Halo Wars: The Great War

Creator's Note: Click here to read the story and my final thoughts about this article. And for the sup-pages directly connected to this page, click here.

Creator's Note: This article is only the backbone of what is to come, there will be many more articles that flesh out heaps more information about this game, coming in the future. The Great War Series will be properly finished sometime in 2014.

"You know how it started and seen how it finished but you haven't heard the whole story."

- Slogan for Halo Wars: The Great War

Halo Wars: The Great War (also dubbed as Halo: The Great War, The Great War, HW TGW, TGW and informally Halo Wars 2) will be the second Real-Time Strategy video game and the thirteenth instalment in the Halo series, it will developed by 343 Industries and Robot Entertainment with small contributions from Vanguard Games and will be published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox One and half a year later for PC and Mac. It is the first game since Halo 2 to be on more than one platform and the first since Halo: Combat Evolved in to be on Macintosh. It's the first RTS game developed by 343 Industries.

It is the longest Halo game designed to flesh out the history and timeline of the Halo Universe. Even though it is a RTS game and does have some story connections to Halo Wars and is also referred to by some as Halo Wars 2, but it is not a sequel to Halo Wars. It follows all the major battles and events of the Human-Covenant War, from the first battle on Harvest to the final battle at The Ark. The Great War is the name of the era of the Human-Covenant War as well as being another name for the war itself.

The Great War was first officially announced at an E3 two years before the game was released - like many Halo games before it. The game doesn't have a set release date yet, but it is assumed that it will be released around late 2018 to early 2020, though it could possibly be even later. The game will use an updated and modified version of the Halo engine merged with others to work with the worlds and RTS gametype. The Great War is rated "M" for Mature like most Halo games, though unlike the previous Halo RTS - Halo Wars which was rated "T" for Teen, and 16+ in the UK and "M" in Australia rather than PG.

Halo Wars: The Great War has many new features than from its predecessor Halo Wars. What many fans and reviewers didn't like about the original Halo Wars was the fact that the player couldn't play as or even see all the ranks, vehicles, aircraft, ships, soldier, weapons, factions and characters in the Halo Universe, as well as many other things. But now in The Great War many of these things are now possible, one very notable thing is the new First and Third Person Mode which allows the player to play as a single unit just like in the other Halo games. The controls are very similar to Halo Wars's, although there are many new features and strategic options as well. More new things are that there are many factions in the game and unlike Halo Wars each major faction are playable and has its own campaign (or campaigns). New game modes such as Forge, Theater and Domination have been added as well. Many other new features are also going to be available. The cinematic aren't CGI like Halo Wars's, there made with the in-game engine or it will be like the motion comics similar to the ones from the terminals from other Halo games.

A lot of downloadable content or DLC is planned with content for every category, which will be coming available over time; including expansion packs continuing the stories of the game.

The game is being hyped up to be more than twice as successful as it's predecessor Halo Wars.

Content Summaries and Campaign
Halo Wars: The Great War’s goal is to flesh out the timeline of the Human-Covenant War, specifically all it’s major battles. The game will start off where The Great War began at the Battle of Harvest.

It is a Real Time Strategy game like Halo Wars, so it shares many gameplay similarities, players can control armies giving their units orders, collecting resources so they can upgrade and create units, producers and weapons. The game can be played in single and multiplayer modes and also in online gameplay. Note: Many events from previous Halo games and media will make appearances.

Campaign
The Great War has several campaigns covering all the major battles during the Human-Covenant War, each campaign will be set during a certain part of the war, from the first battle on Harvest to the very end of the war at Installation 00. The Human-Covenant War wasn’t the only war at that time many insurrections still existed and affairs from both wars sometimes collided, so battles from these other wars will also appear in campaigns. A new campaign will be unlocked when two campaigns share a related timeline event. The first campaign is Age of Reclamation, its played with the Covenant faction. There are seven (playable through campaigns) factions (not including natives). The campaigns are divided up into time periods of the war. Each faction has its own name for their campaigns, there is 9 (main) larger campaigns in The Great War and 7 shorter:

Tutorial (Played with UNSC and Covenant)

Tutorial - Non-Canon (short)

UNSC Campaigns

2525-2531 - The Harvest Campaign (large)

2525-2536 - The Outer Colony Battles (large)

2536-2552 - The Inner Colony Battles (large)

2552 - Halo (large)

Covenant Campaigns

2524-2535 - Age of Reclamation (large)

2536-2550 - Final Purge (large)

2551-2552 - Journey's End (large) - also played with Covenant Loyalists

Insurrection Campaigns

2526-2531 - The Next War (short)

2531-2537 - End of The Insurrection (large)

2545-2552 - Inner Colony Insurrections (short) - played with Colonial Insurgents

Heretic Campaigns

2526-2530 - Dispute of a New Age (short)

2532-2536 - Walk of the Unfaithful (short)

2552 - The Truth (short)

Caretakers Campaigns

2552 - Maintaining Protocol (short) - this campaign follows 343 Guilty Spark (and Sentinels) of the areas he goes to during the events of the original Halo trilogy

Flood Campaigns

2552 - Awakening (short)

2552 - Virus (large)

Note: The other factions that don’t have their own campaign may appear in another factions campaign and sometimes may even be playable in some missions. These factions will be still playable in other game modes.

Controls
The Great War’s controls resemble Halo Wars's, though there are some changes/improvements and new features, one noticeable improvement is the ability to zoom in and out a lot more than from the games predecessor.

 RTS Controls (Default) 

Triggers and Bumpers

Left Trigger: Zoom in - screen.

Left Bumper: Click and selects all units on screen, double click and all units are selected on the battlefield, hold and select all currently solo units.

Right Trigger: Zoom out - screen.

Right Bumper: Click to warp to random units of the player, hold for Battle Examination.

Thumbsticks

Left Thumbstick: Camera movement, click and hold thumbstick for cameras movement to speed up.

Right Thumbstick: Move rotate screen/map and mini-map, click thumbstick and goes back to default camera view and map positioning.

D-Pad

Left D-Pad: Reinforcements Menu.

Right D-Pad: Leader Command Menu.

Up D-Pad: Combat Support Menu.

Down D-Pad: Building Menu - create producers and structures (or import units from the Unit Production Menu within it).

Action Buttons

 A : Click A for selection of an individual units, double click A to select all units of a type, hold A and select a group of near units - a blank circler image will appear around the crosshair and all units within it will be selected.

 B : Click B cancels, hold B deletes/recycles (click A to confirm deletion click B to cancel).

 X : Click X and move/send units, collect resources and attack, double click X and units will sprint to their target, hold X to make units kill their target and after retreat or find cover. If a producer is selected and clicking X places a waypoint for units recently produced.

 Y : Click Y for special ability, double click Y for automatic use of special abilities, hold Y to go into first and third person mode.

Center Buttons

View Button: Brings up a library of individual screens which the player can change by using the bumpers: Screen 1 - objectives. Screen 2 enhanced mini-map and ally support. Screen 3 - information on relevant subjects, stats, trading resources and the ability to choosing allegiance. Screen 4 - timelines and skulls.

Menu Button: The in-game pause menu were the player can resume, save, load saved game, change sound and other options as well as quitting the game.

 RTS Controls (Variant) 

There is variant of the controls where Up on the D-Pad and the Left Trigger swop actions and down on the D-Pad and the Right Trigger swop actions.

 F&TP Controls 

The controls for first and third person mode are almost identical to Halo 6's except that holding "Y" will take the player back to RTS mode and "up" on the D-Pad will change first to third person views, the mode also includes the new combos that were introduced to Halo 6 like, click “A” then “B” does a forward roll like the evade ability from Halo Reach, click and then hold “A” while pushing on a direction on the left thumbstick and whatever direction the thumbstick is being pushed the character will flip in that direction and by clicking “B” continually the player will do various smooth melee strikes.

Cutscenes & Cinematics
Cutscenes in The Great War are not like the ones from the original Halo Wars, instead of using CGI the only cinematics will be made with the in-game engine during missions and at the begging of a mission or campaign a series of images and artwork like some terminals from previous Halo games which will be screened and a commentary about the upcoming mission will be present. The only CGI for this game appear in the trailers.

Battle Examination Mode
The new Battle Examination mode is where the player can watch current battles they are involved with in different views following random units as they fight and move around. It is very similar to when a player in earlier Halo games dies in a multiplayer game - the camera would follow random players as they fight while the player waits to re-spawn. Note: It acts a little bit like a cinematic.

Heads-Up Display
The HUD also referred to as Camera View is the set of displayed symbols and icons that appear across the screen in gameplay. It helps guide and keep the player aware of their progress. Its set up is almost identical to the one used in Halo Wars.

There are many pieces that make up the HUD:

Crosshair - The Crosshair (sometimes referred to as cursor) is a small symbolized object in the center of the screen, which is part of the camera. It moves along with the camera and is used for selecting, if the player is targeting something, the Crosshair symbol will change color and sometimes changes shape in a way.

Visual COM - At the top left corner of the screen a circular shaped visual communicator will be present, team members, allies (and enemies) will use this to speak and communicate with the player and other team members regarding the current mission or main story plots of a campaign, the communicator also give new objectives.

Objectives - Shown to the right of the Visual COM, the most important and relevant objectives will be shown. A full list of objectives and other information is available when pressing the View button.

Mini-Map - At the top right corner of the screen the circular Mini-Map is placed, it shows units and occupied structures that are present on the battlefield, the landscape, shape and size of the battlefield is also shown. There’s also a compass around the mini-map.

Advancement Data - Just to the left of the mini-map, a box is there with the information of the players population (current and maximum), tech level and resources.

Direction Indicator - An arrow may sometimes appear just above the Crosshair which will indicate the direction of a current goal or a guide requested to a specific location on the map.



Circle Menu - When the player uses a form of Combat Support or selects a building the Circle Menu will appear in the center of the map, it takes up a decent part of the screen and is used for getting/producing upgrades, units and Combat Support. The Circle Menu has eight icons one on the top (Icon 1) and bottom (Icon 5) and three on the right (Icons 2-4) and right (Icons 6-8). For a building/producer the top icon upgrades the structure and the bottom icon will recycle the building - not for the same as its original price but the player will gain some of his/her resources back. The icons on the right (if a unit producer) will be for units and the icons on the left will be for upgrades. Other functions of the icons in the Circle Menu will vary in uses. When the player selects one of the icons on the right or left a box to the right of the right icons or the left of the left ones will appear with information about the thing selected and another spot in the center of the Circle Menu which shows the required cost, tech level and population, that the selected thing needs to be acquired. In regarding to unit producers, once one or three of the three units available at a unit producer is fully upgraded, the upgrade icon may go blank but it can also allow the use of a new unit icon, which will cost 1.000 resources to allow the production of the unit and then the unit will go to its standard price, the extra unit will also come fully upgraded.

Forge Menu - Just like the Circle Menu except it appears to the right of the screen and it is in a square/rectangle shape which is used for constructing various buildings and in Forge mode it is used for all Forge purposes. The Forge Menu can have as many icons as it needs for its subject. It works just like the menu for creating Forge items in the main Halo games, there is a single line that acts like an icon which the player can scroll down by using the left thumbstick and in Forge the bumpers will change to the items of another factions. The player will be able to flick from each base type; camp, stronghold, fortress. Note: The player can rotate items by holding “A” and moving the right thumbstick.

Unit Selection Icon - If a unit has been selected an icon will be shown at the bottom of the screen. An icon will appear for each unit type selected - regarding selecting groups.

Timer - Just below the top of the center of the screen will be a timer if its needed, it will normally count down but can count up.

Further Notes: Other bits of notes and information may also appear on the screen at random times and places. Zooming in and out of the screen has increased a lot since the original Halo Wars. Each faction will have their own unique look for their Heads-Up Display, the biggest changes would be the Crosshair symbol and the color of the HUD. If the player selects an enemy unit its name may be different to what the name would be if the enemy team selected it - like if the Covenant faction selected one of its own units such as a Kig-Yar Sniper when a UNSC team selects it would come up as a Jackal Sniper.

