The Silent Cartographer (Level)

Looking for Silent Cartographer, the map room?

The Silent Cartographer is the fourth campaign level in Halo: Combat Evolved. The Covenant believe that The Silent Cartographer is somewhere under an island, with multiple structures concealing an installation. As John-117 you must lead a platoon of UNSC Marines in an assault on an island that contains the map room for the Halo Installation. You must discover the location of the Control Room and then make your way back alive.

Weapons

 * Pistol
 * Assault Rifle
 * Rocket Launcher
 * M41 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun
 * Frag Grenade
 * Plasma Pistol
 * Plasma Rifle
 * Needler
 * Energy Sword (non-usable)
 * Plasma Grenade

Vehicles

 * M12 LRV Warthog
 * D77H-TCI Pelican Dropship (non-drivable)
 * Spirit Dropship (non-drivable)

Equipments

 * Active Camouflage
 * Overshield

The Silent Cartographer
{Cutscene}

(Two Pelican dropships approach an island, low over the water. You are inside the lead dropship, Echo 419)

{Gameplay}

Cortana: "The Covenant believe that what they call 'The Silent Cartographer,' is somewhere under this island. The Cartographer is a map room that will lead us to Halo's control center. The island has multiple structures and installations. One of them contains the map room."

Foe Hammer (O.S.): "We're approaching the LZ. It's gonna be hot. Get set to come out swinging. Touchdown! Hit it, Marines!"

Sergeant Waller: "GO GO GO!"

and/or

Sergeant Waller: "Pile out people, let's move!"

Marine: "Pile out!"

Another Marine says while Waller says GO GO GO: "go-go-go...go-go-go!"

(Once the beach is cleared of Covenant hostiles)

Marine: "Area's secure. All hostiles have been eliminated."

or

'''Cortana: "Area's secure."

Foe Hammer (O.S.): "Affirmative. Echo 419 inbound. Somebody order a Warthog?"

Sergeant Waller (O.S.): "Hey, I didn't know you made house calls, Foehammer!"

or

Marine (O.S.): "Music to my ears, Foehammer!"

Foe Hammer (O.S.): "You know our motto: We Deliver."

(As the Chief boards the driver seat of Warthog, two Marines occupy the passenger seat and the turret)

Cortana: "Okay. Let's move out. Let's go find the map room that will show us the location of Halo's control centre."

(As the team approaches the main building)

Cortana: "There, in the cliff wall; I'll bet the Silent Cartographer is somewhere inside that facility." (On Heroic / Legendary): "They're already inside! We need to get in there quick, before they discover the location of Halo's control centre!"

Private First Class Hosky (If he's on the Warthog looking at the passing Spirit|Covenant Dropship): "Anyone else see what I see? How are we supposed to get around that, huh?"

(As the Master Chief shoots his way into the facility)

Cortana: "The Covenant are putting up a real fight! The Cartographer must be here. My analysis indicates that the map room should be at the bottom floor of this facility. Let's keep going inside."

As the Chief sees the open door leading to the shaft...

Cortana: "Don't let them lock the doors!"

After all the Covenant troops in the nearby area have been killed.

Cortana: "Interesting. I underestimated the Covenant's understanding of Halo's subsystems. They've locked the doors, and we don't have enough firepower to get through them." Cortana (O.S.): "Cortana to Keyes."

Captain Keyes (O.S.): "Go ahead, Cortana. Have you found the control centre?"

Cortana (O.S.): "Negative, Captain. The Covenant have impeded our progress. We can't proceed unless we can disable this installation's security system."



Captain Keyes (O.S.):{Slight Pause} "Understood. We're still en route to the objective. I may be out of contact when we get there. {Pause} Here are your orders. I want you to use any means necessary to force your way into the facility and find Halo's control centre. We have to get to the centre before the Covenant, and failure, people, is not an option."

Foe Hammer (O.S.): "Echo 419 to ground teams. I'll stay on station and keep an eye out for Covenant bogies."

Sergeant Waller (O.S.): "Second squad! Ready to roll, soon as everybody's topside!"

