Halo Reach: LASO Weekly Challenge Guide: Part 7 – New Alexandria

Another two weeks and another LASO challenge on the plate.  We are getting pretty well along now.  After this guide, there will only be two more full-blown LASO guides; The Package and The Pillar of Autumn.  But, other things are in the works to fill the void that will soon appear.  For the moment, though, let us focus on New Alexandria, the seventh mission of Halo Reach.

All the same basic strategies of LASO still apply for this challenge.  This mission is definitely on the easier side, but do not let that go to your head, plenty can still go wrong for your really fast.  This mission also has some serious randomness to it.  Three main objectives can be thrown at you in any order with two small random side missions in between.  Buckle up.

Need to review LASO and some strategies?  Look here and here.

New Alexandria Walkthrough:

Intro

This mission will broken up into four sections: Club Errera, Sinoviet Center, Hospital, and Finale.  The order in which you will need to accomplish the first three objective will be random.  This guide has been geared towards helping you get the objectives in any which order

As you first start the mission you will be dropped off and meet up with Carter briefly.  Quickly, you will board a Falcon and become, basically, a mobile gun-platform.  If you do this run through on full SLASO, you will need to become very familiar with your surroundings since you will have no HUD to show you your location.   

Here is Club Errera.  

Here is the Sinoviet Center.

And here is the Hospital.

There will be two side missions you will need to complete in between these main missions.  Here is a great guide for them from Halo.Bungie.Net.  Reference it whenever you are at a loss on the side mission.

Club Errera

I can say that, from a visual perspective, this is an interesting place.  In terms of difficulty, it is a freaking breeze.  (See video of this area here.)  On the approach, clear any turrets around the main structure and bring your bird in lower for the two turrets at the Club Errera entrance.   

Keep your distance as they will be sporting Fuel Rod Guns and a single hit will drop your bird.  Once the turrets are down, swing in and eliminate all the infantry on the ground.  

Remember to never simply hover in the air as that will make you an easy target for the many Banshees that will be prowling the skies.  Constantly strafe and change your elevation to make your Falcon a more difficult target to hit.

Once you have cleared all the infantry outside the entrance, set the Falcon down and hop out.  Remember to get the Needle Rifle ammo from the Skirmishers up here.  Whenever you have a chance, pick up Needle Rifle ammo.  It is a very valuable commodity.

Enter into the club and you will see four Hunters decimating a group of Marines.  Like true LASO players, we will not be fighting any of these Hunters.  Instead, jump down here and get a jetpack.   

Move towards the Jammer and jet up to it.   

Be very quick and go hit the button and get out of there as fast as possible.  Go back and get your sprint, some health, and some ammo from the surrounding area.  Club Errera is now done and you can get back into your Falcon.

Sinoviet Center

Sinoviet Center tends to be a breeze as well.  (Video can be seen here.)  The first trick to the Sinoviet Center is keeping distance when clearing the initial entryway.  The second trick is running.  Not too hard if you think about it.

When approaching Sinoviet, like all the others, be on the lookout for any turrets that want to cause you some trouble.  Once you have cleared away the surrounding area, come in lower and take out the two turrets at the Sinoviet Center.   

After those two are gone, time to drop in and spank the infantry there with your cannon.

There will be a lot of Grunts down there for you to kill, but be careful because at least one or two of them have Fuel Rod Guns.  You will not be able to clear all the enemies here because some will hang back but once you do not see any more targets, set down.   

I would recommend walking up the left side of the stairs when proceeding so you can easily deal with this guy who will be on the right.  Use the waterfall for cover.

Do not fully traverse the stairs because there will be a Jackal or two with a shield and four Brutes up top (three regulars and a Chieftain).  The key to these guys is keeping distance.  Three of the Brutes are only armed with Spikers which makes them very limited.  The other one has a Concussion Rifle so save him for last.  Use the stairs to give yourself an advantage when shooting at the monkeys.

Once all four of the Brutes are down, go up to the elevators, hop on in, and hit the button.  This part is about as easy as the Hunters at Errera, so do not worry about anything.  There will be an Invisibility here, plus lots of DMR ammo all around.  Even a lone remaining Marine will be right here.  For the Invisibility, you will need to walk it to in front of the Elevator so you can snatch it as you leave.