The HUD/Camera View in first and third person mode changes with different units but resembles the one used in Halo 6.￼

First & Third Person Mode
The First and Third Person Mode is where the player can transfer from the normal birds-eye view and RTS gameplay to a single unit in a first or third person view just like in the original Halo games.

The mode comes available when the player holds in “Y” during a game, then the player will no longer be in the Real-Time Strategy style of gameplay but now in a single unit with first person view. The controls for this mode are almost identical to Halo 6’s except that Up on the D-Pad will switch from First to Third Person Mode and Third to First Person Mode and holding “Y” will take the player back to the RTS mode. When the player is in this mode, the rest of his/her units will follow the last orders they were given and then act defensive - staying in the safest near area they were last at. While the player is in the first or third person mode the current unit being played as strengths will go up slightly, specifically its movements and accuracy, if the player is an infantry unit he/she can drive/pilate and sometimes hijack vehicles and other machines.

This mode is (usually) exclusive to leaders and hero's, though there on some rare occasions of which other unit types can be played and the player could make the modes work for all units in Forge mode. In Co-Operative Play or if the player has allies, if a player is in the First or Third Person Mode their units can be set to be put under the command of the ally why they are in the mode.

The First and Third Person Mode works for infantry, vehicles, air-craft, water-craft and space-craft, but not for larger units like ships. Note: If the player has a squad of several infantry units and has the ability of the first and third person mode he/she will not play as every unit at once but as the squad leader.

Difficulty
The Great War has the same difficulties as from every other Halo game, as well as some new difficulty features:

Easy - For gamers new to the Real-Time Strategy genre.

Normal - Familiar RTS gamers, who just want to play a smooth and enjoyable game.

Heroic - For experienced RTS players.

Legendary - For experienced RTS players looking for a challenge.

Mythic - Only for the greatest and stupidly overconfident gamers. - Comes with the Mythic Skull.

Custom Difficulty - This is unlocked with a Skull which is unlocked after all the other (in game) Skulls have been collected. The player can change the strengths of their faction, allies or enemies, they also can shorten or make longer timers.

Library
The Library is a source of (categorized) information for all the units, factions, characters, planets, species and weapons (etc) in the game. Every time the player encounters a unit, character, planet..etc for the first time, it will be unlocked in the Library. The Library does work in a very similar manner to the Library from Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary - using the Kinect system in gameplay. Once all the information for the Library is found a Skull will become unlocked.

Timeline
The Timeline is a collection of events that will be slowly unlocked, every time a mission is completed a few new pieces of the Timeline (with connections to the mission) will be unlocked. There is a unique Timeline for each faction, sometimes they share events, though they may be portrayed from different perspectives. Completing the Timeline will result in a Skull being unlocked.

The Timeline replaces Black-Boxes from the original Halo Wars.

Galaxy Map
The Galaxy Map gives a view of the entire galaxy which is used as a system of looking at different locations and information about what is current in the galaxy, like who is occupying the area, what events are going on, etc. The galaxy is divided into sections (territories > systems > sectors > maps) of systems and who is occupying them, the player can select these systems by moving the crosshair over them. Note! Some special missions may be based outside the galaxy map, such as places like the Ark. The Galaxy Map appears in two forms: The first is used almost at at the start of every mission or level, just before the players fleet (he/she is currently with/using) begins the mission he/she will get a mission briefing on what is currently happening on the battlefield. The player can sometimes choose what units he/she starts with depending on his/her resources. The player can also look at some current battles that his faction is involved in the galaxy. The second is just where the player can look over the galaxy and read information about different locations in the galaxy - party connected to the Library.

Territories
A territory is an area belonging to a faction. They can expand from a single planet within a system to several (or all) systems in the galaxy. If a faction is in a territory that does not belong to them, reinforcements and other resources may be harder to acquire.

When the player selects a system, a light colored outline will appear around it. The color of the outline will differ depending on which faction the system belongs to. Also when the player selects a system, a faint colored mist will appear over other surrounding systems that are part of the same factions territory. But if two or more factions own a planet in a system its outline will calmly flash between both factions team colors.

Note: Players may not be welcome into some systems and could be attacked without warning.

Systems
Systems are section of space in the galaxy, consisting with several planets, moons and asteroid fields. If the player wants to conquer a system, he/she will have to claim all valuable or defendable places within the desired system and then it will become part of their factions territory. If the player claims a planet or moon, he/she will be able to create trading roots, which will provide extra supplies at the start of a battles played in that system.

Planets
Planets and space sectors are each different types of sectors in a system, where battlefield missions can be played. Each planet will have a number of battlefields and locations, ranging in size and environment. Planets are used to perform Land Battles and space sectors are to perform Space Battles. Conquering all major battlefields on a planet or space sector will result in it becoming part of the players territory.

Battlefields
Battlefields are locations on the Map where the player will play battles and missions on. They Vary is size, environment and with native plants and creatures. There are two types of battlefields; land fields are located on planets and is the standard battle location type, the player can do Land and Water Battles with this type. Space fields are located in outer space outside a planets orbit or in an asteroid field, it is possible to play battles similar to Land with this type but only if the player infiltrates an enemy ship or space station.

Map Sizes
In The Great War no map or battlefield is exactly the same shape or size. Depending on how big the map is certain numbers of players may be restricted to be able to play on a map, because each map has a specific amount of players it can have on the battlefield. Note that the maximum amount of factions a game can have on the battlefield is 12 - not including natives.

Note: Each size says the amount of factions there can be on the map, but not mentioning other component like natives and wildlife. All these other components can be on any sized map, no matter how small except for Size 1.

Maps are cateogized into different types of sizes like this:

Size 1: Are the smallest sized map, they can only have up to 2 Minor Factions (with restrictions) and are normally only used for In-Base Operations.

Size 2: Are the second smallest map size, they can have 3 Minor Factions (with minor restrictions) and are normally used for Special and In-Base Operations.

Size 3: Are able to have 2 Major Factions (with restrictions) or 4 Minor Factions (without restrictions)

Size 4: Can have up to 2 Major Factions (without restrictions).

Size 5: Can have up to 3 Major Factions or 6 Minor Factions.

Size 6: Can have up to 4 Major Factions or 8 Minor Factions.

Size 7: Can have up to 6 Major Factions or 10 Minor Factions.

Size 8: Can have up to 8 Major Factions or 12 Minor Factions.

Size 9: Is the second largest map size and can have up to 10 Major Factions.

Size 10: The largest size map, it can have up to 12 Major Factions on the Battlefield.

Note: Major and Minor Factions can case each other on the battlefield.

Development
The development for the game is just beginning, the idea is there but production for the game hasn’t started yet, not even the engine, concept art or organized teams are even ready, though the planning of the game is almost 100% complete. What progress has been made on the game so far is it’s title, most of the gameplay concepts, planning is almost done and that it will be a real-time strategy game with a little bit of action from a first and third person shooter mode, as well as it’s ideas for campaign stories, units and gametypes and that it’s cinematics will be like Halo: Spartan Assault’s and the Terminal’s. The game probably wont start production at least until a year before the release of Halo 6 which will most likely be around 2017-2019, making Halo Wars: The Great War release up to 2018-2020 possibly even more.

The idea for the game actually came from one of Halo’s many fans. The fan originally had his first idea’s just from playing Halo Wars when it first came out in 2009 and when he played it he would imagine how could this game be better. A couple of months after that he started imagining what a sequel would be like, over time his ideas kept getting bigger and bigger, every time he would finish planning something another idea for it even better would come along and he would have to re-think it. Eventually he couldn’t keep up with his ideas, so he decided to write them down on his computer. Time went on and there were many different directions to what the game could be and soon after many months he knew his ideas were to vast just for a sequel to Halo Wars, but it had to be a game about the entire Human-Covenant War, where the player could use every vehicle, air-craft, space-craft, ship, weapon, equipment and technology in the Halo universe as well as play as every faction, species, faction and sentient. Three to four years later the fan finally wrote down as much as what was in his head as he could, forcing himself not to think of new things and write down new ideas because new and better ideas come all the time and there are an infinite amount of possibilities and direction the game could go. He decided he would start a Wikia account and upload what he had created to Halo Fanon so others could see what he had made...

Features
A great thing about Halo Wars was the large variety of playable units within the game but what it lacked and what hardcore fans wanted, was the ability to play as all the creatures-ranks, vehicles, air-craft, space ships and factions in the Halo universe. In The Great War the player can do just that.

Factions
Factions are the military organizations and teams playable in The Great War. Unlike Halo Wars all Major and Minor Factions that are seen in the game are playable in the campaigns and multiplayer modes.

Playable Factions
Factions are divided up into two main categories depending on their strength or mass:

Major Factions which are large and powerful factions with plenty of resources and fleets, they have a larger variety of units and playable Battletypes as well. There are five playable Major Factions in The Great War:

UNSC (United Nations Space Command)

Covenant Empire

Covenant Loyalists

Insurrection

Flood

Minor Factions are smaller and can only have a small fleet, a single ship or no ships or fleets at all, they are normally dependent or found in/on one planet or system. There are six playable Minor Factions in The Great War:

Colonial Militia

Colonial Insurgents - (can be an Insurrection sub-faction)

(Covenant) Heretics

Kig-Yar Pirates

Jiralhanae

Forerunner Caretakers

There is another third group though they are not a true faction - Ambient will be a non-military group or just animals, normally native to the planet being played on. They are usually a civilian group closely connected to a Major or Minor Faction. They are usually only playable in Forge Mode.

Races
Factions are divided up into different groups of races: Humans are a single species. Aliens can be from a single group of species to many. Ancient are normally robotic, but can be organic. Note: Wildlife are animals native to the planet being played on and usually only playable in Forge Mode, but they are not a faction.

Fleets
Fleets are assembled armadas of ships that the faction they belong to uses to defend and attack territories and planets. They are extremely important because they contain all military units for battle types. They are mainly used on the Galaxy map where the player organizes his/her fleet/fleets to go to certain areas before the player (or opposing side) goes to start different missions, but they are also used in their own battle type called Fleet Battles. Other information about fleets is that they are lead by Navy Leaders. each faction has a different number of fleets that vary in size. A fleet may not even be a true fleet it could just be made up of a single ship, also different navy leaders have slight variations of their units for their fleet or ship.

Sub-Factions
Sub-Factions are smaller versions of a main faction, though they may dress differently and can act very similar and practically are a Minor Faction. Though they could just be another fleet with more unique features and variations in units than from the rest of the fleets.

Custom Factions
Custom Factions is where the player can create his/her own faction. Starting with a small army the player over time will gain points which he/she can use to level-up and buy a ship which can eventually lead the player to becoming the master of a massive empire. Custom Factions is not used in any of the campaigns but for multiplayer purposes only, it’s mostly used in the Domination gametype. The player can choose which faction he/she uses, it is also possible to merge the units and technology of other factions. The player can organize and edit the units he/she uses placing the unit in specific numbers, giving them certain weapons and choosing their color, but not choosing the units advanced settings like, cost, population and capabilities. Other features the player can give are the ability to change building colors, choose which icons unit and structures are placed and choose their fleets name.

Note: The more units and powerful weapons the player puts in a squad will raise the price and population the unit takes up.

Units
Units appear as individual infantrymen, vehicles, air-craft, boats (water-craft) and ships which are types of units for the army, navy(s) and air-force necessary to play The Great War. Each unit can be made up of Infantry: One-many sentient creatures. Vehicles: One and rarely Two land or water machines (including submarines). Air-Craft: A single flying machine. Fleet Ships: Very large ships in space. Each unit will have three upgrades, but if the unit is unlocked at tech level 2 the first upgrade comes automatically free and if the unit is unlocked at tech level 3 the first two upgrades comes free as well.

Entities - Species & Intelligence
There is a large variation of species and entities in The Great War, they could be a living creature or a machine (AI), all with their own advantages and disadvantage: depending on what weapons are being fired at them and the environment of the planet their on, a species and even vehicles/machines capabilities could be increased or decreased.