Marine (O.S.): "LZ looks secure Sir, nothing moving.'

Captain Keyes (O.S.): "Good luck, people. Keyes out."

Cortana: "We need to find the security override to get this door open."

As the Chief approaches the path leading up into the island.

Cortana: "It looks like there is a path leading to the interior of the island."

If the Chief passes the substation, which juts out of the cliffs.

Cortana: "Well, there's the entrance to the security substation, but it looks like we'll have to look for another way up."

(Alternative Dialogue: If the Security Station is entered before going to the auto-locking door to the map room.)

Cortana: This isn't the map room. Analysing... (Pause) This is a security override station for the main facility, located somewhere else on this island. Shut the system down so the Covenant won't be able to lock us out.

Once the Chief shuts the system down...

Once the Chief gets inside the substation and reach the security override, the "Normal" way.

Cortana: Use the holo panel to shut down the security system.

{Cutscene}

The previously locked door opens to reveal a Zealot Elite.

Cortana: "Good. That should open the door that leads into the main shaft."

It's Quiet...
As the Chief moves down the hall from the security substation, towards the exit.

Pelican Pilot (O.S.): "Mayday, mayday! Dropship Bravo 022 taking enemy fire! Repeat! We are under heavy fire and are losing altitude!"

Cortana (O.S.): Understood. We're on our way.

As the Chief exits the substation.

Cortana: "Chief, Bravo 22 was bringing us some heavy weapons. After I saw we were up against Hunters, I thought you could use them. Let's move down the beach. Keep an eye out for any cargo we can salvage."

As the Chief approaches the now-unlocked door leading to the shaft.

Shafted
{Cutscene}

''Master Chief walks out onto the platform overlooking the shaft and kicks a loose piece of debris down it. It doesn't clatter as it hits the bottom.''

{Gameplay}

As the Chief moves farther down into the facility, into the third of four levels.

Foe Hammer (O.S.): "Foehammer to ground teams, you got two enemy dropships coming in fast!"

Sergeant Waller (O.S.): "Dammit! Okay, people, we got company comin', let's set the table. Engage enemy forces on sight!"

Cortana (O.S.): "It'll be easier to hold them off from inside the structure. Can you get inside? '

Sergeant Waller (O.S.): "Negative! They're closin' in too fast, negative! (Pause) Chief! You gotta find the Cartographer! We'll keep 'em busy as long as we can!"

Cortana (O.S.): "Give 'em hell, Marine."

Cortana (O.S.): 'We'll be in a tight spot if we don't get out of here before additional reinforcements arrive. Let's find that map."

When the Chief finally reaches the Cartographer.

Cortana: "There. That holo panel should activate the map."

{Cutscene}

The Silent Cartographer holo display begins to spin, and the diagram of Halo begins to break into sections.

Cortana: Analyzing. Halo's control center is located there. That structure appears to be some sort of temple or shrine, if I've interpreted this correctly. (Pause) Interesting. A shrine is an unlikely place to put such a significant installation.

Cortana (O.S.): "Cortana to Captain Keyes."

Foe Hammer (O.S.): "The Captain has dropped out of contact, Cortana. His ship may be out of range or having equipment problems."

Cortana (O.S.): "Keep trying. Let me know when you've reestablished contact, and then tell him that the Master Chief and I have determined the location of the control center. We'll be heading there as soon as we're topside."

Foe Hammer (O.S.): "Affirmative. Foehammer out."

Once the Chief reaches to the exit of the facility.

Cortana (O.S.): "Cortana to Echo 419. The Chief and I are topside, requesting pickup."

Foe Hammer (O.S.): "Roger. On my way."

As the Chief boards the Pelican.

{Cutscene}

Echo419 lifts off from the platform and rises quickly, circling the centre of the island.

Cortana (O.S.): "Let's get moving. Foehammer. Here are coordinates and a flight plan I've worked out."

Foe Hammer (O.S.): "But, Cortana...these coordinates are underground."

Cortana (O.S.): "The Covenant did a thorough seismic scan. My analysis shows that Halo is honeycombed with deep tunnels, which circle the whole ring."

