Mission 4: The Silent Cartographer

Mission Objectives

1. Secure the beach landing

   Your Pelican drops you on a sun-drenched island beach under heavy Covenant fire. Grab a Warthog immediately and use the chaingun to sweep the beach. Focus on the two Shade turrets first, then the Elite commanding the Grunt squads. Use the Warthog's speed to flank — stationary targets get shredded by plasma fire.

2. Breach the locked Forerunner door

   The main entrance to the underground facility is locked. You need to find the security override. Circle around the island's right side to reach the elevated structure — two Hunters patrol the narrow approach. Use the Magnum on their exposed orange flesh, or toss a frag behind them to hit the unarmored back.

3. Descend into the underground Cartographer facility

   Once inside, the corridors tighten dramatically. Shotgun and Assault Rifle are your best friends here. Grunts will flood through doorways — let them bunch up and drop a grenade in the middle. Use the motion tracker obsessively; enemies spawn behind you in the lower levels.

4. Defeat the Hunter pair guarding the map room

   Two Hunters block the final ramp to the Cartographer's map room. The corridor is too narrow to circle-strafe both of them. Bait their fuel rod shots by peeking the corner, then unload on the exposed back of whichever one fires. Repeat until both drop.

5. Activate the Cartographer and escape

   Activate the holographic map console. The activation triggers a Covenant reinforcement wave — Elites and Grunts pour in from the side passages. The map room has excellent cover pillars. Hold the center and let the enemies come to you; the exit door unlocks after about ninety seconds of combat.

Boss Strategy

Hunter pair at the map room entrance. These two Hunters are fought in a narrow corridor with no flanking routes, making them far more dangerous than open-area Hunter encounters. Bait one into firing its fuel rod cannon by peeking the corner for a split second — the tracking is slow indoors so you can dodge back before impact. Immediately step out and put four Magnum rounds into the exposed orange flesh on its back. If you run out of Magnum ammo, frag grenades bounced off the wall behind them work. Never engage both at once; the corridor cannot fit two Hunter melee lunges and you will get crushed against the wall. The shotgun is surprisingly effective if you rush their back after a fuel rod volley, but this is high-risk.

Collectibles

• Terminal 4 — Inside the security room just past the locked door
• Skull: Black Eye — On a high rock ledge accessible from the beach landing zone

Secrets & Easter Eggs

• Hidden shotgun — when you first enter the underground facility, take the first branching left corridor instead of following the objective marker. The path dead-ends at a small armory with a shotgun and a full rack of shells. This shotgun is essential for the tight corridor fights ahead.
• Overshield location — on the beach, look for the large rock formation to the far left of the landing zone. Swim around its seaward side to find a hidden cave entrance. Inside is an overshield power-up and two frag grenades. Grab it before breaching the facility for extra survival margin against the Hunters.
• Warthog cliff jump — after clearing the beach, you can drive the Warthog up the right-side rock ramp and launch it over the cliff onto the elevated structure. It is a tight jump, but landing it lets you use the chaingun against the Hunters guarding the door, trivializing the hardest outdoor fight.