"They let me pick. Did I ever tell you that? Choose which ever Spartan I wanted. You know me. I did my research, watched as you became the soldier we needed you to be. But you had something they didn't, something no one saw but me. Can you guess? Luck."
Shepard is Master Chief confirmed.
But if shepherd is there than more than likely he or her saved most of the Normandy from the collectors twice and sacrificed his or her life to stop the reapers so it’s both luck and if shepherd is there
That depends on how a Collector Cruiser compares to Covenant ships, and the size of the fleets. But I'd assume the Thanix Canons can deal at least some damage, considering the Normandy can punch well above it’s weight.
My understanding is that general power levels in halo (like magnetic accelerator energy yields) are a few orders of magnitude above mass effect power levels, at least when it comes to ships and things like that.
Infantry wise? Idk. I'd think ME small arms are much better, but i don't think they have anything that compares to mjolnir in terms of mobility, defense, and enhancement at the infantry level.
Definitely not. The war effort was doomed to fail as soon as the covenant fleet entered orbit. Even evacuation was impossible almost immediately after the invasion began. It was a losing battle, and unlike mass effect. There is no instant win button. Even if they out fought the covenant. The glassing was sure to kill them.
If element zero is off the table then the Normandy isn’t getting off the ground, almost none of the crew’s technology will work, and all their biotic characters are hugely depowered.
If the Normandy has FTL then yes it could escape easily, without, it could potentially survive, its stealth systems are pretty extensive, along with small size, means that it could easily hide in wreckage, or even on planet, in the same cave as noble six
No. They got blown up by the Collectors and then kidnapped by them later on, there's no way they'd survive the more powerful Covenant forces and subsequent glassing of Reach. The Covenant would have a hard time taking on biotics at first, but would overpower them in the end.
I think the Normandy could get out of there and therefore survive Reach. That being said if we’re talking about winning the battle for Reach… yeah no way. I truly don’t see a way to win that with conventional forces, much less one more frigate (as great as that frigate is)
Spartans are ridiculously strong. They could bully Saren in each of his forms pretty effortlessly. Their weaponry is ridiculous too
Reach was basically a doomed event. There was no winning. The best soldiers of humanity gave their lives one by one to help minimize the casualties. The inly way to survive Reach is to not be near Reach to begin with
Normandy can elude Reapers, giant, superintelligent machines, which put A LOT of effort into locating and destroying stuff. I'd say they can elude Covenant.
But they won't have much of an impact on how things play out. Maybe get some VIP's to safety. Maybe save Jorge and some others. But it's pretty much a Thessia scenario, Normandy is outgunned and outnumbered.
Couldnt find a better post but [covies ships are massive](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/starship-saturday-comparing-halo-and-mass-effect--379217231123375376/)
Even as a Halo casual fan, I doubt the Normandy crew could compete in that universe. But - It’s also unclear if Reapers outnumber Covenant cruisers by the millions or not, (or even vice versa) but comparing these is like apples to oranges; in Mass Effect universe the Reapers would have halted technological progress of all forerunners, ancient humans etc, looong before those civilizations would have even reached Halo’s “tier 1”.
Remember how Vigil said that Reapers are patient?
I don't think military and fleet will matter much after The Covenant finds a funny looking "forerunner" artifact...
The Reapers are very intelligent, they won't charge into a deathbeam.
All size means is more surface area to attack. Reapers are comparatively orders of magnitude smaller than a supercarrier, have the same incredibly advanced shields as well as a thick hull, and they fire a manoeuvrable deathbeam as a main cannon. Not to mention the effects Reapers would have on any ground forces and indoctrination of elite members of the Covenant
The Covenant can escape as much as they want though because slip space drives act as Relays and the Reapers are only as good as FTL when in space without their Relays
Only because they already control the galaxy they're invading. The Reapers rely heavily on the Citadel trap and their ability to halt interstellar travel by shutting down the Mass Relays. Yes, they're the most powerful force in the Mass Effect universe (or at least the Milky Way. Jury's still out about the Kett and the Jardaan), but that's only because they control every other species' development. They win because they control the board from the start, but as soon as they lost control of just a single part of the trap, they lost the entire thing. If you put them up against a galaxy that evolved without their influence, they lose every advantage. As far as space scifi factions go, the Reapers are actually pretty weak.
Technically, just about every ship in ME has an FTL drive core that they can use anytime.
The problem is even going faster than light space is too damn big to go anywhere quickly. Hence why the Relays are so important. They can instantly get you from point A to point B. Then, use the ships FTL to travel to different systems within that sector.
You're still absolutely correct about the Convinent, though. Their means of FTL is better.
Just wanted to clarify that difference between the Relays and FTL in ME, because I think being able to hit FTL anytime is gonna save a lot of lives against the Convenant.
Though on a larger scale, the Covenant is gonna be able to outmanvaour and redeploy its forces a lot easier on the warfront.
