Map Name/Link: Downed Pelican
Gametype to be played with/Link: Defend
Creator: Vorpal Saint
Recommended Players: 8 (4v4)

Ok so, now that that is out of the way... let me go on a bit on how this map/gametype came to be. You see, a long time ago, in a matchmaking far away, I was playing with a friend and one of his friends. We were playing Team Slayer (or something like that) on Valhalla when his friend mentioned an idea of sorts for a gametype. More or less he was wondering why no one ever acted on the concept and then went on to figure it was too hard to actually make. That's when I said I would take this up. To the task at making this idea into a reality. A concept into a map. A Mini-game of sorts. So, you ask, what is this idea that this friend of a friend came up with? Well. It's simple really. Defending the pelican that is on Valhalla.

Simple, yes? No... actually it's not. To make this idea work in the relm of Halo 3 I had to go through the painful task of adjusting various things. First I had to pick a gametype that would suit this. Then make the functions of the gametype work for the map. Then I had to make the map, erm, well, you get where I'm going, right? I do hope so. To make it easier on you, let's just say I had to do a lot of complex things to make a simple idea work.

So, how did I make this work? With King of the Hill of course. Now, the way the game breaks down is like this. There's two teams. The defending team and the attacking team. The defending team spawns in the hill (which covers the pelican) and the attacking team starts at the waterfall base. As shown in these following pictures:

Defending Team's Spawn

Attacking Team's Starting Spawn

Now, as you can see in the pictures there are various things at each base. However... I'll go over them a bit later in this post. For now, I want to clear something up. The attacking team's spawn that is. If you read closely... I said that's where they start. Yes, you can still spawn there... however there are other areas on the map that you can open up to have the attacking team have various spawning nests. This way the attacking team may have a wider angle of attacking the defence team. Oh, and at each of these locations, (including the start one) there are nice little treats for the attackers. At their first spawn, as you saw in that picture, there are two active camo's there, for the ultra-sneaky type players.

At this one, you can get a shotgun

Here you can break off a turret

Grab a Sniper Rifle at this place

Aaaannnndd find two fire bombs at this outpost

Now, once I said open up, you were probably wondering how to do so. To open these spawns up you simply have to move the crate. Trust me, it's easier than you think. Espically since I placed a grav lift by each crate so you can throw that sucker down and make the crate go flying (warning: the crate can and will fall so watch out) You can also use this grav lift else where on the map. Like, near the pelican or something. Try to confuse them by throwing it down and jumping on it. Though, it might be just a better idea to open up some of those spawn areas. So, now that you've seen what the attackers can get. Let's take a look at what the defenders can get.

Guns, guns, and more guns.

Oh, those aren't good enough for you? Try these ones on fore size

Too bad your warthog is broken though...

When the game-clock hits 1:56ish, two drop pods, carring a sniper rifle and a rocket launcher will drop in here:

On the bright side, you can see that the attackers can become well equipped. On the not so bright side, all those shiny toys you see sitting there around the pelican. Yeah, they don't respawn. But don't worry too much about ammo. I'm sure so attacker will be more than kind enough to drop in and give you some ammo. Of course they wont actually give it to you. You'll have to take it... and by that I mean kill the crap out of them. Speaking of killing... there's some traits you should know about for when you're in the hill, and are not.

In the Hill

Not in the Hill

Now, if you can tell EVERY single trait just by look at those two pictures. Then... good for you. You're amazing. Or you're one of the rare few that has actually played this gametype and remembered it from way back when. If not, don't worry. I'll fill you in. Well, for the most part anyways. From those pictures, you can pretty much tell that when you're in the hill you'll have radar and you'll be green. Even if you're on Blue team or Red team. Why? Because I made it that way. What you don't know (unless you're one of the people I stated above) is that while in the hill you do less damage to the people not in the hill and if you get hurt, your shields wont recharge. Don't view those as a bad thing though. Because you can leech shields from the bad guys. Pretty high up too. You can also pick up one of those custom power ups you've seen in the pictures above. They will raise your shields up pretty decently and be able to put you back in the fight. I gues you can view them as health packs. Oh yeah, don't worry, those actually respawn. Do worry about the enemy coming in and taking them though.

Now, while you're not in the hill it's another story. Most clear thing is, you'll have poor camo. Next to that is your armor color will be black. Kind of suits in with camo. Now, as you can probably tell now, you do more damage outside of the hill than in it. On top of that... you wont have radar. But then again, you don't really need it out there. Another thing is you can take on a bit more damage than the people in the hill. Mainly because your shields actually recharge. So, when they're low (or you have none) duck behind cover for a second and let them recharge... and that's pretty much it.

Now, you may wonder how the spawning system for the defending team may work. Well, it works fine. Aside from assassinations, when you spawn you'll be invulnerable for five seconds. Your shields also recharge 200% faster (which means for people in the hill they'll spawn with a shield), and you also can do a bit more damage. This applies to the attacking team as well when they spawn. However, the way the game goes, they really wont be getting shot at by their spawn much. Another thing about the spawning is if you keep dying without getting any kills, your respawn time will grow. However, if you do kill people instead of dying all the time, your respawn time will be low. This can be tricky in cases. But, it does tend to add some spunk to the game.

Speaking of spunk... I should probably go over the major factor that everyone should know about the way this game works. You know that this is called Defend on Downed Pelican... and that makes it the objective of the game. Since it's a King of the Hill gametype, the way you mainly get points is staying in the hill. But how does one make one whole team stay in the hill? Well, to be fair, that's impossible. I'm sure there'll be some one out there that doesn't understand this and while they're defending the hill, wonder off and explore the map. HOWEVER for your team to get points... you all need to be in the hill. Why? Because which ever person on your team has the lowest score, is the overall team's score. It's called Minimum Score. So... I'll make it clear as I possibly can:

IF YOUR TEAM SPAWNS IN THE HILL... STAY IN THE HILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, there are however a few key things that sit right out side of the hill. As shown in the picture where it's showing off the defenders weaponary. So, if you want to get those rockets, or grab that turret, you'll need to leave the hill for a few seconds. It probably would do more harm than good if you left them there. So I would advice getting them. Oh, and you'll need to yank off the turret if you want to use it in the hill. As you can not drive (or in a turrets case) operate while in the hill. Key note would be the flipped over warthog; it's just there for looks. Well. That's pretty much all that I can think of that can help you understand and play this mini-game better. I do hope you enjoy it.

Oh well, there is one last thing I should mention. This is a round based game so each team will have two chances to be on each side. Though, I must warn you, having people join in or in other cases, go black screen (quit) it will mess the game up. I'm not sure why, but it just does. So when you do go to play this, make sure the people you play it with don't have to leave and set the party max to how much you have in the lobby... which should be eight. So, again, hope you enjoy it.

Thanks to all those people that helped me test this way back when and offering me some nifty feedback. Oh, and sorry for not remembering you all, it's been way too long. :D

And in case you missed it at the top...

DOWNLOAD THE MAP

DOWNLOAD THE GAME