Finally read the Halo books

[Darth Wong]

I read all three Halo books yesterday (what can I say, I had some time on my hands). And all I can say is that the Halo-verse wankers have been bullshitting something fierce. I lost count of the number of times Master Chief got blind-sided, shot repeatedly, caught with his guard down and nailed hard, etc. All of that "dodge bullets" stuff is simply bullshit. On his very first real mission he was wounded by ordinary humans using submachine guns, who hit him repeatedly in the same spot on his pre-MJOLNIR body armour.

PS. The bit about how it's standard loadout for them to carry a 1MT tactical nuke is bullshit too.

[Icehawk]

So....aside from concluding that "haloverse wankers" are wrong with your own observations, what did you think of the books themselves in terms of story, action, character development, etc? How would you personally rate them out of 10?

[constantine]

Could you point to a specific post where these "Halo wankers" have been bullshitting?

[NecronLord]

Humm, it's you!

[Black Admiral]

Just to point out, the Chief can dodge bullets, but not easily and not often. Indeed, the only time he does is during a test of the Mark III MJOLNIR armour, and MC was surprised that he could.

[Darth Wong]

Just to point out, the Chief can dodge bullets, but not easily and not often. Indeed, the only time he does is during a test of the Mark III MJOLNIR armour, and MC was surprised that he could.

Wrong. The Chief can move quickly enough to take people by surprise so that they don't track him with their guns quickly enough. He does not actually dodge bullets once they come out of the barrel if they happen to be going in the right direction.

Could you point to a specific post where these "Halo wankers" have been bullshitting?

Oh puh-lease. You've been one of the offenders, particularly with the "Jedi vs Master Chief" thread.

So....aside from concluding that "haloverse wankers" are wrong with your own observations, what did you think of the books themselves in terms of story, action, character development, etc? How would you personally rate them out of 10?

The Fall of Reach was OK. I'd say 7/10. Not great characterization but not bad either. The Flood sucked. I'd say 2/10. It's handicapped by having to follow the events of the game, so perhaps the author had no choice, but it still sucks as a story. There are very long stretches where it's just "Master Chief saw an Elite, shot him, moved on, saw some Grunts, shot them too, moved on, saw a Hunter," etc. Most of the book is filled with terse descriptions of FPS action, and that's not a good recipe for a story. As for First Strike, I found that more compelling than Fall of Reach, so I'd say 8/10.

[Black Admiral]

Wrong. The Chief can move quickly enough to take people by surprise so that they don't track him with their guns quickly enough. He does not actually dodge bullets once they come out of the barrel if they happen to be going in the right direction.

TFoR, page 117 says that the Chief managed to dodge one or two of the rounds fired at him, but it describes him as being amazed at being able to do that.

[Darth Wong]

Wrong. The Chief can move quickly enough to take people by surprise so that they don't track him with their guns quickly enough. He does not actually dodge bullets once they come out of the barrel if they happen to be going in the right direction.

TFoR, page 117 says that the Chief managed to dodge one or two of the rounds fired at him, but it describes him as being amazed at being able to do that.

I know the book uses the phrase "dodge bullets", but in context, it clearly means that he reacts to the gun barrel being moved around. It does not mean he actually sees an individual bullet coming right at him and moves out of the way before it gets there.

[NecronLord]

Another bit of Halo-wankery revealed by a search of this board.

[Luzifer's right hand]

I know the book uses the phrase "dodge bullets", but in context, it clearly means that he reacts to the gun barrel being moved around. It does not mean he actually sees an individual bullet coming right at him and moves out of the way before it gets there.

This happend in an obstacle course.
Is there evidence that the barrel of the weapon is even moveing around?

[Luzifer's right hand]

TFoR 117:

He slid under barbed wire as bullets zinged over his head. He stood, and let the rounds deflect off the armor. To his amazment, he actually dodged one or two of the rounds.

This sounds more liked fire from stationary weapons to keep the heads of the users of the course down.

