Xeno War
Created by The Abhorrent

Xeno War is yet another spaceship map; and similar to The Retribution, it's tailored to fit a custom Invasion gametype. It's the same basic concept, but refined to iron out a few of the kinks seen on The Retribution.

There are a few basic differences between the two, notably that it's Elites which are attacking this time instead of the Spartans. The location this time is above the canyon, though it should be noted that the ground is a soft kill zone (don't fly too low) to prevent anyone from getting stuck.

As with the majority of my maps, there are SFX orbs present in the default map. This time I decided to stage them with each phase, with the map getting darker each time. Before anyone makes a note of them being unpopular, I have already uploaded a version of the map without any SFX orbs (Xeno War Lite).

Match Progression
All phases last five minues with thirty seconds of sudden death, and the game lasts two rounds. Respawn times are set at ten seconds, with a 5 second penalty for betrayals (no suicide penalty). And as a minor note, team changing & betrayal booting is disabled.

Phase I -- Attack of the Flying Dinosaurs
The Elites start up on a clifftop a short distance away from the vessel, and are given four Falcons to transport themselves to the UNSC Flying Brick (the name should be self-explanatory). They have a three possible points they can opt to land: the small hangar directly at the front of the ship, or one of the two landing pads located on each side & toward the rear of the vessel. The Spartans don't have much in the way of defenses (no Shades nor smaller turrets), but the Elites in the Falcons would be hard-pressed to hit any of them should they be wise and opt to stay in cover within the ship (they're mostly there for transport, with maybe some cover fire while players disembark. There are two capture points for this phase, one directly behind the glass screen at the front of the ship, and the other in a small alcove near the back. Capturing either of these will begin the second phase.

Phase II -- Why does opening cans always involve explosives?
The bomb spawns within the forward capture point of the first phase, and after the two ramps towards the next level of the ship spawn the Elites have to get it to one of the two reactors (I was a bit annoyed by the fact The Retribution assault phase was little more than a gauntlet, so I opted to use two locations here to go around that). One can be loacted near the rear of the ship, with the engines in view (be careful to not be knocked into the reactor itself). The second is almost directly above the bomb spawn point, but requires taking a winding route upwards and toward the small monitoring station. Bombing either of these will begin phase three, along with taking out a significant portion of the ship.

Phase III -- Mind if I borrow this core?
As with The Retribution, the third and final phase opens up the uppermost levels of the ship... and is marked by constantly exploding fusion coils to simulate the effect of the ship blowing itself up. Player traits have been modified to make everyone considerably tougher, and the fusion coil explosions should never be fatal on their own (they can take out a signifant bite out of your shields however) The core can be located on a small platform in front of and slightly below the "command deck", and there are numerous paths to get to it. Getting it out is a little tricky, and the destination is actually on the other side of the map. There are two possible teleporters for you to take to your escape vessel, and both can be located near where the capture points were during the first phase of the game. Alas, no daring leap this time; just walk the core into the ship to win the game.

Player Traits & Loadouts

Players a considerably tougher & stronger than normal in the Xeno War gametype:
- 150% Damage Resistance
- 2x Overshields
- 150% Shield Recharge Rate
- 200% Damage Modifier (so it doesn't take too long to kill eachother)
- 200% Melee Modifier
- 110% Run Speed
- 110% Jump Height
- 150% Gravity
- Black Armor (that's right folks, you're all Spec-Ops!)

The Core/Bomb Carrier gets some additional perks
- 200% Damage Resistance
- 200% Shield Recharge Rate
- 110% Health Recharge Rate
- 300% Melee Modifier
- 100% Run Speed & Jump Height, 200% Gravity (it's heavy)

The Loadouts "level up" with each phase, with more of them becoming available with each phase and the equipment they provide improving as well. As with The Retribution, there are no weapons on the map (aside from dropped weapons off the fallen) but you are given infinite ammo to compensate. Since I'm a bit short on time at the moment, they'll be posted a bit later.

Images

Profile shot of the UNSC "Flying Brick" during the first phase

One of the two possible capture points for the first phase, this one being located in the front of the ship

One of two possible bomb points for the second phase, this one being near the centre of the ship

Profile shot of the damaged ship during the third phase

Midsection of the ship during phase 3, complete with it's new "open concept" design

Like The Retribution, the core destination is a small ship awaiting your arrival

In retrospect, this map is probably overly similar to The Retribution in concept. Nevertheless, this is my attempt to improve upon said concept; to make it more interesting and hopefully better.

Enjoy the defense & destruction of the UNSC Flying Brick!