Halo 2: The Art of War - The Art of Deception

Added 06/29/2005 by Eisen Feuer

Long after its anticipated release, it’s finally here. I apologize for the delay (was bogged down with the last semester of school). This guide is as complete and thorough as you see it due to the assiduousness of one of my students over XBL, rastazio. I taught him everything I know, and together we invented some of the most deceptive and convincing tricks found in the book (a side effect is that he became better than me, dangit!)… read on and have fun.

When battling in Halo 2, your number one enemy is the enemy’s intelligence; actual external threats are secondary. The greater the intelligence of your enemy, the greater the threat becomes to both you and your allies.

When I use the word intelligence, I am referring to several various factors that culminate in their total mind power. I have separated the forms of intelligence required in Halo 2 into the following 4 categories:

Problem Solving Ability - this is the wisdom to be able to efficiently solve any problem presented to you.

Decision Making Skills - this is the straightforward knowledge and understanding of what to do when presented with a certain situation. For example, the decision of when to engage or when to evade a certain threat.

Observance - this is the ability to take in and process what is going on around you. The game gives you three different sensory outputs: sight, sound, and touch (through your Xbox controller). Your ability to observe depends upon how much attention you pay to these three mediums. Observance can also depend upon how much attention you pay to your surroundings, which can include evidence of a battle (blood, bullet-holes, exploded canisters, destroyed vehicles, grenade marks); missing resources (weapons, vehicles, powerups); the location of your enemies and teammates (radar, teammate icons, sight and sound); and the allocation of resources.

Awareness of Strategy - the ability to foresee an enemy strategy based on your observances.

Having a personal proficiency with these forms of intelligence can give you a formidable edge in the game, but the real power of intelligence is Deception. The power and importance of intelligence is a testimony to how weak your opponent would be without it. Intelligence is powerful, but it has its weaknesses; it can be tricked, it can be warped, and it can be deceived.

The Antithesis of Intelligence
THE ART OF DECEPTION

Warfare is the Way of deception.
Therefore, if able, appear unable,
if active, appear not active,
if near, appear far,
if far, appear near.
If they have advantage, entice them;
if they are confused, take them,
if they are substantial, prepare for them,
if they are strong, avoid them,
if they are angry, disturb them,
if they are humble, make them haughty,
if they are relaxed, toil them,
if they are united, separate them.
- Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Copyright © 1999 - 2004 Sonshi.com

deception - (di sepʹ shən) - 1. the act or practice of deceiving 2. the fact or condition of being deceived

Deception is misleading your enemy into thinking something that is untrue. Below are different forms of deception listed under the corresponding forms of intelligence that they are meant to deceive. Remember that just as the individual Arts of War intertwine, the various Arts of Deception can also call certain attributes of the other.

Just know that deception of the human mind is the most intricate and ever-changing form of strategy. Tricks that worked yesterday won't necessarily work today or tomorrow. The battlefields in Halo 2 have countless possibilities and I have no possible means of covering every single topic of deception, and even if I could, I wouldn't. Your ability to deceive your enemy depends entirely on your own wit, and if you think that this article will tell you exactly how to accomplish it, you are better off not reading it. I'm here to teach the underlying fundamentals of deception. Be forewarned, some assembly required.

Problem Solving Ability
He is trying to solve a problem, help him out by adding some more problems.

Camping

Finding your enemy is one of the most frustrating things you will have to endure in Halo 2. The worst is when you are behind in number of kills, and your enemy is now hiding in the last place you checked. Camping is a somewhat vile tactic, and is really lame when exercised for more than 30 seconds in the same spot. However, momentary camping is essential to gaining the upper hand, and can make it easier to kill your opponent before he has time to respond. When camping, make sure that your kill is swift and ends as soon as it began, otherwise you might as well have just sought out your opponent and saved some time.

Decision Making Skills

When an opponent is just about to act upon a situation, change the conditions thereby making his original plan completely useless for the new scenario.

Feinting

Feinting is basically making a move that makes you appear weak to your enemy, when really you are the greatest danger to him, not vice versa. One way to make a feint would be to be weakened and retreating, but in actuality you are running to an Overshield to experience 2 unhindered seconds of invincibility. The most common way of feinting in Halo 2 is to have a powerful weapon in your surroundings (or ideally, in your inventory) but only allowing your enemy to see your weakest weapon. When the hunter is in range and ready to become your prey, switch to the stronger weapon and give him something to think about during his 5 second respawn. This works best in situations where you have a power weapon ready, but it can be as simple as running to acquire another weapon to complete a dual-wield, therefore either leveling the playing field or hopefully turning the battle in your favor.

You can even feint with a vehicle, or lead your enemy to a group of your awaiting soldiers instead of having an advantage solely on your own. As is much of deception, the possibilities are endless, just remember the fundamental of feinting; it is tricking your enemy into entering a scenario which is disadvantageous to himself or his teammates.

