Support NeoGAF

[Slightly Live]

What is RTR?

RTR is an open (anyone can join) League based around Halo 3/ODST/Mythic. It doesn't matter if you are new player or MLG Pro, everyone is equal. There is no test of weapon skill here, instead, you race against the clock. The Race to Reach will continue up until the start of the Halo Reach multiplayer beta - estimated Spring (April - May) 2010.

What are the rules?

Simply complete a course and upload a saved film to your file share. Make sure you fulfil the conditions asked before doing this. Any attempt at cheating will disqualify your entry.

Every three weeks you are given three challenges. You may complete these in any order you you wish. At the end of the three week period all submissions are verified. After verification all completed times will be ranked from best to worst. The top 50% of submissions for each course will be awarded 1 XP.

You may choose not to submit for all three courses and only submit for two, if one of them is giving you issues. You will loose out on one potential XP if you decide to do this.

An overall leaderboard will be kept and updated every three weeks, this will be based on each player XP count. You will have a chance to earn up to 3 XP every three weeks if you successfully make it to the top half of each of the three courses for that period.

Additional leaderboards will be kept for each individual course for all of the overall entries. Players will be free to submit new course times for older courses to improve their position on the course leaderboard (although XP will not be awarded for updated times).

Player Profiles

When you join the league, feel free to submit a screenshot as a background for your unique Player Profile. Profiles will display your GT, Total XP, Medals any courses if you are currently top of the leaderboard for a specific course.

HaloGAF Medals

There are an unknown amount of HaloGAF Medals you can earn by fulfilling specific and currently unknown criteria. Medals will be earned and added every three weeks. These medals are not the core medals from the games.... =)

Live Race

At the end of a three week period, a RTR Live Race will take place during the regular weekly HaloGAF Customs night. You will be able to earn additional medals and XP during this Live Race!

How to join?

Simply reply here with the following information

-Team Name (Be original! Only one person per team, for now)
-Link to Bungie.net Screenshot for Player Profile Background

Late Comers?

Don't worry if you missed the start of HaloGAF RTR, facilities are in place if you come late to the party. You will be given an equal and fair chance to earn medals and XP in line with existing players (and without cheating or being given an unfair advantage).

How to submit?

After you have joined up and submitted your Team name and picture, you can post your submission in this format in a reply;

-Submission for "Course Name"
-Team Name
-Link/url to Saved Film in your Fileshare on Bungie.net

As Bagel has highlighted, some folks may wish to keep their methods for obtaining the best time on the courses private. That's all fine and dandy.

Simply post your Course times and PM me the saved film linkls. I will download the film and view the footage and reply to you ASAP.

Submit Your Own Courses!

Have a go and submit your own courses. The existing courses should give you an idea of what is expected. We will accept Period courses or Live Race courses. There may be a reward for submitting a course that is later used.

13 Dec - 03 Jan : Period 1
03 Jan - 24 Jan : Period 2
24 Jan - 14 Feb : Period 3
14 Feb - 7 Mar : Period 4

Period 1 Courses
(13 Dec - 03 Jan)

Download the Official RTR gametype here.

*Remember these are time trials, you only need to beat the level to be be eligible for submission*

Click on the map image to be taken to the map file on Bungie.net.



Alone in a deserted base, high up in the cliff-tops, you must gear up and prepare for the oncoming assault. Grab your weapons and man the turret!

• Players must reach the Gun Turret
• Players must equip the Rocket Launcher, Laser, Bubble Shield, 1 Frag and 1 Flame Grenade before manning the Gun Turret/Entering the hill
• A ten second bonus is deducted from your time if you equip the Overshield

One of the most enjoyable levels from Halo 3 featuring fast, frantic, vehicle based shooting mayhem!

• Players must complete the level on Heroic difficulty
• Players may use the IWHBYD/Grunt Birthday Party skulls but no others

Unique RTR Course, simply get to the hill. The matter of how is up to you.

