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Not So Common Sense - A Halo 2 Strategy Guide

by Overswarm

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Movies and Commentary: 4v4 Team Slayer Midship

      Midship is easily my favorite map. I'm a whiz with grenades (most of the time), and I'm really good at maneuvering, so Midship accents my strong points. The players in this game are just random people off of my friends list; some are good, some are bad, some are in the middle. This isn't nearly as good a video as the kind you'd see on VoD. None of my full length games ever will be, I don't play with the pros, or even many people in their league, often at all. This game is only to 25 (MLG games are normally to 50), so the games will be much faster paced than normal.

      That said, when watching a full length video like this, pay attention to what mistakes I make, and the mistakes others make. I'll accent a few that stand out to me, but there is an infinite amount of things you could learn even from games that are nothing but friends playing friends.

      The first thing I do at the start of the game is go for the plasma pistol. It is one of the most accessible weapons on the map, and it's extremely powerful due to Midship's design. The plasma pistol thrives on vertical attacks, and since Midship is just one huge wavy donut (bet you never heard it described THAT way before, did ya?) with a platform across the top, it is almost always useful.

      My teammate gets the plasma pistol first, and I change my course of action. I'm now attempting to find and flush out the enemy with the 3 frag nades I just acquired. Running towards a base from PP spawn is dangerous, and throwing those frags can give you that extra second you need to set yourself up, so I make it a habit of tossing those into doorways.

      I hear a teammate call out "Carbine. Top.", and immediately go to higher ground to combat the enemy. Unfortunately for the enemy, he is running across the floating platform which inevitably leads to a bullet ridden death (even though I miss a few easy headshots).

      Grenades are no short supply on Midship, so you will see me constantly throw nades at random locations that don't have any teammates in them. You will never use 8 nades, and you will hardly ever use 4. I tend to keep two in my arsenal at all times, and use the rest to try to just get a lucky advantage.

      I see my teammate firing, and immediately come to his aid. At the beginning of the game, it's very important to stick as a group and call out locations, because the beginning is what decides who gets to keep the good weapons.

      I tend to stay around the pink room, and just cycle that for a few moments until my teammates can get a location. I really like holding down the pink room due to it's many escape routes, and it's got really easy sticks to. After I see my teammates on both sides of the map, I run across to grab the sword, the last power weapon available on the map.

      At 1:08 I see an enemy and throw a nade to try to get a lucky explosion from the fusion core. Unfortunately, my nade is less than perfect. It works out fairly well for me, because my teammate swallows the end of the enemy shotgun, and I get to finish him off before he can fire again.

      If you've noticed, my team has been keeping in pairs, and we've pretty much been cycling around the map like vultures. Neither team is all pro players, so we know that one team isn't going to outshoot the other 100% of the time, and keeping on opposite sides of the map gives us easy coverage for each other.

      I see an enemy in a base and am prepared to attack, but as I jump off towards the entrance, I'm hit by a exploding nade. There's nothing you can do at this point, so I throw a nade and die.

      It's 10-7 now, not a comfortable lead. I spawn staring at a blue Spartan wielding the combo, and get hit by the plasma burst. With no shield, I run frantically away, and manage to get behind a post only to find his partner firing rounds into my eye sockets. It is now 10-8, red in the lead only by 2.

      After I respawn, I immediately try to take out Lonestar (the previous combo user), who is where I died. He manages to get away with no shields left, and when I turn a corner, my teammate rolls with me. I see Lonestar hiding in a corner. I cut off his only escape route with a grenade, and he dies.

      At 2:13 minutes into the game, my team is up by 8; since this game only goes to 25, that's a big lead. I managed to get the combo and decide to play it safe. I get on top of pink room and do nothing but try to keep the pink room clear and kept my teammates covered.

      After spamming plasma bursts and plasma nades for a few moments, our team wins by a blowout, 25-12. I am happy with my ending score, 7 kills, 4 assists, and 2 deaths, and the game backs out and we move on to Turf.


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