The UNSC is ambushed by a Covenant fleet. Hopelessly outmatched in a ship to ship battle, the UNSC tries to get the Master Chief inside on of the ships to turn the tide.  Unfortunately Chiefs Pelican is shot down and he crashes on the planet bellow. While coming down, the Chief spots a forerunner building, which he believes to be a forerunner AA weapon. The Master Chief (and co-op friends) must activate these defenses in order to save the UNSC. The Covenant won't make it easy for him however. They have already set up shop on the planet. Will the Master Chief be able to save his friends? Will the Covenant put up a worthy fight? Will there be a lot of sand? Am I making all of this up on the spot? Download the mod to find out!

The Golden City is a fully custom campaign mission for Halo 3. It features a blend of on foot and vehicle combat. 

The map should take you around 25-40 minutes for a first playthrough. This map can be more difficult than standard Halo 3. The map has been play tested around Legendary, but I think Heroic will be a fun challenge for most players.

This custom missions features a re-balanced sandbox. Non of the weapons are changed majorly, and still fill their original purpose. They're just generally a lot more effective now. Enemy AI has been changed to have more self preservation, while also being more aggressive. For balancing sake dual wielding has been taken out of this mod. For more detail you can read the individual changes. 

Weapon changes:

All:
- Plasma has been made slight more effective against shields while bullet weapons deal slightly less damage against shields.
- No dual wielding
- Player melee deals slightly less damage 

Magnum:
+ More damage 
+ Slight more accurate 
- Still no zoom
(Like CE pistol, without a zoom)

Assault rifle:
+ More damage
+ More accurate
(Good all around weapon now)

SMG:
+ Faster firing rate
+ More damage
- Less accurate 
(Behaves a lot like CE Assault rifle)

Battle Rifle:
- More or less unchanged

Shotgun:
+ Deals more damage
+ Slight more range
- lot less spare ammo
(It's better now)

Sniper Rifle:
- Unchanged

Rocket Launcher
- Unchanged

Spartan Laser:
- Unchanged

Plasma Pistol:
+ Single shot can fire faster and is more effective
- Charged shots tracking and speed has been nerfed
- Single shot drains more charge %
(Slight less OP!)

Plasma Rifle:
+ Is now red, because Brutes
+ Projectiles as faster and more accurate
- Drains more charge %
- Yes, I know I could have just used the Brute Plasma Rifle, but I liked the cotract between the blue plasma and the red rifle.
(behaves more like CE Plasma Rifle)

Mauler: 
+ Now fires Spikes!
+ Has more range because of this
+ Faster firing speed
(I think Unreal Tournament fans will love this one!)

Spiker:
+ Damage has been doubled
- Sucks even more than before against shields
(Destroys unshielded targets, sucks against shields. Great precision weapon alternative)

Needler:
+ Now carries 32 rounds per... magazine?
+ Now has longer spikes because of this!
-  Spike projectile moves slower and has less tracking.
-  Supercombine deals less damage, but still enough to one shot lower level enemies.
(behaves more like CE Needler. I only really changed this one because the short spikes annoyed me)

Carbine:
+ Can fire faster
- Deals less  damage
(behaves a bit more like Halo 2 Carbine)

Brute Shot:
+ Can carry more rounds in reserve
(No change apart from that)

Beam Rifle:
- No change

Energy Sword:
- No Change

Gravity Hammer:
+ Higher blast radius (for players only, don't worry)

Frag:
- No change

Plasma Grenade:
- No change

Spike Grenade:
+ Explosive radius has been greatly increased. Now in line with frags explosive radius 
+ Spike come out differently
- Explosive still deals shit damage lol
(Great for killing large groups Grunts, or taking out an enemy with low health in cover.)


Enemy Changes:

Grunts:
- Have slightly less health (this was done to make the non-headshot weapons more effective against them)

Jackals:
- Turned the Jackal Major shield orange by obligation
- Jackal Majors are more resistant to flinching
- Jackals are a lot better at using the Plasma Pistol

Brutes:
- Most ranks have a small buff in health (this is mostly done to compensate for stronger weapons)
- Unshielded Brutes take 40% less melee damage (done to make berserk more effective)
- Use Halo 2 berserk animations
- Captains now keep their helmets when they lose their armor
- Have a lot more self-preservation while also being more aggressive when not under fire
- Higher ranking Brutes have recharging energy shields.

Hunters:
- Are more accurate 
- Are far more aggressive (they will actually hunt you down, like the name implies) 
- Turn faster
- Have slightly less health

 


It's save to say this mod is entirely uncannon, but you might be able to put it somewhere in the timeline with a little imagination if you so desire ;). 

The map file for this mod replaces the "Tsavo Highway" (also know as "030_outskirts" in the files) campaign level. Make sure to make a backup of this level before installing


I hope you enjoy the map, and if you encounter any bugs, make sure to let me know. Have Fun!



Here is the link to my Patreon if you want to support my map making hobby. Any support would be greatly appreciated!
Patreon