To me it appears as though Delta Halo has fallen to the Flood.
We know that the Gravemind built a pure form hive on High Charity, but can we not also assume that although this installation was only able to be activated from the Ark, the remnants of the UNSC, Sangheili and Covenant battles succumbed to the parasite?
I think the reason the environment looks membranous and fleshly is directly connected to the Flood’s emergence during the conflict covered in Halo 2.
Doesn’t look like the mark of shame to me, but for some reason the two swirls remind me of air. Perhaps that, and the fact that the representation of the model is translucent has a linked significance?
I do think that the ring must of been glassed, in some of the books it tells how the Elite ships hold off the flood in a space battle,. above Delta Halo. they then send whats left of their fleet with the humans to attack truths fleet. hence they(Elites) at least thought they were victorius).
Comment by Gangly Creature — May 3, 2008 @ 3:51 am
Perhaps the cancelled activation at the end of Halo 2 caused a synthesis reaction in the atmosphere, creating a large amount of NO2, or smog, from the constituent oxygen and nitrogen in the ring’s atmosphere.
Refering to Ghosts of Onyx, it was glassed, apparantly. A lot.
“This is Ship Master Voro ‘Mantakree of teh Incorruptible to all loyal vessles in the Second Fleet of Homogeneous Clarity.
Brothers, we must cast out our confusion, and cease falling upon one another. The holy relic is tainted. We must burn the corruption before it takes us all…”
“Those last two ships had been too close to their infected counterparts. There was no margin for error here. Not even a single Flood-infected cell could escape.
Sir, Y’gar said, and stood straighter, targeted destroyers have dissipated their sheilds.
Voro nodded, nearly overcome with the nobility of his brother Ship Masters…”
The overall texture of the atmosphere points to presence of clouds. That negates the glass theory. A fully glassed planet cannot have vapor or any types weather. The surface of the ring however has a blue tint here and there, pointing toward forward contrary of the glass theory. BUT, if it was glassed, it would also mean the real-time theory is wrong. But hey, it’s just personal opinion.
Just because a planet is glassed i don’t see why there would be no moisture. On the contrary you would think there would be complete cloud cover. All moisture that isn’t trapped below the glass would be vaporized in the extreme heat of the weapons fire. I don’t really see clouds though… unless you mean the light brown blurry areas, in which case I’m not sure what that is, certainly not water vapor. It does look the color of flood infestation, but that would seem to indicate that the flood won and it still resides on the ring. The story seems to indicate though that they lost the fight for the ring.
The Gravemind originally appeared on installation 05 and could by that time have had a better established infection than High Charity. As for the “clouds”, it could be, but it looks to me like fissures or adipose/fleshy tissue. These spots could even be cest pools or flood haze gasses.
Remember, the Elites are no longer part of the covenant, so they have changed their view on the rings. So basically, the Elites don’t care if the Ring is damaged or not.
It’d be really cool story, the elites taking out a covert mission to slip around the covenant and glass installation 05 during the battle of Earth. But I just don’t think they would have the time or resources to glass it after they left the covenant. But then again you never know, the Elites are some diligent little fuckers.
Ahhh…Delta Halo my personal favourite…pretty much because of the number 5 and Halo 2…
A shame it was glassed by the Elites (which I would like to thank everyone for clearing that up for me)
Comment by 0000 - Unknown Seer — May 5, 2008 @ 3:54 pm
personaly to me it looks like they partiaaly glassed the planet perhaps just key locations?
If the elites glassed it wouldn’t they only glass the land? You can clearly see the water (blue), but it has a reddish tint to it. Perhaps when they glassed the land it affected the atmosphere, giving it more carbon or iron to give it that red color.
343GS in the library did say that the flood would contaminate the atmosphere. Thats what appears to have happened here. A change in atmosphere could have dramatic effects on the overall environment and the life there.
so we either say:
A) flood infested. totally or partially
B) glassed. totally or partially
difficult, since the elites left the scene i can only imagine they won to the brutes and they glassed the halo. else they would risk total flood infection.
I think the theory about it being glassed is correct. The reddish/brown spots is the water, but the blackened parts are where the Elites (or perhaps even the Brutes, they never really seemed to care that much about following the stricter traditions of Elites anyway) have glassed the surface. Maybe they didn’t have time to evaporate the oceans and just burned the terrestrial parts of the ring. Can flood survive underwater? I guess thats a topic for another discussion.
Don’t think of it as the actual colour of the ring, think of it as an update of status.
I used to say this about the other rings, but upon closer inspection I notice the green of landmass, so I changed my mind.
But 05 is different. Look at the superstructure on the side of the ring - it’s red. In every other ring’s holo - it’s the regular gray colour of metal. If the ring were glassed, the stuff wouldn’t be molten red like that, it would either be warped or untouched considering the durability of Forerunner construction materials.
The ring most likely hasn’t been glassed - the Sangheili don’t want anything to do with the damn thing after what I’ve read in the novels (particularly Ghosts of Onyx). They’ve likely got a small fleet nearby, monitoring it, but to glass it they would have to get pretty close to it. No, for the entire ring to be glassed is just silly. Keep in mind that despite the fall of the Covenant, evidence points to the Elites still revering Forerunner Tech (the armour perm descriptions).
