It was able to race to help defend Reach, while a conventional ship would have taken a much longer time. More importantly, the ships experimental engines were able to allow the autumn the unique advantage of exceeding terminal speeds in tough situations. Exact details are not available but is known that the PoA destroyed/disabled about 5 CCS-Class Battlecruisers at Alpha Halo in addition to the assault carrier, a frigate, numerous drop ships, scores of fighters and a Supercruiser at Reach. In spite of the fact that the covenant forces had overwhelming superiority, both in numbers and technology at Reach and then at Halo, the PoA stood her ground and was able to take a tremendous beating. Service HistoryĪlthough the PoA was about 43 years old upon its destruction, it functioned flawlessly till the end. All this armament made the PoA arguably the most powerful ship in the UNSC fleet. Also, the already strong hull was further reinforced by a number of bulkheads and the offensive armament of the Autumn was increased with the addition of 3 Shiva nuclear warheads that were capable of being put on Longsword interceptors and flown remotely. In preparation for their mission the Autumn was given a major refit, including new engines that were capable to being pushed up to 300%, a new MAC gun that could fire up to 3 shots in one charge and 7800 Archer missiles. is never seen in game, although he makes an appearance in the Halo novel. However, the subsequent attack on Reach before their mission began forced Keyes to deploy with what personal he had and thus the second A.I. This mission was believed to be so important, that Keyes was also assigned a Second A.I Wellsley who would be in charge of point defense. Also assisting them was a large contingent of ODST troops under the command of Major Silva. Catherine Hasley, the founder of the Spartan project for this mission. To this purpose, Captain Jacob Keyes was assigned and assisting him was Cortana, who was specially created by Dr. They needed a daring captain to pilot a ship and to disable, not destroy, a Covenant ship thereby facilitating the SPARTAN's mission. It was the hope of the admiralty that such a move would enable them to dictate a peace settlement with the Covenant, who until then had shown no signs of stopping. It was decided that the SPARTAN-II's would embark on a very risky mission to capture a Covenant vessel and take it to the Covenant home world where they would capture a Prophet, one of the leaders of the Covenant. However, the Autumn was reassigned and was chosen for a highly dangerous and top secret mission that required a daring captain and a ship that was capable of withstanding tremendous damage.Įver since the war with the Covenant started, humanity had been suffering tremendous loses and ONI and the top brass of the admiralty had been seeking a way to end the war. The Pillar of Autumn was originally supposed to be decommissioned and then scrapped as the newer Marathon class Cruisers were seen as more attractive options. They were able to take tremendous damage before their main components would fail and this was in part due to their honeycombed Hull. While the Halcyon class of cruisers were described as old and lacking mobility and firepower they had one redeeming quality they were extremely tough. The Pillar of Autumn was a Halcyon class cruiser that was in service with the UNSC and it is where the first level of Halo takes place. Overview Longsword escorts around the Autumn

Halo pillar of autumn crash