Solo Tactical

Solo Tactical
By Slamm Andrews



Solo Tactical was designed for Reach based on past game types made for Halo 3. These older game types placed priority on fast paced gameplay with an emphasis on automatic weapons and semi-realistic damage rates. In Reach, Tactical is characterized on a player's ability to stay alive and strategically deliver firepower to the enemy. This is meant to be played on either Tactical specific map variants, or maps with primarily human weapons. This can also be played with no weapons on the map, as the loadouts will fulfill all ranges of combat. Here's the specifics:

No Shields
Players Immune to Headshots
Damage at 110%
Player Damage Resistance at 90%
Movement speed at 90%

Loadouts:
Magnum, Sprint
DMR, Sprint
Shotgun, Sprint

What does this mean for gameplay?

Faster kill speed for all weapons:
DMR/Magnum will kill in two hits
Shotgun killrange drastically increased
Sniper kills in one hit
Assault rifle kills at long ranges with controlled bursts, tears people apart close up

Immunity to headshots helps keep the playing field level for close combat weapons while still rewarding players for long range killing prowess. The DMR will kill in two hits at a long zoom, while a shotgun can damage or even out right kill an opponent at medium range as they move toward them. I hope you can agree with this reasoning. If not, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

In my Halo 3 variation, players started with SMG and Magnum, but these weapons are either absent or drastically different in Reach. Loadouts also made design choices interesting, so I chose to offer players a long range weapon and a close range. Sniper and Assault rifle constitute power weapons in Tactical.

This game type is part of a file set on my file share. You'll find there my version of Boardwalk made specifically for this game type, as well as a team variation of Tactical and a new Hardcore Tactical. In Hardcore, every player has one life per round, and plays for 4 rounds.

I am excited to show Tactical to the Halo community, as I believe it is a different experience than Swat because it relies on precision, control, and strategy while still producing fast and exciting gameplay. Please give this game type a try and experiment with the settings. I'd greatly appreciate your feedback! Also, if you would like me to join a game to test the gametype out, feel free to contact me through Xbox live.

Thanks!
Slamm

PS: since this is my first topic post on Forge Hub, I want to make sure I have followed the rules. Please let me know if there are any issues with the post.

 

That is an interesting idea! I'd be happy to get on that kind of project with you. And thanks, it took me a long time in Halo 3 to get Tactical working right, so it was a little easier to get Reach Tactical worked out. I'd appreciate it if you could give me some feedback on the weapon placements in my Boardwalk Tactical variant with the gametype.

I am also thinking of limiting the starting grenades to one frag to reduce spamming.

Let me know what you think!
Slamm

 

I'm currently on break and my xbox is back on campus, but I will add you asap (around tuesday/wednesday).

 

Nice! I like what you've done with the place. The cover you've included at the bottom level will really help expand the gameplay in that area because it is normally so open. In tactical, players could feel safer down there with all that cover.

I am interested in what other options we have in the weapon placement. At the moment, Swordbase Tactical seems a bit heavy on power weapons like the sniper, which given the long sight lines could pose an issue depending on what gameplay we have in mind. I thought the sniper spawn at the big windows was amazing, but the loft seemed a less likely place for a second power weapon.

The big windows are great because there is only one way to get there... on the ledge in the corner stair. The loft(attic?) would be great for the assault rifle because it is the dead end of the vertical climb. Those are my thoughts right now... Other than that, I think the weapons set could be expanded to include some more magnums on various levels and further distance between pairs of weapons. For instance, it is super easy to sprint from one shotgun to the other. Same with the DMRs.

Other than weapon placement, I think this is fantastic! I'll work on another tactical variant of a different map and put it up for your input as well. Thanks for this.

 

Good point. I originally had a class with the AR, but in my tests it seemed everyone was just spraying. The Ar is accurate enough in bursts to reach DMR range and kill... I have been told to take away the shotgun class entirely, and I can understand. A shotgun class also takes out the surprise of having one... so an enemy is always expecting a shotgun once people learn how to use it at the max kill range. I'll work on changing the gametype around some more as well. Thanks for the reply!