Sandtrap

General Tips

The Sandtrap map is home to a unique vehicle: the Elephant. This indestructible Behemoth-class troop transport is equipped with an unbreakable Machine Gun Turret, and may have an additional (though destroyable) turret in certain Game Types. In CTF and Assault games, flags, bombs and bomb arming points are all positioned on the Elephant itself, making it a unique moving base.

The Elephant driver is completely covered from attack from the front and sides, but is – of course – completely vulnerable to attacks from behind the cabin (Fig. 1). For this reason, the driver’s teammates should always be quick to warn him or her when enemies jump on board.

Fig. 1

The inclusion of the Elephant adds an additional strategic layer to certain Game Types, particularly Assault and CTF. If you move it, you increase the distance between a major spawn point for your team (friendly faces will regularly appear back from their brief sojourn in purgatory when it is under allied control), and your supply of vehicles. That said, against better organized opponents, there’s a danger that they may move their Elephant closer in an attempt to overpower you, so it’s sometimes a necessary step.

You can also steal the opposing team’s Elephant and bring it closer to your own in CTF and Assault matches, but this is just as likely to be a tactical faux pas of the highest order as it is a strategic masterstroke.

The single Banshee on this map can cause havoc if left unchecked, and there’s usually a vicious battle to secure it in all Game Types where it appears. The pilot doesn’t have complete control of the skies, though – the presence of Missile Pods and Spartan Lasers means that winning the violent race to get on board is a pyrrhic victory that ends with an abrupt explosion not long after takeoff. For this reason, some teams prefer to simply destroy it, then move on. However, there’s a definite benefit to having members of an opposing team distracted by the need to destroy a Banshee. Who said that tactics were ever easy?

Fig. 2

Looking after and making good use of your vehicles is the key to succeeding in team-based games. Sending a Chopper to camp the position where your enemy’s vehicles spawn can be a highly effective strategy, particularly in Territories sessions.

While you can move outside the perimeter of the map, the sand there is littered with explosive mines – you won’t survive for long if you move more than a few strides past the boundary markers.

In a team-based Oddball game, if you can get your carrier into a fast vehicle, you can drive around in the minefield indefinitely (Fig. 2). The principle dangers out there are Banshees and Missile Pods – plus, of course, anything that might cause you to slow down.

The killzone that surrounds the map does not start immediately at the dune ledges. There is room enough for a vehicle to drive along the edges of the map. Players who have their attention focused on the playable area will often fail to see a vehicle driving there.

Fig. 3

Remember that it’s not just the Chopper’s cannons that you need to worry about – if it boosts before it hits another light vehicle, the results are rarely pretty.

The wreckage of the crashed Phantom can actually be a very good camping spot.

If you can collect one during the journey, you can throw a Power Drain onto an enemy Elephant to weaken your opponents before you attack.

When there’s no immediate danger from Missile Pods, you can use a Banshee to ferry a teammate armed with a Sniper Rifle to the highest towers (Fig. 3). Riding on top of a Banshee is tricky, but eminently possible if the pilot doesn’t make any sharp turns or rapid bursts of speed.

The ideal choice of weapon is governed by your position on the map. A Battle Rifle is a requisite throughout, of course, but it pays to have something with more punch at close range when you move through the tunnels that run throughout the buildings.

Watch out for enemies wielding the Gravity Hammer inside the tunnels – there are literally dozens of potential ambush spots.

Try not to cover open ground on foot if you can avoid it – you’ll be easy prey for snipers and patrolling Warthogs and Choppers. Vehicles spawn quickly on this map, so grab a ride whenever you can.

Quick Facts