As for the Flood, their ideal atmosphere is very warm and humid. I would expect to see a lot of the fleshy colour and maybe some green if the ring were completely infested. It would be a prime place for things to grow and thrive.
Whenever I look at a display of something (of a tactical nature), I want to see its details in full colour, of course; but if it becomes SERIOUSLY compromised, then that detail is sacrificed for a pure blanket of warning and alert colour (90% of the time that’s red).
I’m reading the word “glass” here a lot. You all realise that’s impossible, right?
When a Covenant fleet glasses a planet, it doesn’t spray the thing with glass. It destroys landmass through orbital bombardment, which releases lava from under the crust. The lava spreads and cools over the surface, leaving expanses of fresh, smooth silicates, or glass. Obviously, this can’t happen on a ring.
The Elites may have burned the biosphere off of the inner surface, but in my opinion it wouldn’t be left the colour we see here.
Well, just spitballin’ here, but since the standby mode was activated in Halo 2, maybe the red tinge means that it was the one that sent out the signal? We can rule out glassing since there is a presence of water on the surface, and if the flood infected it, wouldn’t it be a greener tinge?
Capo Rip, the rock and sediment on the surface can rearrange into glass @ high enough temps. Thats how glass is made, from sand. And diamonds can be made by compressing coal.
I have to agree with Chris000 and Dante. The red tinge of the rign could be attributed to some sort of signal sent back to the Ark. After Commander Keyes just yanked the index out to stop the firing sequence the ring would have noted this as abnormal and sent a message back to the Ark.
Although I would have to say that the surface of 05 looks like there is a widespread infestation and that either the brutes or the elites are currently in the process of orbitaly bombarding 05. As the display is supposed to show the rings as they are at that very moment.
this makes no sence….installation 05 has an earth like environment…not covered in lava…what if this site has the rings backwards..installation 01 starting at the activation panel and 07 being the last…hmmm..that makes a whole lot more sence seeing as installation 01 being the first therefore being the one closest to the activation panel and that installation 04 is the closest earth like ring to the activation panel.
The glyphs are almost devided in four like a pie, maybe the symbols are written with four diffrent parts, eh hard to explain, and they are like a status update.
the ring was glassed but not by the covenant they think all the rings are holy. it was glassed as the forerunners had to break out in a run from the flood after kiling the ground based forms. the ring is just reflecting the surface of the planet or other celestial body it orbits.
Comment by coktail assasin — May 23, 2008 @ 6:51 pm
first of all, Cocktail assasin, I think you are completely full of it. I don’y know whether or not you actually want us to believe you or if your just doing it as a running joke or inside joke, but I for one choose to ignore you.
Second, I agree entirely with the glassing theory, though I like Dante’s. Though the Elites still revered the rings even after learning of truth’s betrayal would still find it completely necessary, no matter how heretical it may seem.
Thirdly, I have examined the image given and have found no trace of green. The blue, however, seems to me to be a pulse or slight disruption in the holographic image itself, not the Halo itself. Also, If you look closely at the ring it appears that the blacker parts seem to go deeper into the surface of the ring, much like the bottom of an ocean completely evaporated and glassed. The Covenant have been known to be thorough in this aspect and do in fact have the technology. In regards to the edges of the ring being red instead of gray… metal, earth, whatever, they all heat up and can turn crimson red.
Sorry if I sound like a know it all ass. And apologies to coktail assasin. LoL if your joking, but if your not… =(
I’m assuming that before this halo ring was glassed and blasted or something… This Halo Installion could be where the “Elites” (Sangheili) would perform rituals, and or sacrafices to some Sangheili God.
cuz i agree with —> Dan Steinbarge — “Any body else notice the “Mark of Shame” in the center of this Halo’s symbol? Or maybe that’s just me…”
Comment by survivaljuice — May 23, 2008 @ 10:49 pm
the reason its orangish is because its been put on standby.
not activated, that might be green, and not destroyed that would probably be red.
The glassing would make sense. its been mentioned a number of times how the elites would see the glassing of the ring nessecary, despite it being a destruction of valuable tech.
that being said, the comments on how there is still water and stuff is valid also, so here is my theory.
The elites glassed the INSIDE surface of the ring, leaving the outside of the ring untouched. Since the ring controls the environment, we can assume that the elits did glass the water parts of the ring, and in response, the ring recreated the water to make up for the environmental change. The surface became the way it was because after the glassing, perhaps there was a flood spore in the underground chambers and tunels, and after the glassing they rose up to create a livable environment.
This installation has been both heavily glassed as well as possibly hit with one of the UNSC NOVA bombs. Keep in mind that’s a possibility. Cortana ordered the whole place, Delta and High Charity be bombed. So there’s a chance that High Charity got away before then. Pretty much, this ring got totally screwed. Gravemind probably pulled as many troops as he could into High Charity, which between a multitude of transport available and the teleportation grid, this seems plausible. Any not onboard when High Charity went into Slipspace were probably glassed, maybe bombed, and again, possibly hit with a NOVA.
Also, it was the one that originally alerted the Array to the potential of activation, and had a major flood outbreak, so this could be an alarm of some sort.
To codexx, if the UNSC had NOVA bombed it the Halo would be in pieces. A fusion reactor going critical can break a Halo, how much damage do you think a NOVA bomb would do?
