Halo 2 Arranged Match for 8PM PST Saturday, Feb 5, 2005! Sign up here! (1 Viewer)

[James T]

Correct. Someone told me, but I never tried it with a group of friends to actually test it out.

 

[Martin Rendall]

Carlo,

Exactly right. Here's a good article on how MP works in Halo 2. Also talks about how Halo did it.

http://stuffo.howstuffworks.com/halo-network.htm

Martin.

 

[Jean D]

Carlo, those games last night were very close. I feel that if we werent randomly given that 4th teammate and had someone who we could stratagize with, we would have won all those games. cause we only lost by a couple kills most of the time. I need to redeem myself tonight to bring my stats back up.

 

[Carlo_M]

Haha, very true Jean. btw, how do you pronounce your name? French style (rhymes w/ Sean?) or "gene"? Just wasn't sure how I should address you online (or would you prefer bloodthirst?).

I'll try to be online a little earlier tonight, but it's tough given you're in NH and we're in CA.

If anyone here wants to run w/ us tonight, log on, see if we're on, and send us a message. We usually run small team slayer.

Later~!

 

[Martin Rendall]

Carlo,

Rankings are down right now... what level are you at? I would love to play some TS with you and company if the levels are close. I'm a lowly 8. GT is "Mister Creosote"

Martin.

 

[Jean D]

Carlo, Pronounced "Gene" is good, just like the pants "Jeans".

Martin, I think I remember seeing Carlo at a 10 possibly a 9 on Team Slayer. I think Im a level 9 almost to level 10 when I checked this morning. an 8 isnt bad, unless you compare it to the un-godly level 50 that its possible to go up to. (it is 50 right? or just 25? --- either number is phenominal)

 

[Carlo_M]

I'm a 10, but I hover between 9-10, black mould is a 12, bloodthirst is a 9 (but his # doesn't show in the pre-game lobby).

I would **NOT** worry about being an 8, 9, etc. TS is all about playing as a team. If you can handle weapons, have a general knowledge of where things are on the map (weapons and directionality), and can back your teammates up, that's all we ask for. Win or lose, it's just fun to get good teamwork going. We (I) use the radio a lot.

I'll give you some examples of what you should know: where the "good" weapons are, i.e. rockets, sword, snipers, shotgun. I don't mean you need to know them for every map, lord knows I forget from time to time, but you should have a general idea of where they are after a few minutes in the map.

Re: directionality, let's take Colossus as an example. There's that "front corridor" that most teams try to take and defend. There's "red side" and "blue side" entryways, as well as the launchpad/expressway up the middle. Even if terminology is different from what you're used to, within a minute of the match you should pretty much get what we're talking about. So when we're spread out and defending the corridor, we usually radio out to the team if we see them coming from "red side", "blue side" or up the middle (though you can hear that launchpad sound anyway).

Not rocket science, and yes it may take a few rounds to get the hang of it, but if you think you can deal with that, we'd love to game w/ you!

Our main thing though is: don't leave your wingman. And if you do (i.e. you just spawned and need weapons) let him know via the radio. Say "I'm going to get this weapon..." so he doesn't charge in somewhere expecting backup only to get his a$$ handed to him.

And trust me, you won't be an 8 for long. Those rankings aren't reflective of your skill (at least not in TS) but rather how well your team works together. Patrick and I used to roll with his future Brother in Law who stunk it up bad. He would grab snipe weapons, run and hide, and not even be good at using them! I'm talking he would have 3 kills and 14 deaths. He'd never back anyone up. We all hovered around 7-8 for the longest time.

We finally found a way to avoid him (and not because he's not good at Halo 2 but because neither of us like him as a person or friend) and we've gone up to 10-12 in no time flat! And we haven't gotten that much better, we just have teammates that back us up and call out things like "they have rockets" or "they're controlling the 3rd floor corridor [in Ivory Tower]".

But you're definitely on my buddy list so I'll send you an invite next time I see you (I was going to last night but you were in matchmaking).

See you online!

 

[Carlo_M]

50 is possible. But I think on the leaderboards the highest I saw was a couple of 27s. There's less than 20 people that are ranked over 24 I think...

Thanks for the clarification, I know there's a lot of French-descendant type of names in the northeast so I just wasn't sure if it was the french way or now.

Jean (like the type of pants) it is!

Black mould you can call Patrick if you like, although I've known him since college and I call him "Moulder" online (like Agent Moulder) because he's an X-Files fan.

 

[Jean D]

yeah, Im French Canadian and Greek. But my name is totally french.
Ive got a friend on XBL thats a level 22. Dont know how he got that way. one day he was a 15, next he was a 22. Havent played with him in a while however.

Question to all the Halo 2 gamers.

What equipment do you play halo 2 on?

Ive got a 55" HD RP Mits. and Fluance SX-HTB's run from a cheap Sony reciever (5.1 audio helps incredibly in tactics).
(this sucks cause I cant play on anything small anymore. Im so used to watching large movements in the periferal areas, that if I play on a small tv I get my ass handed to me.)

