Structures
Although the environments of each mission are relatively unique, there are some common reoccurring structures. It is important to know how to use these structures to your advantage in order to gain the most benefit from the environment of each mission.
Covenant structures
Throughout the game, especially in the later mission when the covenant have established a presence on reach, you will find many covenant structures. You can identify covenant structures because they are usually purple or other bright colors. Many of these provide cover, and some are even large enough to be entered.
Tyrant Anti-aircraft battery: This two story building is used by the covenant to destroy various sized aircraft, and is similar in function to a Mac cannon. An AA battery is equipped with a large laser which must be charged up before each shot. A Tyrant cannot be controlled by the player, yet the building provides very good cover. A spiral ramp provides access to the top level, which provides an excellent DMR sniping position. Inside, you can stand in the doorway to snipe enemies and step back inside if you become injured.
Often throughout the campaign, you will need to destroy AA batteries to clear the UNSC's airspace. This is easy to do with strong vehicles, but can also be achieved on foot. By shooting the battery anywhere with seven to ten scorpion shells or two to three wraith shots, you can destroy it. On foot, you can overload the plasma source of the AA battery, causing it to explode. Melee the plasma shield protecting the core twice to remove it, throw a fragmented or plasma grenade into the core, and sprint out of the battery before it explodes.
Antenna: Covenant antennas are presumably used by covenant forces to relay information to allies groups. This structure is far too thin to provide any cover.
Barricade: Covenant barricades are placed by the covenant both to provide cover and to blockade roads. These structures are incredibly sturdy and nearly impossible to knock down. As they become damaged, their tops chip off, but they cannot be destroyed. Barricades provide very good standing cover because they are both tall and long enough to protect from a many angles of fire.
Crate: Covenant crates are used to store covenant weapons, and provide the player with both covenant weapons and decent cover. When standing up, a crate is tall enough to provide standing cover, but is not very long so provide poor cover from the sides. Crates can be easily knocked over by explosives and provide no cover on their sides. In addition, many crates are open on one side, revealing many different covenant weapons. Any energy weapon found in a covenant crate will have full energy. This is useful for providing full plasma pistols and needle rifles, and can even yield more powerful weapons such as plasma launchers or fuel rod guns.
Drop pod: Drop pods are used to deliver covenant infantry from orbit and come in two different sizes. Large drop pods, shown in the picture to the left, carry up groups of infantry. Although these structures cannot be entered, they provide good one-angled cover from behind. Small drop pods carry only one Elite or Brute, and provide good standing cover, but only protect the player from enemies directly in front.
Energy shield: Energy shields are placed by the covenant to provide cover to their infantry. This shield is similar to that of a Jackals; it absorbs explosives and projectiles, progressively turning more red until it finally breaks. The shield is then regenerated after a few seconds. Due to their curved shape and high height, energy shields provide good cover against few or far away enemies. However, energy shields are not optimal for protecting against large groups of close enemies because it will quickly break, leaving you unprotected. When using an energy shield, always pay attention to its color. When it turns a rose color, sprint to new cover.
Jammer: Jammers are used by the covenant to disrupt radio transmissions and UNSC ground scanning. They are smaller and less powerful than jammer arrays, producing a smaller area of disruption. To destroy a jammer array, walk up to it and press x. This will cause the jammer to overload, permanently destroying it. Jammers can be used as standing cover as well.
Jammer array: Jammer arrays are used by the covenant to hide an area from the UNSC Navy's radar. This type of jamming produces no effect on your motion tracker. The Jammer array is somewhat similar in shape to a large turret tower, consisting of a raised platform accessible by a gravity lift. Unlike turret towers, there are four legs securing the structure to the ground and the jamming device is located above the second story. Jammer arrays are equipped with three mounted plasma turrets, which are usually operated by Grunts. Although the second story of the jammer array provides you some elevation, it leaves you exposed if you are attacked from multiple angles, so is not a sufficient sniping position. The legs provide good one directional cover.
Methane refill station: This structure is placed by the covenant so that Grunts can refill their methane tanks between battles. Each station is capable of refilling up to four Grunts at one time. These stations are very useful because Grunts are unable to move or shoot when refilling, making them easy targets to kill. Up close, methane refill stations provide decent crouching cover.