There are 10 species in The Great War:

Dark Kig-Yar

Human

Huragok

Jiralhanae

Kig-Yar

Lekgolo/Mgalekgolo

San’Shyuum

Sandheili

Unggoy

Yanme’e

Four non-living entities or intelligence also appear:

A.I. (Artificial Intelligence)

Remote-Controlled Machines

Sentinels

Promethean (with Reclaimer expansion pack)

Other creatures like animals of many types (species) will also appear, though they will not playable.

Unit Types
There are different types of units for battle types and environments, depending on which one the player is using, there will be different types of units: Land Units based on the land consists of infantry, vehicles, and air-craft. Water Units based on the water consists of water-craft, submarines, ships, and air-craft. Space Units based in space consists of star-fighters, ships and (some) air-craft. It is also possible to merge battle types, with units (especially infantry and vehicles) from other categories, but they are limited in their abilities.

There is a broader range in land units compared to all the other unit types, simply because Land Battles are the main and most common type of Battletype. Sometimes infantry may stumble across unoccupied vehicles, they may belong to any faction or may be belonging to some of the natives, either way the infantry unit may be able to pilot them without costing resources or population.

Non-Playable
Non-playable units will likely be non-military but not always: civilians are normally related to a Major or Minor Faction but stay by populated and colonized areas and most won’t be able to fight. Wildlife are various animals native to the planet being played on, they appear in many different environments from land to sea to air. Note: It is possible to play as these units in Forge Mode.

Unit Selecting & Targeting
All units will have a ring around them when the player moves the Crosshair over them for 2-3 seconds and for some units within that ring certain parts of the unit will be highlighted, this is because every single unit is individual even if they are already part of a squad. Like if there is a unit which is an infantry unit (with more than one soldier: squad) each highlighted part will represent a single soldier and the same for aircraft and other units, but for some larger single units like tanks, transport ships and other vehicles; specific parts of the vehicle (which can include infantry being transported) will be highlighted instead of separate units (like wheels, wings and cannons). When the players units attack and damage one of those parts it will be weaker in the categories that part was used in - the player can do this when he/she moves the Crosshair over one of these highlighted bits and clicks “X” the players units will attack that specific part of the unit.

Leaders and Heros
Notes: Leaders and Heros do not have upgrades except for Spartan-II’s where no matter how many individual Spartans there are, they will all share the same upgrade icon. Each faction will have their own name for their leader types and Heros. For space battles Heros will be notable ships (they can not be played as a single unit).

Leaders
Leaders (also known as commanders) are automatically deployed to the battlefield when unlocked, when you unlock a leader type new units and combat support will come available. Usually when the player starts a mission he/she will have one leader to begin with, but at tech level 2 the player gets the opportunity to buy a second leader and at tech level 4 the player gets the opportunity to get the final leader. If the player doesn’t get the leader strait away, he/she can buy them (though they can sometimes be free) from the Leader Command Menu which is a place to import all leaders and heros. The Leader Command Menu can have the three leader types and eleven heros or less in it, or fourteen heros or less - icon one will control Circle Page 2. Leaders can hop in any ambient or ally vehicle (land, water, air) when the player presses “Y” once the vehicle is selected.

There are three types of leaders in gameplay: Land Commanders are the leaders for armies on the land, as units they normally appear in the form of soldiers or special forces units but can be vehicles and air-craft, they are normally free at the start of a Land Battle. Space or Water Commanders (also known as captains) are the leaders for ships from space and Water Battles, as units they normally appear in the form of captains and bridge officers units but can be boats and air-craft, they are only available if the player has a fleet. Specialists bring many advancements to their fleet, as units they normally appear in the form of civilians like scientists, professors, agents or special forces. Note: Water units honestly don’t directly belong to any specific leader, but water’s bonuses are shared by all leaders.

Heros
Heros are special leaders that are notable and well known personalities of the games, books and other media, as well as some new characters to the Halo Universe. They can be more powerful than normal leaders and can also have unique animations.

Further Information
Something very cool and unique about leaders is the ability to play as a single unit in a First or Third Person Shooter Mode. Units will become stronger in this mode, which is activated when the player holds “Y” in. Unlike the normal leaders of which the player can only have one of each type, the player can have as many hero's as the mission will allow them too.

Note: Read more about this here

Producers and Outposts
Producers and Outpost are the defense and creators of units and most unit upgrades making them necessary for playing The Great War. They can be in the form of buildings or are based at a command ship, which they will then be imported to the battlefield.

Base Categories and Upgrades
Buildings have changed a lot since Halo Wars, they are categorized in four groups: Base Components include all command centers, base expansion, landing pads, walls etc. Unit Producers which create all units and do some upgrades. Advancement Producers upgrade and provide means for advancement and production and Outposts and Turrets which are shield generators, turrets, mines or just outposts. There is also fifth type but it doesn’t count because they are ambient - just being part of the scenery, though they can be converted to do some base functions. Land structures are the main force and focus of buildings and structures in The Great War. To upgrade a structure the player will have to select the structure and when the Circle Menu appears the top icon (Icon 1) will have the upgrade. Some producers may have this extra feature “Circle Page One/Two” (mainly used in technology advancement producers) is where Icon 1 creates a second page, the player can switch back to Circle Page One by pressing Icon 1 again. When producing and upgrading units (normally in a Unit Producer) Icon 2 may not be available until Tech Level 1, Icon 3 wont be unlocked until Tech Level 2 and Icon 4 wont be unlocked until Tech Level 3 or 4. Icon 8 wont be unlocked until Tech Level 2, Icon 7 wont be unlocked until Tech Level 3 and Icon 6 wont be unlocked until Tech Level 4.

Base Components - Ground
Bases can produce standard and special units as well as a great form of defense and refuge. There are three types of ground bases, depending on the location of the base, tech level and resources the player will be able to make stronger ones: Camps are the smallest type of base, the player should need an acceptably fortifiable area with a clear space, no Camp is exactly the same, the player can rearrange the positioning of the Camp facilities and components which are; LZ’s, barricades, fences, maned-turrets, tents, marquees, small buildings and a command post. Strongholds are the medium base type, they bring new stronger components, the player will need to find a clear space, like the Camps, Strongholds are built up of different components but are more fortified and are made up of; LZ’s, barricades, walls, turrets, strong buildings and a command center. Fortress’s are the largest, strongest and most expensive type of base, it can also be an expansion or upgrade of a Stronghold, the player will need to find a large clear space, the components are also larger; LZ platforms, turrets, walls, large/long buildings and a command center.

There are various types of base components and structures like special unique producers that make very specific units or other things like trenches and land mines.

Base Components - Water
Water-Bases don’t appear in different sizes as much as Ground Bases do, but just in different settings, they produce water-crafts on and under water, there are four types of Water Bases, depending on the location of the base, tech level and resources the player will be able to make stronger ones: Docks are based by the land and vary in size and shapes (depending on what shape the coast is) and are made up of; LZ’s, docking bays, turrets, strong (dock) buildings and a command center. Rigs are based in the ocean, they vary in size and are made up of; LZ’s, docking bays, garrisons, turrets, strong components and a command center. Undersea Bases are based under the water and look a little bit like Strongholds and Fortresses (for Ground Bases), the only units they create are submarines and are made up of; LZ’s, barricades, turrets, strong buildings and a command center. Water-ships are a type of Water-Base they have to be very big ships (usually capital ships) and need to have; LZ’s, docking bays, turrets and a command center.

Note: Infantry and vehicle can be present on water-bases.

Base Components - Space
Like Water-Bases, Space-Bases (or space stations) don’t appear in the same form and sizes as Ground Bases do, but just in different settings, they produce space-crafts, though they wont produce large ships for they come through Slipspace. There are four types of Space Bases, depending on the location of the base, tech level and resources the player will be able to make stronger ones: Defense Stations are very large and vary in type, they are very strong and are made up of; LZ’s, docking bays, cannons, turrets, very strong components and a command center. Production Stations are smaller space stations compared to Defense Stations. Their function is to produce and upgrade space units and other upgrades. They are made up of; LZ’s, docking bays, light cannons, turrets, strong components and a command post. Spaceships are the most massive of ships in a fleet (usually capital ships), they are and act like a type of Space-Base. They have to be and need to have; LZ’s, docking bays, cannons, turrets, very strong components and a command center.

Outposts are not bases but are components that are seen around bases or deeper space. They can be small space stations or detector nodes. Note: Infantry and vehicle can be present on Space-Bases.

Modular Fortress - Modular Bases of Operations
A Modular Fortress (or to the UNSC; Modular Base of Operations) is a very large base type for Ground Battles that has other smaller add-ons; turret foundations and building sites to make facilities that produce units, upgrades and advancement materials, making it unnecessary to build other structures around the base.

Facilities are:

Infantry Facility

Vehicle Facility

Air-Craft Facility

Resource Facility

Technology Advancement Facility

Upgrades Facility

Shield-Generator - Facility

Base Turret

These are the exact same type of bases used in Halo Wars, yet now has several changes; it now costs significantly more resources to make (unless Spirit of Fire is the players fleet set-up), but ii also is a lot stronger and the fortress doesn’t change name when you upgrade it. The facilities on the Modular Bases also look a little different to the standard facilities, though they do resemble them. They are not available for all fleets and factions.

Landing Zones
Landing Zones or LZ’s are the stations that transport air-craft use to deliver units and supplies to bases, there are three different types of LZ’s: The first is the smallest and is simply just a clear space about twice to the size of the transporter, it is for transporting units. The second can be a variety of platforms and is around the same size standard LZ though a little bigger, it is for transporting units and resources. The third is a supply pad for resources and is about the same or double the size of the transporter.

Unit Producers
Unit Producers are the creators of units and (main) unit upgrades, they can be made from buildings, water-ships or from a command ship - delivered through transport ships. There are three types of Unit Producers for each battle type category: Infantry Producers are created by buildings or delivered from space-ships, they are available for Land Battles. Vehicle Producers are created by buildings or delivered from space-ships, they are available for Land Battles. Air-Craft Producers are created from air-pads or from space ships, they are available for land, water and Space Battles. Water-Craft Producers are created from docks, rigs, water-ships or delivered space-ships, they are available for Water Battles. Underwater Producers are created from rigs, water-ships and space-ships, they are available for water battles. Water-Ships Producers are created from docks, rigs or by large capital space-ships, they are available for Water Battles. Star-Fighter Producers are created from space stations and shipyards (in or out of orbit) or they can be made by space-ships, they are available for Space Battles. Space-Ship Producers are created from space stations and shipyards (in or out of orbit) or they can be made by large capital ships, they are available for Space Battles.

Advancement Producers
Advancement Producers are the providers of resources and technological advancements as well as providing various upgrades for units and many other components within a faction. There are three types of Advancement Producers: Resources Producers are the providers of most resources that are needed to afford units, structures, upgrades and Combat Support, they are delivered to supply pads. Technology Producers are responsible for tech level upgrades, they can act with a number of specific structures or base upgrades. Special Upgrade Producers do unique upgrades for units, structures, Combat Support and population within a faction, they can be in the form of a building or based at a command ship.

Outposts and Turrets
Outposts and Turrets are stationary structures used for defense or just as simple lookouts. Outposts come in many different forms from very small camps to sniper towers. There are also many types of Turrets: Type one & two are small (especially type one) common transportable stationary guns that can be maned by (single) infantry units. Note that it is possible for a unit in the turret to die before the gun is actually destroyed, once a turret is found unmanned other units can claim it when a unit is selected and the player presses "Y" on the turret. Type three are tall turrets well ranged and usually anti-air. Type Four are large to massive turrets that can take down heavy armored units or spread out units. Turrets can be delivered from command ships and transported or constructed by transport ships. Note: Turrets may be specified by their shape and size not their armenant type.