• You may use either vehicle provided on the course

*BONUS COURSES*

These maps are just additional maps for having fun. They are not counted as part of any Period from Race to Reach. There are Leaderboards available for these courses. =)



It's the morning after a drunken party to celebrate your training graduation. Quickly get rid of the beer kegs (disguised as fusion cores, naturally) and stand at your post ready for inspection by the Admiral!

• Destroy all of the fusion cores quickly and then stand in the hill

*A special medal is automatically rewarded upon completing this course :

Ultimate Bun

Oh crap! You've lost all your grenades! Find them quickly or you're pooped!

• Collect all of the grenades quickly and stand in the poopshoot (hilll)

*Bonus Courses*

Feel free to chat, discuss or ask questions.

 

[OMG Aero]

This sounds like fun, I might have a go.
One question though, what is the point of a team name if there is only one person on the team? Why not just use their username?

 

[Slightly Live]

This sounds like fun, I might have a go.
One question though, what is the point of a team name if there is only one person on the team? Why not just use their username?

Just for fun really. If you want, you can just submit your username. =)

 

[Stormtrooper30]

SOunds interesting if enough people join it.

How does the Standoff one work?

 

[Slightly Live]

SOunds interesting if enough people join it.

How does the Standoff one work?

It's simple. You need to gather all the weapons and equipment to make a stand on top of the hill. They are scattered about the level so you have to find them, carry them and make it to the sentry gun which is inside a hill.

The Overshield will give you a time bonus of -10 seconds if you can manage to get it too.

You have complete freedom to make your own way about the map, discover jumps, use vehicles, etc.

You are also immune to damage. =)

 

[big ander]

Wow Dani, I had missed this. Some awesome work you've done here. I'll definitely attempt these

Spoiler

I'll definitely lose these :lol

.
I'll be back with my team and screen soon.

 

[Slightly Live]

Wow Dani, I had missed this. Some awesome work you've done here. I'll definitely attempt these

Spoiler

I'll definitely lose these :lol

.
I'll be back with my team and screen soon.

Thanks. =)

I'm looking forward to seeing how folks tackle these, especially Prepare 2 Standoff.

 

[DiabolicalBagel]

So... It may not be a following the guidelines strictly but, whatever, this is what I'm going with.

Submission for Prepare 2 Standoff.
-55 seconds.

Submission for Spineless.
-30 seconds.

Submission for Tsavo Highway.
-4 minutes, 55 seconds.

Submission for Maximum Outpit
-59 seconds.

Submission for Brownlation
-1 minute, 12 seconds.

 

[Slightly Live]

Awesome entry. Congrats!

Your Profile will made made shortly.

Scoreboards will be produced and due to you being the first and only entrant so far, you will be automatically added at the top of the leaderboards for the Period 1 courses.

You may have earned a HaloGAF Medal by topping a leaderboard. =)

 

[DiabolicalBagel]

Sweet, medals for me!

I want to get another run at Tsavo highway because I could probably cut it down to the 8 minute mark. It's just those damn wraiths. >_>

 

[big ander]

Gonna come back and edit this with more.

Team Name: On A Boat
Screenshot

-Submission for "Prepare 2 Standoff": 55 By the way, that time is with the 10 sec OS bonus applied. Am I supposed to add that on yet?
-Submission for "Spineless": check this post, 36 seconds now
-Tsavo: this post, somewhere around 12 minutes

 

[Slightly Live]

Gonna come back and edit this with more.

Team Name: On A Boat
Screenshot

-Submission for "Prepare 2 Standoff": 55 or 54 seconds, up to you Dani. By the way, that time is with the 10 sec OS bonus applied. Am I supposed to add that on yet?
other submissions coming soon

The 10 second bonus is deducted after my review at the end of the Period. You can however deduct it or not when stating your score here, I'll know for certain when I review each entry. =)

Also, Pardon my dust. Upgrading the OP slightly. Player profiles will be up either tonight or tomorrow, now that we have something to work with.

