Firefight

Firefight is an extra game mode in *Halo SPV3*, released as part of the 2021 *3.3* overhaul to the mod. It is much like Firefight in *Halo 3: ODST* and *Halo: Reach*, but considerably downsized and it is strictly single player.

## Overview

Firefight in *SPV3* functions similar to *ODST* and *Reach* Firefight. The player faces wave after wave of enemies in an enclosed environment taken from the campaign. After each wave, certain elements will be unlocked to assist the player. The unlocks are random every time (except for Juggernaut). Skulls will also be turned on to add gameplay variety, but they can be configured how and when they are activated.

### Game Types

**Survival**: The player must fight for their own survival. They have a total of 4 lives to do this. If all lives are used up, it is game over.

**Squad Survival**: The player has unlimited lives, but they must defend a squad of fellow ODST's, whose numbers replenish after each wave. If the players allies are all killed, it is game over.

**Juggernaut**: Functions similar to Survival. The player has all unlocks from the start of the game, but only a single life.

If the player gets a game over, they can retry the current wave of enemies.

### Game Modes

**Blitz**: The player faces a single round of 10 enemy waves. Skulls turn on after every wave.

**Standard**: The player faces 4 rounds of 10 enemy waves, 40 waves in total. Skulls turn on after every round.

**Tyrant**: Same as Standard, except more skulls are added, and more types of skulls are possible.

**Endure**: The player must survive a total of 7 rounds of 10 enemy waves, 70 waves in total. Skulls turn on after every round.

### Skull Configurations

**Normal**: A new skull is added each time. The skulls stack as more are turned on.

**Pro**: Two new skulls are added every time. One of them stacks, the other doesn't, but it will be a random skull each time.

**Fiesta**: A new skull is added after each round, along with a random previous skull from the same game.

## Gameplay

Firefight functions in such a way that no two playthroughs will ever be exactly the same. *SPV3* offers a unique twist on the game mode as the enemy faction being fought can be changed. Players can battle against either the Covenant, like normal, or the Flood.

In Firefight, players take control of the Firefight SPARTAN, a unique character unseen anywhere else in *SPV3*. He serves as a blank canvas as in official Firefight, players would control a SPARTAN with their own customized armour. It should be noted that, unlike the Master Chief or SPARTAN May-017, the Firefight SPARTAN cannot pilot vehicles of any kind. The player can also hold up to 4 grenades of each type, unlike campaign, where the maximum grenade capacity for all types is 2.

### Environments

Players have 2 environment options for Firefight:

### Loadouts

The player has loadout options at the start of the game and whenever a life is used. The loadouts are as follows:

Weapon
Grenades (4)\*
(32+320 reserve ammo)
 Recon
reserve ammo)
 Scout
reserve ammo)
 SOCOM Heavy
(36+252 reserve ammo)
 Marksman
(15+105 reserve ammo)
(60+600 reserve ammo)

\*In game display reads 2 frag grenades per loadout, but is, in fact, 4.

### Rounds

Combat in Firefight is presented in the form of enemy waves which are broken into rounds. 10 enemy waves is 1 round. In a round, each enemy wave gets progressively more difficult, bringing in tougher enemies every time. Sometimes, particular enemies are removed from certain waves to be possibly re-included in a later wave. Enemies are also randomized; of all possible enemies in a wave, not all will necessarily be seen in a single round. This is done so there is more variety, forcing the player to employ different tactics for each wave.

After a wave has been completed, the player is given a 30 second intermission before the next wave. This time can be used to prepare and also to inspect the most recently unlocked reward.

When a round is over, the wave counter resets to 1 and the enemy waves are repeated, though still with some variety. Previously achieved unlocks are redeployed on the map and the players lives are replenished if playing Survival.

### Rewards

The player is granted unlocks as rewards once a wave has been won. At the end of a round, all previously unlocked weapons, ammo and powerups are redeployed in the field so they can be used again for the next round. If playing Endure, new unlocks will constantly be rewarded to the player until they have all have been achieved.

In Survival and Squad Survival, different waves unlock different rewards and they are all selected randomly every time the game is played. In Juggernaut, the player starts the game with all rewards unlocked.

Ammo for any loadout weapons in the players possession (unless the Budget Cut Skull is on) and a Health Kit are unlocked after every wave.

#### Miscellaneous

Waves 1-3 give a myriad of different buffs to the player, including armour abilities, armour upgrades, powerups and ammo drops. The potential rewards are as follows:

* SPRINT
* SPEED BOOSTER
* Energy Sword Hilt
* SHIELD BOOSTER
* SHIELD RECHARGE
* NUCLEAR FAILSAFE REACTOR
* SHOCK ABSORBING BOOTS
* SPEED BOOTS
* ENERGY RECHARGE
* ENERGY DISCHARGE
* HEALTH REGEN
* CAMO
* Active Camouflage
* Power Weapon Ammo Drop (x2) - M45 Grenades, M91 Shotgun, AMPED M393 Designated Marksman Rifle, M247 Machine Gun, SRS99C-S2 AM Sniper Rifle, T-800 Minigun, M310 Grenade Launcher, M41 Rocket Launcher, Golden Gun
* Covenant Charging Station

#### Weapon Drop

Waves 4-6 will unlock a new weapon for the player to use. Many guns from the campaigns are made available this way, but some are exclusive to Firefight. It should be noted that if the player is killed while in possession of any of the unlocked weapons, they cannot be retrieved until the start of the next round.

