39 replies to this topic

[Crisiss]

Could we give the UNSC a self destruct ability? I know we have scuttle but that doesn't really take place fast enough. I know self destruct is used often enough in the Halo Universe (Heart of Midlothian and the one Halo Wars comic for starters) and it would be of tremendous help to the UNSC when facing the flood and even the Covenant. I like the idea of a scorched earth policy and I think it would be useful in many ways. Thoughts?

[Defender0]

Technically, this is entirely possible, but i see the AI going berserk with this. Either it would have to be an ability that is not on autocast by default (AI would not be able to use it in this case) OR the AI would make entire fleets of suicide bomber ships.

[Crisiss]

Technically, this is entirely possible, but i see the AI going berserk with this. Either it would have to be an ability that is not on autocast by default (AI would not be able to use it in this case) OR the AI would make entire fleets of suicide bomber ships.

Well obviously not on autocast or it would probably be dead as soon as you built it... Player controlled.

[Defender0]

Well obviously not on autocast or it would probably be dead as soon as you built it... Player controlled.

in that case...It would be very interesting to see what happened with players. I can just imagine a zerg rush of UNSC ships blowing up a covie fleet. but this would be broken as hell also.

 

One thing to note though, anchor stations DO have a self destruct ability (from vanilla sins) but its very underpowered considering its meant for vanilla sins.

[SternuS]

It'd be cool, but then Frigate spam would be even bigger. Maybe make it cost a little bit...like 1/3 of ship's cost, would discourage the player to use it in mass.

[con7con]

Perhaps restrict the ability to capital ships?

[Defender0]

Perhaps restrict the ability to capital ships?

but capital ships already have nukes

[KhevaKins]

It'd be cool, but then Frigate spam would be even bigger. Maybe make it cost a little bit...like 1/3 of ship's cost, would discourage the player to use it in mass.

Why would it cost money, though?

[Aunt Gruntie]

Why would it cost money, though?

Balance/prevent over abuse. Though I can't see how much of a barrier, especially seeing as how the UNSC are built around stupidly high econ.

[D4RKST0RM99]

An interesting anti-flood strategy, your fleet is cut off from backup or there is a flood attack headed for your planet but you dont have the firepower to deal with it, also it isnt just the books and comica you see the self destruct used, both the Pillar of Autumn and In Amber Clad self destructs were used with the intention of destroying a Halo ring, but surprisingly the main users of this strategy within the lore is the Covenant as they self destruct their crippled ships in battle to avoid their capture.

 

I think I might be on the fence with this idea, has both good and bad points, this would be like the issue in the original Startrek Armada game that has a klingon vessel thats sole purpose was to detonate on command a massive shockwave within an enemy base regardless of the defending ships and defenses and destroy EVERYTHING. So normaly to take over an enemy planet you need X amount of ships that gives you X amount of fire power- with this new feature careful planing and fleet diversity would mean little, just send in 20ish random ships and hit the big red button. I could see this working in the case of the Covies though in that the self destruct would happen automatically if their ship HP drops below a certain value (this may be allergic to hard coding) and remains their for say 5 seconds- a seemingly lore friendly option.

[con7con]

but capital ships already have nukes

True, but as a last stand sort of thing where they are going to die anyway you might as well try and get some extra damage in.

[KhevaKins]

Balance/prevent over abuse. Though I can't see how much of a barrier, especially seeing as how the UNSC are built around stupidly high econ.

I meant a canon reason. Although I suppose it could be the cost to pick up escape pods ( assuming there are any) but that wouldn't be anywhere near the cost of 1/3 of the ship. Plus if it self destructs because of Flood there probably wouldn't be any survivors.

[SPECTRE]

Why would it cost money, though?

Because compensation to families of the crew.

[KhevaKins]

Because compensation to families of the crew.

But it doesn't cost any money normally when a ship dies.

Plus wouldn't burial costs be included in the building/recruitment cost of the ship/personnel.

[SternuS]

I meant a canon reason. Although I suppose it could be the cost to pick up escape pods ( assuming there are any) but that wouldn't be anywhere near the cost of 1/3 of the ship. Plus if it self destructs because of Flood there probably wouldn't be any survivors.

As Grunt said, it would be for balance. No canon intended here.

[con7con]

Perhaps have mid tier research for this ability? That could be used to balance it as if the UNSC is getting more desperate as time goes on.

[m468]

I really don't see much of a use for it. I mean UNSC ships typically die to fast for you to activate it and I don't feel like it would be a good idea to put it on auto cast.

[Crisiss]

I really don't see much of a use for it. I mean UNSC ships typically die to fast for you to activate it and I don't feel like it would be a good idea to put it on auto cast.

Have it instantly explode then? And I already said this, no autocast. That would be bad. The use is to cause some last (even minor) damage to the enemy before you go out. Call it Cole Protocol or Last Stand or something like that. I don't know. I feel like this needs to be included somehow, though. It would be neat and lore friendly. I would like it, personally. And since the UNSC is now the only faction without an uninfectable ship, why wouldn't blowing themselves up be the next best policy? I'm a scorched earth kind of guy. Strip to the Core, bitches. Except in this case you kinda just let the core free. And then it explodes.

[con7con]

Now that I think about it was this idea not suggested before around a year ago and it was stated it would not be happening? Or am I thinking of something else?

[sloosecannon]

Could we give the UNSC a self destruct ability? I know we have scuttle but that doesn't really take place fast enough.

Haven't you see any scifi/action shows? It takes at least 5 minutes to activate the self destruct, OBVIOUSLY

In all seriousness, this has been bounced around before, and turned down for a combination of reasons. AI would freak out, pretty difficult to code, and it's really not worth it.
The scuttle button does however, work against the flood - the timer keeps going after you lose control and the AI doesn't know how to handle it.