How to get multiple rocket launchers through to the later parts of the level.

Posted March 9th 2008

• Introduction
• Rough and ready method
• Careful method
• Variation on the careful method
• Taking launchers further

Just prior to the Scarab area in The Storm there are 4 rocket launchers in some weapon cases, plus another 4 held by Mongoose Marines. Also, 1 or 2 launcher carrying Marines get dropped by Pelican just before the Scarab arrives. This article is about how to preserve these 9 or 10 launchers for potential use later on.

The main use I've got in mind, and the one that prompted this article, is to issue launchers to the Marines and workers you link up with in the factory complex. They'll be able to offer spectacular support during the latter stages of the factory battle and in the fighting beyond, including the assault on the AA gun. See Factory rescue challenge and Mass assault on the AA gun for related discussion.

I'll now describe some methods for getting multiple launchers through to the two adjoining rooms after the Scarab area. After that, there's advice on taking them further.

Note: In following a method, it's a good idea to save checkpoints as you go, if you remain happy with the progress so far. If later work doesn't go well enough, you'll be able to get back to your last saved checkpoint for another go, even if that requires exiting to the dashboard and reloading.

If you're not fussed about getting every last launcher, or you don't want to read anything detailed, this is for you!

At the first lake bed, get a Ghost if you're going to want one for battling in the Scarab area. After the Drone attack there are 4 launchers in weapon cases. Give them to Marines in vehicles, except keep one for yourself. Head outside and check that everyone with a launcher emerges, else they'll be sealed off when the door closes. Do an efficient job of eliminating the Wraiths and its support vehicles, and then the Scarab (I'd recommend a grav lift jump to destroy it fast from within). As it blows, jump non-stop 5 or 6 times to cancel the checkpoint you'd normally get. You'll now have time to check how many launchers are present; it could be as many as 9. If you're not satisfied with the tally, you'll be able to revert to try the Scarab battle again. Some could be lying on the ground of course, and you'll need to pass them on to Marines.

When you head for the door, some Marines may not follow. If they've got launchers, you'll need to give them to Marines that are either heading inside or already inside; but note that the door closes when you enter the second room.

The obvious shortcoming of the 'rough and ready' method is that it relies on Marines getting through some nasty combat in one piece - or at least that their launchers don't get blown off the map, or removed by the game after being dropped. Here's a much more careful and controlled method which can reliably give you 9 or 10 launchers even on the higher difficulty levels.

(1) At the first lake bed

At the first lake bed, get a Ghost or portable shield or both (you can often get a shield from the second Wraith). Preferably exit the area alone; let Marines die, or arrange some unfortunate accidents.

(2) Tackle the Wraiths and their support vehicles

After the Drone attack, kill all Marines except the 4 carrying launchers. You can get most or all with battle rifle headshots from a safe distance (tip: shots are particularly easy if you pre-aim with a sniper rifle). If you get considered a traitor, which you will unless you pause long enough between kills, the remaining Marines will forgive you after a short while. Leave the other 4 launchers in the weapon cases for now, to ensure that they won't vanish.

Put a Ghost or portable shield across the doorway to hold the Mongooses back. Actually it's also possible to use a large weapon case; it's quite easily pushed into position.

Before going through the door, you may like to use a sneaky trick for taking out a Wraith early if you don't mind using up a few rockets. Borrow a launcher from a Marine and jump up and down near the right hand side of the door to rocket the distant Wraith, which is stationary because the battle hasn't been activated yet. Return the launcher, and if you've got a Ghost blocking the door, make sure the Marine gets back aboard a Mongoose so nobody is on foot. That's just to avoid a potential problem with someone boarding the Ghost (though if they do, they at least seem disinclined to move it).

Go outside to tackle enemy vehicles from around the ramp. During this process you mustn't stray so far that the door closes behind you. It's safe to go down the ramp and about 2 Ghost lengths past the bottom, or to be that far along on the upper walkway. Mostly though, there's little reason to stray far from the top of the ramp.

You can headshoot Ghost and Chopper drivers with a battle rifle - pretty good fun and a nice test of skill. Vehicles are easily attracted over with a few shots. Your rifle has sufficient range even to get drivers pestering the distant Marines, but preferably don't do that else Marines there may board the vacant vehicles, and there are a few reasons for not wanting that (the biggest being that when the Pelican arrives later, it'll only drop 1 Mongoose if you've already got significant vehicle support).