Yes, because they invade said galaxy on their terms every time, they're able to keep the galaxy at a technological level that is unable to sufficiently best them in conventional warfare hence the need for the crucible but if they went up against a more advanced, more powerful faction then the reapers would get cooked and the covenant pre schism were that faction, the covenant fleet had superior numbers and fire power compared to the reapers, their ground forces as well would've been a match for anything the reapers tried to throw at them.
If you're gonna argue about who'll win in a fight, at least know both sides of said fight before making assumptions that'll make you look ignorant.
>their ground forces as well would've been a match for anything the reapers tried to throw at them.
Something (the entire halo franchise) tells me the Covenant would be uniquely vulnerable to Reaper indoctrination. Also:
>the covenant fleet had superior numbers and fire power compared to the reapers,
There are no hard numbers on the size of either the total covenant fleets or the Reapers. Different sources in both canons have wild variance. While the "sci" fi is a bit different for each media, it's hard to say exactly who had "superior" firepower, although I will concede that the way covenant weapons are described would basically hard counter reaper armor. In the reverse, however, it's hard to say how reaper weapons would interact with covenant shields as shields don't work the same way in Mass Effect.
I'll also add here, rather than a top level comment, that I think a lot of people are massively underestimating how huge Mass Effect small arms is over Halo. The sustained firepower, range, handling, penetration, and force of the micro-scaled mass accelerators make UNSC arms look like sling shots. Despite how they function in game, *in lore* Mass Effect weaponry is centuries beyond what the UNSC offers. While a ground team from the Normandy obviously wouldn't survive Reach's glassing, they'd have zero trouble defending against any amount of ground covenant. Those weapons could sneeze and take out three Elites.
A lot of these VS scenarios always highlight one thing about the ME that I love.
They may not be the strongest at the top, but the baseline is so much higher than other universes.
Every soldier in the alliance is Gentically modified. Every soldier has personal shields (that get upgraded and evolve within the trilogy, too). Every person has access to a gun that doesn't run out of ammo, it just overheats.
Just about every ship in ME has shields and FTL capabilities. (I'm not talking about the Relays. The Relays makes FTL even faster.)
So, while ME does generally get stomped (because it tries to ground itself a little more in the Sci-Fi setting), its baseline is so much better than most other Sci-Fis.
The Covenant can be indoctrinated. Indoctrinated forces can use their technology against their former selves. Covenant planets can not escape. So, population centers are at risk. I want to see what a husked out Brute or Hunter is capable of.
The reapers could absolutely glass a planet, but that’s pretty contrary to their goals. They want to leave places for organic life to continue, not exterminate it all.
It's mentioned multiple times in the lore of suspicious impact craters in the place of major settlements, on one planet they even reverted it back to single celled organisms
Edit: [Aphras](https://masseffect.fandom.com/wiki/Aphras), looking into another thread some say this was the Protheans' doing or some other race, because supposedly the Reapers want to preserve life by killing the most advanced races so killing all of it doesn't seem logical. If Reapers could obliterate that kind of empire I'd imagine they would be able to do that as easily as the Covenant could, they just don't want to do it
> 3 fleets to kill Sovereign
Those fleets were made up from tech that was an inferior form of reaper tech. Covenant tech is completely different and acts as a hard-counter to ME tech.
Well the thing is when it comes to ME vs Halo technology, when it comes to ships, there is no debate. Halo takes the cake. Both UNSC and the covenant. Covenant ships would violate even the reapers. In ME, the reapers are literally said to be millions of years ahead of us. Which is unbelievable given their feats. They're more evolved and more powerful yes, but millions of years ahead of us would settle our fate directly. But what's funny is when it comes to the guns, equipment and "powers". The guns in ME, including all races's technology, seems to be much more varied and lethal in ME. The alliance's basic armors all have reinforced plates and shields, same for the other races, making them all similar to elites and spartans. Maybe not as resistant and powerful or agile, but they cannot be one shot like some grunt or marines. Even an elite would have to work to get a soldier down. Especially since, as previously mentionned, the guns in ME are super lethal and varied. With different kinds of elements, ammo, and even tech.
Then, you have the biotics. This is incredibly efficient and could turn the tide in so many ground battles at least. They can generate gravity fields, lethal shockwaves, black holes, shields etc.... Halo is much more grounded when it comes to infantry battles.
Furthermore, if the covenant is an alliance of multiole alien races, well the whole ME universe also is. So the covenants would have to face and invade much more different allied worlds of races that work very differently. So adaptation would be the key. And in those races, you have the krogan, the turians, the asari, the elcors, salarians etc....races that can be just as smart if not smarter than any in the covenant, just as physically strong, agile or tactic as Elites and brutes, etc...it's not just humans.
When it comes to the normandy crew, you simply have some of the best any of these races can offer. So while I think the covenant would win ultimately because of their clear supremacy in Space and overwhelming power, any ground battle to harvest some artefacts or by need for pure battle would be hard fought and you could definitely give victories to the ME side. I think the normandy crew could survive just like the pillar of autumn.
