any further work on an Elite, then stop jumping so you finally get the checkpoint. Finished!

Sorry, no needles or plasmas

You might be wondering about doing some pre-needling too, or some pre-tagging with plasma grenades. That would be great; you could have an Elite all ready to launch right after a checkpoint! Unfortunately it won't work, as I soon found out. Any needle or grenade on him constitutes active ordnance, and as such it causes checkpoint delay (see my 'active ordnance principle'). As long as a frozen Elite has even a single needle or grenade on him, you won't be able to get a checkpoint - or so I believe. Dang, that's a shame.

Some uses

This technique is excellent for getting splatter marks on the ceiling. You can do some careful pre-blasting to get your Elite aimed well. Each time you want to launch him after the checkpoint, it's not going to take long. Add needles and/or plasma grenades, back off, and up he goes.

Another good use is if you're trying to get an Elite landed on some high place (e.g. the top of the tower) just for the challenge. It could help you achieve your goal faster. Your pre-blasting could constitute the bulk of the appropriate boosting work; enough to get him heading up fast and in the right general direction. With each launch attempt you can make any final modifications (needles, grenades, and maybe additional blasting to tweak the trajectory).

It's also handy if you're interested in taking potshots at airborne Elites with various weaponry, as you'll be able to do more shooting. See the subsection on Clay pigeon shooting, cyborg style.

The technique could also be used for general launching, saving you having to do so much blasting each time. For example the pre-blasting could comprise four rockets, forming the basis for a decent amount of boost in a particular direction. With each launch you can add more if desired, along with needles and grenades.

A minor use is to help you see the boosting effect of using different amounts of needles. Try this for example. Pre-blast an Elite with just one or two rockets, as if to send him on a short flight at a low angle. After your new checkpoint, see how the flight goes. Now revert, but this time add a clip of needles in his chest before releasing him, and you'll find that he's in the air considerably longer. Try two clips - and so on. This experiment really brought home to me how strong the boosting effect from needles is.

Temporary or permanent

Once you've had enough of your modification to the original save, you can always get back to the original by ejecting the disc and reloading of course; so it can just be considered a temporary modification. But there's also the option of saving your new checkpoint to make the modification permanent, if it turns out to be so good you want to keep it for future play. With that possibility in mind you might want to do your modification on a copy of the original save, so you can always save without having lost the original.

If you want to aim your firework with a bit of finesse, here are my tips.

Using plasma grenade streamers

While your Elite is still frozen, any plasma grenades on him give off long streamers according to the blasts he's been subjected to. As well as being pretty, they usefully indicate the direction he's currently due to fly off in. As such, you can use them to help aim your firework if you have a particular goal in mind. Tag him beforehand, and you can monitor the streamers as you subsequently rocket the ground or whatever. You can make adjustments to your rocketing according to how things are shaping up. You can even move to the base of a streamer to help you judge where it's pointing. The length of a streamer gives an indication of what his initial speed will be, but that's not so much use.

Learning rocketing spots

A rocket which hits a particular spot on the ground will give the Elite a push in a certain direction. If you fire your rockets at that spot then launch him, you'll see the result. What you can do is learn a good spot to fire at, to achieve a desired result. You could identify the spot with relation to his shadow for example, or pick out a particular feature on the ice (which has various grooves on it). Anything sufficiently memorable. Use that spot and your rockets should have the same directional effect each time. If you want, you could use a zoomed sniper rifle to line up your first rocket shot to make things extra precise or help you see features better.

In doing all this, I suggest you also stand at a particular place, just in case the angle of strike could otherwise cause some variation in the blast effect. Ideally it would be the place you're already at when your save starts. So, it's good if you set things up to be in a nice position.

If you want a vertical launch - perhaps for getting splatter marks on the ceiling - it helps if he's on the ground rather than in mid-air because you can then aim your rockets between his feet. However, getting him going very close to vertical is harder than you might think, and you may still need to learn a particular spot to fire your rockets at.

Prior to doing your blasting for a vertical launch, you may want to first kill your Elite to get rid of any grenades. Otherwise, any released by your killing blast are liable to land near him and get set off by the next, potentially disturbing the aim and - worse - maybe also blowing you to bits. You could remove them after your first blast of course, but then you'd have to aim afresh, which isn't ideal.

