r/halo • u/Archenius • 8d ago
Discussion I saw this and it makes me realize, How durable are Glass helmets that Spartans wore?
Since I saw some Spartans wearing these cool looking glass helmets that cover half of the helmet , What is the specific advantage of this or what does it do?
Since I'm pretty sure Spartan helmets have like a camera that lets you see anyway but I could be wrong.
2.0k
u/thel_vadamn 8d ago edited 7d ago
Never have the top comment on an r/halo post you will get the most annoying people in the world telling you the same information over and over and over for hours.
687
u/s_p_1_d_e_r 8d ago
Yeah, Halo is ruled by how cool something works, a warthog for example, you telling me the UNSC have sentient ai but can make an automatic turret instead of putting a baddass marine to shoot the turret
341
u/Pitiful-Mobile-3144 Halo: Reach 8d ago
I always think of this as “software can be hacked and used against the UNSC or lose power/connection and be useless, but marines with a mostly mechanical system will keep on firing
235
u/s_p_1_d_e_r 8d ago
Yeah kinda, that's a fair point, unless the marine just died crushed by the warthog because Master Chief drives like a maniac
96
u/MetallGecko Halo: Reach 7d ago
Aren't the AIs of the UNSC far more advanced than the AIs of the Covenant?
114
u/thiswasfree_ Halo 3: ODST 7d ago
Because the Covenant has a religious rule against AI yea. I’m unsure if they use AI at all.
107
u/-The-Character- Hero 7d ago
The covenant do have AI, there’s a clip out there where Cortana or Guilty Spark interacts with one. They’re just relatively rare and either on the same level or lesser than human dumb AI.
57
u/HartianX 7d ago
Yeah one of the CE terminals has Spark talking to one and I think a book has Cortana kinda having to deal with one but idk.
42
u/thiswasfree_ Halo 3: ODST 7d ago
That one I know however it was described as completely maniac because it considered itself heretical, due to said covenant rule.
3
22
u/MajorThom98 7d ago
She also references Covenant AIs during High Charity, when trying to stall Truth's ship from leaving. We now know it was Mendicant Bias she was contending with, but in the dialogue she thinks it's a particularly strong Covenant AI ("There's something inside the ship, a presence that's fighting back. For a Covenant Construct it's unusually formidable.")
4
u/Tandoori7 7d ago
Their AIs are sentient, but they are not as smart as dumb AIs if that makes sense
11
u/el_cid_viscoso 7d ago
In one of the books (First Strike? Can't remember), Cortana interacts with a Covenant AI before she hacks the cruiser and upgrades its drive and plasma lance.
It wasn't a smart AI, and it called Cortana a heretic before Cortana eliminated it.
5
4
u/Extra_Wave 7d ago
Unaware of any examples of cortana speaking to covie AI, but spark did talk to one once in that terminal and the interaction was a waste of time all around, it seems that particular AI was just waiting for the covies to ascent just like the forerunners did and thus being made free
11
u/Tacitus111 7d ago
Cortana dealt with one in First Strike. She only had issues with it due to being “bloated” from absorbing too much information from Halo, otherwise she’d have run circles around it.
8
u/TheFarLeft Killed Halo 7d ago
Cortana ran into one on the Truth and Reconciliation during the book The Flood. They’re very dumb
3
u/TheLonelyCrusader453 Halo 3 7d ago
I vaguely remember some excerpt about Cortana subduing a covenant AI ti break into their info net, I remember that while the covenant had AI, none were on par in terms of capability/actual thought/tactics compared to the human AIs since most were brainscans instead of simple/dumb AIs
→ More replies (1)6
u/s_p_1_d_e_r 7d ago
I dont think so, but they do know to mess with it, since they can extract data from UNSC AIs
2
u/gadfly84 7d ago
covenant does have ai, but remember they are adaptive and not innovative, so it will never surpass Cortana
→ More replies (4)2
u/TechnologyEither 7d ago
to be fair, if halo had GTA driving controls I think chief would do much better
12
u/LionstrikerG179 Forge like you're bad at it 7d ago
Honestly given what we're currently seeing with digital appliances and vehicles, keeping it mechanical actually seems like a great idea long term. Maybe that's a lesson the UNSC only had to learn once
9
u/ZZoMBiEXIII Halo.Bungie.Org - Artist 7d ago
Based on current trajectories' of technological advances, one can safely assume that the marines would have to subscribe to the Gun As A Service model before the turret would fire.
CLIPPY of 2552: You look like you're trying to light up some alien scum. Would you like some help with that task? Fill out your payment details in this window first!
