History Main / QuantityVsQuality

Subtrope of NecessaryDrawback.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': The Starks and the Lannisters, respectively. The Starks can only raise small armies, but being from the wild, dangerous Northlands, [[HadToBeSharp they tend to be composed of tough warriors]]. The Lannisters have access to lots of gold mines and this makes the family exceedingly rich and able to support large armies of cheap troops. In the [[Series/GameOfThrones TV series]], the Starks win the majority of their battles except for the first one (which is more of a PyrrhicVictory for the Lannisters; although they defeated the 2000-strong Stark force, they took heavy casualties and it was all a ploy which allowed the Starks to capture one of the family).

* In Literature/BelisariusSeries the anti-malwa alliance has the quality for the most part and the the malwa have the quantity. This is modified somewhat because some of the Malwa vassals are proud warrior race guys.

A [[TropesInAggregate Trope in Aggregate]]. In fiction, when it comes to almost everything that comes in multiples, there's an inverse relationship between quantity and quality. The more there is of something, the lower the quality of those individual things and vice versa.

** In addition to the [[OurOrcsAreDifferent orcs/orks]], the settings have the Skaven and Tyranids respectively, whose main tactics are to send waves of easily-destroyed critters at defenders to blunt their attacks or get them to waste their ammo before sending in waves of stronger units.
** ''[=40k=]'' uses this relationship between the ImperialGuard and the [[SpaceMarine Adeptus Astartes]]. The Guard is a billions-strong army of normal humans armed with laser rifles and body armor that are frequently compared in effectiveness with flashlights and t-shirts, and often act as the RedshirtArmy in fluff and novels. The Space Marines, on the other hand, are made up of {{Super Soldier}}s genetically altered to be roughly seven feet tall with HealingFactor and various ancillary abilities depending on chapter, and dressed in PoweredArmor and wielding fully automatic rocket-propelled grenade launchers. But since their chapters are limited in size to about a thousand men apiece, they don't have the numbers to fight full-scale wars by themselves. Thus the two armies frequently work in tandem: the Guard provides the numbers and acts as the hammer, while the Space Marines perform surgical attacks and act as the sword-point.\\

** This is enforced for the PDF, as their best members are always selected for Imperial Guard service. The guard has become less of a RedShirtArmy over time, avoiding ConservationofNinjitsu, although they still use quantity to their advantage (entire squadrons of tanks). The SpaceMarines have sub-divisions that focus on quantity more (like the tens of thousands of Black Templars, or the Space Wolves, who refused to spin off successor chapters and remain at the strength of the original Space Marine Legions), and others that are even smaller and more elite than normal, such the 1000 strong all-psyker Grey Knights.

* ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III's'' necromancers' basic skill raises two weak skeletons from a corpse, quickly snowballing into a tide of skeletons. Dark Rangers can AnimateDead, too, but create a single, stronger skeleton instead.

* In a short story called Superiority by Arthur C Clarke, this trope is fully analyzed. Two societies fight one another, [[SuperPrototype one of which uses the newest, most up to date weaponry]]... which turns out to not work properly, having not been fully tested before having been sent out, and has disastrous effects on their own vital equipment; the other society uses rather primitive weaponry in comparison... but it always works exactly the way that it should, and is much easier, and faster, to produce than the more advanced version... and they have many more times the number to start with. [[ZergRush Guess which side wins.]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'': in addition to the [[OurOrcsAreDifferent orks/orcs]], the settings have the Tyranids and Skaven respectively, whose main tactics are to send waves of easily-destroyed critters at defenders to get them to waste their ammo before sending in waves of stronger units.

* In a short story called Superiority by Arthur C Clarke, this trope is fully analyzed. Two societies fight one another, one of which always uses the newest, most up to date weaponry... which turns out to not work properly, having not been fully tested before having been sent out; the other society uses rather primitive weaponry in comparison... but it always works exactly the way that it should, and is much easier, and faster, to produce than the more advanced version... and they have many more times the number to start with. Guess which side wins.

** This is enforced for the PDF, as their best members are always selected for Imperial Guard service. The guard has become less of a RedShirtArmy over time, avoiding ConservationofNinjitsu, although they still use quantity to their advantage (entire squadrons of tanks). The SpaceMarines have sub-divisions that focus on quantity more (like the tens of thousands of Black Templars), and others that are even smaller and more elite than normal, such the 1000 strong all-psyker Grey Knights.

* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' has [[MiniGame Crossroads Keep]]. Woe to those who find out too late that the entry requirements for troops can only be lowered, from [[EliteArmy a few good men]] to [[WTHCastingAgency any drunk who wanders in accidentally]].

* In BelisariusSeries the anti-malwa alliance has the quality for the most part and the the malwa have the quantity. This is modified somewhat because some of the Malwa vassals are proud warrior race guys.

* ConservationOfNinjutsu: Quantity vs quality of {{Mooks}}. Quality mostly wins.

[[AC:Subtropes]]

* ConservationOfNinjutsu: Quantity vs quality of {{Mooks}}. Quality mostly wins.

* FactionCalculus: "Powerhouses" tend towards quality while "Subversives" are more inclined towards quantity.
* PowerEqualsRarity: Better items are typically rarer.
* QualityOverQuantity: AnAesop that takes the side of quality.

* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Quantity versus quality of skills with weapons.

* ConservationOfNinjutsu: Quantity vs quality of {{Mooks}}.

* ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III's'' Necromancers can pull this off, as their basic skill raises two weak skeletons from a corpse, quickly snowballing into a tide of skeletons.

[[index]]
* ConservationOfNinjutsu: Quantity vs quality of {{Mooks}}.
* DeathOfAThousandCuts: Refers to video game characters who deal relatively small amounts of damage compared to other characters from his or her game but can deal a larger amount of them. How effective this is depends on the game.
* FactionCalculus: "Powerhouses" tend towards quality while "Subversives" are more inclined towards quantity.
* PowerEqualsRarity: Better items are typically rarer.
* QualityOverQuantity: AnAesop that takes the side of quality.
* SpamAttack, where the solution when shooting at something doesn't work is to shoot even more of it. This one is obviously rooted in quantity, though people characterized by it are rarely portrayed as sympathetic or intelligent. Further subdivided into BeamSpam, MacrossMissileMassacre, MoreDakka, and RainOfArrows.
* WeHaveReserves: The idea that troops are expendable because there are so many available. This is never shown in a good light.
* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Quantity versus quality of skills with weapons.
* ZergRush: Quantity versus quality of {{Mooks}} where Quantity wins.
[[/index]]

At times Quantity and Quality is used as the basis for AnAesop. Most aesops take the side of quality, saying that it's best to put effort into the individual creations.

[[AC:Subtropes]]
* ConservationOfNinjutsu (Quantity vs Quality of {{Mooks}})
* DeathOfAThousandCuts refers to video game characters who deal relatively small amounts of damage compared to other characters from his or her game but can deal a larger amount of them. How effective this is depends on the game.
* FactionCalculus: "Powerhouses" tend towards quality while "Subversives" are more inclined towards quantity.
* SpamAttack, where the solution when shooting at something doesn't work is to shoot even more of it. This one is obviously rooted in quantity, though people characterized by it are rarely portrayed as sympathetic or intelligent.
* PowerEqualsRarity (Quantity vs Quality of artifacts and weapons)
* RainOfArrows is the same applied to arrows rather than firearms, and both good guys and bad guys employ it about equally.
* QualityOverQuantity (AnAesop that takes the side of Quality)
* WeHaveReserves is the idea that troops are expendable because there are so many available. This is never shown in a good light.
* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer (Quantity vs Quality of skills with weapons)
* ZergRush (Quantity vs Quality of {{Mooks}} where Quantity wins)

[[AC:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' this trope is played both ways. There are tradeoffs between more effective missiles and being able to spam more and more missiles. Sometimes one wins, sometimes the other wins.
** Also the war between the Empire of Manticore and the Solarian League. The Solarians have more superdreadnaughts than Manticore has cruisers, but their technology is several centuries out of date because no one has dared fight them until now while the Empire has been dealing with pirates and [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Haven]] for a long time so they've got a healthy R&D program. Manticore's tacticians are more concerned about running out of ammo than ships. Both sides have remained fairly even.

[[AC:Music]]
* FiveIronFrenzy referenced this with their EP ''Quantity Is Job 1''. It had 17 tracks, more than either of their prior [=CDs=], but only seven of them were proper songs. The remaining ten songs are all nonsense the band improvised while goofing around in the studio--eight of these comprise "These Are Not My Pants (A Rock Opera)", which was deliberately intended to be a joke at the listener's expense.

[[AC:Newspaper Comics]]
* During the 2000s TimeSkip in ''ComicStrip/FunkyWinkerbean'', Funky took over management of the cast hangout Montoni's Pizza and opened several franchises. The other cast members including its former owner eventually took him aside and had him compare the pizza made to the recipe from when Montoni's was a single pizzeria to the current recipe, and apparently the former was superior to the latter.

[[AC:Tabletop Games]]
* Warhammer40K and {{Warhammer}}: in addition to the orks, the settings have the Tyranids and Skaven respectively, whose main tactics are to send waves of easily-destroyed critters at defenders to get them to waste their ammo before sending in waves of stronger units.
* The ImperialGuard versus the [[SpaceMarine Adeptus Astartes]]. The Guard is a billions-strong army of normal humans armed with laser rifles and body armor that are frequently compared in effectiveness with flashlights and t-shirts, and often act as the RedshirtArmy in fluff and novels. The Space Marines, on the other hand, are made up of {{Super Soldier}}s genetically altered to be roughly seven feet tall with HealingFactor and various ancillary abilities depending on chapter, and dressed in PoweredArmor and wielding fully automatic rocket-propelled grenade launchers. But since their chapters are limited in size to about a thousand men apiece, they don't have the numbers to fight full-scale wars by themselves. Thus the two armies frequently work in tandem: the Guard provides the numbers and acts as the hammer, while the Space Marines perform surgical attacks and act as the sword-point.

[[AC:Video Games]]

* DawnOfWar: the orks have an upgrade that allows their cheapest unit to be produced for free (except food costs). Meaning you can have 25 squads of melee units constantly pouring into an enemy's base, and while it will take a while, this will eventually win.
* WarcraftIII's Necromancers can pull this off, as their basic skill raises two weak skeletons from a corpse, quickly snowballing into a tide of skeletons.

!!Examples

* [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=d2r62eab7vwo6g6ql3lkfvbo Diminishing Returns]] (Quantity vs Quality of people in a project)

* [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=ps2skzy8b9nbbkg9hibsoamc Quality over Quantity]] (AnAesop that takes the side of Quality)