The structure where the first pair of Hunters appeared, lifts up, revealing an underground tunnel; Echo 419 lowers into it as the structure comes back up again.

Foe Hammer (O.S.): "I hope your analysis is on-the-money, Cortana. This Pelican won't turn on a dime."

Cortana (O.S.): "Look on the bright side, Foehammer. The last thing the Covenant will expect is an aerial insertion from underground."

Echo 419 continues to lower through the structure, the top closes with a bang before everything goes dark.

Part 1: The Silent Cartographer
Two Pelicans will fly you to an island. Predictably, Echo 419 will drop you off. The LZ is hot, which means what little ammo you have will run dry very quickly. Pull your pistol and snipe the Grunts. Once there are no more, then swap to your trusty MA5B and polish off the Minor Elite and any remaining grunts. There are a few Elites and jackals up back. A few grenades should suffice.

Once they're toast, Foehammer drops off a Warthog. Nice timing. Now you have two choices. Lucky you. You can save some time and go clockwise, and only go to the Cartographer once, or you can use the Covenant as target practice. If you chose the first one, you should see a warning in bold. Skip to that part, as the next part won't concern you. If not, read on and follow the walkthrough.

So, follow Foehammer anticlockwise and keep driving. Ignore the Jackal, he won't do anything, and plow through the grunts and the elite, then move up. You'll see a dropship. There are about 5 jackals there, with an overshield. Take it if you want, but you don't need it. Kill the jackals and then move up the facility. There are four elites and a pack of grunts up there, so have fun. Plow through them and watch out for grenades. Drive the 'hog down the ramps and kill the Covenant. The doors will lock anyway, so don't worry. Drive up again and go left. You should be unopposed until you come across a path.

ALTERNATIVE METHOD WALKTHROUGH BEGINS HERE

Drive up that ramp and straight into the group of jackals. Kill anything that moves, but that elite will run up the path. Accelerate to full speed and drive through the gap and slowly turn right. Leave the warthog and polish off the Covenant. Then move up the path with the 'hog. Trust me, you'll want it. Hope that you have marines, but if you don't there is a massive ammo cache ahead. There are also two hunters. When the 'hog gets through, drive round the hatch, the slow-moving fuel rods can't touch you. Let the Light Anti-Aircraft Gun do the work. Then have fun with the Jackals further on. There is one elite, two jackals and a few grunts down there, so that shouldn't be too hard. The real challenge is ahead. When you reach the security facility, there'll be grunts, but no elite. Easy. Swap out your AR for a needler, and keep your pistol. Head down the ramp. You can take the warthog, but i find that i doesn't do much good. Walk forward until your Motion Tracker scans two large blobs. Let the hunters see you, then walk back up the ramp. Wait until things quiet down, then go back. Those hunters should be standing in non-combat position. Fire a quick volley of shots from your pistol. You can use the needler, but chances are they’ll bounce off the hunter’s shield. Once one is down, the other will fire a 21-gun salute in your direction. Go back and when you return, the hunter will be over the death of his brother, and that patch of orange skin should have a target on it. Give him another volley from either weapon and deactivate the security system.

Part 2: It’s Quiet
I recommend you run past the stealth elites. They aren’t worth the ammo. Hope you remembered where you left your AR, ‘cause you’ll want it now. Down on the beach, there’ll be a few grunts on that mesa, plus a few jackals. No elites to worry about, though. Pull the almighty M6D, and snipe those grunts. Try the jackals, too, but I wouldn’t worry about them too much. You can drive off the structure, and that will save you some time, and you leave about seven jackals disappointed. Oh, well. Polish off any Covies on the beach. Now, as powerful as the pistol is, the M19 SSM will do a much better job in half the time. Get the flipped ‘hog if your marines are dying, but don’t kill them. Chances are you’ve already killed two in that trick with the path into the middle of the island. If your marines are well and truly alive, take them and save yourself the effort.

