The new 1.1 update for Halo: Reach Evolved includes bug fixes, various balancing tweaks, and a bit of new content in the form of altered Elite ranks.
Download 3 contains the last four missions: New Alexandria, The Package, Pillar of Autumn, and Lone Wolf.
==1.1 Update Change List==
- Lone Wolf's ending cutscene no longer crashes.
- The Package no longer lags/de-syncs after the AA guns.
- Fixed "Banshee Hunters" on Nightfall, added one as an Easter Egg somewhere in the Campaign (hint, NOT on Nightfall).
- Toned down Spirit projectile damage.
- AI Rank Upgrade chance on Heroic and Legendary have been reduced, now uses a value between original Normal and Heroic. This was to give the lower ranks a better chance to appear on higher difficulties.
- Tweak PoA Boneyard encounter, less jackals / skirmishers, more weapon variety for Marines (same for the rest of the campaign)
- Chieftain + Stalker Brute squad in third Phantom wave in The Package's Ice Cave swapped places with the Brutes from the left-most Phantom due to occasions where Stealth Brutes would fall from the Phantom and pass over the railings of the bridge, breaking their pathfinding. It could still happen w/ the standard brutes, but they'll be more visible than the Stalkers.
- bullet_slow (Assault Rifle) does slightly better shield damage (0.65 -> 0.7)
- plasma_slow (the Spates, Plasma Pistol, Eviscerator, and Plasma Rifle) does more damage against tough_organic (Brutes. 1x) and hard_metal_thin (Elites, 0.6x)
- Difficulty enemy damage multiplier lowered to 1.25x on Heroic and Legendary. Since hard_metal_thin, the material the player's health uses, takes more damage from plasma_slow weapons now, and a vast majority of the enemy weapons in the Campaign shoot this type of projectile, consider this as shifting some of the Difficulty damage multiplier values to the Damage Table, resulting in an experience where enemy damage remains mostly unchanged from the first release while the player's plasma weapons get to perform better against more types of enemies.
- All Enemy projectiles travel at the same velocity on all difficulties, uses the Legendary values.
- Scorpion on The Package now accepts all ODSTs, and a 4th ODST joins the squad to have all 4 treads occupied (not on Co-Op).
- Br/Shotty weapon crate that was stuck in the wall at the end of Pillar of Autumn has been moved to being inside the building it was attached to. The physics associated with that easter egg seem to shoot you at high speeds way more on MCC.
Magnum:
- does better shield damage.
- magazine size increased from 8 to 12, HUD ammo count adjusted to match
Battle Rifle:
- does more damage per bullet (6 -> 8)
- AI fire the BR faster
- HUD ammo count adjusted to match 36 round magazine
Needle Rifle:
- has slower projectile speed, 50 points faster than the Battle Rifle projectile
- magazine size increased from 12 to 15, HUD ammo count adjusted to match.
- supercombine damage increased (90 -> 175)
- error deceleration rate slightly increased, meaning reticle resets back to normal slightly faster with each shot.
- AI firing range significantly increased (20 -> 75)
Plasma Rifle:
- shader gained a purple hue to better match its CE counterpart.
- enemy Plasma Rifle users generally fire it at a slower fire rate
- projectile speed slightly increased (25 -> 30)
- slight rate of fire increase (7 min, 10 max like in CE) but takes slightly longer to reach the max RoF, again like in CE
- max bloom slightly decreased
Needler:
- AI drops twice as much ammo on average
Plasma Spate:
- projectile speed slightly increased (40 -> 50)
- enemy projectile speed slightly decreased (0.7 ai velocity scale)
- max bloom slightly decreased (1.3 -> 0.7)
- AI firing range doubled (15 -> 30)
- damage buffed (8 -> 9.5)
Brute Plasma Spate:
- damage buffed (14 -> 18)
- enemy projectiles move slightly slower (0.86 ai velocity scale)
Plasma Launcher:
- uses less battery per shot (0.08 -> 0.05)
Flak Shade Variant:
- enemy projectiles no longer track targets
- projectiles move slightly faster? (11/11 -> 15/12)
Wraith:
- enemy mortar projectile speed slightly slower (0.35 ai velocity scale)
Skirmishers:
- longer hard ping cooldown time (means they don't jitter as much when you shoot them)
- Skirmisher Major and Skirmisher Murmillo health slightly decreased (110 -> 100)
- Skirmisher Commando health slightly decreased (135 -> 120)
Elites:
- Plasma Rifle users perform with it differently depending on rank; the higher, the better
- Minors and Officers will now randomly spawn with either the Minor armor or the Officer armor permutation, akin to the two different Elite helmet variants seen in CE
- Ultras will now randomly spawn with either the Minor or Ultra armor permutation.
