Get that chain-gun rattling Stacker - I'm gonna need some help!

(6:28) Level 2 ('Halo') on Heroic. This shows three plays of a rockslide megabattle save featuring 34 covies, using the inner rise defence plan. Stacker provides chain-gun support, and Johnson's along for the ride too. I do a lot of needling but also use plasma weapons and a pistol.

Released October 29th 2014, gameplay recorded October 26th 2014.

00:02 (Play 1) The dropship 4 Elite is standing around in the open and I want to get him killed on the way in, so I make him dive then hit him with the hog, making a small loop before speeding on to the inner rise. There's a bit of a grunty accident on the way through the lower access gap. What a shame.

00:17 I let the hog slide to a stop near the top right, then get Johnson dismounted. But I can already hear an Elite on the scene so I switch to the needler and get busy with it quick. My early needles pass behind him but as I move across they pile in with explosive effect. I needle a panicking Grunt too, and swap my pistol for the Elite's plasma rifle.

00:27 A Jackal has started firing on me from the right so I start zapping him, but then I hear an Elite behind who's come in through the top pass and who's attacking the Marines. That's more important so I turn to sort things out. He's galloped in further than I was expecting, but when I finally shoot in the right direction he's quickly killed - with some help from the Marines.

00:35 Johnson's now under severe attack from the front. Unlike Stacker he's unarmoured and very weak, so it's no big surprise when he folds. Meanwhile I foil a Grunt's grenade throw with some zapping. There's a bit of a panic getting the two red Elites killed, and I waste a frag by throwing it too close to the Grunt's fizzing grenade (I knew I'd made a mistake with that as soon as I threw it), but the job is finally done, and I follow up with some grenades to the bottom area. The third is a plasma which fortuitously tags a blue Elite as he comes through. He'd been blocked earlier by a Jackal. Then when I send another plasma that way, it tags an arriving Grunt. Nice!

01:04 A Jackal and Elite come into view, and I elect to tackle them before turning to check out the grunty threat from behind. Unfortunately that's bad news for Stacker, who's explosively killed by needles. Dagnabbit they'll pay for that! I whack one of them dead and tag the other, then deal with a new influx of minor enemies - including doing another Grunt tag.

01:36 Another Grunt has come through the top pass and I elect to throw a frag his way. I'm just about to pass the hog, but then I realize there's a danger that my frag could blow it onto me, so I quickly back off instead. While I'm needling a Grunt my shield start bleeping, and I decide to use the hog for a bit of cover. From there I get a few shots off at the approaching Jackals, and soon I'm able to safely step out and draw things to a close. The final Jackal gets pleasingly launched by a tag. Stacker and Johnson are both dead though.

02:14 (Play 2) Let's give it another go then. I again do a right swerve to get the dropship 4 Elite on the way in, but this time without a loop, which saves a bit of time (it was more difficult though). The Jackal and Grunt near my entry gap to the inner rise get splattered too.

02:27 A galloping blue Elite gets stopped by my pistol, and likewise a red after he dives to avoid my plasma grenade. A Grunt comes through the top pass but gets a headshot before he can think about grenading the hog, and then I notice a red dot on my tracker so I throw a plasma. But the dot turns out to be a red Elite who arrives quicker than I thought, so I drive a stream of needles into him instead, which does the trick.

02:47 Facing back down the rise again, I attack a few Grunts and then a blue Elite, who gets shaken up by my frag then killed by a needle bang. When I turn to deal with a Grunt at the top pass, I'm suddenly getting hit in the back by plasma from a vicious red Elite. After throwing a frag to hopefully intercept more enemies approaching the top pass (the blast subsequently kills a Grunt), I fire needles as I back off to cover, and they get him good. But there's another red now, and Stacker's coming in for some heavy fire. I quickly pick up a plasma pistol and move forward to stun him with a plasma ball - and then he's finished with a tap on the head. I shoot a Jackal dead (his plasma ball narrowly misses me), but a panicking Grunt gets clear.

03:15 Minor enemies return, but with no Elites left we're definitely in mopping-up territory now, and after a spell of plasma fire I enjoy a good bit of needling, including on the final Jackal. There are a few nice plasma explosions in the bottom area too, thanks to the multitude of dropped grenades. Stacker and Johnson survive.

04:10 (Play 3) This time I get the dropship 4 Elite with a left swerve; and as I near the inner rise, a Jackal obligingly dives under the wheels. I let the hog slide to a stop near the top left, which maybe isn't such a great position because it blocks my view of the top pass, but never mind. I get Johnson dismounted as usual, and get ready for another hectic attack.

04:27 Stacker has already taken care of a needling Grunt, but there are two Elites on the scene. I quickly switch to my needler, and initially I target the red, thinking that perhaps Stacker can stop the closer blue. But I'm taking too much fire from the blue so I target him instead, and he goes boom. Meanwhile the red escapes most of the earlier needles but he walks right into a frag blast, heh heh. I've lost two health bars and my shield is bleeping, but fortunately there's a bit of a lull for a few seconds.

04:36 Hearing a Grunt near the top pass, I throw a frag but it's no good. The Grunt comes into view earlier than expected so I get him with a pistol shot instead - my second and last pistol shot of the battle. But I'm already aware of a red Elite down the rise, so I quickly send a good stream of needles his way. While he's growling I throw a frag towards a Jackal near the bottom right gap, but he's already panicking and running clear, and instead a red Elite gets shaken up by the blast. The blast also sets off a loose grenade, and the scream of an unseen Elite is heard. Then I get the shaken red with a needle bang. But then there's a blue closing in on me with plasma fire. My needler isn't reloaded yet, so I go for another tactic. I move in to make him swipe, then I do a tag 'n dodge. That was a nice thirty seconds of Elite-slaying action!

04:58 Only minor enemies left now, but quite a lot of them. Thing get fairly hectic for a while, and Stacker really gets into his chain-gunning. Johnson has a go with a frag, but doesn't get anything. A few plasma balls whizz past me; notably at about 5:09 which was a very close call. I gave that guy a touch of plasma back, but then left him when I saw that he was going to get blasted by my grenade.

05:52 Things go a bit quieter for a moment and I hear a Grunt around the corner from the top pass, so I take the opportunity to go and sort him out. When I return, I leap over the hog and zap a Grunt coming in from the side, before he can send too many needles into Johnson. I'm just about to go and pick up the needler when I see more covies at the bottom of the rise. I get them with plasma rifle fire then get the needler. But the battle is over, and the Pelican arrives. Congratulations men - you survived again!

Closing remarks My last level 2 movie was way back in April, so I figured it was high time to visit the level again - and high time for some more rockslide megabattling! Originally I was thinking to cover the island plateau defence plan, one of several I haven't shown yet, but I didn't really have a good save for using that plan, and because I currently lack a memory card it would've been relatively time consuming to produce one. So instead I went for the inner rise defence. I tried out a few of my saves to see how suitable they were, and got good hectic results with the save used here. Sufficiently hectic that it seemed fair to allow myself some chain-gun support.

Normally with my multi-play rockslide megabattle movies, I try to vary my routes to the defence location. But with this save I was getting better battles using the lower entry gap rather than the top pass (the only other direct route in), so I stuck with that. However, at least I was able to vary how I swerved to kill the dropship 4 Elite on the way.

If you're very observant you may've noticed a couple of Banshees triggered in the distance at the end of the final battle. Normally that doesn't happen with my saves, as I have a policy of eliminating the Banshees in advance so they don't get triggered and potentially cause some framerate slowdown during a battle. However, this save was relatively old and apparently I hadn't formed that policy yet.

© 2004-2020 by Rockslider