Had a great time making this one (any excuse to revisit all the Halo games!). 10:41 - Just to keep everyone updated: I finish university next month, after which I plan on making videos full time - I have loads of content planned. Thank you all so much for your support!
Imagine being Rookie at all... Poor dude went through hell only to get offed in a book by an insurrectionist. My mans didn't even get the chance to die in game.
wow these xenos still use pea shooter? that doesnt reach 40 meter? seriously tho if i want a weapon that isnt just projectile i would have all of round be shaped charged ammo
It's really noticeable in like halo 3 reach etc. You can see the the plasma balls fire off at different angles when it alternates. For example the bottom part firing shows the plasma ball come up onto the cross hair from an upward angle, and the top one shows it coming down on the cross hair from a downward angle. Then down range it kind of creates a vertical-ish cluster of plasma balls when firing full auto. Halo 1 for example shows the plasma balls fire straight down range for the plasma rifle
A lot more than 5 lol. I can name like 10. Ex: Photonic matter, Superfluid, Neutron Degenerate Matter (Stuff making neutron stars), Quark-Gluon Plasma, Strange matter
The needler is also really horrifying. In game it can be slow and need to expend half to all of the cartridge to be effective but in lore in The fall of Reach, a single needle had a marine holding his entrails, agonizing while his squad mates tried to get him out in a warthog. In the movie Forward Unto Dawn shows this when a character gets hit square on the chest, falls down and a small explosion is seen with a lot of blood bursting into the air.
@Thominus Rex I think the spikers are superheated metal spikes, so they are different, yeah. It's been a while since I've played, but I think you're right.
for the comments about the Spiker, the projectiles are simply under normal conditions just superheated metal spikes. In canon, they are still very deadly. Indirectly related, but the Spike Grenade is deadly even if one fragment hits you due to the sheer size of the needle and how hot it is. To a normal human, one spike is large enough to create a HUGE gaping hole in you even with body armor to catch it and stop it from taring your spine apart or even blowing you in half. The only reason the victim lived was they were tended to by a corpsman who used biofoam (I hope) to seal the wound. And thus while he was out of the fight, he still had enough strength and mental faculties to act and do his own mission of locating the Chief's drop pod. Also to reinforce the statement of how lethal the needler is, that is just if ONE hits you and you fail to discard it in time. If enough get in you to supercombine, it has enough destructive power to blow you into nothing more then a mist, nothing left to bury. All of this combined by the abundance of plasma weapons is likely reason enough to assume that one reason that plasma weapons are not so powerful in the games is that at the time of the games, the UNSC was forced to research HARD on armor and uniforms that have some protective properties vs Plasma. And as a result, you have the body glove rendering the player very durable vs plasma weapons and marines able to withstand multiple shots from plasma bolts while nobody is harmed by missed plasma, due to the glove's anti-heat properties and the researchers of humanity getting the motivation to make their uniforms and armor to have reflective properties to defend against that plasma. What I am curious now about though are how would humanity expand on energy shielding in the future. This is a different subject now, but I'd assume in the future, collaborations between the Sangheili and Humanity will lead to personal shields that do not demand a combat harness or full suit of armor to employ, and in fact can be worn on far less advanced armor systems. It would also indirectly resolve problems with the non-spartan human's constitution discrepancies. As in reality, in all of the games, the humans have regenerating health (With CE giving them hidden "shields" similar to the player's that recharges) So a shield system would make sense. But perhaps I'm dreaming too much.
For me the scariest would be high charity from halo 2, having covenant remnants still lurking around but also having a major flood outbreak to deal with
Covenant: You uncivilized humans, nothing you have is scarier than out plasma! Humans: *Loads shotgun and flamethrowers* Some times you just have to do things old school I guess.
Plasma is ineffective against the flood though. That's where the human weapons outshine them, specifically the shotgun. Since flood do not have a central nervous system they can be hit multiple times with plasma bolts and it won't slow them down
Scariest level for a marine? Anything with the Flood, easily. In every other level, you at least would know what you're up against as a UNSC marine fighting the Covenant.
Sorry here if I'm wrong, but Lone Wolf is easily the scariest. Because, despite knowing what's coming for you, you basically know you're done for. Fighting against insurmountable odds in an open area, where Elites, ranging from Minors to Field Masters, are fighting you when there are also several Covenant vehicles such as Wraiths and Spirits (despite those being the only ones in the mission, it's said that Ghosts also had shown up) incoming to help them. Not even counting the fact that they're gonna glass you even if you live through the ground forces. But knowing that an unstoppable force is coming to hunt you down is kind of terrifying, honestly.
Well, if you wanna know what is it like to fight the covenant and plasma as a regular marine, you may want to check the ARMA 3 operation trebuchet first contact mod.. And yeah, plasma is extremely deadly there.
something to note: while plasma damage at closer ranges completely outperforms over that of kinetic weapons, their range gets countered hard by the fact solid projectile launchers have significantly superior range potential and penetration at longer distances, as plasma dissipates much faster than bullet drop needs to be taken into account. Additionally, I think I should make a case for how effective certain variants of Mjolnir are at dissipating heat from plasma weapons. The Tech suit of Mjolnir is more resistant to plasma hits than even the high-grade titanium armor plating due to the fact that it is composed of both Titanium and Carbon fibrous materials, on top of having heat resistant coatings and internal materials that also dissipates short-term heat exposure from plasma +radiation. Realistically Mjolnir's tech suit can tank several sounds from low yield plasma bolts and shrug it off. Although it can't tank anything like a Fuel rod salvo or things akin to mortar-like instances of the weapons, it will keep you from being baked by some grunts. just a couple points in favor of humans in Halo. I'd say Heroic is probably the closest difficulty to what would be realistic.
You do have good points. But the covenant do have other means to kills us. The needle pistol and rifle are a good balance for the covenant to have. A weapon that has the heat of a plasma weapon but also having a solid state so it can act like a regular bullet. Not mention the covenant has the height, strength, speed and equipment to counter us.
