Question about the Composer

[The_Christian_Nerd]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Composer an attachment on the Didact's starship? Shouldn't it be in his 5-C key and not his Base?

 

[KarmodF]

Yes and no, the Composer can be detach and he usually carries around it, not to mention it can teleport it, but is usually attached to the Mantle.

Its as standart equipment for him as guns are for Chief, is even said in one of the Forerunner triology that he walekd around earth with it as if it was some sort of dog, while composing the human warriors.

 

[VersusJunkie54]

I've been thinking about how to answer this. And I think I may have an answer.

I'll be real, it's a bit headcanonish but here goes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXCKqt4bWDE

In this video, the doctor MC talks to says "It took three months, and the biggest Starship the UNSC could thow at it just to move it here"

There are some problems with this statement. 1: The UNSC's biggest starship is the UNSC Infinity. The Infinity was covertly constructed for like 20 something years using scavenged Forerunner technology, Meaning they should be able to somewhat interface with the technology. But when the Doctor says this, we don't know exactly what she means.

The Infinity is probably the UNSC's greatest asset. And at the time the Composer was discovered, I strongly doubt that they knew what it was capable of, and the UNSC Infinity was likely on a mission anyways. So we can't really use this statement for anything because it's purely speculative. And we don't know if the Composer was moved before or after the Infinity was even deployed.

The Didact being a Forerunner is of course able to interface with Forerunner technology and make the Composer respond and move. Considering what it's capable of, I find it hard to believe it would be any less capable than the Didact's cryptum when it comes to self movement.

"But why did the Didact need the Mantle's Approach to move it?"

Probably because he needed to safely transport it. After all, even scaling its durability via Newton's Third Law. A combined MAC assault from some moderate UNSC ships could probably destroy it. While the Didact can very likely open slipspace directly like the Warden Eternal, and has demonstrated surviving it. Never mind the fact that Gen 2 Mjolnir can as well. He probably can't travel really far interstellar distances really quickly like an actual starship could.

Another theory I have is that he needed the Mantle in order to give the Composer enough power. It was stated somewhere in Halo 4 that the Composer can fire on its own and without being attached to anything. As it did so to an unnamed research team. But when attached to the Didact's ship, it's what allows him to have the massive AOE that he has.

My conclusion: The Didact can likely have the Composer hover high above him like his Cryuptum can. But it would likely be severely nerfed in terms of the range it can cover. Being generous I'd say an area os 2-3 kilometers considering it Composed everyone onboard the station.

So yeah. The Composer's ability to move and hover should be comparable to the Didact's cryptum which is both bigger and likely not as powerful.

 

[KarmodF]

GEN2 Mjolnir cant survive Slipspace, and if so it would be an outlier.

 

[DarkDragonMedeus]

The Composer's range is kind of exaggerated, "The video that said 200 kilometers" was merely the question of how far they were from Mantle's Approach and nothing to do with the composer. As a side note, the Halo Nation say dozens of kilometers for range, so I think that would be a more reasonable estimate.

Now as for carrying the Composer, it think it's better said he can attach it to the War Sphinx. The Mantle does have multiple Composers inside the ship as well as on the outside, they can be detached and moved for sure, but doesn't generally travel far unless attached to something. They're like of like fortress turrets rather than actual infantry guns. Plus Didact is usually in his War Sphinx most of the time through the Forerunner trilogy when he wonders into planets such as Earth or is at war with humans.

Also, surviving inside slipspace isn't a durability feat but rather resistance to radiation.

 

[KarmodF]

The Beast (InFAMOUS) has planetary range from destroying the moon from the earth, the Composer's feat is similar, but thats not the point of the threath whatsoever.

Now as for carrying the Composer, it think it's better said he can attach it to the War Sphinx. The Mantle does have multiple Composers inside the ship as well as on the outside, they can be detached and moved for sure, but doesn't generally travel far unless attached to something. They're like of like fortress turrets rather than actual infantry guns. Plus Didact is usually in his War Sphinx most of the time through the Forerunner trilogy when he wonders into planets such as Earth or is at war with humans.

All of this was debunked in the previous points, Didact has used the Composer detach and on foot and 90% of the Forerunner triology is him travelling or talking to other Forerunners, he used a War Sphinx once in the whole triology and thats we're it was shown that the average combat ship was able to stomp 3 Sphinxes.

 

[DarkDragonMedeus]

Of course that's planetary range; 240,000 kilometers is well above baseline plantery range. But still, it doesn't have a 200 kilometer range feat and it says several dozen kilometers here.

Source where it says that, because I don't recall any context outright describing him as physically carrying it over his head. And FanofRPGs said the opposite on another wiki, about Didact using War Sphinxes or Seekers 90% of the time whenever he was on Earth.