I think it is red in colour due to the Flood infestation. Many Halo symbols appear throughout the games and in particular with Halo CE the symbols are red in colour when indicated Flood infected areas. If you look the holographic display in Halo 2 when you are fighting the Heretics the flood infested areas glow red.
Red is danger. My guess is that this ring world is still relatively as it was in Halo 2 however it is infested with the Flood. The Flood may also possibly be altering the environment. Though I suspect it is just a case of red means danger INFESTED world.
The red colour could also mean the ring world is in stand by though I doubt this as all the rings were in standby mode after Delta Halo was activated then stopped mid-activation.
Oh and by the way the red colour of PT2401 was probably due to being held by the Flood. PT2401 was probably under significant stress and/or felt in great danger hence the red colour. Possibly PT was corrupted by the Gravemind and that could also explain the red colour. All things considered PT2401 could be seen to be a little out of shape.
All monitors seem to be able to glow red under certian conditions. Guilty Spark glowed red in the control room of Installation 04 (during Halo 3).
Okay, ive read all the Halo books and their descriptions of glassing match perfectly with this instellations features. Also if you read Ghosts of Onyx the Elites glassed 05 to remove the Flood, so that debunks the flooded theory. Maybe 05 is recovering from being glassed?
It’s a -blam!-ing desert. There’s no flood growth, or glassing. The flood ate it all and died. The glass wouldn’t allow the cloud cover, which you people call flood membrane. Everything is gone; It’s just a desert.
mr.roach, this is the ring from halo 2 which last time I checked wasn’t a desert. I don’t think flood eat plants so how could they have eaten it all and starved to death after the rings ecosystem died? Also in today’s weekly update on Bungie.com, they posted a series of what seem to be distress calls maybe from delta halo concerning the monitors lack of effort in security and maintenance, leading me to believe that there is a flood outbreak of some sort.
In regards to the glassing theory, a ships fusion reactor going critical was enough to destroy instalation 04 so I don’t think that it could withstand complete glassing, considering that 343 said that despite the forerunner artifacts aparent resilience, they are actually quite fragile.
For starters whenever Human planets have been “glassed” such as REACH, the Covenant plasma weapons are boiling plasma, which in turn would cause the surface to turn into molten slag. When the plasma weapons would hit water it would give off steam therefore allowing for clouds to still be possible on a planetoid or ringetoid structure. As for if it would be possible to glass a ring, it would be because the plasma would only melt the very top layer. It would be like heating the top of a steel plate to melting, the top is molten but the bottom is as solid as ever. And the Covenant use conventional plasma weapons, not thermonuclear explosions.
Still, there are more games in the Halo universe coming out and I refuse to believe that the flood will be excluded. The best logical place for them to have remained is on 05, especially after the distress call like logs posted on bungies weekly update today.
I just don’t think it was glassed. For one thing, I don’t think the Elites had time to glass it. At that point they had their hands full just trying to keep the Flood-infested ships quarantined. They wouldn’t have bothered to glass the surface while the main Flood threat was from infected ships attempting to jump to other worlds. If they ever did get around to glassing it, they would have made sure all the escaping ships were destroyed first, which would have to have happened well after this point in Halo 3.
Secondly, if they had glassed it, the surface would look a lot smoother, like a lava flow - mostly flat with a few ripples of molten rock. You can still see plenty of terrain here, overlaid with what is obviously a massive Flood infection.
How can that be Delta Halo? I thought Installation 05 has the same environment as Installation 04..wait..all these pictures of each Installation look to me as if they are wrong. Only 2 Installations have earth like environments…04 and 05. But on here it shows 03 having an earth like environment. Whats going on with yalls info? I think maybe you all should take another look and think if you have them backwards..
Hey, if a NOVA went off, there would be NO Installation 05, the ring would be a cadrillion pieces. scattered over the system. I think that the Elites glassed it OR the Flood took it for it’s own.
After reading the Bungie weekly update for June 6th I’m beginning to think that Delta Halo is still intact or at least partially. The logs seem to have come from the installation itself, possibly another AI or maybe a sentinel, heck it could could have been 343GS himself before he left it; but nonetheless, it seems as though there is more of a story to be told on Installation 05.
“mr.roach, this is the ring from halo 2 which last time I checked wasn’t a desert. I don’t think flood eat plants”
so if the flood dont eat plants then wouldnt that mean the ring would still have the environment that we had seen on halo 2? meaning that seen from space that it would still look like the same as when we first saw it in halo 2? but with the atmosphere having sort of a brownish bronze tint to it?? just a thought
Hey people, I would recommend you to read the books, in Ghost of Onyx all is explained, or at least what happens to Installation 05. When the Covenant civil war begins at the end of Halo 2 and throughout Ghost of Onyx, the ships of the Elites and Brutes both fired at Halo Delta, attempting to glass the ring and kill the flood. It may be posible that the ring was glassed, but not entirely, leaving some of the surface almost intact or just burned, allowing an atmosphere to exist.
