NEBULOUS: Fleet Command

NEBULOUS: Fleet Command

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Legends of Reach HALO Mod Overview
By DargaribdusPersonOfLordlyCaliber and 1 collaborators
A primer for the HALO mod. Should have everything a fleet commander needs to know to shift from ANS and OSP fleets to UNSC and URF fleets without bashing your head against the fleet editor for a few days. Will be edited as the mod expands.
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Introduction to UNSC
Authored by Dargaribdus, edited by KillSmith

"Per Mare, Per Terras, Per Constellatum" - UNSC Motto

Greetings, Commander. Welcome to the United Nations Space Command. The UNSC vessels and their armament are quite different from their ANS counterparts, but still fall into similar archetypes. The core concepts should be familiar, even though the execution will be alien. Therefore, We’ve thrown together an armada primer for ANS-officers-on-loan. We won't be getting into specific ship design here, as those change with the tides of the naval office, but this primer should cover everything you need to know to get into the fight. This primer is broken up into sections by vessel and then sub sections of general overview and specific information/advice on using the hull. It is book ended by the unique armament of the UNSC and URF forces.
Unique Weapons Information
"Whoa" - Common reaction to MAC fire

All MACs are linear weapons, and all hulls can equip at least one kind of MAC. They’re devastating, but tricky to use. Command highly recommends experimenting with getting nose-to-target in our patented vs AI simulator before going into a real fight. The vessels who carry these weapons do not move like the ones you are used to.

Light MAC (LMAC) Rounds fire fast, but have relatively low damage. Good for sustained damage against anything and fighting small, agile vessels that may dodge a few shots.

Heavy MAC (HMAC) Rounds do absurd damage and are extremely effective at killing pretty much anything. However, they have colossal reload times, so you better make sure you hit whatever you’re shooting at. Best used against locked large priority targets. They destroy small ships too, but that tends to be inefficient. Both munitions dramatically increase the radar signature of the firing ship.

MAC - gingerly places the physical manifestation of death inside spaceships. Probably the main reason you’re here. Can fire LMAC and HMAC rounds.

Dual MAC - Two barrels of Mass Accelerator Cannon. Absolutely devastating against large targets. Effectively doubles the fire rate of the standard MAC, but you pay for it out the nose. Can fire LMAC and HMAC rounds.

Light MAC - Cheaper on points and energy than the standard MAC. Can only fire LMAC rounds.
The Marathon
"Hammer. Anvil."
Ship Motto, UNSC Canberra

Marathon Overview
The Marathon is the anchor of the UNSC armada. It is most comparable to an Axford, but has both more advantages and more drawbacks. It rewards the judicious but brutally punishes the hasty. Not only can it control space through immense firepower and heavy armor, it can provide a wide variety of support tools to its team. The large volume of mountings, compartments, and modules make for a vessel with immense nuance. Though it can only fill a couple of archetypes, MAC-centric (MACathon), Cannon-centric (Gunathon), and Command and Control, there is much build diversity within those general archetypes. A Marathon can be long range or medium range, depending on load out, which in turn informs positioning and what fleet you want to build around the anchor. The Marathon also provides much needed strategic support to the mobile and powerful Paris and Halberd hulls. It's currently the only UNSC ship that can fit an intel center, and with the massive reload time on Heavy MAC rounds, knowing exactly what OPFOR has so you can properly target MACs is integral to the faction. The Marathon is an expensive investment and often requires the entire 3k be built around it. Not every fleet needs a marathon, but any team can benefit from one.

