Long Night of Solace Walkthrough (Part 1) – Spoiler Warning

SPOILER WARNING: HALO: REACH WALKTHROUGH for LONG NIGHT of SOLACE

You are Noble 6, the newest member of Noble Team replacing one of their Spartans who died in battle (“Spartans never die, Jorge. They’re just Missing in Action”). Your arrival doesn’t go without notice as you immediately become the subject of discussion – specifically the ONI-edited account of your classified, and somewhat mysterious previous assignment. Moments later as you deploy with the Team Noble, Commander Carter (team leader) makes it clear that while your skills are a welcome addition, your lone wolf antics are not. Team Noble mounts up in Falcons and you are up and away and the mission (and the game) begin.

MA37 Assualt Rifle

As the mission begins Team Noble is dropped on on the beach, and heads off through the rocks toward the base. Around a bend you run into Covenant. Your MA37 Assault Rifle and trusty M5G Magnum at your side you stride into battle to teach another group of Covenant that crime doesn’t pay.

Fight your way across the beach using available cover. you’ll run into grunts and Elites at first, and those Elites are running back and forth, not making easy targets of themselves. At least one of them is dodging and running very quickly and will move in quickly if you get to close and engage him.

As you approach the hill at the far end of the beach approaching the facility, you’ll run into a pair of Jackals that should be rather easy to deal with if you’ve dispatched all of the others.

Deal with them and make your way toward the base and you soon run into more Grunts, Jackals and and an Elite – watch out, he’s got a concussion rifle and if you get his attention you may be dodging his projectiles.

Make your way to the entrance, which is guarded by a pair of Skirmishers. Take them out, then if you are quick you can reload and if, needed, pick up additional MA37 Assault Rifle ammo, health and frag grenades from a rifle rack to the right of the entrance. Moving to the entrance just off to the left are 2 Armor Abilities you can switch your Sprint Ability for, if you wish (there’s also another rifle rack to the direct right of the entrance with health, frags and MA37′s.

“FLIGHT CONTROL’S THIS WAY, THEY’RE EXPECTING YOU”

Now its time to get inside, and the Covenant will drop in behind you and start attacking if you are too slow getting into the entrance.

As you wind your way through the hallways, there are plenty of weapons to choose from scattered on the floor, and on some weapon racks on the walls. The facility has been breached, so watch out for Covenant inside. Before reaching your destination you will run into an Elite and end up in some close quarters battle (CQB). Fire some rounds into him and make sure to conserve ammo with melee attacks (RB).

There is plenty of ammo, weapons and even some more Armor Ability pickups if you change your mind. Work your way up the stairs when you get there up towards your ride. Then the action breaks away into video.

“STRUTS DISENGAGED. COMMENCING LAUNCH IN T MINUS FIVE…”

Your launch goes smooth and you head off toward your next destination, and its soon time to get used to the Sabre’s controls. LS controls speed, RS controls direction, fire with LT, use afterburners with LT, use Y to switch back and forth from guns to missiles. Evade is LB + LS … use it when you need to shake someone shooting at you.

GAME TIP: CAN’T FIND ENEMY SHIPS?: Look for purple trails through the sky, watch the direction of your allies’ gun fire, and watch for the indicator arrows on your HUD.

The first wave are Banshees and they go out rather smoothly. The second wave are Seraph fighters, and they have shields. You are advised to take the shields down with your guns first, then switch to missiles for the kill. Missile lock only takes a couple of seconds. Watch the Seraph because they will shoot you up pretty badly if you get sloppy on your defensive maneuvering.

The third wave are Phantoms supported by both Seraph fighters and Banshee. Those Phantoms will nail you right good if you are not very careful evading them, moving  behind cover (floating station pieces) and engaging other craft at a distance from them. Come at the Phantoms from a distance and acquire missile lock, fire the missiles and switch over immediately to guns and fire while the missiles fly in… and be ready ti use LB to evade any shots they fire at you.

After the Phantoms, then Seraph, you have some Banshees to mop up (probably), and then you are done.

“TARGET CORVETTE SIGHTED WITHIN RANGE OF NAV BEACON..”

And so the mission continues with the intended delivery of the Savannah’s FTL drive (makeshift slipspace bomb) onto a Covenant Corvette. You arrive at your target area and soon have to take the engines out. There is an Achievement for destroying the engines in under 3 minutes. I used missiles first followed by the 30mm machine gun fire as the missiles flew their course, then back to missiles ASAP.

There are also more Seraph fighters to contend with, then you land on the Corvette. As you approach the landing objective, video takes over and you watch your landing.

After the landing, the music and your reduced hearing make for an eerie feeling. But don’t get too distracted, because you will probably be greeted by an Elite or two before you enter the Corvette. Return their greeting with weapons fire and melee attacks.

Enter the Corvette’s comm center by jumping through the energy shield breach (round, purple glowing barrier shield) in the center of the Falcons. You still can’t hear right and gravity is very low. You can jump very far, so be cautious.

[LONG NIGHT OF SOLACE, Part 2]