You want to have Sprint for this section.  The Jammer will be all the way in the back on the bottom floor.  Once you take out the Jammer, Drones will pour into the area to attack you.  The trick is to  sprint all the way to the elevator and avoid all contact with the Drones.  Only do this once you have the Health, ammo, and armor abilities that you want from this area (placed in front of the elevator that is).

Once you have completed all that, ride the elevator down and get back into your Falcon.

Hospital

This is by far the harder of the three objectives.  (Video is here.)  This place is filled with enemies and you will be forced to tango with some really annoying Elites.  Unlike the other objectives, there are no turrets or infantry to clear from the main entryway, so once you eliminate any turrets on the surrounding buildings, set down.

Through the main door will be four or five sleeping Grunts who are all sporting over-shields do to an Engineer in the center of this circular fun house.  Most likely they will wake up as soon as you enter the doorway so pop in and then quickly pop out to avoid all their plasma grenades.  Use the DMR and grind them down.  If you were able to kill a grunt and get a Plasma Pistol from it before retreating outside, even better.

You will either eliminate all the Grunts or they will flee away down a level.  Once this happens, grab a Needler from the likely corpses and dispatch the Engineer, it will take two Supercombines to kill.  Once the over-shield is gone, the level become much easier.  

Clear the structure level by level using the Plasma Pistol on the Grunts and melees on the Jackals.  At the end, there will be a whole bunch of Grunts and a Brute Chieftain with a Needle Rifle at the bottom.

These guys are very easy to take out as long as you use the railings for cover.  Plasma pistol the Grunts and DMR or Needle the Chieftain.  Once they are clear, hold off on advancing.  Get ammo and health and make sure you pick up that Brute's Needle Rifle.  Walk through the large doorway once you are ready.

In here there will be plenty more Brutes; a lot of minors and a few Chieftains.  Keep your distance and either Supercombine them with the Needle Rifle or headshot them with the DMR.  The Needle Rifle will take a lot less ammo, but they are very likely to dodge it, so pick and choose which ever you think has more ammo.

After you kill three or four of the minors, the Brutes tend to fall back into the cover of an Engineer.  You will need to move up an eliminate this guy from extreme distance.  Otherwise the Brutes will kill you very fast.  Plasma Pistol worked fine for me, but took a very long time.  Once the Engineer is down, finish off the remaining Brutes and scrounge up ammo and the like.   

You will definitely want a Plasma Rifle and probably a DMR.

Once you hit the button, seven Elite Jumpers will enter the way you came in, kind of, and engage you once you are close enough.  Run up to this spot.  Now, from here, use this cover to Plasma Rifle the Elites and then headshot them.  Be sure to back off constantly and regain health.  This area is really, quite simple using this trick.  The last Elite will probably keep his distance but that is not an issue.  If you happen to run out of the Plasma Rifle, there is another one behind to your left.  It is fully charged.

Once the Elite are clear, go grab a Jetpack from behind the Jammer.  At the bottom of the circular area, an Ultra Elite with a Concussion Rifle will be waiting for you.  There will also be some Skirmishers with Needle Rifles.  Strafe across the entrance and headshot as many of the Skirmishers as you can.  Once you have done that, enter the room hiding behind the pillar.   

Now, Jetpack up to the next level.  And that is how we skip the Elite.  Go and enter your Falcon.

Finale

The finale is quite easy as well.  (Video is here.)  Seriously, the only hard part of this level was the Hospital.  Everything else should give you zero trouble.  But anyway, Kat will radio Carter and tell him that all three Jammers are down.  Then she will get spanked by the Covenant.  

Basically, all you have to do here is destroy six turrets which are surrounding the ONI building.  It is easy to spot since it is the tallest building of the level.  Take out these turrets from extreme distance and remember to keep moving.  Otherwise, you will become a nice juicy target for all the Banshees that are probably tailing you now.  Pick a direction and circle around to drop all the turrets.  Once they have all been eliminated, a landing pad will be stuck out for you.  Drop your Falcon onto it to end the mission.

Congrats on beating New Alexandria on (S)LASO difficulty.

Also on Examiner.com.