Titled ‘Historic Battles’, the new DLC will feature 4 new maps  accompanied by the 4 achievements:

• Barrens (1v1 Map): Difficult terrain channels units into killing zones. The side that controls the Forerunner artifacts will have the advantage.

• Blood River (1v1 Map): Secure base locations on nearby cliffs overlook this naturally red-tinged river. The soldiers that fought over its two narrow crossings gave the river its name, which has since taken on a greater meaning.

• Glacial Ravine (3v3 Map): A snow-topped mountain range forms a natural barrier that cuts this region in half. Control of the two energy walls at the narrow central pass often determines the outcome of the battle, though clever use of the Sentinel Factories may play a role as well.

• Memorial Basin (2v2 Map): The high ground in the middle offers good cover for infantry, while the generally open terrain transforms organized battle plans into bloodbaths.

Achievements:

• Tour Coming Through: Hot drop 50 squads to your Covenant Leader in a single game on Memorial Basin (30 G)
• Never Leave a Man Behind: Finish a game with 5000 net resources contributed to your teammates on Barrens (15 G)
• Drain Cleaner: Kill 20 enemy squads with a continuous Covenant Leader Power on Memorial Basin (30 G)
• Killjoy: Disrupt 5 active Leader Powers in a single game on Blood River (25 G)

via Kotaku

Share this post

Hide Sites

With 3 main ways to cross from one side to the other, FV has a lot to offer. A ton of extra supplies lying around for the picking is something you should go for asap. Send a scout across to the other side of the map to grab them before your enemies do before heading back to your own. There’s also a good few inbetween the extra bases out there, so as long as you don’t mind taking a few rounds, you can get that 90+ more credits.

While farming that dosh, you’ll probably notice a forerunner construction in the middle. This is a healing spire which acts similarly to the heal/repair ability of the UNSC. Stick a unit, or multiples of,  in the area to get it back up to health. Keep in mind, like the heal/repair ability, you can’t be taking damage for this to initialize. This helps to keep your bigger, more expensive units alive, and patches up your leader in between battles. This spot can also be a decent choke point. Keeping some cobras and wolverines there can hold this spot only too well while racking up some decent kills and limiting your opponents routes.

(image from halo.wikia.com)

If you’re lucky, you’ll start off next to one of the two bonus reactors on opposite corners of the map. You’ll have to take care of the base closest to it as their turret will open up on whatevers occupying the reactor, but this saves time, resources and an extra boost to tech with minimum fuss. Remember to share though! There’s a bonus reactor there which everyone can use. When upgrading, you only need the tech level to start the research/unit production, not during, so jump out and let a mate in so they can benefit too!

There’s an extra 5 bases to take control of on either side. This can make things a little difficult when trying to push an enemy down. By the time one base is rubble, they’ve got reinforcements from their allies and other bases/s.

Tactics wise, as always, it’s up to you. Making a push with everyone on one side can decimate your opponents. But this leaves you majorly undefended yourself. As long as you have the right unit types figured out by scouting, two attacks down either side can stun your enemies into which needs the support. Again, camping the healing spire keeps the enemies at bay, but you need a fair few units against a force attack on that spot as well as reducing your attacking army.

Share this post

Hide Sites

As Cutter, your ODST can be more than a menace on this level. Each middle base on the map is on high ground, but just over the edge sits the 3 sniper towers defending the opponents teleporter node. Put an ODST in one of those sniper towers and you’ve got instant drop access to the back of one of one of your opponents main bases.

(via Halo Wars maps)

My favourite strategy with Cutter and Fort Deen is to go for Turtle. Getting the energy walls up quick is a must, so any potential Hog rushes are stalled. If they do come through the teleporter it’ll still slow them down. While my teams locked in our relatively secure barrier-tprotected cocoon, its time to roll out the ‘hard counters’. I normally build only a maximum of 30 population, mostly split between Cobras, 1 Elephant and Wolverines (eg. 7 Cobras, 6 Wolverines and the Elephant). This means when when i research ‘reenforcments’ and ODST, i have up to 10 spare population drop all my ODST if things go a bit pear-shaped.

I normally lock my Cobras down in the middle valley (read here how to lock them down properly), then spread my wolverines along my ‘line of death’, so if a Cyro is dropped i have a few unfrozen to deal some damage. I place my Cobras just out of range of any potential vehicles which might approach the barrier, so their long range holds the advantage over attackers.

My Elephant is normally placed nearby, so if i have to deal with infantry or a leader, i can quickly get out some Flamers mixed with dropped ODST. It’s important to always try and keep that room in your population to drop ODST or build flamers, as good players will always adapt and send in marines to break down the medium armoured Cobras and Wolverines.

