Instructional material plus fifteen doses of Elite torment. What more do you want?

(6:56) Level 8 ('Two Betrayals') on Normal. This fifth instalment on the control room demonstrates three successive modifications of the set-up seen in the last movie, plus there's some Elite fun with each modification, including a spectacular two and a half minute fuel rod jamboree at the end. Put a lot of work into that!

Released March 1st 2025, gameplay recorded February 24th-28th 2025.

00:02 (First modification) For this first modification I swap my plasma rifle for a needler and also get the Elite into rage mode, after which I need to quickly get out of enemy threat so the game will grant me the checkpoint, which I've been delayed since triggering it. Thanks to the Elite being pre-enraged, I now won't have to enrage him every time I want to have a bit of fun. A nice time-saver!

01:05 (Sample play) Here's a quick sample play in which I fool around with the Elite near the door, something I haven't shown before.

01:40 (Second modification) Starting with that new set-up, I now make a further modification, getting the Elite up on the barrier near the control panel so I'll be able to have fun with that specific situation, without having to get him up each time.

I use the next checkpoint available, namely the one triggered at the doorway when heading back outside after destroying the generator. There's a fresh Banshee available after that, so I take it. Incidentally, you'll notice that I took cover for a moment after losing my shield. That was to avoid any health loss from Sentinel fire, which would've necessitated a visit to a medkit.

I eventually get the delayed checkpoint near the start of the gangway, distant enough from the Elite that the game would allow the checkpoint (I was deemed safe from enemy threat). Actually I could've got it close to the Elite by landing and briefly hiding behind the Banshee, but I went for this option instead, where I'm aboard the Banshee. Incidentally, another possibility is to be in the Banshee but underneath the platform somewhere, so you're deemed out of enemy threat. But it's a bit of a delicate business and I didn't want to show something so specialised.

02:37 (Four sample plays) Four sample plays this time, three involving mid-air fuel rod hits with the Banshee, which is really the main business with a perched Elite like this. For blasting him off alive I'm having to place my shots rather carefully, at a distance which doesn't kill him.

03:33 (Third modification) Now I make yet another modification, namely in which I'm right up against the ceiling, with some tricky business in mind. I take an approximate aim for what's going to be a fuel rod shot, but I'm expecting to have to tweak it in the actual plays. One other thing: I've switched to my rocket launcher because I'm expecting to use it in some of the fun.

The checkpoint used is the one triggered just past the bridge exit, so I had a few covies to deal with first (actually I also rocketed a Grunt after coming back out). Really I should've taken care to avoid Banshee damage, which would've been easy by staying distant, but for the sake of movie action I took a more exciting approach here with some close-range swirling around. Only lost one Banshee health bar though.

Of course, if I'd wanted a set-up like this from the outset, I could've got it more directly with a single modification of the original save, rather than only arriving at it after two other modifications.

04:24 (Fuel rod jamboree) Finally we come to a 10-clip finale using that set-up, each play following a different pattern. And as you can see, the core dynamic is that the fuel rod shot goes into slowed descent, enabling me to get down in time for my follow-up action, whatever that might be. All my descents involve some freefalling by the way, which is the fastest way to lose altitude. In shaping the sequence, I did my best to feature good variation and exciting Banshee flying, sometimes involving views of the visually appealing mini-Halo. Also I wanted lots of Banshee noise. I'm especially thinking of the dramatic higher-pitched screeching from freefalling or turning, which for me adds a lot.

For my slo-mo fuel rod shots I indeed had to tweak my initial aim, namely raising it a bit as seen in the first clip. In one of the clips the Elite is killed outright by an amusing direct hit to the noggin, but in the others I take care to blast him off still alive (which needed a delicate aim), so I can then enjoy killing him with a mid-air hit, or in one case with a rocket.

Of course, it took some perseverance. With each of the attack patterns except the direct hit, which I think happened unintentionally, I made loads of tries and got a number of successes from which to choose. With the relatively difficult attack dynamic used in the final clip, it was taking me about five minutes per success on average. So, quite hard to nail, but not super-hard.

Actually I think the hardest one to do was the pattern in clip 8 (6:07), in which the Elite bounces off the Banshee. That initially needed delicate Banshee control to get into a hover where the Elite is seen from behind, needling the Banshee. Then I had to sink appropriately so he got a nice bounce, and finally I needed to score a direct hit of course. In this particular play he got spooked by minor backward motion in the Banshee, causing him to dive. But the dive started just after he'd been blown off his feet, so he did it in mid-air, going nowhere.

That clip was a late addition after I got a bit itchy to include one more, to make a nice round ten for the sequence. The movie was already at duration 6:56 at that time, so that took the movie well over the 7-minute mark, but with some trimming here and there, including making this sequence a bit tighter (which I think was for the best anyway), I was able to get the duration back down.

Working on this sequence, my success rate for blasting the Elite off still alive was well under 50% I think. A fiddly business, the aim was so fine. I wasn't helped by the fact that my Banshee was drifting slowly backwards against the ceiling (you can see this just before I get the checkpoint); so the aim I was going for was only good if I achieved it quite quickly. Things may've been easier if I'd had the Banshee wedged against a corner, so it didn't move. I'll have to check that out if I do more of this activity later.

Incidentally, sometimes when I killed the Elite with a point-blank mid-air hit, my Banshee went down to only one health bar. That highlights why it's a good idea to have an undamaged machine. Less danger of it getting blown up!

Closing remarks I'm pleased with how this movie turned out. I knew I wanted to do a tutorial on modifying, because that had been quite useful to me in the course of making control room movies. And here I managed to feature all the checkpoints I had in mind (in a nice progression), plus there was room to work a good dose of Elite fun into the proceedings. And in particular, the slo-mo fuel rod shot idea made for a strong finale.

I used Normal here, but it crosses my mind that on Heroic or Legendary, you might not need to be so precise about the blast which sends your perched Elite off the edge still alive. He may be able to tolerate closer blasts. If so, that could significantly raise your success rate. Another thing to explore would be using a red Elite. His extra resilience could likewise help. Maybe I'll check ino these things later.

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