On Ghost of Onyx, Cortana sends a message to the UNSC requesting the NOVA-bombing of Halo Delta, but apparently it hasn’t been bombed yet, as is not in pieces(on Ghost of Onyx a covenant planet is burned thanks to a NOVA bomb going off in near by space).
there is no way that this is installation 05! it doesnt even look like it! have ya ever noticed that if you went from the activation panel back to the drop tuby thingy and look up AT EVERY RING, once u get to 04 keep going and look up at 05 and YOU WILL FREEKING see that there is a close resemblence to 04! you people have the order backwards, the pics, descriptions, EVERYTHING! and you also need to realize that anyone can take a pic of these rings and say which one is whitch and make everyone believe them… -_-
chiefy…come on. Go to campaign level: The Covenant and go to the citadel. The rings inside are the same ones here, same order and everything. The flood took over 05 and (or) it was glassed by te covenat. gosh retard. this site is not lying retard
I personally believe that the red color indicates areas of flood contamination. This would explain why the entire ring isn’t red - the flood were only able to expand to the areas within the atmosphere.
As for the glassing theory, I don’t believe that it was ever specifically stated that they were glassing the ring. The Elites were concerned about dealing with the numerous phantoms/banshees that were coming from Delta Halo’s surface (many of which under flood control). They weren’t firing on the ring, they were firing on any craft attempting to escape from it.
Also, the landmasses that are visible beneath the red “contamination” indictor are a dark shade of brown, which looks more like massive flood infestation than the product of glassing…
The whole ring is red. Take a look at the edges of this ring and the others. The others have the gray metallic look, this one is red. Like it’s colored red on purpose.
Guys, the installations count UP from the activation pannel. The one closest is installation 01, then 02, and so on, until you get to installation 07 closest to the elevator.
Vociferous got it backwards, and it’s an easy mistake to make because the one unmistakeable ring, installation 04, is right smack dab in the middle.
This is really installation 03. Trust me; trust the Halo wiki.
Comment by the silver fox — August 21, 2008 @ 8:50 pm
so silver fox are you telling us that Vociferous’s Installation 3 is Installation 5 when it looks like it’s covered COMPLETELY in water? BS, i’m pretty sure Halo’s wikia got that wrong >_> Or maybe you interpreted it wrong
Comment by ReshenKusaga — August 22, 2008 @ 2:08 am
No, actually, go back and play Halo 2’s campaign again and compare the geography of Delta Halo to Vociferous’s installation 03.
Then maybe you’ll see what I’m saying.
Comment by the silver fox — August 22, 2008 @ 7:55 pm
You can see land on Vociferous’s installation 03, if you look hard enough. Most of the rest is probably covered by clouds. You would have to play through the level again yourself, as my 360’s out with the RROD.
Comment by the silver fox — August 23, 2008 @ 12:43 am
looks barren and lifeless reminds me of sandtrap maybe thats where it is or maybe not but it also looks volcanicso there might be some volcanoes on the surface of the ring
To me it appears as though Delta Halo has fallen to the Flood.
We know that the Gravemind built a pure form hive on High Charity, but can we not also assume that although this installation was only able to be activated from the Ark, the remnants of the UNSC, Sangheili and Covenant battles succumbed to the parasite?
I think the reason the environment looks membranous and fleshly is directly connected to the Flood’s emergence during the conflict covered in Halo 2.
Comment by vociferous — March 23, 2008 @ 11:38 pm
Perhaps the remnant of the Elites glassed the Halo in a final retaliation to the flood. It looks glassed, cracked and burnt.
Comment by Psi Gun — March 24, 2008 @ 9:11 am
Glassed, or activated. It wasn’t near Earth or anything, so they could have just pressed RB and ran. Arbiter’s done it once before on the Ark.
Remember how fast the Flood coated High Charity? I wouldn’t put it past them to strip the ring in the time between Halo 2 and the end of 3.
Comment by Mr Toad — March 31, 2008 @ 6:54 pm
Any body else notice the “Mark of Shame” in the center of this Halo’s symbol? Or maybe that’s just me…
Comment by Dan Steinbarge — April 1, 2008 @ 3:07 am
it looks like only the surface of the ring is highlighted red. probably signifying that the entire ring has been taken over by The Flood perhaps?
Comment by sir1 — May 2, 2008 @ 11:57 pm
Doesn’t look like the mark of shame to me, but for some reason the two swirls remind me of air. Perhaps that, and the fact that the representation of the model is translucent has a linked significance?
Comment by SLEEKYx16 — May 2, 2008 @ 11:59 pm
I do think that the ring must of been glassed, in some of the books it tells how the Elite ships hold off the flood in a space battle,. above Delta Halo. they then send whats left of their fleet with the humans to attack truths fleet. hence they(Elites) at least thought they were victorius).
Comment by Gangly Creature — May 3, 2008 @ 3:51 am
Perhaps the cancelled activation at the end of Halo 2 caused a synthesis reaction in the atmosphere, creating a large amount of NO2, or smog, from the constituent oxygen and nitrogen in the ring’s atmosphere.
Comment by NS Loco — May 3, 2008 @ 7:16 am
I’ve seen the membrane textures used on the Cortana mission and Flood form bodies, looks infected to me.
Comment by Diddler — May 3, 2008 @ 6:45 pm
Refering to Ghosts of Onyx, it was glassed, apparantly. A lot.
“This is Ship Master Voro ‘Mantakree of teh Incorruptible to all loyal vessles in the Second Fleet of Homogeneous Clarity.