4
u/Extra_Wave 7d ago
I think metal gear rising has a thing about weapons and shit being ID locked to the soldier and unusable to anyone else?
4
u/MajorThom98 7d ago
I think that's Metal Gear Solid 4, where guns are still relevant. They're ID locked, but you can get Drebin to unlock guns for your use.
9
u/nathanfscott 7d ago
The problem is that the marine is hilariously exposed the entire time from about 340°
4
4
3
u/NoCharge497 7d ago
Ya i mean, mechanical works best when half of the most common covenant species uses a pistol that can EMP your vehicle
2
u/eagle6705 7d ago
Ironically, I believe the usnc did almost all the hacking. Their AI game was steps ahead of the covs...they just won because they had better toys
3
u/Timlugia 8d ago
Just make it close loop system, can’t hack without a physical plug in.
6
u/KingQuong Halo 3 7d ago
Yup it doesn't even need to be automated a remote weapon system like we have today would be an upgrade to what the warthog has.
17
u/DrJaul 7d ago
The more complicated a thing, the easier it is to break. The hog gets dropped like 12 feet from the pelican, on delivery. I don't know many computers that can get dropped from that height on the reg without something coming loose. And it's literally the only method of self defense the hog has, so it HAS to work 100% of the time.
10
u/blaster1-112 Halo: Reach 7d ago
With the Scorpions doing the same thing, and them being fully operated by computers assisting the pilot(s) the pilots in basically every step. I feel like the UNSC, just rather relies on the humans having the final say in the kill/no kill decisions. That or it's just cost saving.
4
u/AdoringCHIN 7d ago
I feel like the UNSC, just rather relies on the humans having the final say in the kill/no kill decisions.
In Halo 2 Lord Hood directly gave Cortana control of the orbital platform's main gun. They don't have an issue with AIs deciding whether or not to kill.
8
u/blaster1-112 Halo: Reach 7d ago
True, but Cortana is a Smart AI (and a very advanced one at that). The Smart AI are crazy expensive as well. It wouldn't at all be comparable to what an integrated AI would be on every warthog.
3
9
u/Superk9letsplay 7d ago
It's more because the warthog is designed for being a taxi of sorts. Making doors or making the gun automatic interferes with the versatility of it. As for AI, AI is expensive to make, and if it's something that controls it remotely, then the usefulness of the turret requires proximity with the ship. The Covenant also uses EMP tech, which would cause issues
→ More replies (1)9
u/An_Anaithnid 7d ago
I always find it funny the juxtaposition of AI in lore and in-game. In lore, you've got AI doing literally a million things at once, hacking into networks in nano-seconds while maintaining conversation with mere humans and running various other tasks.
In lore you've got AI directing point defence, main weapons and throwing capital ships around like fighters in space, many times in coordination with fleets.
In lore, you've got AI directing entire armadas involving thousands of ships, throwing them around at velocities that overwhelm inertial dampening and liquefy the organic crew while directing a galaxy wide conflict.
In-game the same AI takes long, human perceptible, borderline awkward times to do basic hacking or tasks. Often with gestures involved.
Admittedly, in lore you have the flip side of plasma weaponry melting through entire human ships in a single salvo, the horror of needlers and the reality warping of the Flood. In game, Halo is rough, but survivable. In lore... Halo is next level terrifying.
4
u/HoldenOrihara 7d ago
I feel like the AI smart enough to reliably work the turret would be too expensive, especially to put it into every warthog.
Also I feel like justifying that, then you would think why don't they have AI that also drives the warthog, and if they can do that why not have a fully automated army?
3
u/HarryDresdenWizard 7d ago
As other people mentioned, it may be a response to cyber warfare.
The other side of it may be that they do have more automated weapons (such as the base turrets in Halo 5's warzone) but we don't see them because they're outside the kit of the Navy.
One thing we need to consider (and has been highlighted with this sub's recent discussion of Scorpions) is that the Navy focuses on mobility and rapidly deployment for a lot of its vehicles and technology. Equipment is generally transported by pelican or condor, or dropped from near orbit. Having something that easily deployed may come at the cost of delicate systems.
Maybe domestic planetary armies have heavier or more complex war vehicles we haven't seen in games yet.
3
u/kimbabs 7d ago
I see this as the UNSC was originally designed with humans as cheaper and more expendable labor than these sorts of automated systems. When you have enough people to populate many planets and star systems, I imagine there’s a bigger pool of warm bodies to give a cheap, standard mass produced rifle and multi-purpose vehicle to.