Marathon Specifics
MACathons generally want to have strong point defense, stay out of gun range and rain hellish HMAC rounds onto priority targets. As combat draws to a close, taking a nearly fresh Marathon with a Dual MAC and some gun turrets into the front lines to secure a control point can win a close game. It’s powerful, but is vulnerable to flanking vessels that slip through the UNSC radar net. Gunathons can bring a frightening volume of 450 and 250 barrels to bear, but have to outsource their PD to the vulnerable Paris to do so. They want to be on the front lines, fighting like hell and controlling space, but the low mobility and (relative for its size) fragility of the hull are magnified on the front lines and can become serious problems for a Marathon that gets outflanked or out positioned. Both of which are much easier to do when the Marathon is fighting close-in. Command and Control should really be a subtype folded into either of these main archetypes if you want it. Commanders can easily sacrifice some damage control or firepower for better radar or intel, but are not advised to make dedicated CnC vessels due to their vulnerability and price.
The Halberd
"BANG! and you're dead."
Unknown Halberd Captain

Halberd Overview
The Halberd is a powerful vessel for exerting pressure on your opponent. It can do this through long range firepower as a MAC delivery system or controlling capture points as an armored combat scout. Though those are opposing roles, they are mutually supporting. It can also be a cheap reinforced cap ship or radar scout in a pinch. The halberd may not be as fast as a sprinter or as lethal as a rocket shuttle, but it makes up for this in its combination of decent firepower, armor, stealth, and agility for its size and cost. The Halberd is integral to taking capture points, but isn’t as easily sacrificed as a Shuttle or Sprinter might be. You also can’t often afford to send capping Halberd teams out in wolfpacks due to the cost of the main armament of the halberd being the MAC. It’s an expensive ship and must be used with care, but when used well it can outperform the hell out of the other small vessels.


Halberd Specifics
The points-optimal platform for raw HMAC throughput is the Halberd. Straight up. You want to increase the amount of tungsten inside of your enemies, this is the vessel for you. However, when built as a dedicated HMAC ship, unlike similarly rolled rail Keystones, it is severely lacking in the support and safety departments. It will need support ships for PD and scouting. Like any long range vessel archetype, it will also need other vessels to force enemies into fireable positions, to get locks, and to control caps. Which is the perfect job for…. The Halberd! That’s right, you can make a technically well rounded fleet with nothin’ but Halberds! LMACs, 120s, offensive S1s, S2s, S3s, you can kit these things out in a wide variety of ways, but if they can fight and hold caps, they’ll be fairly vulnerable to missiles and EWAR, so beware. They’re great, cheap pinard/spyglass offset scouts as well, but those get torn to shreds if they aren’t kept in safe, secure positions. If they are designed to fight, bring an LMAC or MAC in the nose. The ship can use them incredibly well, and the nose gun is about half of its potential armament.
The Paris

[Gunnery officer]: "Some Covies think they can outsmart us. Maybe, maybe. I have yet to meet one who can outsmart bullet!"
[All]: "HUA"
Pre-battle ritual. Overheard aboard the UNSC Saratoga moments before the battle over Reach

Paris Overview
The Paris is the most fragile but most versatile hull we can field, the caulk of the UNSC armada. Though it can do most everything, it needs to specialize to truly excel in anything. In addition, since the Marathon and Halberd have natural roles that they excel in, using the Paris as a gap-filler, especially for EWAR is highly effective. The Paris is the premier missile boat of the UNSC. Other notable jobs include gunship, scout killer, jammer, anti-jammer, and PD escort. These support roles are often best served shoring up the weaknesses of a marathon-centric fleet so that it can take the field and fight directly.

Paris Specifics
The Paris has a MAC in the nose, 4 turret slots on the neck that can face forward, one on bottom that can face anywhere, and the agility to use all of these effectively. The ability of the Paris to aim its nose at something and do whatever it is designed to do is matched only by the Vauxhall. Unlike the Vauxhall, it is points-efficient to fill those neck mounts up with something other than guns. Guns are good for killing things, of course, but the Paris can also mount a large volume of forward firing EWAR, or PD for covering specific angles, or locking radars. It’s an incredible hull that can do whatever you need it to do while also presenting its most survivable angle to its opponent. It’s also great at bringing support/finisher missiles or being a dedicated cruise missile boat. Just be careful with them. They will die and die fast to 250 and 100mm fire. In addition, they’re just big enough to have trouble dodging 450 at medium and close range.
The Halcyon
“It spins and slides like a hippo on iceskates”
“It’s fast-”
“It’s silly”
“But it’s fast! And it’s got so many guns!”
“But it’s silly
“Tell that to the mountain of dead test drones. Fastest time through the course on record.”
“….. Send it.”
Conversation between a procurement officer and yard foreman before the official commissioning of the first Halcyon class light cruiser

