The Cartographer

This article is about the Halo Wars 2 campaign level. For other uses of "Cartographer", see Cartographer (disambiguation).

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Next:	Lights Out
The Cartographer
Game:	Halo Wars 2
Player:	James Cutter
Date:	March 29, 2559
Location:	Installation 00
Objective(s):	Gain access to the Cartographer map room Attack the Forerunner conduit Shut down the three power conduits (3) Clear the path to the map room Optional Destroy the minibases in the central chamber (2) Bonus Kill 30 enemy air units using Wolverines (30)
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“

Professor Anders and Jerome arrive at the Cartographer to discover the secret of Atriox's command over the Ark.

”

The Cartographer is the fifth campaign level in Halo Wars 2.

Transcript

The starting firebase.

SOUTH SPIRE / THE CARTOGRAPHER

THE CARTOGRAPHER

Mission Briefing

The text doesn't show planning in words while in dialogue the player is told about it

• Captain Cutter: "Professor, once you get inside the Cartographer. I need you to find out what Atriox is planning in using it for"
• Anders: "Understood, Captain. Isabel gave me everything the UNSC already knows about the area, and it looks like we'll need to reach the Map Room. Also, I've been running scans as we got closer; there seem to be large power signatures from the central chamber nearby. It's unclear whether it's Banished or Forerunner in origin."
• Isabel: "Be careful, Professor. There will be a strong Banished presence and from what we've seen of the Sentinel defenses you may have them to deal with, too."
• Anders: "I'll let Jerome handle the former, but as for Sentinels... Remember that special project we were talking about earlier? I think it might be time for a test run."
• Isabel: "It's not quite done yet, but I'll give it a shot. I'll wait for your word from down there. Good luck."

Mission Summary

Protect Anders from Forerunner defenses to reach the Cartographer's Map Room.

Scouting Report

Wolverine anti-air vehicles are on standby to counter enemy air units.

{In-game Cutscene}

Anders, Jerome and the Marines arrived through elevator while UNSC Command Center and Supply Pad was already prepared ahead of them while the Generators and Garage are already on route for construction. She lead Jerome and the others to the base where the Map Room is just ahead of the base.

• Anders: "Up ahead, that's where we need to go. Come on."

A squad of Marines comes out from the Combat Station, but ahead the shield prevents them from advancing any further.

• Anders: "Oh, great. That's our way in."
• Jerome-092: "Spirit of Fire Actual, we've got a problem. The route through to the Map Room is blocked by some kind of energy shield."

The Banished mass to attack the UNSC base.

A Pelican arrives, dropping the Garage for construction on the Combat Station.

• Captain Cutter: "Can you open it, Professor?"
• Anders: "Well, we're in the right place...those power signatures I detected in the central chamber must be connected to this energy shield somehow."

Jerome, Anders and the Marines from the elevator arrives at the base.

• Jerome-092: "Spirit of Fire, we may be here a while."

The UNSC forces then heard something.

• Jerome-092: "Let's find a way to open the shield. Wait, what's that sound?"

{Gameplay}

Jerome spots Banshees inbound to their location.

• Jerome-092: "Banshees! Spirit of Fire, we're going to need those Wolverines!"
• Captain Cutter: "Already standing by, Jerome."

A Pelican arrives and dropping two Wolverines, the Banshees soon arrive to attack the base and the UNSC repels the first wave. Later, the second wave of Banshees is inbound to the base.

• Jerome-092: "More Banshees! Take them down, Wolverines!"

After repelling the second wave, the UNSC regroups and start building forces.

After building enough forces, Jerome leads the Marines to the first Conduit at the west of the base and soon they met Banished's infantry and Banshees guarding the conduit there.

• Jerome-092: "Professor, there's some kind of Forerunner structure here."
• Anders: "That's the Conduit for the energy shields, but the Banished have locked it down. As much as I'd like a more scientific solution, I think you're just going to have to destroy it to force it to shut down."
• Jerome-092: "Only one way to find out. Weapons free, team. Target that conduit."

The Conduit.

