Halo Tech vs. Other Sci-Fi

[SchizophrenicMC]

All I was really able to catch was Spartans Vs. Jedi, and, I must say you're actually incorrect. Most Jedi don't have the reflexes to deflect slugs, which move at far greater speed than blaster bolts. There are a few bounty hunters who kept slugthrowers around, specifically because they were useful against Jedi. Further, Cortosis is not the only lightsaber-resistant material, just the most famous. Also, energy shielding would likely absorb the blade's energy, and lightsabers have marked ineffectiveness against dense materials, such as those used in the construction of Mjolnir armor. I'm gonna say this is one time most Jedi will lose. Most Jedi. Maybe some really great Jedi, like Katarn, but the weaklings get screwed.

However, I think the combined power of the Imperial starfleet is greater than that of the Covenant Navy. Imperial-class Star Destroyers are run-of-the mill, and they challenge Assault Carriers in size and armament, and they tend to travel in flocks. Also, their superweapons - the Death Star and Executor-class come to mind - would outmatch any Covenant vessel in firepower and size. (High Charity was not armed, but the Death Star was a battle station)

The general consensus, it seems, is Halo would be outmatched by other sci-fi universes. In some cases, I disagree. In others, I agree and concede to realism/technological power. The Halo series has kept more towards simpler technologies in Sci-fi, that can be explained easily by real terms, whereas most Sci-fi sticks to more advanced technologies, and require some super-being or the like to explain how they have things. Stargates versus Hyperspace versus Slipspace. Stargates get no explanation, whatsoever, except "The Ancients did it". Hyperspace has been attempted to explain, but it's still full of holes in subspace. Slipspace is defined through a series of real-world terms, and, while I doubt that's at all how something like that would work, the explanation means a lot to me.

Really, the biggest concern I have in science fiction series is gravity. Almost all of them have artificial gravity, with no apparent means of generating it, most have anti-gravity, and some have gravity weapons. (Mass Shadow Generator, Revan?) Where does all this gravity come from? At least the Halo rings spun around T_T

 

[Upchuk]

I mostl yjust wanted to compare ships.......i got lazy

-SHIPS

--Halo
-HUMAN- Ships in Halo seem to take the form of rational progression in human tech in the next few centuries. Most are fitted with rotating carosels for gravity production, but no artificial gravity until later in the war with reverse engineering. They have Slipspace(FTL) travel, but in normal space are still limited to newtonian physics. Human ships are armed with fairly conventional weaponry(point defensen gatling guns, missiles, nuclear warheads, fighters/bombers) and some unconventional stuff(MAC cannons, well unconventional for the time being). They are not fitted with any form of shielding and some are fitted with "cloaking devices"(ECM and visual cloaking).

-Covenant- Halo covenant ships are similar to the usual "alien" archtype. Energy based weaponry, shielding, gravity manipulation, Ultra precise navigation, ect. While overpowered Vs human ships, they were not invincible.

--Babylon 5-While many ships are technologically advanced, most of the races in B5 are on par with each other with the exeptions being the Vorlons and Shadows

-Humans- Similar to Humans in Halo, but with subtle differences. B5 FTL is acheived through JUMPGATES while some of the larger ships can create thier own portal into slipspace. Human ships in B5 ARE equipped with plasma/energy weapons, even smaller fighters. Missiles are prominent in the human arsenal. Human ships for the most part are the same as Halo for gravity production(rotating carosels).

-Aliens(Mimbari, Narn, Centari, ect)- Similar to humans in B5, with most already having mastered gravity manipulation without the use of rotating carosels. All use energy weapons on thier ships and fighters/bombers as well.

