LASO Challenge

So what did you all think of this as a Weekly Challenge? Too hard, too easy? I enjoyed it, it was actually a challenge and made me play with all skulls on, something I normally wouldn't do. There was a nice reward and it didn't take too long (30 minutes for me). I did it solo. I'm hoping to see more challenges like this in the next few weeks.

Edit: And fail. I thought I posted this in the Communications Array subforum.

Eh, I wouldn't worry too much about where it's posted.

I found it to be a good Weekly challenge. It's nice to see challenges that aren't grindfests. It also gave out a good reward that made it worth the trouble.

Was it an easy challenge? Yeah, if you know what to do. However, I really can't say I would've wanted to do, oh say, Long Night of Solace LASO or Pillar of Autumn LASO.

Not bad with the exception of those damned Elites at the end. Only thing that really bugged me was the lack of a HUD. I understand losing the ammo counter and reticule, but do they have to take away the gun in front of your face? I'd at least like to know what guns I'm carrying and which one is currently in use without having to waste bullets. Aside from the Blind Skull, though, I thought the rest of it was fine. (and man did I feel better when I sank my sword into that last Zealot... 9 or 10 times.

Reign did you get the cR for it or did you just do it for the sake of doing it? I know you were cR banned when we went for it.

ONI Sword Base LASO... Definitely needing help for that one

Crap. Old post. Didn't realize you'd asked. Yeah, I got the cR for the last LASO. My Credit ban was only 24 hours. Guess they considered it a minor infraction since it was obvious I wasn't credit boosting (If I was I would've gone for the daily cR cap.)

As for this weeks LASO, I'm game Mingy and anybody else that wants to get in on it. Maybe Matrix and Thanos can get in on it as well. Could make a pretty mean 4-man team if we can get a time scheduled (I'm off Thursday and have all day available. Otherwise I'm free any evening except tonight.)

Wednesday and thursday I'm busy all day but other than that I'm free all week.

Just got Sword Base done, it actually wasn't that hard. I did it solo and followed HBO's Mythic walkthrough. The toughest parts were the start and just after going up the lift (Concussion Rifle Ultra in an enclosed room is NOT fun).

Wow.You've got skill. I can't even get out of the Courtyard.

I can't take all the credit. Kat (surprisingly) did plenty of work, so I just stole her kills in the courtyard when she downed their shields. I was mostly cowering in a corner though.

Still an impressive feat. ONI is a tough level. You actually have to fight.

I may give it a shot solo later tonight, but I'm not expecting to beat it (even if I do, I'm still game for helping tomorrow Mingy)

I'm thinking the best bet is to skip the beginning and run to the Air Strike like when I boost, than kill the turreter and attempt to hi-jack one of the wraiths. That should make the first half simple. Than I'll save the second air-strike for getting back into the courtyard. Hunters should be simple enough with some careful timing. As for the inside portion, probably just let Noble Team do most of the work and do the mop up. Fortunately Sword Base doesn't have any crazy unfair moments like the Zealots at the end of the first level.

Yeah, if you can get out of the Courtyard and snag a halfway decent Wraith (which is pretty risky in itself, especially since you can get a perfectly undamaged Wraith on Co-op), the rest of the level is just taking it slow. At the very least, at least this level doesn't wait until the very end to screw you over.

I can't wait for the Nightfall LASO challenge

Definitely get a Wraith. It was one of the most useful things for me. However, it took me 2 Target Locator blasts to take out the first Wraith, so you may not have one left for inside the base. I took the Wraith and cleared the way to the door, then brought the Gauss hog through. It kills Ultras in 3 shots and if you keep it at the top of the ramp into Sword Base, the Hunters won't attack you. The AI won't attempt to drive, so you should be safe.

Well since we're working together on the courtyard I think the best bet is to have one person go up the left ramp where the sniper is and be a diversion and that should allow the other person to sneak through and reach the Wraiths. That part will be simple enough.

As for the Wraith taking two Air Strike, the question is how much damage does one strike do? Obviously it doesn't do 100% damage, but if it does somewhere in the 80-90% range it's just a matter of taking it out with some well-placed grenades. If we're really lucky we may not even have to use one. I may be underestimating LASO, but diversion tactics should allow the player to get behind the first one and board it. It's mostly just a matter of taking out the turret gunners. Eliminate them and the tank itself is no longer a threat. Hell, be even better if we can somehow nab both of them. Do that and the first part will be a cake walk.

For me, the hardest part of this level is the scene at the old COM tower (the area to the left of the Wraiths.) I don't know why, but the Elites and the Revnants always give me trouble there.

DarkReign2021 wrote:Well since we're working together on the courtyard I think the best bet is to have one person go up the left ramp where the sniper is and be a diversion and that should allow the other person to sneak through and reach the Wraiths. That part will be simple enough.