HALCYON OVERVIEW

The Halcyon is fast, agile, and has immense firepower. It obliterates small URF vessels faster than their captains can say “oh jeez, that sure is a lot of guns I really don’t want to get shot by that.” It’s most comparable to the ANS Vauxhall role-wise, but it brings a lot more punch to the party. It’s an extremely powerful punch-down vessel, which makes it especially effective vs the low armor fleets of the URF. It is, however, fragile. It can’t stick and hold like a Marathon. The Halcyon wants to pick a target, devour it with an HMAC round + a withering barrage of 250 and 120, and get away before the enemy firebase can punish it. It can bring strong PD in addition to its large firepower, and is one of the only vessels that can operate truly on its lonesome without being in critical danger. Like anything else, it benefits immensely from support vessels, but unlike anything else, has the raw strength and speed to go on hit and run raids all on its own. Just don’t get caught by ballistic bulk freighters or opposing MAC arrays, as that is an immediate death sentence.

HALCYON SPECIFICS

Thanks to the speed and sheer quantity of medium sized mounts, the halcyon can be many, many things. It gets the most reliable performance out of a 250/120/PD build. In this configuration, and with selfish modules and compartments, it can do the job and tactics I outlined above. Standard, strong, and for some of you out there, boring. If you want to get real weird, like the player in the screenshot above, you can replace most of its PD with VLS-2s for S2 or S2C support for high emergency burst damage. Of course in this configuration, the Halcyon will need an escort, or risk getting obliterated by an opposing missile volley. Build wise, the Halcyon is more straightforward than the other UNSC ships. It does one thing, it does it very well, and then it dies goes home. But you can build it elsewise, if you so desire. I've laid out one alternative option here, but my advice to you is to... Experiment!
The Gladius
Simple, Silent, Swift.
Gladius Pilot Mantra

GLADIUS OVERVIEW

The Gladius is a tiny, rink-a-dink little boat. It’s also probably the most dangerous ship in the UNSC’s line up, which should be extremely concerning considering the URF has captured several hundred of them and also has access to this vessel. It has tiny mounts, tiny components, it is extremely short range, and it is as fragile as the average slice of bread. However, can be an absolute nightmare in groups, and can mount Dagger missiles, jamming, spotlights or close range Rampart cannons all in a cheap, sleek, and stealthy package. No fleet is complete without at least one of these versatile little gremlins providing support. A full flotilla of them loaded down with Dagger missiles is sure to ruin any unprepared spacer’s day. They’re also good for capturing control points, providing light EWAR support, providing stealthy sensor spots, light PD support, and chasing off opposing capper ships. The Paris is the strong multimission ship, the Gladius is the economically efficient one. The Gladius has a similar dynamic with the Halberd and Shuttle on the capture-game front.

GLADIUS SPECIFICS

The Gladius has microscopic mounts, and as such has some microscopic versions of tools, and very limited builds. They can only ever have a frontline, though you can sacrifice this for more EWAR. They have specific EWAR tools that perform a little worse than their bigger cousins, but the points efficiency makes up for it. They have access to something that many folks have wanted for a long time: spinal jammer! The nose can fit both an LMAC or a Blindfold spinal jammer, and both can be used to great effect on such a small platform. Gladii are most dangerous when in a swarm and armed with S0s through the VLS0 mount, and can also be incredibly dangerous vs capping ships in pairs with a similar loadout. In an economic pinch, they can be armed with Ramparts. Short range guns that don’t do much, but double as PD, and, when massed, can be quite dangerous. They can also be equipped with low intensity spotlights for SAH missiles and for increasing their spotting range. The Gladius relies on its points efficiency to get things done, and benefit immensely from strong micro skills. The builds get tight on them, don’t be afraid to go over power.
Cluster Missiles
"Is this a warcrime? This feels like a warcrime."
"I don't think we have those in space."
Uncredited Conversation, Lower Decks of UNSC Hell's Hammer

