Tackling the start
Posted December 28th 2024
Associated movies
There are various ways to have fun tackling the start of the level, and that's what I'll talk about here, as an accompaniment to the three movies I've now produced on the topic.
The opposition
In regard to enemy numbers, the primary group (immediately present) consists of 1 Elite, 2 Jackals and 7 Grunts, except that on Legendary you get an extra Elite. Many of the Grunts are sleeping on the job, while the Elite (or Elites) and Jackals will be patrolling, initially heading in from the back. There are two Shades, which may or may not get quickly manned by Grunts.
But these aren't the only troops who can attack you in the main area. There are reinforcements too (that's how I describe them anyway). On the start of the exit path there's 1 Elite and 2 Grunts, then further along there are another 4 Grunts, then 2 Jackals. So all in all we've got 19 or 20 troops.
NB: to make sure you get the reinforcements though, be sure to let Cortana finish saying "Stick to the higher ground to the right" before you enter the main area. Otherwise they don't seem to spawn (and also, Marines don't seem to jump down to help you).
Sniping
This opening encounter with the covies is designed around sniping of course, as exemplified by what Cortana says: "I recommend using your sniper rifle to take out the gunners while I call for Marine support". And while you don't have to tackle things that way, it's certainly a lot of fun to pick off the covies with the sniper rifle's highly appealing light-amplified zoomed view.
In doing this, there are multiple places you might station yourself, ranging from distant and totally safe places to ones where you'll need to take a bit of care. Explore for nice positions, or check out my movies, in which I use various options.
A particular challenge you might like to go for is to snipe all the initial covies at least, without being spotted. When the reinforcement Elite arrives though, he seems to have much better eyesight because if you're visible at all, he's liable to immediately spot you and point at you. But you can take him down fast of course, and that goes for the other reinforcements too.
Aggressive advancing
There's lots of fun to be had with other plans of attack though, and you'll see multiple examples in my movies. At the most gung-ho extreme you might consider just charging in with AR blazing. On Heroic that's quite viable, though certainly dangerous. On Legendary it would be far harder to survive though, as the enemy fire is so severe.
If you want to be doing aggressive stuff on Legendary, you're likely to do better with covie weapons. The layout of sleeping Grunts is random each time, but you can often quickly bash a few to get equipped with a plasma pistol and needler before being seen. In doing this, you might also acquire a few very useful plasma grenades.
Attacking from the balcony
Another non-sniping option is to attack from the 'balcony' (raised path) overlooking the area; and one part of the appeal there is that you'll be fighting alongside Marines. While the AR can be used in this capacity, it's hardly the ideal weapon, being such a scattershot affair. You could instead first get a plasma pistol and needler from sleeping Grunts, then go up to the balcony to use them.
Sneaky stuff
The area isn't really suitable for killing the initial covies by stealth, but there's some good potential for doing some stealthy ambushing at least. One option there is what I called a 'shield ambush' in BCM538. It's usually possible to quickly reach the stationary shield without being spotted, and from there you can spring an ambush in due course, hopefully killing an Elite fast (perhaps tagging him at close range, if you got a plasma along the way).
Sometimes the covies spot the Marines before it's convenient for you to strike, but you can exploit that too. They start focusing on the Marines, giving you a chance to surprise them from behind.
Aside from the shield, there are plenty of rocks you can lurk behind, waiting to spring a surprise. It can pay to first of all melee any nearby sleeping Grunts though, to minimize the level of covie fire once things kick off. And that's all the more important on Legendary of course.
Further remarks
Long-distance grenading of Shades is good fun and quite easy, so keep that in mind. And incidentally, it's not just Grunts who man the Shades; the Elites can man them too.
A checkpoint is triggered a short way along the exit path, namely at the second rock on the right (a small dark one, just past a large sloping one). Avoid triggering it if you want to be able to revert to the start.