After clearing the Conduit from the Banished, the UNSC forces start open fire on the Conduit but when the Conduit's health reaches 75% the shield rises and the UNSC forces heard something.

• Jerome-092: "Did you feel that, Professor?"
• Anders: "The Cartographer's sending in Sentinels to protect itself! We can't take on those Sentinels, fall back!"

UNSC forces quickly pull back as the Sentinels arrives, guarding the Conduit from UNSC forces.

• Jerome-092: "Looks like they're here to stay this time, Professor. Any ideas?"
• Anders: "What's the status of our special project, Isabel?"
• Isabel: "It's ready, Professor. You guys might want to hold onto something down there!"

A MAC hits the Sentinels and the defense formation dispersed as the Sentinels stop defending the Conduit.

• Jerome-092: "What was that?"
• Anders: "An EMP targeted to disrupt the Sentinels command networks. Good work, Isabel."
• Jerome-092: "Area is clear, everyone back to work!"

UNSC forces continue attacking the Conduit and when it reaches less than 25% another Sentinel swarm comes inbound with a countdown of ten seconds as the Conduit's shield rises again.

• Anders: "Jerome, the Sentinels are on their way back!"

The Sentinels arrive again to protect the Conduit.

• Jerome-092: "Keep clear of those Sentinels, our weapons aren't making a dent!"
• Anders: "Isabel, we're going to need another EMP to clear them out."

Player can now access EMP MAC on Leader Power.

Soon, another EMP MAC is fired into the Conduit, disabling the defenses and the Sentinels dispersed once more and the UNSC finally shut it down.

The central region of the map.

{In-game Cutscene}

• Jerome-092: "That did it, we've opened the energy shield to the central chamber. Professor, what happens now?"

Anders is running towards the Cartographer without any escort.

• Anders: "Let's find out!"
• Jerome-092: "Professor, wait!"
• Anders: "Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?"

The shield turns off and Anders continue running to the Map Room until she reaches it.

• Anders: "Phew, smells bad - Brute bad. They must have been using these passages to avoid Sentinels."

She starts working and finds three more conduits.

• Anders: "Okay, there are three more conduits in this area."

The First Conduit is guarded by infantry, Wraiths and Banshees. The second Conduit is guarded more heavily than the first and the last conduit is located behind a Banished base.

• Anders: "Each of them are controlling the Forerunner shield blocking our path to the Map Room so you'll need to shut down every one of them."
• Jerome-092: "I never expected it to be easy, Professor."
• Anders: "Watch out for the Sentinels. They'll swarm in once you start attacking the Conduits."
• Jerome-092: "Then we better work fast. Let's find those Conduits, people."

{Gameplay}

The status of North, West and East Conduits are shown on the HUD and UNSC start assembling forces again then set out to the East Conduit and clear the area of the Banished that guards the Conduit.

Once the Banished around the Conduit have been wiped out, UNSC forces start attacking the East Conduit and when it reaches 75% the Sentinels are inbound.

• Anders: "Get into cover, quick! Sentinels coming"

UNSC forces quickly withdraw to a safe area and issue an EMP MAC once the Sentinels arrive, disabling their defenses. Once the defenses are down, UNSC forces continue attacking the Conduit while eliminating Banished reinforcements that tries to stop them from destroying it and when it reaches 25%, the Sentinels return again.

• Anders: "Sentinel wave incoming, take cover!"

UNSC forces withdraw again and once the Sentinels swarm the Conduit, another EMP MAC is shot, disabling the defenses again. Once the defenses are disabled, the UNSC finally forces it to shut down and the first shield is offline.

• Jerome-092: "That's the first Conduit, Professor"
• Anders: "Just two more to go."

UNSC then start assembling units again and this time they go to the West Conduit, clearing any Banished resistance.

Once the Banished are wiped out, UNSC forces start attacking the Conduit and when it comes to 75% the Sentinels are inbound.

• Jerome-092: "Keep clear of those Sentinels, our weapons aren't making a dent!"

An EMP MAC hits the Conduit and the Sentinel defenses are disabled. UNSC forces start attacking it again while taking down Banished reinforcements and once the Conduit reaches 25% the Sentinels returns again.