Learning grenade spots

If you're going to do a tag launch, you can learn the effects of applying the grenades to particular spots. A process of trial and error could lead you to get things how you'd like, except that there tends to be quite a bit of randomness in how tag launches turn out, so I'm not saying things will be very predictable. In applying the grenades it may be best to stand in a particular place before pointing your reticle at a particular spot on the Elite's body. If you do this, your grenades should end up in the same place each time (not necessarily the exact spot the reticle was on), enabling you to hopefully repeat the desired effects on each launch.

Randomness

Bear in mind that any needle or grenade bangs during flight will introduce an element of randomness to the trajectory, as they each give him a bit of a jolt. The fewer the bangs, the more reliable your aiming will be.

A few more ideas for your recreational enjoyment now.

Launching in a Banshee

You can potentially do the launching by crossing the release line in a Banshee. This can allow you to be high up as a firework launches, giving you an unusual perspective as he perhaps zooms up towards and past you, maybe still screaming! Being in a Banshee will also allow you to give chase of course, and maybe even blast him in mid-air.

It may be slightly awkward to keep the Elite in view as he launches, but it's possible to slowly back over the release line while looking down. Alternatively, just fly forward across the line then quickly arc around to see him coming up. Maybe both Elites together!

If you have a good idea of where he's going to go however, which would especially be the case if you've done some pre-blasting (I'd recommend doing that for this Banshee fun, and adding a few needles each time), you could just start heading that way, crossing the line in the process, and wait for him to come into sight zooming past you or whatever.

Bear in mind that your Banshee can take damage from close needle bangs or plasma bangs. If you want to get silly you could actually try to get blown up in mid-air, but you'll want an already damaged Banshee for that.

Launching from a ledge

Another novel way to release fireworks is to do it while up on a ledge. Fly up and drop yourself off on the sharp corner of ledge above the left side of the pass entrance. At that corner you're still within the launch zone, but if you move along the ledge you'll cross the release line, causing a launch. You can be looking down at your fireworks as this happens. There's an example of all this in BCM24. Aside from getting a novel view from up here, you might also like to take a few potshots as a firework sails up. If you've still got another Elite left afterwards, you can actually get down without damage by having your fall cushioned by the protruding base of the cliff. Nifty descent!

But wait! You can also cross the release line at the other end while on the lowest ledge; and again it's possible to have fireworks in view as you launch them, despite the frightening steepness of the ledge. Also you can still get down afterwards, though it's maybe a bit less forgiving this time.

At both ends, it's also possible to cross the release line while on the higher ledge, up where it's getting misty. However, you'll only be able to peer down at your unlaunched Elites from the end nearest the tower's front door, and in both cases I don't think you'll be getting back down alive!

High landing

See if you can get your firework to land in specific places, just for the challenge. The obvious target is the roof of the tower, but there are also the two high platforms to go for, as well the ledges running around the area. Pre-blasting could help you achieve your goal. You could either use it to provide all the boost, or just to provide most of it and then you'd finish off with some fine-tuning - like a final few rockets and perhaps some needles for spectacle.

Clay-pigeon shooting, cyborg style

How about a spot of target practice? Send one or both Elites up and try to score hits with your weaponry of choice. I often take a few shots with the sniper rifle while tracking a firework, and if he's not too distant you can see spurts of blood through the zoomed sight. For Elites that aren't going so high, there's always the pistol to try. To increase the challenge in both cases, you could tag an Elite with one or more plasma grenades and only allow yourself to shoot after the mid-air blast - which is likely to divert his trajectory of course, adding an element of randomness.

If you want to be able to shoot again and again without having to do launching work each time, just do some appropriate pre-blasting and get the new checkpoint when just near the release line (possibly up on a ledge), with your desired weapon at the ready. You can even prepare by facing a particular direction in anticipation. Each time you revert, all you need to do is cross the line and your targets will sail up. This is defintely the way to go for some serious shooting.

Much harder than using a sniper rifle or pistol, see if you can score a hit with a rocket. With the low shot speed this is a rather different ball game of course. You're probably best off trying to intercept him near the top of his arc, where his speed is low.

Floor show

You don't have to send your firework shooting up into the sky. If you just pump him full of needles and back off, you can enjoy seeing him racked with pink explosions on the ground - and maybe blast him with a rocket launcher, Scorpion or Banshee while he's exploding. These 'ground fireworks' can be good fun. Quite therapeutic I find.

In this section I'll mention a variety of quirky things which are interesting but relatively incidental to the main firework fun.