Kaiser Dragon there’s still tradeoff with covenant projectile weapons, but generally they are superior to Human their human counterparts for sure. In particular the Carbine has more penetration power plus thermal, chemical and radiative damage, although not as devastating as plasma. The carbine can still be countered at extreme range by chemical projectile weapons due to the nature of how a carbine’s round is launched, as it loses mass the further it travels. As for Needle based weapons, they’re more lethal than bullets, but not as versatile considering you can put practically any kind of material or payload into a cartridge whereas with most covenant weapons they’re limited to one specific munition.
BTW SameToken, the Halo games use two different damage models for the covenant weapons: Plasma Fast and Plasma Slow. Plasma Slow is the traditional model where plasma bolts deal more damage to shields but less to health and armor. In H3 for example, the plasma rifle deals 14.5 shield damage but 3.5 health damage to deplete shields in 5 shots but takes 13 bolts to kill an unshielded target (Almost every game has 115 Hit points with a 70/45 health and armor split). Plasma fast is where the weapons have a singular damage value and acts similar to the human weapons. The H4 Strom Rifle deals 7.8 damage (buffed to 9.6 in the update) to both shield and health and kills in 12 bolts currently in H4 MCC. They switched it in H5 to Plasma Slow and it dealt 15.6 shield damage and 7.8 health damage. There’s several examples as well but I won’t bore you. Nice video!
Evvery time I hear the word "glassing" it sends chills down my spine, accompanied by a sense of hopelessness. That's cause of the sheer destructive capability of glassing and it's aftermath
Plasma is truly an element to harness and utilize to be weaponized. It's always nice to have a plasma pistol along with a precision weapon for easy headshot kills all the time.
@@alexandreparent82 even so the covenant ships have shields that is why they destroyed the human fleets, before you could empty the shields of the ships the others had already destroyed them
@@luisalfredogaleanavera9602 2 shots from ship mounted mac guns to destroy one covenant ship.1 shot from an orbital defense platform to annihilate 3 of the biggest covenant ships if they are alligned.
343 guilty spark, by a longshot Imagine moving through a dark, eerie swamp only to find the supposed enemy base mostly abandoned, damaged and littered with enemy corposes And then to discover the flood, and watch your freinds go through the gruesome infection right infront of you ( and even seeing the fact that jenkins is still alive and feels everything ) Attempting to escape in a completely alien facility deep underground, overrun with the flood just seem nigh impossible for a lone marine
I'm torn between that and Floodgate. Idk if the shock of seeing the flood for the first time would be worse, or the deep pit of dread and hopelessness you'd feel in knowing full well what it is and what it's capable of, and that it's on earth. Anyone realising that would immediately think that earth and humanity is completely and utterly fucked.
It’s also fairly likely that Energy Swords utilize some form of reverse engineered Forerunner Hardlight technology considering it also seems to behave like a genuine solid object in Halo trans media, such as lifting objects up and even being used as a wedge to force open a door in a few occasions, all which wouldn’t really be possible with only an electromagnetic field.
This is possibly the best Halo lore video I have ever watched. You’ve done a fantastic job with this, and it shows. It’s wonderfully informative and consistently paced. Not to mention, you make excellent use of your own words to convey the established lore on this subject to your audience.
love the serious, informative, and whacky one liner jokes u make man. Keep up the good work, look forward to ur fulltime YT content. If u juggling between uni and YT is already of this quality, I can't wait to see ur theories and lore explained with more dedication and passion with no consequences.
THANK YOU FOR EXPLAINING THIS!!! I already knew how plasma worked, but I didn't understand how the Covenant made handheld weapons without literally burning their hands, since plasma is literally several THOUSAND degrees Celsius.
Another head canon I have about the plasma weapons, is that the projectile would not be slow. Likely it would be on par with a coilgun in terms of velocity, so it would be all but hits can when using game terms, coupling not only extreme thermal but also slight kinetic energy imparted to the target.
we also use plasma in rocket engines to some extent, ion engines and hall thrusters to be more specific, were also experimenting with magnetoplasma rockets, the exhaust velocity of them is very high and the exhaust temperature is also very high so they're extremely efficient in comparison to chemical rockets but lack overall power due to the low mass of the propellants used
Great stuff! I was actually talking to a friend about this the other day. Playing the game, the plasma pistol always seemed so lame/weak for the most part; but the lore paints a very different picture haha... good luck with finals and whatnot!
So an important theme that the video touches on is that plasma guns are bright and shiny and scary. Bullets might actually be more effective and deadly, but the covenant being a theocratic empire is more interested in scaring the bejeebus out of you than killing you instantly. The whole "weapon of terror" vs "weapon of war"
Let's assume you're a reasonably equipped UNSC marine. If you get shot in the chest with a plasma rifle, this is what would realistically happen: 1. Armor at the impact site, assuming you got hit in a plate, would heat up dramatically, enough to cause severe burns where it contacts the skin. This also assumes it's a ceramic armor, not a metal that would begin to melt while you're wearing it. If you were hit in an unarmored area, your flesh would violently rupture as bodily fluids flash boil and cause internal steam explosions. (this is as bad as it sounds). 2. Your clothing would ignite around the impact from the intense heat of the plasma and /or glowing hot armor plates. 3. Any ammunition or explosives you may be carrying near the impact site are at risk of cook off (exploding from excessive heat). 4. You will be at least temporarily, if not permanently blinded if hit from the front without an ODST helmet that has an auto darkening visor and full face protection from the thermal radiation. A standard marine helmet or eye protection will not save you. 5. Even if the armor does its job, and you put out any fires, you ARE going to have serious burns that require immediate treatment. That's just one bolt from a hand held weapon. You're definitely not surviving a hit from a shade turret, or a vehicle mounted plasma cannon. As a side note, the Wraith's plasma mortar would probably be lethal a good 10-15 m further out than depicted in game, and extremely dangerous out to at least 50m from ground fragmentation.