[Darth Wong]

TFoR 117:

He slid under barbed wire as bullets zinged over his head. He stood, and let the rounds deflect off the armor. To his amazment, he actually dodged one or two of the rounds.

This sounds more liked fire from stationary weapons to keep the heads of the users of the course down.

In other words, he knows the lines of fire and manages to avoid some of the shots. Precisely what I was saying. Once again, no real evidence that he can actually see an individual round en route and dodge it, never mind the absurd notion that he can survive combat against a DarkTrooper by simply evading all of its weapons fire.

Here's a hint: if you have to take a few hits to figure out where the bullets are coming from and then "dodge", you're not really dodging. The fact is that most of the shots hit him, and in fact, he is hit all the fucking time in all three books, despite all of the wanker-bullshit claims that he is nigh-impossible for a DarkTrooper to hit with its weapons.

[Luzifer's right hand]

TFoR 117:

He slid under barbed wire as bullets zinged over his head. He stood, and let the rounds deflect off the armor. To his amazment, he actually dodged one or two of the rounds.

This sounds more liked fire from stationary weapons to keep the heads of the users of the course down.

In other words, he knows the lines of fire and manages to avoid some of the shots. Precisely what I was saying. Once again, no real evidence that he can actually see an individual round en route and dodge it, never mind the absurd notion that he can survive combat against a DarkTrooper by simply evading all of its weapons fire.

Here's a hint: if you have to take a few hits to figure out where the bullets are coming from and then "dodge", you're not really dodging. The fact is that most of the shots hit him, and in fact, he is hit all the fucking time in all three books, despite all of the wanker-bullshit claims that he is nigh-impossible for a DarkTrooper to hit with its weapons.

I'm not trying to prove that he can avoid bullets in a real fight. I'm no "Halo-verse wanker".

[Majin Gojira]

So...He dodges Bullets the same way Buffy has...quite interesting indeed...Maybe I should start that "Slayer in MJOLNIR armor" thread...

[Darth Wong]

I'm not trying to prove that he can avoid bullets in a real fight. I'm no "Halo-verse wanker".

Sorry, that was more directed at Constantine, although I look at it now and it does look like it was directed at you.

[Luzifer's right hand]

@Constantine

Yesterday I emailed Bungie asking them to clarify the "...point four-tenths the speed of light..." question. Most likely, I considered it a typo but wanted to be sure. I haven't gotten an answer yet but probably will soon as Bungie has a good reputation of taking care of their fans pretty well.

I found this In the thread Necronlord linked to, did you get an answer?

[constantine]

Wrong. The Chief can move quickly enough to take people by surprise so that they don't track him with their guns quickly enough. He does not actually dodge bullets once they come out of the barrel if they happen to be going in the right direction.

TFoR, page 117 says that the Chief managed to dodge one or two of the rounds fired at him, but it describes him as being amazed at being able to do that.

I know the book uses the phrase "dodge bullets", but in context, it clearly means that he reacts to the gun barrel being moved around. It does not mean he actually sees an individual bullet coming right at him and moves out of the way before it gets there.

[/quote]

He stood, and let the rounds deflect off his armor. To his amazement, he actually dodged one or two of the rounds.

Seems pretty self-explanatory. Nylund states explicitly that MC 'dodged one or two rounds.'
Where does it mention anything about a gun barrel moving around?

Oh puh-lease. You've been one of the offenders, particularly with the "Jedi vs Master Chief" thread.

Did I lie somewhere in that thread? Did I pull out bogus numbers that weren't supported with quotes? Did I fuck up on some math equation? Where's the bullshit?

[constantine]

@Constantine

Yesterday I emailed Bungie asking them to clarify the "...point four-tenths the speed of light..." question. Most likely, I considered it a typo but wanted to be sure. I haven't gotten an answer yet but probably will soon as Bungie has a good reputation of taking care of their fans pretty well.

I found this In the thread Necronlord linked to, did you get an answer?

Nope, not yet! I've tried emailing them twice since then but to no avail.

