[Devrous]

Chapter 2: The Cole Protocol

The Cole Protocol takes place from the attack on Harvest in 2525 to 2553 - the 'present' that we are left with from the events of Halo 3. This is the story of the Human-Covenant War, the darkest 28 years mankind ever witnessed.

The plan is to highlight the most important space actions between the UNSC and the Covenant. Major events to be covered include:

• Admiral Cole's retaking of Harvest in 2531
• The decimation of the Outer Colonies from 2531-2535, culminating in the Fall of Jericho VII
• Human rebel insurrection on Mamore in 2537
• The Battle of Sigma Octanus in 2552
• The Fall of Reach in 2552
• The Battle for Earth from 2552-2553

During this Chapter the player will fly all manner of ships, though still primarily the Longsword. The player will get a rare treat on a select few mission by being able to chose to fly a fighter, pilot a capital ship, or command an entire fleet! As a capital ship they will be firing Archer missiles and a MAC gun, doing their part in fleet actions. As a fleet commander they will have to test their skills at micro-management from the relative safety of a UNSC carrier, entire fleets ready to accept orders from the player. It's your choice.

An ambitious chapter, the war with the Covenant offers a great wealth of gameplay and storyline opportunity. One campaign will barely be able to scratch the surface of it all. However, it will set the framework for independent mission creation by the community. 28 years is a long time, and the UNSC had 800+ settlements throughout this side of the galaxy at it's height. If that doesn't sound like a gold mine of possible plot then I don't know what does.

Feel free to leave your thoughts, opinions or comments.

[starlord]

Just out of curiosity, what covenant ships are you planning? what classes? Also, do you plan to use only the seraph as fighter? and lastly, do you plan to emulate the saber space combat mission in reach?

[Devrous]

I've got about a dozen covie ships, mostly capital. The Covenant were very single-minded in a lot of ways, and though I hate to only have Seraphs that seems to be all they use so far as single-ships are concerned. Banshees are mentioned in space but they aren't space fighters by any means, and a Longsword tears them up pretty easily. I've tried to remain consistent with what's out there, so at the moment they only have Seraphs.

It makes creating missions even more challenging. Blowing away Seraphs (as your sole equivalent enemy craft) gets old fast, no matter how you spin it. That being said, you'll be doing a lot of multi-purpose work in missions.

Ah, yes...the Saber. Short answer: Yes 

[starlord]

excellent! I was somewhat unnerved at the prospect of buying a game for just one mission...

[Devrous]

Reach was excellent; beautiful, even. They pulled out all the stops in making their universe real. The space mission had a Starfox feel to it. Seeing how the game was not based around that aspect they did well.

[General Battuta]

Reach was terrible because the story was **** and the writing was awful. The levels were also quite small and limited with vehicular action in particular tamed compared to previous Halo games.

The gameplay was quite good though.

[Devrous]

Can't deny the game itself was a masterpiece so far as the models/graphics, setting and mood was concerned!