@@ashplattsii1fan92 The short answer is that they didn't. UNSC victories, ground and space, during the war often relied on some combination of surprise, superior firepower, and superior numbers. Pretty much everything about the Covenant war machine was objectively superior in the context of fighting a total war. From the human side, it was effectively a 27 year long fighting retreat against a technologically superior enemy that had no ROE, and whose primary objective was their complete annihilation. By December 2552, the UNSC navy was nearly destroyed, hundreds of colonies had fallen, Reach had been glassed, and Earth was being invaded. Without the Great Schism that tore the Covenant apart, the UNSC would have been defeated by early 2553. The main reason it took so long is that the Covenant had very poor intel about where human worlds were. Even at the end, when Regret jumped into earth orbit with fifteen ships at the beginning of Halo 2, he didn't expect to find humans in the system at all.
Ya! You get hit by 1 shot from a scarab beam, you will be a charred corpse...and if you survive, you would be unhealable so you would be dead either way!
Shows how powerful the Covenant were. Humans use the 1st state of matter and alittle of the 3rd state. The Covenant primarily used the 4th state with 3rd and sometimes the 1st.
I was always so surprised that the UNSC didn’t use Plasma infantry weapons after the war. They were far more effective in taking down shields and eliminating weapons.
Great video, you are by far the best Halo TH-camr out there. Cannot wait for them full time videos, hopefully you can make this into a full job because your videos sre insanely quality.
I still wish that slipspace bomb had it's timer not fried for Jorge can survive same thing with Sgt Johnson if he survived Halo 3 he would of went into cryo sleep and would of died in space because of forward onto dawn being ripped in half plus the vacuum of space can kill you if you don't have a mask or helmet on
Excellent video. Thorough explanation with awesome illustrations, halo video cuts corresponding to the discussion, and introspection (?) on the subject at hand.
when I saw the title I thought 'why is TH-cam recommending me random science videos about the states of the matter? Let's check it out' *click* *read title again* 'OH, IT'S HALO'
After all my years of playing halo since growing. I never knew that the plasma rifle shot form both the top and bottom assembly and the branshee had 4 firing ports.
I love the halo books, bc they describe how HORRIFYING plasma actuallu is. Near misses are described as still giving marnies sunburns, and its described as melting UNSC battlearmor like paper
@@pedrovalenciasalazar144 IRL plasma makes for a terrible weapon. Dumping heat into something quickly is surprisingly difficult cause the evaporation of the target shields the target. They take stupid amounts of energy to do anything, the required electromagnetic fields to get the plasma anywhere are near or completely impossible. Not to forget that the requirement of an em-field makes it one of the few things an em-shields could actually be used against.
on a side note, i think the biggest downside to plasma is travel time, it might be devastating but those bolts appear to travel pretty slowly through the air. the muzzle velocity of a plasma rifle is around 126m/s, that's not even half the speed of sound, meanwhile a standard assault rifles muzzle velocity is around 905 m/s. the projectile is also really easily identifiable compared to a bullet, its pretty hard not to see it coming, even in spartan time which is experienced in-game human weapons almost immediately hit their targets, so while bullets might not neccessarily be as devastating, you can get effect on target a lot faster which is the whole point of a gun i would think lol.
I don't remember where I heard this, but I remember that somewhere in the lore it's stated that plasma weaponry can be used in battle for days before needing to recharge. So now I expect to be able to use the first plasma rifle that I find for the entirety of Infinite's campaign.
Ah, Type-25 Energy Rifle! In Halo: Reach Campaign and Firefight it is somewhat depicted like an MP40 of the Covenant. Most Wraith drivers and Banshee pilots are issued with one. Interestingly, many AI-controlled Elites that _don't_ wield a Plasma Rifle still always carry one but they never pull it out to use. Suffice to say they're not coded to do so.
1. the range of plasma bolts should be limited in atmosphere. Air resistance will leach the heat from the bolt turning it into a puff of hot air at range. Though plasma has better range in space due to the vacuum 2. Why didn't the UNSC use ceramic plates to counter plasma fire? Ceramics are used to insulate the inner surfaces of smelters and kilns and would have greatly reduced heat transfer of the bolt to flesh.
The worst level would probably be "High Charity" from halo 2. A marine trapped in a giant covenant city where they could either be shot by plasma, or infected by the flood.
Scariest Mission for a Marine would likely be any level featuring the Flood. Covenant Units duck for cover while under fire, even the ones with energy shielding, but the Flood is an unrelenting horde that, true to their name, will flood in and surround you, convert you, and add you to the number of their cannon fodder. It's a real horror...
Your videos are great man been binging them the past couple of days. Having just watched the slipspace and now this one I'm really loving how you go in depth not just with the Halo lore but with the physics behind it (or at least the theoretical physics that may potentially allow such fictional technologies) as a big science and Halo nerd I'm digging this stuff, excellent work!
I have never seen a video from you before i didn't even know this channel existed this was the first time i saw and you made me subscribe to your channel that's how good it was
The only pheasable downside is that sweet sweet slow travel time, the fact that you can even see it fly through the air with your eyes means avoiding fire is allot more doable
I was always fascinated on trying to put together a schematic of energy based weaponry and or shield type deflectors to protect against kinetic or other weapons, maybe one day I'll come up with the full schematic and especially with what I've learned from this awesome video. The future is now thanks to science!
