Overview
Great Schism is an invasion mod where an elite team fights a team of (imitation) brutes and grunts, in reference to the Covenant civil war in the Halo 2-3 campaign. As with my other invasion mods, elite rank and armor colour is determined by loadout gear to mimic campaign elites. The brutes and grunts sport unique appearances, though are still based on the elite biped model (a limitation of CGB-compatible gametype modding), and have unique traits and abilities.
Download
Fileshare: Rabid MagicMan
Note: I regularly update all of my mods with bug fixes or new features. Check back often! All versions are backwards compatible.
Credits
Rabid MagicMan: all modding except the following. Also default gametype settings (loadouts, balance, etc.)
TrustySn00ze: destructible objectives
Cantaloupe0: AA Shades
Adaptability
Maps: Great Schism can be played on any invasion map. The elites are red team, brutes blue team. The scale range is 33x (I can change this on request).
Gametype settings: Invasion's standard Specific Gametype Options have been refined, improved and expanded. You can change loadouts as you please, and (if you care to) use the following flowchart to anticipate what loadout gear will generate which elite ranks & classes. Note though that I have carefully balanced the default loadouts, so I wouldn't generally recommend changing them unless you have reason to for a given map.
Recommended maps
I recommend using any of the maps in my fileshare whose descriptions say to use "Counter Ops", or which have "Schism" in their name or description. The following are all by Mr Dr Milk.
• Corvette Takedown • Strike Team • The Truth & Reconciliation • Covenant Arms Lab • New Mombasa Counter Attack • Schism: Assault on the Cartographer • Schism: H3: The Covenant • Burn their Mongrel Skies • Cloaking Platform
Mod features
Great Schism includes all features present in my Counter Ops invasion mod, except for drop pods. This includes a player-operated phantom turret on certain maps! The damage of a few weapons and vehicles has been changed: spiker, plasma repeater, shade, and gauss turret.
Full details & guides are present on my discord server, Rampant Cartographers.
Classes
Brute
• Pros: 2x health under their shields. Immune to headshots.
• Cons: larger size (bigger hitbox). 90% speed.
• They go berserk when their shields break: they drop their weapons and draw an invisible energy sword (mimics punching) and lose their radar. Berserk brutes have 3x hp, infinite sprint, 3x jump height, improved hp regen. Berserk ends upon entering a vehicle.
Comments: Brutes were the first custom class I made for my campaign-themed mods, and I'm very proud of the interesting side-grade gameplay they bring. Going berserk is both a blessing and a curse. It can save you from normally lethal damage, gives a huge advantage in melee, and the increased jump enables potent hit-and-run ambushes. But being melee-only without radar will get you killed before long. Berserk doesn't trigger whilst holding a gravity hammer or plasma cannon turret, so brutes can make full use of their 2x hp when using those weapons.
Grunt
• Pros: Smaller size (smaller hitbox, easy cover). Plasma grenade regen. Infinite ammo. 1.5x hp. headshot immunity.
• Cons: no shield. 75% speed. Tiny jump. Can only use needler, plasma pistol, and fuel rod. No armor ability.
• By default grunts are on the Brute team, but the mod supports grunts on either team if you provide the right loadout gear.
Comments: People really love the grunts. They look silly and cute, just like in campaign. But don't be deceived: their free plasma grenades & needler make them deadly 'glass cannons' that can rack up big kill streaks when hiding in the backlines. They're also extremely effective vehicle-killers due to their infinite ammo plasma pistol and plasma nades.
Spec ops elite
• Pros: unlimited non-motion-sensitive active camo whilst holding a plasma rifle, with no radar jam or deafening.
• Cons: no armor ability usage whilst holding a plasma rifle.
Comments: The only elite team class/rank with unique traits, Spec Ops elites are great fun to play and surprisingly not overpowered. The camo is superb for advancing at full speed to close range without being shot, but once you enter radar range it gets a lot less useful. It's great for flanking and assassinating distracted brutes, but fighting toe-to-toe will likely see you pummelled due to your lack of a mobile armor ability.
