Add the Carbine to more maps in H3

In Halo 3, the carbine was really rare in multiplayer, it wasn't because of a purposeful choice for balancing though. There was a technical limitation for Halo 3 on Xbox 350 that meant Bungie couldn't put every single weapon in the files for every map. Covenant weapons in particular didn't exist in the map files for several maps in the game so you couldn't forge them in. The only ones that were actually spawn able on every map were the Plasma Pistol, Needler, Spiker, Sword, Brute Shot, and Hammer. Even if you had a hacked game mode that enabled them as spawn weapons (since all weapons that couldn't spawn on certain maps weren't selectable in customs, including the Carbine), you would just spawn with no weapon instead.

MCC has this issue fixed, and all weapons are now available to forge onto every map. So I'd like to see 343 just go in and replace the BRs on some of the maps with Carbines. There are usually far, far more BRs on most maps than there need to be, especially when you take BR starts being the standard into account.

I personally just prefer the Carbine. In every Halo game I go out of my way to snag one instead of using the BR, but Halo 3 has so few Carbines in it I feel like I almost never get to use it, despite it being an equal-footing utility weapon that should be just as common as it.

I get that there are some Halo purists out there, that want the game "unchanged" but don't forget that over Halo 3's 3 year lifespan Bungie actually went in and tweaked weapon spawns on maps several times. Remember when Radar Jammers were a thing in MM? Or when Guardian had Maulers on it? A change as small as a couple of BRs replaced with Carbines isn't going to make all that big a difference. Think as small as one of the 4 BRs that spawn in each base on Valhalla, or one of the two BRs either on the middle of Narrows, or one of the two at each spawn. Far too many maps have 8+ BRs lying around without a single Carbine. And far too many maps only have the Plasma Pistol and Needler on them as Covenant choices (looking at you Last Resort).

Let the Elites have their guns.

Every map in Halo 3 had Forge. The problem was, Bungie wanted everyone to use the Battle Rifle and didn't place many carbines down at all.
Yes, i've tried to place every weapon on the map. I think i was 1 assault rifle from completion. And as someone who has placed 99% of the vehicles, the map lags pretty bad when looking the right way (the map on my file share is called "Vehicles").

I support this too! The Carbine is a fun weapon and there really are too many BR’s laying around. As much as I love the BR, Halo’s sandbox is vast and the Carbine is a good competitor to the BR. More variety would improve the experience here.

I completely agree. To go a step further, why not add the new ODST weapons to certain maps? Especially in a game like Halo 3 where Assault Rifles practically cover the floor and Magnums are almost exclusively spawned in pairs so that picking it up won’t be a death sentence, switching a few map default Assault Rifle and Magnum spawns with Suppressed SMGs and Automags would be a much appreciated (but not one that anyone would get mad at) change to Halo 3’s Matchmaking sandbox.
Moreso than any other Halo title that I can think of, Halo 3 is where you are at the biggest disadvantage in a Matchmaking game if you don’t have a BR + Some Power Weapon. This isn’t to say that the BR Meta of Halo 3 is bad and that Automatics should be king, but that the inclusion of weapons that aren’t useless at medium range in a weapon sandbox where those are very scarce is a healthy change. Especially given that the Automag can headshot; Halo 3 really needs another weapon you can swap to after you’ve emptied your BR/Carbine so you can pop them in the head.

Fos Kuvol wrote:

On Guardian for example, I'd replace the SMG near blue room with a suppressed one, just to make it less pointless. But since there's one BR and one Carbine, don't add an Automag. If they were to replace the magnums near man-cannon with an Automag, then the Spikers at Elbow should also become an Automag just to keep it balanced.

Agreed entirely on no Automag on Guardian; that's a perfect example of a map that doesn't need one. But maybe instead of replacing the SMG with a Suppressed one, they could replace the Assault Rifle behind the SMG with a Suppressed SMG? And the Pistols below it could honestly work great as dual Brute Plasma Rifles.

Fos Kuvol wrote:

On Narrows though, keep the dual SMGs lying near each base, replace one of the BRs in each base with a Carbine, then replace one or both of the BRs in mid with Automags.

I agree with the SMGs. But there's something, maybe just the longtime H3 player in me, that feels like Narrows is the quintessential mid-range BR Fight map, and that removing one from spawn just wouldn't feel right. Also, I don't know if the MM version added BRs to the mid of Narrows, but the base game map only has the 4 BRs at each base.

Fos Kuvol wrote:

Valhalla has 4 BRs in each base. I think the two leaning near the man cannons could be swapped for Automags, and the ones in the bases left alone, but there are four other BRs spread around mid (one near Pelican, one near Turret, one by the tree, and one on lower part of the hill facing the turret) so replace two of those with Carbines.

I wouldn't go so far as to remove that many BRs from a BTB map with potential AR spawns. Personally, I'd replace the bottom right Plasma Pistol for an Automag, swap the BR next to the remaining Plasma Pistol for a Carbine and lower the 1 Plasma Pistol per team's spawn timer down to 20 from 30, so that the bases are still defendable from vehicles. As far as BRs outside of the base, I counted 6 total, so replacing 2 of them for Carbines seems sensible. As far as the Spikers that spawn outside of the base goes, I would replace them both for Suppressed SMGs.