-Star wars- Star wars is difficult because its such a mixed bag of races and tech that accuratly comparing it is a pain. For the most part they rely on non-nuclear reaction based propulsion. The larger capital class ships DO rely on "reactors" for power/propulsion, so it can be assumed they are nuclear in some capacity. Most ships are fitted with "Deflector shields" for defense and usually a laser based offensive/defensive armament. There are notable other weapons such as the ION blaster which shorts out electical systems. There are missile systems such as the proton torpedo and concussion missle. Most larger ships have artificial gravity production, with hyperdrive(FTL) engines. Also most ships in SW dont move in the standard newtonian physics way. they are capable of banking and changing direction without the need of counter-thrust. Some say this is due to the "Inertial Compensator". I cannot confirm this.

-Star Trek- Same with ST is the mixed bag conundrum. Most ships are shielded in some way. Pretty much every ship is equipped with beam weapons of some sort. They are also armed with projectiles that fall in the torpedo catagory. Most ships are capable of non-newtonial movement. ST uses "warp engines" to acheive FTL travel and have artifical gravity production.

 

[alix965]

Is it too late to make the distinction between science-fiction and science fantasy? The former is based on known or plausible concepts (wormholes) while the latter is almost always some sort of imaginative extrapolation (hyperspace).

I think this is very important aspect of this topic, or else it's apples and oranges and we would have to group them properly in order to debate them with any measure of logic.

 

[Nintendude]

Ok my thoughts,
Star Wars vs. Star Trek : Star Wars Wins only thing I think that could beat Star Wars if it was against ST would be the Borg
Halo vs. Star Wars : Intresting battle but I think Halo would win that one if it was a land type battle but in space Star Wars would come out on top.

 

[SchizophrenicMC]

Apples and Oranges are actually quite similar. They both bear seeds, they both have sweet flavor, they both grow on trees. I prefer the phrase, "The grandmother and the Machine Gun."

The thing is, Science Fiction is the genre, and Science Fantasy is a subgenre. There is no distinction. Sci-Fi is fruit, Sci-fantasy is watermelons. (And I do want to note evidence of Wormholes has never been found, but extra dimensions are believed to exist, and those are the world of subspace)

But your idea gave me one. Let's compare technologies to their counterparts. And, I don't mean as complex systems as ship versus ship, but the subsystems aboard that ship. Gravity production, weapons, shielding, et merda. It's obvious the ships of Halo seem to bottom out against other ships' capabilities, but comparing the power of each individual subsystem could bring some different conclusion. Same goes for weaponry; the initial assumption is energy weapons surpass kinetic weapons, and the list of technologies goes on.

So, energy shielding. How do the various types compare?

 

[project003]

Moore's Law: every 2 years technology doubles in processing power.

SO:
if we take our current year, (2010) and we take the desired year for Halo Cannon, (2552) and we put in Moore's law: Pn = x 2^n(1) then we get 3.4^81 billion times greater processing power by the year 2552. for example, my blender from 2552 has more transistors than your Iphone4.

Technically, the Halo Universe should have more advanced tech than Star Trek because of moore's Law, but since Star Wars takes place in another galaxy NOT populated by humans, but by a race of beings that look human(they obveously have a different written language system) and in the past, it is impossible to tell the computing power of their electronic systems. with all that said, I believe that The Halo Universe should be number 1 in sci-fy tech, "logically concluding, captain."

 

[Tactonyx]

Lets lay down the figures so we can get a better idea on which sci fi genre has the best. The choices I picked are based on overall performance over a special ability on what the technology can do. Be noted, this is all the stuff off the top of my head.

Largest Artificial Structure
1st Star Trek: Dyson Sphere
2nd Halo: The Ark
3rd Halo: Halo

Largest Capital Ship
1st Star Wars: Death Star
2nd Halo: High Charity
3rd Star Wars: Super Star Destroyer

Fastest Travelers
1st Half-Life: Portal
2nd Stargate: Stargate
3rd Star Wars: Hyperspace

Best Ship Defense
1st Star Trek: Federation Shields and "Armor"
2nd Halo: Forerunner Ship
3rd Halo: Covenant Ship

Weapons of Mass Destruction
1st Halo: Halo
2nd Star Trek: Trilithium (?) Torpedo
3rd Star Wars: Death Star