Miscellaneous Structures
There are many forms of miscellaneous structures and buildings in The Great War, they appear in all environment types, some are claimable and can be a good place for cover and hiding, as well as for acquiring extra resources and technology, though a lot of structures are just part of the scenery, landing zones are a in a way also like this. There are six (usable) types of obtainable structures for occupying (that units can interact with):

• Standard Cover is a place to garrison units that prevents them from being getting extra damaged, these can be natural or designed for defense.

• Garrisons and Barriers give cover for units on the battlefield, they can be designed for single units or an entire squad. Different types of garrisons may work better for different units like towers for sniper units.

• Turrets obtainable stationary guns.

• Generators speeds up technology advancement.

• Resource Supplier provides resources.

• Research Facility are located unique area for study and cam bring special upgrades.

Game Concepts
The Great War brings many new concepts that change how the gameplay works and many old concepts from Halo Wars will return as well, but appear slightly different from how they were presented in Halo Wars. Concepts from other games will also be made to work for an RTS/The Great War to make the game feel more like Halo.

Unit Strengths - Points and Information
All units will have a number of points and capabilities that will have their own uses.

Armed Personal and Armament
The Armed Personal category will contain: Numbers of units, ranks and their Main Weapon. And the Armament category will contain: Secondary Weapon a Melee or Handgun. Special Ability a Special Weapon or Equipment. Equipment is Active/Adaptable Camouflage, Jet-Packs and other unique tools. Ally Support; Unit reaction to an ally selected-usually for Transport and Repairing/Healing.

Health
Health is the life source of all units. Each unit will have a number of health and sometimes shield points, once a unit is damaged the points will decrease and once all the points run out the unit will be unusable. Health is divided up into two sections: life and shielding; Life & Armor 25-500 points. Healing, 0-5, 10 points Per Second/Minute. Energy Shields 0, 25-500 points. Shield Regeneration 0-5, 10 points Per Second.

Capabilities and Additional Information
Capabilities are the strengths of damage and movement for a unit: Speed, 1-100 points. Movability, 0-10 points. Jump, 0-10 points. Sight, 1-10, Infinite points. Damage, 1-100 points. Range, 0-10 points. Accuracy, 1-10 points. Confidence, 1-10 points. Confidence improves the unit all round but varies in it effectiveness. The additional information is basic and useful information about what the unit can and cant do: Population; 1-100. Tech Level; 0-4. Resources; 0-Infinite. Collect Resources; Yes/No. Swim; Yes/No. Produced; Building, Ship.

Unlockables and Technology Advancement
Unlockables and Technology Advancement are the key of upgrades strengthening a faction.

Technology Levels
Technology Levels or Tech Levels are the stages of advancement for a faction, every tech level unlocked more upgrades will become available. The player can acquire new tech levels by getting a number specific structures or by advancing age.

Population
Population is a necessary feature that controls the amount of units the player and enemy teams can have, it is there because the factions cant always spare that many units and also the game runs better without to many AI. In The Great War the Population limit has raised greatly since Halo Wars. Every time the player acquires new units the amount of Population room lowers. The player can raise the Population limit by getting an upgrade from an Advancement Producer.

Upgrades
Upgrades are the source of advancements for units, structures, combat support and everything, they are used for pretty much anything useable in The Great War, upgrading a unit or structure could upgrade its offensive or defensive strengths as well as unique non-violent actions. There are two different types of upgrades for a unit or structure: The standard place for the first upgrade type is the same place where the player would acquire the unit being upgraded, the unit will be on the right of the Cycle Menu and the upgrade will be on the left of that. The second upgrade will be at the place where the player acquirers special upgrades, which there will be many various upgrades there for multiple unit and structure types.

Ordnance Points
Originally known as Veterancy Points in Halo Wars, now could Ordnance Points, they are similar to the Ordnance Points in recent Halo games, yet they have changed a lot. They give extra advantages to the player and unit, a unit can get Ordnance Points by defeating enemies or by age of deployment, stronger enemies will give a unit more points and once the unit gets a certain amount of points, the unit will get a free upgrade or extra damage, health, speed or better weapons. The player will know if the unit has an Ordnance upgrade by stars that appear on the unit when the player selects it, each unit has a max 5 stars. If the unit survives the game it will appear in the next with its upgrades.

Combat Support & Leader Bonuses
Combat Support is the new version of Halo Wars’s Spirit of Fire and Leaders Abilities. All Combat Support is provided by the players capital ship, though sometimes it can come from other sources. Each category of support comes up with its own Circle Menu with room for 6-8 different support actions. Many different types of support come in gameplay, those types are attacks to the enemy from ships and aircraft, transport and healing for the players and his/her allies and special forces reinforcements. Note: Combat Support will cost resources.

Combat Support
Combat Support is a special way of bringing aid to the battlefield. Provided from the fleet or other distant base, it comes in two forms: The first being an offensive form of support where special attacks coming from fleet ships or aircraft shoot missiles, special bombs or blasts of energy to the surface. The second type is where the fleet sends teams to come and heal or repair units on their side, as well as providing several forms of transport. Note: Combat Support is available at the Combat Support Menu.

Missile Barrages are sent in by aircraft or ships shooting a spread out and mass barrage attack.

Energy and Missile Strikes are single yet massive strikes or blasts that hit targets with high damage.

Special Attacks send unique types of bombs and strikes like cryo and EMP bombs.

Transport sends units to different locations on or out of the battlefield. depending on how many units are being transported more resources will be required and bigger or more transport ships will be required, but be aware the player may have a limited amount of transport ships available and if they get destroyed all air transport will be unavailable.

Healing heals and repairs health of units - select a area and a medical team or mechanics will be sent to heal/repair the units, after the work is done the workers will leave.

Drop-Pods are a way of deploying infantry units to the battlefield without having to wait for production time, but be careful because using drop-pods is dangerous because they may get destroy entering the atmosphere of a planet. Note: only units from the Reinforcement / Special Force Menu and Leader Command Menu can use drop-pods.

Reinforcements
Reinforcements are a form of Combat Support that provides special forces and other unique units to the battlefield, imported through transport ships or with drop-pods. Mainly the units from Reinforcements are special forces, prototypes or other unique units which come in the form of infantry, vehicles, air-craft, water-craft and space-craft. Note: The Reinforcements Menu is also known as the Special Forces Menu.

Building and Construction
The player can acquire many features from (distant) Producers on his/her capital ship or main base, but using these distant Producers will take a lot more production time for things to be produced than constructing something on the ground. Creating something on the ground will make progress go faster and it will even cost less when producing units, though note buildings can also be destroyed by enemies and also sometimes by natural causes. Not all buildings are producers, shield generators, reactors, supply pads, auto-turrets and stationary guns they can also be ambient(part of the scenery) or have other unique purposes.

There are two types of buildings:

Producers

Infantry Producers produce and do the (main) upgrades for infantry.

Vehicle Producers produce and do the (main) upgrades for vehicles.

Air-Craft Producers produce and do the (main) upgrades for air-craft.

Non-Land Producers

Water-Craft Producers produce and do the (main) upgrades for water-craft.

Space-Craft Producers produce and do the (main) upgrades for space-craft.

Ship Producers produce and do the (main) upgrades for ships.

Facilities

Resource's Facilities supply resources.

Technology Advancement Facilities give the player better technology so he/she can get better upgrades for advancement.

Upgrade Facilities allow extra upgrades for units and structures.

Outposts are good lookouts and place of cover and organization.

Manned-Turrets can be placed anywhere but will need to be manned by a infantry unit and it can also be used by the enemy.

Auto-Turrets shoot enemies on sight, they can be placed anywhere but are expensive.

Shield Generator can shield a base or just an area of land, depending on how strong the shield is it can expand over a great distance.

Mines explode when an enemy walks over them, they can be placed anywhere but in large enough quantities they can get expensive.

Note: There will also be ambient structures that may just be part of the scenery.

Unit Production Menu
Similar to Reinforcements the Unit Production Menu is a place to acquire and bring new units to the battlefield if there are no Unit Producers available on the map. All units from it are provided from the fleet or other places of command (normally far distant from the map). The units from the fleet do cost more and take longer to produce, but are good if the player cant build Producers on the ground. It is accessed within the Building Menu, the player has to select a Unit Producer and then click “X” (instead of “A” which would create the Producer not the unit) the menu for the selected Producer will appear and then the player can produce the units.

Ally Support
This type of Combat Support isn’t provided by the players capital ship, but is used when the player needs extra forces when attacking an enemy to defeat them, the player can ask for the assistance of an ally, also unlike other Combat Support it is not activated by clicking the D-Pad but on one of the screens when clicking the View Button. If the play doesn’t have any allies and if he/she has more than one enemy and if one of those enemies is also an enemy with that faction the player can become allies with them to defeat the common enemy, but be aware the new ally may take advantage of the player by attacking them after the battle or if they deny becoming allies with the player they may attack the players base while their attacking their other enemy.

Notes: sometimes allies my demand resources for help.

Leader Bonuses and Leader Command Menu
Leader Bonuses aren’t a type of Combat Support but are a means of acquiring extra ones. In Halo Wars skirmish mode there were three leaders for each faction for the player to choose from, each leader would have unique units and leader/Spirit of Fire abilities, but the player could never have more than one leader and its specialties at the same time in a game, but now called Combat Support in The Great War the player can unlock new leaders in a game at once.

(Normally) when the player starts a mission he/she will have one leader to begin with, but at Tech Level 2 the player gets the opportunity to buy a second leader and at Tech Level 4 the player gets the opportunity to get the final leader. If the player doesn’t get the leader strait away, he/she can buy them (though they could be free) from the Leader Command Menu which is a place to import all leaders and heros. The Leader Command Menu can have the three leader types and eleven heros or less in it, or fourteen heros or less - Icon 1 will control Circle Page 2.

Note: That some Combat Support is always available and the player doesn’t even need a leader to use them.

When the player acquirers a new leader in a Land Battle, it will come with new units and upgrades normally relating to the leader. The player can acquire leaders and their upgrades at a command post or at the Special Upgrades Menu. There are three leader type categories, each bring one or two extra units or combat support to the battlefield: Land Commander provide new land or water units also allowing more extra units then any other, as well as some free upgrades. Space or Water Commanders (also known as Captains) provide new air units and allow a higher population limit, all fleet commanders also come with drop-pods, not to mention the other unique Combat Support they come with. Specialists provide new units in several categories, all things cost less resources and things are produced faster. Note: The title of the leader types may not sound too accurate but the sub-titles do.

Planets and Environments
There is a broad range of environments in The Great War, from familiar and common ones that we see around us every day to unique to Halo environments. Each planet will have its own unique environments, natural and some unnatural that will effect the way the map looks and plays. Depending on what type of environments there are, different units may react differently to them on how they would be like in another environment, through increased or decreased strength and capabilities.

Landscape
Many types of landscapes make appearances that change the terrain of planets and battlefields: Fields (Flat surfaces), Hills, Mountains, Valleys, Cliffs, Other flat surfaces, etc.

Land Environments
The different types of grounds that appear on land:

Grounds: Natural

Dirts (browns, red, etc), Mud, Grasses (green, red, etc), Dry Grasses, Leaves, Salt, Sands, Snow, Ice, Stones, Rocky (Pebbles, Small Rocks, etc), Lava (Hard), Other surfaces, etc.

Grounds: Unnatural

Glassland, Glassland (Recent/Burning), Hard Light, Flood Growths (surface), Covenant Metals, Forerunner Metals, Other Metals and Artificial Surfaces, etc.

Natural & Unnatural Objects
Objects: Natural & Unnatural Trees, Bushes and Ferns, Mosses, Crystals, Rocks, Buildings and Structures, etc.

Water & Liquid Environments
The different types of conditions that appear on water:

Water Types (which will include the underwater environment variant)

Oceans, Rivers, Lakes, Dams.

Liquids: Natural

Fresh Water, Salt Water, Polluted Water, Oils, Lava, etc.

Air Types
The different types of conditions in Air: Fresh, Polluted, Toxic, Methane, Gases, etc.

