In contrast to the original Halcyon-class, the Halcyon refits are this, sacrificing some of the armour of the original class but gaining firepower, making it somewhat like an even cheaper, non-capital ship version of the Marathon-class.With the UNSC needing a significant numerical advantage to win battles against the Covenant, the Marathon-class excels at providing said advantage. Possessing moderate armour and moderate firepower, it is the cheapest capital ship in the game in terms of both resource cost and fleet capacity, is quick to build, and it has a passive ability that increases the agility and decreases the damage taken of all other Marathon-class ships nearby, further encouraging you to use them in large numbers. The Marathon-class heavy cruiser is this, with the trope name even being used in game to describe it.It's Raining Men: The UNSC's Phoenix Assault Ship and the Covenant's DDS-class Carrier have the ability to drop ODST or Elites respectively to aid the sacking of a planet.

Drop Ship: Instead of bombarding the planet, the UNSC deploys Pelicans to invade and capture enemy worlds.Boarding Party: The Razor-class prowler can perform these to capture Covenant ships, and it actually has two different variations: Razors built in the shipyard deploy ODST boarding teams, while Razors deployed using the Point Blank class' special ability get Spartan boarding teams.

Sin of the prophets