[Darth Wong]

Since the giant "Unyielding Heirophant" space station (capable of repairing and refitting hundreds of ships) had a total power generation of "five hundred twelve-terawatt" reactors (6E15W total, from p.305) and each one of these 12TW reactors is said to be similar to the ones used in Covenant starships, some of the super high-yield figures quoted for Covenant weapons are starting to look rather suspect if you ask me. That might even be an huge overestimate since the wording is not precise. On p.316 it says "five hundred twelve fusion reactors", which suggests that the earlier passage actually referred to 512 single-TW reactors.

[Darth Wong]

Seems pretty self-explanatory. Nylund states explicitly that MC 'dodged one or two rounds.'

Without clarifying what he means by "dodged". If most of the rounds from automatic weapons hit you and you "dodged" just one or two of them, you are obviously not capable of seeing and reacting to individual bullets in flight.

Where does it mention anything about a gun barrel moving around?

It mentions something about fixed guns whose lines of fire he is clearly aware of, since THEY HIT HIM REPEATEDLY.

Oh puh-lease. You've been one of the offenders, particularly with the "Jedi vs Master Chief" thread.

Did I lie somewhere in that thread? Did I pull out bogus numbers that weren't supported with quotes? Did I fuck up on some math equation? Where's the bullshit?

You claimed that the DarkTrooper would have trouble hitting Master Chief at all, with any of its weapons, based on this "dodging bullets" bullshit.

[Shroom Man 777]

Not to mention the fact that the "gun barrel moving around" bit was talking more about MC seeing where the gun was pointing at and ducking/moving off the line of fire before the shots were fired.

[Luzifer's right hand]

Since the giant "Unyielding Heirophant" space station (capable of repairing and refitting hundreds of ships) had a total power generation of "five hundred twelve-terawatt" reactors (6E15W total, from p.305) and each one of these 12TW reactors is said to be similar to the ones used in Covenant starships, some of the super high-yield figures quoted for Covenant weapons are starting to look rather suspect if you ask me. That might even be an huge overestimate since the wording is not precise. On p.316 it says "five hundred twelve fusion reactors", which suggests that the earlier passage actually referred to 512 single-TW reactors.

It say "five hundred twelve-terawatt units" on page 305.
I think it's correct to conclude that these reactors are single 1-TW reactors.

The line on p.316 supports this.

I like the Halo-verse an I honestly can not understand the urge to make an universe look more powerful.
I can always read old pulp SF it I want uber-weapons.

[Alyeska]

Doesn't surprise me Mike. I find it very odd that the Convenant got TT rated weapons when simple railguns and nuclear missiles were deadly. A 30 MT gift on the surface for Convenant ships that move by was considered deadly. I do think that people have been massively overstating Convenant and Terran firepower.

As to the MC. Some people spin it a little better then it should be. The MC is fast, and I do mean FAST. But he still can't dodge bullets except in maybe highly unusual circumstances. It seems his capabilities are written right to the edge of realism, but for the most part doesn't cross that line. I would never want to fight him in a fire fight, but he can and is taken by surprise and is shot.

[constantine]

Did I lie somewhere in that thread? Did I pull out bogus numbers that weren't supported with quotes? Did I fuck up on some math equation? Where's the bullshit?

You claimed that the DarkTrooper would have trouble hitting Master Chief at all, with any of its weapons, based on this "dodging bullets" bullshit.

Is this what you're talking about?

MC has a 20 millisecond reaction without armor, with armor this is increased 5X. Of course the Mark V armor ended up increasing his reaction even more with Cortanas ability to amplify the rate of the nueral signals travelling from his motor cortex to his armor. So basically, MC thinks of moving and the armor moves. He is so fast that he explains everything as having the impression of being underwater. This is like a constant Max Payne/Matrix 'bullet time'.

I scanned through all 15 pages of that thread and this is the only thing I found close to what you were saying. I never stated that the DarkTrooper couldn't hit MC as a result of this though - I don't know where you're getting that from...

[constantine]

A 30 MT gift on the surface for Convenant ships that move by was considered deadly.

What do you mean by this? Where did you get this from?