James Cutter

Captain James Cutter was a Senior Officer in the UNSC Navy. He was the commanding officer of the modified colony ship, the. Cutter is known to have had a wife, Mary Cutter, and a daughter on Reach. Their fate is unknown.

He appears as a hero unit in Halo Wars.

Biography
Before joining the UNSC, Cutter earned respect for standing up to terrorists in the Epsilon Indi system. Over time, he became the captain of the, and is known to walk the ship at night to check on the crew. He is so well respected that coffee houses give him free coffee beans to take with him on long trips.

James Cutter entered the UNSC School of the North Star on September 15th, 2500, where he studied on astro-navigation and political science.

He was then sent to the Officer Candidate School on June 19th, 2504 where he was taught in Command and Navigation.

There, he entered naval service as a Lieutenant and junior Navigations Officer on the on November 16th, 2507. He was later transferred to the on January 9th, 2514, where he became the chief Navigation Officer,

He achieved the rank of Commander upon his transfer to the on August 8th, 2519, a post he stayed at until his transfer to the Spirit of Fire on the fifth anniversary of his transfer to the Glasgow. He was given the rank of Captain on arrival. Before the Harvest campaign, Cutter was offered command of the Destroyer, though he turned it down.

With the outbreak of war with the Covenant, Cutter was handpicked by Admiral Preston Cole to command the Spirit of Fire in her new role as center of repair, supply, and forward deployment operations for Battlegroup D. Cutter participated in the Harvest Campaign in 2531. He developed a close relationship with the ship's AI, Serina, but was suspicious as to the presence of Professor Anders, suspecting that there was more to her than met the eye. After making a log on the "five years of hell" that led to the reclamation of the planet, Cutter and his ship still remained within the system, Cutter believed that although Harvest had been reclaimed by the UNSC, it was unlikely that the Covenant would simply back down. His belief was vindicated in a sense, considering that Sergeant John Forge alerted Cutter that the Covenant had uncovered something in the planet's northern polar region, with Professor Anders giving further proof of this claim. Cutter thus ordered that Alpha Base be brought online and the site be taken. In the aftermath of the Harvest 'field trip', Cutter's level of trust towards Anders increased, impressed by the bravery she'd demonstrated down on the planet.

Decorations

 * Bronze Star/Meritorious action on board the UNSC Glasgow.
 * Campaign Ribbon/Operation: TREBUCHET/Logistics Corps/
 * Campaign Ribbon/Operation: BREADCRUMB/
 * Campaign Ribbon/Operation: WHISPER AMONG STARS/CLASSIFIED

Abilities

 * Leader Power - MAC Blast.
 * Unique Unit - Elephant.

Upgrades

 * Base Bonus - New bases start as Stations and the starting base is a Fortress.
 * Super Unit - ODST.
 * MAC Upgrades - Medium MAC Blast (Shoots two rounds) - Large MAC Blast (Shoots three rounds) - Super MAC Blast (Shoots four rounds).

Strategic tips

 * The cost for his Super Unit upgrade is 1800 resources. This upgrade allows you to use the Hot Drop Ability (HEV), when ODSTs are sent to the selected area.
 * Cutter's leader power is the slowest and most noticeable of the three (Cutter's MAC Blast, Sgt. Forges Carpet Bomb, and Anders Cryo Bomb). It is smart to use Cutter's against a Scarab, or an enemy base.
 * Cutter's main advantage is that he can gain an early foothold in any Skirmish since his starting base is a Fortress which makes him very good at rushing the enemy.
 * It is preferred to send a scout Warthog to see what your foe is doing at the early stages of a Skirmish. But since Cutter can produce Elephants, you can send one to your enemies base and continuously harass your foe with infantry while you build up your army back at your base.

Trivia

 * Captain Cutter is the only person in Halo Wars that can order an M312 Elephant HRV to be transported down to the combat zone, as well as being able to initiate Magnetic Accelerator Cannon strikes, although in game these are incorrectly referred to as "Mass Accelerated Cannon".
 * Cutter's original concept art closely resembles Emperor Palpatine from the Star Wars universe, played by Ian McDiarmid.
 * He sometimes refers to ships in old nautical terms, although he has never seen an actual waterborne naval vessel.
 * Cutter is voiced by Gregg Berger.
 * Captain Cutter is the only Leader unit in Halo Wars that never appears on the battlefield.
 * Captain Cutter was one of the few people to know about the Flood before the Battle of Installation 04.