Brothers, we must cast out our confusion, and cease falling upon one another. The holy relic is tainted. We must burn the corruption before it takes us all…”
“Those last two ships had been too close to their infected counterparts. There was no margin for error here. Not even a single Flood-infected cell could escape.
Sir, Y’gar said, and stood straighter, targeted destroyers have dissipated their sheilds.
Voro nodded, nearly overcome with the nobility of his brother Ship Masters…”
Pgs. 198-199. Typeful =\
Comment by Rez — May 3, 2008 @ 7:20 pm
The overall texture of the atmosphere points to presence of clouds. That negates the glass theory. A fully glassed planet cannot have vapor or any types weather. The surface of the ring however has a blue tint here and there, pointing toward forward contrary of the glass theory. BUT, if it was glassed, it would also mean the real-time theory is wrong. But hey, it’s just personal opinion.
Comment by Kabcr — May 3, 2008 @ 9:42 pm
Just because a planet is glassed i don’t see why there would be no moisture. On the contrary you would think there would be complete cloud cover. All moisture that isn’t trapped below the glass would be vaporized in the extreme heat of the weapons fire. I don’t really see clouds though… unless you mean the light brown blurry areas, in which case I’m not sure what that is, certainly not water vapor. It does look the color of flood infestation, but that would seem to indicate that the flood won and it still resides on the ring. The story seems to indicate though that they lost the fight for the ring.
Comment by Indy — May 3, 2008 @ 10:54 pm
The Gravemind originally appeared on installation 05 and could by that time have had a better established infection than High Charity. As for the “clouds”, it could be, but it looks to me like fissures or adipose/fleshy tissue. These spots could even be cest pools or flood haze gasses.
Comment by Diddler — May 4, 2008 @ 9:22 am
On top of that, The Covenant wouldn’t even touch any of the Halo arrays, thought it was heresy or something.
Comment by Diddler — May 4, 2008 @ 9:26 am
Remember, the Elites are no longer part of the covenant, so they have changed their view on the rings. So basically, the Elites don’t care if the Ring is damaged or not.
Comment by S1l3nt V1p3r — May 4, 2008 @ 10:51 am
It’d be really cool story, the elites taking out a covert mission to slip around the covenant and glass installation 05 during the battle of Earth. But I just don’t think they would have the time or resources to glass it after they left the covenant. But then again you never know, the Elites are some diligent little fuckers.
Comment by Diddler — May 4, 2008 @ 7:03 pm
Ahhh…Delta Halo my personal favourite…pretty much because of the number 5 and Halo 2…
A shame it was glassed by the Elites (which I would like to thank everyone for clearing that up for me)
Comment by 0000 - Unknown Seer — May 5, 2008 @ 3:54 pm
personaly to me it looks like they partiaaly glassed the planet perhaps just key locations?
Comment by matt — May 5, 2008 @ 5:57 pm
looks like mars to me, very mountain’y and ice in the high places, with rocks everywere
Comment by psychic00000 — May 5, 2008 @ 6:00 pm
If the elites glassed it wouldn’t they only glass the land? You can clearly see the water (blue), but it has a reddish tint to it. Perhaps when they glassed the land it affected the atmosphere, giving it more carbon or iron to give it that red color.
Comment by Booties — May 7, 2008 @ 10:43 am
343GS in the library did say that the flood would contaminate the atmosphere. Thats what appears to have happened here. A change in atmosphere could have dramatic effects on the overall environment and the life there.
Comment by SMG90 — May 7, 2008 @ 3:52 pm
so we either say:
A) flood infested. totally or partially
B) glassed. totally or partially
difficult, since the elites left the scene i can only imagine they won to the brutes and they glassed the halo. else they would risk total flood infection.
Comment by thijsbos — May 8, 2008 @ 2:23 am
I think the theory about it being glassed is correct. The reddish/brown spots is the water, but the blackened parts are where the Elites (or perhaps even the Brutes, they never really seemed to care that much about following the stricter traditions of Elites anyway) have glassed the surface. Maybe they didn’t have time to evaporate the oceans and just burned the terrestrial parts of the ring. Can flood survive underwater? I guess thats a topic for another discussion.
Comment by Metalingus627 — May 8, 2008 @ 9:17 pm
Don’t think of it as the actual colour of the ring, think of it as an update of status.
I used to say this about the other rings, but upon closer inspection I notice the green of landmass, so I changed my mind.
But 05 is different. Look at the superstructure on the side of the ring - it’s red. In every other ring’s holo - it’s the regular gray colour of metal. If the ring were glassed, the stuff wouldn’t be molten red like that, it would either be warped or untouched considering the durability of Forerunner construction materials.
The ring most likely hasn’t been glassed - the Sangheili don’t want anything to do with the damn thing after what I’ve read in the novels (particularly Ghosts of Onyx). They’ve likely got a small fleet nearby, monitoring it, but to glass it they would have to get pretty close to it. No, for the entire ring to be glassed is just silly. Keep in mind that despite the fall of the Covenant, evidence points to the Elites still revering Forerunner Tech (the armour perm descriptions).
As for the Flood, their ideal atmosphere is very warm and humid. I would expect to see a lot of the fleshy colour and maybe some green if the ring were completely infested. It would be a prime place for things to grow and thrive.