CLUSTER MISSILES

Cluster missiles Are very, very complicated. I could probably do an entire guide on them and still not cover everything. Their depth is immense, even compared to the already hilariously complex modular missile system. Good luck, Commander. Before we talk about cluster missiles, we need to talk about their main sub munition: the Size Zero Dagger Missile. It can fly faster than a hybrid sprint vehicle, has extremely cheap modules, but only has 3 pips of engine/warhead to play with. Individually, they do laughably low damage, struggle to penetrate basic PD, and are shorter range than the average pitchfork. En masse, they can be extremely destructive against the proper target, and that is their strength. Though they can be launched directly from the VLS-0-43, which is devastating in a swarm of gladii, their more common use is in the cluster missile vehicles, the S3C Nexus, S2C Swarm, or S1C Flurry. These can hold, at max warhead size, 40, 20, and 4 submunitions respectively. Cluster missiles quickly become extremely expensive, but the cost is well worth it as long as your cluster vehicles don’t get sarissad or AMMd down while in flight. I’ll leave the exploration of the immense depths of cluster missiles mostly up to you, commander. That is half of the fun of missiles, after all. However you will need some core principles to get viable cluster missiles. You can give your missiles “spread” in the missile editor. This is how much the cluster munitions will separate out from the vehicle once it stages, which can be useful for spreading damage and avoiding flak. If you are giving your missiles any spread, make sure they have enough range to stage OUTSIDE of opposing PD nets, as this is not fast. Cluster munitions will not inherit the CMD targeting parameters of it’s mother, and S0s should not use those seeker heads unless launched out of a VLS-0-43. S0 missiles can only have one seeker head, but multiple different S0s can be slotted into a cluster vehicle. Try experimenting with different combinations to give your missile strikes more bite. Due to their speed and range, S0s need more maneuverability than you think they do. Yes, really. I know the agility numbers are hilariously high, even at max speed, but they can benefit from that side of the engine triangle, especially against small targets.

Start experimenting!
United Rebel Front
"Paris? I hardly know her!"
"Um sir, that doesn't-"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Shut up and shoot."
Intercepted URF Communications file 867-5309

The URF has OSP vessels, but the Ocello is swapped out for the Paris, and there are no plasma weapons. This combined with UNSC’s fundamentally different playstyle from the ANS makes the URF play quite differently compared to the OSP. The OSP generally is reactive against the ANS. They grab an early lead with fast ships, then have to defend their points or, more commonly play on-the-run; constantly in a fighting retreat while yoinking points that have been abandoned by the ANS. Since UNSC specializes in devastating first-strike and long range firepower thanks to the MAC type weapons, URF must be proactive. If they don’t try to push their advantage, if they don’t try to flank the UNSC firebase and close the gap, they will be slowly ripped apart by MAC fire.

URF wants to get in close and kill ships fast. They don’t want to take duels in open space. Not having to worry about hybrids or hybrid defenses means the URF can afford to be much, much more aggressive, which further encourages that playstyle. Killing the UNSC scouts and spotters should be the number one priority for any URF team, as it forces the long range MAC platforms to come onto the map and fight close-in. The URF has much easier access to jamming and anti-jamming tools in the Paris than the OSP has in the Ocello, as there is no anti-hybrid PD tax that must be paid, which will help greatly with the vision game.
Introduction to The Covenant
Hail Shipmaster, and well met. Now that you will be commanding whole ships there are some things you should know that your Ultra training would not have prepared you for. Read this primer and meditate on its teachings. The Great Journey Awaits.