Small Arms
Tied for 1st Star Trek: Phaser / Half-Life: Dark Energy Weapons
2nd Halo: Covenant Weapons
3rd The Present Time: Modern Weapons
Honerable Mention: Aliens: M56 Smart Gun

Personel Armor
1st Halo: Mjolnir
2nd Star Trek: Borg Shielding
3rd Star Wars: Cortosis Armor

Worst Training and Tactics
3rd to Last: Halo
2nd to Last: Red Faction
Dead last: Star Trek

Best Sensors
1st Star Trek
2nd Avatar
3rd The Present Time

Largest Territory
1st Half-Life: The Combine
2nd Halo: The Flood
3rd Star Wars: The Galactic Empire

Military Might
1st Half-Life: The Combine
2nd Halo: The Flood (if you can call it a military)
3rd Star Wars: Galactic Empire

Most Aggresive
1st Half Life: The Combine
2nd Halo: The Flood
3rd Star Wars: The Galactic Empire

Sorry this is a big huge list, but I wanted to get some samples up just to get an idea of the scope of things in the sci-fi universe. I havn't seen every sci-fi show/ game out there, so if I'm missing something, or you think something on my list is misplaced, let me know and I'll adjust the list.

 

[Upchuk]

Tactonyx, just a few things.

This is a tech comparison, so territory, military might, aggression and what not are not relavent.

Also in the sensor aspect, "The Force" isnt a form of technology. Its an ability inherent to a singular being, so again, not relavent.

Not trying to poo-poo your post, because many of what you posted, i agree with. Just trying to make the distinction.

Also for speed comparisons, do we have any factual proof of what speed everything is moving. I know hyperdrives are usually expressed as "point something of lightspeed" But what about slipspace or hyperspace? any idea? i know with HALO they say they cant exactly determine how far/fast they are going in slipspace.

Also for your energy comparison, is there any numbers to quantify these reactors? Megajoules produced per second or anything like that?

Opinions are all well and good, but we need to take an objective look at these technologies to get an accurate comparison

 

[rvb18]

Unless that MJOLNIR is made from cortosis the Jedi will own John's arse I'm afraid. And those shields don't block energy swords, so a lightsaber will have no problem with that either. Slugs (solid bullets rather then plasma/laser based) would just be melted on contact with a lightsaber, so no upsides there. Also, they could use the force to throw John around or break the electronics in his suit.

Spartans have not only more advanced combat training but their reflexes, speed, and strength are far superior. they could punch a Jedi once and their skull would be mush

 

[Tactonyx]

You are absolutely right Upchuk. This is why I made the list so we can look at all of this objectively, I'm kinda curious to see who has the best stuff.
In defense of my guesstimates of speed, I determined speed is the amount of time it takes to get from one destination to the next, and how expansive the area reqiured to travel in.
As for energy, yeah I was in left feild about that one. I guess I'll axe that catagory.
But I think territory, aggresiveness and military might play a important role in the application and use of technology. For example: The Galactic Empire from Star Wars has a vast territory, are aggresive and hold a significant number of troops. The Empire uses rush tactics, such as lotsa Storm Troopers, Lotsa TIE fighters, so on and so forth. Since they use that tactic, and they have a vast area of territroy and lots of cannon fodder, er, enlisted men, they go with cheap technology that's quick and easy to make, this is what makes the Galactic Empire so potent.
Another great example, the one I should have used instead of going off on a tangent, is the three races from Starcraft. There is three levels of technology in the game, but aggresiveness, territory and military might determines which is the best. So I think those three factors are important with the comparison of technologies.
Also a catagory I forgot to put onto the list is Training and Tactics, I'll edit the list.

