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ScarecrowsMainFan β Tyranids vs. Covenant
Published: 2014-02-19 02:55:08 +0000 UTC; Views: 5439; Favourites: 35; Downloads: 3
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Description
Tyranids: The mentality of the Tyranid approach to warfare can be described with the phrase "quantity has a quality all its own". Like a foul cancer, these creatures travel the stars eating away at worlds and destroying planets; seeking only there own propagation and evolutionary advancement. Constantly changing, adapting, and growing, the Tyranids have defied those that would hope to halt their advancement to consume all life.Covenant: A mighty empire made up of several races united in a shared belief, the Covenant run on a cast system: Prophets, Elites, Brutes, Drones, Grunts, Jackals, Hunters, Engineers, etc. Their faith was so strong, that those that were non-compliant with their beliefs would often face a genocidal war in retaliation. One of the most powerful military force in the known Milky Way galaxy, the Covenant sought to activate the Halo Array, believing it would allow them to transcend mortality.
Now the Star Locusts will face off against the servants of the Winding Way. Can all the biological horrors of the Tyranids overcome the varied races and powerful weapons of the Covenant? Will the Empire and it's casts be consumed like so many enemies before them? Only time will tell, as we try to find out...
WHO! IS! DEADLIEST!
*(Because I know this will pop up if I say nothing: No space battles. Planet-side only.)
(Disclaimer: Just to be clear, these two combatants were created / are owned by people far more creative / wealthier then me. I have made this, not for profit, but in the hopes of encouraging spirited discussion among fans. Please support the combatants official series. Thank you, that is all).
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Comments: 185
That's why Hierophants go in packs of three to six. Also, they're the most agile of the titans in 40K, and that means a lot on the table.
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Hmm... Β A long term campaign would go in favor Covenant, due to their habit of glassingΒ planetsΒ from orbit. Β
However, in a small scale battle the bugs sheer ferocity and terror inducing form might be enough to scatter the grunts and overwhelm the heavy hitters. Β
Maybe.
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You know, the Imperium is also capable of glassing planets. Isn't as effective against Tyranids as you might think. :3
Also, the Covenant's "heavy hitters" are really nothing compared to what the Tyranids bring to the table. I can't think of anything the Covenant have on the ground that could take on a Hierophant or even a Hierodule. Hell, even Carnifexes would be an OOCP.
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Isn't thatΒ what I said?Β The only reason I said "Maybe" was because of all the Covenant's shields.Β How would the bugs deal with that?Β That's my main grievance.Β
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Okay time to settle this. 150 space marine terminators were sent to an imperial space hulk that was overrun withΒ 'nids. 3 terminators got outΒ BARELYΒ alive and they were attacked by NORMAL 'nids. Imagine what a genestealer would do to an elite or brute...Β
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A single genestealer against a single Elite? The Elite wins. Here's why:
Motion sensor: Makes sneak attacks all but impossible, you know, since the Elite is constantly aware of any organism that gets within a certain range of him.
Weapons: We'll assume the Elite is carrying around their signature weapons, those being the Plasma Rifle and the Energy Sword. The Plasma Rifle would burn through the Genestealer in two shots, and all the flesh around the wound would suffer from anything upwards to fourth degree burns making even near misses damaging. The Energy Sword would cleave the genestealer in two with a single swing.
An Elites shield would manage to hold the Genestealers tongue back before the Elite took a shot and blew the Genestealer to hell.
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Here's where your scenario hits a brick wall:
Genestealers don't do one on one. They do twelve on one.
They don't use their tongues to attack; they use claws sharp enough to cut through Terminator armor, attached to arms strong enoughg to punch through an iron halo's protective aura.
Covenant Plasma Technology is pathetic compared to the Plasma technology used by the Imperium, and there have been cases where the tyranids have developed biomorphs which counteract plasma based weaponry through the implementation of specialized ablative mucous layers.
Finally, Genestealers have nascent precognitiant telepathy, allowing them to read into their opponent's attacks microseconds in advance, which their enhanced speed and specialized musculature adjust accordingly to.
On a side note, Terminators have Motion Trackers built into their suits too, but that didn't stop them from being curb stomped by the Genestealers.
There's a reason Genestealers are so feared; they tear through Termies like they're tissue paper.
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Oh, and here I was... doing something several months to a year ago.
