BCM454 - Tunnel megabattle, up-flow set-up & plays

(6:50) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Normal. Continuing my tunnel megabattle coverage, we come to the topic of getting an up-flow dynamic, i.e. where the covies are having to head uphill to get you. The first part of the movie demonstrates how you can set this up, then there are three plays of the result, armed with plasma rifle and rocket launcher.

Released September 5th 2023, gameplay recorded September 2nd-3rd 2023.

Commentary

00:02 (Setting up) At the start here, I've drawn the mob to the tunnel exit while keeping a checkpoint delayed as usual; see BCM447. From there, I follow the procedure detailed on a new page I've added to my tunnel megabattle article: Getting an up-flow dynamic. So have a read of that. The Banshee ends up with only four yellow bars of health (I cut things a bit fine in regard to hovering around the covies), but it turned out to be okay. After getting out of the Banshee I do a bit of waiting, and for brevity the movie cuts about 26 seconds of that.

01:51 (Play 1 - Middle rocks) For this first play I defend at the middle rock pair. In this set-up a few covies are quite close to the rocks, which obliges me to get straight into some rapid pest extermination to establish my position, but the pressure isn't so great that a defence at these rocks is too hard. Around 2:30 while sheltering behind one of the rocks, I employ a frag bounce against advancing covies and it works quite nicely.

03:22 (Play 2 - Perching on the upper boulder) A bit further up the tunnel now, I drop myself off on top of the upper boulder to attack the covies from there. Notice how they don't advance past the middle rocks; thus I'm able to attack them at leisure. I'm in range of their fire, but the boulder offers me some decent cover. Eventually though, I hop down to finish the job at close quarters.

05:03 (Play 3 - Upper rocks) Another obvious place to defend at is the upper rocks. When I land, I send my Banshee sliding down the hill with a plasma stuck to it (Banshee bomb!), and the blast kills an Elite. Things get a bit busy thereafter. A couple of times I go over the tall rock to come down on covies with rocket launcher ready. A satisfying tactic.

Closing remarks I lost rather a lot of Banshee health in drawing the mob down the tunnel, and also some covies didn't end up quite as far down as I would've liked (there were some at the middle rocks), but the set-up was still fine to use. More plays coming next, involving some Ghost business, so don't go away!