Weather
The weather in The Great War plays a big part in how units look and act in different environments. The weather can even change the environment, for example if the player is on a dirt map and it starts to rain the dirt could become mud:

Temperature: Heat/Chill, etc.

Units Level Light: Light Fog, Light Rain, Wind, etc.

Units Level Heavy: Heavy Fog, Heavy Rain, Heavy Wind, etc.

Above: Clouds, Storms, Lightning, etc.

Environments Effect on Units
Depending on what sort of ground there is, certain units will react differently, depending on how thick/deep or thin/shallow the ground is. The section "Low" is for when units sink slightly in the ground, but will normally do the same effect and the section "Short". The section "Even" is when the ground doesn't interfere with the units movement. The section "Short" is when the ground interferes slightly with the walk of the unit walking/driving past. The section "Long" is when the ground (or what's on it) is long enough to cover a significant part of the unit moving through it:

• Low: Mud, Sand, Snow, Leaves, Stream Water.

• Even: Dirt, Thin Grass, Thin Leaves, Salt, Ice, Glassland, Hard Light, Metals, Artificial Surface.

• Short: Short Grass, Rocky, Lava (hard), Flood Growths.

• Long: Long Grass, Canes, Thick Snow, Shallow Water.

Some grounds will have more effects and can even be deadly to units:

• Dangerous: Tornados, Quick Sand, Thin Ice, Cold Water, Hot Water, Fire, Lava, Acid, Mines, Other Explosives, etc.

• Vision: Fog, Rain, Dust Storms, Smoke.

Space Environments and Conditions
The environment in space are very different, there is no gravity, weather, land water and the conditions are extremely few, making less to explain. There are a few types of space objects, etc.

Skulls


Skulls tamper and give unique features to certain subjects, specifically in gameplay. There are twenty Skulls in the standard edition of the game that do four types of actions:

Formidable Skulls Make the gameplay more challenging, disabling the players abilities or strengthening the enemy.

Luxury Skulls Make the gameplay easier by providing more resources for the player and giving them extra strength, as well as weakening the enemy.

Party Skulls Don't make the game harder or easier, they just change the looks of things by making them more fun by adding new animations and colors.

Pro Skulls Unique and very different to the other skulls, they don't effect gameplay but unlock new features for the menu and other subjects.

Skulls don't have to be collected in The Great War, there are five that don't need to be unlocked which the player can use at any time, but all other Skulls must be unlocked. A Skull is unlocked after every campaign completed and three are unlocked for completing Domination for the first time, another is unlocked for playing online for the first time etc. Skulls don't just make the gameplay different they also unlock new features like custom difficulties.

Note: The main Skulls come with the standard edition of the game, all Skulls that come with expansion packs don't count into unlocking the extra features.

Battle Types
Battle Types or Mission Types are battle environment variants that will use different types of forces for different locations. The Battle Type differences are defined by environment, location, units (land, water and space) and unit producers.

Ground Battles
Ground Battles are missions located on the surface of a planet. The military used for these Battle Types are Infantry and Vehicles. There are two types of Ground Battles: Land Battles based on the surface of a planet, they are the most common location for all Battle Types, because there are more units, Unit Producers and heros available. Underground Battles based under the surface of a planet, the maps are darker and there is a risk of cave-ins, the Battle Type also brings in new unit types like drilling machines.

Water Battles
Water Battles like Land Battles are based on a planet, but on water instead of the land. Water Battles bring many new unit types to the Halo universe, units like water-ships, jet skies and submarines. There are two types of Water Battles: Sea Battles aren’t always based at sea but are also able to be based on any type of water; dams, rivers, etc, ships from Sea Battles can attack air and land units. Underwater Battles will be the first form of gameplay based underwater in Halo. If the player starts a mission in Water Battles with a water base he/she will automatically start at Tech Level 1.

Space & Air Battles
Located out in deep space or outside the atmosphere of a planet. Space and Air Battles use flying units from massive supercarriers to a simple in-atmosphere air-craft. There are two types of Space Battles: Fleet Battles are the largest scale battles in The Great War, the player can use entire fleets and battle others. Space Battles are a smaller scale version of Fleet Battles, less chaotic and some of the largest units may be the smallest in Fleet Battles. Air Battles are not quite Space Battles, because they are frequently and more commonly seen merged with other Battle Types, like Ground and Water Battles for instance, yet some Air Battles are just based in the sky and don’t merge with any other Battle Type, though that type can merge with Space Battles. If the player starts a mission in Space Battles with a space base he/she will automatically start with Tech Level 1.

Operations
Operations are very different in comparison to the other Battle Types. They are played with less units, usually special forces and normally rely on the forces the player starts with at the beginning of a mission, with few yet rarely appearing reinforcements. They are more of a battle variant than another Battle Type, they can fuse with every type of Battle Type, but the main difference in Operations is environment rather than Battle Type. In some missions units are only playable in the First/Third Person Mode. There are two type of Operations: Special Operations, these missions usually consist of a lot of traveling and are more similar to the campaign levels and Spartan-Ops from the original Halo games. In-Base Operations very similar to Special Operations except they are based inside a structure (ships, buildings etc), hence Combat Support is unavailable for this type, In-Base Operations usually appear in offensive/defensive situations.

Battle Type Merging
Battle Type Merging is when units and environments from a Battle Type appear in the same mission and map as another Battle Type or more.

The list of what Battle Types that merge with each other:

• Land Battles - Merges with Underground, Sea, partly Underwater, partly Space & Air Battles. As well as Special and In-Base Operations.

• Underground Battles - Merges with Land & partly Underwater Battles. As well as Special Operations.

• Sea Battles or Water Battles - Merges with Land, Underwater, partly Space & Air Battles. As well as Special and In-Base Operations.

• Underwater Battles - Merges with partly Land, partly Underground, Sea & partly Air Battles. As well as Special and In-Base Operations.

• Fleet Battles - Merges with Space Battles.

• Space Battles - Merges with partly Land, partly Sea, Fleet & Air Battles. As well as Special and In-Base Operations.

• Air Battles - Merges with Land, Sea, partly Underwater & Space Battles. As well as Special Operations.

• Special Operations - Merges with all Battles and Operations except Fleet Battles.

• In-Base Operations - Merges with all Battles and Operations except Fleet Battles.

Game Modes
The Great War has a significant variety of game modes. Most of the modes have been based off previous Halo games which appear and are converted for a RTS style of gameplay.

Campaigns
The Campaign(s) in The Great War are significantly larger than the ones from any other Halo game. The game is based at the time of the whole Human-Covenant War and plays out all it's major battles, from the first battle at Harvest to the end of the war on The Ark. The player has the ability to play as all factions with their own unique campaigns. Each faction has several campaigns based at different times of the Human-Covenant War. The first campaigns are during the first five years of war. At the middle, near end or end of each campaign another campaign may be unlocked. A campaign is defined by era, faction or fleet being played. In some missions players can use factions that aren't of the specific campaign - just for a stand alone mission to broaden the story of the other side.

Domination
Domination is like another yet massive campaign, but isn't technically true canon. In Domination the player will choose a faction, depending on which faction the player chooses Domination will start in different systems. At the start of Domination the player will be given a ship to slowly conquer the galaxy planet by planet. The more planets conquered the more ships and resources the player will acquire to help grow his or her fleet, but take note that the players enemies and allies will also be able to invade and claim planets.

There is also an online multiplayer mode for Domination where at least two players of at least two different factions play each other to try and conquer the galaxy.

Skirmish - Custom Games
Skirmish Mode returns to Halo in The Great War. Skirmish is played primarily for multiplayer (or just play vs AI) when two or more opposing teams face each other with a limited and normally equal amount of resources. In Halo Wars there was a maximum of six players/teams on a Skirmish; 1vs1, 2vs2 and 3vs3, (with allies on both sides for the player and enemy). But now that can be doubled to twelve with any number of teams facing each other; 1vs1, 1vs11, 6vs6, 1vs1vs1, 4vs4vs4 and 1vs1vs1vs2, etc.

Forge - Map Editor
The Forge mode in The Great War shares the same concept from the Forge in the other Halo games, but is more vast like the recent Halo 6 and the old Halo Custom Edition. The player is able to create anything that is seen in the game, using and editing (canonical) maps already made that appear in the Galaxy Map or starting from scratch with blank maps or maps with unique themes. The player can then do things like lifting the landscape, placing down units, buildings & structures, surface & air types, add & upgrade factions, change team colors, change the gravity & atmosphere, create unique maps, design for multiplayer and make a personally designed campaign. Forge also has a unique unit, building and even scenery designer kit where the player can create their own unit with pieces from other units also merging colors and strengths, this mode also comes with a face designer for players that want to create their own characters. The player can also make missions exclusively for the First or Third Person Mode, with the RTS mode disabled. The ability to create cutscenes and cinematics with the in-game engine is also doable.

Players can upload their maps and campaigns they’ve created for others to download and enjoy. If the player wants to download a Forge creation he/she will have to go to the "Download Files" section and then go to the section that is called "Forge Uploads" and within that there will be seven categories to download from titled:

Download Map

Download Faction

Download Units and Structures

Download Gametype

Download Campaign

Download/Stream Machinema

Download Wallpaper

Theater
Theater is exactly like Theater from the other Halo games, yet with some new features. The player watches over a battlefield after a game, through the vision of a standard player (any team that play in the battle) or the third person view of a unit as well as the traditional Theater view of a hovering wondering camera. Theater can merge with Battle Examination in a way. If there is a game with multiple teams on it and one is defeated it can go into Theater or Battle Examination mode, or they could just quit.

Multi & Co-Operative Play
Multiplayer in The Great War is very similar to Halo Wars's, it is played primarily through Skirmish mode, though it is also used with Domination, Forge and Theatre. If non-A.I. players want to play with each on Skirmish mode, they will have to do it through system link or online with Xbox Live and the same for Co-Operative Play.

Matchmaking
Matchmaking is just like previous Halo games, it is an online multiplayer system allowing players or teams to get matched with other games being played through Skirmish or Domination gametypes, like the matchmaking from Halo Wars players are put together by their skill level or rank which are increased when a player gets high scores in gameplay. When a player reaches a certain score he/she is awarded a new rank. Note: if on Xbox it will require an Xbox Live Gold Membership.

Multiplayer Game-Types
Each team can be commanded by a player or AI. The Galaxy Map provides all the multiplayer maps in the game, which also appear in the campaigns, though some are unique to Skirmish mode and the other gametypes. Goals are to destroy the enemy, collect specific items, create armies or survive till the end of a timer, etc. There are various Skirmishes modes, all based off old multiplayer gametypes from the previous Halo games. Custom Games is also available, the player can do so by editing existing gametypes.

Gametypes are:

Deathmatch - Slayer Counterpart
• Standard Deathmatch: The players will have no allies - everybody for themselves. The player starts with 800 resources and tech level 0, just like in Halo Wars, each team will also start with a leader. All units, structures and Combat Support will need to be upgraded if the player wants to give their side maximum strength, population will also need to be increased.

• Team Deathmatch: Exactly the same as Standard Deathmatch but now both sides can have allies (normally even). There will usually only be two sides but there can be more. Notes: The player can betray his or her allies, but if so they will most likely fight back and the player will have to give resources if he/she wants to become allies again. The player can also change sides or befriend enemies but resources will be required or the player may have to betray a current ally for the new friendship. It is also possible to turn the ability to befriend and betray off.

• Ultimate Deathmatch: Similar to Halo Wars Deathmatch, The player starts with 15,000 resources, the maximum tech level, as well as a leader. All the players units, structures, Combat Support and leaders are fully upgraded. Though the population starts low. Notes: There can be standard and team variants for Ultimate Deathmatch.

• Specialist Deathmatch: Starts similar to Standard or Team Deathmatch but the players will only be able to use one type of unit, whether that's with all heavy/ranged/close quarters/special forces/leaders units or more specific like just being able to use tanks/rocket infantry/snipers/hammer and swordsmen/warthogs/spartans, etc. Note: This gametype is only available after the release of The Great War: Specialist Expansion Pack.