 

[Swift]

Spartans have not only more advanced combat training but their reflexes, speed, and strength are far superior. they could punch a Jedi once and their skull would be mush

I still hold to the belief that Yoda, Windu, Katarn or Luke Skywalker (older aged at least) could completely devastate a Spartan. As pointed out above, a normal Jedi could not, but none of these are by far normal.
The reflexes would be matched - intense military training versus Force senses and training since birth
Speed would be matched - MJOLNIR and intense military training versus the Force and, once again, training since birth
Strength - The Spartan would DEFINITELY be stronger, so the Jedi wouyld want to avoid a punch or kick, but the Jedi can still use the force to enchance their power.

I think it would be an INCREDIBLY close battle... what I want to see is two force-sensitive Spartan's facing off. Now THAT would be awesome.

 

[GunGryphon]

Speaking of Starcraft, I would probably throw these things into the list:

As far as personal armor goes, I definatly think that marines and marauders should be in that number 2 position as they have similar strength and durability as the chiefs. (And they are mass producable)

For rate of travel, the Protoss would be tied for first as their warpgate technology. Instant is instant, it dosnt get much faster,

As for sensors, The terran should be atleast above the present time as the sensor tower is able to pinpoint units miles away without visual confirmation.
For small arms, the C14 Impaler Gauss Rifle would be noteworthy as it can shoot 30 armorpiercing, hypersonic rounds per second.

In my opinion, the Zerg and the Flood would be match each other in almost any reguard, as they both are bent on devouring the universe and have the means and numbers to do it. The difference is that the zerg is able to absorb and use inorganic matter through its creep while the flood is limited to feeding on organic matter.

Battlecurisers would be able to wedge their way into the ship defenses catagory because the defensive matrix ability is on par with almost any other type of shielding and their hull strength and armor is twice as strong as its shields.

Just my two cents, feel free to debate any of these nominations.
-Gryphon

 

[Boba Fett]

The jedi would win, sadly. First, they'd be able to block every single round coming from the spartan's weapons. Second, force-abilities are Waaaaaaaay underrated in the films. Jedi could do some pretty bad-@$$ stuff. They can enhance any sense or bodily function, such as strength. The spartan would have the armor, but one slice of the lightsaber ends it. A n00b jedi would fail though, so it would have to be a master. Yoda would kick some butt.

 

[alix965]

I agree with Boba Fett about the Force advantage. It's like magic to Superman. Even with all their enhancements even the best SPARTAN is still just human, meat and bone just like the rest. The lightsaber may or may not be blocked by the SPARTAN's force field, but I wonder how many hits a personal shield can take without overloading. The lightsaber is an odd type of weapon. It displays an energy charge that gives off heat and light and yet against another form of energy it demonstartes a kinetic type of energy that may be a form of matter whe havn't discovered or will never exist. That is the beauty of science fantasy. Still that would have to be a hella short engagement.

 

[CoolC]

I am going a different route. Instead of comparing the sci-fi to each other, I would compare them to reality. I am taking slipstream, hyperspace out of the equation. With our current technology, we probably won't see this happening in our lifetime. Science Channel's Dr. Michio Kaku poses a lot of these questions. The answers he gave on what we can achieve are quite compelling.

Let me start with Star-Trek.
"Beam me up" - unachiveable based on science today. You cannot really dissamble a living thing into atomic particles and then shoot them to another location. There was a breakthrough a few years back to transfer one proton from one location to another location (I believe in England). The amount of energy to transfer that was not worth the effort.
Hand held tricorder - we have it today in the form of smartphone, etc. With a few more years, these devices will pretty much do everything.
Startships - our technology is not there yet.
Verdict - we may be able to achieve 10% of what Star Trek can.