Covenant weaponry is unique to the faction. Excepting the beams and the PD there aren’t good exact comparisons between covenant armaments and vanilla nebulous equipment, so I’ll go over them all here. Covenant fleet doctrine is centered around closing the distance and beaming their opponents. They do this via ambush, by forcing enemies to come close to dislodge them, and sometimes by running down a ship at medium range. They have medium and long range weaponry, but generally those should be used to enable the close ranged beam ships to do their job.
Covenant Mounts
The primary armament of the Covenant are its beams. Each vessel has access to modestly different beam(s), but the all fill the same fundamental job: kill an enemy that has gotten too close. The specific stats can be found in the fleet editor

Plasma Cannons
Melusean- The Covenant’s only long range weapon. It is able to reach and harm the long range capitals of the UNSC. It does not outdamage an HMAC. Use this weapon to harass enemy vessels at long ranges and soften up capitals before closing to beam range. Do not attempt to trade shot-for-shot with any opposing long range vessel or you shall almost certainly die. You can also use it to execute disabled vessels out of beam range.

Sono- The Standard covenant plasma cannon. It delivers a decent payload at decent range and thanks to the command guidance is highly accurate. This is a command guided shell; it is highly accurate against all targets but also jammable. In volume these can be a primary weapon. They can’t match the DPS of beams, but they’re effective against everything and have much longer range.

Sey – Dual purpose anti light weapon. The Sey functions as a sort of plasma RPF. It can bursts when near a target and splatters plasma across a surface while dealing damage. It can be used as a defensive tool as well as offensive. It is best used to disable small ships so a covenant vessel can close and beam it, but the Sey can also be used to deconstruct smaller vessels with enough volume and time.

Gaff-Naran – The cheap-out offensive option. The Gaff-Naran is a low accuracy, close range shotgun blast of plasma. It can land hits on poor tracks against small targets and it absolutely ruinous against the broadside of a capital that has had its armor stripped off. However it is not a strong weapon on its own. It is a back up with limited range and efficacy, but it is extremely cost efficient.

Yrido – short range DPS dump. The Yrido is a strong tool in its own right, but given its range limitations it is in effect a cheaper beam. You need these in volume for them to be super effective, but they are absolutely devastating when timed properly. Setting your ship to FLANK will improve their fire rate.

Plasma Torpedo Launcher- Launches plasma torpedos drawn from the Plasma Torpedo Silo.

Point Defense
Gon – Sustained beam point defense turret with battleshort functionality. Roughly equivalent to the Aurora. Good in volume and great at clearing up cluster missiles.

Phot – Single shot beam with high damage. Roughly equivalent to the Grazer. Kills S4s and torpedos.

Phot et – Single shot beam with low damage. It is a cheap-out PD option. You don’t ever “want” this, but sometimes it is all you can afford. Extremely effective at swatting away low investment missile strike, it fails horribly against dedicated attacks. Use with caution and master the art of dodging missiles before relying on this tool.
Covenant Modules
Here are where things get interesting. You may have noticed that there has been no mention of munitions thus far. That is because the covenant does not use munitions. Instead, their energy weapons and defenses are fueled by energy stored in batteries and generated by reactors. Batteries scale in price and in storage capacity based on the size of the slot they are placed in. Reactors do not scale, but they do come in several sizes. More reactors means more sustain, more batteries means more burst. This applies to both defensive and offensive capabilities. To master Covenant you must master their energy systems.

Shields
The primary defensive tool of the covenant are their shields. Most of your power generation will be spent in keeping your shields up. Shields have a thickness value, however that value functions different from hull armor. Shield thickness reduces the damage of weapons fire, it is not a pure pass/fail check for a given round. If a shell passes the armor value it does 100% of its damage. If not, it does reduced damaged based on how much lower the penetration of the firing shell is relative to the armor value of the shield. Rampart RPF will do almost nothing to a Corvex, for example. Once the HP of a shield hits zero it goes down and starts recharging.