Oh yeah, if anyone else played on a big screen do you have trouble sharing the screen with multiple people? I do. I dont like how the image gets chopped up. It seems as if a large portion of the image gets lost due to that.

 

[Martin Rendall]

Carlo,

Gotcha. My main problem with team slayer has been finding people to match with. My clan (AVS forum - a great bunch of guys and gals) tend to play the objective gametypes mostly, which is great, but sometimes I fondly remember team matches in Quake 3 Arena. The few who've done team slayer lately are now 14's and 15's, and that puts the competition around 15 to 20, which is too high for me.

As a consequence, I've maybe only played about 60 team slayer games, and won about half. Given the way the ranking works, this win/loss ratio will gravitate anyone to 15 over time.

I'm pretty knowledgeable about where the weapons are on the various maps. I stink at sniping (although I keep practicing whenever I get the chance) and for some reason just cannot get a real good grasp of the sword (of all things :frowning. The battle rifle is my fav. weapon, when appropriate. But I also like the shotty quite a bit.

When I play, I try to keep my kills greater than my deaths, but I tend to be more cautious, so often do not have the highest kill count on my team.



BTW: When facing the lift from the flag area, is the red side on the left or right?

Anyway, your Colossus map example makes it pretty clear what you're looking for. We should try a few games, and see if there's any synergy.

Martin.

 

[Martin Rendall]

Jean,

I play in my HT, which is a loft set up with 7.1 Paradigm Studios, Pioneer 1014TX-k/Bryston 4BST, and an Infocus 4805 projecting onto a 92" screen. I don't know what it looks like split screen. Too selfish.

Martin.

 

[Carlo_M]

I play on 2 setups: living room and bedroom. I have 2 sets of HD-packs that are always connected to the TVs, so I can just lug the XBox from one room to the other depending on if my GF wants to watch something on the big TV.

Living room: 47" 16x9 Panny HDTV, 5.1 through NAD T763 (MBQuart speakers)

Bedroom: 27" 4:3 Zenith tube "HDTV", stereo through Sony STR-DA555ES, Energy C6 mains. Yes, the Sony can do 5.1 but I haven't the room to put a 5.1 setup in the BR.

Martin, off the top of my head, facing that corridor, I think red is the right side (left if you're defending the corridor). But it's real obvious, one side has a reddish hue, the other side a bluish hue. Hence "red side" or "blue side".

Being cautious is fine too, and having more kills than deaths is obviously ideal. But if a bunch of us are storming please feel free to jump in too...deaths be damned!

Actually, winning or losing doesn't really bother me much (as it does others I've played with). If we have good teamwork and communication and just get beaten, that's life, I'm cool with that.

And I don't see the rankings as a competition (i.e. trying to be a "15" or something). I see it as a baseline to get you good competition. Against 8- I tend to win those matches. Against 15+ I tend to lose. So I think anywhere from 10-12 is right for me. I definitely don't think I should be ranked a 15 because I'd be squaring off against people as high as 20, and that's just an a$$whooping (mine) waiting to happen!

 

[Carlo_M]

Oh, as far as my favorite weapon combos? You'll probably catch me most with assault rifle + pistol, followed by assault rifle + plasma and then dual plasmas rifles. I rarely wield 2 assaults unless I'm out in the open and people have proven adept at evading grenades (which I like throwing in tight quarters).

I am decent with the sword, though I do believe they (bungie) have weakened it recently. I am pretty good with the shottie, whenever I get that rare Shotguns team slayer or rumble pit, I tend to finish towards the top and I think most of my 1st place finishes are in this.

Long range I'm okay w/ the rockets but I can't get the hang of where to shoot on the floor when someone is near to you (i.e. you don't want to shoot *at* them as the missile will more than likely fly by). I notice people jump and point the rocket down at your feet if you're fairly close to them. I haven't mastered that. In arranged "rockets" matches I'm always near the bottom.

Same with sniper. I'm not horrible, but it's not my preferred method of killing. Of course last night there was a guy in the big tower in Ascension doing a number on our team, and I spawned in the small snipe roost. I went down and grabbed the sniper and took aim at the guy, who was tracking either black mould or bloodthirst, and I headshotted him on the first shot since he was preoccupied. That made me smile (as did saying "I took down the sniper" over the radio).

I do fairly well in Midship matches (where there's only plasma rifles, 1 beam sniper, 1 shottie, 1 sword and plasma grenades). I like to stick people. And also, I do very well in Phantoms on midship. I get like 15 kills, and most are bonecrackers or assassins (thumped from behind, 1 hit 1 kill).

 

[James T]

Sony 27"
5.1 sound.

I envy you big screen gamers. I love to snipe, but try to avoid it on big maps like coagulation because I can barely see the guys at the end of the map, making head shots harder to hit.

 

[Carlo_M]

The three of us had that same situation last night, one dude left fairly quick, and it was 3 vs. 4 and we were all ranked between 9-12. Of course before he left he gave us 4 kills and 9 deaths, putting us at -5 with his stats.