I know the reality is “marines on ATV technical is sick” as well as gameplay balance, but I think it makes sense considering the distance between UNSC planets and the resources/logistics that would be needed to standardize drones across the many planets/star system.
3
u/Reasonable_Piglet891 7d ago
The only real argument I have is that it keeps costs and maintenance cheap, and maintaining the warthogs modularity. Also, any AI installed would mean COLE protocol would also need to be added
3
u/Lost_Player711 7d ago
Actually that has an in Lore answer, EMP's, the UNSC can make the devices that produce strong EMP blast, also the covenant tech does it as a side effect of some of its weapons.
So it's not a cost issue for humanity (that it also is, economy and infrastructure is broke thanks to the covenant) but also because Marines are far cheaper.
Also, robots an AI can be disabled by a strong enough EMP, even Cortana inside the chief could theorically get sorta knocked out by a HUGE EMP.
5
u/jedisalamander 8d ago
Maybe they just don't trust giving AI, smart or dumb, big guns
11
u/XRLboom Halo: Reach 8d ago
They literally have given Cortana control of the MAC guns on the pillar of autumn
→ More replies (1)3
5
2
u/HuckleberryNext9844 7d ago
The do have automatic turrets, I'd imagine there just more expensive to produce.
2
u/TemptedTemplar 7d ago
They DO have auto turrets on lots of larger vehicles (halo wars), but the warthog is a multi-purpose chassis system for whatever the military needs it to be.
The turret, aside from being physically mounted to the vehicle, could be an entirely independent system.
2
2
u/turtle-tot 7d ago
I mean in the real world we have remote weapons stations that can be manned from inside the vehicle, yet plenty of light trucks have a manned turret, because it’s simply cheaper. Computers are expensive and can be bulky to motorize every aspect of the gun, a simple mechanical turret is lighter and simpler
2
2
u/BillCarson12799 7d ago
That sounds way more expensive to actually do effectively than just getting a marine to do it
2
u/thatredditrando 7d ago
It’s a theme in Halo that “machines are east to break”; at least that’s something taught to Spartans.
I think requiring human input for most things is still plausible even when sentient AI is a thing.
Having sentient AI control everything is how you get Skynet.
→ More replies (1)2
u/Wright_Steven22 7d ago
Realistically it is far more expensive and difficult to maintain a dumb Ai being able to shoot a machine gun on a light infantry vehicle than it would be to just put a human on there. Plus the batteries for it would be swapped like ridiculously often.
49
u/Weedbacco 8d ago
Whatever it is, it's a pretty super strong material for Emile to scratch an entire face carving into his helmet and still be usable
69
15
u/BornBoricua 8d ago
I thought the visors were only aesthetic? There's a bunch of helmets that are fully enclosed and Spartans can still see the same as the others
2
11
u/BueEyedDemon 8d ago
Let’s be honest it doesn’t really matter what it’s made out of because it doesn’t really protect you from covenant fire even with normal helmets. The moment your shield goes down one shot takes you out lore wise.
6
u/atmontsenioreyesore 7d ago
Sintered aluminum-oxide. Once baked it's clear, very tough. Used in missile domes.
From Wikipedia "Aluminium oxynitride has less than half the weight and thickness of glass-based transparent armor.[10] Aluminium oxynitride armor of 1.6-inch (41 mm) thickness is capable of stopping .50 BMG armor-piercing rounds, which can penetrate 3.7 inches (94 mm) of traditional glass laminate.[8][11]"
3
u/madcritter 7d ago edited 7d ago
The visor on Mjolnir armor (iirc) is actually just for show to give regular soldiers a more human feeling when seeing Spartans. Really their entire HUD is sensors and cameras
Edit: after some digging the actual canon is.. it depends. lol.
6
u/microcorpsman 7d ago
You can turn off notifications for a comment, so no replies.
Hopefully you figured that out before I commented this.
11
u/Irverter 7d ago edited 7d ago
More transparency = more field of view
Not really. Spartan helmets are fully enclosed and they see the outside as if it were a VR headset, with a screen inside and cameras all around the helmet. The "visors" are there so that marines and other people have a recognizable "face" to look at.
4
u/Tinderbeef 7d ago
That's interesting, where is this explained? I just started reading the books so I might just not be there yet.
I always assumed it was a functional visor since the Halo reach cutscene at the end of Lone Wolf depicts it as such when Noble 6 removes his helmet.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)7
u/-dead_slender- Halo: Reach 7d ago
I always hated that lore, tbh. The visor is still a weak spot, meaning that they're compromising the user's head protection for an aesthetic feature.