Whenever I look at a display of something (of a tactical nature), I want to see its details in full colour, of course; but if it becomes SERIOUSLY compromised, then that detail is sacrificed for a pure blanket of warning and alert colour (90% of the time that’s red).
Comment by Dante — May 9, 2008 @ 1:38 am
I’m reading the word “glass” here a lot. You all realise that’s impossible, right?
When a Covenant fleet glasses a planet, it doesn’t spray the thing with glass. It destroys landmass through orbital bombardment, which releases lava from under the crust. The lava spreads and cools over the surface, leaving expanses of fresh, smooth silicates, or glass. Obviously, this can’t happen on a ring.
The Elites may have burned the biosphere off of the inner surface, but in my opinion it wouldn’t be left the colour we see here.
Comment by Capo Rip — May 14, 2008 @ 1:57 am
Well, just spitballin’ here, but since the standby mode was activated in Halo 2, maybe the red tinge means that it was the one that sent out the signal? We can rule out glassing since there is a presence of water on the surface, and if the flood infected it, wouldn’t it be a greener tinge?
Comment by Chris000 — May 16, 2008 @ 7:16 am
Capo Rip, the rock and sediment on the surface can rearrange into glass @ high enough temps. Thats how glass is made, from sand. And diamonds can be made by compressing coal.
In short obibital bombardment rocks my socks.
Comment by Sum Dum Fuk — May 19, 2008 @ 3:51 pm
05 seems to be under total Flood control, if you look closely the surface resembles the Flood bio-mass.
Comment by Reptilian Rob — May 23, 2008 @ 2:46 am
I have to agree with Chris000 and Dante. The red tinge of the rign could be attributed to some sort of signal sent back to the Ark. After Commander Keyes just yanked the index out to stop the firing sequence the ring would have noted this as abnormal and sent a message back to the Ark.
Although I would have to say that the surface of 05 looks like there is a widespread infestation and that either the brutes or the elites are currently in the process of orbitaly bombarding 05. As the display is supposed to show the rings as they are at that very moment.
Comment by Zen Mice — May 23, 2008 @ 6:01 am
this makes no sence….installation 05 has an earth like environment…not covered in lava…what if this site has the rings backwards..installation 01 starting at the activation panel and 07 being the last…hmmm..that makes a whole lot more sence seeing as installation 01 being the first therefore being the one closest to the activation panel and that installation 04 is the closest earth like ring to the activation panel.
Comment by Garry — May 23, 2008 @ 2:21 pm
The glyphs are almost devided in four like a pie, maybe the symbols are written with four diffrent parts, eh hard to explain, and they are like a status update.
or theyre just the names of the halos lol
Comment by Lemmonade — May 23, 2008 @ 6:13 pm
the ring was glassed but not by the covenant they think all the rings are holy. it was glassed as the forerunners had to break out in a run from the flood after kiling the ground based forms. the ring is just reflecting the surface of the planet or other celestial body it orbits.
Comment by coktail assasin — May 23, 2008 @ 6:51 pm
first of all, Cocktail assasin, I think you are completely full of it. I don’y know whether or not you actually want us to believe you or if your just doing it as a running joke or inside joke, but I for one choose to ignore you.
Second, I agree entirely with the glassing theory, though I like Dante’s. Though the Elites still revered the rings even after learning of truth’s betrayal would still find it completely necessary, no matter how heretical it may seem.
Thirdly, I have examined the image given and have found no trace of green. The blue, however, seems to me to be a pulse or slight disruption in the holographic image itself, not the Halo itself. Also, If you look closely at the ring it appears that the blacker parts seem to go deeper into the surface of the ring, much like the bottom of an ocean completely evaporated and glassed. The Covenant have been known to be thorough in this aspect and do in fact have the technology. In regards to the edges of the ring being red instead of gray… metal, earth, whatever, they all heat up and can turn crimson red.
Sorry if I sound like a know it all ass. And apologies to coktail assasin. LoL if your joking, but if your not… =(
Comment by Joel — May 23, 2008 @ 8:20 pm
I’m assuming that before this halo ring was glassed and blasted or something… This Halo Installion could be where the “Elites” (Sangheili) would perform rituals, and or sacrafices to some Sangheili God.
cuz i agree with —> Dan Steinbarge — “Any body else notice the “Mark of Shame” in the center of this Halo’s symbol? Or maybe that’s just me…”
Comment by survivaljuice — May 23, 2008 @ 10:49 pm
the reason its orangish is because its been put on standby.
not activated, that might be green, and not destroyed that would probably be red.
Comment by Uber Cripple — May 24, 2008 @ 12:35 am
The glassing would make sense. its been mentioned a number of times how the elites would see the glassing of the ring nessecary, despite it being a destruction of valuable tech.
that being said, the comments on how there is still water and stuff is valid also, so here is my theory.
The elites glassed the INSIDE surface of the ring, leaving the outside of the ring untouched. Since the ring controls the environment, we can assume that the elits did glass the water parts of the ring, and in response, the ring recreated the water to make up for the environmental change. The surface became the way it was because after the glassing, perhaps there was a flood spore in the underground chambers and tunels, and after the glassing they rose up to create a livable environment.
just a thought?