• Slayer: Set up like Specialist Deathmatch except that only one individual unit is available. Every time the unit dies it respawns but the player will only have a limited amount of resources and once that's run out their game is over and they lose. Each team will normally have units at equal strength to their enemy. Notes: This is the only game mode other than Infiltration where all units can be in the First and Third Person Shooter Mode. There is also a Team Slayer variant. Final note - this gamtype is only available after the release of the Reclaimer Expansion Pack.

Juggernaut
• Standard Juggernaut: Each team has one base and one leader, even though players cant make more than one base they can make small defensible camps. There can only be one Juggernaut team with no allies, and all other players will be on the same side and have to work together to destroy the Juggernauts base. The Juggernauts goal is to kill as many enemies as possible and depending on how strong the unit the Juggernaut destroys, the more points will be given for the kill. The other teams goal is to work together to destroy the Juggernaut's base or leader - depending on how the game is set up. The Juggernauts team will have all its units, structures, Combat Support and leaders fully upgraded and be given high resources, tech level and population, but all other players will only have low resources, tech level and population and have to upgrade all their units, depending on how many players there is each team could have more or less resources. Once the Juggernaut has been defeated, all units will be recycled into resources, than the new Juggernaut rises.

• Ninjanaut: Set up like Standard Juggernaut except that everything in the Juggernaut team is cloaked with active camouflage and all units move 2X faster, but the Juggernaut team has considerably less resources, and all standard players have no mini-map.

• Ultranaut: Set up like Standard Juggernaut except that the Juggernaut team has considerably less resources and all Juggernaut units have higher health, damage, speed and all have overshields.

• Dropnaut: All teams can't have bases or any type of structure to defend or produce units from, there are also no resources on the battlefield. All units are acquired through dropships and drop pods. Each team will have 5,000 resources and all units will start fully upgraded. The current Juggernaut team's units will all have overshields and higher damage, they will also gain resources for every unit killed, once the Juggernaut team reaches a certain amount of resources that team wins. Note: This gametype is only available after the release of The Great War: Specialist Expansion Pack.

Capture the Flag
• Standard Capture the Flag: Two opposing teams with one base each, all bases are indestructible but teams cannot create any more. Every base will have it's own flag in or in front of it. The teams goal is to try and capture the enemies flag and bring it back to their base. Once the team has acquired a certain amount of flags they win or if there's a time limit, the team with the most flags at the end of the game wins. All teams will start with 2,000 resources.

• Single-Flag CTF: Just like Standard Capture the Flag except there is only one flag in the center of the map and each team will have to try and bring the flag back to their own base without the enemy taking it to score points.

• Ultra-Flags CTF: Exactly like standard Capture the Flag except there is more than two teams, at least three. Each team is opposing the other and there are no allies.

Infiltration - Assault Counterpart
Note: Production speed is increased in this type.

• Single-Bomb: There are two teams each with a single base, starting with 1,000 resources each. One team will have the bomb and will have to infiltrate the enemy's base, then that team will go into the 1st & 3rd Person Shooter mode and place the bomb in a certain point in the base. If the team infiltrating is successful in destroying the enemy base all units will be recycled into resources and the enemies base will be restored and it will be the opposing teams turn to have the bomb and infiltrate their enemy. After each team has activated three bombs the game end and the team that took the least time infiltrating wins.

• Multi-Bomb: Exactly the same as Single-Bomb except both teams will have a bomb and by the end of a timer the team with the most successful infiltration’s wins.

• Multi-Base: Very similar to Multi-Bomb except that each team will have several bases. The goal is to infiltrate each of the enemies bases and the team that destroys all the enemies bases first wins.

• Neutral Bomb: Exactly the same as Single-Bomb except there is only one bomb which is in the center of the map, and the two opposing teams have to race each other to it and then take it to the enemies base. Note: This game type is only available after the release of the Pre-War Rebellions Expansion Pack.

Territories
• Standard Territories: Two teams (with no allies), each has high resources and a base or outpost. There are several possible landing zones on the map, each team has to claim as many of them as possible by building outpost on top of them, after an outpost is built the player can strengthen it by constructing a base around it. The goal is to keep fighting until all landing zones have been claimed or to destroy all signs of the enemy. Note: Some LZ's may be occupied by locals.

• Team Territories: The same as Standard Territories except that there can be more than two teams, they can all be opposing each other or there can be two or three sides with allies.

• Ultimate Territories: Just like Standard and Team Territories except all teams are fully upgraded, resources are higher and most LZ's are occupied evenly by all teams.

• King of the Territories: Like the well known King of the Hill, there are waypoints where teams will have to try and maintain, the waypoint will look like a glowing ring on the ground, players can fortify the location where the waypoint is, but the waypoint will move on to a new location after a time and all structures will be destroyed when the waypoint moves. The game ends when a certain amount of time runs out and the team that has spent the most time in the waypoints wins. Note: This gametype is only available after the release of Halo Wars Rerun Expansion Pack.

Infection
• Standard Infection: There can be at least four players, one player is the Flood faction and acts a little like a Juggernaut team. It's the Flood teams goal to infect as many enemy units/teams as possible, once they've infected an entire team they will become allies and they will work together as Flood to infect the rest of the teams. The Flood's team will start with 1,000 resources for each team playing. All the other the players can be any faction except Flood or Forerunner Caretakers, they are (normally) on the same side with a small camp each with 1,000 resources. When there is only one team that isn't infected a timer will start to countdown from 1-10 minutes. If the Flood infects the other team before the timer ends the Flood wins, but if the remaining team survives the countdown they win, though if a team is able to destroy the Flood completely they can win that way too.

• Gravemind: Two teams one Flood and the other Forerunner Caretakers. The Floods goal is to infect the native population on the map being played on, they have to try an create a Gravemind. Once the Gravemind has reached a certain stage the Flood wins. The Forerunner Caretakers goal is to control the Flood and eradicate them. The Flood start with 500 resources, though they will gain resources fast once they start infecting. The Forerunner Caretakers start with 2,000 resources.

Extraction
• Extraction: Starts off like Standard Deathmatch, a number of teams (normally two) fight for the collection of relics or data that are placed in random positions scattered places across the map. Once a team has collected a relic/data they have to bring it to a back to one of their bases. A team can attack another carrying relics or data and if they defeat them they can take it back to their own base. The game is won at the end of a timer and the team with the most relics/data wins. Note: This gametype only comes with the limited edition of Halo Wars: The Great War, though it will be released for free two years after the games release.

Firefight
• Standard Firefight: Allied teams fight to survive against waves of enemies. The only way to win is to occupy all possible building and landing sites, though this is very hard to do, so if players can't do this they still get points for surviving how many amounts of waves they did. They can also win by surviving until the enemies resources have depleted, but that takes a very long time. Each team starts with 2,000 resources, but if they can't find anymore on the map they can shoot down enemy dropships and may find resources in the rubble.

• Flamefight: Just like Standard Firefight except there can be teams on both sides, the team sending waves of enemies at the other players will have 50,000 resources or more and use dropships, drop pods and Combat Support to assault their enemies.

• Evacuation: The player has to defend and help evacuate civilians from the invading enemy. It acts like Flamefight a bit in the fact that there are two sides, one invade in waves, the other trying to survive and defend themselves except in this mode they have to also help evacuate civilians. It is a lot simpler to win and lose also in this gametype, because the defenders goal is to evacuate as many civilians as possible, but if the invaders kill a certain number of civilians they win, or they could just eradicate the other teams. Note: Landing pads can be destroyed and repaired.

Expansion Packs
The Great War has many expansion packs, each coming out every year or half after the previous release. Each expansion pack can come with new eras, campaigns, multiplayer, characters, factions, skulls and a couple of other things. When a new expansion pack is released and if there are new planets or multiplayer gametypes that come with it, the planets and gametypes are downloadable for free as a promotion.

Note: The expansion packs will be shown in chronological order instead of order of release.

Ancestors Expansion Pack
The fifth and largest expansion pack for The Great War, it delivers in the era of the Forerunners during the Human-Forerunner War. It brings in a new Galaxy Map, though it is the same galaxy, but it is based 100,000 years before the rest of The Great War's content. The expansion comes with many of the planets from the original Galaxy Map, but all are very different from what they are now. It brings two new factions the Forerunner Ecumene and Pre-Historic Humans. It comes with three large campaigns for Forerunners Ecumene, two for Prehistoric Humans and one for the Flood, as well as one short campaign each for Forerunners and Humans. The Ancestors Expansion Pack also comes with three new Skulls.

The Array Expansion Pack
The sixth and final expansion pack for The Great War, released almost a year after the previous expansion pack. Based in the Forerunner era, it tells the final story of the Forerunners just before the activation of the Halo rings. There are two large campaigns for and Forerunner Ecumene and Flood, as well as two short campaigns for Forerunners and one for Flood. The Array Expansion Pack also comes with three new Skulls.

Pre-War Rebellions Expansion Pack
The second expansion pack for The Great War, it also introduces a new era. It's about what the UNSC and the Covenant were doing before they encountered each other. It comes with two new (large) campaigns. It will be released half a year after the previous expansion pack. The first campaign based in the years 2494-2525, it's about the UNSC during the insurrection. The second campaign is about the Covenant re-expanding after the Twenty-third Age of Doubt and also deals with some heresies, it's based in the years 2514-2524. The Pre-War Expansion Pack also comes with three new Skulls and one new multiplayer/skirmish game modes - Neutral Bomb for Assault.

Halo Wars Rerun Expansion Pack
The third expansion pack for The Great War, based in 2531-2532, it is in a way a remake of Halo Wars, though doesn't have the same cinematics as the original, the graphics are simply upgraded. It also has extra bonuses the first one is a (shorter) second campaign based from the Covenant perspective, a third (small) campaign with missions about what happened after the events of Halo Wars and extra content relating to what happened to the Spirit of Fire after the campaign. The Halo Wars Rerun Expansion Pack also comes with three new Skulls and one new multiplayer/skirmish game modes - King of the Territories for Territories.

The Great War: Specialist Expansion Pack
The first expansion pack for The Great War released a year after the official game. It adds four new (short) campaigns, 4 new planets and some new battlefields for other planets. The first campaign based in the year 2534, follows some of the UNSC as they defend human colonies, later they find out that destroying the humans isn't the Covenant fleets only mission. The second campaign based in the year 2546, only consists of Special Operations missions and is about about ODSTs and Spartans trying to prevent a possible attack on a human colony. The third based in the year 2536, is about a Covenant fleet that comes under a surprise attack by the UNSC. The fourth is about Kig-Yar Pirates and an encounter with human insurrectionists. The Great War: Specialist Expansion Pack also comes with three new Skulls and two new multiplayer/skirmish game modes - Specialist Deathmatch for Deathmatch and Dropnaut for Juggernaut.

Reclaimer Expansion Pack
The fourth expansion pack based strait after the events of the Human-Covenant War (2553). It adds a new era to The Great War (game). It comes with three large campaigns and 4 short ones, it also comes with five entirely new (major) factions, being Reclaimers (UNSC 2553-), Covenant Remnant, The Didact's Prometheans, Sangheili and the United Species Insurrection, as well as one minor faction which is Servants of Abiding Truth. The campaign will be about the recovery of the galaxy after The Great War and the new Human-Promethean War. No more details about this expansion pack are known except it will be released just under a year after the release of the last expansion pack. The Reclaimer Expansion Pack also comes with five new Skulls and one new multiplayer/skirmish game mode - Slayer for Deathmatch.