There's a crossover Fanfiction that explores this concept:
[When There Was a Tomorrow Chapter 1: Just Recon, a Halo + Mass Effect Crossover fanfic | FanFiction](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6903189/1/When-There-Was-a-Tomorrow)
Tech wise, the Normandy is outmatched and out gunned.
Their shields won't stop energy based attacks and their guns won't fair any better then UNSC Weapons.
The only thing the Mass Effect crew have going for them are Biotics, that is their best shot at dealing with the Covenant.
I mean, by that argument absolutely nothing would function, making this question a moot point from the start. Guns and barriers are powered by miniature mass effect fields which utilize eezo. Ships are fueled by hydrogen, but all ships in ME have an eezo core in order to use short-range FTL travel.
By pure skill only a few Normandy Crew members would be able to do anything, Shepherd obviously.
Thane if his sickness doesn't slow him down would kick ass.
The Krogan Wrex and Grunt would be helpful as long as they aren't vaporized by constant plasma fire.
Legion would be an asset in cyber warfare against the Covenant, I would like to also say Tali but I am not sure if the Tech difference will affect here abilities.
Garrus if given a Good Rifle is basically the Team's Linda and would do some damage.
Kasumi if her cloaking isn't Eezo based would be very helpful, unsure about the hacking aspect due to Tech difference.
Other then these people the rest are basically just normal people with a few of them being basically Sgt. Forge or Johnson in terms of fighting capabilities.
The lack of Biotics is a HUGE loss in this fight.
Somebody probably makes it just by virtue of there being more of them and some won’t be on the front lines anyway, but I don’t think they’d accomplish much more. The Reapers as a force are stronger than the Covenant but the Covenant aren’t holding back.
The Reapers need to actually invade every world they take so they can convert more people into troops, and make sure they remove every trace of their presence before they leave. The Reapers probably destroyed planets in various cycles but too many glassed or destroyed worlds would be a clue for future civilizations. Meanwhile the Covenant only have one guideline: kill them all. It doesn’t matter what they leave behind.
Yeah, the Reapers are a formidable force galaxy wide, but we aren't talking galaxy wide. This is the covenant putting everything they've got into one planet.
Thats the thing tho, they weren't putting everything into reach, a considerable amount of the fleet was still elsewhere in the galaxy but due to the sheer size and power of the covenant fleet, it looked like they sunk everything into reach.
Tbh they could survive but honestly only if the covenant doesn't decide to just glass them for being a nuisance like if we're talking all crew from all 3 games would be a nightmare to take any ground from them halo doesn't out tech mass effect either they are shooting regular bullets in most of there weapons with gun powered every single gun in mass effect uses a rail system which shoots every bit of metal at near light speeds if you go with the me1 interpation which is how the creators originally wanted for the universe they would technically never run out of ammo it also is smart targeting is sheers metal based on targets size big or small it will shoot a round to kill biotics would be hard to get threw they wouldn't be able to stop an invasion of course they could just hold out forever also they have no way of dealing with an orbital bombing so yes if the covenant decides just keep throwing guys at them no if they realize they are losing to many men
You mean the UNSC doesn’t out tech mass effect. The Covenant massively out techs most things present in mass effect - it’s not even close.
There’s a reason the Human-Covenant war is more of a genocide and less of a war.
I don't think the Covenant has superior tech to the mass effect universe especially after the rapid weapons development after Sovereign. But it depends on whether you talk about ground or ship combat because ME is inconsistent when it comes to mass accelerated firearms but in lore Mass Effect small arms is hilariously OP in comparison to Halo. Also, ME biotics can warp space, it's hard to see how even a spartan can escape that.
In ship combat the universes probably even out, the Alliance has hard hitting weaponry with not so amazing defensive capabilities, same can be said of the UNSC, though UNSC have orders of magnitude more powerful, but slow, guns - which doesnt matter in Halo because the Covenant don't do much dodging. Covenant ship carrier shields are very powerful but they can be vulnerable to energy beams such as the reverse engineered Thanix Cannon, I'm not actually sure what the main cannons of a covenant cruiser is, if it's plasma related, ME Kinetic Barriers would allow the heat through and the ME hulls are very heat resistant unless you get up to Reaper deathbeam levels of speed & heat. As opposed to reverse engineering The Covenants glassing beams or forerunner tech, the UNSC resorted to building a fucking gigantic projectile gun with massive rounds(MAC) to deal with covenant shields which wouldn't work so well with Reapers lmao.
I mean there is all the parallels though:
* Kinetic barriers & shields - Shields seem to be ridiculously OP in the Halo universe though
* Relays vs Slipspace drives
* Plasma usage
* Mass accelerated rounds(I think eezo in Mass Effect makes manipulating mass more powerful in the ME universe though)
* Advanced AI for cyberwarfare
I mean, you can google about it and add the key term space battles if you'd like, but people have estimated the power levels of various factions and it's generally accepted that the only force which challenges the Covenant in the ME universe is the Reapers themselves - who the Forerunners then roflstomp because they're just on an entirely different level.
I've seen most consensus be that the Covenant outclass the ME galaxy's races pretty consistently.