Star Wars
Guns and lasers - yeah we are there. A few more years and few more tweaks, US can produce some devastating laser weapons. Case in point, an Air Force Boeing to shoot down ballistic missiles using high-powered laser.
Tracktor beam - our technology limits that research.
Lightsaber - we can create a laser handheld weapon that can shoot energy. However, we do not have the capability to stop the laser at a certain length.
Starfighters - in the next few decades we can achive that, assuming we can iron out the powerplant, human ability to withstand space difficult environment and materials that won't dissintegrate upon entering earth's hemisphere.
Verdict: probably 30% of Star Wars universe in the next few decades

Halo
Soldiers, marines, air force - we have that.
Mjolnir armor - US have been developing armors to protect the soldiers for years. Nothing that is practical that can be deployed. There are also some exoskeletong being developed. However, it requires external power sources that it is not practical. A few more decades of experiment or perhaps new energy sources will probably solve this equation.
Weapons, vehicles - we have that. UNSC in Halo does not use fancy vehicles. Beside the starships, we have most of the vehicles today.
Halo weapon - unlikely. I don't think any aliens (even if they exist) can have a weapon at that magnitude.
Verdict - 60% of the Halo universe if you take out the starships and the Halo.

At the end of the day, we are more Halo than a Jedi or a Trekkie.

 

[SchizophrenicMC]

Well, I've gotta say there's quite a bit canonically wrong here. While your arguments, through the details presented, are sound, my inner canon-Nazi is screaming at me.

I have to point out, again, that no Jedi - none of them - have the reflexes to deflect bullets (slugs, in Star Wars terminology). Bullets move far faster than blaster bolts, according to canon, and Jedi have a hard enough time hitting blaster fire, let alone something moving so much faster. Spartans would be pretty much in the advantage, given their armor, shielding, speed, strength, and reflexes, as well as weaponry. (Spartans have augmented reflexes, and can react within thousandths of a second, according to Fall of Reach, as I recall)

Anyway, as far as size and weaponry goes... Well, I'll list out some categories and put what I think are winners in it.

Largest Artificial Construct:
1: Dyson Shell - Freeman Dyson - 1 Astronomical Unit (149,597,870 km)
2: Niven's Ringworld - Ringworld - 300,000 km
3: Ark - Halo - 127,500 km

Largest Combat Vessel
1: Death Star II - Star Wars - 900 km
2: Covenant Supercarrier - Halo - 27 km
3: Executor-class Star Dreadnought - Star Wars - 17 km

Most Powerful Superweapon
1: Halo Array - Halo - 100,000 Lightyear effective range
2: Sun Crusher - Star Wars - Causes rampant destabilization of stars, to Supernova conditions
3: Centerpoint Station - Star Wars - Hyperspace Tractor Beam, capable of moving planets through hyperspace within Galactic range

Fastest Superluminal Transportation
1: Forerunner Slipspace Drive - Halo - Inst04-Reach in 72 hours
2: Millenium Falcon (Class .5 Hyperdrive Generator) - Star Wars - Baseless Assumption ("Point-Five past Lightspeed" refers to the drive being a Class .5 (lower numbers are faster), and past lightspeed just means he's talking about his hyperdrive)
3: Warp 9 - Star Trek - Probably faster than the Falcon, but I like Star Wars more

All this is Western SciFi, specifically because Eastern SciFi never gives explanation for how its stuff works. This means Starcraft, in its Korean-ness. >.>

 

[Omega Ravager]

Just something I have to say regarding SC VS Halo

First the shells the marines guns shoot are massive and a squad of marines could easily kill a spartan http://videogames.techfresh.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/starcraftii.jpg

See the barrel size on the thing 0_o, those are starcrafts assualt rifle (a side note on flood VS zerg if you look at some of the SC1 cutscenes hydras can take shots from a guass rifle while an assualt rifle or well place BR shot will kill a floodling.. thing)

and those are the terrans grunts, two or three siege tanks would rip appart a spartan squad. not to mention the massive air advantage they have EX a hornet VS a wraith (which has cloaking AC in the haloverse)

with the infection issue of zerg VS terran we can either assume they cannot infect each other or that they can
If not zerg wins claws down. Sorry flood but they are so much better in combat.
If so I dunno creep is organic so if it could be infected by a flood spore I think the flood would have a good chance, also they'd have better fighting units.



