Move things around to create novelty and mischief when you play through later.

Posted March 24th 2005

• The basic idea
• Places where you can skip
• Using a base save
• Banshee access
• Ghostly fun
• Running with Elites
• Grunty fun with Shades
• Scorpion attack from behind
• Teleporting in a Ghost
• Final area
• Shades and getting stuck inside a rock
• Grunt inside a Scorpion
• Hearing double
• Who stole my Wraith?
• Let me out of here!
• Spookiness in the lift

There are various places in the level where it's possible to skip a trigger that's necessary for enemies to spawn in certain areas. Having skipped it, you can move vehicles and Shades around or change things in other ways. Many such items are already present, though others will only materialize when you play through properly later. Once you've done this 'rearranging', you can go back and do the triggering you skipped, to resume normal play. Except, as you play through, things will be different thanks to your work!

You'll find plenty of applications elsewhere on the site, but here I'll focus on little bits of mischief rather than serious combat. Have fun with these ideas and see what else you can think of. But first there are a few general advice sections, starting with one about places where you can skip.

There are several places where you can skip a trigger to do some rearranging, but the first is rather special as it gives you almost the whole level to play around with. You can use it for all the bits of fun mentioned here.

Skipping at the first bridge

You can do a descent trick off the first bridge to avoid triggering the first snow battle (a battle normally triggered in the passage that leads out into the snow, after you've gone down in the lift). While that battle remains untriggered, no enemies will spawn in the rest of the level (nor will any supplies). By skipping here, you can potentially give the level a novel feel the rest of the way through. I refer to rearranging done from here as early rearranging, as you're doing it from so early on.

To resume normal play, either fly back up to the bridge to continue directly (maybe after letting the Banshee fall to the ground for use when you emerge into the first snow battle), or do the following. Go through the door beneath the bridge, then to the lift inside, being careful not to walk straight into the empty shaft. Bring the lift down, ride up and head through the room. A short way into the passage that leads to the bridge, enemies spawn behind you, and you can now turn around and resume normal play (enemies have to spawn in that second room in order for you to be able to trigger the first snow battle).

Note: Although the Warthog is present in the snow below, there's usually no point trying to leave it in a handy position somewhere, because it gets magically returned to its usual position near the Marines just before you emerge into the first snow battle. It can't yet be 'rearranged' like other objects can. There's an exception though, namely in regard to the business of getting an extra hog.

Skipping near the spiral path area

Once you reach the tower area after the underground bridge, there are various checkpoints you can skip, to set up a blockade or do other rearranging for a spiral path megabattle; or to rearrange things in the twin bridges area. Skipping is done simply by flying high past the checkpoint area in a Banshee, which you may've stolen earlier in the level. No enemies will spawn in the snowy areas coming up, though you would start getting enemies if you were to go through the door in the twin bridges area. You resume normal play by coming back to move through the checkpoint area low down.

Other places

There are other checkpoints you can skip by flying high in a Banshee, but the ones I've mentioned seem the most useful.

In trying out bits of rearranging such as described here, it'll be handy to have a base save you can use as a time-saving starting point. Here's the sort of thing I'm thinking of, for doing early rearranging. Do a descent trick off the first bridge, get a Banshee (see Banshee access), then get a tunnel checkpoint and save. With this save you'll be ready to get straight into some rearranging work, whatever it is.

There are five Banshees you can access by skipping ahead. The platform Banshee is up on a high platform just around the corner from the crashed Pelican, the tower Banshee is up on the huge tower in the snowy area after the underground bridge, the twin bridges Banshee is at the far end of the twin bridges area, and the two ice bridge Banshees are on the ice bridge in the final area.

The twin bridges Banshee is down on the ground, so you can just run or drive off to fetch it. You can then use it to blast down the two earlier Banshees if you want them for any reason. Normally you'd be able to get the platform Banshee by using a rocket launcher as described in Fun with a stolen Banshee. But there's no rocket launcher available yet, and blasting it down with the Scorpion seems either difficult or impossible.

Pilot materialization

If you take a Banshee, the pilot will still later materialize; and will presumably be rather annoyed to find his pride and joy missing!

The pilot of the twin bridges Banshee is a special case. He has the ability to materialize inside it if it's empty when he's triggered; and I think this can happen wherever it is. As such, you could find that the Banshee you stole has got stolen back, upsetting your plans if you left it somewhere for future use. Therefore, when you trigger him it's best if his Banshee is either being flown by yourself or is back in some area where his materialization in the Banshee will be of no consequence.