When you reach the cartographer: Kill those jackals that are waiting for some 50 caliber fun to lighten up their patrol, then you have two options: 1)Leave the jeep a safe distance from those Hunters, their arm mounted fuel rods can tear up your jeep, so leave it a safe distance away. Crouch behind the log. The closest hunter is probably ready to tango. Hunter number two is probably relaxed, and isn't ready to fight. Aim for him, since the warm orange blood will get the second one moving, and harder to hit. Send him a 102mm surprise and move. That other Hunter will be coming for you and this is too good an opportunity to miss. Strafe sideways and get the hunter in the recticule. Time for a family reunion. Send it the full HE treatment. Then the way is clear.

2)Those Hunters will hear that annoying ranchera music coming from the Puma's radio (Red vs Blue season 1). Cavalry charge the first one, but if he jumps out of the way, follow him. Once he's roadkill, Pin the other against the wall. After that, the Silent Cartographer is yours...after all the Covies between you and that map, are dead.) There are two hunters left on this level, so keep the launcher and a few rockets. You should have two in the launcher, and five in reserve. Switch to your Assault Rifle, and get the ‘hog down the ramps. Park so that your gunner can fire on the door. There are two elites and a whole lot of grunts in here. Not that any will run out the door. That LAAG will make light work of the zealot that comes along later.

Part 3: Shafted
Right, the first elite will be facing away from you. Earn yourself a free kill and assassinate him (hit him it the back by meleeing him). Go up the ramp and kill the grunts at the top. Once all of the Covenant are dead, open the door and chuck a grenade. Once it goes off, proceed down to the next level. There is a central room, which has hunters, and an outer room. There are a few ways to get the hunters, but there is an ammo cache nearby. Near that, around the corner, there is a doorway. Strafe in and out of it and fire on the hunters as you go inside the inner room. There are a crapload of jackals, so watch out for overcharges. The fuel rods can play hell when your shields are down. Once everything has stopped moving, Take the necessary time to stock up on ammo. Keep the launcher. The next room is empty. take note of where the ramps are. Trust me, I’ve died searching for those ramps. The door on the left has an Active Camouflage. Take it, then jump down. Take out the grunts and elites quietly and quickly. Grab the overshield NOW. Guarding the Map are two minor elites (one minor, one major on Heroic). If you still have active camo, tap them out. If not, them take them out with a grenade stick. Then activate the map. Now reinforcements have arrived. My suggestion is that you run past the first two floors. Let 300% worth of energy shield take the plasma. Then, where you encountered the hunters, pull the launcher. Three reloads, two in the launcher. Nice. Just be sure to keep AT LEAST TWO rockets. You want them. Use the AR on grunts and jackals as much as possible. I recommend using the launcher on the major elite. Now, there aren’t that many Covenant left in this level. Take care of anything in the first room. Then stick the minor in the antechamber. Only five Covenant left in the whole level. They’re all elites. Now, enter the tunnel where you came in. Abandon all hope…except for that rocket launcher. That red blip on your motion tracker is that of a sword-wielding zealot. He’s dangerous in close quarters, such as small rooms, command centres…tunnels. Hope that your warthog mounted marines take care of him, but if the elite comes into your tunnel, use the launcher. If you miss the first time, then you have a second one left. Well, that's if you took the "Keep two in reserve" advice. You can use your assault rifle, but it won’t guarantee survival. Now, get into the warthog, and take caution. A Spirit Dropship will be there, and that cannon is dangerous. Wait till he’s gone, then take out the stealth elites. If you have rockets, now is the time. Or, you can run past straight to Echo 419. Congratulations, six hunters and a crapload of other stuff, and you still have two fingers for the next level.

