Yep, it's the colony level. I'd bet there is another warthog hiding somewhere in the game but the game goes out of its way to present you with the vehicle it wants you to use and only once is it the Warthog, I never saw another.

: Oh how many times did you get halted by PP overcharges?

Only once in the entire game and that was when I was on a Banshee in space. Oops.

: Does splattering a Grunt usually end with a sticky attached to your wheel
: arch?

No, splattering is a lot easier now. Enemies don't dive as much.

: Is there still something like a concussion cannon to blow your hog 100m away
: and over a cliff?

No. Vehicles have a bit more weight to them.

: Circling the action at a distance seems like the easiest/best option given
: how hard it would be to write competent AI driving. All the judgement
: calls they would have to make to do anything more would be very hard to
: conceptualize and code (nevermind the amount of processing it would take).

: Oh 343: really! "STOP" is the number one command ally AI needs.
: What is the brake button in the game? Left trigger? Is that used for
: anything when you are riding the hog? What about the movement stick,
: couldn't that be used to indicate a general direction for setting off from
: a start and to indicate roughly where to go?

It's LT, yes, and its not used for anything at all. The d-pad could've been used for commands, only the UP button actually does anything by telling your team where to go or what to shoot at. Technically you can have them return to you or stop by aiming at the ground in front of you I guess.

: When 343 said they had two dedicated programmers working on companion AI I
: think they worked on the revive mechanic and didn't spend much time making
: driving better. They should have put an extra 2 programmers on driving
: polish. Maybe they can put those guys on driving for the next game.

The revive mechanic fucking sucks. They only come over to help if you call them and all three will stand around trying to revive you while enemies melee them one after the other resulting in instant fail. I think maybe 10 tens over the course of the game it was actually useful. The other problem is your allies won't use abilities to reach you, so if Kelly is stood a foot away down a little rise you can watch her run 30 foot away and around the slope to get to you rather than using clamber. By the time she's gets there your dead. It's infuriating and makes the other Spartans feel like idiots.

: Are you talking about the old mechanism where you are outside of the vehicle
: and move near a vehicle position and press (is it x?)? I meant the new
: (press A?) mechanism that we saw in the muliplayer footage, It works when
: you are in the vehicle.

No, I'm talking about the position switching. If I'm in the gunner seat and I press A to switch to driving then whoever was driving will jump out the vehicle and stand around for ages until they get on the gun or vice versa. So, it's only really useful if your in a vehicle alone and don't have to worry about the AI slowing you down.

: The behaviour you describe above could be useful for solo play. They get out,
: you drive off, and have the hog for yourself for a while. If you can
: switch quickly between seats then you could make fairly intelligent use of
: the vehicle.

: Sigh. Did it matter much? Were they always moving and so it didn't matter
: much?

They always move.

: 343, guyz, it's the 21st century. This can't be impossible to code.

: LOL :-)

: The weapon swapping was always somewhat frustrating. I might actually approve
: of taking it out if it can't be made super easy.

: So, actually, I'd say, "good choice 343".

Yeah, I didn't miss this at all.

: Do they reboard if you get back behind the wheel? If so, "good
: choice". As longs as they get in really quick.