BCM355 - Mob battle, solo play set-up via modification

(6:28) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Heroic. When it comes to fighting solo in the mob battle, you have the most freedom if there are no Marines present. One way of arranging that is to modify a normal save by killing them. Here's a demo (using the save seen created in BCM350), plus four spicy plays of the result.

Released May 11th 2019, gameplay recorded May 9th-10th 2019.

Commentary

00:02 (Creating the modification) To start with I draw the mob back (particularly the Elites, who'll close in fastest), to hopefully give me enough time to kill the Marines and make the desired weapon change.

00:24 Killing the five Marines is a bit of a job and there were some takes where I didn't manage it before the Elites arrived and started shooting, but this time I do ok and make the desired weapon change. I lost health from Marine fire but used the medkit of course.

00:54 When I get airborne again, I see that most of the minor covies have broken off the pursuit and are heading for the back Elite. They're easily turned by alerting them to my presence.

01:09 I do the checkpoint triggering differently to what I've shown before. Instead of hovering close I make a low pass then arc back around to kill the new guys. It's a bit safer, and I take no Banshee damage. Also, due to the absence of Marines, I didn't have to worry about the movements of the covies below.

01:39 I want the back Elite to join the mob, so I give him a Ghost to clamber into. That'll make a nice target for my rocket launcher later!

01:52 With the Marines gone, it's possible to have the mob at the base area. I draw them over, then get hidden by the ledge to get the checkpoint (it took several seconds though). Afterwards (not shown) I checked that no covies had been splattered by the Ghost. Yup, all present!

02:09 (Play 1) This first play should give you an idea of how fierce the three Elites on foot are. After a rocket fails to take out the red, I back off while desperately trhing to stop their charge. It was touch and go there and I lost a lot of health. Finally I get the red with a rocket though, threaded through the mass of minor covies.

03:31 (Play 2) Hard to resist this plateau, which has featured in a few earlier instalments of course. As well as the Ghost rocketing, another highlight is when I kill six Grunts with a rocket.

04:31 (Play 3) A spot of airborne play for variety. The Ghost pilot meets an unusual end, getting splattered high up among some trees. The other highlight: blasting the second Ghost.

05:33 (Play 4) Landing this close and surviving wasn't easy but I make my rockets count, eliminating the red Elite with the second. The minor covies are still a serious threat even after all the Elites are dead, but I prevail and end with a Grunt launch.

Closing remarks This isn't the only way to get a Marineless set-up, nor would I say it's the best, but it's handy if you've already got a normal set-up. My article gives details on the topic.

Having the mob start off at the base area turned out to be pretty good, so I'm glad I went with that. This is actually the first time I've tried it.