Halo Humans vs Mass Effect Small Arms Weaponry: Whose is better?

The reapers don't have planets though. Btw, I think the leviathans/reapers might actually be the most powerful entities out of both universes due to a bit of Fridge Logic; canonically the reapers (and presumably by extension the leviathans) do not obey the conservation of energy (whereas normal ME stuff only violates the conservation of momentum). The implications of breaking the COE get crazier and crazier the more you think about it.

edited 4th Sep '12 9:19:28 AM by Archereon

And you guys added so many posts that I have to repost.

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Halo Nation Wiki:

"It's not overpowered, it's an elegant weapon from a more civilized age." — Luke Smith

The Weapon/Anti-Vehicle Model 6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle[1][2] (abbreviated W/AV M6 G/GNR), also known as the Spartan Laser, is the UNSC's ground-based, man-portable, anti-vehicle, directed energy weapon. It is one of two known battery-powered UNSC weapons, the other being the Model 99 Special Application Scoped Rifle (used by Sgt. A. Johnson during Operation: KALEIDOSCOPE) and is the most powerful infantry weapon fielded by UNSC forces, even overpowering the Rocket Launcher. It is capable of penetrating multiple targets, including tanks, unlike the Sniper Rifle, which can only penetrate infantry. It is alternatively known as the Galilean, or, in player lexicon, the "Splaser". The "Spartan Laser" nickname originated due to the fact that it was designed in parallel with the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mk. V G variant.

The Spartan Laser, in short, fires a laser that hurts, and has splash damage. As it not a projectile, it ignores all known ME shields or defense mechanisms, since they only reflect projectiles with mass. The best case scenario in using this weapon would be from a sniper position, taking out key targets, vehicles, and, by proxy, those near them.

This, of course, leaves the problem of close combat (and cost, but we'll get to that later). The Spartan Laser greatest weakness is its long charge time and low ammo stocks, making it rather impractical for close combat. Unfortunately, little can be done about those two factors. The optimal solution would be to hang back and use fellow soldiers as cover while the SL user takes out important targets.

edited 4th Sep '12 9:56:58 AM by MetaSkipper

Having one rare weapon that is effective against ground vehicles in the Mass Effect universe isn't going to be that much of a help, even if it will make ground battles less of a curbstomp. Mass Effect small arms and vehicles still outclass their Halo equivalents.

I wasn't done yet....

Then perhaps you should have made your point the first time, instead of editing it in?

Honestly, I've never really contested that a Super MAC round would be able to destroy what it hit... I contest the idea that it would actually hit anything from the ME universe, and that any platform firing would be destroyed before it got more than 5 shots off...

I'm not typing a paragraph on a phone.

Five shots is a lot. One shot is two and a half ships. That's 12.5 ships gone from one gun.

And it's obviously an anti-captial ship weapon. Did you expect us to hit the Normdany with it?

edited 4th Sep '12 10:13:35 AM by MetaSkipper

A lot of the better weapons in ME are in limited stock, too. A good deal of Cerberus's weaponry and a lot of the stuff Shepard uses is still in the prototype stage, and isn't widely distributed.

Honestly, based on my calculations, I'd expect a Super MAC to punch through more than two and a half ships, with the bigger limiting factor on kills/shot being the number of targets lined up to be multikilled.

You do realize how absurd that is right? The notion that a Super MAC would ever in a million years manage to line up two targets? Space is really freaking big you know.

Plus, a reaper is probably nearly as maneuverable as a ship like the Normandy if the codex entry on their capacities isn't lying. Even if they can't avoid Super MAC shots, they have their own trump card: the technology to build solar system destroying superweapons, which is something that would count for a lot even in verses like Star Wars or 40k which have obscenely high power levels.

edited 4th Sep '12 10:16:13 AM by Archereon

Honestly, I'm guessing the only reason they ever got to test that is because the Covvies aren't exactly tactical geniuses.

That said, to destroy a Reaper ship, luring it into a Nova bomb trap sounds like a better bet.

edited 4th Sep '12 10:17:06 AM by Balmung

Which the reaper could escape by going FTL. Unlike Halo ships, Mass Effect ships are capable of going FTL at any time, and most engagements that don't involve ships capable of OHKOing each other end with one side retreating to FTL.

Wait, what exactly does a Nova bomb do? In 40k, they're relics from the Dark Age of Technology that cause stars to go supernova. If Halo nova bombs are that powerful than I'll give you that one.

edited 4th Sep '12 10:21:20 AM by Archereon

Mathy stuff:

The NOVA Bomb is a cluster of nine nuclear fusion warheads encased in a lithium triteride case. When the warheads are activated, the lithium triteride shell focuses the blast in upon itself, multiplying the destructive power a hundredfold. This gives the NOVA Bomb an unprecedented payload for its size. Its capability to destroy a planet has earned it the nickname the "Planet-Killer". It should be noted that on the one recorded event when a NOVA Bomb was detonated in the midst of a fleet close to the planet Joyous Exultation, it scorched one quarter of the planet's surface due to a high concentration of thermal energy inside the planet's atmosphere; it also shattered a nearby moon. Any further detailed analysis on the full power of this bomb has yet to be mentioned in the Halo series, but it is known that it is the most destructive weapon in the UNSC's arsenal.

