A lot of us had the same impression when we saw those 4 odst allies standing on the huge forerunner structure by the cliff of the Installation 04 Map, we though "GREAT! Cool odst units ready to take on some covenant with me! This is awesome!".... only to find out that they were just there to die in mere seconds of the first wave because they barely move and have the vitality of a toddler. 


You will now have 2 Spartan Odst units follow you throughout the map to help you fight the incoming enemy waves! Additionally, ally numbers have been increased, approximately 4 to 5 odst's will stay within their spawn area and fight from there while 3 others will follow you. Obviously ODST Spartan's are way more capable but they aren't invincible, but I've also made it so that the normal ODST's are actually capable fighters themselves (they will always be useful if you give them the right weapons).

I've also made one more edition to your team, a big buff spartan that loves wielding a turret (yeah, it's Jorge but not really Jorge... but its kind of like Jorge.) This guy has a lot of health, he's pretty much a small tank, but I've made it so he moves fairly slow and moves independently of your position. In total, he's very tough but if you arent careful he will die. ALLIES WILL RESPAWN ON EVERY ROUND! So if you pick up legendary or heroic difficulties and are afraid  that you will be left alone standing after a couple of waves then WORRY NOT!  

One thing to take note is that due to the increased number and reliance on friendly ai, I've made it so your damage is decreased by about 75% when you shoot your allies, so that if any friendly fire happens the damage will be mitigated.        

LIST OF ADDITIONAL CHANGES

There were many changes done to this map but this mod wasn't originally made with the intention of publicly sharing it, and while I do remember the changes I have made, I wont be posting the specifications of most changes. This does not mean they were minor changes. You will see once you get to play it. Here is a list of  things I have changed:

- Armor Equipment -

*Changed Armor Lock to a POWER FIST that lets out a small radius of damage that instantly kills most enemies. Recharge Rate: Fast
*Changed Sprint to Juggernaut Mode, increasing your movements speed by about 25%, damage resistance increased by 1000%, damage increased by 50%, melee damage increased by 200%, and can jump considerably higher. Shields do not recharge during this mode and has a duration of aprox 45 sec. Recharge Rate: Very Slow
*Changed Hologram to SHIELD BOOST, allowing you to gain a couple of seconds of invincibility while increasing your shields. Recharge Rate: Medium 
*Changed Drop Shield's health to 800 and will only pop once its health has been completely depleted. Recharge rate: Slow
*Changed Jetpack so that it recharges very fast and propels you high up in an instant in order navigate the terrain better. (if you use the jetpack from high up, make sure to use it just before landing so you receive don't damage) Recharge Rate: Very fast   
*Increased Evade's use to 4 before exhausting the equipment. Recharge Rate: Very Fast

 - Weapons -
Every weapon has been changed in one way or another, some way more drastic than most, this is best seen in game. I will touch up on a few of them.

*Most common change for covenant weapon's is higher projectile speed and damage. 
*Shotgun has a considerable higher range and damage, its pretty damn powerful and I like it that way.
*Assault Rifle has increased firing rate (from 10 to 16) and a slight increased in damage. Its a beefy rifle, you cant go wrong with it.
*Magnum now makes more damage and has increased firing rate and ammo capacity. It wont be as accurate as the DMR but it does a decent job at long range. Its a good chunky gun.
*Concussion Rifle... this one was just plain annoying to fight against AND USE but Im very happy with the changes I've made. Arguably the gun that has changed the most, this gun now has a way shorter range (similar to a shotgun) that detonates with a a gravity hammer explosion on impact or when it it has reached it's final range. This gun is VERY FUN TO USE. I dont feel its overpowered in enemy hands due to its short range but it can be scary having an enemy with this gun up close. 
*Needle Rifle has a much faster firing rate and super detonation requirement increased to 6 if I remember well (he he). Damage has been slightly decreased and projectile speed has been considerable lowered. I changed this gun so it acts differently from the DMR, you can still headshot from afar but its definitely trickier. This gun is best used to blast enemies as soon as they have their shields lowered. 
*Focus Rifle has now lost its constant down trigger beam properties in favor of a Halo 2 style beam rifle. Honestly, I like how this one turned out a lot. It shreds through lower health enemies, has excellent accuracy with a fast firing rate. It can overheat very quickly if your go crazy with it, but  its a very good sniper.
*Spike Rifle has increased damage and has it's single projectile property changed to fire a spread of multiple projectiles per bullet, acting in a similar fashion to a shotgun but with higher range and fire rate. Bullet spread  has been considerably increased to compensate for the increase of bullets. Brutes are very dangerous with this weapon. 
*Phantom Chin-Gun has had its projectile changed and firing rate lowered a bit. Its very powerful, do not underestimate it. So far I've found it less annoying than the original Chin-gun... 

-Ai Behavior and Traits -
Like weapons, all Ai has had at least a minor tweak to their behavior and/or traits. Here are a couple of changes:

*Grunts have increased health. Ultras and Spec-ops do not flee in terror and do not go Kamikaze. To me, kamikaze was way too annoying sometimes and decreased the difficulty when fighting against grunts. Now since less of them go kamikaze, its actually more unpredictable.
*Brutes have way more health. Change their behavior in a minor way to be pretty aggressive but Im still testing this. 
*Elites have considerably more shield and health. They will seek out cover more often whenever they are low on health. Still looking to make this more of a priority for them though.

*Enemy firing rates have been changed throughout all difficulties. 
*Legendary no longer gives a huge +60% damage increased damage to enemies. Damage remains essentially untouched on all difficulties.
*Enemies throw grenades a bit less on legendary. 
*All Ai fire from longer distances. 
*Changed Weapon Properties and Firing Rates of many weapons to the global Ai to compensate for the new weapon changes.
*Changed Elite and Grunt colors to match original Halo Colors (a few were to my liking)
*Changed Hunter armor color to a darker blue hue. 
*Changed Brute Chieftain armor accent colors. 
*Changed Odst colors to green. 

-Player Traits -

*Slightly increased the base movement speed of the player. 

-Map Changes -

*Changed the turret on top of the structure to a covenant Portable Shield. Portable Shield Health has been increased to 1000. 
*Mongoose is out and replaced by a plasma turret. 


-Known Bugs & Issues -

*Assault Rifle reload sound (while still having bullets remaining on the magazine) will not play. I do not know the reason behind this. To my knowledge it is the only weapon that has had this issue. If you can help in any way please message me or leave me a comment at  (https://www.reddit.com/r/halomods/comments/nbww0z/cry_for_help_assault_rifle_full_reload_sound_wont/)  


*Don't know if this was already an issue but sometimes, within specific enemy spawns, random plasma rifles will appear... I'm guessing this was there before since I haven't really tweaked those values....but yeah. 

*Cannot play Gruntpocalipse mode with allies, you will be alone there. 



I may have missed a couple of things but this certainly is most of it!  

Installation:

Make sure you save a copy of the "cex_ff_halo.map" located in your steam library "Steam\steamapps\common\Halo The Master Chief Collection\haloreach\maps" and drop the modded "cex_ff_halo.map"