Okay. I'm sick, so this post probably won't make sense, but I had a few ideas on Armor Abilities. A few pre-emptive notes to clarify:
1. I do
not want Armor Abilities in competitive Halo. These Armor Abilities would be specifically designed for larger, BTB-style encounters.
2. In an ideal sandbox, this would represent anywhere from 16 to 32 players on much larger battlefields than what we're used to.
3. Being BTB, you would have the high jump/movement speeds of standard competitive but also have Sprint due to the map sizes. Sprint would not show up in smaller competitive matches.
4.
Be sure to read this one, it involves the AR/BR/DMR debate. Loadouts no longer use Tactical/Support Packages. From the Start Menu, you're given access to six weapons:
Battle Rifle (4-shot)
Carbine (6-shot)
Light Rifle (4/5-shot)
Rook (Suppressed SMG 2.0)
Plasma Rifle (Combat Evolved variant)
Oscillator (think Promethean Spiker meets Sentinel Beam)
You may choose two out of these six weapons for your primary and secondary. For Grenades, you can choose up to two - two Frags, two Pulses, or one of each. BTB Matchmaking's only influence in Loadouts is the suite of Armor Abilities you're given.
5. As I've stated time and time again, these AAs would work on a universal mechanic known as the
Shield and Sword System, or SASS,
inspired by Leviathan's original idea for Halo 4 AAs in his what-if project.
You start out with a total of 30 Armor Points on a universal AA meter. Passive Abilities require 2 points per second (meaning 15 seconds total), while Aggressive Abilities only require a single tap, and eat up 5 points per use (meaning 6 uses total). If you run out of battery, it will not recharge on its own - you have to pick up an AA Node, which are scattered around the map in neutral locations. Sprint and Sonar 25M do not use battery.
Passive Abilities
These are cycled through horizontally on the D-Pad, and are simply supplementary.
VISR Mode: ODST's version, no wallhacks. Does display cloaked users, but does not display Holograms, which can prove incredibly useful.
Motion Tracker 25M: Traditional Motion Tracker.
Sonar 25M: Motion Tracker that displays allies and enemies that are shooting. Elevation is marked; crouching will not take you off the radar, but it will prevent the enemy from knowing what elevation you're at. This is the default ability and requires no battery.
Flashlight: Old-fashioned Flashlight. While there's no Battlefield-style stunning, the glow can provide a glint that expands exponentially over distance, meaning you can "white out" certain fields of view if you aim it right at a distant Sniper.
Night Vision: Reach version.
Aggressive Abilities
Traditional Armor Abilities. None require sustained holds, you just tap the Armor Ability button once, with the exception of Jump Jet, where you just press the Jump button twice. Contrary to what I've said in the past, the default 5 "loadouts" for BTB would only give you access two abilities (and Sprint) at any given time.
All Aggressive Abilities are now performed in first-person.The loadouts are:
Recon
This loadout is all about map movement.
Jump Jet is a standard Double Jump, while
Thruster is buffed from its current incarnation, roughly doubling the distance it takes you and accounts for momentum. Jump Jet's "wings" will flutter and glow on the second jump, while Thruster's boots and hip-spikes will rotate and send out light/sparks, Vanquish-style.
Deceiver
Possibly the most skill curve-intensive loadout.
Hologram is completely unchanged, while
Backpedaler summons a Hologram... that walks backwards. Game-changer. Hologram users now place their hands in front of them to "summon" the Hologram out of their wrist-based projectors, while using the Backpedaler will make your Spartan initiate a basic bicep curl to use the projectors mounted to their shoulder pauldrons.
Sentry
A mixed offense-defensive loadout similar to an Engineer of sorts.
Autosentry is no different beyond being able to get headshots.
Hardlight Shield now takes longer (roughly a second) to actually get the shield up, meaning you can't do traditional Armor Lock/HLS-style blocks on the fly. It will block for one second, meaning you can't do riot shield-style charges or retreats with it. Hardlight Shield is now explicitly meant to defend yourself in situations where a basic infantryman has no chance of survival, such as withstanding a Scorpion/Gauss Hog round. All projectiles will now bounce off of the shield as well, rather than just impacting. Autosentry's animation is roughly unchanged beyond electricity/hardlight/whatever coming out of your chest-circuits/super duper shoulder pads, while you're stuck wearing Skirmisher-style baby Jackal Shields on your wrists as a Hardlight Shield user. You smash them together in front of your face to block, as though you were actually blocking a punch.
Medic
Entirely defensive loadouts, meant more to help teammates than yourself.
Bubble Shield is similar to the Halo Reach variant, with the exception that it's a little larger, follows you around, and doesn't restore health. The Bubble Shield does
not protect you, however. It only protects your teammates. The same goes for Regen Field, which operates much more like a passive/ambient Engineer in Halo Wars than its current iteration.
Regen Field now requires you to aim at the target you want to heal - whether it's a teammate, or even a vehicle - and the healing field will slowly begin to restore it. Bubble Shield gives you a basic "crown" or headpiece similar to a Brute Chieftan made of simple Extraction Point-style hexagons, which ultimately explode out to form the outer edges of your Bubble Shield when used. Regen Field's "hardlight scarf" will flow gently around your right arm and fly out to the target and heal it, similar to the Medic's healing gun in TF2.
Saboteur
Competitive players should enjoy this one.
Spotter is a one-of-a-kind loadout that lets you target up to one player at a time. When fully targeted, for the next 10 seconds, that Spartan will appear as a faint outline or silhouette to all your teammates in the vicinity regardless of whether or not they're cloaked, in a vehicle, or whatnot. In addition, however,
it replaces their name with the name of the Loadout they're using. So suddenly if you need to warn your team of a Deceiver going for the flag, you can.
Nullifier operates on similar principles; if you can manage to target the Spartan for a good 3 seconds, it jams their AA use (both Passive and Aggressive barring Sprint and Sonar) for 5 seconds, which can be
just enough to prevent medics from healing teammates and so on. Spotters have super spy goggles mounted over their helmet which project a beam while spotting, and Nullifiers have elaborate gauntlets/pointer finger attachments. Successfully nullifying someone will make you point at them with your left hand.
TL;DR I made BTB armor abilities, you get two at a time along with Sprint.
Thruster, Jump Jet (Double Jump), Hologram, Backpedaler (retreating hologram), Autosentry, Hardlight Shield (nerfed), Bubble Shield (larger and follows you but only protects teammates, not you), Regen Field (can only heal one thing at a time and not you), Spotter (points out enemies and gives away their Loadout), and Nullifier (AA jammer).
Default loadouts:
Recon: Thruster / Jump Jet
Deceiver: Hologram / Backpedaler
Sentry: Autosentry / Hardlight Shield
Medic: Bubble Shield / Regen Field
Saboteur: Spotter / Nullifier