- Minor armor color tweaked to be less dull
- Officer armor color is now a darker reddish-magenta.
Phantom:
- Chin Gun Projectile moves slightly slower (25 -> 15)
Plasma Turret:
- enemy projectiles move slightly slower (0.7 velocity scale)
Apparition:
- secondary flame damage nerfed significantly (35 -> 15)
Energy Sword:
- wait time between lunge and standard melee attacks reduced, performs similarly to the Halo 2 sword.
Grunts:
- Grunt Minor rank color permutation slightly more vibrant and less dull.
Halo: Reach Evolved Change List:
General:
- Armor Ability usage is removed with the exception of the Jetpacks on Exodus since it's required to finish the level.
- Jump height is 15% higher and the walking/running speed uses Halo: Combat Evolved's values.
- Carry up to 4 of each type of grenade, and frag grenades only explode "when at rest" like they do in Halo: CE while also using the Halo: Reach Beta damage values.
- Edited encounters throughout the campaign.
- Edited view model positions, but uses original positions in the non-centered crosshair version of this mod.
- This mod has had its Legendary difficulty rebalanced: projectile tracking vs player uses Normal difficulty value, and Elites do less melee damage, just to name a few examples.
Weapons:
- MA37 Assault Rifle is now called the MA37B; like in CE, it has a 60 round magazine, fires in 15 rounds per second, and has a wide firing spread. It can now be burst fired for more accuracy like the original Reach AR. View model positions akin to CE counterpart.
- M6G Magnum is now the XM6D, a prototype of the famous Halo 1 Pistol: 8 round magazine, full-auto capability like in CE, slightly higher damage per shot than the standard Reach pistol, and the exact same bloom mechanics from the multiplayer version of the CE Pistol. View model positions akin to CE counterpart.
- M392 DMR is now the M392 Battle Rifle: 3x magnification, 3-round bursts, zero-bloom, and a sage-green numbers plate like in the Reach Beta.
- Needle Rifle has a 4x magnification and triple the damage per shot than standard Reach NR, but has a slower rate of fire, more aggressive bloom, and only a magazine size of 12 needles.
- Plasma Repeater is now the Plasma Spate: 5-round burst plasma weapon that works well in close-mid range firefights. Also uses a new dark-blue color scheme. Slight damage buff from v1.
- The Brute Plasma Spate. Fires slower 4-round bursts with less accuracy and worse heat regulation, but has way more stopping power than the Elite variant.
- Plasma Rifle's damage has been buffed to Combat Evolved levels of power, and it uses a color scheme that's reminiscent of the CE variant. View model positions akin to CE counterpart.
- Plasma Pistol view model positions akin to CE counterpart, and fires as fast as you can pull the trigger (shoutout to Ruby of Blue for the idea!).
- Needler's supercombine damage significantly nerfed and takes 8 needles to supercombine instead of 6, but is now able to embed into energy shields and hunter armor (shoutout to Ruby of Blue for the idea!)
- Spiker is now the Eviscerator: a fully-automatic Brute shotgun that fires 5 spikes per shot, with a max range of 15 world units.
- Concussion Rifle received a 50% damage buff and is now a Brute-exclusive weapon.
- Prototype Plasma Caster: Elite-exclusive Concussion Rifle variant equipped with two firing modes: standard shot that has its projectile airburst after bouncing once, and a charged shot that fires a stronger tracking round at a very high velocity, and it can stick to anything. However, it costs double the ammo to fire.
- Fuel Rod Gun now takes heavy inspiration from the Combat Evolved variant: battery-powered, dark-purple color scheme, a more pronounced arc for the projectile, and a wider firing spread. Has now received an overheat effect as of the most recent release!
- Shotgun has blue sights and has increased damage and range at the cost of less spare ammo.
- Sniper Rifle fires about as fast as the Halo 1 and Halo 2 variants, but its heavy vehicle damage has been significantly reduced.
- Rocket Launcher now locks on to ground vehicles as well as aircraft a la the Halo 2 variant.
- Spartan Laser has one extra shot, giving it 5 total like its Halo 3 counterpart. Also does much more damage to shields and heavy vehicles. First appears near the end of ONI Sword Base.
- Energy Sword can melee immediately upon switching to it like in Halo 2.
- Plasma Launcher has its Halo: Reach Beta targeting values and charge-up times.
Vehicles:
- All vehicles received a 50% base health increase.
- Warthog Chaingun received an accuracy buff, returning it to its Halo 3-era settings.
- Troop Transport Warthog has its own segment on the ONI Sword Base mission.
- Mounted Machine Gun Turret received an accuracy and damage buff, but at the cost of a slow start-up time, returning it to its Halo 3-era settings. Two more have been added at the end of The Package.
- Rocket Warthog's projectiles do 50% more damage.
