Halo CE in MCC: The Silent Cartographer achievement checklist

Halo CE in MCC: The Silent Cartographer achievement checklist Mission spoilers. This is for **The Silent Cartographer in The Master Chief Collection**, not the standalone Xbox 360 Anniversary release or Campaign Evolved. This level has two challenges that really shouldn't be treated as the same job. Beachhead wants you to protect the Marines during the landing. Pacifist wants you to finish the entire mission without using your weapons, dying or restarting. You can make a lot of work for yourself trying to force those together. I'd handle the landing first, enjoy a normal trip around the island, then come back for the restrictive run once the underground route makes sense. **What belongs on this mission's checklist** - **The Silent Cartographer:** complete the mission. - **Beachhead:** get through the opening beach assault without a Marine dying, on Heroic or Legendary. - **Pacifist:** finish without firing, throwing grenades, using melee, dying or restarting. - **Skulltaker Halo: CE: Famine:** collect the Famine skull. - **Skulltaker Halo: CE: Bandana:** collect the Bandana skull. - **Idle Hands:** activate terminal four. - **Hit The Beach:** beat the 15-minute par time. - **Charted:** beat the 18,000-point par score. The [mission reference](https://t.co/bkaqsYuMHm) distinguishes the MCC targets from the older Anniversary list. The important difference is **Pacifist**: don't substitute the Xbox 360 game's Grenadier challenge and assume you're working toward the right unlock. [Pacifist reference](https://t.co/321G3OHZXy) **Beachhead: protect the landing party, not just yourself** You need **Heroic or Legendary**. Normal and Easy don't qualify, even if every Marine survives. I'd choose Heroic for a dedicated attempt. This checks the opening beach battle, not the entire mission. Clear the landing area without losing anyone, and check for the unlock before worrying about the rest of the island. Move into the fight promptly. The Marines are already exposed; hanging back to line up perfect shots gives the Covenant more time to shoot them. Check the rocks to your left for the nearby Grunts, then put pressure on the main enemy group. Breaking an Elite's shield quickly can be more useful than spending too long chasing one Grunt while that Elite fires into your allies. Use grenades carefully. Throw them into enemy positions before the Marines reach those positions, not into a group where friend and enemy are mixed together. You are trying to preserve the entire landing party, so your own splash damage matters too. If a Marine dies, restart the mission for a fresh attempt instead of completing the level hoping the casualty won't count. These opening priorities and the encounter-only condition are supported by the [MCC Beachhead guides](https://t.co/Gz2NhuP8wi). No skull is required; the [Halo Completionist guide description](https://t.co/WNh9RR275u) lists Heroic or Legendary with no required modifier. **Pacifist: read the whole requirement** This isn't simply “don't kill anything.” The restrictions name actions: no shots, no thrown grenades, no melee attacks, no death and no restart. Firing a harmless test shot into the sand is still firing. Set up a separate Easy run. Easy is permitted, and there is no reason to make your first attempt harder while you're also fighting the habit of pressing the attack buttons. [MCC requirement](https://t.co/F0UjqWvbXz); [difficulty reference](https://t.co/6BohcsFHkz). Know the security-control route, the descent to the map room and the return path before starting. Getting lost isn't just slow here. It leaves you exposed longer and makes it more likely you'll panic and fire or melee. Keep your fingers away from those controls when enemies get close. In a normal run, a quick melee is an obvious response. In this run, it ends the attempt just as surely as a gunshot does. Don't use a checkpoint reload as a way to undo a mistake. Restarting is one of the listed restrictions. If the attempt fails, begin a new mission run rather than assuming an earlier checkpoint will erase the failure. Also, leave the skull hunt for another visit. In particular, a grenade-jump approach to Bandana directly conflicts with the no-grenade requirement. This checklist is preparation for a clean Pacifist attempt, not a claim that the ordinary combat walkthrough is a verified no-attack route. **Collectibles: three separate things to register** Famine and Bandana are skull pickups. **Idle Hands** belongs to the terminal, not either skull. Its requirement is activation of terminal four, as listed in the [MCC terminal achievement guide](https://t.co/WROAcsVRW0). Use the separate collectibles guide for their positions and the Bandana access method. Finding a skull does not require playing the whole mission with that skull switched on afterward. Keep pickup objectives separate from gameplay modifiers when you're checking your progress. **Hit The Beach: under 15 minutes** The target is **15 minutes**, with any difficulty allowed. [Par-time reference](https://t.co/J1ALaudEsP) Make the timed attempt after learning the island's layout. The main things to avoid are unnecessary trips around the shoreline, collectible detours, and wrong turns inside the Cartographer facility. Use the normal mission objectives as your route: reach the locked entrance, disable security, return to the facility, access the map and get out. This is a different goal from carefully clearing every enemy for score. Keep the timer visible and don't turn one failed time attempt into repeated checkpoint experiments. Learn the troublesome section, then make another clean run. **Charted: above 18,000 points** The published MCC par score is **18,000**. [Score table](https://t.co/g8tNSThXNZ) Turn scoring on and choose a difficulty you can fight through reliably. Higher difficulty and scoring skulls can help, but adding penalties you can't manage is not automatically an improvement. Watch the score you're actually producing and finish with some margin. Keep this separate from Pacifist. A run designed around avoiding attacks is plainly not the sensible starting point for a scoring attempt. One last correction: **Overshields are for Sissies belongs to The Pillar of Autumn**, not this island. Don't avoid useful protection here because you remember the name from another mission. [Requirement reference](https://t.co/xDzGLT1ewx) For time and score attempts, finish in one session and check skull warnings before launch. PC players should use the normal anti-cheat-enabled game. Those settings follow [Halo Support's achievement guidance](https://t.co/Jv9M0J6lFL).