HCW:Covenant As Enemies

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These alien bastards call themselves the Covenant, word is that they showed up above Harvest when this all started, they declared us a "disease" or "heretical" or something like it, and then proceeded to glass the damn place from orbit. Ever since then it's been war, and despite the years we know basically nothing, what little we got is this; they're an alien empire, old as hell, from what we can tell, and they're made up of a number of various unrelated alien species.

At the top you got the elites, real angry split-lip mothers, grunts are at the bottom, jackals down there with em too, somewhere between those two levels drones, brutes and hunters fit in. ONI says there's probably another "leadership" caste, but we got nothing but theories on those guys, just that they're not elites, if they even exist at all.

The skinny is this, though. They want all humanity dead, they have no mercy for a single one of us and any attempt at diplomacy has failed spectacularly. Interrogations go nowhere and we still don't know why they fight some battles on the ground, and sometimes just glass us from low orbit without setting foot on the planet itself. What this means for you is simple, we don't give them a lick of empathy, or hesitate when the time comes. They earned it.

The Species

ElitesJackalsGrunts

Standards

Name	Threat	Description
Zealot	Extreme	These ones aren't hard to miss, that gold armour stands out like a sore thumb in any environment; and don't think that makes them easy marks. These guys can shrug off anti-material rounds, rockets, sustained fire. And they'll do it while charging up to decapitate you with that sword of theirs. If you see one of these guys, it's best to dump everything you got on 'em, or run!
Ultra	Very High	An "Ultra" is a rare white armoured elite, in the field they seem to be some kind of high-officer, or maybe a specialist? ONI is still out on that. In practice though they're better equipped with stronger shields and deadlier weapons, they're smarter too; they'll flank you, false-retreat, just to lead you into ambushes, and they'll charge you down when you least expect it! Don't treat em lightly.
Major	High	Standard field officer from what we can gather, the red armour puts them above the lower ranks and they're rarely seen without some kind of posse. They've got cooler heads and more smarts than the blue armoured minors, and are more likely to toss grenades, or use their underlings as fodder first. Some can have swords, be careful about getting too close.
Minor	High	2nd Lieutenants, from what intel gathers, more or less. They have blue armour, tough as hell energy shields and are armed with way better gear than their low-life grunts and jackals. They're tactically minded, that's not hard to see; but they're also pretty damn aggressive. These ones will probably try to get in your face and kill you up close more than anything.

Special

Name	Threat	Description
Special Operations	Very High	Intel on these guys is slim to say the least, ONI thinks there may be some giant Covenant-wide intelligence agency that these guys report to, but those are vague guesses at best. What you need to know is that they're serious business, that black or purple armour isn't for show and they'll use every underhanded and dirty trick there is. Other than that? They love their cloaking tech; and using it to snatch marine's who don't pay attention on fire watch. Keep a buddy close.
Honor Guard	Extreme	If there's any elite we have the least intel on, it's these guys. Other than a few grainy images and unsubstantiated info in some black-ops reports, we know basically nothing. Three things are clear at least, though: They probably guard the theoretical leadership caste, like royal guards of old, when they're not doing this they may guard other important junk, we aren't too sure. Lastly? They put Zealots to shame for toughness and capability, do not underestimate them under any circumstances.
Stealth	High	The Spec-Ops more numerous and creepier cousins, these guys hate being seen almost as much as they hate you, which probably means they know how ugly they are. They're scouts and assassins by trade from what we can tell, and lack the heavier shielding of their regular counterparts, ambush and throat slitting is their M-O, so stick to your fireteams and double-check your corners.
Ranger	High	Shock commandos, from how ONI describes them. These guys do deep recon and long-range patrols, when they're not zippin' around the battlefield on anti-grav packs. They're apparently EVA specialists primarly, from what intel can get from the Covie battle-net, but seems like that doesn't stop them from attacking our rear-line mid operation. That means if you see em, don't let the suppression off! They'll take every chance to displace and attack you from somewhere else, or land right on your damn head.

Standards

Name	Threat	Description
Ultra	Medium	These Jackals put the rest of their kin to shame in the areas of individual skill and overall experience. From everything we've collected these guys are real veterans, decades of combat experience and front-line leadership. Their shield gauntlets are tougher, their armour more impressive and their weaponry closer to the armoury of an Elite. They have no problem putting one of those daggers, or "cutlasses" through you either, priority target if you see it.
Major	Medium	This is the quintessential Covenant NCO, fitted with more substantial armour than the minor; the Major is usually seen leading a pack of five or more mixed grunts and jackals. Their tactical ability depends, it seems field-experience is the deciding factor over training, but it serves them well enough, expect complex tactics. You can pick them out from the herd via the colour of their shields, it'll be red, or purple. Once spotted? Put a frag at their feet and the others should scatter, though they'll probably try to close the distance before that happens.
Minor	Medium	Bog standard foot-soldier of the Covenant, not as numerous as Grunts, but they fill out the field of fire well enough. Standard equipment is a directional shield gauntlet, usually got a plasma pistol or needler to go with it. They're a bit jumpy, and prefer to walk a shield-wall up onto your head, or fight from hard cover. Explosives are your friends against these carrion assholes.