 

[DiabolicalBagel]

Gonna come back and edit this with more.

Team Name: On A Boat
Screenshot

-Submission for "Prepare 2 Standoff": 55 or 54 seconds, up to you Dani. By the way, that time is with the 10 sec OS bonus applied. Am I supposed to add that on yet?
-Submission for "Spineless": Again, kind of in between 39 and 40. I lose to Bagel either way though.
Tsavo coming soon

Curses! Beaten on Prepare 2 stand, I retried it your way but just ended up going slower every time I tried. You've won this battle, sir.
As for Spineless... *ahem* YAY! I see you didn't use the first mega shortcut, did you too find that it actually slows you down?

I think we'll have to settle this on Tsavo, as much as I hate those wraiths. I'm just feeling very competitive right now. Probably because I can't keep up in the slaying sides of things.

 

[big ander]

Curses! Beaten on Prepare 2 stand, I retried it your way but just ended up going slower every time I tried. You've won this battle, sir.
As for Spineless... *ahem* YAY! I see you didn't use the first mega shortcut, did you too find that it actually slows you down?

I think we'll have to settle this on Tsavo, as much as I hate those wraiths. I'm just feeling very competitive right now. Probably because I can't keep up in the slaying sides of things.

What's the first mega shortcut? I probably didn't experiment with Spineless enough.
As for Tsavo...fuck that level right now. Seriously, I had a 4 and a half minute run going, and I got to the brute gate at the end, and I assumed

Spoiler

/saw from videos online

that if you can rush past them and break the shield, you can end the level without beating all of them. Well after breaking the shield several times only to be killed while waiting for a cutscene to come up, I've given up. I'm going to have to find a new method.

 

[Slightly Live]

Ander, your Standoff link takes me to your screenshot..?

 

[DiabolicalBagel]

What's the first mega shortcut? I probably didn't experiment with Spineless enough.
As for Tsavo...fuck that level right now. Seriously, I had a 4 and a half minute run going, and I got to the brute gate at the end, and I assumed

Spoiler

/saw from videos online

that if you can rush past them and break the shield, you can end the level without beating all of them. Well after breaking the shield several times only to be killed while waiting for a cutscene to come up, I've given up. I'm going to have to find a new method.

Yeah I had the exact same thing. Had a good few runs in the 4:30-5 minute mark but rushing past and breaking the shield wouldn't work. I finally gave up and went with a terrible 11:25. (it was the first one I did where I decided to kill everything)
Just did another one though.

 

[big ander]

Ander, your Standoff link takes me to your screenshot..?

Whoops. To much messing with my clipboard. Should be fixed now, sorry about that.

Yeah I had the exact same thing. Had a good few runs in the 4:30-5 minute mark but rushing past and breaking the shield wouldn't work. I finally gave up and went with a terrible 11:25. (it was the first one I did where I decided to kill everything)
Just did another one though.

I'm realizing now it might have something to do with the difficulty. I know one of the speedruns I watched was on Easy, and the other might have been on Normal/Easy. Maybe on Heroic and above you actually need to kill stuff.
And damn, a shade under 7 minutes! You must have ripped through those Brutes like confetti.

EDIT: Ah, I seem to have found a good way...Thank you nokyard for having videos on youtube.

 

[DiabolicalBagel]

I watched your videos to see if there were any ideas I could steal to improve my own times (ultra competitive mongoose and chopper race league ftw). We guage our times differently. You go by 'Hill control' whereas I go for the 'ol 'Game over'

I therefore gain a second on my RTR times! Woo!

Edit: I've also stumbled upon a way to beat Tsavo in fantastic time... probably the same way as you. We shall see.

 

[Slightly Live]

OK, going to start on the Player Profiles. How is this?

 

[DiabolicalBagel]

But but but... I'm TEAM morello.