We lost, last second, cos they charged us 49-48. But damn, for being 3 on 4 that ain't bad (and they said as much in the postgame lobby) and we were leading for the last minute or two of the match.

 

[Martin Rendall]

Hey,

Had fun last night. Too bad we didn't win a few more though. :frowning:

The stats are still down, so I can't look to see what went well and poorly.

A couple of thoughts. First, I'm not good with rockets, and Ivory Tower is my worst map. Lucky for us the two were a constant theme last night. Sigh.

Second, you guys really need a sniper. It affords cheap kills and a defense against enemy snipers. The last thing is that you need to protect your sniper by leaving a man with him whenever you can. The sniper is instantly the number one target of the enemy once he fires a shot.

Even though we didn't fair too well, I'd be willing to try again Thursday if you all are willing.

Was it me, or was the competition much harder than usual last night?

Cheers,
Martin.

 

[Jean D]

Yeah, last night was rough. I was getting mad. One game I kept getting spawn killed. Thats when I started swearing to myself and pounding the leather couch. Sometimes I get too into the game. But its all good. win some loose some. Im not the best with the sniper, I can hold my own, but I waste a lot of bullets if the level is a dark one (unlike Coag) im not the best with rockets either depending on the level. But I will try to get any good weapon just to keep away from the opposition.
I was hoping for a Midship game last night cause I do extremely well on that level. Foundation too.

Carlo and I did some Team Training games before we started and we were doing great. I'm probably going to play some more tonight, but not as late as I did if anyone is down for some games.

Carlo, a word of advise though, I know we like to talk about strategics, but when we're in proximity of an enemy, he can hear whoever is talking close by, so lets be careful of the knowledge we give out. A couple of times, things we did were expected if you know what I mean. Also, I don't know what was going on when I couldn't hear anyone but Carlo, Im sure it effected my performance quite a bit. I hope that doesn't happen again. I think something is wrong with my xbox, I have way too many problems (i.e. network problems, map loading problems, voice, etc.). I think I may buy a new one, and return my old one, and say I got another one as a gift.

 

[Jean D]

Carlo, FYI I sent you a PM.

 

[Carlo_M]

Yeah I try to talk only when I know enemies aren't near, but last night I discovered something which could be considered a glitch: you can hear vertically really well, even if there are 6 solid walls around you (ceiling). So on Ivory Tower, even if I'm 2 floors down from the top floor, I could hear them and I'm sure they could hear me. Took me a while to figure that out, and I stopped communicating that way.

I understand the way proximity voice works, but they shouldn't be able to hear 2 floors up if you're in a contained room (this was when I was in the bottom floor where the pistol spawns near the overshield side).

And yes, we do need a sniper, but with a qualifier: a good sniper!

Patrick (black mould) and I have had a really bad experience with his soon to be brother in law through marriage only. He's masterjam, and if you see him gaming with us, feel free NOT to join as he will just drag your stats down. Masterjam takes the sniper, runs and hides where he can, doesn't use it particularly well, gets killed often, and doesn't provide backup.

As such, Patrick and I kind of blew off sniping as it pissed us off (because our guy sucked at it). In places like midship, colossus, and foundation it's not a big deal not to have a sniper. But on Ascension, Coag and Burial Mounds, yeah we need one.

Anyone out there good with a sniper?

The problem with leaving one guy with the sniper is that it leaves only 2 people to "fight it out" with the opposition. Often if one team controls the sniper, the other team all runs together, and 2 on 4 = toast unless the other team totally sucks.

The really good snipers (I would guess because I'm certainly not one) have mastered not only where best to snipe from, but how not to stay "zoomed" all the time so they can see the HUD, and how to quickly switch from the snipe to another weapon very quickly.

If anyone out there fits this bill, we'd love to have you on the team!

And with the exception of that one guy (natural...somethingorother) we at least got beaten fair and square which doesn't bother me. That naturaldude was a glitch/cheater, he up and disappeared in front of my like a fart in a wind, only to reappear 100' up in a palm tree in Ivory Tower and sniped me...twice! (because I re-spawned where he could shoot me)

Duke vs. UNC tonight will cramp my game time (unless you're all willing to log on after 9pm Pac Time ) but I'll make my best effort to be online Thursday. This coming weekend is a no-game-time for me. It's my girlfriend's 25th and we'll be traveling and partying most of Friday and the weekend (though maybe Sunday night I can get a reprieve).

Regardless, it was great gaming with you guys!

 

[Martin Rendall]

In the above scenario, you'll may find them running in pairs also. It's really hard to defend the main hallway if you are all bunched together (grenades anyone?). Another tactic is to draw them out so they can be sniped. Even if your sniper misses the headshot, they now have no shields which makes them easier to take out up close. I managed to help out that way a few times.

Some of the really amazing players in my clan will actually keep an eye out on their sniper, and radio over if an enemy is approaching them, so they have time to change weapons, move, etc. That kind of forewarning is awesome!

I'm definitely gonna keep practicing with the sniper whenever it ends up in my possession. But I'll certainly defer it to anyone who want it.

Martin.