Special

Name	Threat	Description
Captain	High	Recent intel suggests the split-lips let these turkeys fly! They're usually in charge of some second or third rate patrol ships, cutters and corvettes; but they make good use of them from what the Navy says. No hard intel on their capabilities, but following the trend the Covenant sets with everything else, don't doubt that any "captain" you run into earned that title in blood. Capture if possible, but... Well, if possible.
Sniper	Very high	You've all heard the horror stories about squads being cut to pieces by precise fire from a single shooter in under fifteen seconds flat. Of impossible multi-kilometre shots that left key personnel KIA. I'd like to say it's all rumours, but that be a lie. These are some of the best hands behind a gun in the Galaxy, armed primarily with a "Particle-Beam-Rifle", which means it hits near as fast as light and has no drop, and doesn't need to worry about crosswind. You take fire? Toss smokes and break off, or try and flush them out. Do not get caught in the kill zone.
Marksman	High	These assholes are usually backing up snipers, or embedded with your average patrol unit. They arm them mostly with Carbines, or Needle Rifles. You probably heard how nasty those guns are and it's not a coincidence; these pricks are cruel and WILL take the gut shot on you if they can get it. If you can find their hidey-hole, I suggest incendiaries.
Special Operations	Medium	Like any other Covie "Spec-Ops", we don't know too much. They're stealthy, got access to active-camo, and they're as brutal and cruel as any other Jackal. The difference is they're professionals. No funny business, no evidence of "game shots", they aim for the head or the heart and they do not miss. If you think that makes them nicer somehow, you'd be wrong. Get cornered by spec-for and I suggest the 12.7 exit plan.
Ranger	Medium	Part of the "Ranger" Corps of the Covenant, as ONI calls it. They're EVA trained and specialized, but take part in ground Ops like the rest. That extra mobility they get from the anti-grav makes them particularly tough bastards to pin down. They're more likely to bring the fight right up to you, too. Expect grenades and withering suppressive fire.

Standard

Name	Threat	Description
Ultra	Medium	Real hardened fighters, for grunts at least. They act in an Senior-NCO capacity, and video evidence shows them literally beating the other grunts into order. Witness testimony also shows that when the elite goes down, it's the "Ultra" that picks up the slack if one is present. That confidence doesn't extend to just being cool-headed under fire either, they're consistently shown to be the first ones into a breach, screaming and firing like mad, and they're more than willing to get into hand to hand combat.
Heavy	Medium	Big Green Meanie of a Grunt, they give these ones "heavy-weapons". Anything from concussion rifles and fuel rod cannons to plasma cannons and sitting in the operators seat of a shade turret. Thanks to the inherent threat that poses to them, the Covies saw it necessary to give em reinforced armour. Coordinated fire from a couple marines should take them down quickly however, just try to stay out of their line of fire.
Major	Low	These little red-armoured gas suckers are what officials want us to call "Majors". Observation puts them roughly equal to a lower enlisted NCO, a corporal or sergeant; almost universally seen leading teams of 3-5 grunts, rarely a jackal or two, and given a superior weapon to go along with it, this is usually a needler, rarely a plasma rifle. Despite the rank-bump they're not much better than their lower ranking counterparts, if you pop whoever is in charge, they probably know they're next and may lose some cohesion. If you're having difficulty choosing a target, they're not a bad one.
Minor	Low	The lowest ranking Covenant troop we've currently identified. Given armour in a usually orange shade, these jumpy exo-skeletal freaks are a lot more threatening than the rumours or waypoint vids make em out to be. Those dinky little plasma pistols they have are big enough to need two hands to use as a human, and there's enough closed caskets to tell you they make a real good club too. Good news is, if you clip their CO, they're likely to get confused, or break cohesion entirely. They won't scatter running, but they'll be less effective. After that? Work down the line.

Special

Name	Threat	Description
SpecOps	Medium	I shouldn't need to tell you, but these grunts aren't like their brethren in the regular forces. Other than better armour, cloaking and weaponry, they're crack troops. Evidence suggests they operate a similar level to our own ODSTs or other UEG member special forces, and even exceed them in some areas. They're unlikely to break, even if they're the last one alive. Rules for the other spec-ops rates apply here, despite their awkward gait? These freaks are sneaky.
SpecOps Ultra	Medium-high	If the regular spec-ops grunt was a cut above the rest, than this ugly specimen is somewhere above even that. They have all the fancy tools of the regular spec-ops grunt, but more refined. They're likely to be their elites second in command and probably more than capable of completing whatever their mission may be if the troop-leader bites it.
Ranger	Medium	Grunt equipped for EVA, while lacking the full anti-grav harness their elite and jackal fellows have, they're capable of significant jumps well beyond the average grunt's ability thanks to similar systems down wind from anti-grav. Like other rangers, they take part extensively in high-threat raids and precision strikes along the frontline. While they are more dedicated than the average grunt, they aren't spec-ops or ultras by any means. Shoot em in the tank, it seems they use higher pressure ones!
???	Unknown

Their Weapons

Image	Name	Users	Description