Now onto some random stormtrooper canon that needs to be addressed, despite them dying in one shot and never hitting anything that is just to keep the plot intact (what kind of movie would it be if luke died in episode IV.... That and the armor they wear is make to reflect blaster shots hence the plastic look (Source for last point many star wars book, most notably the dark forces series book one "Soldier for the Empire" an excellent read)

/rant

 

[rumble]

One thing I don't see this thread taking into consideration - that's important - is the fighting spirit of either party. Who's willing to go to the extremes to win and who's crazy enough to get there. You can argue the tech back and forth all day (cudos on how this thread's gone so far - these kind of threads usually get nasty fast lol) but without that information, we can't really make a good decision.

Just reading back

Cylons: have an unlimited supply of combatants until the Covies figure out to blast the resurrection ships, and that would take time. They most likely have an unlimited supply of fighters and base stars as well. It wouldn't be a case of the Cylons chasing down a rag tag fleet.. it would be full on war in the skies and the Cylons have the technological advantage AND they are tactically thinking machines. Especially if you compare them to Halo-verse humans. And, let's face it, they're just as crazy as the Covies when it comes to religion. The cylon base stars take a ton of direct damage unless a nuke is involved, and the Covies don't really have anything stealthy enough to get past the far more mobile cylon fighters. Of course, it would boil down to how the Cylons shields operated in that first battle - they would adapt, but they may lose a lot before they adapt. The Centurions would be far more of a mess to deal with for the Covenant. Not to mention the fact they've got the humanoid Cylon brains behind them... and the humanoids aren't push overs. They literally have nothing to lose because they will be resurrected.

BSG Colonials: depends on the setting. If we pitch BSG military at full strength versus a Covenant force at full strength... I dunno. It would depend on whether or not the Covies figured out how to neutralize the modern tech like the Cylons did, or forced the battle to the ground. Remember in the show, Galactica and those fighters are all old and the boat was actually about to be decommissioned. It was a flying history lesson and never meant for any further combat. The Cylons knew to win, they had to take out the newer tech, and they did so. If it's kept to the skies, the fighter force from the Battlestars are far more affective than the fighter class ships the Covenant has.

Farscape Scarrans: Their armor is pretty darn hard to get through and they are tough lizardy types to start with. I doubt slug throwers would pierce the armor and it always took a ton of in-verse fireworks to actually put a real one down. And it was always just one. Sic a whole army out and the Covies would have serious issues. Their mercs are also far more affective than the lesser armies of the Covenant. Ship wise, it's hard to compare because we didn't see a whole lot of action.

Farscape Peacekeepers: They are human, but they're also far stronger to start with. They also have basic armor, augmented armor, and they are highly skilled tacticians.. but they're narrow minded. Only problem is they're narrow minded in every skillset except combat. Basic blaster-type weapons that come in the form of pistols, rifles, and heavy turret type weaponry. Again ship wise, it's hard to compare. It would be an assumption to say that in that world, the Peacekeepers were powerful enough to trounce everything in their way except the Scarrans - and they knew the Scarrans would be victorious in an actual war.

The Empire: I can't argue against what has already been said in here. There's two different versions of them really, in the movies and then in the EU. In the movies, they had to lose. In the EU, they're a bit more of a force to be reckoned with.. better shooting and the armor works on occassion.

The Rebellion: here's where you can't just think about the tech.. these guys would be sneaking around and may have a chance because they wouldn't fight toe to toe. Lower tech than the Empire but stealthier and they can think out of the box. In theory. Possibly.

Yahuzzan Vong: A SW race that ripped apart the New Republic and only lost because.. well it's SW and the good guys have to win eventually. They have organic technology, can go toe to toe with Jedi, strong and fast frakkers to start with, and have clamshell armor that works against blaster bolts and lightsabers. This would be a great fight to watch. They're from the same type of 'bad guy' generalization but the Vong are even more of a warrior society. And they don't have the weak points that grunts or jackals - or any species in the Covenant outside of the Elites - possess. There are different levels of warriors but they're all warriors. Since the force doesn't work on these guys though, it bears to mention that it may not work against the Covenant.