- Falcon Chin Gun is now fully automatic with an overheat function.
- The Sabre has a shorter health/shield recovery wait time, and the Sabre section on Long Night of Solace is significantly less punishing thanks to better vehicle controls and worse enemy target tracking against the player. No camera acceleration for easier mouse and keyboard control. (shoutout to Ruby of Blue for the ideas!)
- The Spirit dropship has its own projectile now, akin to its CE counterparts. Phantom gun has the same projectile it always had, creating a bigger distinction between the two in combat.
- The Revenant is now the Apparition, a mobile Covenant Flamethrower platform that does massive damage to infantry, but has a worse heavy vehicle matchup. CO-OP DE-SYNC IS NOW FIXED!
- The Ghost fires at a faster fire rate and does more damage; uses Halo 2 values.
- The Wraith replaces the gunner seat with two automated AI plasma cannons just like its Halo 2 counterpart. Plasma Mortar damage output is nerfed, but has a slightly faster fire rate. Wait time is now 2.5 seconds instead of 3.
- The Scorpion is now the M808B variant! Replaces the gunner seat with a secondary Coaxial Machine Gun embedded into the main turret. Switching to it is the same as switching between the two weapons in the Sabre and Banshee. Its main turret has no camera acceleration, allowing the player to turn with it much more easily on mouse and keyboard controls. Main cannon's damage output and rate of fire is significantly nerfed to encourage usage of the new coaxial gun. Wait time between shots is 4 seconds like CE.
Characters:
- All Grunts wear the Minor's backpack.
- Majors are a more defined red like their original trilogy counterparts.
- Heavys are a more defined green like their original trilogy counterparts.
- Spec Ops use the same armor colors as the new Spec-Ops Elite, and now use very weak energy shields.
- Elite Officers, Ultras, Stealth, and Zealots wear the Minor armor.
- Elite Zealots wear Goldenrod primary and Black secondary.
- Field Marshalls wear Black primary and Goldenrod Secondary, uses the Field Marshall armor once again.
- New rendition of the Spec-Ops Elite: Midnight-colored armor w/ the Spec-Ops armor set, uses Needle Rifle, dual Needlers, or Prototype Plasma Caster. The only Elite rank to throw Plasma Grenades now.
- Stealth Elite: Basically the same as the standard Reach Spec-Ops Elite, but uses the Minor armor set.
- The Zealot Champion: Zealot variant that wields an Energy Sword and a Jackal Shield.
- Elite Generals now use the old purple Zealot colors.
- Elite Officers wear a more defined red color like the Majors did in the original trilogy.
- Elites can now dual wield the Plasma Pistol and Needler alongside the Plasma Rifle.
- Elite Ultras and those of a higher rank will pull out an Energy Sword when they berserk.
- Hunters can now be boarded from behind once their back armor is broken off.
- NEW HUNTER VARIANT: THE AGGRO HUNTER! Red-colored Hunter that fires fully-automatic red plasma bolts similar to the Phantom Chin Gun.
- Human AI allies have double the health and fire the rocket launcher at slightly further distances.
- Jackal Snipers and Skirmishers that hold rifle-type weapons are now able to melee the player.
- Jackal Majors have orange shields, and will turn red the weaker it gets.
- Drones have received a major overhaul and have more than double the encounters than they did in the base game. All ranks use their ODST colors: Green Minors, Blue Majors, White Ultras, Red Captains, and Gold Leaders. Captains and Leaders are equipped with weak energy shields.
Shoutouts:
- AltSierra117 - for helping me figure out shader editing, weapon/equipment swapping in the scnr tags, hunter boarding, CHDT swapping, AI Generic Firing Pattern editing, and a bunch more stuff.
- Lord Zedd - helping me get the gate on Sword Base to open when I swapped out the Target Locator for the Rocket Launcher, helping me figure out some things relating to squad editing, and a bunch of other stuff I can't remember rn.
- Gamecheat13 - for various ideas
- JJIJR - Flame Projectile for the Apparition.
- Tillice - She's responsible for providing me the guidance to make the Zealot Champion, the Sword and Shield Elite Zealot based off of the E3 2000 Halo 1 trailer. It's thanks to her that I made yet another piece of content that I'm hugely proud of!
- Ruby of Blue - Some of the concepts from his Legendary Rebalanced campaign, such as the faster walking speed for turrets, Needler rounds embedding into shields and Hunter armor, and the Plasma Pistol firing as fast as the player can pull the trigger made their way into Reach Evolved! Check his mod out!
- I'd like to also thank the following testers:
Dr. Oldboi, Maydelcore, Sod, Ayylien, BOT-Sam.J, King Feraligatr, and everyone else who played the public beta builds posted on Nexus and ModDB!