- The Distraction

The distraction is so different than basic weapon feints that it really deserves its own category. The basic setup of a distraction maneuver has two elements: the sneak and the distraction. Either could involve a single person or a group of people. The distraction must make their presence in a larger-than-life way to divert the enemies' attention to the seemingly huge threat. During the distraction, the sneak stealthily makes his way behind enemy lines and accomplishes the objective (grabbing the flag, arming the bomb), ideally, unharmed.

Correct application of force is key to a great distraction. You want to juice as much time out of your enemy as possible until the objective is reached by the sneak. When the sneak is in danger, it is in your best interest to eliminate every enemy possible in the shortest amount of time.

However, the distraction need not be limited only to literal 'objective' games. Your objective could be to kill an enemy sniper, in which case you want your team distracting the sniper and attracting his fire as you use basic stealth techniques to get behind your enemy and eliminate him. This is easily done if you have time and a large space to maneuver in; but if your objective is to kill a sword-bearer in a small space, you must use any tools available to gain the advantage over your opponent. The best of which is deceiving your opponent's senses.

• Observance

Appear to be where you are not, and do not appear to be where you really are.

Tricking your enemy's observations is quite possibly the most powerful form of deception, especially if your entire team's location is unknown. Many different tactics can be used to attain such stealth.

• Deceiving Sight

Sight is your number one worry when it comes to your detection. If your enemy sees you, your scam is over.

When the motion sensor is on, obviously you don't want to show up on it, or they will know where you are (at least in respect to the horizontal plane). So, when on the move, make sure to stay crouched. But if you don't mind that your enemy can see you on the motion sensor, you can always trick them by purposely showing up on the motion sensor but being above or below them, making your enemy edgier and more prone to making assumptions about your location. Also a note about crouch walking: before the Halo 2, 1.1 patch was released, walking up staircases, ramps, or any other form of vertical movement made you show up on the motion sensor regardless of being crouched or upright. This has been fixed, but as always, jumping or falling while crouched will cause you to be revealed on the motion sensor.

Beyond the motion sensor, you need to hide from your enemy's line of sight. To do this, you need to either be behind your enemy or have physical cover at all times. A less used but quite effective form of sight deception is to just hide where they would never expect you to be (as in, they won't look for you there). And if the motion sensor is off, being on the move is your best bet to stay hidden; when moving you can use a deadly combo of cover and remaining out of your enemy’s line of sight, all while gaining ground on your enemy. Also remember to jump. Jump combinations can keep you out of sight and will definitely confuse your enemy at close range. A favorite of mine is standing on the head of an enemy, and assassinating them the instant they discover you.

And lastly, a great form of cover that had little use in Halo 1 is vegetation. If you are sure enough of yourself to take up a roost in vegetation (this technique requires VERY specific situations), here are some great examples of where to hide: Click Here.

- Camouflage

When attempting to use stealth in order to make your enemy feel a false sense of security, use methods of camouflage, whether by your color of choice, or the Active Camouflage powerup. No matter if you have Active Camouflage, (or obviously, your color) you will still show up on the motion sensor unless you are crouched. With both forms of camouflage, they work better in low light conditions. Even when you are not directly trying to camouflage yourself, staying in the shadows or an area similarly colored to yourself is always a good idea. Also, remember that different weapons (Plasma Pistol, Overcharged Plasma Pistol, Plasma Rifle) will emit light when not being fired and the Overshield powerup will cause you to emit light, and unless you have physical cover, you will stand out from your surroundings especially in low light areas (the Overcharged Plasma Pistol will light you up like a Christmas tree regardless of the lighting conditions).

Here are some suggestions for FFA colors (obviously, you won’t have a great range of color choice in team games) that are worth equipping because of their great effectiveness in the given maps. Click Here.

Deceiving sight is a pretty simple subject; however, you need to find your own places on each map that makes for the best sight deception.

• Deceiving Hearing

Hearing is a secondary tool under sight, and is best used to appear where you are not to your enemy.

First of all you need to know your basic noise makers. Grenades, Firearms, and Vehicles are the most obvious. The most deceptive noise makers are ones that your enemy is not expecting. Hitting a wall or other object with a melee attack is one, reloading or picking up a weapon is another, and the least used is picking up a power-up.

Grenades are a great way of telling people: "I'm not there!". In actuality, you could be just around some corner, relatively close to where the grenade went off. And thanks to the nature of grenades, they can be bounced around door-frames and corners, and can basically leave no trace of the origin of the thrower. Remember not to let your grenades fly too long, because the smoke trail they leave in the air is a definite lead to your location. When using grenades to attain deception, never let it be a hint as to where you really are located.

Firing a weapon is also an obvious noise-maker, and has little value as a deceptive tool, but it can be used if you fire and quickly relocate. Where firearms lack in the ability to deceive, vehicles make up for it. Unless the motion sensor is on, (vehicles have a huge signature on it) you can use the onboard weapons or just the operating sounds of your vehicle to distract or lead an enemy into making assumptions about your location. Also know that vehicles are best at deceiving when they are somewhere that they are not supposed to be.