Restored weapon grasp

Usually, an ejected Elite will initially not have hold of his weapon. It'll be frozen a short way from his hand. However, the application of a first needle or plasma grenade makes the weapon suddenly jump into his hand again! You can see this in BCM23 for example.

Dust puffs shooting off

Blood clouds aren't the only thing subject to cumulative blast. A blood spurt from a needle impact behaves the same, and likewise the small brown dust puff effect (which seems an odd effect to be getting, given that the needle is hitting an Elite and not part of the scenery). Try getting behind those puffs as they fly off. It's quite fun to see a trail of them shooting off together.

Insubstantiality weirdness

Earlier I mentioned that sometimes you can pass through a frozen Elite even before having killed him. I had one case where a red Elite with flickering shield was partly like that. It seemed that I could pass through any part of his body except for his right leg. Weird! Also, he was insubstantial to a Ghost, in the sense that I was able to drive though him and it had no effect (normally any contact would kill your Elite). Strangely, he wasn't insubstantial to a Banshee however; contact from that would kill him.

Passing through rock

As you may notice when you follow your firework with a sniper rifle, his body can sometimes be partly embedded in the cliff face as he skims along it (the tower surface too). But I've seen a much more striking example of this 'passing through rock' behaviour. When I shot him off at high speed in the general direction of the nearest platform, he went clean through the jutting rock that forms the first ledge! Not just skimming, but straight through a massive section of rock. Give it a go and I expect you'll see it yourself if you get the aim right. Stop press: I think I saw it with the second ledge too, when giving an Elite extreme speed.

Deterministic bouncing

If you've done some pre-blasting, try releasing an Elite without doing any further work on him. Repeat. What I found is that when an Elite goes bouncing around the cliffs or whatever, it's almost completely deterministic and he'll always end up in exactly the same spot and with the same body position.

You can exploit this to have a bit of fun. For example I had a blue Elite who'd go flying off into the mist, and while he was off doing his thing bouncing around the cliff faces, I could run over to a particular spot on the snow, look down at it and wait. And sure enough, he'd slide into position at just that spot! Kind of amusing to see. However, just occasionally he didn't turn up and I couldn't find him anywhere, so I'm not sure what happened there. Maybe there was some kind of glitch or he was removed in mid-flight? Another time I had a red Elite who'd always end up skimming across the snow in a particular area. By giving him a whack near the start of his skim, I could get him to leave a long trail of purple blood in the snow.

Note: If you were to add a plasma grenade in exactly the same place on your Elite each time, determinism would normally be lost; he'd end up in various places at random. This seems to show that when a plasma grenade goes off on him, the blast effect is randomized to some extent. In my experiment, I'd got a checkpoint when looking at the Elite. Each time I reverted, I'd throw a plasma without further ado. I don't think throws are randomized at all, so I assume my grenade was landing on the same spot each time. You'll notice that I said "normally" though. In one case I had an Elite who'd been pre-blasted with 50 Scorpion shells. When I released him, he kept ending up at exactly the same spot even when I applied grenades and needles. That was very surprising and I'm not sure what's going on there, but perhaps needle and plasma bangs have no effect if the victim is going fast enough.

Disappearing falling snow

Earlier I mentioned getting to the stage of firing invisible needles due to graphical overload. At this stage some other graphical oddities can be observed, such as the disappearance of the falling snow. If you rotate your view however, so the game is having to render fewer needles and less splattered blood, the snow blinks back on again - presumably due to some handling capacity being freed up - and you can potentially fire visible needles again, until you turn back.

In some viewing directions you may be able to see the snow blink on and off as you simply switch weapons between your needler and your other weapon. In my case it was a rocket launcher. Switching to my launcher, the snow reappeared, which I'd guess was due to it being less work to render than my needler. Switching back to the needler, the snow blinked off again. Graphical overload can also remove streamers from any plasma grenades incidentally.

Invisible needles really are there, honest!

More on the invisible needles business. If you want convincing that your invisible needles are really there, fire some at the scenery behind the Elite and wait for impact effects to appear. Quite spooky, and kind of fun!

Muted grenade fizz

If you keep tagging your Elite with grenades, you'll probably notice that on grenade 7 the collective fizzing is a bit muted, and on grenade 8 it cuts out completely or almost completely, at least for a while. After that it can come and go as you move around, or while you just wait. Some sort of audio overload trouble? There's an example near the end of BCM24 when I show an 8-grenade tag launch.

© 2004-2012 by Rockslider