Jedi: It kinda pains me to say it, but Chief or any of the other Spartans - alone - would never get close enough to take a Jedi down. This all pends that the Force would work against someone outside the Galaxy though. The Jedi fought droids that were far more powerful than Chief. Also, if slugthrowers were actual affective weapons against Jedi... why weren't they used all the time by the Jedi's enemies? It would have had to cost less to toss a few slugthrowers at the Separatist army and say 'sick 'em' . As far as the shields, lightsabers nail droidekas to the wall all the time. That may be one of those 'hey, we did that here but not over there" kinda things though. It definitely depends on the Jedi though - and I'm not counting anything from TFU in here. Luke at his height would massacre a number of attacking Spartans. Mace is a maybe - he relied on his lightsaber skills from what I understand so it would depend on if he's fast enough. Y'all also may be forgetting that humans in the SW world are a different genetic breed than the humans on Earth - it may very well be that they're already stronger and faster (which is suggested by how well they age) so the Spartan upgrades wouldn't have as big of an impact.

A better SW comparison would be Spartans vs Clones. I don't know how they'd exactly stack up but I imagine it would be very similiar, with the 'heavy weapons' advantage to the Spartans and the 'small weapons' advantage to the Clones. Clones are genetically bred from a Mandalorian, which at stock value are supposed to be strong warriors. Not to mention the genetic upgrades they were given. Their armor acts more like a TK's should and actually works.

I see that Serenity/Firefly was mentioned in the OP - I don't think we saw enough of what the Purple Bellies can do to really figure that one out. We know they trounced the Browncoats handily, but we don't really know how advanced the Browncoats were or weren't. We know that the core worlds are extremely advanced, but we don't really know how advanced in comparison with other scifi. The Alliance does have massive ships as seen throughout the series and they do have a hardy ground force.

Replicators(Stargate): can't be harmed by any weapon more than once anymore.They would trounce the Covenant badly. The Spartans would have a chance because of the ballistic weapons, but would have a very narrow window of opportunity to actually defeat the replicators. They'd have to find a super weapon.

Thinking about this also brings up that Ancient device they used to destroy all Replicators everywhere - they programmed it to destroy only the Replicators. It would have destroyed all known life if they hadn't programmed it otherwise.

Ancients (Stargate): they really just have to sneeze wrong and everything dies.. so probably not fair to bring them into a tech discussion. xD

As far as Star Trek, they have the obvious tech advantage over Halo-verse in the skies with big class ships. They have a definite weakness on the ground, and didn't have a small class of fighters until the TNG movies from what I can remember, though I guess that doesn't really matter when Kirk can brag about being able to destroy easily destroy a planet. I still haven't figured out if he was just BSing in that scene though.

In closing, John Cricton would win. All he needs is his wormhole weapon and everything dies. And I mean everything. Just spit one into the center of battle, watch it gobble up all the enemy ships who can't do a frelling thing about it, then run until it finally catches up and takes out the whole galaxy/s

Can y'all tell I'm sitting at work bored? xD

 

[SchizophrenicMC]

I really have to disagree with your Star Wars points. (And the BSG ones, because I don't consider any of the re-imagined series to be canon, and I spotted a discrepancy in tactics and technologies)

Slugs move faster than blasterfire, but they don't impart enough energy to pierce Clone or Stormtrooper armor. This is stated all over the everywhere. Also, their ammo is heavier and harder to make. So, why mass-produce droids with weapons that aren't effective against the brunt of your enemy's forces, only to damage a small number of their leadership? Of course they're going to use blasters, for their lighter weight and greater efficacy against the main enemy force. Also, droids rely on very simple AI that can't out-think or out-react a Jedi.