When it comes to super close combat, the melee is king when you want to deceive your opponent. When done in conjunction with sight deception, you can immediately cause your adversary to make assumptions about your location. Hitting a wall or the ground is louder and can be heard farther away, but does not induce an instant reaction by your enemy, he may camp, he may seek you out, you don’t know. However, a melee in the air can cause an instant reaction to turn around, because most of us have heard the sound of the melee lunge that missed, and most people try to turn around as quickly as possible as to not allow the enemy to carry out an assassination on you.

Lastly, the biggest noise makers and most distracting are the interactive elements in the maps themselves (the lowering bridge and gates in Zanzibar and Containment, the Grav-Lifts in Colossus, Ascension and Gemini, even explosive canisters). Opening the gate on Zanzibar (shown in the accompanying video) is a great example of its distractive ability. In the video, I have 2-3 teammates situated outside the gate, and an enemy sitting right on the pillar inside the base. When I open the gate he is facing with the button right behind him, he is so focused on the gate opening that I easily assassinate him with no retaliation to myself.

• Deceiving Touch

The only means in which you can physically interact with anyone on the Xbox is through the rumble feature on the Xbox Controller. There are very few ways to exploit this sense, but at least there are some.

Since the rumble function is only initiated when direct force is applied on the enemy, you might as well just engage. There are three exceptions: the main gun on the Scorpion and Wraith Tanks, and the Gauss Cannon on Gauss Warthogs. These weapons shake up your enemies' world without any preference to direction, and can be used to make your location unknown while you pound the area around your concealed enemy.

This easily fits into the category of distraction, and can be used to catch the undivided attention of your adversary; after all, if a tank is knocking on your front door, you are going to pay attention.

Awareness of Strategy
Act as if you are carrying out one strategy, then smoothly or quickly switch to another (preferably less known and more powerful) strategy.

Erraticism

If it isn't a word, it is now! If you don’t have a calculated maneuver, you can always try to completely befuddle your enemy by making the most erratic and random maneuvers. This is most effective in a team setting, as is all deception, but can also be used when you are tackling it solo. As an example, say you were weakened and evading the enemy, being erratic would imply that you either take the least known route for your escape, or that you will turn around and fight when he least expects it, such as turning a corner and using a force multiplier, such as a grenade or Plasma Pistol to instantly level the playing field or even eliminate your enemy. In a team situation, you could have your team enter the enemy base through all exits or through the least used entrances (through the roof?) in order to overwhelm your enemy.

Erraticism is absolutely necessary when fighting someone who knows your strategic pattern. I know personally that when I play with my friend rastazio (since we play double team religiously) he knows my ways so well that I can be jumping up to the sniper tower on Lockout, and he’ll have a grenade waiting for me. So in a case such as that, erraticism will take a higher importance. To throw off such an adversary, time things differently and/or approach him through different routes. If you would usually attack at long range, meet him at close range, because in all probability, he is following your patterns and waiting right around the bend.

Exploitation of Personality Weaknesses

Intelligence can be very proud, and the proudest of Halo players are quick to write off anyone they see making a mistake as being stupid. Your chance arrives when they get cocky and you can almost hear reasoning leaving their body as they smack your fresh corpse. You’ll show them how smart you really are. When your enemy is convinced that you are not a strategic threat, your enemy can really underestimate you. Although I don’t recommend it in the name of safety, you could actually allow the opposite team a few kills to lure them into false security.

There are a few ways to show your enemy that you are not a threat. One way is to constantly stay out in the open, giving them a clear shot (not recommended if they can kill you in one shot, like if there is a sniper of if you are playing a SWAT style game). You can also rush with weak weapons and run away. There are many simple things to convince the enemy that you are dumb, such as taking a couple tries to complete a jump; taking a while to pick up a weapon; totally missing with grenades; just use your imagination. Mimic someone and their actions that you would laugh at.

Now that you have your enemy convinced that you are a complete idiot, show them how wrong they really are. Now is the time to use all your knowledge of deception to drive your enemy in the ground and rub it in their faces. Disappear. Engage and eliminate when they feel the most secure.

That's it, I hope I got all of you off to a good start. First off, I would again like to thank rastazio and several other students of mine for assisting with anything I needed help with. And I thank all the noobs that boosted my self-esteem by accusing us of cheating when really, our deception was that complete.

The video is being released in two formats:

1) MPEG-4, which requires QuickTime Player 6.5 (already on most computers) and weighs in at:
24mb - Download (Right click - save as)

2) H.264, a new codec that requires QuickTime Player 7 (found here) a write-up on H.264 can be found in my new blog, but a good way to sum it up is it is pretty much the THX Digitally Re-mastered Version. Higher Qualtiy, and weighs in at only:
30mb - Download (Right click - save as)