Halo: Reach Mythic Guide - Long Night of Solace

Halo 3: ODST Mythic (SLASO) Walkthrough by Daniel Morris

Long Night of Solace, Page 1

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The Tru7h about Long Night of Mythic

    And a "long night" it shall be indeed... Get ready to kick those mad skillz up a notch. Long Night of Solace has been dubbed one of the most brutal missions to endure on Mythic - and reasonably so. Most notably, the biggest challenge you'll be facing is the sheer number of Elites without either Spartan or vehicular support. So far you've had it pretty easy with fancy level skips, overpowered weapons, and Spartans to serve as a meat-shield at the very least, but now you'll finally have to down these beasts on your own with little to no support. On top of all that, you'll need to get yourself acquainted with Halo's latest mini-game... space combat!
    Visually, I find this to be the most impressive mission in the game. You'll begin by storming the blazing beaches of the launch facility in a Cartographer-esque scenario before being launched into orbit to witness the glassing of Sword Base and wrapping things up aboard an alien scout ship that rings fond memories of Truth & Reconciliation.
    The mission is divided into three very different sections:

First Floor: Aliens, Beaches, Secret Launch Facilities
Operation: Upper Cut
And the Horse You Flew In On

If you're ready to jump straight into the nightmare, then so am I!

First Floor: Aliens, Beaches, Secret Launch Facilities

    And YES, that chapter title is in reference to an old school segment of The Library from Halo: Combat Evolved, everyone's favorite mission.
    You've been dropped off smack dab in the middle of a war zone armed with a Magnum and Assault rifle with three Spartan allies there to assist you. The skies are littered with Seraphs and Spirits, a grave sign that the Covenant invasion of Reach is now in full swing. The planet's only hope? You and a seven-foot cyborg named Geor-hay.
    Your choices begin here, and you'll be making a number of them throughout the course of the mission. Option A of course is to fight it out side by side with the other Spartans. While you certainly could do this, you'll run into a couple of issues. The first major hurdle is the lack of ammo. Try as you might, you'll run out "long" before you get to the finish line (see what I did thar?!), and as a result, you'll find yourself hiding behind your teammates most of the way. Not very Mythical, is it? So... I propose that you choose Option B as shown below.

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By moving up the beach, you can avoid about 80% of the battle and even score extra points by tearing apart the Wraith! Here's a short description on what you need to do. First, make your way up the beach until you see the first Spirit dropship sending in its first attack force. If you look to the left, you'll notice a slit between the rocks just barely wide enough for you to fit through. Jump through it, sprint around the rocks on the right, and keep heading up the beach as quickly as possible. For the first six seconds or so, this route will actually display as being out of bounds, so try not to dally. Keep to the water. The further out you are, the less likely you are to get tagged by stray plasma fire or get noticed by meandering troops.
When you're far enough along, you'll witness the horrific suicide of a Seraph crashing into the side of the launch facility kamikaze-style. The platform just beneath it is where you want to go. A Spirit is about to drop off a Wraith, and you're going to be ready for it. The second it drops, board it from behind and smash it to pieces. When it tosses you off, immediately Sprint to safety either behind the rocks or the storage tank to avoid dropship retaliation. Lastly, head up the incline and through the door, and grab a DMR to assist the other Spartans.

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    The Jackals are retreating in such a way that you have a perfect angle to deliver that lethal headshot to each of them. Watch out for the pair of marksmen, though. They tend to camp in the rocks just off to the right, and eventually they'll try to retreat to your current position. Be wary of the fact that they like to go out with guns blazing. There will be a few Grunt Ultras lingering around too. The biggest threat they pose is an unexpected plasma overcharge burst. But even if you're struck, there are several health packs in the area to bring you back to full strength. Most notable is the one directly to your left near the DMR cache, but there are two more down and to the left attached to the pillar with additional ammo caches.
    Lastly, you'll have an Elite Ultra with a concussion rifle to tango with. If you want, you can let your teammates deal with him, but I tend to wait until his back is turned and ninja a classy assassination for the folks watching.
    The doors to the facility will open once the beach is clear. Switch to your pistol and head inside. Keep your Sprint ability for now. You'll need it. When you reach the junction, you'll see two Marines with rocket launchers emerge from the adjoining corridor. Swap your pistol for one of their launchers (preferably the first one), then set your morals aside and kill the second for his ammo. NOTE: I recommend trying to reload after you pick up the first one just to see if it came with one rocket or two.
    Enter the facility. When you reach the incline, sprint forward. You'll witness a Marine getting tossed like a ragdoll. An Ultra is soon to follow. Go for the assassination. This saves you the trouble of having to worry about him later.

