DEFERENCE CITY

"A center of trade and commerce, this waterborne city harbors valuable assets to all sides in war."

"We shall begin the interrogation of the captured human, identified as Sergeant Remy Yeltsin of the United Nations Space Command. My name is Ramo' Randjamee, proud member of the Sangheili forces here at the Harbinger of Glass. The prisoner has undergone intense methods of torture in order to break his resolve. He is now ready to answer any and all questions directed at him. I hope this is to your satisfaction, noble hierarchs.

"Now, human. What was the goal of your mission?"

"...We...we were assigned to take the city. It was a vital point at which to control trade routes across the ocean, and its resources would enable our forces to bolster their firepower and armaments. The city's dam also didn't allow the high tides to affect docking and trading."

"What was your plan to take the city?"

"We had to take the city before the storm hit. The forecasts said that this storm would force the waters to rise higher than the dam, bringing it underwater. We had to get to the city and take control of it before this happened. You Covenant scum were littered all over the territory, and the beachhead was the safest place for us to land.

"After we landed, we had to go on foot. We cut down your Covenant forces ruthlessly. Oh, it felt good to pump those squidheads full of bullets. We managed to get to the terminal that controlled the dam's access gates.

"After holding the position long enough for the terminal to run through its procedures, the dam's gates lifted. We could go on through. A Warthog was dropped onto the beachhead, along with a rocket launcher. Only two rockets, unfortunately. The Elites fell back to the city, where they received new weaponry, including two Shade turrets. We had to travel across the dam with the help of our freshly delivered armaments and escort a bomb carrier. The bomb was to be planted on the city gates to allow us access to the metropolis itself.

"After the bomb was planted, we held the position long enough for the timer to run its course. We managed to hold, and the gates exploded. What a wonderful show of lights and fire.

"Another Warthog was dropped onto the beachhead, making two in total. Along with our rocket launcher, a sniper rifle was made available to us, also located on the beachhead. The sniper had a total of eight shots. With a good sniper on our team, it was more than enough to buy us enough time against the unrelenting Covenant horde.

"Command gave us a birds-eye view of the city before this entire operation, just to make sure that we were familiar with the layout. The city was separated into color-coded zones. Red Zone, Blue Zone, Green Zone, Orange Zone, and all that.

"Our objective was to take the Red Zone, the keystone of the city. It was also at the dead center, with Covenant forces coming in from all sides. It was one of the toughest operations to pull off, even for our best military strategists. The fact that the Covies had access to a Plasma Launcher and a Gravity Hammer, hidden in the buildings and alleyways of the city, didn't make it any easier.

"Nevertheless, we held the position. We fought back against those Covie scumbags. And best of all, we won. We won against impossible odds, against impossible firepower. Nothing I say here will hurt any of my teammates, because we captured the city before the storm hit. Once your forces were weakened by our control of the city center, our aircraft soared in and blew you guys away. Nature helped too, what with the storm and all. We won, and you lost."

"Shut your mouth, human. Your time to talk is gone now. We've heard all we want to hear. We will get that city back. And when that happens, your species will be the one lying on the sidewalks and on the alleys, dead.

"Get this human out of here. Execute him if you wish."

__________________

Thanks for reading this rather unorthodox explanation of how Deference City plays. I know it's a rather long read. And if you didn't read, then whatever. I had fun writing it anyway.

Deference City is my first serious Reach map, and my first map tailored for Invasion. I tried to uphold my principles of immersion, where the player has to be absolutely immersed in the experience. I believe that a good map allows a player to think, "Hey, this is [insert map name]," instead of thinking, "Hey, this is Forge World." But you guys don't really come here to listen about mapmaking philosophies anyway, so I'll move on.

Deference City, as evidenced by its name, takes inspiration from several sources, mainly Halo 3: ODST and Venice, Italy. I tried to emulate certain aspects of ODST into the second and third phases. For example, the push for the city gates across the dam is supposed to take inspiration from the beginning of ODST's ONI Alpha Site campaign level. The presence of the Spartan Laser also draws from ODST in that way. The architecture of the city also takes inspiration from ODST, not to mention Venice as the streets are replaced by waterways, which are able to be fully walked on. Don't be afraid to step in!

Here's a gameplay video to break up the monotony of this lengthy explanation:

Gameplay Video

I would say more, but I really don't want to bore anyone. With that, thanks again for reading all this, and enjoy the map!