And then Halo becomes indistinguishable from Star Trek which is indistinguishable from Star Wars which is indistinguishable from Babylon 5 which is indistinguishable from StarCraft which is indistinguishable from Battlestar Galactica which is indistinguishable from some committee-designed hypoallergenic extruded product that had Science Fiction! stamped on it as it passed through QA.

*Throws the entire Lost Fleet series at thebruce*

Sometimes, writing around the more overused tropes in a genre results in more memorable fiction. Halo stands nothing to lose by adopting storytelling limitations that emphasize how freakin' huge space actually is.