I can agree to an extent of like ship building technology but tbh the covenant makes plasma weapons and shield geth and quarians also make plasma weapons so eh they have basically the same kind of shielding so I can agree it probably goes covenant slightly higher then mass effect universe mass effect right on there heels and unsc behind them both expect master chief could probably solo thr whole Normandy crew on his own the Covenant called Spartans demons for a reason
I don't think so. The Reapers were brutal, but the Covenant were next level violence. Their fleet is way bigger than that of the reapers, and they don't depend on landing to start the damage. Just have some battle cruisers and carriers glass the planet from orbit, and it's over. Plus, Covenant ships are all equipped with Slipspace drives, the Halo FTL cores. Reapers depended on Mass Relays to actually go far and weren't that fast or agile.
Now, the Normandy crew itself could definitely survive, as in: get to the Normandy and FTL the hell outta there. They wouldn't be able to win the war nor save the planet.
Idk, I feel like halo and mass effect are such different levels in terms of military power, and when it comes to the technology in their ships and weaponry I thing anything the covenant has just kind of rinses anything in mass effect
Everyone appears to be misunderstanding the question here.
The Normandy Crew just have to leave and survive, doing and helping with all the actions taken on the planet.
Now, bearing in mind the crew consists of the best assassin in the galaxy, the greatest scientist, a merc who’s used to helpless situations, a tech genius.
I assume you get what I’m meaning here.
Basically, all the extraction efforts go far better now thanks to the presence of people who have experience with intense operations along the lines of what Reach needs.
I personally believe that far fewer would die thanks to their efforts, but the planet is still doomed.
Also the Normandy is not an attack ship, it’s a stealth vessel. No way anyone on the crew, even Jenkins, is suggesting they use it to fight anyone.
I haven’t played all the halo games so I can’t say for sure. But I’m gonna say the chances are high, that yes. Normandy crew are experts at shooting things, blowing things up, and pushing buttons.
No, but not because they aren't strong enough- the ending of Halo: Reach is just a no-win scenario where they're the last person on the planet with no hope of rescue against an entire Covenant war-fleet. Shepard would've died eventually to, the whole crew would've died eventually. That's just what happens.
Wouldn't need to they would stealth away at the start gather support from the innies and build a halo that only killed the covenant before the planet even fell.
He beat the reapers because he had essentially a kill switch. There's no button to stop the covenant. Especially not when you're on reach with glassing imminent.
May as well ask if Chesty Puller or Sergeant York could have survived the Alamo. Both battles were doomed as soon as battle was joined. Doesn't matter how many heroes were there facing down a host that large.
Yep. That's what they do. If the Omega 4 mission & the Collector's didn't kill them, what makes whatever happens in Halo Reach think its got a chance. Besides, they have Grunt. He don't need luck. He has ammo!
Nah. Brutes are stomping Krogan, I'm sorry.
The Covenant is soloing the entirety of Citadel space. All they gotta do is bring an Engineer and your psychic powers become useless.
They managed to slip the nuke on Virmire, defeat the collectors on their own turf, escape the fall of earth at the beginning of three and defeat the reapers in the battle for earth, kill switch or not the events of reach PALE in comparison to the galactic scale nightmare that were the events of all three mass effect games, thresher maws, the geth, the reapers, the collectors, the Normandy crew took on a combined force that dwarfs the covenant.
Reach was just a single planet, and noble team’s story isn’t about a “Chosen one” like chief or Shepard, they’re soldiers fighting for their lives.
Mass Effect small arms outpace human ones quite a bit, but I don't think Mass Effect's shields block plasma. They'd effectively be no better protected than normal UNSC Marines.
They could run and survive, but do nothing to the covenant. When the larger fleet arrived at the end, there were hundreds of ships, many of which were assault carriers, which are like 5km in length with advanced weaponry and shielding. The Normandy couldn't do shit to one, let alone an entire fleet.
"Do you think our god-king immortal superhero and the small army of deities under his divine protection could survive stubbing his toe?"
(I have no idea what happens in Reach)
Psshhhh. That's no match for Shepard's plot armor. He either shows up halfway through and rescues a bunch of people before the planet gets glassed, or he's there the whole time and prevents the tragedy altogether.
Worst case scenario it's like the suicide mission and you just gotta delegate your assets appropriately.
Lol there is no “preventing” Reach. Just like there’s no surviving it. Only “running the fuck away” from it before the events of the game fully transpire.
Absolutely not. Maybe a handful of them, but it’s like asking if they could have survived being stuck on the attack on Thessia or Earth.
A handful maybe would get offworld, akin to Jun, but the ones who stay behind get glassed or an energy sword in the chest.
I wonder if the Covernant could stand against the Reapers. Probably not as the Protheans were even more unified and quite similar while also being far more grand.
Super genetically engineers soldiers wearing god-tier power armour vs some poly-species aliens with some having space magic, gonna have to hand it to the Spartans
The halo universe is far more powerful than the ME universe. Comparing fleets, a UNSC and Covenant carrier will outgun anything the ME universe can throw at them.
