Halo-related thing

(not certain that this will be interesting, but I really want to write it.)

In the frozen darkness of space, silence is eternal. Hulks of broken and blasted ships drift in the infinite emptiness, remnants of battles long past. Stars twinkle like oases of light and warmth; and around these stars, fleets of starships struggle for supremacy. They fight for power; for salvation; for survival. Here, victory can mean control of a remote mining outpost, or the salvation of the galaxy.

This is a post about a game set in the universe of the Halo games. It could either be created as a stand-alone game, or as a modification of an existing game (potential such games are "Homeworld" or "Sins of a Solar Empire"). The player controls a fleet of warships, mustering them into battle by means differing by the faction to which they belong, attempting to claim victory over foes deadly and cunning.

There are three races that a player can control. The UNSC is the underdog of any war; the shield of all humanity, it is outgunned and outnumbered in battle after battle, and must rely on fixed defenses and stealth ships to win victory. The Covenant, a group of alien races united by the fanatical Prophets, have the most advanced ships and weapons, but are weakened by political infighting. Last and most fearful are the Flood; a race of parasites that caused the annihilation of all sentient life in the galaxy a hundred thousand years ago. On land, they can crush any resistance with forces numbering in the billions; but the void of space limits them to only those ships they can steal from others.

The UNSC.

The UNSC once controlled dozens of colonies. UNSC warships and marines quashed criminals and rebels with equal vigor. Then the Covenant came: and, over a generation of constant war, it all fell apart.

All races, before battle, must overcome challenges just to get their forces to the field. The UNSC's challenges are simplest. Given a finite amount of manpower and money, the player must decide what he can afford. UNSC forces include (from lightest to heaviest):
Longsword fighter-bombers
Pelican troop transports
Mako corvettes
Raven prowlers
Pillar frigates
Juggernaught destroyers
Halcyon light cruisers
Marathon heavy cruisers
Terra carriers


The UNSC's greatest asset, in defensive battles, are its MAC stations; each holding one, gigantic, magnetic acceleration cannon, effective even against the technologically superior Covenant warships. In any battle, it must attempt to cripple opposing ships with sustained fire, use prowlers to litter their paths with mines, and launch massive, devastating nuclear barrages. (That last one is technically optional, but really, who wouldn't?) In certain, large-scale battles, the option to use SPARTAN infiltrators is available; if protected well, they can turn the tide of battle.

The Covenant.

The Covenant has lasted eons. Founded in ages past, it has spread across a vast swathe of the galaxy, enlisting or exterminating other races in the process. Its leaders are fanatical, and the rest of the Covenant follows suit.

All races, before battle, must overcome challenges just to get their forces to the field. The Covenant, founded on compromise, continues so. The player must create a carefully balanced force; including enough of each race to mollify them, but not so much as to offend the others, and being sure to limit the strength of the force such that the Prophets do not fear revolution. Covenant forces include (from lightest to heaviest):
Razor boarding craft
Seraph fighters
Smasher bombers
Nocturne frigates
Aether light cruisers
Redemption destroyers
Reverence heavy cruisers
Illumination battlecruisers
Archon assault carriers
Ophanus heavy carriers


The Covenant relies on overwhelming firepower, wiping all that opposes it from existence. Unlike the UNSC, Covenant ships have shields that regenerate over time, allowing a clever fleetmaster to seize advantage by cycling damaged and fresh ships to prevent losses. In the largest engagements, a Covenant fleetmaster may choose to summon a Prophet into battle, aboard an assault carrier. The Prophet contributes significant firepower, but its main aid is in morale; while a Prophet is present, all Covenant forces will fight harder, inspired by its leadership - but if a Prophet is slain, Covenant morale and combat effectiveness will fall as sharply as it rose.

The Flood

The Flood is an infection mechanism. It consumes anything of sufficient intelligence, transforming it and making it but a puppet of flesh. Individual Flood are puny; but their numbers are terrifying. The Flood have no ships of their own; all they have is what they steal.

All races, before battle, must overcome challenges just to get their forces to the field. The Flood seize ships trying to escape from a world the Flood have taken. The player directs their forces, trying to take as many ships as possible before they escape off-planet. Civilian ships are numerous, but unarmed; military ships are more valuable, but take more precious time to seize. Flood forces are composed of unarmed civilian ships and whatever Covenant or UNSC ships they managed to acquire; generally the lighter sorts.

The Flood's main combat strength comes from their tremendous numbers and their ability to capture ships in battle. At short range, Flood ships can spew infection forms, which have a chance (dependent on target size) of capturing the affected vessel. Flood controlled ships can also ram other ships, like two corpses in the same grave. This immobilizes and nearly certainly captures the ship hit, but renders the Flood-ship useless for the duration of the ship-to-ship battle.


In battles involving particularly large numbers of Flood, the player can spawn a Gravemind, a controlling intelligence for the otherwise near-mindless Flood, by sacrificing a large number of Flood. The Gravemind improves all aspect of Flood fleets, from capture speed to ship maneuvering to accuracy, but is as vulnerable as the ship he is spawned in.

In conclusion: This game is only partially feasible as a Total Conversion (i.e., fleet creation minigames would be impractical). Full game creation is obviously even less feasible. Thus, it's just a day-dream. Still, I really like the idea, enough that I spent... um... several hours today writing about it. Hooray for silliness!