They look good though. Better if they were taller though, and I still looked godly.

 

[Slightly Live]

But but but... I'm TEAM morello.

They look good though. Better if they were taller though, and I still looked godly.

Hush or you won't get a free bonus challenge map later today.

 

[DiabolicalBagel]

Hush or you won't get a free bonus challenge map later today.

Don't you be teasin' me! Is there really a bonus map?

P.S. I like the wavy text, it looks crisp and clean while maintaining the MS paint style roots.

Edit: I tried Tsavo highway again but to no avail.
Those enemy vehicles are just not doing what they're meant to. I've seen many speedruns on tsavo and I've obviously played the level plenty myself.
Every single time I play the level normally there is one wraith up at the blockade and two behind the hill, one chopper out front and the rest behind the hill.
Every single time I try this speedrun there is one wraith behind hill, two at the top and all the choppers are out front.
There is just no feasible way to get past this part quickly without making your chances of survival slim to none.

 

[Slightly Live]

Don't you be teasin' me! Is there really a bonus map?

P.S. I like the wavy text, it looks crisp and clean while maintaining the MS paint style roots.

Edit: I tried Tsavo highway again but to no avail.
Those enemy vehicles are just not doing what they're meant to. I've seen many speedruns on tsavo and I've obviously played the level plenty myself.
Every single time I play the level normally there is one wraith up at the blockade and two behind the hill, one chopper out front and the rest behind the hill.
Every single time I try this speedrun there is one wraith behind hill, two at the top and all the choppers are out front.
There is just no feasible way to get past this part quickly without making your chances of survival slim to none.

Yes, I have a new map ready. I have one issue I can't seem to resolve, the starting spawn. The map refuses to listen to me it won't spawn you at any of the designated spawn points, instead it chooses a random area of the map without ANY spawns and starts you there.

If I can get that fixed, you'll have an extra map straight away.

And looks like Tsavo hates you.

 

[vhfive]

no worries i am doing these but not sharing my times atm

 

[DiabolicalBagel]

no worries i am doing these but not sharing my times atm

What is this...

Edit: Nevermind

 

[Zeouterlimits]

Now that I'm free of exams, I shall give it a go

 

[Slightly Live]

Good news, I have an extra bonus map available. It's just for shits and giggles, but I will update the OP with a scoreboard for it shortly. =)

 

[Slightly Live]

Make that two additional maps. =)

*BONUS COURSES*

These maps are just additional maps for having fun. They are not counted as part of any Period from Race to Reach. There are Leaderboards available for these courses. =)

It's the morning after a drunken party to celebrate your training graduation. Quickly get rid of the beer kegs (disguised as fusion cores, naturally) and stand at your post ready for inspection by the Admiral!

• Destroy all of the fusion cores quickly and then stand in the hill

Oh crap! You've lost all your grenades! Find them quickly or you're pooped!

• Collect all of the grenades quickly and stand in the poopshoot (hilll)

 

[Zeouterlimits]

Team Gurren
Screenshot link

 

[DiabolicalBagel]

Submission for Brownlation
-Not until the map is fixed.

One of the spike grenades (I won't say which because I'd be depriving everyone of the fun of the hunt. ) doesn't stay at its spawn and attempts to respawn shortly after... now, you know why that's an issue don't you, Dani?
Anti-cheating system has failed us.

I also couldn't find one of the plasmas. Either I just suck at finding it or the same thing went down as with the spike grenade.

Ooooh! Can I haz medal for reporting this?

 

[Slightly Live]

Submission for Brownlation
-Not until you fix the map.

One of the spike grenades (I won't say which because I'd be depriving everyone of the fun of the hunt. ) doesn't stay at its spawn and attempts to respawn shortly after... now, you know why that's an issue don't you, Dani?

I also couldn't find one of the plasmas. Either I just suck at finding it or the same thing went down as with the spike grenade.