Glitches
To do this glitch you have to be in co-operative mode. First, get you and your team-mate into the warthog and drive as far into the water as possible, until you reach an invisible wall. Get your team-mate out of the warthog and get him to stand in front of the wall, then slowly push him, and he will go through, free to explore the wide open sea.
 * It is possible to save up to 6 of the Marines by transporting them away from the beach with the three Warthogs you encounter. But if you somehow get all of the surviving Marines inside of the structure, they will all die for no particular reason.
 * When you enter the facility where the Silent Cartographer is located, it is actually possible to jump off the platform that hangs over the abyss and land on the bottom floor where the Silent Cartographer is found. However, this can only be done if you have an overshield, or with a perfectly timed crouch as you jump. It is possible to jump to a level under the Hunter floor, but they will be encountered when heading back up.
 * You can get the Marines in the structure, but for them to be alive you need to get them in the Cartographer installation.
 * If you bring 3 Marines (with a Warthog) to the main facility exterior, and kill two of them, the other one will turn against you. If you severely injure him, he will become pissed and will chase you, even into the Cartographer. If both of you enter the building, he will encounter the Covenant, and if he survives (which is unlikely providing he was severely injured) he will hold position in that room. This glitch can also be performed with more Marines, but it is harder to piss a lot of them off when under heavy fire, and they will chase you in a line, so friendly fire will occur between them (again, due to their injuries, they will die easily).
 * You also can get the Marines and the Warthog in the security sub-station, but when you return, you will notice the Warthog turned down and only one marine alive.
 * The Zealot on this level can die up to three times. If you kill him before the main facility door locks, a second one will replace him after the cut scene of the following objective and his body will still be there. If you leave a Warthog at the door with a Marine on the gun, the Zealot will be killed again by the Marine. When you head back topside at the end of the mission, you will encounter him yet again.
 * The Engineer is hidden in the map's code, and can be spawned with the help of Halo Mapping Tools. Apparently, the Engineers were supposed to be on this level, but were removed from gameplay, but not the map's code.
 * It is possible, (but very difficult) if you drive the Warthog in to the building to jam the security doors open and then by leaving the Warthog you end up inside the passage and can go straight to the Silent Cartographer, bypassing the Hunters etc. If you do this Cortana will continue to talk as if you had not.
 * At the end of the mission, when the Pelican picks you up, get in, but then press X to get out, the cutscene will activate, and you can see Master Chief standing on the ledge as the Pelican flies away. However, you will still complete the level, and the cutscene will still go as normal.
 * In two of the four hunter areas, there is a steep ledge. One, where you enter the Cartographer facility after deactivating the security override. The Hunters will be standing at the place Echo 419 picks you up at the end. Facing the Hunters, back pedal almost to the edge of the ledge. Then, get one to lunge at you. If you time it right, you can sidestep and it's own momentum will send it tumbling down below. On the 3 higher difficulties this will not kill it. BEWARE: It will immediately walk up the hill and back to the area it is supposed to be. This also works with the last Hunter pair of the level. Run past them right to the large drop next to the slope, and repeat what you did before. In the two higher difficulties, this will not kill it, and you can peer at it as it stumbles around, confused, not able to get up to where it is supposed to be. Do not peer too long though, as it will fire its rod gun straight up, killing you quite easily.
 * If you enter the security terminal without killing off the Grunts and Elites first, they will be toast and blood will be spurted all over when you come out. The same works for the Cartographer, and if you get out fast enough, the normal Elites and Grunts you left behind will die spontaneously while shooting you right as the stealth ones spawn.
 * If you hang around the Pelicans when you are first dropped off, they will not move. On the lower difficulty you can wait for your Marines to wipe out the Covenant and a second Foehammer will fly in to give you the warthog.
 * You can go through the whole level by going in reverse. When you get dropped off, go backwards until you reach the path into the security override. You can go through about mid through, a marine will say "LZ clear", kill everything, and activate the panel. Cortana will say " Chief, this isn't the map room" The cinematic will start and then Cortana will say " good, now the Covenant won't be able to lock us out." Then go outside, get the Warthog and rockets. Go to where you were dropped off and the Pelicans will leave and start battling. You can bring the Warthog in and get the marines in turrets. Then the Warthog Foehammer drops off will be there. The Hunters will be there and nobody will be in the installation.
 * When the cutscene is over and you land, if you walk over to the other Pelican, Bravo 022, it will say "E419" as well as yours. Later, when you inspect the crashed Bravo 022 after you deactivate the security system, it will say "V933" instead of "B022"
 * On your first attempt to enter the Cartographer, if you let one Grunt live, it will run up the stairs and kneel on a ramp. Even if you shoot it, it will stay in that position.
 * As soon as you get a Warthog you can drive all the way out into the ocean but you are stopped by an invisible wall.
 * It is possible to bring the Warthog all the way inside the Silent Cartographer during your second attempt in. In the cutscene Shafted where Chief kicks a pebble over the ledge, he will walk into the hog and then suddenly appear to the ledge.
 * After the Covenant lock the door when you first attempt to enter the building, you can kill the Zealot elite by shooting through the little glass window (with UNSC weapons at least. Covenant weapons do not). If you don't take an absurdly long time opening the door again, the Zealot will come out of the door and walk over his own dead body. You can also stick him before the doors close.
 * When the Marine says area secure, if you are at the hill pass, you will notice the Pelican dropship, which drops the Warthog flying into the Hunter Area, and then it will disappear.
 * On the trial version for PC, if you stick yourself and then get into the pelican at the end, the screen will say "Loading... done" as normal, and then when the grenade goes off, the screen goes black, then goes to a third-person view behind the pelican flying past the tree, then a first person view where the chief would be standing, then fades out to black, then fades in as normal to the cinematic where Johnson tells you to buy the full version. The easiest way to stick yourself is to use the Covenant cargo modules as a surface to bounce the grenade off.
 * It is also possible to drive the Warthog into the installation. When you open the door where the Zealot is, the marines in the Warthog will shoot at the Zealot, allowing you to sneak up on it if they do not finish it off first.
 * You can skip one third of the level. When you walk over to the ledge when you enter the Cartographer, you will trigger the cut scene, there, you should be able to over look the lowest level where leads directly to the map room. There is an Overshield near the Covenant boxes, jump over the edge and you should be able to get the overshield without losing your shield and health. It's a tricky jump, as players will often fall to their doom trying to retrieve the Overshield.
 * If you go back to the beach after Echo 419 comes to pick you up, all the Marines will be dead.
 * There is a time freeze glitch that makes all of the marines freeze in one spot for most of the level.
 * The stunned Marine glitch, a glitch where certain marines just outside the Silent Cartographer freeze when you come back from disabling the Silent Cartographer's security system, works on this level.