The thing about plasma weapons is that while they are powerful and multi purpose, they lose in speed and penetration when compared to humanity's guns. MAC round is so blisteringly fast it hits it's target almost instantly from a great distance. Same goes for infantry weapons and their rate of fire. Even a pistol has higher rate of fire and greater penetration than the fastest plasma weapon. This gives the humanity a rather pretty range advantage. Keep Covenant at range and even a small human force is a force that Covenant has great difficulty with. Only jackal snipers can content with it. Otherwise humans can see plasma coming and duck behind cover until salvo is over, while all covvies can do is pray that the humans have poor aim. Scorpion tank is probably the second biggest thing Covenant fears besides spartans. That thing's rate of fire and range is oh so much greater than wraith tanks. And it can soak up a lot of plasma before it's destroyed. If Covenant didn't have shield technology, the battles throughout the war would have been extremely one sided.
3rd degree burns are classified as burns where nerve endings are destroyed, if you have a 3rd degree burn you will not feel it if you decide to poke or brush up against the burn. If "you were unlucky", really means that someone was indirectly hit, having their armor absorb some of the heat and you end up with either a 1st or 2nd degree burn.
Please @SameToken increase the frequency of video's you post. Your video's are with one of the best explanations given in Halo Lore compared to other TH-camr's.
Had a great time making this one (any excuse to revisit all the Halo games!).
10:41 - Just to keep everyone updated: I finish university next month, after which I plan on making videos full time - I have loads of content planned. Thank you all so much for your support!
SameToken Keep up the amazing work! You should do a collaboration with Installation00!..
It's good to see you're okay, Token! Missed ya Vids :)
Just in time for Halo Infinite gameplay!!
How much power will need to make a real plasma weapon from halo.
SameToken the library
Imagine being Rookie in H3: ODST but plasma works realistically.
Bullets are just as deadly but covies have magical shield
Imagine being Rookie at all... Poor dude went through hell only to get offed in a book by an insurrectionist. My mans didn't even get the chance to die in game.
@@soap9277 Thats true...
wow these xenos still use pea shooter?
that doesnt reach 40 meter?
seriously tho if i want a weapon that isnt just projectile i would have all of round be shaped charged ammo
It's not far off tbh. On Heroic or legendary it does not take much *at all*
i never noticed that the plasma rifle alternated when it fired
@Boy Gorgeous Jesus, it really has been almost 19 years already since CE was released. Wish time would slow down sometimes, man
Haha as someone who uses nothing but covy weapons i figured this out a long loooong time ago
It's really noticeable in like halo 3 reach etc. You can see the the plasma balls fire off at different angles when it alternates. For example the bottom part firing shows the plasma ball come up onto the cross hair from an upward angle, and the top one shows it coming down on the cross hair from a downward angle. Then down range it kind of creates a vertical-ish cluster of plasma balls when firing full auto. Halo 1 for example shows the plasma balls fire straight down range for the plasma rifle
how not?
That's attention to detail :D
The teacher: There are 3 states of matter
The smart kid: this video
The smarter kid: *cough* 5 stages *cough*
Colin Shaw yes, the 5th one is called Bose-Einstein condensate
A lot more than 5 lol. I can name like 10. Ex: Photonic matter, Superfluid, Neutron Degenerate Matter (Stuff making neutron stars), Quark-Gluon Plasma, Strange matter
iirc correctly their are like 20+ states of matter its just that most people don't need to know them, unless you go into certain science careers.
@@sharonishere
Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Strange Matter only theorized to exist?
The needler is also really horrifying. In game it can be slow and need to expend half to all of the cartridge to be effective but in lore in The fall of Reach, a single needle had a marine holding his entrails, agonizing while his squad mates tried to get him out in a warthog. In the movie Forward Unto Dawn shows this when a character gets hit square on the chest, falls down and a small explosion is seen with a lot of blood bursting into the air.
I remember that part from The Fall of Reach!
Don't forget Miranda Keyes getting 3 in the back!
@@aeronautisch I remember that too. It was pretty vivid, so it stuck out in my mind.
@Thominus Rex I think the spikers are superheated metal spikes, so they are different, yeah. It's been a while since I've played, but I think you're right.
for the comments about the Spiker, the projectiles are simply under normal conditions just superheated metal spikes. In canon, they are still very deadly. Indirectly related, but the Spike Grenade is deadly even if one fragment hits you due to the sheer size of the needle and how hot it is. To a normal human, one spike is large enough to create a HUGE gaping hole in you even with body armor to catch it and stop it from taring your spine apart or even blowing you in half. The only reason the victim lived was they were tended to by a corpsman who used biofoam (I hope) to seal the wound. And thus while he was out of the fight, he still had enough strength and mental faculties to act and do his own mission of locating the Chief's drop pod.
Also to reinforce the statement of how lethal the needler is, that is just if ONE hits you and you fail to discard it in time. If enough get in you to supercombine, it has enough destructive power to blow you into nothing more then a mist, nothing left to bury.
All of this combined by the abundance of plasma weapons is likely reason enough to assume that one reason that plasma weapons are not so powerful in the games is that at the time of the games, the UNSC was forced to research HARD on armor and uniforms that have some protective properties vs Plasma. And as a result, you have the body glove rendering the player very durable vs plasma weapons and marines able to withstand multiple shots from plasma bolts while nobody is harmed by missed plasma, due to the glove's anti-heat properties and the researchers of humanity getting the motivation to make their uniforms and armor to have reflective properties to defend against that plasma.
What I am curious now about though are how would humanity expand on energy shielding in the future. This is a different subject now, but I'd assume in the future, collaborations between the Sangheili and Humanity will lead to personal shields that do not demand a combat harness or full suit of armor to employ, and in fact can be worn on far less advanced armor systems. It would also indirectly resolve problems with the non-spartan human's constitution discrepancies. As in reality, in all of the games, the humans have regenerating health (With CE giving them hidden "shields" similar to the player's that recharges) So a shield system would make sense. But perhaps I'm dreaming too much.
What I learned: Halo 2 legendary is not the hardest, it's the most realistic.
For chief at least, marines can take a jackal sniper shot and keep going for some reason
Tyler P Well it would be a relatively small wound.