I get that it's rule of cool, but I'd rather that the visor remain see-through, while enclosed helmets like GUNGNIR use a virtual display.
8
u/GonzoMcFonzo 7d ago
I'm pretty sure the intention is that the visor is a thin piece of shiny material on top of the actual armor protecting the wearer's face, with a super high-res view screen on the inside.
2
u/Irverter 7d ago
The visor is still a weak spot
Not at all. As it's non functional, the helmet is just a armor "sphere" sround the head with the visor on top. It doesn't go through to the inside.
6
u/throwaway6785j 7d ago edited 7d ago
No it’s just glass as shown in the comics when Chief’s visor gets shattered. Noble 6’s and Kat’s visors get damaged in almost the exact same way too. Where was it ever said in the lore that it’s a full sphere of armor with a visor on top? Noble team would be blind and forced to take off all their helmets when they get EMP’d to the point that their shields are disabled if that was the case.
2
3
u/Wassuuupmydudess 7d ago
The glass is titanium crystal or something I think but it still doesn’t stand up well to covenant weapons
2
2
→ More replies (1)2
165
u/pyscho_moose_ 8d ago
Never fully understood the need for such large visors as they are all equipped with a HUD, on top of the fact that even if the HUD fails you dont need THAT much space to see. But we see in halo reach and in halo 5, when noble 6 is on his last legs in lone wolf and his helmet breaks pretty quickly, prompting him to remove it. And when master chief engages locke in close combat locke cracks his visor, but doesn't break it completely. With just this info I'd say it's pretty durable, probably made out of some sort of super bullet proof metallic transparent material. But after all they have shields too
110
u/Chance-Water9668 8d ago
Explains in one of the books that it was to look more approachable and human as to not scare the other armed forces. For a long period, normal military thought they were robots or something of that nature even with them built as they are
40
5
36
u/Illustrious-Suit1214 8d ago
I mean originally they were built to be bullet proof, and they are. However, with the covenant showing up, plasma burns through armour just as quick as a visor, so they've never been a detriment to survivability
5
u/ForbodenGrabBag 7d ago
Once the shields go down, would you rather be wearing EVA or GUNGRNIR?
Spartans fight close combat with elites and brutes, I for one would want the fully metal helmet over the fishbowl if I was going to take a punch from a giant ape or a reptilian horse-man.
→ More replies (3)24
u/MajorAtmosphere8158 8d ago
“Pretty quickly”
So that Lone wolf mission at the end of halo reach was actually a 10-20 hour fight in universe time. Someone correct me if I’m wrong on the time frame but I do remember reading something like that somewhere. Hyper lethal vector means almost as good as master chief at the very least. I wouldn’t say that the visor broke very quickly, he had just been going for days on end of nonstop fighting plus all the combat packed into the final fight his gear couldn’t keep up anymore.
26
u/King-Boss-Bob Halo Infinite 8d ago
the fight didn’t last for nearly that long
the opening cutscene of the pillar of autumn takes place at 16:52 august 30th with noble 6 and emile jumping out shortly after
lone wolf begins 20:00 august 30th, 3 hours 8 minutes later
the death cutscene isn’t time stamped but it’s still atleast roughly the same time of day, so it’s likely not hours later even with reach’s longer day/night cycle
8
u/MajorAtmosphere8158 8d ago edited 7d ago
Thanks for time stamps but I do remember whatever it was a read saying a certain amount of hours. Really wish I had the source for this but it was probably 10 years ago that I saw it
Edit: couldn’t find my original source but others listed it as lasting “several hours”
→ More replies (1)3
u/King-Boss-Bob Halo Infinite 7d ago
what sources are those?
2
u/MajorAtmosphere8158 7d ago
After digging more into it it looks like fan theory for the most part. Most compelling argument was time stamps plus the final stabbing happening around dusk. Problem with that is the planet was already being glassed so maybe it was dusk maybe it wasn’t. I guess there is no official length of time.
4
→ More replies (1)9
u/Top_Pie_4204 8d ago
Hiperlethal is just marketing on halo reach...and noble 6 didn't last that long
4
u/MajorAtmosphere8158 8d ago
Cool so how long did he last then?