Corvex – The armor shield. It has a whopping 60cm of armor, reducing the damage dealt of most shells and rendering several entirely ineffective. This power comes with a steep cost: the Corvex has the highest continuous energy demand, a middling energy to HP ratio, a high points cost, and a full 2 minute recharge time. Few ships will be able to mount this shield and if it ever goes down anything with this equipped will be extremely vulnerable for a long, long time.

Morelia – The HP shield. It has the best energy to HP ratio, a modest continuous power draw and points cost, and 30cm of armor. The armor is enough to keep the real high damage stuff under control, but medium and heavy shells will do full damage to this shield. The HP is high, but it goes fast if you aren’t careful. If you aren’t sure what you want this is a good default shield.

Tantalus – The recovery shield. It has only 15cm of armor and a terrible energy HP ratio, but it recharges extremely fast and costs very little power. It is inexpensive and perfect for ambush vessels that take small bursts of heavy fighting or light ships that can’t realistically afford anything else.

Gravitics allow covenant shipmasters to tune their engines for either speed and acceleration or agility and rotation. Do not combine the two types, they will cancel each other out.

Radars
The Covenant has a single combat radar in the Augur. Though it only has a range of 7.5km it has fantastic accuracy, jam resistance, and detection. It can burn ping and even lock targets. This will go on most of your combat vessels. They also have two scouting radars which take some getting used to. They have the Hyperscanner, a sort of all-aspect EWR equivalent which is good at detection but can’t provide fireable tracks. They also have a WAKE based scanner that detects wake signatures and provides bearings as well as crossfixes. This is for detection and can detect ships firing their main engines at almost any range.
Missiles
Currently the only Missiles are the Serpens and Serpens F. Both are command guided long range torpedos. The Serpens has more HP and performs better against Flak and RPF, the F has cork and agilitiy and performs better against 20mm. Both are softkillable by comms jamming, be wary when using these. Missiles are stored in the “Plasma Torpedo Silo” module.

There isn’t much here right now. However, the missile game for the covenant is going to eventually be just as robust as the missile game for the UNSC. Since Covenant are fighting with technology they know very little about, it didn’t make any sense for them to have access to the missile editor. Instead, they’ll have a variety of handcrafted missiles inspired by the lore. This section will be steadily filled out as those missiles are created. It will eventually be as large as the others.
The Mutan Et
The Mutan Et may be small but it is integral piece of any fleet. It provides inexpensive sensor coverage and map presence to a faction whose combat-focused vessels are expensive and will come in a low hull count. They are your capper ships, they are your early warning systems, they are your offsets. They can even be fighting ships, if you build them well. Due to its size the Mutan Et has several weapons designed specifically for it. The Emri-Ka beam is its primary armament. Though extremely power hungry for the hull, it devours opposing light ships and can also annoy larger vessels if you can get in range of them without dying. The Pek is a specialist gun. It’s got poor accuracy and low armor penetration, but it’s cheap on power and points and sprays out a ton of fire. It can devestate smaller vessels given enough time, but it doesn’t have the DPS of the beam. The Fuel Rod Launcher is for emergency damage against small and medium vessels. It functions similarly to the OSP’s rockets though with lower armor penetration. It is devastating against anything that doesn’t have the armor or point defense to stop the fuel rods.

Mutan Ets have to be specialized to work well as they are extremely limited on space. They are the primary platforms for Auspex and Hyperscanner scout radars and can also be an effective softkill device if equipped with an omni-jammer and controlled properly. Scouting and capping are two different roles. Do not confuse them when using these ships or you will most certainly die.
The Ester
The Ester is the main combat vessel of the covenant armada. It is about the size of an axford, but much more agile. It is fast, lean, and mean. It wants to get in close and obliterate its enemies with its Baen-Ka beam weapon, but is also capable of mounting longer range weaponry for scuffling purposes. Generally, its mounts are best used with a 4/2 or 2/2 split of different plasma cannons with a focus on the beams. 4x Melusean and 2x Sey as a solid example. Going all-in on a single plasma cannon limits their capabilities and risks the ship running out of power while fighting. The main bottleneck of the Ester on its combat capabilities is its power, not cannon or beam thoughput. It is perfectly happy to split its mounts up to increase its utility without suffering for it. However, if you abandon the beam and make a pure gunship, it should stick to one type of cannon.

