Quick Reference Link to Agents Map Pack and Gametype:

Bungie.net : Halo 3 File Details

You thought you'd done it all.

You thought you were through.

You thought you were the baddest of the bad.

You thought you were invincible.

But the battle isn't over yet.

There is but one last bridge to burn before you see your quest complete.

You thought you'd beaten it all.

But you thought wrong.

From the creator of I am Legend, and the creator of the Ancient Map Pack comes the next revolutionary game in Halo 3 competitive play...

Hey there everyone, and welcome to the latest mini-game from Time Glitch and American10! Agents takes tactical halo gameplay to a whole new level, requiring constant communication, teamwork, and awareness to gain victory. In Agents, it doesn't matter how quick your no-scopes are, or how good your BR is, or even how many headshots you can pull off. If you don't work with your team, you're dead, and theres no way to get around it. This game is not for the lone wolves. It is not for those looking to up their personal kill count. This game is for those who hold their team highest, and their personal glory last. This is a game will test your wits. This game will test your skills. This game will test even the most hardened MLG players to work as a team.

This, is Agents.

As is the custom with any of my maps, and American's as well, we love to have a backstory to our game. We have a full backstory, but it's simply too long to post here and keep peoples attention. Therefore, we've subbed out the most important stuff, and presented that to you. The full story can be found here. Here's the condensed version:

In the near future, war breaks out in the world. The Eastern World fights the West, and the West looses Europe. In a frantic response, all health and ethics codes are violated to create the greatest soldiers the world has ever seen: The Agents. Set in squads of 4-5 individuals and a single controller unit, these genetically modified soldiers took back Europe quickly, and crushed the East back into defeat. But that wasn't the end.

Russia stole the technology used to create Agents, and built their own. Soon, all that were fighting were the Agents. Neither side dared send in normal troops. It would simply be a bloodbath. But both sides were extremely concerned about the mindset of their people. The people had seen too much combat and too much bloodshed. So they kept the war secret.

Now it is the present, and scattered and quick battles define the face of combat. Agents fighting Agents in small and remote locations, all in a desperate game for land control. A twisted Cold War is in effect, where the populations of either side don't even know that their countries are fighting. Secret. Covert. Desperate. The fate of the world now rests on the shoulders of humanities greatest weapon, and it's best kept secret: The Agents.

Whose side are you on?

Past all the fancy talk, there actually is a game here! As mentioned previously, Agents is a tactics based game, where working with your team is key to survival, and victory. At first, the game may be hard to understand, but stick with us and we'll get you through the learning process. In this thread, I'll be outlining what Agents is, the basics of play, and how to win. If you just download the gametype without at least reading the basics, you'll find yourself lost, confused, and probably thinking this is one hell of a shitty gametype. Well, don't say we didn't warn you =).

The Basics

Gear up.

The first thing to get out of the way is what Agents is based on. Agents is a 2 sided VIP influence game. For those of you who don't know what that is, it means both teams have a VIP, and being within the VIP's influence (proximity) gives you special traits. The ultimate goal in Agents is to eliminate the other team's VIP. This will end the round, and give you one point. The game is 5 rounds, so 3 out of 5 games is a win. Killing other players besides the VIP does not gain you points, nor do suicides count against you. Killing the other VIP is all that matters. However, if a VIP commits suicide or falls off the map, the round will end.

The basic premise sounds simple, but the game is far more complex than that. A game of Agents is comprised of three elements: The Agents, The VIP, and the communication between the two units. I'll give a description of each, and we'll move on to the game itself.

The Agents

Up close and personal.

Agents are the main fighting force on the team. They protect the VIP, and are usually the ones that end up killing the enemy VIP. Seems straightforward, right? Wrong. The Agents are only effective if they stay near their VIP. As stated before, this is a VIP influence game, so while near your VIP, you'll get special traits. Unlike in some other VIP games, these traits are your survival.I simply cannot stress this enough. Outside of your VIPs radius, you'll find yourself weak, nearly defenseless, and lost from the rest of the team.