 

[KarmodF]

The I dont know, I guess it comes from eyeballing the New Phoenix feat since he was far away from the earth.

He used the Composer on Alpha Halo without using the Mantle on humans as narrated in the H4 Terminals, you also changed your argument, you said that "Didact is usually in his War Sphinx most of the time through the Forerunner trilogy." never specified the battle of earth, which even then it doesnt support any argument whatsoever.

 

[DarkDragonMedeus]

Alpha Halo is another Forerunner construct that contains their own Composers, again does change the fact that it's a stage weapon rather than a carriable weapon by hand weapon. And I meant specifically when he travels to planets such as Earth, he usually has Mantle, War Sphinx, or Seeker.

Also a note, if he does carry Composer, it would be roughly a Class M with telekinesis lifting strength feat. The Composer's overall volume is roughly a 1000x greater than a school bus.

A little late for work, so I'll be back.

 

[VersusJunkie54]

@DDM

You're getting some things mixed up. The 200 KM figure is the Composer's AOE with the Mantle. And its beam can travel at least tens of thousands of kilometers when powered by something.

 

[KarmodF]

Halos dont have their own personal Composers, I dont even know where did you get that info, and no its not a stage weapon, he can command it similar to other forerunner weaponry, with pure toughts. You didnt meant it? You changed your argument, two different things, never specified the latter in your first post, and again that doesnt change much.

He having Class M wouldnt be so outrageous to considerate it an outlier whatsoever.

 

[DarkDragonMedeus]

Oh it comes from when it's enhanced by the Mantle's Approach? I see, fair enough then.

And actually, Installation 03 does; there are details on this article. It's also said the Forerunners often used ships to transfer Composers to various locations. I also edited my post to match what I actually meant to say about War Sphinxes on earth.

Never said it was an outlier, but I'm still waiting for scans to prove that he actually carried Composers over his head with his own might.

 

[VersusJunkie54]

I never claimed that the Didact physically carries a Composer. But suggested that it is likely self propelled to some degree much like the Didact's Cryptum

 

[DarkDragonMedeus]

I was talking to KarmodF about that.

 

[KarmodF]

Inst. 03 is gamma (And The Didact composed humans while in Omega Halo) and that was likely a method for the Forerunners to protect the Composers from the Flood at the end of the war, as is shown how all other composers where stored on the Forge, I mean there are a lot of Forerunners who didnt have ships or kinetic power similar to Ur and they still used the Composer, so, as Versus said they would likely just hover around like the Cryptum, there is even an artwork showing one hovering around a battlefield (But I dont recall where it appears).

Also the Composer's rage should still be Planetary with or without the Mantle, as there isnt any confirmation that it amps the range whatsoever and it would be more headcannon than anything.

Forgot to mention, but The Didact can teleport and move around the composer.

 

[DarkDragonMedeus]

Didact was said to have the Mantle's Approach with him during that incident; where he composed "hundreds of thousands of humans". Planetary range without the composer seems stretching and speculative at best, since it lacks the feats demonstrated it on that level normally. Official canon source still says Composer is only tens of kilometers normally. And yes, they use Slipspace technology to move those around.

 

[KarmodF]

Agreed.

There is no refrence to the Mantle boosting its range, power or any of the composer's characteristics, as all composers are made equal, Didact didnt have any special Composer to use with the Mantle.

Proof? It wasnt any Slipspace portal when he teleported the Composer and was shown to move it where the Blue Team we're standing without any showings of a slipspace portal, again, no proof of slipspace, not to mention that Forerunners already had devices which could teleport even without any user, such as the Janus' key's case.

 

[DarkDragonMedeus]

Actually, some Composers were noted to be smaller than other ones; with the one in Halo 4 for instance being considered larger than most Composers. This page does say the natural range is several dozen kilometers, and Trivia hints not all composers are equal.

All teleporters in the Halo Universe make use of Slipspace technology. Janus Key is the same case.

 

[KarmodF]

That talks about size not range, I wasnt very specific but I was refrering to the range, as the composer that he got from the Ivanoff station was just a random composer they found and it wasnt build specificly to Ur's demand or anything.

Again, proof. There are teleporters in Halo that work without any Slipspace enginering, such as the ones in the Halo that the Monitors use, not to mention that even raptures leaves scars in space.

 

[DarkDragonMedeus]

The teleporters in the Halo that Monitors use? Right here. Quite? It encases them in a compressed slipstream field. It makes mention that all ships in the Halo universe make use of slipstream space for interstellar travel.

 

[KarmodF]

Yes those ones, but the page doesnt mention any source of the Teleportation grid being slipstream fields, unlike the previous ones we have been linking, so it isnt 100% reliable, also that isnt the same way Ur teleported the Composer as it doesnt show the yellow glow as seen in the pages.

Going to sleep, hopefully versus can continue the discussion.