Since Halo 3 was released more than 18 months ago, devout fans everywhere have been asking themselves one question: Floodgate or Cortana?

The answer can now be revealed, confirmed by both Netcraft and Louis Wu: The Ark.

Yes, I know that wasn’t one of the choices. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that the first part of The Ark is the subject of the latest episode of the irregularly-scheduled Rampancy podcast, Anger, Sadness & Envy.

I recently read vector40’s Banshee Voice Communication article and it gave me an idea: why not expand the partnership to cover all of Halo 3? (with the exception of campaign, for reasons which will later be explained)

There’s no reason why it shouldn’t, at least, none that I could think of. I thought of a friend who plays Halo (not since his 360 broke, though) and plays it well, and I couldn’t help but think, wouldn’t he and I work well as a team? My mind soared with the implications for you and the enemy if you had a partner to work with, who could be dynamic and effective, who you could instruct and give objectives to complete, who could watch your back and give you a heads up when someone was sneaking up on your ass. Strategies; some general, some specific to a map; popped into my head, using skills and tricks me and my friends have discovered in the few years since Halo 3 came out. And as more people formed partnerships, the game would be changed forever.

Over the course of a few months, I hope to develop a series of articles describing my ideas regarding this strategy. This, of course, is not the “definitive edition” of the first chapter in the series. Eventually, I hope to be able to know enough to know exactly what traits are needed by the positions within the team.

A disclaimer (or four):

If you are reading this as a definitive guide that must be followed to the dime, stop. These are ideas and guidelines to assist in forming a partnership.
Also, as narcogen’s comment points out, if you’re expecting this to boost you to an incredibly high level and make you “look cool,” this series is not for you. This is simply an EXPERIMENT. In fact, there’s a possibility that this could slow your stat increases. The Halo 3 TrueSkill ranking system is designed to reflect on individual skill and accomplishment, not skill as part of a team.
If you already play like this, voice communication is the only thing that might be of interest to you.
Finally, I rarely play team doubles and have not taken it into account while writing this.

Anyway. . .
In a partnership, there are two roles: the lead and the wing. The lead performs most of the decision making process and could be said to be the commander, but cannot think of the wing as his/her subordinate. Instead, he/she must think of the wing as his/her partner, a thinking person assisting the lead in his endeavors, instead of being ordered to carry them out. This will mind-set will have great value, both for gameplay and the relationship between partners.

Partners must form their own, invite only party which no other player is allowed to join and must keep in constant communication on a private channel. Setting up a private voice chat is something most people already know how to do, but if you don’t, you can refer to the next installment in this series.

Selecting a lead and a wing must take into acccound several things, mainly intelligence and personality.

The lead must be a good, intelligent strategist, of course. They need to be able to plan, always have a backup plan, and quickly re-plan if the backup plan fails. They must also be able to recognize the difference between a necessary sacrifice and an unnecessary one, which goes hand in hand with the next requirement, which I call “empathy.” Empathy simply means that the lead must not send the wing into unnecessarily dangerous situations, and especially not into situations that the lead him/herself is unwilling to enter. Empathy also says that the lead needs to recognize his wing’s limitations and not push the wing to far across them. Another requirement for the lead is “reversal of order,” that is, the lead must be willing to occasionally take orders from the wing without question, and as goatrope pointed out (http://carnage.bungie.org/haloforum/halo.forum.pl?read=924194), reversal of order must take place more often than in emergencies, and I thank him for pointing that out (refer to the link for more). Just remember, it must still occur sparingly, to avoid confusion. The final requirement is “acceptance.” Acceptance means that when the lead’s plan fails, they must recognize that this is their fault and not take out their anger on the wing. However, if the wing somehow fails, the lead must calmly, explain to the wing what the problem was, so that the wing may correct themselves in the future.

The wing must be willing to take orders, even if he/she does not see the sense in them. The wing must recognize when they are unable, not unwilling, to perform an action and tell the lead so. He/she must also have the initiative to think outside the box and perform the objective they are given without the lead taking them through it every step of the way. The wing must also be willing to command the lead to do something when it is necessary.

Both the lead and the wing need to be able to admit to one another when they need something, when something has gone wrong, or if theu just need a break from the partnership, as continuing after your starting to want to play on your own could lead to temporary degeneration of gameplay ability.

This is the first installment in the series. I hope to post the second sometime in the next few weeks, after some testing has been done. If anyone has any comments or suggestions, post them here and I’ll edit this post accordingly.