@@djcuevas1057 You haven't watched Installation00's video on it, then
Luke Notable has a lore difficulty vid
@@Tentaclear1 nahh chief could take it - if anything it should be the other way around. MC is a tank in comparison
For me the scariest mission would be floodgate
Yeah that would be horrifying, especially since you’d see such a familiar place be infested with a strange -silent- alien parasite
@@SameToken I agree
That mission will forever give me chills
Or 343 guilty spark
For me the scariest would be high charity from halo 2, having covenant remnants still lurking around but also having a major flood outbreak to deal with
Covenant: You uncivilized humans, nothing you have is scarier than out plasma!
Humans: *Loads shotgun and flamethrowers* Some times you just have to do things old school I guess.
It aint stupid if it works
Flamethrower is technically plasma
@@JC-om7nr Eeehhh...more like “proto-plasma.”
Plasma is ineffective against the flood though. That's where the human weapons outshine them, specifically the shotgun. Since flood do not have a central nervous system they can be hit multiple times with plasma bolts and it won't slow them down
@@epicty3607 This doesn't make sense, flood are depicted as having a weakness to incendiary weapons
Best Halo channel for topics like this
Mr Man 306 Yep along with Installation00
@@cancelanime1507 except he's annoying af
Rocket Skates Umm no he’s not... Care to elaborate on your claims against mr.00?
Rocket Skates how is he annoying?
Was about to say don't forget about instalation00
Plasma Pistol In-Game: I wish I was used more often
Plasma Pistol In Lore: haha human go bye bye
I love the plasma pistol :(
I like the plasma pistol it’s very fast
Plasma pistol is usually a go to weapon tho... Especially on legendary
The CE version was amazing. The emp is powerful, but it's tap firing was crazy good too
Dual wielding plasma pistols is bae
Scariest level for a marine? Anything with the Flood, easily. In every other level, you at least would know what you're up against as a UNSC marine fighting the Covenant.
Inquisitior? What are you doing in this universe for the sake of holy God emperor?
Sorry here if I'm wrong, but Lone Wolf is easily the scariest. Because, despite knowing what's coming for you, you basically know you're done for. Fighting against insurmountable odds in an open area, where Elites, ranging from Minors to Field Masters, are fighting you when there are also several Covenant vehicles such as Wraiths and Spirits (despite those being the only ones in the mission, it's said that Ghosts also had shown up) incoming to help them. Not even counting the fact that they're gonna glass you even if you live through the ground forces. But knowing that an unstoppable force is coming to hunt you down is kind of terrifying, honestly.
@@familyneves9777 you could write a book
Scariest level as a regular marine: The Library...
And that one marine made it almost halfway
@@mis4vr877
Yep, he is a legend.
@@sodium7127 I heard about that. Where can I read more about that marine?
@@Scottf573 his name is marvin mabuto
The flood book
Halo community: “you can’t beat the covenant with kinetic weapons, they’re too weak!” 7.62 NATO: “haha arm/leg/head goes bye bye!”
I just chekced the Halo wikia, Humanity in 2500 still uses 7.62 Nato loool
@@MisterMolby yeah we are already looking to replace it
@@DR-tp9ok replace what???
@@AntzolY111 US army is looking to replace 556 and 762 NATO rounds
@@DR-tp9ok with 6.8?
Well, if you wanna know what is it like to fight the covenant and plasma as a regular marine, you may want to check the ARMA 3 operation trebuchet first contact mod.. And yeah, plasma is extremely deadly there.
Former Human-Covenant war vet here I Still suffer from PTSD
AnotherMaggot Fall through a temporal wormhole or something buddy?
@@smalliesmalls9601 slipspace has been known to make entire ships disapear, they gotta go somewhere.
something to note: while plasma damage at closer ranges completely outperforms over that of kinetic weapons, their range gets countered hard by the fact solid projectile launchers have significantly superior range potential and penetration at longer distances, as plasma dissipates much faster than bullet drop needs to be taken into account.
Additionally, I think I should make a case for how effective certain variants of Mjolnir are at dissipating heat from plasma weapons. The Tech suit of Mjolnir is more resistant to plasma hits than even the high-grade titanium armor plating due to the fact that it is composed of both Titanium and Carbon fibrous materials, on top of having heat resistant coatings and internal materials that also dissipates short-term heat exposure from plasma +radiation. Realistically Mjolnir's tech suit can tank several sounds from low yield plasma bolts and shrug it off. Although it can't tank anything like a Fuel rod salvo or things akin to mortar-like instances of the weapons, it will keep you from being baked by some grunts.
just a couple points in favor of humans in Halo. I'd say Heroic is probably the closest difficulty to what would be realistic.
You do have good points. But the covenant do have other means to kills us. The needle pistol and rifle are a good balance for the covenant to have. A weapon that has the heat of a plasma weapon but also having a solid state so it can act like a regular bullet. Not mention the covenant has the height, strength, speed and equipment to counter us.
Kaiser Dragon there’s still tradeoff with covenant projectile weapons, but generally they are superior to Human their human counterparts for sure. In particular the Carbine has more penetration power plus thermal, chemical and radiative damage, although not as devastating as plasma. The carbine can still be countered at extreme range by chemical projectile weapons due to the nature of how a carbine’s round is launched, as it loses mass the further it travels. As for Needle based weapons, they’re more lethal than bullets, but not as versatile considering you can put practically any kind of material or payload into a cartridge whereas with most covenant weapons they’re limited to one specific munition.
@Troy Gonzalez well yeah...
BTW SameToken, the Halo games use two different damage models for the covenant weapons: Plasma Fast and Plasma Slow.
Plasma Slow is the traditional model where plasma bolts deal more damage to shields but less to health and armor. In H3 for example, the plasma rifle deals 14.5 shield damage but 3.5 health damage to deplete shields in 5 shots but takes 13 bolts to kill an unshielded target (Almost every game has 115 Hit points with a 70/45 health and armor split).