• Anders: "Jerome, there's a wave of Sentinels coming! Isabel, prepare the EMP!"

An EMP MAC hits the Conduit once more and the defenses are disabled once again. UNSC forces quickly destroy it to force it to shut down.

The second barrier is disabled once UNSC destroys the West Conduit.

• Anders: "We're nearly there, Jerome. One more and we'll be through the shield!"

The Banished base.

The UNSC start assembling forces again and this time they have to go through Banished base to reach the North Conduit but they lack the manpower to breach it.

• Captain Cutter: "You're going to need more support, Jerome. I've managed to free up a few more fresh recruits for you."

The Banished launch an assault on the UNSC base. The UNSC regroup on the base and immediately defend against the incoming attack.

• Captain Cutter: "Jerome, to support such a heavy Banished presence, they must have bases somewhere in the central chamber."

New Reinforcements upgrade can now be researched at the Armory.

The UNSC start building more forces and after they are assembled, the UNSC launch the assault on the Banished base. The fight is intense as the Banished give strong resistance. However, the UNSC manage to destroy the base and defeats the Banished's defenses around the base.

Upon reaching the North Conduit, UNSC forces spots Engineers on the North Conduit.

• Jerome-092: "Professor, the Banished have Engineers."
• Anders: "Take them out before they repair the conduits!"

UNSC forces immediately defeat the Banished defenses around the Conduit and they try to attack the Conduit. However, Engineers around the Conduit immediately repairs it.

• Anders: "Jerome, we need those Engineers gone before we can take out the Conduit!"

UNSC forces immediately defeat the Engineers before they start attacking the Conduit.

• Jerome-092: "Engineers are down, team. Target the Conduit!"

When it reaches 75% the shield rises as the Sentinels arrive and the UNSC forces move away to a safe distance. The UNSC then issues an EMP MAC to disable the Conduit's defenses and once the defenses are down, UNSC forces continue attacking it again. However, Banished send more Engineers and units to repair and defend the Conduit from the UNSC.

• Anders: "Watch out, the Banished are sending in more Engineers!"

The UNSC then splits their units in two, one to attack Conduit and one to attack the Engineers. Once the Engineers down, the UNSC attacks the Conduit again while defeating any Banished reinforcements that were coming towards UNSC.

When the Conduit reaches 25% the final Sentinel defenses on the last Conduit arrive.

• Anders: "Here they come, Jerome!"

The UNSC moves away while engaging Banished infantry and Banshees. Once the Sentinels arrive, the final EMP MAC is shot onto the Conduit and the Sentinel defenses dispersed. The UNSC finally shuts down the last Conduit and the last shield disables.

• Jerome-092: "That's the last Conduit!"
• Anders: "We've got a new problem, Protector Sentinels incoming!"

Several Protector Sentinels are heading to the UNSC base to destroy it.

• Anders: "They're not part of the swarm; so we should be able to damage them."

Jerome and the UNSC forces immediately pull back to the base to defeat the Protector Sentinels and once the Sentinels are defeated the UNSC start building forces again before heading to the Map Room.

Once assembled, Jerome leads the UNSC and encounters packs of Protector Sentinels and a swarm of Sentinels that block their way. UNSC forces quickly take the Protector Sentinels out and the Sentinels dispersed.

Moving to the second Sentinel barrier, the UNSC encounters more Protector Sentinels along with the Aggressors. The UNSC give no ground and quickly defeats the Sentinels and the Sentinel barrier dispersed.

Encountering more resistance on the final Sentinel barrier, the UNSC defeats every one of the Protectors Sentinels and once they are destroyed, the final Sentinels barrier dispersed.

Upon reaching the Map room, the swarms of Sentinels are defending it while two Protector Sentinels guard it.

• Anders: "Isabel, there's another swarm blocking our entrance to the Map Room. Power up the EMP."

Once the Protector Sentinels are defeated, the UNSC calls in an EMP MAC to disable Sentinel defenses in the Map Room and the Sentinels dispersed from the Map Room.

• Anders: "That's cleared them out!"