But, seriously, the Covenant don't move in one-on-one scenarios either. Let's assume there's a group of 12 Genesteals against an Elite, 10 Grunts, and another 5 kig-yar. Now Grunts have the regular Plasma Pistol (which tears through the poor Genestealers) the Kig-yar have either the Needler, the Particle Rifle, or the Plasma Pistol (all of which would tear through Genestealers) and the Elite has a Storm Rifle or a Concussion Rifle plus an Energy Sword (all of which would tear through Genestealers). Genestealers lose in both numbers and firepower. Protective aura means nothing to me until you tell me how much damage it can take... and prove that it isn't weak to this type of damage. Genestealers are dead.
Nope. It's better. Not only does it to do the same type of damage to human bodies, it also doesn't pose a threat the the person using it. I'd rather use a gun that has 0 possibility of blowing up and killing me over a gun which might blow up and kill me, but that's just me. Covenant plasma is just as powerful as far as that goes, plus higher rates of fire and can even fire stronger bursts (Over loaded Plasma Pistol) puts them that much higher above the Imperium.
You're going to have to prove to me that Genestealers have this, I looked up in the Lexicanum and it didn't bring anything up. Though, I'm not sure how being able to tell when someone is going to pull a trigger a microsecond before the trigger is pulled gives you any better chance of dodging it. Good luck using this against an Elite, who reacts in the microseconds.
The Motion trackers aren't equatable. They have different foils to different aspects. Telling me what motion tracker A can do to say that this limits Motion tracker B when we know B and A are not exactly the same is... stupid, for lack of a better word.
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rakaru, you have to understand that the Imperium is HUGE ...im not saying the humans in Halo are weak but...they are kinda outgunned and yet the Imperium is suffering heavily from the Tyranids AND DID I FORGET TO MENTION THE IMPERIUM HAS FUCKING SPACE MARINES, The nids are just too numerous and overpowered even in warhammer 40k standards (which has alot of overpowered assholes)Β
Also this is a battle of factions, not soldiers...well it might seem that the Covenant has better troops but what is 1 Elite VS 1000 Hormogaunts/Genestealers , also they have tons of huge creatures which needs alot of ammunition to take out, they send spies to infest and infiltrate the enemy before the main hive ship arrives.
Did i forget to mention 1 very unfair thing the Nids do? In every battle, if they win agaisnt organic enemies , they will have 0 losses because they have bacteria that consumes their own dead and their enemies to recycle their biomass so unless you vaporize their corpses in the heat of battle and not dying while holding down their unlimited numbers and dodging rains of acid that they bombard you with. You might just win it...with heavy casualties that is.
In the end the covenant is clearly outnumbered and outgunned , yea sure at the very least they might kill 1 hive fleet (It took an entire legion of ultramarines to take one out with heavy casualties to kill one) but it wont matter as there are un told numbers of hive fleets outside the galaxy, even 1 hive fleet is equivilant to the Reapers in Mass effect in terms of threat
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...Oh wait. Β These aren't Aracnids are they? Β Ha! Β I thought that picture was of those Starship troopers bugs! Β Oops.
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Covenant have this. From what I can tell, the Tyranids specialize (if that's the right word) in close quarters combat, which isn't to say they don't have any ranged weapons, they do, but not the the same extent as the Covenant.
The covenant have their Banshees, Ghosts, Scarabs (against which even missiles did very little to no damage), Wraiths, Specter, and Prowlers. They have weapons (like the Scarab) which have a huge AoE. They can turn invisible, use jet packs, have shields that can take quite a beating, have one of the largest armies in Halo (the largest, I think).
I don't see how beings that are more or less beasts could do any really damage to the Covenant. Keep in mind, I am thinking of a war-type scenario here.
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Um, Tyranids aren't just stupid bugs. They can breed Genestealers and Lictors to infiltrate enemy lines, Hive Tyrants are capable of strategizing, etc.
Tyranids make heavy use of ranged weaponry, actually (which is sort of necessary if you want to survive in the Warhammer 40k universe). Termagants, which essentially fulfill the same role as Grunts, are bred en masse with bioweapons capable of melting through metal, and the heavier units such as Tyrannofexes are given anti-tank weapons even, as well as leader units like the Hive Tyrant.
Lastly, if it comes down to pure numbers, the Tyranids will take it rather easily considering that they've devoured something like 12 galaxies and stripped them of resources (yes, they have bio-engineered spaceships).
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I didn't say Tyranids are "just stupid bugs". I said they are more or less beasts, compared to the Covenant who have mastered faster-than-light travel (slipspace). Even human's seem less awesome in front of the Covenant.
