How to Use It Effectively - The Falcon

The "Warthog of the skies" truly lives up to it's name. Instead of having one gun turret (like the warthog), this time you have two. Which means you need three players to use it fully. And if you have read the previous article about using the Warthog, then a lot of that ability translates into using the Falcon.

Instead of having one gunner with a 360˚ turn, you have two gunners which roughly have a 180˚ firing arc each, one for the left side and one for the right.

The driver needs to have the same awareness, being alert to possible dangers like in the warthog. Is there an enemy air threat approaching, a scorpion tank, or anti-armour infantry shooting you? The Falcon is capable of hovering in place, but it can move around fairly quickly too.  The primary role of the Falcon is to support ground units, rather than take on fights against all odds.

Don't expect the falcon to smoothly dodge locked on rockets either. Like the warthog you are large (compared to a banshee) and far less agile to evade attacks. And if a scorpion tank spots you, opt for getting out of his sights as you will be shot down instantly.

Check out these videos:

This first one is from the gunners perspective and you can see how he only has a 180˚ field of fire but still manages to get a kill frenzy. You will also see that the falcon is effective at taking out enemy infantry and an enemy falcon too.

This second video show how well a good pilot and gunner combination works together along with map knowledge of weapons and spawn locations, resulting in dominating the other team and the gunner obtaining a rampage.

In both of these videos the pilot always keeps on the move, strafing ground units for the best effect.

Don't drive the falcon alone.

That was in a paragraph of its own because it is just a waste of vehicle power. Actually you should always look to get 2 gunners inside a falcon quickly, as one gunner can only shoot on one side of the aircraft. Sometimes a second gunner may not be spawned nearby, but make it your first priority to pick up a second gunner asap, as long as it is safe to do so.

How To Use Sprint Effectively

Here is an awesome video from machinima.com thanks for dong this one. It nicely explains a couple of uses for sprint and how to use this armour ability effectively without wasting or running (pun) down the meter needlessly.

Next Mini Series - Advanced Tips For Online Multiplayer

So I hope you enjoyed the first mini-series of basic tips. And in the next few days I will release the next series of more advanced tips to keep you up to speed with the more skilled online halo gamers out there.

Part 1 of the advanced tips will be about two aspects of your halo experience. Crouching and hiding. And vehicle and weapon spawning.

It is my aim in the advanced section to improve the way you look at the game while your playing it, so as to get a clearer view of the whole scope of functions and actions that you can utilize to improve your game. Plus it's also from my perspective:  someone who has played perhaps a little too much halo over the years.

So I hope you find this next mini series informative and exciting as you learn some neat tips. Ones that I've learned and have been using, that gives you a nice edge in online matchmaking.. Part 1 is coming soon!

Part 3 - Basics to Online Multiplayer, Getting the Best Out of You

Part 3 - Avoiding Mistakes and Focusing.

 Here are some mistakes you want to avoid, these include:

• Mis-throwing a grenade that backfires on you, hurts/kills a team mate or flips a friendly vehicle.
• Rushing into battle constantly with only an assault rifle and grenades. (seen it thousands and thousands of times) Unless you're very experienced and have deduced that the enemy is not good enough to beat you. 
• Rocket killing your own team mates. Which is even easier that grenade killing them.
• Carrying 2 power weapons at a time. Rockets and Shotgun. Sniper and Rockets. Are bad combos for one player, it's generally much better to assign a team mate the other power weapon and have a DMR or Pistol in reserve.
• Rushing into battles, and giving away your position. (again see I this thousands of times)
• Running out in the open with short range power weapons.
• Staying indoors with long range power weapons like the sniper rifle.

That point about rushing into battles ties in with being focused, because most times it's your attitude that makes you rush in and dying ( which just feeds the enemy kills until they get a free win.) You just get frustrated and try the same thing over and over again. Use your map knowledge, learn where the right weapons are that you need.

Being Focused.

This is something you need to get in the habit of doing. And it's best described as being in the zone. Sounds a little cliched, but it's almost like you have to be sensitive to everything going on in the game. The movement of your team and the opposing team, the power weapons, who controls them, what the current score is, who the good and bad players are.

The more you stay focused on these things and especially on achieving your short term and overall game goals, the better you will do. This means having as few out of game distractions, like eating, drinking, talking etc... this of course is different for everybody, but do what's best for you.

Another thing is to try and stay loose. An overly tense player can't fully focus on playing as they are too tense. And this can change throughout the course of a game. Try to relax and focus on playing your game.