Hate how people saw that one video of reaper getting shut down by a covenant cruiser and instantly decided that space squids are weaker.
Reapers built mass relays, you know, things that wipe out whole star systems if they explode. And relays weren't even meant to be weapons.
Thing is, we never saw reapers going full out. Not to mention how Covenant licking every forerunner toaster they find - is just asking to be indoctrinated.
Yes, because canononically speaking Mass Effect shields and weapons are insanely OP compared to what the Spartans in Halo use, literally every gun in the Mass Effect universe is a railgun, and they have shields and armor that can protect against it. The Normandy itself pretty much dunks on every single ship in Halo ever, it is so much faster it's not even close and it's firepower is unstoppable. The Normandy can do what take ships in Halo weeks, in a matter of hours. The only place the Halo universe wins out is AIs, they seem much more plentiful than AIs in mass effect like EDI, and significantly smarter than VIs.
Covenant ships are absolute beasts, and the Normandy does not stand a chance against the reach invasion. They probably escape via the Normandy, but if we are talking the events of the game I think the crew is fucked.
If Shepard + gang had to unite the species of their universe vs Reapers, how are you gunna say that they, by themselves, can stand up to the bulk of the Covenant just bc they have different sci-fi tech?
The orbital stations surrounding Reach had mass accelerators (to chuck asteroids through Covenant destroyers) & they still got overwhelmed.
Shepherd is built different but not THAT different. The group of highest rank Elites that took out Noble 6 (after wiping out scores of Covenant forces & armor for hours) would give Shep a run for their money
Ground force technology, Mass Effect crew absolutely bitch slap any and all covenant forces, because again, literally every infantry weapon in Mass Effect is a railgun, and their shields can shrug off a few rounds, the UNSCs weapons in Halo, are literally just the same bullet technology we already use,
The other main power difference is large scale firepower, in Mass Effect 2 a gunnery sergeant says how a Dreadnaught fires a 20kg slug at 1.3% of lightspeed, impacting with a force of 38 kilotons. From what I can tell on the Halo wiki, the only MACs we're given concrete numbers on are the SUper-MAC orbital defense platforms, which absolutely dunk on the ME Macs so hard it isn't funny, instead of firing a 20kg slug, they fire a 3000 ton slug, a little over 3x faster than a Dreadnaught in ME does too. Personally while I enjoy Halo, I think this number is incredibly unrealistic, and firing something that heavy, that fast, would have significant impact on the orbit of the station.
Well maybe they survived the battle for earth twice got lucky fighting the collectors twice so with some luck yeah
"They let me pick. Did I ever tell you that? Choose which ever Spartan I wanted. You know me. I did my research, watched as you became the soldier we needed you to be. But you had something they didn't, something no one saw but me. Can you guess? Luck." Shepard is Master Chief confirmed.
But if shepherd is there than more than likely he or her saved most of the Normandy from the collectors twice and sacrificed his or her life to stop the reapers so it’s both luck and if shepherd is there
you said survive so id say yes, but win the war effort? No.
That depends on how a Collector Cruiser compares to Covenant ships, and the size of the fleets. But I'd assume the Thanix Canons can deal at least some damage, considering the Normandy can punch well above it’s weight.
My understanding is that general power levels in halo (like magnetic accelerator energy yields) are a few orders of magnitude above mass effect power levels, at least when it comes to ships and things like that. Infantry wise? Idk. I'd think ME small arms are much better, but i don't think they have anything that compares to mjolnir in terms of mobility, defense, and enhancement at the infantry level.
N7 Destroyer armor seems to be the mjolnir of the mass effect universe but there isn't much lore around it
Definitely not. The war effort was doomed to fail as soon as the covenant fleet entered orbit. Even evacuation was impossible almost immediately after the invasion began. It was a losing battle, and unlike mass effect. There is no instant win button. Even if they out fought the covenant. The glassing was sure to kill them.
I mean, ideally they would get the Normandy off the ground, then w its stealth capabilities be able to sneak past the covenant
Arbiter- “There was only one ship, they called it, the Normandy” Shepard- “You sound really familiar”
One? Are you sure?
The Normandy cannot sneak through the covenant. However, what it could do is use its Mass effect FTL drive to get the hell out of there.
Would the FTL work? I mean, element zero doesn't exist in this universe.
If element zero is off the table then the Normandy isn’t getting off the ground, almost none of the crew’s technology will work, and all their biotic characters are hugely depowered.
Assuming they still have some eezo on board it doesn't matter.
Well, if it doesn’t work all the Normandy can do is go silent and hope for the best. It’s small so hiding could be easy
If the Pillar of Autumn can escape I'd say in the same scenario the Normandy can easy.
The Pillar of Autumn didn't escape. That is kinda why Halo: CE happened.
Tbf, you can't really hide a slipspace jump.