If the strongest weapon the Tyranids have is anti-tank weapons, they lose. The Covenant have a myriad of weapons, ranging from anti-tank to anti-aircraft to anti-armor, not to mention weapons like the Needler which lock onto targets and cause a fatal explosion if enough (6 or 7, if I remember correctly) hits the target. And they have some weapons, such as the Scarab, which are near indestructible.
I don't know why I mentioned numbers, the way I had it in my head was something like a 500 v 500 kinda thing.
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Laugh as the tyranids just evolve past the weapons. And the Covies can't make anymore weapons because of the treaty.
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Hey, now. If you want to count this as a "real", actual war scenario, the Covenant would just glass the planet, or activate the Halo Array and wipe out all life in the galaxy.
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All death battles are GROUND battles, so covies can't glass the planet. Idiot.
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That comment went off on a tangent because the other person was allowing the Tyranids time to evolve. The way I understand it, Death Battles are battles, not year-long wars so that one side can eventually evolve. Learn the context of a comment before replying, moron.
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Hey, everyone pretty much does the same thing of glassing a planet. Real actual war would be the entire tendrils making they're way through the galaxy. Can blow up a few planets here and there but that's only slowing them down. And besides, you need a human to activate the Halo Array so if we're not counting the humans in this way, they're pretty much screwed.
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Once the Halo Array is fired, it wouldn't matter what made its way into the galaxy is it would die.
Actually, because of the sudden shutdown of one of the installations, 05 I think, all the halos are primed to fire and the Covenant could do it from the Ark (as they almost did in Halo 3).
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If the array goes off you're just cutting the tips of the tendrils off. Besides it doesn't even kill off the flood, just they're food supply which is sentient beings. Tyranids work in the same way as all biofroms are just mindless beasts driven by a hive mind. Like Gravemind does with the flood.
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The Tyranids are sentient beings, the Flood isn't (until one reaches the state of being a Gravemind). That should be evident from the fact that Tyranids use tactics and such when they fight, unlike the Flood. Hell, even with the Gravemind, the Flood is little more than space-zombies.
But, let's say for the sake of argument that Tyranids aren't sentient, the Hive Tyrants are and would be killed by the Array. A Scarab would kill a Hive Tyrant and would fuck up the entire Tyranid army for that battle, after all Hive Tyrants are the "leader" among the Tyranids and "Their destruction does shatter the psychic web that controls the lesser Tyranids nearby, thus forces of tyranids have been defeated by eliminating the Hive Tyrant and eliminating this psychic control" (taken from the Warhammer 40K wiki).
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Good luck trying to get the Scarab anywhere near the Tyrant. Even then it would most likely be a swarm lord behind the ranks of leading the hive fleet on taking on the covies. Tyranids create bio-titans the same size of scarabs. Even then the tyrant or swarm lord that leads isn't going to expose himself to battle, he's going to be chilling on one of the bio ships until everything he's been working on come to. Even with just one tyrant dead another can easily be born and sent down via spore pod to assume control of the swarms. Still then the Swarm Lord would most likely have other tyrants leading most missions so he doesn't need to get his hands dirty. Also, we shouldn't be taking any flood or halo array into question because that's not the topic and the halo array results in a tie because everyone dies. Covenant can't take on the ships of tyranids seeing as how they're smaller in comparison. 40k makes shit super sized. Covenant military actions are reckless and too spread out to even matter as swarms of gaunts cant easily take on the grunts and the elite who watches over them. Warriors are larger and built for combat and can easily adapt to situations and direct lesser nids. The only thing the Covenant have going for them is the ability to make fortifications fast, but a ravagers or trygons can just pop up from underground and wreck that shit. Carnifexes are living battering rams and will probably smash through the tanks or blow anything up with ranged acid that eats through any metal. If the Flood can take over the entire captial planet of the Covenant in little over a few months then the tyranids can easily just run over them until master chief shows up and kills everyone with plot armor.