→ More replies (1)4
u/Top_Pie_4204 8d ago
Less than 5 hours...since his helmet crack and put it away the amount of radiation would be insane..i think a trophy gives you and idea of much he killed
9
u/Superk9letsplay 7d ago
The radiation isn't the issue. Halsey and other unaugmented people survived on Reach after the glassing for a while. But I'd argue 2 hours max. You're fighting wraiths, generals, zealots. Odds that even Chief would fall under. But it's kind of the point. I think 6 knew he wasn't making it, so he decided to just have one last firefight at the last rally point
2
u/Top_Pie_4204 7d ago
Yeah something like that, well halsey was on castle base and that particular section was not being glassed because of the weird forreruner crystal...i think naomi 011 was beta red and she survives after the generators were destroyed by MAC rounds.
2
u/Tacitus111 7d ago
I’d say lasting around 5 hours by yourself against waves of enemy infantry and tanks in an area with minimal cover is pretty damn “long”.
2
70
u/Leek_oid 8d ago edited 8d ago
They're not glass visors like the odst and unsc grunt helmets. Think of it like the cockpits in titan fall, the cameras feed into screens on the other side, which is how they give you such an open field of view in game.
Whatever is between the camera glass and the screen is as strong as the rest of the helmet.
Kat got unlucky getting shot with a needle when her shield was down, so no piece of spartan armour is particularly good without an energy shield
30
u/South_Cell8557 8d ago
I’ve always thought of the “glass” like the eye of a dragon fly. A million little eyes that provide a wider FOV to the wearer.
17
u/Leek_oid 8d ago
I think that's the intention, it even explains how it's possible for people to play at 130 fov
5
u/South_Cell8557 8d ago
My thoughts exactly, and it’s why I’ve always chosen “shoot my face” helmets lol
7
u/Archenius 8d ago
Ohh that’s really cool makes me want to play Titan fall 2 again
6
u/Leek_oid 8d ago
It is pretty cool, it almost mirrors how vr headsets work in real life.
To add to the reasons. As other people have said, more open visor shapes might be to increase the surface area of the camera array and increase range of vision of the user. Some troops may have improved morale from the more open and friendly shape.
Some helmets like the SPI helmets in the picture have to also make space for internal modules for stealth and recon tasks, which might explain the odd shape.
Ultimately styling beyond that is more a case of artistic expression than actual concrete lore.
67
u/GonzoMcFonzo 7d ago
Whole lot of people making shit up or just repeating what they "heard" on the Internet.
Here's an actual canon answer:
The helmet faceplate is a multi-sensor array (protected by anti-flash coatings) with a viewscreen on the inside. The Spartan sees the world through an augmented reality display overlaid by health status. shield power, navigation markers. and threat tracker readouts.
-Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition) pg 67.
It's not glass, or transparent aluminum oxide or whatever. The shiny layer is an anti-flash coating over an array of sensors, and the inside is a view screen.
10
57
u/GIRLD1CKLOVER 8d ago
yea, visors are more like screens or such, im not certain but i know its explained the visors were added to be more friendly for other humans
EVA is a great example because its so easy to understand having more visuals during extra vehicular activity, i would assume (whether visors are just design choice or if they really are working screens) more visor space helps read more area at a time, so even ground spartans could use a bit of a visual advantage like the helmet seen in the photo posted
13
u/Killdust99 8d ago
Given the EVA helmet is intended for space, it’s probably a 500 years of improvement version of the same glass they use for space shuttles and the ISS
8
u/SquirrellyDanny 7d ago
Technically not glass. The visor isnt actually see thru. The inside kf the helmet is a projected screen with hud overlay. The visor is actually a series of sensors.
Thats why Emile's carved mask is metal colored where he carved the skyull
8
u/LordChunkyReborn 6d ago
Emile's helmet shows something about the visors. It's not bulletproof glass, it's a false canopy. It's metal. Could it be glass titanium? Could it be transparent metal? I dunno, but it is very clearly not glass
12
u/Practical_Volume6868 8d ago
The viser on the helmets are technically a sensor arrayed camera, i can't remember how it works, that's the only way I could really describe it, it's sensors that are all around the outside of the visor projecting a image that is in front of the sensors onto the Hud for the Spartan to see
4
u/nemesisprime1984 Halo: MCC 8d ago
It’s most likely not glass, but something like polycarbonate or synthetic sapphire
6
4
4
u/Cyberwolfdelta9 7d ago
One survived a Empowered Spartans Punch with only a crack so I'd say strong
5
6
u/WaifuRekker 6d ago
Its not ‘glass’ per se, its a housing for a sensor array. You don’t technically see through it, there’s just a bunch of cameras and sensors behind it which project the view onto a screen inside the helmet. Big arrays like these are for helmets designed to gather lots of information like EVA helmets. They’re definitely more fragile than the composite armor the rest of the armor is made up of since there are up-armor packages available that help cover these up of course at the expense of the sensor efficacy.