Plasma fast is where the weapons have a singular damage value and acts similar to the human weapons. The H4 Strom Rifle deals 7.8 damage (buffed to 9.6 in the update) to both shield and health and kills in 12 bolts currently in H4 MCC. They switched it in H5 to Plasma Slow and it dealt 15.6 shield damage and 7.8 health damage.
There’s several examples as well but I won’t bore you. Nice video!
Evvery time I hear the word "glassing" it sends chills down my spine, accompanied by a sense of hopelessness. That's cause of the sheer destructive capability of glassing and it's aftermath
Plasma is truly an element to harness and utilize to be weaponized. It's always nice to have a plasma pistol along with a precision weapon for easy headshot kills all the time.
Everywhere I go, your always there before me...
Imagine halo infinite having a burst pistol and dual wielding... Damn noob combo would be annoying as hell, without counter...
@@marranin007 Dual wielding spitfire or voids tear with whispered truth.
SameToken: The Covenant are unmatched in space.
UNSC: *laughs in MAC cannon*
Covenant Ships: Laughs in mini Slipspace Jumps
@@luisalfredogaleanavera9602 not fast enough
@@alexandreparent82 even so the covenant ships have shields that is why they destroyed the human fleets, before you could empty the shields of the ships the others had already destroyed them
Covenant: Laughs in Energy Projector
@@luisalfredogaleanavera9602 2 shots from ship mounted mac guns to destroy one covenant ship.1 shot from an orbital defense platform to annihilate 3 of the biggest covenant ships if they are alligned.
343 guilty spark, by a longshot
Imagine moving through a dark, eerie swamp only to find the supposed enemy base mostly abandoned, damaged and littered with enemy corposes
And then to discover the flood, and watch your freinds go through the gruesome infection right infront of you ( and even seeing the fact that jenkins is still alive and feels everything )
Attempting to escape in a completely alien facility deep underground, overrun with the flood just seem nigh impossible for a lone marine
I totally agree, they’d feel so far out of their depth there. Playing as chief it’s freaky, but being a marine would be psychologically damaging.
@@SameToken Hence the dude shooting Chief. Pretty scary when you think about it.
I'm torn between that and Floodgate. Idk if the shock of seeing the flood for the first time would be worse, or the deep pit of dread and hopelessness you'd feel in knowing full well what it is and what it's capable of, and that it's on earth. Anyone realising that would immediately think that earth and humanity is completely and utterly fucked.
It’s also fairly likely that Energy Swords utilize some form of reverse engineered Forerunner Hardlight technology considering it also seems to behave like a genuine solid object in Halo trans media, such as lifting objects up and even being used as a wedge to force open a door in a few occasions, all which wouldn’t really be possible with only an electromagnetic field.
Plus in Emile’s death we see him get stabbed in the back and not being cut in half as he is hoisted in the air
2 words: "BALANCING REASONS"
This is possibly the best Halo lore video I have ever watched. You’ve done a fantastic job with this, and it shows. It’s wonderfully informative and consistently paced. Not to mention, you make excellent use of your own words to convey the established lore on this subject to your audience.
Really glad you enjoyed it, thank you so much!
Explain my existence outside of the games and here on TH-cam
Hey how's Chips Dubbo doing?
Haven’t seen him since Installation 00. I know he hasn’t retired, he is immortal like me. I’m sure one of my doppelgängers is with him.
@@navb0tactual The Captain needed him on the bridge ASAP
just too cool to stay in fictional worlds I guess?
Make one about the covenant vs the human guns
Great idea, noted!
SameToken like what they thought about there guns and stuff but cool that you replied 😀
love the serious, informative, and whacky one liner jokes u make man. Keep up the good work, look forward to ur fulltime YT content. If u juggling between uni and YT is already of this quality, I can't wait to see ur theories and lore explained with more dedication and passion with no consequences.
I really appreciate that, thank you!
Did just have a phisics lesson without knowing it
Someone once made a post about the looks of the plasma rifle, it said it looks like a bird viewing itself in a reflection.
Can’t unsee it
Why isn’t it as dangerous as the campaign *
Me: let me introduce you to legendary
THANK YOU FOR EXPLAINING THIS!!! I already knew how plasma worked, but I didn't understand how the Covenant made handheld weapons without literally burning their hands, since plasma is literally several THOUSAND degrees Celsius.
Always you can use ceramic or carbon nanotue covering. Make it real :)
Can't believe Bungie designed the Plasma weapons thinking about the actual physics behind them back in 2001. Goes to show how dedicated they were.
Another head canon I have about the plasma weapons, is that the projectile would not be slow. Likely it would be on par with a coilgun in terms of velocity, so it would be all but hits can when using game terms, coupling not only extreme thermal but also slight kinetic energy imparted to the target.
I love this channel, it’s goes really in depth of the smallest things, this was a very cool video i always wanted to know how plasma guns work
I've been playing Halo since 2001, and I never noticed that the plasma is generated from the top and bottom of the Plasma Rifle in sequence!
So hype that you get to go full time. Keep up these high quality vids pal
we also use plasma in rocket engines to some extent, ion engines and hall thrusters to be more specific, were also experimenting with magnetoplasma rockets, the exhaust velocity of them is very high and the exhaust temperature is also very high so they're extremely efficient in comparison to chemical rockets but lack overall power due to the low mass of the propellants used
Great stuff! I was actually talking to a friend about this the other day. Playing the game, the plasma pistol always seemed so lame/weak for the most part; but the lore paints a very different picture haha... good luck with finals and whatnot!
Plasma pistols do seem to feel less and less powerful, I remember them having a stun effect in Halo CE. And thank you!
@@SameToken Definitely. It's analogous to the magnum, which was a beast in CE, then was reduced to a pop gun by Halo 3 haha.
PatersonPercussion In the books it will punch straight through the armor plating of mjolnir.
Dj Cuevas It does in the game too, after the shields are gone.