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    Alright, with your RL and DMR in hand, head back down to the beach. Be sure you have the DMR equipped as you will be using it momentarily. When you get back outside, you'll find a small group of Marines engaging the Covenant. They'll have an assortment of weapons including sniper rifles and rocket launchers. As you can imagine, the latter is your goal in this case.
    The coolest part about this segment is that both sides will continuously drop off troops to engage each other, so you can fight it out as long as you want! Personally, I still think adding Marine allies to Firefight mode would have definitely spiced things up a bit, but this certainly works too. So how does this apply to Mythic? Your goal here is to (SPOILERS) board the Corvette with full rockets. You'll see why shortly. For now, let's focus on the objective.
    First off, in order to have a "full" rocket launcher, you'll need 8 rockets total; that's two in the tubes and six spares. When most of the Marines from each wave are dead, an additional Pelican will arrive to drop off more troops. The weapons they have are random, but usually there's at least one rocket trooper per set. You can take them one of two ways; either grenade the spot where they drop off and quickly retrieve the ammo (and additional grenades) before going back into hiding, OR you can temporarily drop your launcher for an AR, switch weapons with the Marine, and then retrieve your own rockets afterwards. The problem with the latter solution is that it takes longer to get the rockets (which sucks if the Covenant are pounding the area with grenades), and if more than one Marine has rockets, then you're missing out on the second one. Which choice you make may depend on how you feel about your score, but generally speaking grenade explosions don't seem to count against you.
    Also, make note that whenever a Pelican arrives, the Covenant will typically retreat behind barricades and structures to avoid the ship's main gun. This will last for a few seconds, which is normally plenty of time for you to collect your prize and retreat to safety.
    For me, this was one of the more challenging parts of the mission simply because of the risk involved in getting your ammo, but you'll find it to be well worth it in the long run. Basically, do you want to put your ass on the line now, or after you've made it 30 minutes into the mission and have your back against the wall? Guess which choice I made...

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    You also don't necessarily NEED a full launcher. Five rockets is enough to get the job done and allows for a small margin of error. I prefer to go full to keep me from sweating bullets before I pull the trigger. Either way, always assume that you'll get only one rocket per drop, and once you're at a point where you can't pick up any more, you'll know you have eight.
    Once you've collected enough rockets, wait until the coast is clear (haha literally I suppose), and head back inside, grabbing a Drop Shield on the way. Make your way through the rooms, and when the launch bay becomes accessible, trade your DMR for the energy sword, salute the doomed Marines on the way up the stairs, and get ready for the ride of a lifetime!

Operation Uppercut

    I'll admit, the cut scene is most definitely spectacular, but a "Press Y to Skip" option would have been nice. It's a bit lengthy, so if that last rocket grab nearly made you piss yourself, now might be a good time to take a break. Otherwise, take a seat, enjoy the cut scene (or just pop in The Lord of the Rings trilogy) and get ready to engage in a whole new style of gameplay for Halo.
    Once the controls are yours again, you'll find yourself face to face with Anchor Nine, a UNSC battle station armed to the teeth with devastatingly powerful chain-guns. You, on the other hand, are piloting the latest craze in UNSC flight technology, armed with a pair of powerful machine guns, heat-seeking Medusa missiles, and an experimental energy shield developed from recycled Covenant technology. Hey, all the cool pilots are driving one!
    For those of you wondering about the Black Eye effects on Sabre shield and if you'll have to plow into enemy fighters to recover them, fear not! The Sabre's shields recharge as they would normally, even with Black Eye activated.
    Colonel Holland will be briefing you on your objective, to guide Noble Five to the station so in turn he can deliver the "bomb". Sounds easy enough, right? The Covenant, however, have other plans...
    Once Holland stops talking, approach the station and you'll hear a radio comm mentioning something about firing an FPF round (the first time I heard this, I thought we had resorted to using sun block against the Covenant...) shortly followed by a warning regarding inbound enemy contacts. This will be the first of four waves and by far the easiest. Maneuver the Sabre towards the outer rim of the space trash and get ready for the dozen or so Banshees that are about to warp in from out of nowhere.

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    Of the three types of craft you'll be fighting, Banshees are by far the easiest to deal with. First off, it only takes a couple of measly rounds from your machine gun to down one. In fact, they're so weak that they can crash into you head on, shred themselves to bits in the process, and you will take nearly no damage! Basically, this round of combat exists solely for the purpose of getting you used to the concept of dogfights. Take as much time as you want, and don't count on the Sabres doing your job for you. They'll hit Anchor Nine more often than an enemy fighter...
    Clear the Banshees, then make a mad dash for Anchor Nine. Hide around back. You'll hear the warning about fighter-class impulse drive signatures, letting you know that four Seraph fighters are about to wreck your friends. Individually, the fighters aren't tough at all, but since they take a few seconds to kill, that gives the others enough time to retaliate before you down your target, and since you're the only really dangerous pilot in the air, don't be surprised if the Seraphs all turn on you at once. Basically, just try to stick close to Anchor Nine so that if the going gets tough, you can easily run for cover. Typically the Seraphs won't follow you back there, giving you ample time to recover your shields.
    Try to wait until one of them starts attack you, and then retaliate. Alternatively, you can wait until one of them is somewhat split from the herd and go for the kill. As the Colonel suggests, for this first wave use the machine guns to take out the shields and follow up with a few salvos of Medusas. You'll find the latter incredibly useful for locking on and heavily reducing your margin of error. Here's how the conflict should play out.

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    Once you've downed two of them, the threat is heavily reduced, and you can now freely engage the other two with little worry. Blast them to smithereens before heading back around to Anchor Nine.
    Gear up for round three! A large attack force is inbound, and you're the only pilot NOT hopped up on crystal meth. You'll have a moment to collect yourself before enormous waves of both Seraphs and Banshees start warping into the battlefield. The good news? Station defenses are back online! Though one has to ponder why a battle station would be keeping its guns offline right in the middle of a planetary Covenant invasion to begin with... When in doubt, blame Kat!
    From this point on, you can choose to fight as much as you want. Your Sabre allies may not know a thing about space combat, but apparently the gunners behind Anchor Nine's walls picked up a thing or two from watching you solo the last two rounds. These high-powered guns are extremely effective, and if enough of them are concentrated on a single fighter, even Seraphs fall to their might. A tactic I like to use involves sticking around the rear of Anchor Nine, blasting apart straying Banshees, and waiting for Anchor Nine to bring down a Seraph's shielding so I can move in and ninja the kill. Sneaky!

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