A Halo mod for the critically acclaimed Sins of a Solar Empire, that aims to capture the fast paced intensity of the Halo series.

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ExoticTofu
ExoticTofu

PROCESSSSSSSSSSIINNGGGG

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Unikraken Author
Unikraken

What a great still for the unloaded video.

(Maximize video for full effect.)

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Chaoslord_ZX
Chaoslord_ZX

yeah it does look great

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AlwaysACritic
AlwaysACritic

Looks good. The missile effects are way too fast. They are almost as fast as MAC rounds. The explosions are too big, the debris are too big, etc. Other than that it looks fantastic. It also looks like the ships tangent smoothing value is WAY TOO HIGH.

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Unikraken Author
Unikraken

Everyone notice the novelty account on ModDB. Reddit is spilling over. (Read the username.)

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Shirby
Shirby

Well I kind of agree with him though. To my casual eyes it looks too much/big or it might just be the camera angle, I dont know. And indeed besides that it looks really good.

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Unikraken Author
Unikraken

I'm not saying his criticism is bad or that I disagree with it, I'm simply pointing out the novelty account.

I do plan to pm him for more info.

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Shirby
Shirby

Ah alright, came over a bit 'agressive', might be due to my limited english ability. (No offense to anyone) :)

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AlwaysACritic
AlwaysACritic

Please do :) I love critiquing.

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-Defender0-
-Defender0-

One thing to remember about the MAC rounds and archers is that there is infinitely little to absolutely no friction in space. This allows the rounds/missiles to achieve higher velocities than if they were fired in atmosphere, as they are allowed to constantly accelerate without an opposing force, until impact. This is also why it is very easy for any present day space faring craft to accelerate while applying very little thrust (assuming said spacecraft is above the atmosphere)

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880Zero
880Zero

While this is true, you obviously don't have a grasp on what Impulse is yet so I'll leave you to ponder.

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AlwaysACritic
AlwaysACritic

Me?

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880Zero
880Zero

No

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-Defender0-
-Defender0-

dont need to ponder, learned what it was in high school 2 years ago

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880Zero
880Zero

An object, based on the Impulse Theorem, can only accelerate continuously if there is a force applied over a change in time. So yes you could achieve higher velocities based on the momentum of the object, but only if the force of thrust is continuous over the time interval.

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-Defender0-
-Defender0-

Ok, considering the ranges that these engagements occur at, i dont think we have to worry about archer missiles running out of fuel or MAC rounds slowing down significantly. if this was real life, MAYBE this would be considered, but at around 12 to 15 Kilometers away (rough estimate), and the fact that this is a game, i dont think we have to worry about this.

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AlwaysACritic
AlwaysACritic

Halo engagement ranges are stated (somewhere) to be an average of 100,000km. The Archer missiles would not be continuously firing their engines, they would aim themselves at a target and then use their engines to stay on track.

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880Zero
880Zero

Then don't try to apply real life physics to a video game if you're just going to say "the fact that this is a game."

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-Defender0-
-Defender0-

Zero, with all due respect, quit it. If i wanted to get into a physics argument, i have better people to talk to about that. You also have to consider the abilities and limitations of the sins engine. If you want the arche missiles and MAC rounds to be more realistic, talk to dhoulmegus and see if its even possible to bring in real life physics.

On top of that, the Impulse theorem states that, if you exert a small force over time, you will get the same impulse as if you exert a large force over a far smaller time. This does not apply here because of 2 things: 1, the time the rounds take to travel is a few seconds, and 2, there is no significant opposing force in space, due to the lack of atmosphere.

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AlwaysACritic
AlwaysACritic

Yes, but the MAC rounds' acceleration is such that by the time the archer missile was launched the MAC would already be closing in on (or missing) its target. The more thrust is applied the more acceleration is produced. The archer missile's acceleration is nothing compared to the MAC.

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Rickardus
Rickardus

That's a Good Thing! taking community advice is always helpful.. I to agree with him on the missiles, the potential exists for a smoother more realistic look.. the explosions i don't mind so much because there are few examples of better explosions in other mods, however they do dominate a little bit, i guess its just the way Sins looks though, love the debris, a lot of mods wont capitalize on that and it doesn't add realism when there is none. Also the smaller ship spacings and their odd acts of deceleration/acceleration is a bit strange, but i don't know if its me or not, Ive only watched this video, not played the mod. i love the sound, i am a sound engineer and sound above all is my most important gameplay enjoyment factor!! and the visuals are looking good, im sure when the game is fully polished at release it will be perfect! you have a good team, after all it is halo, and we all would like to see the best come out of this! :D

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880Zero
880Zero

Yeah I've tried helping them with smoothing group errors but nobody listens to me. :P

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AlwaysACritic
AlwaysACritic

Yeah, I've pointed out before that all the meshes look like they're made of play-dough because of the way they smoothed em'.

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Unikraken Author
Unikraken

Have you actually played the mod?

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AlwaysACritic
AlwaysACritic

Yes.

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Dhoulmegus
Dhoulmegus

Which explosions do you mean? If you mean the ones when the ships themselves explode, then it's because those haven't been edited at all. And right now we are using vanilla debris until we make our own meshes. The missiles do move a little fast, yes, but appear even more so due to the angle you see them at.