In the crashed Pelican area, there are two Ghosts that normally come in to attack you as you advance. One is in the tunnel on the right, and one is down the hill on the left. Here's some of the fun you can have with these 'Pelican attack Ghosts', plus a bit of fun with a later pair.

Pilot teleportation

The intended pilots will initially be on foot, but when you advance far enough, they blink out and rematerialize in their Ghosts, or by them if overturned. A neat bit of teleportation! If you move them up out into the open, you can see the pilots suddenly appear in them when triggered by your advance. How about putting them close together and being ready with a rocket launcher? As soon as the pilots appear, BOOM! That's the last time they'll be telling you "Wort Wort Wort"!

Ghosts at the underground bridge

You can also move these Ghosts into later areas. In particular, you can move them into the underground bridge area and they still get piloted. As you'd expect, the Elite pilots are pretty hopeless at navigating around such a tricky area, and quite often get snagged on the side of the bridge or end up plummeting into the chasm. Still, it makes for a change to see Ghosts there, and they can put up a decent fight on a good day. But perhaps the best thing is the delight of rocketing them from way up high on a pipe or whatever; particularly if they're on the bridge amongst fellow scum. Also try putting a Ghost on top of one of the large rectangular blocks. When I did this and came back later, the Ghost was just hovering motionless over the block, making a highly amusing rocket target from ground level.

Here's another novelty. Take the Ghosts to the underground bridge and blow them into the chasm. When you play through later, fly down and say hi to the bemused pilots who have nowhere to go. Strangely, they seem reluctant to move their vehicles at all down there. Too murky perhaps?

Two later Ghosts

Another pair of Ghosts you can have fun with are the ones in the twin bridges area. There are two Elites that run to them. One thing you can do with this is to move them right over to your entrance point. The Elites will then have to run a gauntlet of Marine fire to get to their machines. And even if they make it, I'm guessing you've got a rocket launcher ready and waiting eh? I suggest you kill the sniper beforehand, as he'll otherwise quickly shoot the Elites dead; it's more fun to see the Elites suffer under a prolonged barrage of weaker fire. And the great thing is, they're so focused on getting to their machines that they don't even fire back!

Have you ever run casually alongside an Elite, without even being cloaked? Well now you can, courtesy of a bit of Ghost rearranging.

In the twin bridges area there are two Ghosts which Elites run to. I expect you've seen the nearer Elite popping out from cover and running to his Ghost many times. Move either of these Ghosts so the pilot will have to run a long way to get to it; e.g. near your entry point to the area. When you play through later and trigger the pilot, you can intercept his course (in a vehicle if you want to be quick) and then run alongside.

It's quite a novelty to see Bungie's superb character animation close up like this. He's so focused on getting to his machine that he won't even stop to shoot at you, even if you take a few potshots yourself. A similar principle can be used to get to run alongside Grunts that are programmed to run to a Shade; see Grunty fun with shades.

Don't bother getting comfy, squid-face

The moment the Elite steps into the seat, I suggest letting him have it with a rocket launcher, or timing a vicious stream of needles so he goes up in a nice pink bang just as he gets comfy. Dear me; all that running for nothing!

Face to face with a blocked pilot

One time, I'd moved the nearest Ghost back through the underpass to the base of the spiral path. The pilot still went running for it. I then chanced upon an interesting bit of behaviour. Halfway through the underpass, take a stance between two rocks in the narrowest bit as the Elite approaches. This seems to block him entirely, and he'll stop and stare at you blankly. You can be eyeball to eyeball like that for about 30 seconds, after which he suddenly loses interest in the Ghost and reverts to his normal aggressive self; so watch out!

Moving Shades around may not alter battles much as they're so easy to deal with, but it at least adds novelty and can be fun. Here are some things I tried. See elsewhere for advice on moving Shades.

Triple-Shade delight

In one set-up I moved the Shades in the underground bridge area, making them form a tight row of three across the entrance, just in front of where the pacing Elites will be. This turned out to be quite entertaining. As I reach the scene the Shades are initially empty; but from across the area, the relevant Grunts come running to man them. One poor fellow has to toddle all the way across the bridge, which is pretty funny to watch with a sniper scope; I love the way those little guys move. When I kill those first Shade occupants, more come running.

And here's something I've done with this situation a few times. After dropping several occupants with a pistol and likewise killing the Elites, the ground gets nicely littered with grenades and I add another to set off a chain reaction. BOOM! I've never seen Shades fly so high and spin so fast!

