Apparently it's not just a cyborg the Banshee pilots need to be worried about!

(8:35) Level 2 ('Halo') on Normal. After releasing BCM203 involving an empty early Banshee, I discovered a startling phenomenon which I call the departure death anomaly - which was most likely responsible for that empty Banshee. Check out the weirdness - and see my new article for more detail.

Released November 6th 2016, gameplay recorded October 31st - November 5th 2016.

00:02 (First example) In this first example I cause Banshee departure by crossing the far end of the departure trigger line. I was standing on a dark patch, and knew the line was just a bit further. A pilot gets struck dead in mid-air, and I subsequently show that there's no boarding prompt for the vacated Banshee, just as in BCM203.

02:01 (Closer trigger area) After using that far trigger spot for a while and not getting much of success, I started using the near end of the trigger line instead, and it seemed more productive. It was also quicker to get to of course. Here are eight examples. In the final clip both pilots die. That's the first time I saw a double kill, and it's pretty rare. You might think the deaths happened when the Banshees hit the cliff, but actually the pilots exited their Banshees just beforehand.

04:01 (Late death) Now, two examples of death occurring late, when the Banshee is close to turning around the distant corner. In the first example it happens about 16 seconds after the departure trigger, and in the second example about 20 seconds after, which is the longest delay I got.

04:37 (Pilot shooting illusion) Here I try to show how easily you could be misled into thinking you shot a pilot out. All it takes is for you to be shooting when the death anomaly strikes. Looks pretty convincing eh? Plus I've included some gratuitous Grunt tagging, free of charge.

05:04 (Triggering via Banshee kill) You can also trigger departure by destroying one of the Banshees; and once again, it's possible for the departure death anomaly to strike, as seen here. I believe this is what happened in BCM203, where I destroyed the first Banshee.

05:32 (Timeout trigger example 1) Departure also occurs if you simply wait long enough. On PAL Xbox it's about 3:43 from when the Banshees spawn. This example is the second earliest footage in the movie, and is the event which alerted me to the departure death anomaly. I was like "Whoa!" when I saw that Banshee fall from the sky, faintly seen through the waterfall mist.

06:15 (Timeout trigger example 2) This other timeout example is the earliest footage in the movie. At the time, I thought the pilot got ejected because of the Banshee's interaction with the rock, although that seemed very strange because the Banshee didn't reach an extreme angle. Later when I became aware of the departure death phenomenon, I decided that this was surely an example of it. If you're wondering what I was doing behind the rock in these timeout clips, I'd been hoping to lure a Banshee into trouble to get the pilot ejected.

06:34 (Normal game behaviour) Here are two clips showing what happens to the Banshees normally. They get a long way, then the game kills off the pilots. In the clip where I try to get a closer view, only one death is well seen. Tricky to get the timing right!

07:29 (Final examples) So, maybe the death anomaly is essentially the premature occurrence of that kill-off mechanism? At any rate, obviously something is screwy somewhere! Here are three more examples to end, the first of which is my second double kill (I only saw two double kills in total).

Closing remarks After releasing BCM203 I started trying to get the early Banshees into trouble, hoping that I might find a good way of getting a pilot ejected, just for the novelty. Well, I sure ended up with something along those lines, though not the sort of ejection I'd been thinking of!

I'm not done with these Banshees yet; I'll have a bit more to say later in another movie. But just at the moment, I could do with a break because I did hundreds of plays to make the movie, and it was starting to drive me nuts!

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