Even assuming the Force works out of The Galaxy, (I wouldn't, necessarily, since it seems to be tied to hyperspace, which doesn't work, out-of-Galaxy) you have to realize the sheer speed and size of a Spartan. They weigh half a ton and run real fast, not to mention their reaction time and sheer strength. Jedi Force tactics rely on pushing and pulling their enemies, telekinetically. For the most part, the enemies they can disable with a push are simple, human or droid troops. Spartans can withstand far more force being applied to them than any normal human. As for pull, that's only useful when drawing a Spartan into lighstaber range. Even then, they're more likely to find a half-ton Spartan flying at them faster than they can stop, with enough force to be imparted, to kill the Jedi on impact. Maybe a high-level Jedi would have a chance, but I must say a Jedi could not kill a Spartan, assuming both their normal tactics.

Also, Droideka shields deflect lightsabers, just so you know.

The Yuuzhan Vong are a force on the level of the Flood, and should be considered as such. The only means available to have destroyed them, in Halo, would be the titular superweapon array. In fact, even in Star Wars, the end of the war was on somewhat iffy means, involving too much of the Force for my liking, and even then, they'd decimated a massive portion of the Galaxy.

I'm actually not sure who would win, though, between the Covenant and the Empire. I haven't really figured a calculation on their military might, in comparison to each other.

The Cylon-Covenant war argument, though, faces some serious discrepancies. First off, even given the massive size of a Basestar, its production facilities are not, by any means endless, nor are the number of Basestars. In fact, they're smaller than Covenant Supercarriers, and there are known to be many, many Supercarriers. Actually, they're smaller than Assault Carriers, and there are known to be thousands of Assault Carriers in the Covenant Navy. Plus, Assault Carriers (and Supercarriers) have greater firepower than Basestars, even given the fighter wing they carry. And this is just some of the heavy hitters of the Covie Navy. This isn't mentioning any of the various other classes of Covenant ship. As many Cylons as you can produce (and, really, I don't like the whole human thing the Re-imagining had, and, dammit, Starbuck is a MAN), they don't make a bit of difference in a space battle. Even if Cylon shielding surpassed Covenant long-range fire, and the barrage discouraged close-range fire, Covenant ships have such advanced FTL technology, they can slip right behind a ship's defenses. That's how the Orbital Defense Platforms of Reach fell.

I'm gonna say the Cylons, if they fought the Covenant, would lose very quickly to the latter's sheer numbers and power. That's just a given. The Cylons' tactics don't bode well for long-term combat with the Covenant superpower, in either series. Only reason the UNSC held out is because they were so far spread out, the Covies couldn't find them so fast, and because their tactics relied more on hit and run and stealth than sheer power, as the Cylons are so used to relying on, fighting the Colonials', whose power is so far inferior.

As for the whole Serenity/Firefly note, I'm convinced that even the UNSC has greater might than the entire Alliance. Between even the smallest ships of the UNSC (Assuming Frigates are the smallest, at 1570 feet long) being larger than the largest Alliance ships, and the known types of weaponry they each have, the UNSC just comes out on top. Plus, it doesn't seem to hide behind a dictatorial regime, and never created Reavers... Not to mention FTL...

Sorry, but the Earth-That-Was still is, and it's home to the largest military humans have ever been a part of.

 

[Tactonyx]

Alright, now were getting somewhere! But let's try to keep the books outta this for simplicity sakes. I did think of the Sun Crusher and Starship Trooper Mobile Infantry Powered Armor, but I thought it would be best to do TV, movies and games. Another reason why I say to keep da books out is I can easily go over to my parents and search through my dad's vast collection of sci-fi books dating back to the beggining of time and manage to find something to top everything on the aforementioned list.
Off the top of my head, War of the Worlds and Starship Troopers (The Books) already outclass several items on the list.
As for the force, this a technology comparision thread, so I think it's going to have to sit this one out. We could start another thread of movie/gaming Icon's free-for-all deathmatch?