Cannonball is a Halo 5 custom game variant, meant to be played by 3 players or 3 teams, with one team being on Offense, and the other two teams competing on defense. One player/team onoffense spawns as the "Cannonballer". The Cannonballer's objective is to use a maze-like network of High-Powered Bumpers and a T-Rails, as well as augmented thrusters and ground-pound abilities, to shoot themselves through a scoring ring on the opposite side of the map, before fire from the defensive "Anti-Cannonball" towers shoot them down. Defensive players, placed in the opposing AC towers will have access to a full armory of weapons, with infinite ammo and a 180*360 degree view of the battlefield.
A custom network of Bumpers*, T-Rails*, and Launchers will turn the offensive player into a high-speed projectile, who is essentially acting as a very smart clay-pigeon that the defensive players must shoot out of the sky. The Bumpers, TRails, and Launchers placed around the map all cause abrupt changes in the Cannonballers direction of travel, which can also be affected by the Cannonballers augmented thruster pack and ground-pound abilities.
*A long V-shaped rail, with nothing but teleporters at the bottom of the rail
*A bumper is a block placed directly in the flight path of each laucher, and is surfaced completely with high-powered launchers
There are 4 major structures in the Cannonball arena, with a large gorge running directly through the middle of the map
- Cannonballer launch pad is at the far North end of the field
- Cannonballer scoring ring is high in the air on the far South end of the field
- 2 Anti-Cannonball Towers, placed in the middle of the map on both the East and West sides, facing each other, and set a good distance away from the lip of the gorge on their respective sides
Neither the offensive Cannonballers, nor the defensive Anti-Cannonball fireteams will have access to move freely about the map on foot. Players in the AC towers will not be able to leave the tower on their side of the gorge.
Players on defense will be in one of two identical but oppossing AC towers that are constructed so that the top and front sides will be completely in order to shoot at the Cannonballers. However, the back and sides will be walled off. There are no exists from the AC towers, and invisible barriers will be placed on the front and top of the AC towers to prevent players from leaving.
Defensive players must do two things to score and end the round. First, they must kill the Cannonballer(s) to gain a point. Once the Cannonballer is eliminated, a barrier inside both AC Towers will drop, exposing a shootable kill-switch, which will incinerate the players in the opposing tower, leaving only one player/team alive, and ending the round with a win. Killing the Cannonballer is also worth 1 point.
The Cannonballers will be moving through the air at all times at an extreme rate of speed. The map is designed in a way that the Cannonballers will never be able to move via foot. However, they're equipped with supercharged thruster packs, and augmented with lighting-quick ground pounds, and can use these abilities to change their direction of travel. The round starts when the Cannonballer is shot into the air from the launch pad, and the Cannonballer will follow that path until they hit a bumper, or redirect themselves using Thrusters/GP towards a bumper* or a T-Rail.* or launcher pads. All teleporter receivers will be in an enclosed room with no view of the surrounding environment, and only one exit... another high-powered launcher array.
Offensive players can score and win rounds in 2 ways. Cannonballers will be equipped with Rockets and Hydra's, and gain 1 point for each kill. The Cannonballers ultimate objective, is to pass through the scoring ring, which will activate the incinerators in both AC towers, killing all opposing players, and earning a round win.
- 1 life per round
- 1 point per kill
- first to 3 rounds or 5 points
- a round-based variation of slayer
- elimination style gameplay per round (no respawns), round is ended when only one player remains
- each AC tower has a few special features:
- a complete arsenal (think Hitman style or Men in Black Style weapon display)
- a shootable killzone activation switch
- towers are surrounded by instant killzone's, players have a full 360 view, but will die instantly if they go past the railings
- kill switch in either tower activates the opposite kill zone
- When passing through the scoring zone, the killzones in both towers will activate
- kill switch in towers are locked behind a barrier, which goes down after the first player is killed