Running alongside a Grunt

That set-up gave me another novel experience. I'd killed most of the enemies and was on the far side of the bridge. Then I sniped a Shade occupant, and a Grunt not far from me set off to fill his place. I was then able to run close alongside him as he toddled across the bridge. He was so focused on reaching the Shade that he pretty much ignored me. It was welcome fun for a Grunt fan like myself. You can easily duplicate the experience if you're interested; just make sure Grunts have to run a long way to get to their Shades.

Grunty need sleep

Just how sleepy are these Grunts? One guy on that triple-Shade arrangement gave me a vivid demonstration. From high up on a pipe across the bridge, I lobbed a plasma grenade that blew his Shade over and ejected him still alive from his comfy seat. The moment he stopped skidding along the ground on his feet, he sat down and fell asleep. Impressive! All in a day's work for a Grunt, I suppose.

When you see a sleeping grunt, you can have fun waking him by bouncing a sniper round off the ground nearby. He'll leap up comically and run around in panic for a while. You can also rouse him with a nearby grenade or just by peppering him with fire of course. Have fun depriving him of his forty winks by repeatedly giving him a wake-up call. Gets pretty funny.

Run Grunty run

After all that fun with the line of Shades, I created a set-up in which each Shade was moved to the opposite corner of the cavern, so that all the Grunts would have to run for miles to man them. I like to fly in and land up high on a pipe for a good view. Sometimes two Grunts run for the same turret, and when the first one gets there, you might see the second go to sleep. Other grunty behaviour to notice is that Grunts seem to have a magical ability to sense when their Shade has become empty and needs manning. They can even sense this when asleep! Watch the right dozing Grunt after sniping the Shade occupant, and after a few seconds he'll probably spring into action. Run Grunty run!

An evil trick I like to play on a Grunt as he's running towards his Shade is to kill an Elite near him, causing him to turn tail and run back to where he came from. Another fine bit of comedy is to lob a plasma grenade or send in a rocket just as he's getting there. He barely has time to settle into the seat, then BOOM! It's a tough old life being a Grunt eh?

Outta sight, man

In yet more experiments with the underground bridge Shades, I moved them completely out of sight, placing them in the tunnels leading into and out of the area. And sure enough, those grunty fellows still went running to man them! But when I tried putting one at the top of the rising tunnel towards the next area, that seemed too far as nobody went to man it. I don't know what the actual limits are. I had more luck with moving Shades to previous areas, for the fun of running alongside a Grunt for ages. I moved one Shade out into the snow of the previous area, and a Grunt still went running to man it. Maybe it would even attract a Grunt if placed back at the crashed Pelican site? Go find out, if you're interested.

By leaving a Scorpion behind enemy defences and then flying in to reach it, you can attack the enemy with it from behind, which would've been impossible in normal play. For example, leave a Scorpion on the far side of the underground bridge, way off to the right where there aren't any enemies. Whilst your Marines are trying to fight their way over to link up with you, you'll be plastering the enemy on your side.

If you skip ahead to the tunnel after the underground bridge, you can arrange to get teleported in a Ghost when you play through later.

At the exit of the tunnel are the 'dropship Ghosts', destined to be brought in by the dropship. The game will teleport them into position under the ship when you trigger it later. If you move them down into the tunnel, you can potentially see them disappear as you trigger the ship. But what happens if you're inside one of the Ghosts when it gets teleported? You'll go with it! All of a sudden, you'll be coming down with the ship, still sitting in the Ghost. Some grunty fool will raise the alarm with something like "Enemy!". You won't be able to do much in the air, but if you pan the camera around, it can give you a view of the enemy still inside their compartments.

The easiest way to make sure you'll be in the Ghost when it teleports is to place it around the corner at the bottom of the tunnel. When you play through later, get in and start driving up the tunnel.

You can even rearrange things in the very last area, featuring the zigzag path up to the control room. Here you'll find Banshees, Ghosts, Shades, and a Wraith. To get there, first reach the twin bridges area, which has a Banshee at the back. Fly up to the right hand door of the furthest of the bridges and go through. A bit of running will take you to the area.

Handy Banshee

One thing you might like to do is move one of the Banshees so you'll be able to step straight into it when you come through the door later.

Self-destroying Wraith

One time, I moved the Wraith onto the ice behind the trees (by slowly pushing it with a Banshee). In the battle later, the pilot seemed unable to get out into open ground. His shots often hit the lower part of the trees just next to him, and he tended to end up blowing himself to pieces, which was pretty amusing.

In connection with moving Shades, I've found a fairly reliable way of experiencing being stuck inside a rock, as follows.