Why you should play this!
I really love this mod, and a lot of other people do too. Here are some reasons why!
1) Faithful gameplay
I'm really happy with how this mod captures the feeeel of the Elite-Brute dichotomy. The brutes are these big hulking tanks who bring superior weapons and dominate in melee, while the elites rely on their mobility (read: evade) and cunning to kite berserkers long enough to whittle down their health. The elite loadouts enable and reward more 'clever' tactics, like using spec ops stealth or hologram to get assassinations, or picking up enemy needle weapons to circumvent the brutes' increased hp. In contrast, the lack of radar for berserk brutes makes them behave recklessly. The abundance of swords, hammers and plasma weapons results in a lot of close range fights; between this and and the particularly brutal elite-on-elite assassination animations, the bitter HATRED between the species feels palpable in game!
2) Unique + fun gameplay
The emphasis on modded class gameplay and Covenant weaponry makes this feel very different to normal games. I love that the game is almost completely devoid of hitscan weapons. It's so freeing to be able to walk through open spaces without being chipped at by DMRs and magnums. I find Covenant weapons generally feel more satisfying to use and less frustrating to be killed by. It takes practice to excel in the playstyle of the various classes, and to remember NOT to charge into melee as an elite brandishing a plasma rifle, which makes this feel like a fun little game within a game. And who can resist falling in love with the grunts?
Videos
Gameplay-Machinima mix of Great Schism, with campaign dialogue sounds overlayed for the fun by IVOLUKE
Map is "Schism: Halo 3 The Covenant" by Mr Dr Milk. (In my fileshare)
First-person gameplay of the same match by IVOLUKE
Map is "Schism: Halo 3 The Covenant" by Mr Dr Milk. (In my fileshare)
First-person gameplay of a different map by IVOLUKE
Map is "Schism: Assault on the Cartographer" by Mr Dr Milk. (In my fileshare)
Great Schism is an invasion mod where an elite team fights a team of (imitation) brutes and grunts, in reference to the Covenant civil war in the Halo 2-3 campaign. As with my other invasion mods, elite rank and armor colour is determined by loadout gear to mimic campaign elites. The brutes and grunts sport unique appearances, though are still based on the elite biped model (a limitation of CGB-compatible gametype modding), and have unique traits and abilities.
Download
Fileshare: Rabid MagicMan
Note: I regularly update all of my mods with bug fixes or new features. Check back often! All versions are backwards compatible.
Credits
Rabid MagicMan: all modding except the following. Also default gametype settings (loadouts, balance, etc.)
TrustySn00ze: destructible objectives
Cantaloupe0: AA Shades
Adaptability
Maps: Great Schism can be played on any invasion map. The elites are red team, brutes blue team. The scale range is 33x (I can change this on request).
Gametype settings: Invasion's standard Specific Gametype Options have been refined, improved and expanded. You can change loadouts as you please, and (if you care to) use the following flowchart to anticipate what loadout gear will generate which elite ranks & classes. Note though that I have carefully balanced the default loadouts, so I wouldn't generally recommend changing them unless you have reason to for a given map.
Recommended maps
I recommend using any of the maps in my fileshare whose descriptions say to use "Counter Ops", or which have "Schism" in their name or description. The following are all by Mr Dr Milk.
• Corvette Takedown • Strike Team • The Truth & Reconciliation • Covenant Arms Lab • New Mombasa Counter Attack • Schism: Assault on the Cartographer • Schism: H3: The Covenant • Burn their Mongrel Skies • Cloaking Platform
Mod features
Great Schism includes all features present in my Counter Ops invasion mod, except for drop pods. This includes a player-operated phantom turret on certain maps! The damage of a few weapons and vehicles has been changed: spiker, plasma repeater, shade, and gauss turret.
Full details & guides are present on my discord server, Rampant Cartographers.