Plasma battery: Plasma batteries are a type of fuel tank used by the covenant. Presumably, these batteries are used to refil plasma based vehicles and weapons. Because the plasma in plasma batteries is highly explosive, they will explode if fired upon. As a plasma battery takes damage, its color will change from blue to red. If it continues to take damage once it is red, it will explode, killing any infantry in a close proximity and dealing high colatoral damage to farther away infantry. For this reason, you should never stand near a plasma battery.
Plasma storage: Plasma storage is another type of fuel tank used by the covenant, containing a different type of plasma than the plasma in a plasma battery. Similarly to a plasma battery, a plasm storage will change color from blue to red and then explode if repeatedly fired upon. When a plasma storage explodes, it errupts in bright light, blinding nearby infantry, including the player. Unlike plasma batteries, plasma storages deal no damage when detonated.
Shade turret: The shade turret is a permanently mounted turret equipped with two rapid-fire, high accuracy plasma guns. Because they have two plasma guns and they have a higher accuracy than plasma turrets, shade turrets pose much more of a threat than plasma turrets. Less than half a second of shade turret fire will kill a player on foot, and continuous shade turret fire can destroy vehicles, including scorpions, relatively quickly. Shade turrets are usually operated by Grunts, although Elites and Brutes will enter an empty shade turret.
The easiest way to eliminate a shade turret is to kill the Grunt operator. When the shade turret is either facing directly at you or directly perpendicular to you, you will have a clear shot at the Grunts head. Therefore, a single DMR headshot can quickly eliminate the operator. When attempting to kill an enemy in a shade turret, make sure that you are very close to cover and ideally far away. This way, you can immediately step back into cover if the shade turret fires upon you, avoiding the plasma rounds before they reach you. You can also stun a shade turret with an overcharged plasma pistol, providing you with a longer opportunity to remove the operator.
Fuel rod shade turret: Fuel rod shade turrets look and operate similarly to standard shade turrets. However, fuel rod shade turrets fire fuel rods, greatly increasing the threat they pose to players both on foot and in vehicles. The fuel rods fired from a shade turret travel at a slower speed and are fired in slower succession then from a fuel rod gun, making them easier to dodge. On the other hand, fuel rod shade turrets do not need to reload, allowing them to bombard the player with a continuous stream of projectiles.
Because of the slightly different shape of the fuel rod gun on a fuel rod shade turret, is it much harder to kill the Grunt in a fuel rod shade turret. The size of the gun blocks your view of the Grunts head if you are below the shade turret. To overcome this, either fire from a position of equal or higher elevation to the shade turret or stun it with an overcharged plasma pistol. If you stun the shade turret, you can safely approach it and melee the operator.
Long ranged shade turret: Long ranged shade turrets are supurior versions of shadeturrets. As implyed by the name, the plasma guns of a long ranged shade turrets have a much longer range and higher accuracy, as well as higher bullet velocity and much higher damage. The body of a long ranged shade turret is also encased in multiple energy shields, completely protecting the opperator and increasing the durability of the turret. The covenant mostly use long ranged shade turrets for anti-aircraft puroses due to their longer range and higher damage.
The only time you encounter long ranged shade turrets throughout the campaign is during the "New Alexandria" mission when you are flying your falcon. Destroy these shade turrets with the burst fire machinegun of your falcon while flying sporadically to avoid the shade turret's fire.
Sniper tower: Sniper towers are placed by the covenant to provide Jackal snipers with an elevated perch. This allows the Jackals to both view more of the landscape and provides them with a clearer shot at UNSC forces. Sniper towers consist of a floating, circular platform with a gravity lift below that allows infantry to enter the top of the tower. Although they provide a good view and clear shot at most of the landscape, turret towers do not have any cover, so are not useful sniping positions for the player.
Whenever you see a sniper tower in the campaign, zoom in and carefully view the top level with your DMR. Watch for any Jackal snipers and kill them immediately with headshots. Since there is no cover on the tower, the Jackals are easy targets to eliminate. It is important to kill the Jackal snipers fist because they will be able to shoot you from a long range, unlike other covenant infantry.
Turret Tower: Turret towers are identical in design to sniper tower, but also have three plasma turrets mounted near the edges 120 degrees apart. These turrets are usually operated by Grunts. Turret towers provide no more cover than sniper towers, so provide poor sniping positions as well.
When you see a turret tower during the campaign, kill the Grunts with headshots when you are out of range of their plasma turrets so that they cannot return fire upon you. Their entire heads are exposed when they face perpendicular to you, so are easily killed in this position. Even when they are facing at you, a small portion of their foreheads are exposed, so still can be killed with a single headshot.