The UNSC immediately moves to secure the Map Room.

{In-game Cutscene}

Anders runs into the Map Room while Marines are guarding the area.

• Jerome-092: "That looks like it, Professor. It's all yours."
• Anders: "Time to find out what Atriox has been up to."

Anders arrives on the platform and it ascends so she can start working on the Cartographer.

• Anders: "Incredible, I can see so much of the Ark from here! Weapons system, environmental controls, bio-resource libraries..and..."

A Forerunner cannon can be seen by Atriox's portal network around the Ark.

• Anders: "The Ark's portal network. Captain, Atriox has been using the Cartographer to map and take over The Ark's portal network!"

A script here says hundreds but Anders said thousands in her dialogue.

• Anders: "There's thousands of them! He's got coverage over the whole of the Ark!"
• Captain Cutter: "That's how his troops seem to be everywhere at once. At least we know how he's doing it now."

Anders keep working on the Cartographer.

• Captain Cutter: "Professor, I need to know how he's controlling that network so we can take it out. Do you have what you need?"

The alarm rangs and the platform starts to descend as Anders stops her work.

• Anders: "Well, I'd love to stay and find out more... but I'd say that's our cue to go."

The Wolverines move to intercept Protector Sentinels that are coming to Anders and the UNSC guards against it. The first Sentinels are shot down by Wolverines and Jerome boards the second Protector Sentinel, using his Spartan Laser to take down another Protector Sentinels but it crashes and destroys one of the Wolverines. Another Wolverine destroys the last Protector Sentinels while Jerome crash lands the Protector Sentinel into a destroyed Wolverine.

• Jerome-092: "Spirit of Fire, we're on our way back!"

Level ends

Leader powers

• Restoration Drones I and II (I picked by default)
• Archer Missiles I (I picked by default)
• Battle Hardened I
• Lotus Mine I and II (I picked by default)
• MAC blast EMP I (I picked by default, only available when the sentinel is protecting the conduit)

Initial Structures and Units

• Jerome-092
• 2000 Supply
• 500 Power
• 6 Marines
• Command Center
  • 1 Supply Pad
  • 1 Generator
  • 1 Garage

Strategies

General

• Make sure you have proper firepower to assault the Banished's base. The base is typically defended by Elite Rangers, Hunters, and Banshees.
• Keep Wolverines at the base and upgrade all base turrets with anti-air additions, as Banshees and Protector Sentinels are both aircraft units.
• Jerome can attack conduits from outside the Sentinel's swarm radius.
• Note that MAC Blast EMP would not deal any damage to hostile units, since it's only available exclusively to hit the Conduits.

Bonus and Optional Objectives

• There are two Minibases around the Central Chamber. It is best to destroy them before attacking the North Conduit so the Banished won't attack your troops during your attack on the conduit.
• Have 3 Wolverines guard the base at all times, because Banshees will frequently attack the base. After all three conduits are destroyed, Protector Sentinels will also attack the base. These two units can contribute to the 30 kills on air units using Wolverines.
  • Wolverines can also join the main attack force as the Banished may also send Banshees to the conduits.

Achievements

The following achievements can be unlocked on The Cartographer..

Achievement art	Title	Unlock requirement	Gamerscore
	Stirring the pot	Complete "The Cartographer"	10

Production notes

The level layout for The Cartographer was primarily done by 343 Industries concept artist Ben Nicholas, who worked on the level layout and gameplay flow. The level environment art was handled by Creative Assembly environment artist Gaëtan Perrot.

Trivia

• The Emperor skull is awarded for destroying both minibases in the central chamber.
• This is the only level in which the MAC blast EMP leader power can be used. The EMP MAC only becomes available when the Sentinels are swarming the Conduits. It cannot be used in other cases.
• Strangely, the Protector Sentinels will fire on the Sentinel Swarm.

Gallery

• 

  Concept art of the cartographer.

• 

  Concept art of the cartographer.

• 

  A concept overview of the map's layout.

• 

  A top-down view of the level.

Sources

Preceded by One Three Zero

Halo Wars 2 campaign levels The Cartographer

Succeeded by Lights Out