To start things off, lets list the traits you have while within the VIPs radius, and the traits you have when you are not within his radius:

Within Raidus:

100% Damage
150% Damage Resistance
No Shields
Immune to headshots
Weapon Pickup Enabled
110% speed
25m Standard Radar
Waypoint for Allies Only
Forced Color: Black

Outside of Radius:
25% damage
50% Damage Resistance
No shields
Headshots enabled
Weapon Pickup Disabled
100% speed
25m Allies Only Radar
No Waypoint
Forced Color: Green

As you can see, you aren't very strong even when you're within the VIP's radius, and even weaker when outside of it. There is a lesson here: Stay within your VIP's influence. It is absolutely vital to your success.

The other thing that Agents should concern themselves with is the fact that they only have 3 lives. This promotes tactics, and a much more conservative attitude when it comes to dieing. Add that in with the fact that you probably won't respawn with your VIP, and death becomes a big deal. You'll lose any weapons you had, and your VIP's power. Don't die too often, or you'll find yourself perma-dead for the rest of the round.

This being said, teamwork among Agents is crucial. Going at it alone, even while within the VIPs influence will probably result in you getting filled with bullets. Stick with the group and fight as a unit, and you'll have a much higher chance of winning.

So now that we've covered the Agents, we need to cover the VIP. This is where things start to get tricky.

The VIP

After the kill.

The VIP is truly what makes this game unique. His most important characteristic to note is that he is very weak. He has no shields, and 10% damage resistance. A one shot kill, even to an Agent outside of his VIP's radius. He makes up for this, however, by being cloaked in Active Camoflauge, and having no waypoint for the other team. This makes him nearly invisible, as long as he doesn't do something stupid. The purpose of the VIP is not to fight with the team, but rather be an asset to the team. He's the one that provides the traits and abilities that the Agents need to fight effectively.

So here comes the question:

“Wait...If the VIP is so weak, how is he supposed to go into battle and help his team!? Won't he just get killed?”

Nope. This is where the length of the VIP's radius comes into play. The VIP has 50 meters of influence. Let me say that again: Fifty Meters of Proximity Influence. That is a lot of space. By utilizing this great distance effectively, the VIP can completely detach himself from the fight, and let the Agents do the work for him. This isn't saying that the VIP cannot fight, however. He's equipped with a sniper rifle, just in case. He can help out the team in a pinch if need be. But he has to be careful. Very, very careful. The second he fires or takes any aggressive action, he'll loose his camouflage and become exposed to the enemy. This is a bad thing. Even a stray bullet from an SMG 50m away can kill the VIP. So be sure to take a shot only if you're sure you can get back within cover immediately. This can be a very helpful tactic on the battlefield, and even a single, instant kill like that can turn the tides of a fight that's going south. However, there are more things to worry about than staying alive for the VIP. He has to keep his team alive as well.

There is a shitty fact that goes along with a VIP's radius. Built into Halo 3, the VIP's radius is only horizontal. It only influences from the top of his head to the bottom of his toes, and no further. This means if the VIP strays even slightly from the horizontal field that his Agents are on, he will abandon them, and their traits will be gone. A very bad thing to do in a firefight.

A couple Greens fight it out, abandoned by their VIP's.

As you can see, it's very important to keep in constant communication with your VIP. Make sure he isn't leaving you in the dust before you go off and fight the enemy. But it's just as much the Agent's responsibility to stay within the influence as it is the VIP's to keep them there. If an Agent decides to be a hero and go higher or lower than the VIP's radius, it's his fault for getting himself killed. Agents need to be just as aware of the radius as the VIP is. Again, communication is vital. Keep those headsets humming.