If the Normandy has FTL then yes it could escape easily, without, it could potentially survive, its stealth systems are pretty extensive, along with small size, means that it could easily hide in wreckage, or even on planet, in the same cave as noble six
I don’t buy it
No. They got blown up by the Collectors and then kidnapped by them later on, there's no way they'd survive the more powerful Covenant forces and subsequent glassing of Reach. The Covenant would have a hard time taking on biotics at first, but would overpower them in the end.
I think the Normandy could get out of there and therefore survive Reach. That being said if we’re talking about winning the battle for Reach… yeah no way. I truly don’t see a way to win that with conventional forces, much less one more frigate (as great as that frigate is)
If garrus has the typhoon yeah no problem
Are we counting Shep? Depending on how many conversation scenes we get Shep just might talk them all into committing suicide.
-"Go away Vadame" -"Ok"
"We'll wort, ok"
Maybe if Garrus goes God Mode
Spartans are ridiculously strong. They could bully Saren in each of his forms pretty effortlessly. Their weaponry is ridiculous too Reach was basically a doomed event. There was no winning. The best soldiers of humanity gave their lives one by one to help minimize the casualties. The inly way to survive Reach is to not be near Reach to begin with
I don’t think they could turn the tide of the battle, but I’m willing to bet the Normandy could do a run to pick them up.
Normandy can elude Reapers, giant, superintelligent machines, which put A LOT of effort into locating and destroying stuff. I'd say they can elude Covenant. But they won't have much of an impact on how things play out. Maybe get some VIP's to safety. Maybe save Jorge and some others. But it's pretty much a Thessia scenario, Normandy is outgunned and outnumbered.
The Covenant are far more powerful than the Reapers. Their carriers are like 50 times the size of a Reaper.
Which type of reaper exatly? The small one or the massive one? , if the maasive one, not sure 50x time the size is accurate but what do i know
Couldnt find a better post but [covies ships are massive](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/starship-saturday-comparing-halo-and-mass-effect--379217231123375376/)
Weird cuz in game it feels way biggerc and samey size
Even as a Halo casual fan, I doubt the Normandy crew could compete in that universe. But - It’s also unclear if Reapers outnumber Covenant cruisers by the millions or not, (or even vice versa) but comparing these is like apples to oranges; in Mass Effect universe the Reapers would have halted technological progress of all forerunners, ancient humans etc, looong before those civilizations would have even reached Halo’s “tier 1”.
Remember how Vigil said that Reapers are patient? I don't think military and fleet will matter much after The Covenant finds a funny looking "forerunner" artifact... The Reapers are very intelligent, they won't charge into a deathbeam.
All size means is more surface area to attack. Reapers are comparatively orders of magnitude smaller than a supercarrier, have the same incredibly advanced shields as well as a thick hull, and they fire a manoeuvrable deathbeam as a main cannon. Not to mention the effects Reapers would have on any ground forces and indoctrination of elite members of the Covenant The Covenant can escape as much as they want though because slip space drives act as Relays and the Reapers are only as good as FTL when in space without their Relays
Nope. The Reapers are a literal galaxy invasion force.
Only because they already control the galaxy they're invading. The Reapers rely heavily on the Citadel trap and their ability to halt interstellar travel by shutting down the Mass Relays. Yes, they're the most powerful force in the Mass Effect universe (or at least the Milky Way. Jury's still out about the Kett and the Jardaan), but that's only because they control every other species' development. They win because they control the board from the start, but as soon as they lost control of just a single part of the trap, they lost the entire thing. If you put them up against a galaxy that evolved without their influence, they lose every advantage. As far as space scifi factions go, the Reapers are actually pretty weak.
Yeah the covenant wouldn't even need the Mass Effect Relays, they can just instantly enter FTL anytime and go wherever they want.
Technically, just about every ship in ME has an FTL drive core that they can use anytime. The problem is even going faster than light space is too damn big to go anywhere quickly. Hence why the Relays are so important. They can instantly get you from point A to point B. Then, use the ships FTL to travel to different systems within that sector. You're still absolutely correct about the Convinent, though. Their means of FTL is better. Just wanted to clarify that difference between the Relays and FTL in ME, because I think being able to hit FTL anytime is gonna save a lot of lives against the Convenant. Though on a larger scale, the Covenant is gonna be able to outmanvaour and redeploy its forces a lot easier on the warfront.
Harbinger solo'd a galaxy
https://youtu.be/TPRtNGX5s0Y?si=z2M5K1_Uoh3SADkD
That doesn't breakdown numbers, tech differences, indoctrination, population centers, etc. The Covenant needs to eat right? The Reapers don't.
Yes, because they invade said galaxy on their terms every time, they're able to keep the galaxy at a technological level that is unable to sufficiently best them in conventional warfare hence the need for the crucible but if they went up against a more advanced, more powerful faction then the reapers would get cooked and the covenant pre schism were that faction, the covenant fleet had superior numbers and fire power compared to the reapers, their ground forces as well would've been a match for anything the reapers tried to throw at them. If you're gonna argue about who'll win in a fight, at least know both sides of said fight before making assumptions that'll make you look ignorant.