In the first snowy area, rearrange a Shade by blasting it up onto the top of a large rock adjacent to the cliff. When you enter the snow battle later, the rock geometry seems to get randomized. In particular, the rock you used may be a lot bigger now (if not, do a 'REVERT TO SAVED' and enter again). But the Shade seems to remain exactly where it was, from the look of things. As such, the Shade may now be partially or totally swallowed up by the rock. Go over to it and hit X to get in. You're now partly swallowed up too, and your view may be unusual. If you're deep enough into the rock and you dismount, you seem to drop to the ground under the rock, finding yourself completely inside, yet able to see out.

Weirdness

When I did this I was initially unable to walk out. But strangely, after a few moments I was able to exit. Another interesting aspect was that Jackal shots couldn't get to me; the invisible surface of the rock protected me (though not from Wraith blasts, unfortunately. After a short while of being in the rock, the Jackal couldn't seem to see me any more.

Another bit of weirdness. Standing on the rock that had almost completely swallowed an occupied Shade, I whacked the occupant (or at least, I think that's what I hit), and it seemed to dislodge the Shade, which fell to the ground under the rock. It was then completely hidden, but it was still near enough to the wall that I could hit X to get in.

In one set-up, I moved the Scorpion to the place where the enemy would materialize nearby (face to face with the second group of Marines). As it turned out when I entered the scene later, most of the enemy appeared behind the tank, conveniently blocking their fire for a while. But after seemingly killing everything, I noticed that the Warthog's chain-gunner was still firing at the Scorpion. And then I heard unmistakable grunty sounds. Yep, a Grunt must have materialized just where the tank was, and couldn't get out.

I moved around for a look and could just spot his little feet underneath. When I got in, he was able to use his needler on me, so I got out again! Anyway, I went off to the two-Wraith area to deal with the enemy there, and returned a few minutes later, and the chain-gunner was still at it. In the end I lobbed a plasma grenade under the tank, managing to tag the hapless Grunt, who then got blown clear. I expect you could trap more than one enemy if you're lucky; give it a try!

Similar cases

There are other places where you could trap materializing enemies (whether by accident or design), and possibly with other vehicles. E.g. I saw a Grunt trapped in the bonnet of a Ghost once. Almost all you could see was his needler sticking out of the side.

If you opened the door to the underground bridge during your rearrangement work, you'll probably notice something odd later when you battle in the two-Wraith area. When you enter the area, you'll hear not only the usual music, but also the music associated with travelling through the tunnel to the bridge. I guess the game has got a little confused somewhere. I can just imagine it. "Hey, who the heck left that door open? That green-helmeted bozo is supposed to open it later! Well this has really thrown a spanner in the works. Don't know why I bother…"

You can move the Wraith that's waiting in the tower area. Push it with a Scorpion or Banshee. See how the pilot reacts when he comes running out later when you're playing through. Will he be able to find it?

Bottom of the spiral path

Once I moved it through the pass and down to the bottom of the spiral path. When I entered that area later, it was still down there but now with its pilot, so I guess he'd found it ok. He looked unable to get it up the path though. He enjoyed plastering my foolish Marines all over the ice in pretty short order, but was rather less pleased when I introduced him to my rocket launcher.

In the twin bridges area you'll find a Banshee at the back. When you play through later and advance far enough to trigger the pilot (and other enemies), he seems to materialize inside it rather than having to run to it; some vehicles and Shades are like that. You can easily observe this if you've moved it somewhere closer. It'll suddenly fly off, as if by itself.

But here's something mischievous to do with it. It's possible to squeeze it into the short underpass that led into the area (after the spiral path); e.g. around the pillars. After triggering the pilot later, return to the underpass and see him going crazy trying to escape, churning up bucketloads of snow in the process. He'll have a go at grinding you into the floor mind, so watch out.

I had a go at getting a Ghost up onto the first of the twin bridges, just for the novelty of using it to fight my way over later. But I hit a snag. They don't seem to like going up in the lift. You can get a Ghost to the lift ok, though you'll have to keep getting out to make doors open, and you'll see some glitchy camera work as the third-person perspective clearly wasn't meant for a cramped indoor environment. But as the lift ascends, the Ghost seems to get dragged through the floor and plummet to the bottom of the shaft. And if you're sitting in it, you'll go down too! Ever been to the bottom of a lift shaft? Not a lot to see really; it's never going to catch on as an entertainment sport.

Don't watch that video!

If you send the lift up without you, you can watch the Ghost eerily coming through the lift floor. Just like whats-her-face with the bad hair day who comes out of the TV in that Japanese horror flick 'Ring'. Flee! Grunts would've been great in that film, don't you think? Can't… run… with… thing… on… back!

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