For the Pelican I would have done a level that uses that firepower and it's transport ability. You have a Spartan team that went behind enemy lines to capture something important. They ended up getting caught and are under heavy fire. So you get in that decked out pelican and have to rescue them. You end up encountering heavy enemy fire on the way. For the controls/gameplay I would do everything I could to make it fly like it does in the cutsceens. For the space combat I would have did what you said. I would have the player fly up to the ship while getting attacked by the A.I. along the way. Once you get in the trenches you have to fight off turrets on your way. When we are still on the planet I would have the player us that fighter to defend Infinity from this massive air and ground attack. Also I would have did a space combat MP playlist. One team are those UNSC fighters and the other are Seraph's. Really. Did 343 try at all when they made this game? It seems like they put little effort into it. They dropped the ball on pretty much everything.

[quote]Really. Did 343 try at all when they made this game? It seems like they put little effort into it. They dropped the ball on pretty much everything.[/quote]They did give it their all... in the graphics. Too much prioritization on the graphics and story. Halo 2 got praise in those categories (ok, not really in the graphics but it's ok for it's time) and more. Also, excellent ideas! The Pelican really does seem suitable for fighting ground enemies. The glitch on Reclaimer makes this evident.

[quote]Too much prioritization on the graphics [/quote] Agreed. Weapon despawning is [I]ridiculousl[/I] and it's next to impossible to set up AI collections because of it. [quote]and story.[/quote] Disagreed with you there. Story is the most important part of the game for me, and it was executed brilliantly in Halo 4 (though challenging to understand for newcomers). The Pelican was done surprisingly well. I expected it to just feel clunky and detached sort of like Reach, but I found that it actually controlled in a responsive, yet realistic manner. Couldn't agree more with you and BerzerkCommando regarding the implementation of the Pelican. The space combat was a real shame, because as great as the Trench Run was, in a gameplay sense it was severely limited. Granted, I did have more fun with it than Reach's horribly slow Sabre sequence, but we should definitely have fought AI vehicles instead of turrets. I think that the trench run was great, but should have been used near the [I]end[/I] of the mission, in a similar fashion to the Warthog Runs. We should have had a more open, sandbox oriented space combat sequence near the beginning.

[quote]They did give it their all... in the graphics.[/quote] It shows because the game play suffers. I read the reason why the weapons disappear so fast is because of the graphics. They didn't want it to start dropping or something like that. [quote]Also, excellent ideas![/quote] Thanks. It's sad when one person can think of a better idea withing a minute than the entire staff that did the story and levels. [quote]The Pelican really does seem suitable for fighting ground enemies. The glitch on Reclaimer makes this evident.[/quote] It's because it pretty much is. Non of the weapons on it are really designed to fight other air vehicles. The front chain gun is slow, the spartan laser would have a hard timing aiming on them, the side turrets are slow for tracking them and the cannon on top is slow and it doesn't burst like flak. It can be used against them, but they are more suited for ground combat because the vehicle is designed to be a ground transport. Which means it's going to go up against ground forces. So it makes sense to have weapons that are suited for it.

>It shows because the game play suffers. I read the reason why the weapons disappear so fast is because of the graphics. They didn't want it to start dropping or something like that. Yep. The funny thing is that the dead bodies stay on longer than the weapons. >Thanks. It's sad when one person can think of a better idea withing a minute than the entire staff that did the story and levels. Honestly, how could anyone find a bunch of Phantoms engaging? >It's because it pretty much is. Non of the weapons on it are really designed to fight other air vehicles. The front chain gun is slow, the spartan laser would have a hard timing aiming on them, the side turrets are slow for tracking them and the cannon on top is slow and it doesn't burst like flak. It can be used against them, but they are more suited for ground combat because the vehicle is designed to be a ground transport. Which means it's going to go up against ground forces. So it makes sense to have weapons that are suited for it. Agreed. It's unusual how none of the Pelicans engage any ground forces. I think they heard some complaints about Pelicans in Reach (primarily from me) but I didn't think they'd take it this far. I certainly didn't want this stuff completely out, I just wanted it in less frequency.

[quote]Honestly, how could anyone find a bunch of Phantoms engaging?[/quote] It's 343. They're the same people that thought getting ride of Infection and replacing it with a gametype that has less options. Is a good idea. So you really can't find any reason that makes sense about their actions. [quote]It's unusual how none of the Pelicans engage any ground forces. [/quote] In the campaign I can't think of any levels for them to do it. There's the Mammoth level, but they would get shot gun by the AA guns. But there is Spartan OPS that has levels where they can. I think the reason why they didn't do that is because. They didn't want to put the effort into something that's going to be done a few times. [quote]I certainly didn't want this stuff completely out, I just wanted it in less frequency.[/quote] It's just something else 343 can remove for the sake of removing. Bungie also did the same thing. They added new vehicles in each game, but in the next game they are gone. But 343 removed more things in one game. If I was going to do them I would do it in 3 ways. [b]1:[/b] They would act like the attack chopper in Black OPS. It shows up and starts shooting at things then it leaves. [b]2:[/b] It would be a heavy armed Pelican. Instead of being a transport it would be a gunship. It would act like the AC-130 in CoD. It would fly around the area in a circle and light up the enemies. It would have the tank cannon on top, explosive machine guns on the sides and one in the back. [b]3:[/b] It would be a player controlled level. You are some random pilot with 2 other Pelican gunships. You would be engaging heavy Covenant ground forces. But the only way my ways would work right is if the levels are on Battlefield scale. With the current small level design they would barley work. Like every vehicle combat in this series.