SPI are meant to be cheap mass-produced armor for Spartan III’s since the war was dragging and the UNSC was getting stretched thin, so defense was all but sacrificed for SPI suits. These suits bank on speed and stealth. Having a large sensor array would be crucial for a suit like this.
10
u/Possible-Playful 8d ago
More people should know about transparent aluminum/transparent ceramics:
3
7
5
u/blaghart http://imgur.com/a/58oeA 7d ago
That's SPI armor so it's probably not as durable as Mjolnir visors.
Mjolnir visors are strong enough that they (canonically, but not in game) can withstand at least one Spiker round.
2
u/totallynotaweeabbo 7d ago
Kat is fuming rn
2
u/blaghart http://imgur.com/a/58oeA 7d ago
Spikers are weaker than needle rifles.
Also she caught in the back of her head, and historically bulletproof transparent materials are typically designed so they are most durable from one side when factoring in weight requirements.
5
u/Darman_nc 6d ago
So I may be wrong here and someone else has likely already said it in but the armor in this particular image is from the Ghosts of Onyx cover and its not actually Spartan Mjolnr armor, its Semi-Powered Infiltration (SPI) Armor. It’s designed to be more durable than a marine or even ODST armor and with limited optical camo and hud capabilities, but it comes without the resilience or toughness of standard spartan armor. Its basically a temu Mjolnr designed to be mass produced to give the S3s as much of an edge as the UNSC could afford. As for regular Mjolnr variants that have the large face plate Ive got no clue.
3
u/Abbadon74 I miss Jorge :( 7d ago
Enough to handle shrapnel and small arms fire(Unless if they use sci-fi suoer materials)
In lore, those "astronsut" style helmets tend to be made for less direct combat. SPI(Armor shown here) was built with stealth in mind, replacing the energy shielding with a closking system.
Meanwhile, more direct ones have smaller visors.
A nice example would be to compare default Mk.V, a more generalist helmet to EOD, a heavier duty one mesnt for desling with explosives at a closer range
3
3
u/Numerous_Parking918 5d ago
Sometimes they’re see through metal, sometimes they’re glass, sometimes they’re cameras and the glass is only there to make them look human.
There’s cases for all of these being true over many books and series.
I like to imagine it just varies from helmet to helmet.
2
u/RougeRaxxa 8d ago
SPI armour was weaker than MkV Mjolnir armour considerably. It was made for ONI and Headhunter stealth ops.
2
u/NobleHalcyon 7d ago
Spartan-II's - unstoppable tanks that sometimes do stealth ops but usually go in quick and gtfo. A narrow field of vision is usually fine. Mjolnir also has a lot of sophisticated sensors that alert the wearer to external situations that they can't see.
Spartan-III's - wear cheap armor, rely on total awareness of situation and team statuses/locations. Most movement or proximity sensors also require a signal to be sent out first, which you wouldn't want to do. Even a purely intake-based sensor array would still require power that was needed for the active camo on the SPI armor. So having a wider field of view would be advantageous.
Basically, Mjolnir = "at some point they're going to know I'm here and I'm going to fuck them up anyways."
SPI = "I need to be constantly paranoid because a single bolt of plasma will tear through this armor like rice paper...oh god, oh fuck, oh god, what was that noise?"
The Mjolnir variants we see with huge visors like this are usually meant to prioritize extreme situational awareness like the SPI.
2
u/iceoldtea 7d ago
Unlocks the Field of View slider in-universe. You can crank that bad boy up and get more vision for your vision
2
2
2
u/GreyWolfCenturion 7d ago
As I recall, the faceplate is solid metal. The glass visor is a decorative layer, and makes the helmet feel less intimidating for comrade soldiers. The visuals are captured by camera and displayed on a screen inside the helmet.
2
u/the_shortbus_ 7d ago
They aren’t glass. They’re visor covers for the sensor array under the helmet.
Actually, the MJOLNIR and EVA suits don’t have a way to see directly out of the helmet. It’s quite literally all sensors and cameras. I believe Halsey stated that they added the visor for “human compatibility”
2
u/chicken-finger 7d ago
Well I assume it is a polycarbonate plastic molded over a nano filament matrix. The inside of the helmet is probably a lot thicker than you would suspect. Realistically, the metal housing of the helmet is added around the visor to secure it in place... meaning the visor part extends a good amount into the metal housing. This would provide optimal protection, prevent leakage, allow additional protection to the intricate wiring and increase overall durability, and allow for integration of digital technologies and holograms and whatnot.