As for the Wraith taking two Air Strike, the question is how much damage does one strike do? Obviously it doesn't do 100% damage, but if it does somewhere in the 80-90% range it's just a matter of taking it out with some well-placed grenades. If we're really lucky we may not even have to use one. I may be underestimating LASO, but diversion tactics should allow the player to get behind the first one and board it. It's mostly just a matter of taking out the turret gunners. Eliminate them and the tank itself is no longer a threat. Hell, be even better if we can somehow nab both of them. Do that and the first part will be a cake walk.

For me, the hardest part of this level is the scene at the old COM tower (the area to the left of the Wraiths.) I don't know why, but the Elites and the Revnants always give me trouble there.

Thankfully, Reach's mechanics are much more forgiving against enemy vehicles than the previous 3 games. However, they are pretty tough. Nabbing both Wraiths is fairly doable with 2 or 3 people, but the biggest threat are the extra reinforcements that follow on foot. They have a great potential to wreck your shit if you're not careful.

It wasn't... too bad. lol Mingy and I just finished and minus a few hang-ups it actually went surprisingly well. We managed to fight our way through the Courtyard, which ate up a good amount of time. Than due to a couple of bad checkpoints, we were caught up with the wraiths as well (well, moreso the elite on foot by the wraiths as sad as that is. They would've won this war if they had abandoned all of their vehicles.) Once we got hold of a Wraith the rest of the outdoor portion went off without more than a few hiccups. Once we got inside it actually went surprisingly well. Got a few lucky assassinations with some nasty enemies and managed to beat it fairly quickly. Overall the the adventure only took 2 hours, half of which was literally spent at the beginning of the level.

Once you get out of the Courtyard and capture a Wraith, the level is pretty by-the-numbers. That last General was a bitch, though. Jorge was no help at all (and on one checkpoint, I'm pretty sure he was blown out of the base).

I seem to remember that. Poor Jorge. lol.

And it wasn't the general giving us a problem. In the last handful of respawns I was actually in just the perfect position to where I could sprint out and get a Beat Down on him almost every time. Problem was one of his camo buddies was always hiding in a corner and would take us by surprise when we went for the Banshees.

And now we have the easy one. I just completed Nightfall SLASO in 5:49, with only minor trouble with some pesky enemy spawns. Overall, it truly is the Floodgate of Reach.

I'm dreading the inevitable Long Night of Solace SLASO that will undoubtedly show up in 4 weeks. I really can't decide which would be more painful, that level alone or that level co-op.

I had the most trouble with the forklift, actually. I just fail at that glitch. Still, 10 minutes and all skulls on (including Blind), so I can add it to my LASO films. It was easy compared to the other two.

It took me a couple of tries to get the forklift glitch to work, but it's worth the trouble. I'd hate to see this level on Mythic when done as intended. That last area would be hell to fight through.

The Tip of the Spear LASO challenge that will inevitably show up in two weeks shouldn't be too difficult, either. The Missile Hog makes everything up to the Spire to be easy, especially with another player or two giving some covering fire. Even the Spire just requires patience more than anything.

Now Long Night of Solace... I'm not sure what I'll do for that one. On one hand, SLASO of that level sounds like a slow, painful descent into Hell, but ends on an easy note if I can slip into the Pelican turret. On the other hand, co-op LASO would be more forgiving, but then I'd actually have to fight the final battle against the 8-9 Elite Ultras with no place to hide... not much better sounding.

From then on, Exodus, New Alexandria, and The Package require patience, but certainly won't be as challenging as ONI SWORD Base.

Then there's the Autumn... I'd rather fight Tartarus SLASO again.

Tip of the Spear is here. Darkregn and I completed it, though it took way more time than it should. That damn falcon run kept killing us.

We also tried LNoS, just to see what it was like. What a disaster.

Tip of the Spear certainly wasn't much of a challenge except for a few key points.

1. At the beginning, Mingy and I ended up skimming along the left side along the cliff. He stayed on the side and took out the closest enemy turret and I went all the way past and distracted the enemies from that end. Somehow we took out the elite. but it's a lot easier just surviving and letting the Elite take be taken out by the Pelican.

2. Continuing from there, just proceed slowly. Make sure you have DMRs or Needle Rifles for any skirmishers that might cause problems and use the rocket hog to take out the Anti-Air turret from a distance. Proceed all of the way to the facility with the Zealot in it.

3. Use the Rocket Hog to kill everything on the ground floor of the facility, than make your way up the left side. There will be a few jackals and grunts and a troublesome banshee (I took it out with a charged Plasma Pistol shot) than Devil and I ended up jumping from that catwalk down to the building where the Zealot comes out instead of walking into the path of the Elite on the turret. He will come over and join the Zealot, but if you're fast you can drop into the hole in the roof and proceed to the next area with no fighting involved.