Instead of headshots you could use a Ghost or Chopper; either a Ghost you brought along or a vehicle acquired after killing the driver close enough - which is no trouble as they're easily tempted close. A plasma pistol could be useful for briefly immobilizing your target. A vehicle also lets you destroy vehicles as you go, which I strongly recommend to help minimize the possibility of launchers getting removed later (the game can instead remove destroyed junk to keep its workload down). A Chopper is the best thing to obtain and will speed your work nicely.

Leave a Wraith until last as it usefully gives a checkpoint. To destroy Wraiths you can use a vehicle you acquired, else a borrowed launcher. The distant Wraith is quite hard to destroy with Ghost fire though, which is why it's easiest to either use that early destruction trick I mentioned, else a Chopper.

(3) Make a launcher collection on the ramp

Kill your 4 Marines (I just headshoot them in one go, standing back in case a rocket goes off), destroy their vehicles (e.g. use a swift succession of melee attacks close up, or use vehicle fire), and move the 4 launchers to the ramp. Add the 4 launchers from the cases, or 3 if you want to hold onto one for now. When you take a first launcher from a case, make sure you're close enough to the spare rocket cases that they get used, else the launcher will take ammo from the other one and make it vanish.

NB: Whenever you're carrying a non-full launcher, be careful not to go near another such launcher, else you'll take its ammo and it'll vanish if emptied. For the same reason, never drop a non-full launcher close to another, else it may be hard to pick one up without making the other vanish.

There's going to be a danger of the game removing some launchers, thinking them to be junk it can remove to keep its workload down. However, it doesn't seem to do that while you're looking at them. Putting them on the ramp makes them conveniently easy to see at certain key moments later.

Note: Bearing in mind that you've now killed the Marines, you might be wondering why you didn't just kill them earlier, so you never had to bother blocking them. Thing is, you'd have then had rocket launchers lying around, making them prone to removal. It was better to let them remain carried.

(5) Tackle the Scarab

Preferably in a Ghost, go down the ramp and back off to finally trigger the Scarab section of the battle, keeping your launchers in view until you get a checkpoint - which I advise you to save in case you need to get back to it. There are two more checkpoints coming up as the Scarab approaches and enters the lake bed. The launchers seem particularly prone to removal during this period, so keep them in sight until you've had the last checkpoint. Then go into action.

A Pelican will have dropped Mongoose support just before the Scarab arrived. Assuming you didn't already have multiple Marines driving around in covie vehicles, you'll get 2 Mongooses and thus 2 more launchers. If you don't want to risk losing these launchers due to Marines getting creamed (and bear in mind that they're not always very bright about getting clear of the explosion), grab the launchers for safe keeping. Here's a routine for that. Don't be carrying a launcher; have all 8 on the ramp, plus a weapon that differs from your secondary. After the last of the Scarab arrival checkpoints, whizz off to intercept a Mongoose. Swap for the launcher and whizz back to add it to your collection by swapping for the weapon you left there specially. Whizz off to intercept the second Mongoose and take the launcher, then get busy with the Scarab.

One standard method of destroying the Scarab would be to concentrate Ghost fire on a leg, perhaps remaining under its belly to avoid being toasted, then get around the back to fire at the core after blasting the back off if necessary (it's not always needed; sometimes you can get a shot through a gap). However, if you're not bothering with grabbing the new launchers, you've got just enough time to whizz into position ready to board the Scarab by Ghost jump, which will let you destroy the Scarab much faster.

As the Scarab blows, make sure to have your launchers in sight again. After that, I think they're safe. If you left any Marines carrying launchers, it's also a good idea to cancel the checkpoint you're due as the Scarab blows, by jumping non-stop 5 or 6 times. That way you'll be able to revert to try the Scarab battle again if you find that any of those launchers were lost.

(6) Get the launchers inside, and carried

When you head up to the rendezvous, most Marines will go for the door, though they won't actually start going through until you near it. Block it with a Ghost or Mongoose, then transfer launchers into the hands of the Marines waiting there or, if necessary, Marines in the first room or short corridor (don't enter the second room yet or the door will close). If anyone with a launcher shows no sign of heading for the door, you may need to take their launcher and hand it to someone else. Oh, and you'll probably want to keep a full launcher for yourself. After all this, release the blockage to let people through.

When you finally move a few metres into the second room, there's a Cortana interruption then a checkpoint. It's important that all launchers are being carried when you get the interruption, else they seem to disappear even if you're looking right at them. Tip: You may also like to be lugging a missile pod at that time, if you want one for later.