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KhevaKins
KhevaKins

Well lets assume when a ship gets destroyed it's fusion reactor goes critical like the Pillar of Autumn in Halo: CE. Now I am not saying that is what would happen for every ship but compared to the Pillar's explosion these explosions are relatively small. Say the explosions are 10 times weaker/smaller then the Pillar's, the in game explosions are still very small compared to that.

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jokamo
jokamo

oh my goodness this is amazing! i seriously cannot wait for the covenant release!

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RambosBodyguard
RambosBodyguard

Nice, Thank You for this wonderful little birthday present! The UNSC will win no matter the cost!

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Rudd
Rudd

Excellent vid

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진Jin
진Jin

It's a trap....

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Coldonne
Coldonne

All the guns seem ridiculously overpowered

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Unikraken Author
Unikraken

Welcome to the Halo universe. Have you read any of the books?

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-Defender0-
-Defender0-

And compared to the covenant, those "ridiculously oiverpowered" guns look like AA sometimes.

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spartan-G257
spartan-G257

I remember killing a capital ship with a group of frigates (a slightly larger group of frigates yes but a group of frigates non the less. (UNSC Paris class frigates)

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Keksz
Keksz

3:1 ratio....what sounds epic in the books kinda looks frustrating as a UNSC player :D

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-Defender0-
-Defender0-

Its actually easier to outnumber the covenant as the UNSC than one might think, if youre smart about how you build ships :P

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deathtrooper900
deathtrooper900

Yea against Covies the UNSC is going to need a LOT of ships to win, not just the battles but the war too.
and yea, the books battles sound great, but I think that ours will be a lot less epic in the heroic actions department. And if I remember from the books the covenant fleet was actually larger than the UNSC's, a lot of which was destroyed during the covenant Civil War. So if that hadn't happened UNSC had no chance

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EpsFang
EpsFang

Yeah, it was the alliance with the Elites and the Master Chief who saved the UNSC's rear exhaust port. Without either, humanity was on the road to extinction. Actually, except for a few exceptions (Reach among them) humanity had the advantage in atmospheric engagements. Front line troops were far better trained and equipped. The Covenant favored swarm tactics with Grunts more often than not, and, well... we all know how effective Grunts are. The reason why you see so many Elites and Brutes as the Chief is because, naturally, Spartans were deployed to those locations.
The UNSC's disadvantage was in space. They never had a chance in hell before the alliance with the Elites. Ships were too easily destroyed by Covenant plasma fire and the Covenant were experts at space warfare. Not to mention the UNSC simply didn't have the numbers or the capacity to produce them fast enough. Also, superior ground troops count for nothing if the planet they're standing on is determined to be expendable and glassed from orbit.
Still... HURRY UP WITH THE COVENANT SO I CAN SPACE SOME HINGE-HEADS! I LOVE THIS MOD SOOOO MUCH! =D

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Guest
Guest

After watching those huge explosions, I was thinking: in the Halo books, ships would often detonate upon destruction, wiping out nearby ships as well. If this was somehow incorporated into the game, it would make suicidal rushes quite effective. It would also make UNSC formations more risky. Perhaps only capital ships should damage others on death?
Been following this mod for quite a while. I greatly admire your work on this masterpiece.
Just a thought. I know I should be on the forums to discuss this, and I apologize.

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-Defender0-
-Defender0-

Might not be possible because of hardcoding. Also, head on over to the forums anyway, theres a lot more to discuss, especially stuff involving the covenant.

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AlwaysACritic
AlwaysACritic

Possibly the worst reasoning I have ever seen. In space, there wouldn't even be an explosion. There would be a quick flash followed by debris flying around. The only real explanation for why the autumn's explosion was so large is because it was inside Halo's atmosphere. In Halo: Reach, a UNSC frigate explodes and the explosion is only maybe twice as big as the frigate, and that one was still in the upper layers of Reach's atmosphere.

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Chaoslord_ZX
Chaoslord_ZX

Another reason why the Autumns detonation was so large was due to its over-sized twin reactors. As for the scale of the explosions between the Autumn and the frigate in Reach, I highly doubt that if you took two frigates and made their reactors go critical at the same time you would get the end result of the Halo being destroyed.

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-Defender0-
-Defender0-

Keep in mind that the Savannah's hull was 1/3 to 1/2 as long as the PoA, and it was also a lot thinner. That means that, due to size, its reactor would be far smaller. Maybe 3 or 4 times smaller than the PoAs Main reactor (not including the 2 secondary reactors in the refit version)

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hakn
hakn

so your telling me that 8 covie frigates took a UNSC Carrier, well ****

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Description

Moddb.com

This is a little demonstration to show that Sins of the Prophets is staying true to Halo canon, requiring the UNSC to have a 3:1 ship ratio in order to win engagements with the Covenant. Here we'll see Covenant ships do an early game ambush of a similar sized UNSC battlegroup and completely overwhelm them.

Note that the UNSC even loses their capital ship, a Phoenix-class assault ship, while being attack by only Covenant frigates.