:lol PM me the details of the offending Spike nade and I'll have it fixed. I assure you the last plasma nade is just hidden. If you send me a saved film of you looking for it, I'm pretty sure I could find it within the film. =P

 

[DiabolicalBagel]

Hey! You quoted before my edits!

... so, can I haz medal?

I'm pretty sure I could find it within the film. =P

=O

IT'S BEEN ON MY VISOR ALL ALONG!

 

[Slightly Live]

Hey! You quoted before my edits!

... so, can I haz medal?



=O

IT'S BEEN ON MY VISOR ALL ALONG!

Oh you'll get a medal alright...

Spoiler

For missing the last plasma grenade =P

Welcome to the game Zeouterlimits!

 

[Slightly Live]

As Bagel has highlidgted, some folks may wish to keep their methods for obtaining the best time on the courses private. That's all fine and dandy.

Simply post your highscores and PM me the saved film details. I will amend the rules shortly to facilitate this.

Also, everyone that successfully completes the Brownlation course, regardless of time, will be given a specific medal.

Ultimate Bun

Bagel has earned himself a unique medal. Other unique medals will be available on other courses too. =)

Lone Plasma Nade Medal

Medal updates and the rule updates will be made to the OP shortly.

 

[DiabolicalBagel]

Not a fan of this here medal. I hope someone else comes along and does the same so it doesn't just have my name on it.

 

[Slightly Live]

I changed the name. =)

More unique medals should be on the way as things progress, in addition to the regular hidden medals.. =)

 

[big ander]

So my Tsavo runs ended up being me trucking through to the final gate in 4 minutes, then taking 7 minutes at the final gate. I give up.
My Very Bad Tsavo Run
Well, the short time where I was actually ahead of anybody is over and will not come back. I'll probably keep up with RTR anyway, because these are really fun and quality maps Dani. But I might nt do bonus maps. Eh, I'm sure I'll get concession medals.
Vh, tell you times. Come on.

 

[DiabolicalBagel]

So my Tsavo runs ended up being me trucking through to the final gate in 4 minutes, then taking 7 minutes at the final gate. I give up.
My Very Bad Tsavo Run
Well, the short time where I was actually ahead of anybody is over and will not come back. I'll probably keep up with RTR anyway, because these are really fun and quality maps Dani. But I might nt do bonus maps. Eh, I'm sure I'll get concession medals.
Vh, tell you times. Come on.

Just nuke the turret with some FRG, hide on the pelican and take down the shield, wait around a few seconds and then start moving up in the cover of the overturned double boxes.
As long as you chopper the sniper tower before moving down to the pelican you should be fine.

 

[big ander]

Just nuke the turret with some FRG, hide on the pelican and take down the shield, wait around a few seconds and then start moving up in the cover of the overturned double boxes.
As long as you chopper the sniper tower before moving down to the pelican you should be fine.

In an earlier run, I took out the final shield from the ledge near sniper tower, then waited. And waited. Then I went down and killed some Brutes. Then it triggered.
In another run, I took out the turret from above, then chopped down and took more people out, leaving about 3 brutes and the turret chief. I took out the shield, bunny hopped around, and nothing happened. I started to take the brutes out, but got killed by plasma.
I'm fairly certain Tsavo just hates me. But I might have to try again.

 

[DiabolicalBagel]

In an earlier run, I took out the final shield from the ledge near sniper tower, then waited. And waited. Then I went down and killed some Brutes. Then it triggered.
In another run, I took out the turret from above, then chopped down and took more people out, leaving about 3 brutes and the turret chief. I took out the shield, bunny hopped around, and nothing happened. I started to take the brutes out, but got killed by plasma.
I'm fairly certain Tsavo just hates me. But I might have to try again.

For me, the only times it triggered were if I had killed the turret, destroyed the shield, walked half way between the pelican and the shield (Just a bit further than those double boxes I mentioned) and had not engaged the brute chieftain.
If you boost past the first blockade and get to the pelican as quickly as possible the brutes behind you should not pursue so you can skip those fellows if you weren't already doing it.
Either that or give up; I was very close to it with every single challenge. I just get so raged when things don't work out the way they should.