UNSC and civilian structures
Although the majority of each level is built from human or UNSC structures such as the houses of "Nightfall" and the skyscrapers of "Exodus", this section only includes reoccurring and identical objects such as weapons crates and cement barricades. These are most commonly seen in and around UNSC buildings such as Sword Base of the Saber launch facility.
Cement barricade: Cement barricades are used to blockade roads and are almost identical to the real life equivalent you find dividing the lanes of a highway. These cement barricades are both long and invincible, so provide relatively good cover. However, because they are somewhat short, so you must crouch for optimal protection when using a cement barricade as cover. The best tactic is usually to crouch and walk to either end of the barricade so you are just far enough out to see your target while still staying mostly covered. Once you require more protection,
step back towards the middle of the barricade so that you are completely covered.
Short cement barricade: short cement barricades are similar in design, length, and strength to cement barricades. However, as implied by their name, they are also about half of the height, so provide poor cover. Even if you crouch behind a short cement barricade, your head will be slightly exposed to enemies on the same elevation as you, and you will be entirely exposed to enemies on a higher elevation than you. For this reason, I only suggest using a cement barricade as cover if there is no better cover nearby. If you are forced to use one, implement the same cover tactics described for a cement barricade above.
UNSC Cover: Covers are steel structures placed by the UNSC around their bases to provide their infantry with protection. UNSC covers are U shade and have a large hole cut in the front, allowing you and UNSC soldiers to easily fire at covenant infantry. While this hole does provide you with a clear shot at infantry in front of you, it also provides the covenant with a clear shot at you. For this reason, UNSC covers should be used for fighting enemies at a distance, but not for fighting enemies nearby.
Small cover: Small UNSC covers are equal in height to UNSC covers, but are much skinnier and do not have a large hole cut in them. They do have a small, eye-level slit in the middle, but it is extremely hard to fire out of or into this slit. Covenant forces can knock small covers over with explosives, after which the cover becomes unusable. To use a small UNSC cover, stand to either side of it when firing and step into the middle for protection. Notice that when you stand in the center, the small cover will not protect either of your sides or diagonals due to its thin shape.
Large cover: Since large covers are both larger than normal covers and do not have hole cut in them, they provide very reliable protection. Furthermore, due to their heavy base, large covers cannot be knocked over. To use a large cover, stand next to it to fire and step towards the middle for protection.
Crate: Crates are used by both the civilians and UNSC on Reach to organize and easily transport items and materials. These crates cannot be opened by the player, yet they provide very good cover due to their size and durability. Crates are tall enough to be used as standing cover and heavy enough to stay in place. Stand next to a crate so that only a small amount of your body is exposed to shoot, and move to the middle of the crate for cover.
Small crate: Small crates are similar in use and design to large crates but have an eighth of the volume. Due to their small size, small crates do not provide any cover. A stack of small crates should also not be used as cover because they can easily be knocked down by explosives.
Gas tank: Gas tanks are large steel cylinders containing natural gas placed around some civilian facilities. If shot, these tanks will leak and begin burning. After burning for a few seconds, the gas tank will explode with immense force, imparting more collateral damage than a plasma battery. For this reason, you should never use a gas tanks as cover, and you should avoid them when possible. If you see a tank catch on fire, sprint away immediately.
Weapons case: With a durable exterior and foam eggshell interior, weapon cases are used by the UNSC to safely transport weaponry. Up to two of any UNSC weapon excluding machinegun turrets and grenades can fit in a weapons case. It is important to know the location of all DMR weapons cases throughout a mission so that you can stay fully stocked.
Wall mounted weapons case: Wall mounted weapons cases are found secured on walls or columns and contain up to three shotguns, assault rifles, or DMRs and up to three fragmented grenades. It is important to know the location of all wall mounted DMR weapons cases throughout a mission so that you can stay fully stocked.
Weapons crate: Weapons crates are much larger than weapons cases and are capable of carrying many more weapons. A weapons crate has multiple shelves, each designed to secure one type of UNSC weapon. For this reason, any UNSC weapon excluding machinegun turrets and target locators can be found in a weapons crate. Every single weapons crate carries at least four assault rifles or four DMRs in the center section. Therefore, DMR weapons crates are extremely valuable because they carry enough ammunition to allow you to restock indefinitely.
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