Comment by JohnM3E92 — May 26, 2008 @ 5:11 am
This installation has been both heavily glassed as well as possibly hit with one of the UNSC NOVA bombs. Keep in mind that’s a possibility. Cortana ordered the whole place, Delta and High Charity be bombed. So there’s a chance that High Charity got away before then. Pretty much, this ring got totally screwed. Gravemind probably pulled as many troops as he could into High Charity, which between a multitude of transport available and the teleportation grid, this seems plausible. Any not onboard when High Charity went into Slipspace were probably glassed, maybe bombed, and again, possibly hit with a NOVA.
Also, it was the one that originally alerted the Array to the potential of activation, and had a major flood outbreak, so this could be an alarm of some sort.
Comment by Codexx — May 27, 2008 @ 3:02 am
Did everyone already forgot a sertain Monitors Eye Color?
Forerunners are Color Coded, if its set as red, that means the Monitor there has a red eye…
Comment by Verses Fatum — May 29, 2008 @ 5:29 pm
To codexx, if the UNSC had NOVA bombed it the Halo would be in pieces. A fusion reactor going critical can break a Halo, how much damage do you think a NOVA bomb would do?
Comment by IMOMXJ — June 1, 2008 @ 3:16 am
I think it is red in colour due to the Flood infestation. Many Halo symbols appear throughout the games and in particular with Halo CE the symbols are red in colour when indicated Flood infected areas. If you look the holographic display in Halo 2 when you are fighting the Heretics the flood infested areas glow red.
Red is danger. My guess is that this ring world is still relatively as it was in Halo 2 however it is infested with the Flood. The Flood may also possibly be altering the environment. Though I suspect it is just a case of red means danger INFESTED world.
The red colour could also mean the ring world is in stand by though I doubt this as all the rings were in standby mode after Delta Halo was activated then stopped mid-activation.
Comment by Legin10101 — June 2, 2008 @ 5:16 pm
Oh and by the way the red colour of PT2401 was probably due to being held by the Flood. PT2401 was probably under significant stress and/or felt in great danger hence the red colour. Possibly PT was corrupted by the Gravemind and that could also explain the red colour. All things considered PT2401 could be seen to be a little out of shape.
All monitors seem to be able to glow red under certian conditions. Guilty Spark glowed red in the control room of Installation 04 (during Halo 3).
Comment by Legin10101 — June 2, 2008 @ 5:29 pm
Okay, ive read all the Halo books and their descriptions of glassing match perfectly with this instellations features. Also if you read Ghosts of Onyx the Elites glassed 05 to remove the Flood, so that debunks the flooded theory. Maybe 05 is recovering from being glassed?
Comment by desert rat — June 4, 2008 @ 8:33 pm
It’s a -blam!-ing desert. There’s no flood growth, or glassing. The flood ate it all and died. The glass wouldn’t allow the cloud cover, which you people call flood membrane. Everything is gone; It’s just a desert.
Comment by mr. roach — June 6, 2008 @ 9:10 am
mr.roach, this is the ring from halo 2 which last time I checked wasn’t a desert. I don’t think flood eat plants so how could they have eaten it all and starved to death after the rings ecosystem died? Also in today’s weekly update on Bungie.com, they posted a series of what seem to be distress calls maybe from delta halo concerning the monitors lack of effort in security and maintenance, leading me to believe that there is a flood outbreak of some sort.
In regards to the glassing theory, a ships fusion reactor going critical was enough to destroy instalation 04 so I don’t think that it could withstand complete glassing, considering that 343 said that despite the forerunner artifacts aparent resilience, they are actually quite fragile.
Comment by Kelmourne — June 7, 2008 @ 3:39 pm
For starters whenever Human planets have been “glassed” such as REACH, the Covenant plasma weapons are boiling plasma, which in turn would cause the surface to turn into molten slag. When the plasma weapons would hit water it would give off steam therefore allowing for clouds to still be possible on a planetoid or ringetoid structure. As for if it would be possible to glass a ring, it would be because the plasma would only melt the very top layer. It would be like heating the top of a steel plate to melting, the top is molten but the bottom is as solid as ever. And the Covenant use conventional plasma weapons, not thermonuclear explosions.
Comment by the13loodwake — June 8, 2008 @ 1:08 am
Still, there are more games in the Halo universe coming out and I refuse to believe that the flood will be excluded. The best logical place for them to have remained is on 05, especially after the distress call like logs posted on bungies weekly update today.
Comment by Kelmourne — June 8, 2008 @ 1:19 am
The return of a pissed off gravemind? lol ^_^
Comment by charonill — June 11, 2008 @ 4:45 pm
I just don’t think it was glassed. For one thing, I don’t think the Elites had time to glass it. At that point they had their hands full just trying to keep the Flood-infested ships quarantined. They wouldn’t have bothered to glass the surface while the main Flood threat was from infected ships attempting to jump to other worlds. If they ever did get around to glassing it, they would have made sure all the escaping ships were destroyed first, which would have to have happened well after this point in Halo 3.
Secondly, if they had glassed it, the surface would look a lot smoother, like a lava flow - mostly flat with a few ripples of molten rock. You can still see plenty of terrain here, overlaid with what is obviously a massive Flood infection.
Comment by K — June 13, 2008 @ 11:03 am
How can that be Delta Halo? I thought Installation 05 has the same environment as Installation 04..wait..all these pictures of each Installation look to me as if they are wrong. Only 2 Installations have earth like environments…04 and 05. But on here it shows 03 having an earth like environment. Whats going on with yalls info? I think maybe you all should take another look and think if you have them backwards..