4. When you pop outside, make quick work of the two grunts to prevent them from taking the ghosts. Whether Solo or Co-op, make sure the Revenant comes with you unless you would rather use the Chaingun warthog to take out the second AA turret. Devil and I used the Hog and Revenant both to take out the turret quickly, than I used the Revenant to Splatter all of the Elites, Grunts, Jacakals, and eventually the Hunters on the ground while he worked on taking out the gunner seats on the 3 wraith tanks we had spawn (supposed to be only 2, but we had one with retarded AI though he eventually wised up to our misfortune. Fortunately, although we weren't able to hijack it, we were able to grenade him after a respawn while he was still stupid. The second wraith ended up driving off the edge of a cliff while I was splattering hunters, and the third one reacted slowly enough that I was able to drive up behind it and board him for a final grenade kill.)

4. The Falcon ride was terrible. Mingy had no shields and no way to recover them, so a single shot would kill him. After a few dozen tries we finally managed to creep through and initiated this final part. Really no tips on how to do the Falcon scene though. Just fire at everything before it fires at you.

5. The last part isn't really that bad except for the very end. Mingy went up the left side and I went up the right. There was an elite on a portable turret in the middle and either one of us was in a position where we could easily assassinate him from behind. At the base of the tower, it was easiest for one of us to jack a banshee and the other to use the Focus Rifle and DMR/Needle Rifle to mop up the remaining ground forces. One FRG turret caused an issue, but combined fire from the FR and NR took him out quickly.

6. After finishing the base of the spire, I took the banshee to the top and Mingy took the Gravity lift. He lured most of the enemies out and I would attempt to splatter them or coax them off of the edge of the platform. We had two elites left and we ended up just ambushing them. Devil lured one enemy and I assassinated him. Than with the other one we did vice-versa and ended that mission not with a bang, but a whimper.



As for Long Night of Solace, 50:50. First half, easier than hell. Devil and I bypassed the Beach fight completely and made our way into the facility and launched within a matter of minutes. Got into space and we screwed around with the enemies at Anchor 9, which held us back longer than it should've of, but fortunately the LASO traits don't apply to the space segment.

Upon landing on the ship, this is where the other 50 kicks in. From the outer-surface of the ship and through the first room you'll encounter maybe 5 or 6 Ranger Elites. For the most part easy to take out. 2 or 3 of them will actually fly out through the shield and they're easy to assassinate in the Zero-Gee. The 2 or 3 down below are standard fare except for one that's dual-wielding Plasma Rifles. Once we figured it out and got a few lucky kills, we managed to clear the room.

Next up was the Hangar Bay. I timed my shots to take out the Grunts between Engineer Shield bursts. Devil set up Weapon containers that he had melee'd down the hall as cover and a blockade against the Elites. After killing enough grunts the Elites started to rush us in the hallway. Mingy, who had a Plasma Sword he had picked up from before we started the space sequence, used it combined with my charged Plasma Pistol Shots to take them out quickly (Should also point out that having a player with the Bubble shield is beneficial since the constant lack of shields was troublesome to say the least.) After we finished taking out the rushing elites and the rest of the grunts, we were left with two Elites (One with Needle Rifle and one with Focus Beam) and an Engineer.

I killed the Engineer easy enough, but we had absolutely no idea how to kill the elites that were located on the left side of the room. Devil ended up keeping them distracted from where we entered and I decided to sneak around the right side (and distracted them with my hologram AA in the process.) My intention was to sneak behind them and hope I could get in an assassination on at least one of them so we could bum-rush the last guy. What ended up happening was we triggered a scripted action where the gravity kicked back on and we were prompted to hit the switch and let the Pelican inside. I hit it hoping we could get some marine support, but it went to a cutscene and simple despawned the two elites we couldn't kill (Lucky break.)

After the cutscene, we proceeded forward toward the 3 doors that open up to reveal a group of grunts and 2 elites. I took the left side and Devil took the right, leaving marines to play chicken in the middle. Both of us took out our respective grunts, and with an insane amount of luck, managed to distract the elites long enough for the other to jump in and assassinate them. Moving on, the next room only had two elites, but they were both distracted by their computer consoles, so two easy melee kills.

Finally, we come to the bridge. This was our stopping point, but the question of how easy or difficult this part is remains unknown. I had intended on stealthing my way through the room to take out (with luck) the two Golden Elites and possibly even the two stealth elites as well.) Unfortunately, we got a checkpoint when I was in the middle of the room and not even a second after the checkpoint hit, a marine decided to pop off at the shotgun and alert everybody to our position. We attempted to play it and a good few times we managed to hold our ground and I even managed to take out the Gold Sword elites a couple times, but was never in a good enough position to where I could take out the other gold elite or retreat with the Sword to a better vantage point, so we eventually just called it quits. We'll figure it out when the LASO gets here on April 4th. Just have to remember next time to kill all of the fucking marines BEFORE we go into that room. With proper stealth it should be simple enough. Than from there on it's going to be nigh impossible. The final fight in the Hangar bay will be the worst LASO encounter yet.)

LNoS is pretty damn relentless once you get on the Ardent Prayer. I'm sure the hell of Pillar of Autumn will make us forget all about it, though.