The NOVA Bomb's explosive power is quickly depleted due to the lack of particles or atmosphere around it when detonated in space. This results in a much quicker release of energy, with the possibility of even further multiplying its damage to ships, planets, moons, and other celestial objects due to the lack of energy absorbing particles in space. However if detonated inside a planet's atmosphere, a portion of the total energy generated would be dispersed throughout the atmosphere. The density as well as composition of the atmosphere are the largest contributing factors when determining how much energy is dispersed. Even though the power of the NOVA Bomb is not mentioned in the book, a low end can be calculated:

WARNING: The following information is conjecture, and not official information.

Assumptions: the moon is 2 km, and the NOVA bomb is only 5,000 km away.

Calc: Apply the Inverse Squared Law: Source Energy / (4 * Pi * R2) the radius is the distance from the source to the range.

x/ (4 * 3.14195... * 5,0002) = 4 Megatons per square kilometer to fragment a 2 km moon which requires 8 Megatons to be fragmented.

x = 1.2 Petatons.

Some may find this yield hard to believe for a fusion device, but the stated effects to the planet and nearby moon require explosive power of this magnitude. Whitcomb does mention, however, that the lithium triteride cases are compressed to "neutron star density" during the detonation, implying that the warheads themselves boost a second, much larger fusion reaction.

TL;DR: An anti-fleet-and-planetary-body bomb. A very strong one.

edited 4th Sep '12 10:28:41 AM by MetaSkipper

It got activated between a planet and a moon, the resulting blast destroyed around 500(?) Covenant ships (although turns out to be the rebel ones I think?) shattered the moon, and permanently wreck the planet (although didn't got blown out entirely)

^ Ninja'd!

edited 4th Sep '12 10:25:39 AM by onyhow

So a Super MAC round can go through ships, destroying them, and auto-target the next one? Or are you saying that nearby ships would be caught in explosions?

You are also implying, again, that a Super MAC platform would be able to hit Mass Effect starships...

That said.... Yes, within five shots. Most ME Dreadnoughts are capable of firing one 20kg slug with a velocity of 4025 km/s, every 2 seconds. Now, I don't recall how long it took the Super MAC in Halo 2 to fire twice(if it did), but I have a feeling that multiple rounds would be going towards the platform as well...

An SMAC round is not capable of auto tracking, but it is capable of going through two ships, and crippling an third.

The MAC, the primary armament, fires a 3,000 ton slug at 12,000 Kp H. Can't find anything about fire rate.

Ground based SMA Cs fire every five seconds, ship mounted ones take a few minutes (five, I think), if memory serves me right.

edited 4th Sep '12 10:36:42 AM by MetaSkipper

^^ Note: MULTIPLE platforms (wiki says around 300)...also wiki says 5 sec/shot...

edited 4th Sep '12 10:31:48 AM by onyhow

@The Nova Bomb: That's all fine and good, but a weaponized mass relay can be used to destroy solar systems (and depopulate all the surrounding star systems over the next few decades). Mass Effect races are also capable of using jury-rigged asteroids or suicide ships as relativistic kill vehicles.

edited 4th Sep '12 10:33:39 AM by Archereon

Via what? A lot of Krogan jumping in snyc on a mass-reduced asteroid?

Also, there aren't a whole lot of Mass Relays in the Halo galaxy.

edited 4th Sep '12 10:53:26 AM by MetaSkipper

The velocity of a Super MAC round is .4C ( 119,916,983 m/s) ME dreadnaught has a peashooters in comparison. Peashooters.

I like how this thread has gone from "let's look at very specific parts of these respective games" to "my fandom could beat up your fandom", especially given that half of the people in the conversation quite obviously haven't played the game they're arguing against.

On the high end, both sides have Sufficiently Advanced Aliens that can do whatever the plot requires of them.

In the middle, both sides are fully capable of wiping out entire planets.

On the low end, both sides have absurdly powerful weaponry and energy shields to counter them.

On the very low end (which was the original question), Halo is 20 Minutes into the Future (ie, their technology is just snazzier versions of ours) while Mass Effect runs on Minovsky Physics (ie, fictional technology that allows them to do things that are theoretically impossible in the real world).

On any level but the very low end, you can argue with each other until the heat death of the universe without ever getting anywhere. On the very low end, Mass Effect has a clear advantage.

...I've played both series by the way.

edited 4th Sep '12 12:56:06 PM by CPFMfan

That's one more game than me.

Strangely enough, this entire discussion has been off-topic (perhaps the OP should have been more clear in the... OP). In the fic this thread was supposed to research for, the Halo verse is trading weapons tech, and the OP was trying to figure out if it was worth making the switch to ME small arms. Right now, I'm only really convinced that biotics would be worth taking (partly because Halo doesn't have biotics).

edited 4th Sep '12 11:24:31 AM by MetaSkipper

It should be pointed out that Mass Relays only allow for instantaneous travel between systems that are massive distances apart. The loss of Mass Relays doesn't prohibit FTL travel...

I've played both series as well.

Well, yes, but it's much slower. I'm fairly sure that Slipspace outspeeds non-mass relay FTL.