Music - Soundtrack and Composers
The music of The Great War has more tracks than any other Halo game before it, it brings the return of many well known composers that have done music for the Halo series. These composers being: Neil Davidge, Kazuma Jinnouchi, Nathan Lanier, Tom Salta and Stephen Rippy, as well as one new composer tomandandy. Martin O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori were unable to return for the game's soundtrack because of Bungie's ten-year contract with Activision, though previously recorded tracks by them will be used. The game is full of almost all tracks from all past Halo soundtracks. All the composers have also recorded many new tracks for The Great War all for different themes and situations, such as tracks for the title, cinematics, factions, Land Battles, Space Battles, Planets, eras, etc. They will re-record some of Halo most well known tracks, such as the Halo Main Theme and Siege of Madrigal as well as creating new tracks with the rest of the composers. Remixes will also be made for the old and new tracks. The first volume will be released one month before the release of actual the game.

Halo Wars: The Great War's soundtracks (including expansion packs) will be divided into five volumes:

Halo Wars: The Great War Official Soundtrack Volume 1 - New tracks composed by Nathan Lanier, Tom Salta and Stephen Rippy.

Halo Wars: The Great War Official Soundtrack Volume 2 - New tracks composed by Neil Davidge, Kazuma Jinnouchi and tomandandy.



Halo Wars: The Great War Re-recorded Tracks and Remixes [Volume 3] - Re-recorded tracks and remixes composed by Martin O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori, Neil Davidge, Kazuma Jinnouchi, Tom Salta, Stephen Rippy and tomandandy. Remixers are yet to be announced.

Halo Wars: Three Wars Soundtrack [Volume 4] - New tracks composed by Neil Davidge, Tom Salta and tomandandy. Released years after the game with tracks from the first four expansion packs.

Halo Wars: Ancestors Official Soundtrack [Volume 5] - New tracks and remixes of Volume 4's tracks. Released years after the game with tracks from the final two expansion packs. The composers haven’t been announced yet, but it is possible that there will be new ones and maybe even the reappearance of Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori now that Bungie’s contract with Activision would have ended.

Game Editions
There are two editions of Halo Wars: The Great War, the Standard and the Limited Edition.

Standard Edition
The Standard Edition of the game comes with the game case, game disc and manual.

Limited Edition
The Limited Edition of the game is packaged like Halo: Reach’s Limited Edition, coming with the Standard Edition of the game as well as other extra content. The extra content being a bonus DVD of the making of Halo Wars: The Great War, a logbook with notes and images from the perspective of an unnamed writer after the war with a list of all the Covenant weapons, species, ranks, vehicles, machines, ships and technology (etc) encountered by the human race during the Human-Covenant War. A second logbook of all the recorded fates and last know whereabouts of the Spartan-IIs. DLC Codes for seven days of Xbox Live, extremely early access to a multiplayer game mode “Extraction” and a code which will allow the player to get The Great War: Specialist Expansion-Pack for free when it comes out. All this comes in a special metal box.

Saga Edition
The Halo Wars: The Great War Saga Edition will be a late edition of the game, being released years after it first came out, but only one year after The Array Expansion Pack does. The main version of this edition will be the (physical) PC exclusive version which will come with new cover art, the manual, the game disc, a second disc which comes with all The Great War's expansion packs. DLC codes for all the content that came with the Limited Edition - including the logbooks now in digital form. It also comes with four large posters which details the timeline of the entire Halo Universe.

Note: Most of this content is available on Xbox Live through digital download for Xbox users. Gamers can download each piece individually or could just buy the Saga Edition as a whole at a cheaper price.

Official Strategy Guide
The Halo Wars: The Great War Official Strategy Guide will released on the same day as the game, it will be one of the largest strategy guides PRIMA’s released for a Halo game, which will be full of gameplay tactics, hints, tricks, walkthroughs, map guides, information on all factions and their weapons, units, data on bonuses & unlockable and much more...

The Art of Halo Wars: The Great War
The Art of Halo Wars: The Great War will be a collection of all the concept art & renders made for the game and at the back of the book it also comes with a written-down documentary of the games development & ideas packaged all in one single volume.

It will be released one month before the release of the game just like the first soundtrack.

The Art of The Great Wars of the Halo Universe
The Art of The Great Wars of the Halo Universe is just like the first volume except it will have a collection of all concept art and renders of all five of the games expansion packs. Its release will be several years after the first volume but still released a little bit before the last expansion pack.

Halo: Forge Wars
Halo: Forge Wars will be a wargaming tabletop game made by Games Workshop. It will be similar to WizKids’ Halo ActionClicks, but more resembling Games Workshop’s Warhammer series - having to buy and paint individual units/squads and battlefields. Forge Wars in a way is the physical game of Halo Wars: The Great War, for it works in coalition with The Great War, every unit in the video game will be available for the tabletop, not that every unit will be released on launch of the series but over time more units will come available, as well as new factions when expansion packs of The Great War are released. The first series of Halo: Forge Wars is set to be released one month before the release of Halo Wars: The Great War.

Demo
The demo for the game will be released for Xbox One the week before the release of the game. It will not be released for the computer versions of the game until the same day as the computer versions have been released. It will come with the Tutorial and the first parts of the first UNSC and Covenant campaigns as well Standard Deathmatch and Capture The Flag for Skirmish mode, all other features wont be in the demo, though it will be obvious they are missing.

Trailers
The Great War has five trailers for the main game and several others will also be released for the game's expansion packs.

Teaser Trailer
The first trailer for The Great War came out at an E3 two years before the release of the game, a lot like previous Halo games.

It shows a (still burning) glassed battlefield through the eyes of a human soldier. He walks forward for a little while, then looks up to see a giant Covenant warship approaching. It starts to glass what remains of the planet, then suddenly a barrage of missiles from a UNSC fleet flys in hitting the Covenant ship. It starts to slowly descend towards the ground crashing with burning marks in it hull, then several UNSC and Covenant starfighters fly towards each other for engagement. There's an explosion, the screen goes dark and at the end of the trailer the title appears - Halo Wars: The Great War.

Gameplay Trailer (1)
This trailer shows and introduces the planets and playable factions in The Great War.

The Great War Official Trailer
This trailer shows human and alien warriors in various battles on various planets around the galaxy. Every time before one planet fades to another, soldiers will be shown doing similar actions to that of the recently shown battle. Each scene will lead to another showing many aspects of the Human-Covenant War. The video shows many different warriors and machines fighting on planets and also in space. It ends with a clear view of the UNSC and Covenant fighting each other over a huge valley, a massive battle in space is also visible. Finally a spartan is seen watching from the top of the valley - assumed to be the Master Chief John-117.

Live-Action Trailer - Battle Ready
The live-action trailer shows UNSC marines and other soldiers, as well as many different Covenant warriors preparing for battle; armor being put on, weapons being checked, vehicles and aircrafts being bordered are shown as well. At the end of the trailer an UNSC and a Covenant fleet engage each other, they send troopers to the surface while spacefighters fly towards each other. It ends when the camera zooms out to a expanding view of a portion of the galaxy, flashing lights spark from different planets, making it obvious that there are battles all over the galaxy.

Gameplay Trailer (2)
The second gameplay trailer for The Great War shows all the main features of The Great War, as well as many of the different unit types.

Trailers for Expansion Packs
Each expansion pack will have a gameplay trailer, though there is the possibility that there may be CGI ones for some of the trailers as well.

Cut Content
There were a few things cut from the final game, but most were ideas for several things for The Great War that were risen but not noted so they were unable to be produced.

Trivia
It is the first strategy game by 343 Industries.

Vanguard Games did help a bit in making this game, but not nearly as much as other developers.

Certain Affinity were going to help in the development, but the (recently expanded) Robot Entertainment were chosen instead. Certain Affinity could still possibly be helping out with some of the game’s future expansion packs.

Even though it is a RTS game and does have some story connections to Halo Wars and is referred to by some as Halo Wars 2, it is not a sequel to Halo Wars.

Many of the events in other Halo media do make appearances or are mentioned, including the discovery of the first Halo.

It’s the first game since Halo 2 to be on more than one gaming platform.

The game will have many expansion packs which will have extra campaigns detailing the other significant events of the Halo universe, eras and timeline.

This game is the first to name every single Spartan-II that survived augmentation.

It is the first Halo game where ideas for it and most of its plans for content and features were visioned by one of the many Halo fans. The Covenant Mining Facility cut from the original Halo Wars appears in this game, in fact most of the cut contact from Halo Wars and even some of the cut content from other Halo games and media appear in The Great War - with a modern and updated twist.

The Open Frame 92/Extra-Vehicular Activity or Booster Frame in The Great War only slightly resembles the Booster Frame from Halo Legends - The Package, it shares the similar shape as the original except that the cockpit allows a lot more cover and in future upgrades the cockpit is full and sealed, also at the rear part of the Frame the Light Ant-Air Gun is now a Heavy Anti-Air Gun, with more cover and sinks into the Frame a bit more.

The UNSC Light Assault VTOL (now also called Buzzard) that has only been seen as a Halo Mega Bloks toy can be used in the game. But it now looks quite different for a Halo game and now appears less childish.

It will possibly be the last Halo game on the Xbox One or the first on the console proceeding it.

Halo Wars: The Great War is the longest title of any previous Halo game.

In Halo Wars, Pelicans and dropships were only usable for transport and thats mainly what their used for in The Great War as well, but the player can control and use dropships for combat if they wish - during its assigned transportation missions and occasionally ordered directly for combat.

A lot of content and ideas were scraped from the game due to time constraints and a lack of writing ideas down, but over all the majority and necessary content and ideas made it into the final game.

In the original Halo Wars UNSC soldiers all shared the same features but in The Great War there can appear as male and female soldiers and be of different nationalities.

There are two things in The Great War called "Ally Support" the first is an action a unit has that can help one of his/her team units or an allies, the other being asking for aid from an ally to help defend the players team or to attack the enemies.

Depending on how development is going or how late it takes other Halo games to be released the game may get pushed forward to being released on the next 4th Xbox instead of Xbox One.

Directly Related
Game Editions

• Halo Wars: The Great War - currently on

• Halo Wars: The Great War Limited Edition

• Halo Wars: The Great War Saga Edition

• The Great War Series

Expansion Packs

• Halo Wars: Ancestors Expansion Pack

• Halo Wars: The Array Expansion Pack

• Halo Wars: Pre-War Rebellions Expansion Pack

• Halo Wars: Halo Wars Rerun Expansion Pack

• Halo Wars: The Great War Specialist Expansion Pack

• Halo Wars: Reclaimer Expansion Pack

Factions From The Game

• UNSC

• Covenant Empire

• Covenant Loyalists

• Insurrection

• Flood

• Colonial Militia

• Colonial Insurgents

• Heretics

• Kig-Yar Pirates

• Jiralhanae

• Forerunner Caretakers

Factions From Expansion Packs

• ? - not made yet

• ? - not made yet

• ? - not made yet

• ? - not made yet

• ? - not made yet

• ? - not made yet

• ? - not made yet

Loosely Related
• Halo: Armory

• Halo 6 Controls

References and Sources
Creator's Note: These are all the references and sources that I can remember that have had some influence on this page. Most of what I have forgotten would still be very closely related to these pages, though it probably doesn’t matter that much because this is fan fiction. The main reason I have R&S is that I wanted this page to look as realistic as it could. This page also has the references and sources from my other pages which are connected to TGW. All the R&S that are here or not should be related to mainly to do with the creations and (other) stuff of Bungie, 343 Industries and Microsoft Studios. ~ Samdoo

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matter

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environment_(biophysical)

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Earth

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid

5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid

6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas

7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_(physics)

8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(series)

9. http://www.halopedia.org/

10. http://www.halopedia.org/Halo_wars

11. http://www.halopedia.org/UNSC

12. http://www.halopedia.org/United_Rebel_Front

13. http://www.halopedia.org/Covenant_Empire

14. http://www.halopedia.org/Covenant_separatists

15. http://www.halopedia.org/Flood

16. http://www.halopedia.org/Sangheili

17. http://www.halopedia.org/San_%27Shyuum

18. http://www.halopedia.org/Jiralhanae

19. http://www.halopedia.org/Huragok

20. http://www.halopedia.org/Lekgolo

21. http://www.halopedia.org/Mgalekgolo

22. http://www.halopedia.org/Yanme%27e

23. http://www.halopedia.org/Kig-Yar

24. http://www.halopedia.org/Skirmisher

25. http://www.halopedia.org/Unggoy

26. http://www.halopedia.org/Halo_4

27. http://www.halopedia.org/Matchmaking

28. http://www.halopedia.org/Multiplayer

29. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Hall_(Covenant)

30. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Barracks

31. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Fort_Deen

32. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/UNSC_Reactor

33. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Station

34. http://www.halopedia.org/Human_covenant_war

35. http://www.halopedia.org/Timeline

36. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/UNSC_Airpad

37. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/UNSC_Vehicle_Depot

38. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Field_Armory

39. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/UNSC_Supply_Pad

40. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Base_Turret

41. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Covenant_citadel

42. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Covenant_temple

43. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Covenant_Warehouse

44. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Factory_(Covenant)

45. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Summit_(Covenant)

46. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Shield_Generator_(Covenant)

47. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Heavy_Plasma_Turret

48. http://www.halopedia.org/Halo:_Combat_Evolved

49. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Halo_6

50. http://www.halopedia.org/Halo_Contact_Harvest

51. http://www.halopedia.org/Halo:_The_Fall_of_Reach

52. http://www.halopedia.org/Halo:_The_Flood

53. http://www.halopedia.org/Halo:_Ghosts_of_Onyx

54. http://www.halopedia.org/Halo:_The_Cole_Protocol

55. http://www.halopedia.org/Halo:_Evolutions_-_Essential_Tales_of_the_Halo_Universe

56. http://www.halopedia.org/Halo_3

57. http://www.halopedia.org/Halo_2

58. http://www.halopedia.org/Halo:_Reach

59. http://www.halopedia.org/Halo:_Combat_Evolved_Anniversary

60. http://www.halopedia.org/Halo_3:_ODST

61. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Sol_System

62. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Milky_Way_galaxy

63. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/UNSC_Marine_Corps

64. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Colonial_Militia

65. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/UNSC_Special_Forces

66. http://www.halopedia.org/Office_of_Naval_Intelligence

67. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/UNSC_Marine_Corps_Dress_Uniform

68. http://www.halopedia.org/Preston_J._Cole

69. http://www.halopedia.org/Halo_Wars:_Genesis

70. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Open_Frame_92?Extra-Vehicular_Activity

71. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Halo:_Spartan_Assault

72. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Ages_of_Doubt

73. http://www.halopedia.org/Insurrection

74. http://www.halopedia.org/Sbaolekgolo

75. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

76. http://www.halowaypoint.com/de-ch/community/detail/04050c03-fc6a-44c8-8b77-468802ae62c9/stephen-loftus-halo-skala

77. http://www.halowaypoint.com/de-ch

78. http://www.halopedia.org/United_Nations_Space_Command

Other closely related subjects and pages within these websites (etc)

Creator's Note: None of the images I’ve upload (obviously) aren’t of the actual game, so I’ve had to hunt through many photos that I think capture the essence of what the game would be. ~ Samdoo

Names of used images:

Main-Forerunner.png

Halo_4_Reclaimer_Symbol_Render.png

343-industries-logo.jpg

RatedM.JPG

rated-m.gif

830px-Ffg-127.png

830px-The_charge_redux_by_phoenix_06-d2ybf3c.jpg

830px-Prophet_Councillors.jpg

Master_Chief_with_MARK_V_helmet_in_Reach.jpg

SPARTAN-II_Symbol.jpg

UNSC_Spartan_Emblem.png

800px-Red_Team.jpg

Halo1_-_Covenant_Symbol.png

UNSC_Symbol.png

830px-HaloReach_-_CorvetteOverview.png

2011-04-19-microsoft-game-studios.jpg

Harvest_glassed.sized.jpg

Kholo.png

reachfontfinal1

Halo-Logo.png

20120619025020!Overview_-_Covenant_Assault_Carrier.png

81tNFd1TCAL._SL1500_.jpg

Reach_10028538_Medium.jpg

screenshots_e3_1280_004.jpg

62276985033365133520897.png

830px-Reach_10501931_Full.jpg

Halowars_combat.jpg

vanguard-logo.png

MicrosoftStudiosLogo-Black.png

CA_logo_red_black_square.png

havokLogo.png

1318478623-00.jpg

1321756989-00.jpg

830px-HALO_Reach_Wallpaper065.jpg

level-overpaints-2-1-UNSC-base.jpg

screenshots_e3_1280_001-filtered.jpeg

Harvest_glassed.sized.jpg

Carrier_ss_680-filtered.tiff

500px-CovCruiser 1.png

HReach-ArdentPrayerCorvette.png

830px-CCS_Glassing_Reach.jpg

800-480-109055-filtered.jpeg

Xbox-One-Logo-Wallpaper-HD-Dekstop-Games.psd

halo-4-forge-logo-555x312.jpg

Halo_4_Spartan_Ops_Symbol_Render.png

830px-Halo-Reach-Covenant-Files-3-Nightfall-2-Sangheili-Elite-Ranger.jpg hwconcept9

Rebelfist.png

flood-2.png

UNSC_Logo

Creator's Notes
Note: The Creator's Notes aren’t directly part of this pages information and instructions that relate to Halo Wars: The Great War. Even though its not technically part of this page/game, The Creator's Notes are my personal opinions, notes and final thoughts about this page/game and the other pages directly related to it, of which I have also made, as well as having other information about myself, some references/sources and a few other things. It gives a little more depth to the page I find and thats why I put the Creator's Notes on The Great War's page. More information and notes about myself, fanons yet to be made and how I got into Halo will be on my profile at Halo Fanon. ~ Samdoo

Thanks for looking at my page, I've spent at least three years working on Halo Wars: The Great War (including it's sub-pages) - not saying I've worked on it every day since than, that's just when I started, but I still must have spent hundreds (yes hundreds) of hours on it. Most to all of the content on this specific page was written within the last eight months (current date August, 2013), but all the concepts and information on factions and units I’ve been writing about for years, and for that information I am yet to create pages for but I am determined to have it all uploaded by the end of the year.

Inspirations and Naming of The Great War
I remember playing Halo Wars for the first time and just thinking how different it was to the other Halo games, but something disappointed me about it was the fact that there were so many species, characters, vehicles and factions, etc in the Halo universe and I couldn't play as all of them. So sometime in 2009 (I think/at most) I started imagining what sort of Halo RTS game that could have all these features / what would Halo Wars 2 be like, sometime after that, when my ideas were too many I decided to write them down on my computer.

New ideas continued to flow through my mind and the name of the game also changed over time; Halo: The Human-Covenant War, Halo: The Great War, etc. I eventually named it Halo Wars: The Great War, because seeing that Halo Wars was a RTS game and TGW is a RTS game, I thought it best to make it part of the same series. And the reason for naming it The Great War was because the game is about the Human-Covenant War, but I didn't want to name it that so, I called it The Great War which was another name for the war and the name of the era the war was based in.

Honestly I haven't played many Real-Time Strategy games, the main three I have are Age of Empires 2 & 3 and Halo Wars, though I've played some demos and watched my friends play a few of their games. Most of the ideas came from my head or was just an expansion of Halo Wars, the only things from other RTS games that have inspired something in The Great War are:

• Battle Examination mode which was partly inspired from something similar in Star Wars: Empire At War. Battle Examination was created for the purpose of having a RTS counterpart to Theater Mode from the other Halo games.

• In Napoleon: Total War the player could speed up time so that he/she could move his or her armies across large distances faster and minimize tedious waiting time spent upgrading things, well at least thats what I think I remember it doing. Note: I don't remember if this action actually got into the final part of this game.

• The First & Third Person mode has appeared in several RTS games before in a few of different ways, but when I first saw it and what inspired me was some game which was mainly a RTS but the player could play as a single character in third person, I don’t remember what this game was called, I saw it a few years back now, but it may have been Savage 2: A Tortured Soul or Empires but I cant be sure.

The Future
I've had many ideas for this game and have rewritten some of them at least ten times (probably more), one idea to another it all became very different from the original by the end. At one point I was writing two games, this one and Halo Wars 2 but I decided to merge them so I could focus on one project. I could spend a lot more time on TGW but I think I would never finish, so many ideas go through my head. It's sad because I've had some really good ideas but haven't written them down when they came to my mind - now lost. Other recent ideas I've forced myself not to write about because I need to finish writing about the game because I never will finish, I can’t stop new and better ideas always come.

It's now more than half way through 2013 and this projects got to end some time, who knows someone from 343 my stumble on this page and may think its a good plan for a video game and maybe even want to finish editing and expand it, though unlikely this game or a game very similar may come to us - I know thats far reaching but I think it would make a cool game and i’ve spent a lot of hours planning it and would like to see that plan go into action.



Main Notes
If you read the entire page or most of it (and if you can bother, you'll gain a lot of my respect) you'll notice that I may talk of the game from the perspective of being released or yet to be released, this is because it obviously hasn't been released and the other perspective is used because its easier to write and explain more stuff as well as explaining stuff that won't be released until after the game is. You'll also notice it may need a bit of editing - English/Literacy never really was my best subject, though I believe I've explained enough for you to see my vision and understand how the game would work.

The amount I have written for this project I have estimated to be of the size of a small novel.

The reason I haven’t put much details on campaigns is that I didn’t want to interfere with (real) Halo canon, I thought if I just provide a plan the story could be made and expanded if the game went into actual development/production - not that thats going to happen. On top of that I didn’t want to use or make up any unique stories, I wanted to make the game look vast yet make it appear there was a lot more things that couldn’t be revealed until the player actually bought the game.

If you read the other pages i’ve made relating to this game you’ll notice that all the Health, Capabilities and Additional Information categories on units wont have specific numbers. They may have a question mark or say 1-100 (meaning between 1 & 100) this is because it’s probably the most complicated part of the entire project, and I don’t know all the physical canon and strengths of species, ranks and machines in the Halo universe, but I hope I have left enough information for you to understand what they mean.

If anyone wants to know how I got “wars” in the newish Halo font unique to Halo Reach, I got it from an image which was a demo of the font (which never came out?) by drummer0702 (don’t remember what username thats for). I copied the image three times and then cropped the “W”, “R’ and “S” out then I went to the Wikipedia searched Halo (series) got the logo copied it and cropped out “A”, I then used Photoshop Elements to clean the letters up and finally placed them besides each other on Pages, took a screenshot then back to Photoshop and done. The font was only a rough demo but drummer0702 still did a very good job with all the letters, even though the Halo Reach font isn’t the current one used today, the letter are a lot smoother than the original Halo font and they resemble the current one anyway.

Late Unused Ideas
A final idea of mine of which I didn’t write down is the idea that there could be more than 0-4 tech levels, instead there could be like a hundred which would give units and upgrades more specific requirements, though advancing tech levels would have to be a lot easier, generators and age would also have to increase tech levels greatly. 20 or 25 tech levels would be the equivalent of 1 tech level in the original. Learning about environments, different creatures and alien technology, would also give more use to scientist units as well.

One other final idea of mine was to just dump the Circle Menu completely and merge small parts of it with the Forge Menu which would be the new one.

Last Edits
I may still edit and tweak this page every now and then. A lot of new ideas still come but I have to think on how important it is. I believe now others can see my vision of what I wanted this game to be and hopefully you like it.

If you find spelling mistakes, contradictions and other inconsistencies on my page, please message me about them here and mention exactly where it is so I can fix it. I don’t want people getting confused when reading. Note: The American and English dictionaries have minor differences (like for example "organize / organise), so different computers may pick up mistakes that may not be a mistake in another country.

Very soon I will upload individual pages linked to this page for each faction which will have details on all their personal units, producers and combat support etc. I will also upload pages for each expansion pack and pages for the new factions they bring. But note I will do all of these pages over a longer and slower amount of time and finally I should eventually create stuff for weapons, vehicles and units completely new to the Halo universe. Note: A lot of the work for these pages are already finished they just need to be organized and put together.

~ Samdoo