You might think by now that the influence is the VIP's greatest weapon, but this is not the case. While the influence is vital to survival and attack power, you have to know where to go to kill the enemy VIP! The VIP is equipped with 75m enhanced radar, allowing the VIP to see the opposite team's location if they're within that radius. Agents, however, only have normal radar to aid them. This is where more communication comes in. The VIP can use this radar to warn of an ambush, flanking, or simply the location of the enemy team and what angle your team should attack from. But be aware that the enemy has this as well, and don't get cocky. Coordination and communication are vital on this issue. “Alright VIP, where are they?” should be a common phrase in your Agent's vocabulary =).

VIP FIGHT!!!

I've explained all there is to explain about the VIP except one thing. A brief note to the VIP: STAY IN COVER. The second you enter the firefight, you're at risk to get hit by a stray bullet, and die. Stay back and let your team do the fighting. But stay somewhere where you can see the enemy. The other VIP might get smart and decide he wants to join in, and crack off a shot without taking cover first.

Like fish in a barrel.

This is an easy opportunity for a counter-snipe to end the round. Be aware of this. It's much more common than you'd think.

Alright, so now we've covered the basics for both the VIP and his Agents, and it's time to get down to the more fun aspects of Agents: The weapons and the maps!

The Weapons

Matrix Style

In Agents, the default starting weapon is a Magnum. It may not seem like much, but don't underestimate these. They only take 5 bullets to kill an enemy Agent, and have a considerable range if you can see far enough with them. However, we don't expect you to depend on just a single pistol. Scattered throughout the map are various power items and weapons that will aid you in combat. Each map has the same power items, but some have different power weapons. Each Agents map includes the following:

A certain number of 0 spare clip SMGs at each starting area based on the number of people the map was built for. A 0 clip Battle Rifle is also close by, but might require some searching to find, depending on the map.
1 Radar Jammer
1 Bubble Shield
2 Firebomb Grenades
2 Trip Mines
1 power weapon
Pistol ammo supply crates, set on 90 second respawns.

All of these except for the pistol ammo are set to never respawn, meaning that there will only ever be one of them on the map. Use these items wisely. You may think some of these are a bit pointless, but I'll explain the significance of each:

The Radar Jammer is probably the first one you got confused over. Normally these things are practically useless, but in Agents they can really help out. If you're sure you know where the enemy is, drop the radar jammer and attack. The enemy won't know where you're coming from, and won't be able to tell where you're going when this item is active. This is a huge advantage for your team, and could easily win the round for you. The same goes for you, however. Unless you have visual contact with the enemy, and they don't see you, don't drop it. It will blind your team as well as theirs.

Trip mines are the second thing to talk about. Since the game has no vehicles, you're wondering “Why even bother?” Well, these are useful little items. You can use them as deployable grenades in a firefight and clear out a group that got too close together. They have a massive blast radius, so you might be able to take out the VIP as well! These can also be deployed around a corner, and then shot to cause an unexpected explosion upon the enemy. Both these tactics can really hurt the other team. One Trip Mine is placed on either side of the map, enabling both sides to be able to use it. Don't disregard this item.

Agents contains no grenades except Firebombs. This is because they have no splash damage, only direct contact. There are two of these also near the starting location, and are very useful for clearing out a group, or even using one in a suspected enemy VIP location. Fire hurts.

Bubble shields are obvious, but helpful. There is only one of them on the map, and can help turn a bad fight into a survivable one. Throwing this thing down can enable you to get out of a pinned down situation, and protect your VIP if he is under fire.

The power weapons in Agents is the only thing that varries, and will be listed in each map. The most common one, however, is the Assault Rifle. The AR is a very powerful mid range weapon that can take out an agent much faster than SMGs or pistols could. This goes for all of the power weapons. All ammo based power weapons only have one clip, and never respawn. Use these wisely, and don't waste your ammo unless you need to.

On a side note that may be of concern, there are no typical “Power weapons” on the Agents maps. When we use the term “power weapon”, we mean weapons that are more powerful than the ones provided. No rockets, no fuel rods, no sniper rifles. They are balanced, and only give a slight advantage to the controlling team. No need to go screaming about nOOb weapons.

Speaking of maps, its high time we gave you the environments you'll be playing on. You know how to play the game, and now it's time to see what you can do with it.