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The Scarab wouldn't have to get close, seeing as how it is armed with a front-mounted laser that can blew through even the toughest armor, at 650 meters (2132 ft), with ease. Bio-titans might match a Scarab in size, but the more effectively armored and much better gunned Scarab will tear any Bio-titan to shreds. Even the most armored Bio-titan's defenses would be penetrated by the Scarab, be it with the AA guns which can shoot 150-250 rounds/minute and have an effective range of 2.4 km (1.4 miles), the front mounted laser which shoots a four second stream of napalm like fluid with an effect range of 650 m (2132 ft) and anything near it when it fires and is smaller than the Scarab is damaged, or the three Directed Energy Support weapon which can shoot 600 rounds/minute and can still cut through armor plating fairly easily. Even if we gave the Tyranids shields and over shields, the Scarab would make short work of them.Β That said, the Hive Tyrant or Swarm Lord would be dead as soon as one of these indestructible babies hit the battlefield, let alone two or three. Oh, and did I mention their front-mounted laser, though most effective within 650 m has no actual limit on when it can see its target? As long as it has an unobstructed shot, the Scarab can hit its mark no matter the distance.
I wasn't counting the flood as weapons for the Covenant, I was pointing out how they (the Flood) and the Tyranids are not similar. As for the Halo Array, yes the Covenant could fire the Array and be safe. As I said before, a failsafe was activated vy the unexpected shutdown of one of the Instillation and the Array could be fired from the (Lesser) Ark, which is also the only safe zone from the galaxy-cleansing Halo Array.
So, we can't mention the Halo Array because it's off topic, but we can talk about ship battles despite them being out of the scope of this fight? Haha, ok. Well, to your claim that the Covenant's ships wouldn't be able to take down a Tyranid ship, yes they would. To start off with, some Covenant ships cant take an enormous beating, the Covenant Supercruiser's shield could take 500 ship-to-ship missiles with only a handful actually hitting the ship and survived a nuke mine (which yields 30 megatons (that's 30 million tons of TNT going off), I doubt anything the Tyranids could put out could surpass that easily. Offensively, Supercarriers (which are a Capital Ship class for the Covenant) are armed with at least 7 energy projectors (the weapons they use to glass a planet), as well as thousands of plasma turrets which could easily boil and melt through any time of bio-armor, thousands of pules Laser turrets which can burn through 45 cm of armor in a single shot, and Plasma Torpedos which burn through ship's hulls faster than shit. Compared to the metal melting, shield boiling weapons used by just a single ship, I highly doubt the Tyranids could do anything more than break through their shields temporarily.
Against Gaunts, the covenant can use turrets, which have infinite ammo and only are stopped by the heat, energy swords, Plasma launchers which are guided missiles for the most part, Brute shots, and Concussion Rifles, all of which can kill large groups with the smallest amount of ammo and most of which are carried by Elites or Grunts. Against Warriors, the same weapons would work, plus the smaller weapons like the Plasma Rifle, the Plasma Repeater, the Spiker, and the Needler. The Spiker and Needler would be especially good for this fight as the Spiker deals both kinetic and piercing damage and is able to kill a heavily shielded or heavily armored opponent within a single mag, and the Needler homes in on its targets and after about 7 hit they explode with deadly results. The whole purpose of digging underground is the surprise attack that would follow, a surprise attack like that wouldn't work against the Covenant as they have their motion sensory that will pick up movement like that, and after that grenades and weapons can be used to easily dispatch the Ravagers or Tyrgons. Carnifex's are easily beaten by Hunters who use advanced plasma cannons and are covered in armor, at best a Hunter would just manage to kill a Carnifex before the acid ate through its armor.
The Covenant underestimated the Flood, I doubt they would do it again, especially when facing an army of ugly mother fuckers like the Tyranids, ha.
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If this is after the Covenant saw the flood, then their infrastructure would have fallen already thanks to master chief
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Is that the best you could do? I could easily change the reason they wouldn't underestimate the Tryanids and make it pre-Flood, if you would prefer?
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You know that Tyranid come from another galaxy, right?
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They are in the Milk Way, which is why they would come into conflict with the Covenant in this fight, and how they fought the Imperium in Warhammer. Where they came from is inconsequential. The Covenant activates the Halo Array and they win the war.
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Oh boy, I don't really know at this point.Β
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The Tyranids should take this fairly easily.
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Tyranids can at least take the grunts in a fight
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so scarecrow what advantages would these fighters have over another and who do you think would win
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Tyranids vs. Covenant
Recon: Tyranid
Infantry: Tyranid
Elites: Covenant
Heroes: Tyranid
Cavalry: Covenant
Armor: Tyranid
Aircraft: Covenant
Misc.Air: Covenant
Support: Covenant
Defense: Covenant
Leader X: Tyranid
Army X: Tyranid
Addition: Tyranid
Victory Gains: Covenant
WINNER: Tie
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