Miscellaneous

 * It's obvious that all of the marines deployed on the island were KIA since a marine contacting Cortana said that they were going to hold off the Covenant reinforcements for as long as they could. Meaning that they probably all died trying to defend John-117 while he explored the Cartographer.
 * In the back of Halo: CE box there is a part where you can see a Banshee in this level.
 * Bungie's code name for this mission was B-30.
 * On Easy and Normal difficulties, you sit next to Sergeant Waller on Echo 419; however, on Heroic and Legendary difficulties, you sit next to an Asian Marine.
 * This level is the only level that was featured in the Halo PC demo, Mac demo, and Xbox demo.
 * Bungie stated that the Silent Cartographer was a sort of sandbox where they just threw a lot of things in to have tested, like lighting, graphics, weapons or vehicles. It was never intended to be a level for players to play in, until it later became a memorable, official level.
 * The original objective of this mission was to assassinate a Prophet who was trying to find the Silent Cartographer.
 * There is a hidden tunnel in the cliff wall that leads to the top of the structure that contains the Silent Cartographer.
 * The Marines you left on the surface are not even mentioned as you return for extraction, and Foehammer does not inform you of their status, even if they are KIA.
 * When playing co-operative, player one sits in the second Pelican, while player two is in the first Pelican.
 * This level is the most popular Halo: Combat Evolved level for Warthog Launching, and also the most popular in its game for modding.
 * There are 3 Warthogs in total in this level.
 * In Halo: The Flood, the Sergeant on the beach was Sergeant Waller. But in Halo: Combat Evolved, it's Sergeant Stacker.
 * The Warthog is the only drivable vehicle in this level.
 * When you first enter the Silent Cartographer facility, there will be a backward facing Elite fiddling with a cargo module.

Related Links

 * Warthog Jump
 * Death Island