The Commander: Evolved

### Depicts

Alternate imagining of Commander Thel 'Vadamee's attempt to help restore order to Installation 04 via the Silent Cartographer

### Enemies

* Covenant
	+ Grunts
		- Minor
		- Major
		- Ultra
	+ Jackals
		- Minor
		- Major
		- Marksmen Minor
		- Marksmen Major
		- Marksmen Ultra
	+ Brutes
		- Minor
		- Captain
		- Commander
		- Chieftain (boss enemy)
	+ Hunters
		- Minor
* Flood
	+ Infection Forms
	+ Combat Forms
		- Human Forms
		- Brute Forms
		- Elite Forms
	+ Carrier Forms
		- Unshielded Elite Forms
		- Grunt Forms
		- Jackal/Skirmisher Forms
* Forerunner
	+ Sentinels
	+ Sentinel Snipers
	+ Sentinel Enforcers

*"The Commander of the Covenant turns his attention to the Flood, but Chieftain Lapidus has other plans"*

**The Commander: Evolved** is the thirteenth mission (eleventh in a straight playthrough, if selected) of the Installation 04 Campaign, and is a reimagining of the level The Commander in *Halo SPV3*. Like its sister level, it is an original creation of the SPV3 Dev Team.

Three Elites, Supreme Commander Thel 'Vadamee, Spec-Ops Commander Rtas 'Vadumee and Spec-Ops Officer Usze 'Tahamee, travel to the Cartographer Island to investigate after contact was lost with the Covenant task force, led by a pack of Brutes, that was sent there to retake the island. Upon arrival, they soon learn that the leader of the Covenant task force, Brute Chieftain Lapidus and all the Covenant under him have turned AWOL against the Commander.

Meanwhile, it transpires the Flood have infested the entire island, taking control of the Cartographer to learn more about Installation 04 and how to escape. These events lead to a four way battle on the island between Thel, Rtas and Usze, the mutinous Covenant task force, the Flood and the Sentinels and Enforcers.

## Overview & Background

The Commander: Evolved takes place on the same map as The Silent Cartographer: Evolved, much like the normal version of The Commander takes place on the same map as the original The Silent Cartographer. The events shown here take place at the same time as The Maw.

In this mission and The Commander, the player takes control of Thel 'Vadamee, the Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice during the Battle of Installation 04, and also the Sangheili who would become The Arbiter in *Halo 2*.

The level was originally cut from the mod until it finally saw a release in the *SPV3.2* update in 2019 along with the missions The Commander, None Left Behind and the Lumoria Campaign. It acts as an alternate version of The Commander, retelling the events of the same level in a different scenario. In a straight playthrough of the Campaign, the player has the option to play either this mission or its counterpart level, in the same vain as the two Silent Cartographer missions.

## Gameplay Information

In this mission, players are in control of Thel 'Vadamee before he becomes The Arbiter. As a result, UNSC weapons are unusable, with the Needle Grenade replacing the Frag Grenade, and the Energy Sword Hilt being permanently equipped.

Two other Elites accompany the player for the majority of the mission: Rtas 'Vadumee, the Spec-Ops Commander from *Halo 2* and *Halo 3*, and Usze 'Tahamee, the player 4 character from *Halo 3*'s co op campaign, both of which are Hero Units.

The Covenant, minus any enemy Elites, are fought as regular enemies in this mission, along with the Flood and Sentinels.

## Developer Information

This mission started development in 2013, with the vision of the level being mostly unchanged in all that time.

The SPV3 Dev team's idea behind The Commander: Evolved was to fill in the gaps in the details of the story and to better lead *Halo: Combat Evolved*'s plot into the events of *Halo 2*. The basic concept was derived from dialogue in *Halo 2*'s opening cutscene, *The Heretic*, aiming to answer such questions as; why did the Commander, who would become the Arbiter, divert his attention to the Flood? What was the underlying conflict with the Brutes? Why was it too late for him to act when he discovered the intent of the Master Chief?

These elements make it more story driven than its sister level, The Commander, having the characters more fleshed out and a more dramatic plot and ending. The Commander was to be a mini version of this mission, but the vision was changed when the modders couldn't make the idea work as well in that level. Despite this, both levels mission objectives are virtually the same.

## Trivia

* In *SPV3.2*, in the menu description of The Commader: Evolved, Chieftain Lapidus's name was misspelled as "Lepidus". This was fixed in *3.3*.
* Chieftain Lapidus and his Brute pack are in command of an entire Covenant task force, including Grunts, Jackals and Hunters in this mission. In The Commander, however, only Brutes were sent to the island.
	+ The number of dead Elites seen throughout the level suggest that Elites were also sent to the island, but the AWOL Brutes and other Covenant killed them all, possibly due to their loyalty to the Commander.
* Early in the mission, although in-game messages instruct the player to break through a locked door with the Energy Sword, its not actually necessary as the door will break with a regular melee attack.
* Lines of dialogue for Thel 'Vadamee and Rtas 'Vadumee have been taken from other Halo games and even mixed together in certain instances to ensure continuity. Voice actors were used for Chieftain Lapidus and Usze 'Tahamee, ergo, Usze adds more exposition than Thel or Rtas.
* Covenant enemies in this mission speak english due to the player controlling an Elite, who would understand them. Because of this, Jackals and Brutes have had their alien language vocal sounds changed in favour of english spoken phrases when in combat. Since Grunts already speak english, their vocal phrases have been left unchanged. Hunters vocal sounds are also unchanged.
* This mission contains 3 Forerunner terminals. In *SPV3.2*, the final terminal was inaccessible as it was located behind a locked door. It has been moved to a reachable position in *SPV3.3*.
* Although this mission shares the same geometry as The Silent Cartographer: Evolved, there is an underground cave section that is only accessible in The Commander: Evolved. The doors that lead to this area have yellow lights and can be seen and broken open with a melee attack in The Silent Cartographer: Evolved. In that level, ammo, health packs and armour abilities can be found inside, but the cave section from The Commander: Evolved is inaccessible as the lift that takes players underground is not present and jumping down the shaft will leave players trapped, unless they revert to the last checkpoint.
	+ This was maybe added to make up for the fact that The Commander: Evolved mainly forces the player to take a particular path across the island, in juxtaposition of The Silent Cartographer: Evolved's more non-linear approach to the level design.
* The Commander: Evolved features music by Jafet Meza not heard anywhere else in the mod, including an alternate, more imposing sounding version of *Devils... Monsters...*, the general theme of the Flood, that plays during the underground cave section.
* This is the final mission that features the Blind Wolves. Like in None Left Behind, they have been infected by the Flood.
* Thel is an honor-bound Sangheili at the time this mission takes place. He, like his fellow Elites, would rather die than use the humans weapons. This is why UNSC weapons can't be used in the level. This sense of honor is lost to him after he becomes the Arbiter in *Halo 2*.
* At the end of this mission, players have the option to pilot a Ghost back to the beach after escaping the Cartographer's facility before fighting Lapidus. This section is reminiscent of the Warthog run in The Maw since it uses the same music. However, there is no timer for the Ghost run in The Commander: Evolved.
* The A.I.'s for Rtas 'Vadumee and Usze 'Tahamee are vulnerable to minor glitches including rolling for no reason (even off a cliff), not following the player when they should be and even freezing altogether. None of these bugs are game threatening and even resolve themselves in time, but as such, it is advised not to rely on their support entirely.

## Gallery

None Left Behind • The Commander • **The Commander: Evolved** • The Maw