Dust on the Horizon

The UNSC Storm on the Horizon was once the most powerful ship in the human fleet, their greatest weapon in any engagement. The ship garnered a reputation as untouchable, as the ship that would lead humankind to victory and reunite the scattered colonies. As can be seen here, this was not to be so, as nothing remains of the once mighty cruiser besides rubble and a thick haze of dust.

The source of a recent set of attacks on the nearby populace of the planet has led back to these sad remains. Your team must enter the eroding ship and set the still burning fusion reactor to go critical, then run to the last working escape pod before the explosion wipes out the ship and the deadly infestation inside it's hull. Tread carefully, and remember, never take your eyes off the ventilation shafts.

Dust on the Horizon is a linear-progressive infection map designed for the Hub of the Dead 3 contest designed and built by MockKnizzle008 and myself, designed for large player counts, preferably 16. If you haven't read above, the map tasks humans with entering the last remains of the UNSC cruiser Storm on the Horizon to clear out a rampantly growing alien hive. The aliens, however, have been evolving and are more than ready for the human squad. The map has 2 holdouts before reaching a final safe room, where humans must reach to get points for the round. Because of this, the best way to win as a human is to stick with your team, as you will all do better as a group and you gain no points for killing aliens. Aliens have 4 teleports as well as 2 other exits from their hive spawn, with the final tele turning the first alien through into an alien queen (tank zombie) who is then able to grab a turret and an overshield to bring to the fight. Here are a few details on the game type.

• Humans are 3 hits to kill as a zombie, but with no regenerating health. Assassinations are allowed and encouraged.
• No head shots.
• Aliens take around a half AR clip to kill, so team fire is essential, as are pickup weapons.
• The final door closes at 10 seconds left of the 3 minute round, killing and black-screening anyone outside the escape pod until the next round.
• Humans get 5 points for a survival. Aliens gain 1 point per kill. No points for killing aliens, you have to survive.
• Humans forced Red, Aliens forced Black. You know who is who easily.

There are a few features that set Dust on the Horizon apart from other linear infection maps that add to both the gameplay and the atmosphere. First, the entire map is tilted on a slight downward slope. Every floor, wall, ceiling or any other piece you can think of, it is angled to simulate the feel of a real crashed ship. This angle is slight however and does not interfere with gameplay. Second, instead of using a regular tank zombie Mock and I came up with the idea of one that was meant to play a bit more of a support class. This tank is still fairly hard to kill, but is equipped with a machine gun turret instead of a sword, making it a more ranged support class instead of a rush in quick to get kills/ quick to be killed type of tank. There are numerous other unique ideas within the map that will be shown below in the pictures, which continue the journey down further into the depths of the ship.

Humans pouring deeper into the ship from the first overgrown part of the hull.

Humans gather together for the first holdout near the reactor core's control panels.

Looking down the reactor tube towards the desperate human squad.

Humans and aliens have direct access to the broken elevator shaft.

That's a long fall. Might be a good idea to jump. Or at least keep walking forward.

The Armory is a critical room in the map, as it can resupply a human team and give them that boost needed to get to the end. On the other hand, it is a death trap for humans as aliens come in on all sides. What will you do I wonder?

Hanging in there in the final holdout. No, you cannot has the vehicles. They are, er, broken.

#&%*@#!!!

Out of the explosion the Queen comes as one final push to kill the humans, opening one last zombie spawn in the process. Have fun!

Special Thanks

MockKnizzle008 - My broski who co-forged the map with me and has taught me the way of the starting zombie. I'm glad we did this co-forge, it has been a great time and you've done a great job telling me when my ideas are dumb, a favor I have gladly returned. I can't wait to forge some awesome stuff with you in Halo 4 and to cook burgers in Seattle.

The Psycho Duck - while you didn't jump in till much later in production, you were still a bro through the whole process and helped with some important decisions, not to mention testing.

Confused Flamingo and Berb - While neither of you guys have actually been on the map before, you helped a lot with the pre-planning and inspired us to make an awesome lin-prog map. Hopefully you can both see it sometime before the end of Reach.

And last of course all a da testers/ people that helped us, including Minister Muffin, Silentraine, Spades N AZ and his crew of customneers, pyro and his sense of humor, and other infection enthusiasts/ people who somehow ended up in a game. Thanks to everyone for helping make this a reality, now seriously, go play the map, you have like 2 weeks. :)

And in case you missed it above, be sure to play Dust on The Horizon today!