After halo 3 plasma pistols are so good, they are the best tool to destroy banshees and heavy vehicles.
So an important theme that the video touches on is that plasma guns are bright and shiny and scary. Bullets might actually be more effective and deadly, but the covenant being a theocratic empire is more interested in scaring the bejeebus out of you than killing you instantly. The whole "weapon of terror" vs "weapon of war"
Amazing video, really enjoyed this one. Thank you!
The music at 8:49 fits so well! Excellent video! I would like to know the name of that piece.
Let's assume you're a reasonably equipped UNSC marine. If you get shot in the chest with a plasma rifle, this is what would realistically happen:
1. Armor at the impact site, assuming you got hit in a plate, would heat up dramatically, enough to cause severe burns where it contacts the skin. This also assumes it's a ceramic armor, not a metal that would begin to melt while you're wearing it. If you were hit in an unarmored area, your flesh would violently rupture as bodily fluids flash boil and cause internal steam explosions. (this is as bad as it sounds).
2. Your clothing would ignite around the impact from the intense heat of the plasma and /or glowing hot armor plates.
3. Any ammunition or explosives you may be carrying near the impact site are at risk of cook off (exploding from excessive heat).
4. You will be at least temporarily, if not permanently blinded if hit from the front without an ODST helmet that has an auto darkening visor and full face protection from the thermal radiation. A standard marine helmet or eye protection will not save you.
5. Even if the armor does its job, and you put out any fires, you ARE going to have serious burns that require immediate treatment.
That's just one bolt from a hand held weapon. You're definitely not surviving a hit from a shade turret, or a vehicle mounted plasma cannon. As a side note, the Wraith's plasma mortar would probably be lethal a good 10-15 m further out than depicted in game, and extremely dangerous out to at least 50m from ground fragmentation.
Optican, healthcare on demand
How the hell did humanity even last against the covenant
@@ashplattsii1fan92 The short answer is that they didn't.
UNSC victories, ground and space, during the war often relied on some combination of surprise, superior firepower, and superior numbers. Pretty much everything about the Covenant war machine was objectively superior in the context of fighting a total war.
From the human side, it was effectively a 27 year long fighting retreat against a technologically superior enemy that had no ROE, and whose primary objective was their complete annihilation.
By December 2552, the UNSC navy was nearly destroyed, hundreds of colonies had fallen, Reach had been glassed, and Earth was being invaded. Without the Great Schism that tore the Covenant apart, the UNSC would have been defeated by early 2553.
The main reason it took so long is that the Covenant had very poor intel about where human worlds were. Even at the end, when Regret jumped into earth orbit with fifteen ships at the beginning of Halo 2, he didn't expect to find humans in the system at all.
Ya! You get hit by 1 shot from a scarab beam, you will be a charred corpse...and if you survive, you would be unhealable so you would be dead either way!
Yip. Right there! Scarab: Deadliest plasma gun ever!
Shows how powerful the Covenant were. Humans use the 1st state of matter and alittle of the 3rd state. The Covenant primarily used the 4th state with 3rd and sometimes the 1st.
Glad you’re back. And congratulations for completing university!
Thank you, I really appreciate it! I must admit, the promise of making more of these videos has kept me going through my final year.
I was always so surprised that the UNSC didn’t use Plasma infantry weapons after the war. They were far more effective in taking down shields and eliminating weapons.
Hardest as a marine? Yes
Hardest as a Spartan? Probably the Library or Regret (Cause of the Jackal Snipers)
Hardest for John? Saying bye to Cortana
I love that you have the quality that is a lot better than many main stream youtube lore people
This is the most amazing howits made I've ever watched. I'm going to subscribe now
The detail of the plans weapons in halo is incredible
Halo 2 Outskirts close corners against those plasma weapons must be terrified, that with out counting ours nightmares jackal snipers.
For a marine the scariest mission would have to be Lone Wolf on Halo Reach.. nothing but continuous hoards of covies.. 🤭
Great video, you are by far the best Halo TH-camr out there. Cannot wait for them full time videos, hopefully you can make this into a full job because your videos sre insanely quality.
Missed you same token I’m so happy you posted finally!!
This is the channel I've been searching for for years. I love knowing how things work so I'm very pleased TH-cam reccomended you for me :)
Very well put together video, you deserve more subscribers my friend.
My god, what a beautiful commitment to science and detail
worst mission to be on as a marine you asked ? halo reach Mission 5: A Long Night of Solace, litteraly a suicide mission RIP Jorge
That whole mission was batshit insane
I still wish that slipspace bomb had it's timer not fried for Jorge can survive same thing with Sgt Johnson if he survived Halo 3 he would of went into cryo sleep and would of died in space because of forward onto dawn being ripped in half plus the vacuum of space can kill you if you don't have a mask or helmet on
@Colin Shaw yeah
That part about the covenant glassing was actually pretty emotional, great editing
Halo 2 with all skulls 💀 on is the canon difficulty.
Excellent video. Thorough explanation with awesome illustrations, halo video cuts corresponding to the discussion, and introspection (?) on the subject at hand.
when I saw the title I thought 'why is TH-cam recommending me random science videos about the states of the matter? Let's check it out' *click* *read title again* 'OH, IT'S HALO'
Please keep it up. You are mostly the reason I’ve gone back to play the entirety of the halo campaigns
I recently had been thinking in how does the plasma weapons halo worked, and you came up with this amazing video dude, thanks.
ODST..... Good luck surviving that in real life.
Best documentary style there is.
After all my years of playing halo since growing.
I never knew that the plasma rifle shot form both the top and bottom assembly and the branshee had 4 firing ports.
me :realise Same Token just uploaded .my mind : has no idea how to react rather than to comment
Keep the Halo content coming. This is a great channel.