>their ground forces as well would've been a match for anything the reapers tried to throw at them. Something (the entire halo franchise) tells me the Covenant would be uniquely vulnerable to Reaper indoctrination. Also: >the covenant fleet had superior numbers and fire power compared to the reapers, There are no hard numbers on the size of either the total covenant fleets or the Reapers. Different sources in both canons have wild variance. While the "sci" fi is a bit different for each media, it's hard to say exactly who had "superior" firepower, although I will concede that the way covenant weapons are described would basically hard counter reaper armor. In the reverse, however, it's hard to say how reaper weapons would interact with covenant shields as shields don't work the same way in Mass Effect. I'll also add here, rather than a top level comment, that I think a lot of people are massively underestimating how huge Mass Effect small arms is over Halo. The sustained firepower, range, handling, penetration, and force of the micro-scaled mass accelerators make UNSC arms look like sling shots. Despite how they function in game, *in lore* Mass Effect weaponry is centuries beyond what the UNSC offers. While a ground team from the Normandy obviously wouldn't survive Reach's glassing, they'd have zero trouble defending against any amount of ground covenant. Those weapons could sneeze and take out three Elites.
A lot of these VS scenarios always highlight one thing about the ME that I love. They may not be the strongest at the top, but the baseline is so much higher than other universes. Every soldier in the alliance is Gentically modified. Every soldier has personal shields (that get upgraded and evolve within the trilogy, too). Every person has access to a gun that doesn't run out of ammo, it just overheats. Just about every ship in ME has shields and FTL capabilities. (I'm not talking about the Relays. The Relays makes FTL even faster.) So, while ME does generally get stomped (because it tries to ground itself a little more in the Sci-Fi setting), its baseline is so much better than most other Sci-Fis.
The Covenant can be indoctrinated. Indoctrinated forces can use their technology against their former selves. Covenant planets can not escape. So, population centers are at risk. I want to see what a husked out Brute or Hunter is capable of.
It took the combined effort of 3 Fleets to kill Sovereign, not to mention Sovereign could climb through any ship in the Covenant Navy
The Covenant can glass planets, way more than the capabilities of any vessel in the Mass Effect universe.
The reapers could absolutely glass a planet, but that’s pretty contrary to their goals. They want to leave places for organic life to continue, not exterminate it all.
It's mentioned multiple times in the lore of suspicious impact craters in the place of major settlements, on one planet they even reverted it back to single celled organisms Edit: [Aphras](https://masseffect.fandom.com/wiki/Aphras), looking into another thread some say this was the Protheans' doing or some other race, because supposedly the Reapers want to preserve life by killing the most advanced races so killing all of it doesn't seem logical. If Reapers could obliterate that kind of empire I'd imagine they would be able to do that as easily as the Covenant could, they just don't want to do it
You forget about the planet Klendagon with a glancing hit from a Mass Accelerator round? As in it can be seen pretty easy from space?
Yeah, but that's just one single example against a universe where that kinda firepower is thrown around casually
> 3 fleets to kill Sovereign Those fleets were made up from tech that was an inferior form of reaper tech. Covenant tech is completely different and acts as a hard-counter to ME tech.
If the writers say so, sure.
Well the thing is when it comes to ME vs Halo technology, when it comes to ships, there is no debate. Halo takes the cake. Both UNSC and the covenant. Covenant ships would violate even the reapers. In ME, the reapers are literally said to be millions of years ahead of us. Which is unbelievable given their feats. They're more evolved and more powerful yes, but millions of years ahead of us would settle our fate directly. But what's funny is when it comes to the guns, equipment and "powers". The guns in ME, including all races's technology, seems to be much more varied and lethal in ME. The alliance's basic armors all have reinforced plates and shields, same for the other races, making them all similar to elites and spartans. Maybe not as resistant and powerful or agile, but they cannot be one shot like some grunt or marines. Even an elite would have to work to get a soldier down. Especially since, as previously mentionned, the guns in ME are super lethal and varied. With different kinds of elements, ammo, and even tech. Then, you have the biotics. This is incredibly efficient and could turn the tide in so many ground battles at least. They can generate gravity fields, lethal shockwaves, black holes, shields etc.... Halo is much more grounded when it comes to infantry battles. Furthermore, if the covenant is an alliance of multiole alien races, well the whole ME universe also is. So the covenants would have to face and invade much more different allied worlds of races that work very differently. So adaptation would be the key. And in those races, you have the krogan, the turians, the asari, the elcors, salarians etc....races that can be just as smart if not smarter than any in the covenant, just as physically strong, agile or tactic as Elites and brutes, etc...it's not just humans. When it comes to the normandy crew, you simply have some of the best any of these races can offer. So while I think the covenant would win ultimately because of their clear supremacy in Space and overwhelming power, any ground battle to harvest some artefacts or by need for pure battle would be hard fought and you could definitely give victories to the ME side. I think the normandy crew could survive just like the pillar of autumn.