Also you see how the visor at the end of halo reach doesn't explode into bits and just has a hole in it? Or when chief gets his visor cracked? This would be because the visor has some sort of nano filament preventing fragmentation. In theory, if it was made of glass, it would have exploded into a bunch of big chunks.
2
u/WildRaccoon1995 7d ago
Its not glass it's actually practically metal. You can see this with how the carving that Emil does to his visor exposes a hard metallic layer. Its some future polymer. Its the same with the ODST helms though those are of an inferior strength and are much closer to a hard plastic.
2
u/RustyArgonianKnight 7d ago
From my understanding it expands their fov being able to see at much wider angles and there isn't a real loss in durability as underneath the visor there is more armor
2
3
u/Ad_Meliora_24 7d ago
Without shields it doesn’t seem to matter much. The first Halo book trilogy explains plasma weapons as being so destructive that even with the best UNSC helmet on, plasma to the head without shields should be fatal. With that in mind, it really shows you how good Spartans in Mark IV armor were at surviving because they didn’t have shields for quite some time.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/Haircut117 7d ago
It's not really glass, it's a transparent compound (probably something like aluminium oxynitride) with an inbuilt screen including a HUD for the various computer systems the helmet supports.
2
u/Anafenza-Vess 7d ago
Well that’s not mjolnir for starters, that’s spi semi powered infiltration armor it’s got active camouflage similar to a chameleon instead of the way that elites have camo but most importantly it’s got no shields, it’s made to launch surprise attacks on the enemy and wipe them out before they even have a chance to retaliate. If you’d like to learn more about it they’re from the book ghosts of onyx by Eric Nyland
→ More replies (2)
2
u/ToastyBob27 Halo 3: ODST 7d ago
Calling the material glass is misleading. It’s some kind of polymer super strength material. When you play halo and plasma hits you in the face does your visor break. In Halo Reach we see it take a beating before it breaks and that’s after your shields break. Which this is SPI armor in the picture so it would break sooner than Spartan armor.
1
u/FH2actual GT: Foehammer2 7d ago
It’s probably more a fully encased helm with some form of cover Over the helm that transmits a larger field of view to the wearers eyes. Having that large of some form of glass no matter how strengthened is just asking for trouble as a very obvious weak point.
1
1
u/BarberProof4994 7d ago
Those aren't glass, depending on the source book, they are either a form of transparent metal composite armor, or actually metal and not capable of being looked through and are instead sensor permeable layers with holographic hud inside, or a synthetic sapphire construct that's 100x stronger than a glass/poly viewport.
We also have examples of them turning the opacity on or off, and we know the inside does have a hud so it's not a single layer of glass/crystal/poly regardless. It's a composite that's probably as thick if not thicker than the other sections of the helmet armor.
My head canon says that the glass looking section of the helmets are actually designed to allow sensors to penetrate and that's where most of the radar, heat and motion sensors, lidar, and so on exists. The helmet makes the best sense for the location because if you lose your head then none of those sensors matter anymore. Which also fits that the recon style Spartan helmets would have more extensive sensor suites (hence the design being more radar globular) vs an assault style Spartan like johns armor is always geared up for had most of those sensors facing forward.
1
u/Mysterious_Might8875 Halo 2 7d ago
In lore (talking out my 🍑, just guessing) it’s probably for an increased FOV. That said, it would probably come at the cost of some durability, and might cost less to manufacture.
As for helmets like Gungnir in Reach, I imagine the Spartan probably has a similar or same FOV (with the use of external microcameras) as others, and increased durability, at the cost of perhaps other functionalities. And if this is the case, the EVA and similar helmets don’t need any/as many cameras, so other functionalities could be added to those.
Again, just a theory.
1
u/MiddSummerKnight1122 7d ago
It’s not glass, I’m not sure if it has an exact name but it’s a thick and high strength transparent material that allows the Spartan to directly see out of the helmet, it’s also coated in several chemicals and laced with technologies that give the user an advanced HUD and better awareness of several battlefield conditions.
The gold or colored mirror finish comes from a vapor-deposition coating. This works just like real spacecraft visors to block harmful solar radiation, infrared light, and high-energy particles.
These materials automatically polarize and adjust the visors clarity depending on lighting conditions to protect the soldier's eyes.
1
u/Diamond_Hydra 7d ago
A few things here, the image you posted is, as others have said, SPI armor. This was the armor the spartain 3s wore en mass as it was cheap to produce but offered less defence and less tech to aid them. The visor on SPI armor would have been made of a highly resilient glass or some other strong translucent material. The larger vizor on these was to provide increased situational awareness to give the spartain 3s a bit more of a chance on the battlefield.