The Maps

Early on, we wantd to make sure Agents wouldn't have the same gameplay every time, and it wouldn't get old. The only way to do this, we decided, was to make a map pack. The Agents Map Pack has a whopping total of 9 maps to play on, each tested to make sure that it works for how it's built. Some maps are for big teams, and some are for small, but all deliver a unique and interesting gameplay style, and each has a different strategy to it.

One thing that should be noted is the map difficulty category under each of the following maps. When testing these maps, we noticed some were harder to play on than others. Whether it was weapon location, or simply terrain, sometimes it was just harder to win. We liked that. The maps labeled Easy will give a good environment for those who are new to the game, and the maps labeled Hard will challenge even the most experienced Agents players. Medium is somewhere in between. We recommend you start with Easy maps, and work your way to the Hard ones. After a while of playing, you'll start learning the ropes, and you'll want more of a challenge to work with.

Also, don't play a 3v3 map with a party of 10. It won't work out well, and you won't enjoy it. Pay attention to that little number in each post.

Below will be an individual post for each map (Continued posts for ForgeHub users), each containing a brief background story, description, and screenshots for each map. They're worth a quick read before you play on them.

Anyway, enough of me gabbing. Here are the maps! In case you're in a hurry, just hit one of the download links. They're all in a linked set on Bungie.net. Get Downloading!

The first thing to do before downloading the maps is to of course, download the gametype. The link can be found here:

Bungie.net : Halo 3 File Details

Download

Cyrus Compound is where it all started. When the AGENTS squads were finally complete, they needed a place to train them for combat. Cyrus Compound was built to facilitate and simulate all possible combat scenarios. Even with recent advancements in software simulation, most squads still prefer to hone their combat skills in this familiar training facility.

Canvas: Rat's Nest

Map Size: 3v3-5v5

Difficulty: Easy

Power Weapon: Assault Rifle

Cyrus Compound is the first map built for Agents, and where most people should start playing the game. The ground is flat and level, allowing for maximum versatility as far as VIP influence is concerned. The only place to truly watch your step is on the ramps. These can throw off your influence, so be sure to move as a unit whenever around them.

Agents combat is based around decisive engagement and taking cover. You'll find ample places to both retreat to and ambush from on this map, as cover litters the road outside the map's center. The map practically plays itself, with all the special items being along the center line of the map, and all the weapons being fairly easy to find. The combat is diverse enough to keep you interested, but not enough to change the game up. Start here, and branch out.

Download

One of the first things the Agents were set to defend were critical supply outposts in the North Arctic Sea. These provided vital ammunition and supplies for the ICBM stations and arctic command centers that now line the Arctic Rim. As most airships cannot make it all the way from civilization to these installations, small storage and unloading facilities like these act as a relay station for supplies. Most of the time, these supply depots are quiet and tranquil.

Except when the Weatherbirds arrive. Then things get quite loud, and you'll probably have preferred it when it was quiet.

Canvas: Blackout

Map Size: 3v3 only

Difficulty: Medium

Power Weapon: Assault Rifle

Docking Station boasts the most impressive piece of Forgery we have in the Agents Map Pack. Most of the map will feel familiar to you (With a few pieces of cover here and there), but in the center, we've forged a massive supply airship we've lovingly dubbed the “Weatherbird”. Think of it as the Pelican's big daddy. Can you get in this ship, you ask? Why yes, you can. The cargo hold sports the Assault Rifle, as well as an assortment of well-needed supplies, like street cones and a soccer ball. These are, of course, mission critical supplies.

The gameplay on this map feels cramped and tight, as well it should. We made sure that the map always felt a little claustrophobic. So make sure to check your corners and keep an eye on your radar. While the map itself boasts a total of 4 different levels of playing, the changes are easy to keep up with, and when using the influence correctly, the VIP has a lot of spots to hide in. As long as you're paying attention, you'll be conquering this map in no time.

(Continued On Next Page)