The potential unlocks are as follows:

* M247 Machine Gun
* AMPED M393 Designated Marksman Rifle
* SRS99C-S2 AM/S Silenced Sniper Rifle
* M7057 Defoliant Flamethrower
* T-800 Minigun
* M310 Grenade Launcher
* M41 Rocket Launcher
* Golden Gun
* Undermounted Grenade Launcher Attachment\*
* Extra Fragmentation Grenades
* Unstable Round Carbine
* Jackal Shield
* Sentinel Sniper Beam
* Sentinel Light Rifle
* Sentinel Railgun
* Sentinel Suppressor
* Sentinel Boltshot
* Incineration Cannon

\*Changes any Assault Rifle or Battle Rifle into the GL variant.

#### Allied Reinforcements

Waves 7-9 will unlock ally units that will assist the player until the game is either won, quit or they are killed. Unlike the other rewards, Allied Reinforcements will always be deployed during these waves in every round, even if they have been unlocked in previous waves, and even of the same round. Thus, players could end up having the same allies spawn in consecutive waves.

Note that if an ally unit is killed, the player cannot retrieve their weapon.

They are as follows:

* ODST Support
* Sentinel Support
* Marine Support (Engine Room Only)
* Shade Turret Support (Fuel Rod and Anti Personnel) (Rockslide only)
* Sentinel Enforcers (Rockslide only)
* A Sparrowhawk (Rockslide only)

#### Hero Unit

The reward for wave 10 is a Hero Unit who will spawn and fight alongside the player until the game is won or ended in the pause menu. Like in campaign, they are all invincible but must be revived by the player if they sustain enough damage to knock them down. They will also be revived automatically between waves if the player doesn't do so.

They are as follows:

* The Master Chief wielding the MA5E Assault Rifle
* SPARTAN May-017 wielding the SOCOM BR50-HB Battle Rifle
* Sgt Avery Johnson wielding the M247 Machine Gun
* Sgt Brandon Keifer wielding the AMPED M393 Designated Marksman Rifle
* Foehammer wielding the M310 Grenade Launcher
* Captain Jacob Keyes wielding the Golden Gun

## Trivia

* *SPV3* is the only *Halo* game to feature Flood Firefight.
* The Master Chief and SPARTAN May-017, the player characters from the Installation 04 and Lumoria campaigns, respectively, appear in Firefight as Hero Units.
	+ Carol Rawley, a.k.a Foehammer, is an unseen character in campaign. She is also never seen in the official *Halo* games. However, *SPV3* brings her to life for the first time as an interactive character. Her lines of dialogue heard in the field are taken from the female Marines heard in *Halo 2*.
		- Rtas 'Vadumee, Usze 'Tahamee and ONI Agent Joness are the only Hero Units not to appear in Firefight.
* The Hunter Ultra is the only Firefight exclusive enemy in *SPV3*.
	+ On the flip side, the Jackal Marksman Ultra, the uninfected Elite Honor Guardsman Zealot and the Brute Chieftain Combat Form are the only normal enemies from campaign not seen in Firefight.
		- Flood forms such as the Elite Spec-Ops Combat Form and the Elite Zealot Combat Form are enemy units highly unlikely to be encountered in campaign, as the only way to see them is for the living versions to be infected by Infection Forms. The odds of these events happening, particularly for the Elite Zealot, are very slim. In Firefight, these enemy types are fought in abundance.
* The Undermounted Grenade Launcher Attachment can be fitted to any Assault Rifle or Battle Rifle. Thus, the SOCOM BR50-HB Battle Rifle + M45 Grenade Launcher is, technically, another Firefight exclusive weapon, as in Lumoria, the SOCOM Battle Rifle never has the grenade launcher attached.
* While some weapons in *SPV3* are exclusive to Firefight, there are weapons in campaign that don't appear in Firefight. These are the silenced Battle Rifle, the unmodified standard Brute Plasma Rifle and the Needle Grenade. While the normal unsuppressed Sniper Rifle is used by ODST reinforcements, it can't be used by the player. Only the Silenced Sniper Rifle can.
* Although Allied Reinforcement's don't drop their weapons if killed, this rule doesn't apply to the Sentinel Enforcer. This is most likely a oversight on the part of the developers, but it provides the player with another means of acquiring the Incineration Cannon other than the Weapon Drop reward.
* For the most part, vehicles are absent in Firefight as the Firefight SPARTAN cannot drive any. The only vehicles seen in Firefight are the Phantom Dropships, the Fuel Rod Shade Turret, the Anti Personnel Shade Turret, the Sparrowhawk and the Bumblebee escape pod seen in Rockslide.
* In Rockslide, when up against the Covenant, the skybox is always in its alternate form, this cannot be changed.
* RADAR and THERMAL VISION are the only armour abilities from campaign that are absent in Firefight.
* While the Reflex Enhancement Powerup is not featured in Firefight, the effects of it are activated if the player's shields are depleted and one is equipped with the ADRENELINE BOOSTER armour upgrade.
* HEALTH REGEN in Firefight differs and is superior to the campaign variant, as it will always heal players to full health, rather than 67%.
	+ Also, while HEALTH REGEN is an armour ability in Campaign, in Firefight, it is classed as an armour upgrade, meaning other armour abilities can be equipped and used while HEALTH REGEN in equipped.
* A Covenant vs Flood mode, where players would control Thel 'Vadamee, and a game type called Guardian, where players would defend an objective from enemies, was planned for *SPV3* Firefight. The development for them has been abandoned however, as CMT has moved onto other projects, mainly *Halo Legacies*, since 343 Industries has released superior modding tools for the PC port of *MCC*.
	+ In addition to this, Masterz1337 announced on Discord on the 23/6/2021 that one more update for *SPV3* is in the works, mainly containing new Firefight maps. But afterwards, development on *SPV3* is to end entirely.