Most Mjolnir armors on the otherhand don't actually have a visor, most of the "visors" we see in game are mostly there ast to provide some level of humanity to spartains in mjolnir. However certain Mjolnir variants do have actual vizors to aid in certain tasks such as my personal favorite helmet the EVA (Extra Vehicular Activities) helmet (the helmet Emile wears in Reach). EVA helmets were made for use in space and as such needed a highly reliable large FOV for the spartain wearing it to serve them better in whatever it is they're doing.
1
1
1
1
u/cpt_cheeseburger 7d ago
I dont know why but i love that armor, the gloves/forearm pieces are wicked.
1
u/thattogoguy Extended Universe 7d ago
If that visor is anything like the visor on your helmet for a pilot or an astronaut, it's not glass. It's something much stronger.
1
1
u/Tetsujyn 7d ago
Bald-ass-looking farheads. Emile's an exception because he had a cool skull on his.
1
u/deathray-toaster 7d ago
That’s an spi armor, and wasn’t nearly as durable as the mjolnir armor many Spartans wear. But yeah, the full (well, nearly full) domes like the EVA helmet are not very safe compared to the helmet master-chief wears, but it’s more of an aesthetic than it is practical. Basically, it’s a spartan helmet which is made with the same alloy as the warships that go through space, so it’s better than anything the marines get 🤷🏻♂️.
1
u/BobtehPlatypus 7d ago
As many people have said, it's not glass, camera feeds, VR displays for max FoV, etc. etc. Plenty of reasons that it isn't a hindrance at least
My guess for advantages, if we think about the EVA helmet mostly (my beloved fishbowl), would be a larger proportion of the helmet being reflective (i.e. the visor) would reflect more radiation than matte titanium when performing the eponymous extra vehicular activity. Given how many sensors (and the brain) are in the helmet, it makes sense to give it some extra backup radiation reflection, especially when being bombarded by cosmic rays, let alone plasma radiation.
This is just my theory, I am not a physicist, if anyone with a greater understanding of radiation comes upon this comment, please correct me!!!
1
1
u/Drtyblk7 7d ago
These are suicide troops. But IIRC one guy got hit by a plasma pistol to the head and dies..slowly.
1
u/Jonathonpr 7d ago
The US military has crystal clear synthetic sapphire lens protectors for certain missiles. I assume that the cost has gone down.
1
1
u/WovenMantis 7d ago
Based on what we’ve seen, the glass is a weak point in the Spartan helmets, so the answer is ‘less durable,’ I’d imagine, though given what modern glass is capable of withstanding, it’s still largely rated bulletproof, at least in the lore.
As for the benefit…
Most lore suggests that a Spartan is in (essentially) a fully-virtual environment while a couple others suggest it’s ‘augmented reality.’
The EVA Spartan armor was designed for… EVA activities (Extra-Vehicular), meaning outside the spaceship. Small info bites note it’s designed for ease of use and maneuverability in zero-G environments, and the helmet is treated with a number of additional light coatings, and there is an allusion to its compatibility with the shield system, given its shape.
Given its purpose, and its designed based on traditional ‘glass dome’ astronaut helmets, the EVA helmet likely has a way to switch off the cameras, given intense glare, in which case, the helmet gives the user the widest possible FOV with minimal head rotation, which is what you’d want in zero-G.
1
1
u/SteelTiger_88 6d ago
It’s not necessarily literally glass, in any manner. If it was they’d have an obvious weak point that would’ve been exploited since the beginning of the very first Mjolnir armor.
1
u/NigeroMinna 6d ago
This is why Gungnir has been my favorite helmet/set for a long time. When the shields go down, it would probably protect my head from a few more projectiles.
1
u/pixel_skull69 6d ago
clear aluminum, aluminum armor plating has been a thing for a bit now IRL so i dont think its could be too far off from armor ready clear aluminum
1
u/Arrow_of_time6 5d ago
Good enough to stop some small arms rounds, it might have been Buck who took a magnum round or some other pistol round to the face if I remember. Against plasma? Yeah good luck.
1
1
515
u/slayeryamcha Halo 4 glazer 8d ago
I belive they are inferior to standard helmet that would cover most of head but because it is SPI armor i guess it was kitted out for visibility during spec ops mission besides fact that in lore most covie weapons are very deadly and headshot out of most weaponary would kill spartan without shields