• Basic routine
• Adapting a tower zone megabattle save
• Enemy numbers

While a typical solo tower zone megabattle set-up could also be used for doing some tunnel megabattling, it's best to have a dedicated set-up. The basic routine would be to do the working for a tower zone megabattle (see my refined routine) but bear in mind the following things.

Eliminating redundant troops

You won't be needing any covies who won't be able to reach the tunnel, so they may as well be eliminated to give the game less to deal with.

Final checkpoint

Make your final checkpoint suitable for battling in the tunnel, of course. The easiest and most basic way would be to have the mob near the tunnel exit, with you above in your Banshee, ready to swoop into the tunnel. The covies will more quickly get into battle (compared to being some way back from the tunnel exit), and there should be less chance of any covies getting left behind (failing to enter) if you go down the tunnel a long way. You also retain full flexibility in how to battle.

Another basic option, having gathered the mob at the tunnel exit, would be to fly to some point down the tunnel and dismount, then get the checkpoint (assuming you're sufficiently out of enemy threat, possibly behind a rock or simply very distant). You could even drop yourself off on top of a large rock; a nice perch for some sniping or rocketing!

A further option is to do some flying in the tunnel (or some driving in Ghost, or a combination of both) to draw the mob some way down, and then get away from them to get the checkpoint. You could potentially get the checkpoint low down in the tunnel, or even go back past the mob to set up some fighting in which the covies are heading up the tunnel, giving you an up-flow dynamic rather than the usual down-flow one. See my separate page on that for details.

Ghost provision recommended

This is optional but I certainly recommend having a Ghost available for battle. Using a Ghost is quite a lot of fun in the tunnel, just as it is in the tower zone megabattle. You might want to think about where you want one (or two), and arrange that specially. If you're not doing any early rearranging, a simple thing you can do is blast one of the dropship Ghosts some way into the tunnel - e.g. as seen in BCM447. Elites can man such a Ghost any time it's upright though, so you might want to make sure it's overturned.

If you've got a tower zone megabattle save, you can quite easily modify it to create a tunnel megabattle set-up. I'll assume you're in a Banshee.

To start with, have the mob well away from the tunnel; e.g. have them near the main ice patch. Now fly off and bring back a delayed tunnel checkpoint. On your return you may encounter a few galloping Elites in the upper part of the tunnel, so a spot of evasive flying would be in order there. Draw the mob to the tunnel, then finish off by getting the checkpoint as desired (see previous section).

Except, there's one other thing you might need to do. If you had some raging Hunters, you'll probably find that on your return, they're no longer in rage mode. It seems to me that crossing the loading point causes this change. To get your Hunters back into rage mode so they'll chase you, deliver a small amount of plasma fire to each one. Pretty easy, if they're sufficiently separated from the mob.

The enemy breakdowns are just the same as for the tower zone megabattle, as potentially all those troops can take part in tunnel fighting. But you do have the following conditions for some of them:

• The front Shade Grunt would need to've had his Shade moved to the tunnel.
• It may be hard to get the rear Shade Grunt there, due to his hesitant movement.
• The two Hunters would need to be freed up to chase you.
• Territorial Elites would need to be aboard Ghosts (or possibly a moved Wraith?).
• The cloaked Elite (or Elites) would need to be provoked into chasing, or be given a Ghost.
• The Banshee might take some tempting to get it into the tunnel.

A few of those things are easily done, but getting so many territorial Elites aboard Ghosts would be hard even if you wanted so many Ghosts around. Also bear in might that any territorial Elite ejected from his Ghost would head back home; and likewise, a cloaked Elite on foot could lose interest and head back. Nevertheless, here are the breakdowns as before:

And likewise, the breakdown for free-roamers on foot (including Hunters freed up into rage mode) are the same as for the tower zone megabattle:

Those breakdowns are the more realistic numbers for typical set-ups - though it would also be fairly easy to add a few enemy Ghosts to the fun.

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