Isolated relay outpost
Posted November 20th 2011
After my fun with blind covies at the relay outpost courtesy of Jun's Falcon and some loading point shenanigans, I tried some variations of the work and found that as long as I was outdoors and outside the kill-zone when it came into force, I remained alive and was able to view the outpost area 'isolated', after almost all of the rest of the level had been unloaded. The 'Skeleton Crew' phase had begun and the game apparently expected me to be inside with Kat and the others by now, but I'd glitched things up good and proper. Here are the details.
Core set-up work
After stealing Jun's Falcon, escape from normal bounds (preferably using the wandering dropship escape method) and get the relay outpost loaded. Remaining outside normal bounds, get the outpost unloaded then reloaded. All this is the same as for setting up the aforementioned blind covies.
Keeping out of bounds, kill the initial covies. Due to game's draw distance flaw you may have to drop your altitude a bit to see them, but that's no problem at all; it's safe to go as low as 110 feet. Land out of bounds and dismount to trigger the first two dropships; e.g. you could land on the high part of the outpost roof. Deplete the dropship troops sufficiently to trigger ship 3, which may bring a checkpoint. It's enough to've killed all the ship 1 troops and a few of those from ship 2 - all very easy with cannon fire.
As ship 3 makes its drop you get the fallback prompt - 'FALLBACK INTO OUTPOST'. The kill-zone comes into force and you need to be outside it (e.g. you could be on or above the high part of the roof, or be well clear of the outpost area). The covies drop dead and the dropship falls through the forecourt. One of the incoming Banshees get destroyed as it hits the invisible boundary of the outpost's load zone, then (just after the prompt disappears) there's a loading freeze, after which almost everything outside the outpost area is gone and you get the 'Skeleton Crew' caption, during which the game suppresses your HUD. I'll break things into two cases at this point, according to your location at the loading freeze.
Inside the outpost's load zone
If you were inside the outpost's load zone - e.g. on or just above the high part of the outpost's roof - there's a checkpoint due right after the 'Skeleton Crew' caption, and another a few seconds later. You might like to get these cancelled by doing some jumping (six jumps will usually cancel a checkpoint), so you'll be able to revert to the arrival of ship 3 or earlier, to replay the final phase of the set-up work if you want. But a more flexible plan is to allow the first and cancel the second. That way you'll be able to easily experiment with the kill-zone (reversion via death won't set you back far) yet you'll also be able to quickly return to the ship 3 checkpoint by using suicide reversion.
You can move around the confines of the load zone in the Falcon or on foot, but if you enter the kill-zone you'll be zapped. Experimentation will clue you in on the zone's boundaries but it appears to stop at an altitude of about 260 feet, enabling you to fly over the entire area.
Off in the distance you'll see some crude surfacing associated with the outpost, apparently to cover much of the early part of the level. It was there even before, but now it may have a reddish hue. The Falcon and yourself can take on a reddish hue too, depending on where you are.
Outside the outpost's load zone
If you were outside the outpost's load zone, there won't be any checkpoints due. You won't be able to move or fire, only look around. If you were in the Falcon it'll be gone, though you'll still have a Falcon-based HUD.
It's possible to've been on foot when the freeze occurred. You could've been on solid ground, or you could've just dismounted in mid-air (if you timed it so the loading occurs before you fall far enough to be killed). If you were on foot you'll be able to see the lower half of your body, seemingly cut off at the waist, and clicking the right stick will toggle the presence of your weapon arm. You can make a throwing or melee action, but not more than once, and a throwing action won't actually cause a grenade to be thrown. Either action will permanently snap you out of a zoomed view if you had one.
Along with the crude surfacing over the early area of the level, you may also be able to see two anomalous patches of ground high over where the valley used to be, but they're only visible when seen from above. It's all part of the same thing; extra surfaces which are present whenever the outpost is.
High kill-zone portion
I was surprised to find that the kill-zone isn't confined to the outpost's load zone. There seems to be at least one separate part of it outside, namely above the ceiling, perhaps like a slice sitting on top (though I haven't tried to map things out more definitely). At the time of the loading freeze, if you were hovering over the outpost at an altitude of between about 380 and 410 feet, expect to end up outside the load zone yet inside the kill-zone.
What's going on?
In view of the removal of external areas and the commencing of the Skeleton Crew phase, the game is proceeding as if you're inside the outpost with the door sealed shut behind you. But why? I think it may be because of the missing front door. Let's think about what happens in normal play when you get the fallback prompt. The key thing the game is going to be interested in is whether the front door has fully shut. That's when it would finally remove things outside the outpost area and let the Skeleton Crew phase begin. In our glitched situation though, there isn't a door to slide shut. Because of that, perhaps the bit of computer code which expresses "Is the front door fully shut?" evaluates to "Yes". As such, the game gets the go-ahead to remove external stuff and start the next phase.
Why was the front door missing? Maybe it's the same class of thing as other moveable items that didn't reload (for some unknown reason), and maybe that's why it didn't reload.
What about the reddish hue which you and the Falcon can acquire, along with the distant crude scenery? In normal play that seems to be the hue you take on after the front door shuts; so I suspect that's the link. The game thinks you're in the start of that phase, and certain things may get lit accordingly; but it seems fickle.