Token: Plasma explained Physicists: This guy has the answers
I love the halo books, bc they describe how HORRIFYING plasma actuallu is. Near misses are described as still giving marnies sunburns, and its described as melting UNSC battlearmor like paper
sametoken vid? oh yes please
the plasma cannons in real life... Knock over tin cans. They aren't nearly as impressive. More glowy glorified air cannons right now
This is still early. We still have five hundred years until we get to halo timeline
@@pedrovalenciasalazar144 IRL plasma makes for a terrible weapon. Dumping heat into something quickly is surprisingly difficult cause the evaporation of the target shields the target. They take stupid amounts of energy to do anything, the required electromagnetic fields to get the plasma anywhere are near or completely impossible. Not to forget that the requirement of an em-field makes it one of the few things an em-shields could actually be used against.
Lone wolf, last halo reach mission, would be scariest. The planet is getting glassed around you and there are tons of covenant hunting you down
your videos are absolutely nutty. Def gonna binge this channel. Good work. Music choice is on point.
on a side note, i think the biggest downside to plasma is travel time, it might be devastating but those bolts appear to travel pretty slowly through the air. the muzzle velocity of a plasma rifle is around 126m/s, that's not even half the speed of sound, meanwhile a standard assault rifles muzzle velocity is around 905 m/s. the projectile is also really easily identifiable compared to a bullet, its pretty hard not to see it coming, even in spartan time which is experienced in-game human weapons almost immediately hit their targets, so while bullets might not neccessarily be as devastating, you can get effect on target a lot faster which is the whole point of a gun i would think lol.
I don't remember where I heard this, but I remember that somewhere in the lore it's stated that plasma weaponry can be used in battle for days before needing to recharge. So now I expect to be able to use the first plasma rifle that I find for the entirety of Infinite's campaign.
I love that I found your channel, great topics and amazing videos!
I love your videos! Super interesting. And I always feel more informed about Halo. Keep up the awesome work man! 🙏
Ah, Type-25 Energy Rifle!
In Halo: Reach Campaign and Firefight it is somewhat depicted like an MP40 of the Covenant. Most Wraith drivers and Banshee pilots are issued with one. Interestingly, many AI-controlled Elites that _don't_ wield a Plasma Rifle still always carry one but they never pull it out to use. Suffice to say they're not coded to do so.
1. the range of plasma bolts should be limited in atmosphere. Air resistance will leach the heat from the bolt turning it into a puff of hot air at range. Though plasma has better range in space due to the vacuum
2. Why didn't the UNSC use ceramic plates to counter plasma fire? Ceramics are used to insulate the inner surfaces of smelters and kilns and would have greatly reduced heat transfer of the bolt to flesh.
Would love to see a similar video on brute weapons, idk if they’re given much exposition though
You don't need Plasma to destroy a world, just chuck a few very large rocks!
The worst level would probably be "High Charity" from halo 2. A marine trapped in a giant covenant city where they could either be shot by plasma, or infected by the flood.
Wow very impressive video! I love the research put into it🤟
Scariest Mission for a Marine would likely be any level featuring the Flood. Covenant Units duck for cover while under fire, even the ones with energy shielding, but the Flood is an unrelenting horde that, true to their name, will flood in and surround you, convert you, and add you to the number of their cannon fodder. It's a real horror...
Everybody gangsta till somebody successfully engineers a plasma weapon irl
*and I mean one that works like a Covenant weapon.*
The last level or reach for suuurrree that shit was scary the first time
Your videos are great man been binging them the past couple of days. Having just watched the slipspace and now this one I'm really loving how you go in depth not just with the Halo lore but with the physics behind it (or at least the theoretical physics that may potentially allow such fictional technologies) as a big science and Halo nerd I'm digging this stuff, excellent work!
I have never seen a video from you before i didn't even know this channel existed this was the first time i saw and you made me subscribe to your channel that's how good it was
Absolutely loving the music choice
My science teacher: who is familiar with plasma ?
Me: yes
The only pheasable downside is that sweet sweet slow travel time, the fact that you can even see it fly through the air with your eyes means avoiding fire is allot more doable
I was always fascinated on trying to put together a schematic of energy based weaponry and or shield type deflectors to protect against kinetic or other weapons, maybe one day I'll come up with the full schematic and especially with what I've learned from this awesome video. The future is now thanks to science!
The thing about plasma weapons is that while they are powerful and multi purpose, they lose in speed and penetration when compared to humanity's guns. MAC round is so blisteringly fast it hits it's target almost instantly from a great distance. Same goes for infantry weapons and their rate of fire. Even a pistol has higher rate of fire and greater penetration than the fastest plasma weapon. This gives the humanity a rather pretty range advantage.
Keep Covenant at range and even a small human force is a force that Covenant has great difficulty with. Only jackal snipers can content with it. Otherwise humans can see plasma coming and duck behind cover until salvo is over, while all covvies can do is pray that the humans have poor aim. Scorpion tank is probably the second biggest thing Covenant fears besides spartans. That thing's rate of fire and range is oh so much greater than wraith tanks. And it can soak up a lot of plasma before it's destroyed.
If Covenant didn't have shield technology, the battles throughout the war would have been extremely one sided.
Welcome back SameToken! Happy to have one of my favorite TH-cam channels back to publishing content! :D
3:00 I never realized how the plasma rifle alternates between upper and lower poles when firing before.
9:58 I wanna see the rest of that clip looks like he’s about to pull his helmet off
3rd degree burns are classified as burns where nerve endings are destroyed, if you have a 3rd degree burn you will not feel it if you decide to poke or brush up against the burn. If "you were unlucky", really means that someone was indirectly hit, having their armor absorb some of the heat and you end up with either a 1st or 2nd degree burn.
I wanted to know where you got some of your cinematics. I thought I'd seen all the Halo media but there was a lot I apparently have not
Please @SameToken increase the frequency of video's you post. Your video's are with one of the best explanations given in Halo Lore compared to other TH-camr's.
Been subscribed for a while love your work. This video was really cool and informative and well put together and edited. Thank you :)