Esters can also be missile platforms. They have to sacrifice power generation and thusly their ability to fight straight-out, but they can bring massive quantities of missiles in just one silo. If played well they are devastating, if played poorly they will die easily and do very little. Make this choice carefully.
The Ket
The Ket is a colossal battleship with powerful defenses and offenses. It is in a similar range to the Thanatos in capability and size, but it is a fair bit cheaper due to its range limitations. It is currently the only hull that can mount the Excavation Beam, which can liquefy a capital ship in moments if you can get into range to use it. The Ket has a massive module section and is the most tuneable of all the covenant vessels. It is also the most expensive, most risky, and most powerful. These are worth bringing to a fight and can soundly carry the day, but they have to watch out for concentrated fire. The world is your oyster. It’s hard to build a bad Ket unless you’re actively trying to, the main differences between them being how points efficient they are for a given job.
General Principles of Covenant Operations
Your energy reserve is both your primary offensive and defensive tool. Manage it carefully and you will crush your opponents. Waste your reserves, and you will surely die.

Covenant primary weaponry is much shorter range than the UNSC, but has drastically higher DPS. Positional play for Covenant is critical. Force opponents to come in close by getting a cap control advantage or by pouncing on an unprepared capital, and you will crush your opponents. Try to engage your opponents on an equal footing at long ranges and you will surely die.

Covenant cannons are not their primary weapons. They exist to enable beam play. You want to use your guns to open up multiple fronts against a UNSC force and discourage them from concentrating fire onto a single vessel. They can also punish out-of-position vessels and attrit enemies before you engage them in beam range.

Currently covenant missiles are CMD only which makes them highly vulnerable to softkill. They are highly effective at bashing scouts, at punishing greedy offensive builds, and controlling space outside of beam range, but risky to use as a primary weapon.

Covenant vessels are brittle. They can take a lot of hits, but only up until the shields go down. Then they suffer immense damage from any degree of firepower. Their DC is mediocre at best and they are under-armored. They struggle to make effective use of the innermost parts of the survivability onion, and instead rely on their agility to not be shot at and make use of their shields to not take permanent damage when they are inevitably shot at. Always ensure your shields are up and charged before moving to engage an enemy. If it is an emergency and you cannot do this, then fight hard and die with glory.

Covenant ship count will almost always be lower than UNSC ship count. Be mindful of this and play accordingly. Covenant’s most reliable win condition is descending onto the map in-force and controlling the capture points with their beam weaponry. They aren’t as effective at scout warfare as UNSC but they don’t have to be thanks to their close range armament and powerful close range radars. Make use of your strengths while avoiding the exploitation of your weaknesses
Bye
"See you in the battlespace" - John Nebulous, et al

Why are you still here? That's everything you need to get building and exploding. If you have any questions about fleet design and gaming with the HALO mod, ask around on the Legends of Reach discord, or the Modulous channel on the main Nebulous discord.
4 Comments
Bread™ 1 May, 2024 @ 8:27pm 
I hate to be the one asking all the questions but, is there going to be a Covenant power and battery section for this guide?
KillSmithID  [author] 8 Apr, 2024 @ 6:53pm 
@bread kind of. Hot launch will make the children deploy faster but use more fuel; cold launch will be a slower deployment but conserve fuel.
Bread™ 8 Apr, 2024 @ 4:21pm 
Does HOT and COLD launch matter for daughter missiles in clusters?
KillSmithID  [author] 29 Aug, 2023 @ 11:21am 
Woo!