When i want to push for the win, i go for the ODST drop on the rear base while my team mates move in to start working on the other bases. This then gives me freedom to take the energy wall down, move my Cobras up and lock them down near one of the 2 bases which are placed either side of the valley entrance. They can then start working at the base but also cut off reinforcements which might be heading to combat my teammates on the other side of the map. As i lose the odd unit i replace with ODST.

(via Halo Wars maps)

Read the Developer’s strategy on Fort Deen here.

Share this post

Hide Sites

Hang tight buddy, this site’s only just launched, we’re working on this post and others right now!

Share this post

Hide Sites

Hang tight buddy, this site’s only just launched, we’re working on this post and others right now!

Share this post

Hide Sites

Hang tight buddy, this site’s only just launched, we’re working on this post and others right now!

Share this post

Hide Sites

Tour Coming Through (30G)
Hot drop 50 squads to your Covenant Leader in a single game on Barrens.

Never Leave a Man Behind (15G)
Finish with 5000 net resources tributed to your teammates on Memorial Basin except in Deathmatch.

Drain Cleaner (30G)
Kill 20 enemy squads with a continuous Covenant Leader Power on Memorial Basin.

Killjoy (25G)
Disrupt 5 active Leader Powers in a single game on Blood River.

No clue to the player count on each map yet, but it could potentially be one for each game mode (1v1, 2v2, 3v3)

Share this post

Hide Sites

First off, there are supplies on the map for a reason; and you’re given a scout vehicle (Warthog/Ghost/Chopper) to start with for a reason; one of which is to scout, and the other to collect supplies.

In most games, i gather anything from 500 up to 1,500 supplies worth from crates in the first 5 minutes of the game. For anyone who doesn’t bother with collecting, they are missing out on a great way to boost their early game development. Think about it, if you gather 1,200 supplies, that’s a reactor or temple upgrade for free, using just crates found on the map.

So what’s your excuse for not doing it?

Building que:
Make sure you que all your building works so you can concentrate on directing your scout vehicle without worrying whats going on at base. If you are upgrading supply pads/warehouses, as soon as you hear them complete, hit <D to jump to your base, upgrade the building, then hit vD to jump back to your scout.

Waypoint commands:
As you may (or should) know, you can set waypoints or order ques for all units. This is vital for when you gather supplies, for it means you can set your scout vehicle to constantly gather supplies while you attend to other matters.

Learn the route:
Locations of crates differ game to game on maps very slightly, but they are always in the same spot, roughly. Learn where these are either by experience playing, or from the map plans available on the Halo Wars official site. At the very start of the game your scout vehicle should be on its way to the patch of supplies you  know thats there.

Start far away, work back.
Don’t start with the crates right next to your base, drive your scout right out to one of the furthest crates and start from there. This strategy reveals 3 vital things.

1. You are effectively gathering your opposition’s supplies, if he is a smart player he’ll be doing the opposite to you, and getting yours; if that’s the case there’s not a great deal you can do about it. But most people start with the crates nearest them, if you start with those; your reducing the amount of supplies your enemy can gather, thus boosting your economy, and stalling theirs.
2. As your scout drives through the black areas on its journey to that far away crate, it will map out a few more crates (showing as light blue on the minimap). This means you can set waypoints for your scout to slowly work its way back to your base, gathering the crates as it goes without you having to attend to it.
3. If you are playing as Covinent, you will have your leader out sometime early, gathering the further crates with your scout means that when your leader comes, you can use him to quickly pick up the closer ones, as he’s slower and will take a while to get anything far away (especially on 3v3). If your UNSC and have got infantary out, the same applies. Your later, slower units can take the nearer crates, while your scout is taking the far away ones.

Don’t steal from friends:
It really bugs me when players i play with don’t do what i’ve explained below, they are just lazy and collect the crates infront of my base and not taking advantage of all the crates already out there, of which there is plenty for everyone. Although some will say ‘the crates around base are for everyone’, there is the same amount infront of each for every starting player, so there’s no excuse for taking a friends. Don’t be lazy – scout your own crates and collect; this way your stunting your oppositions early economy even more; your team mates need them as much as you do.

Gather-crazy:
If you are building up a warthog force, don’t have them sit outside your base doing nothing. Go looking for more crates and gather. If your not building hogs, try making 1 extra hog to use for gathering even more crates, especially if your team mates haven’t bothered collecting. It’ll cost you 150 to build, but potentially bring you back 500+ supplies. This will also give you an extra scout to work with.

You may think i’ve gone in depth on an irrelivant matter here, but early gathering is something vital for early game development and getting one step in front of your opponent from the start. There are good ways of doing it, and bad. Above i believe i’ve outlined one of the good, and will bring you a step closer to making you a better player.

Share this post

Hide Sites