Here's a variation on the careful method that avoids the business of forming a collection of launchers on the ground. Instead, the idea is to make sure all launchers are being carried, so there's less worry about launcher removal. The game can sometimes remove Marines though, so the risk is not entirely gone. You might be interested in using this variation if you don't like messing about with weapon collections or if you don't want to kill Marines. But you won't be able to get 10 launchers, only 9 (the Pelican will only drop 1 Mongoose because you'll have plenty of vehicles already). Here are the changes.

More Marines

By the time you get past the Drone battle, you want to have at least 7 Marines available for launcher carrying duty. Maybe bring some along from the first lake bed, or do less Marine killing, or both. Just the Mongoose troops would do.

More blocking

After you've eliminated the Wraiths and support vehicles, take the 4 launchers from the weapon cases and give them to Marines; preferably Mongoose Marines, because I think they're less likely to get removed by the game.

Block the top of the ramp with one or two enemy vehicles (two is safer) or a portable shield, so the Marines will be held back in relative safety during the Scarab battle. You could re-use a Ghost you already had, or use new vehicles that were close enough to retrieve. Definitely don't use a weapon case for blocking here, as the game may remove it shortly.

Let the Marines come outside. If anyone with a launcher seems reluctant, use your initiative; maybe push them out or drive them out, or transfer their launcher to someone outside. Note: If anyone is on foot, there's a danger of them running to board one of your blocking vehicles, though they may not immediately move off in it. So it's good if you can get any such Marines on other vehicles before they have any opportunity to mess up your plans.

Scarab battle

Distracted by closer targets, the Scarab tends not to fire on the blocked Marines, so the launchers are likely to remain safe, aside from the possibility of the game removing the Marines carrying them (something I experienced a few times when I had quite a lot of Marines blocked). I recommend using a grav lift jump to destroy the Scarab fast. As it blows, jump non-stop 5 or 6 times to cancel the checkpoint you'd normally get, so you can try the Scarab battle again if you find that you've lost any launchers.

Finishing off

Release the Marines and let them drive to the rendezvous. They'll dismount when you link up with the troops there. Finish off pretty much the same as before - including the tip about blocking the door to make sure all launchers get into the hands of folk who are either heading inside or already inside.

Here's some advice on taking your launchers further, once you've got them past the Cortana interruption in the second room. More specifically I'll focus on the idea of getting the forthcoming Marines and workers equipped with them, either for helping out in the factory or for use outside - in particular for tackling the AA gun. None of the current Marines will enter the factory battle with you, incidentally.

Bringing launchers through

When you go through a door to reach the factory floor, there's a small skirmish with Brutes nearby, attacking 4 Marines. When you near the catwalk, more Brutes appear ahead, plus 2 more Marines. A third skirmish will be triggered as you reach the thick yellow line marking the entrance to the next area. That's also when the earlier door will close, so you need to bring your launchers through beforehand. I suggest doing it after the second skirmish.

In doing that, you can immediately give launchers to some or all of the new Marines if you like, rather than just dropping them on the ground. That carries obvious dangers to friendlies in the remainder of the factory battle, but on the other hand it'll ensure that those particular launchers won't get removed by the game (see later) and it'll also save you having to move them yourself later on. On balance I'd recommend it, but the decision is yours. One of the Marines may have manned the chain-gun on the catwalk. If so, get him off it and rip the chain-gun off, or he'll remain behind. As for the 3 workers who come out of hiding after you've killed the Brutes in the second skirmish, they tend to run on into the next area without delay but if you're carrying a launcher, you could hand it to one of them quick before he leaves. In total that would make up to 7 launchers already issued.

Note: When you go back to get launchers from Marines, you may find that some of the Marines have been removed by the game. I've not experienced this myself yet, but Spartan-1138 has. Possibly he is hexed and the rest of us don't need to worry, but another idea springs to mind. It may help if you kill all extraneous personnel before entering the factory battle. If the game feels a need to remove stuff to lighten its load, maybe it'll remove bodies instead of your valuable launcher carriers.

Third skirmish and more

There's a checkpoint near the start of the third skirmish. Preferably save it, as you may want to get back to it if the next few minutes don't go well. You'll be able to get back by exiting to the dashboard and reloading, if reverting is no longer possible.

At the factory exit, try not to go outside. That way the Marines and workers will stay back. When the battle is won, hand out all remaining launchers. There's a potential problem though: some launchers may have been removed by the game. If too many have gone, try things again from your last saved checkpoint.

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