Classes
Brute
• Pros: 2x health under their shields. Immune to headshots.
• Cons: larger size (bigger hitbox). 90% speed.
• They go berserk when their shields break: they drop their weapons and draw an invisible energy sword (mimics punching) and lose their radar. Berserk brutes have 3x hp, infinite sprint, 3x jump height, improved hp regen. Berserk ends upon entering a vehicle.
Comments: Brutes were the first custom class I made for my campaign-themed mods, and I'm very proud of the interesting side-grade gameplay they bring. Going berserk is both a blessing and a curse. It can save you from normally lethal damage, gives a huge advantage in melee, and the increased jump enables potent hit-and-run ambushes. But being melee-only without radar will get you killed before long. Berserk doesn't trigger whilst holding a gravity hammer or plasma cannon turret, so brutes can make full use of their 2x hp when using those weapons.
Grunt
• Pros: Smaller size (smaller hitbox, easy cover). Plasma grenade regen. Infinite ammo. 1.5x hp. headshot immunity.
• Cons: no shield. 75% speed. Tiny jump. Can only use needler, plasma pistol, and fuel rod. No armor ability.
• By default grunts are on the Brute team, but the mod supports grunts on either team if you provide the right loadout gear.
Comments: People really love the grunts. They look silly and cute, just like in campaign. But don't be deceived: their free plasma grenades & needler make them deadly 'glass cannons' that can rack up big kill streaks when hiding in the backlines. They're also extremely effective vehicle-killers due to their infinite ammo plasma pistol and plasma nades.
Spec ops elite
• Pros: unlimited non-motion-sensitive active camo whilst holding a plasma rifle, with no radar jam or deafening.
• Cons: no armor ability usage whilst holding a plasma rifle.
Comments: The only elite team class/rank with unique traits, Spec Ops elites are great fun to play and surprisingly not overpowered. The camo is superb for advancing at full speed to close range without being shot, but once you enter radar range it gets a lot less useful. It's great for flanking and assassinating distracted brutes, but fighting toe-to-toe will likely see you pummelled due to your lack of a mobile armor ability.
Why you should play this!
I really love this mod, and a lot of other people do too. Here are some reasons why!
1) Faithful gameplay
I'm really happy with how this mod captures the feeeel of the Elite-Brute dichotomy. The brutes are these big hulking tanks who bring superior weapons and dominate in melee, while the elites rely on their mobility (read: evade) and cunning to kite berserkers long enough to whittle down their health. The elite loadouts enable and reward more 'clever' tactics, like using spec ops stealth or hologram to get assassinations, or picking up enemy needle weapons to circumvent the brutes' increased hp. In contrast, the lack of radar for berserk brutes makes them behave recklessly. The abundance of swords, hammers and plasma weapons results in a lot of close range fights; between this and and the particularly brutal elite-on-elite assassination animations, the bitter HATRED between the species feels palpable in game!
2) Unique + fun gameplay
The emphasis on modded class gameplay and Covenant weaponry makes this feel very different to normal games. I love that the game is almost completely devoid of hitscan weapons. It's so freeing to be able to walk through open spaces without being chipped at by DMRs and magnums. I find Covenant weapons generally feel more satisfying to use and less frustrating to be killed by. It takes practice to excel in the playstyle of the various classes, and to remember NOT to charge into melee as an elite brandishing a plasma rifle, which makes this feel like a fun little game within a game. And who can resist falling in love with the grunts?
Videos
Gameplay-Machinima mix of Great Schism, with campaign dialogue sounds overlayed for the fun by IVOLUKE
Map is "Schism: Halo 3 The Covenant" by Mr Dr Milk. (In my fileshare)
First-person gameplay of the same match by IVOLUKE
Map is "Schism: Halo 3 The Covenant" by Mr Dr Milk. (In my fileshare)
First-person gameplay of a different map by IVOLUKE
Map is "Schism: Assault on the Cartographer" by Mr Dr Milk. (In my fileshare)