Comment by Mal — June 13, 2008 @ 9:01 pm
Hey, if a NOVA went off, there would be NO Installation 05, the ring would be a cadrillion pieces. scattered over the system. I think that the Elites glassed it OR the Flood took it for it’s own.
Comment by Spartan-039 — June 16, 2008 @ 7:01 pm
After reading the Bungie weekly update for June 6th I’m beginning to think that Delta Halo is still intact or at least partially. The logs seem to have come from the installation itself, possibly another AI or maybe a sentinel, heck it could could have been 343GS himself before he left it; but nonetheless, it seems as though there is more of a story to be told on Installation 05.
Comment by Joel — June 19, 2008 @ 1:55 am
“mr.roach, this is the ring from halo 2 which last time I checked wasn’t a desert. I don’t think flood eat plants”
so if the flood dont eat plants then wouldnt that mean the ring would still have the environment that we had seen on halo 2? meaning that seen from space that it would still look like the same as when we first saw it in halo 2? but with the atmosphere having sort of a brownish bronze tint to it?? just a thought
Comment by Mal — June 21, 2008 @ 1:49 pm
Hey people, I would recommend you to read the books, in Ghost of Onyx all is explained, or at least what happens to Installation 05. When the Covenant civil war begins at the end of Halo 2 and throughout Ghost of Onyx, the ships of the Elites and Brutes both fired at Halo Delta, attempting to glass the ring and kill the flood. It may be posible that the ring was glassed, but not entirely, leaving some of the surface almost intact or just burned, allowing an atmosphere to exist.
On Ghost of Onyx, Cortana sends a message to the UNSC requesting the NOVA-bombing of Halo Delta, but apparently it hasn’t been bombed yet, as is not in pieces(on Ghost of Onyx a covenant planet is burned thanks to a NOVA bomb going off in near by space).
Comment by Antonio — June 25, 2008 @ 4:41 pm
there is no way that this is installation 05! it doesnt even look like it! have ya ever noticed that if you went from the activation panel back to the drop tuby thingy and look up AT EVERY RING, once u get to 04 keep going and look up at 05 and YOU WILL FREEKING see that there is a close resemblence to 04! you people have the order backwards, the pics, descriptions, EVERYTHING! and you also need to realize that anyone can take a pic of these rings and say which one is whitch and make everyone believe them… -_-
Comment by chiefy — June 30, 2008 @ 3:32 pm
chiefy…come on. Go to campaign level: The Covenant and go to the citadel. The rings inside are the same ones here, same order and everything. The flood took over 05 and (or) it was glassed by te covenat. gosh retard. this site is not lying retard
Comment by A HAM5TER — July 28, 2008 @ 1:05 am
I personally believe that the red color indicates areas of flood contamination. This would explain why the entire ring isn’t red - the flood were only able to expand to the areas within the atmosphere.
As for the glassing theory, I don’t believe that it was ever specifically stated that they were glassing the ring. The Elites were concerned about dealing with the numerous phantoms/banshees that were coming from Delta Halo’s surface (many of which under flood control). They weren’t firing on the ring, they were firing on any craft attempting to escape from it.
Also, the landmasses that are visible beneath the red “contamination” indictor are a dark shade of brown, which looks more like massive flood infestation than the product of glassing…
Comment by Omega 2401 — August 14, 2008 @ 3:08 pm
The whole ring is red. Take a look at the edges of this ring and the others. The others have the gray metallic look, this one is red. Like it’s colored red on purpose.
Comment by mirel — August 21, 2008 @ 2:22 pm
Guys, the installations count UP from the activation pannel. The one closest is installation 01, then 02, and so on, until you get to installation 07 closest to the elevator.
Vociferous got it backwards, and it’s an easy mistake to make because the one unmistakeable ring, installation 04, is right smack dab in the middle.
This is really installation 03. Trust me; trust the Halo wiki.
Comment by the silver fox — August 21, 2008 @ 8:50 pm
so silver fox are you telling us that Vociferous’s Installation 3 is Installation 5 when it looks like it’s covered COMPLETELY in water? BS, i’m pretty sure Halo’s wikia got that wrong >_> Or maybe you interpreted it wrong
Comment by ReshenKusaga — August 22, 2008 @ 2:08 am
No, actually, go back and play Halo 2’s campaign again and compare the geography of Delta Halo to Vociferous’s installation 03.
Then maybe you’ll see what I’m saying.
Comment by the silver fox — August 22, 2008 @ 7:55 pm
You can see land on Vociferous’s installation 03, if you look hard enough. Most of the rest is probably covered by clouds. You would have to play through the level again yourself, as my 360’s out with the RROD.
Comment by the silver fox — August 23, 2008 @ 12:43 am
looks barren and lifeless reminds me of sandtrap maybe thats where it is or maybe not but it also looks volcanicso there might be some volcanoes on the surface of the ring
Comment by SFF — August 23, 2008 @ 6:15 pm
I thought it was highlighted a faint red because that was where the standby status originated from at the end of Halo 2, just maybe…
Comment by PartnersInRhyme — August 24, 2008 @ 5:06 am