Spineless: You make the slightest, little, teensy, itty bitty mistake with a chopper and everything goes to hell.

Prepare 2 standoff: Uhm... not much really. Just those pesky mongooses when you need to jump out for laser or such and slide onto it so you can't pick said laser up.

Tsavo: Tsavo.

 

[big ander]

For me, the only times it triggered were if I had killed the turret, destroyed the shield, walked half way between the pelican and the shield (Just a bit further than those double boxes I mentioned) and had not engaged the brute chieftain.
If you boost past the first blockade and get to the pelican as quickly as possible the brutes behind you should not pursue so you can skip those fellows if you weren't already doing it.
Either that or give up; I was very close to it with every single challenge. I just get so raged when things don't work out the way they should.


Spineless: You make the slightest, little, teensy, itty bitty mistake with a chopper and everything goes to hell.

Prepare 2 standoff: Uhm... not much really. Just those pesky mongooses when you need to jump out for laser or such and slide onto it so you can't pick said laser up.

Tsavo: Tsavo.

Yeah, I'm probably going to retry Spineless with the small jump. And I might do Tsavo again. When I tried boosting past the first wave of guys (like the sniper tower) I would go all the way to the shield; I never tried stopping in between. I'll go for that.

 

[Slightly Live]

Slight rule amendment due to feedback.

You may choose not to submit for all three courses and only submit for two, if one of them is giving you issues. You will loose out on one potential XP if you decide to do this.

 

[vhfive]

spineless is a kick in the balls
tsavo is fun
prepare 2 stand is not hard just some quick mongoosing
did i mention spineless is a kick in the balls

EDIT: also im the BEAST COAST (no team required)

EDIT2: my total time for all 3 maps are 6:43. not sure how you guys are keeping time but thats the time of my film not the time i reached the hill. i know i can knock at 30 sec pretty easily but when i have time to play videos games i would rather PLAY video games then mash my head against my controller until my sticks turn red. im just going to say FUCK YOU spineless and never try that map again

Spoiler

i had the perfect run until the mancannon flipped my chopper dumping me out into space. FUCK THAT

basically i will win tsavo and prepare to stand and not give a fuck about.

 

[big ander]

Alright, knocked a couple seconds off of my Spineless time. 36 seconds now. Better. I hit that chopper jump, but my landing was shaky, and my beginning was a little slow too. I had better beginnings and better landings, but this was the first time I got both together and made it, so whatever.
Vh, post your times. I'm dying here.

 

[vhfive]

Alright, knocked a couple seconds off of my Spineless time. 36 seconds now. Better. I hit that chopper jump, but my landing was shaky, and my beginning was a little slow too. I had better beginnings and better landings, but this was the first time I got both together and made it, so whatever.
Vh, post your times. I'm dying here.

will do tomorrow to lazy to check right now.
is that spineless time the time it takes you to get to the hill or is it until gameover?

 

[big ander]

will do tomorrow to lazy to check right now.
is that spineless time the time it takes you to get to the hill or is it until gameover?

Game over. So I enter the hill around 35 seconds, and then the game ends at 36. The actual film is like, 43 seconds long though. I'm proud of the time, I think it's the best I can do. I'm confounded as to how Bagel could get 30 though. What other shortcuts are there?:lol

 

[DiabolicalBagel]

Times are taken by 'hill control' so says Dani.

 

[vhfive]

times i have right now:
spineless: 38 sec
prepare 2 stand: 58 sec
tsavo: 4 min 35 sec
gonna work on my prepare 2 stand and tsavo times now

 

[Slightly Live]

Awesome stuff so far.

I will be adding vhfive's player profile shortly.

 

[DiabolicalBagel]

So... I win, right?