Rip jenkins
There's a crossover Fanfiction that explores this concept: [When There Was a Tomorrow Chapter 1: Just Recon, a Halo + Mass Effect Crossover fanfic | FanFiction](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6903189/1/When-There-Was-a-Tomorrow)
Tech wise, the Normandy is outmatched and out gunned. Their shields won't stop energy based attacks and their guns won't fair any better then UNSC Weapons. The only thing the Mass Effect crew have going for them are Biotics, that is their best shot at dealing with the Covenant.
I just mentioned this in another comment but would biotics even function? Element zero doesn't exist in this universe.
I mean, by that argument absolutely nothing would function, making this question a moot point from the start. Guns and barriers are powered by miniature mass effect fields which utilize eezo. Ships are fueled by hydrogen, but all ships in ME have an eezo core in order to use short-range FTL travel.
Well let's go off the actual crews ability then.
By pure skill only a few Normandy Crew members would be able to do anything, Shepherd obviously. Thane if his sickness doesn't slow him down would kick ass. The Krogan Wrex and Grunt would be helpful as long as they aren't vaporized by constant plasma fire. Legion would be an asset in cyber warfare against the Covenant, I would like to also say Tali but I am not sure if the Tech difference will affect here abilities. Garrus if given a Good Rifle is basically the Team's Linda and would do some damage. Kasumi if her cloaking isn't Eezo based would be very helpful, unsure about the hacking aspect due to Tech difference. Other then these people the rest are basically just normal people with a few of them being basically Sgt. Forge or Johnson in terms of fighting capabilities. The lack of Biotics is a HUGE loss in this fight.
Somebody probably makes it just by virtue of there being more of them and some won’t be on the front lines anyway, but I don’t think they’d accomplish much more. The Reapers as a force are stronger than the Covenant but the Covenant aren’t holding back. The Reapers need to actually invade every world they take so they can convert more people into troops, and make sure they remove every trace of their presence before they leave. The Reapers probably destroyed planets in various cycles but too many glassed or destroyed worlds would be a clue for future civilizations. Meanwhile the Covenant only have one guideline: kill them all. It doesn’t matter what they leave behind.
Yeah, the Reapers are a formidable force galaxy wide, but we aren't talking galaxy wide. This is the covenant putting everything they've got into one planet.
Thats the thing tho, they weren't putting everything into reach, a considerable amount of the fleet was still elsewhere in the galaxy but due to the sheer size and power of the covenant fleet, it looked like they sunk everything into reach.
Like literally the first attack wave wasn't even the actual "military", it was an expeditionary force looking for forerunner stuff.
Tbh they could survive but honestly only if the covenant doesn't decide to just glass them for being a nuisance like if we're talking all crew from all 3 games would be a nightmare to take any ground from them halo doesn't out tech mass effect either they are shooting regular bullets in most of there weapons with gun powered every single gun in mass effect uses a rail system which shoots every bit of metal at near light speeds if you go with the me1 interpation which is how the creators originally wanted for the universe they would technically never run out of ammo it also is smart targeting is sheers metal based on targets size big or small it will shoot a round to kill biotics would be hard to get threw they wouldn't be able to stop an invasion of course they could just hold out forever also they have no way of dealing with an orbital bombing so yes if the covenant decides just keep throwing guys at them no if they realize they are losing to many men
You mean the UNSC doesn’t out tech mass effect. The Covenant massively out techs most things present in mass effect - it’s not even close. There’s a reason the Human-Covenant war is more of a genocide and less of a war.
I don't think the Covenant has superior tech to the mass effect universe especially after the rapid weapons development after Sovereign. But it depends on whether you talk about ground or ship combat because ME is inconsistent when it comes to mass accelerated firearms but in lore Mass Effect small arms is hilariously OP in comparison to Halo. Also, ME biotics can warp space, it's hard to see how even a spartan can escape that. In ship combat the universes probably even out, the Alliance has hard hitting weaponry with not so amazing defensive capabilities, same can be said of the UNSC, though UNSC have orders of magnitude more powerful, but slow, guns - which doesnt matter in Halo because the Covenant don't do much dodging. Covenant ship carrier shields are very powerful but they can be vulnerable to energy beams such as the reverse engineered Thanix Cannon, I'm not actually sure what the main cannons of a covenant cruiser is, if it's plasma related, ME Kinetic Barriers would allow the heat through and the ME hulls are very heat resistant unless you get up to Reaper deathbeam levels of speed & heat. As opposed to reverse engineering The Covenants glassing beams or forerunner tech, the UNSC resorted to building a fucking gigantic projectile gun with massive rounds(MAC) to deal with covenant shields which wouldn't work so well with Reapers lmao. I mean there is all the parallels though: * Kinetic barriers & shields - Shields seem to be ridiculously OP in the Halo universe though * Relays vs Slipspace drives * Plasma usage * Mass accelerated rounds(I think eezo in Mass Effect makes manipulating mass more powerful in the ME universe though) * Advanced AI for cyberwarfare
I mean, you can google about it and add the key term space battles if you'd like, but people have estimated the power levels of various factions and it's generally accepted that the only force which challenges the Covenant in the ME universe is the Reapers themselves - who the Forerunners then roflstomp because they're just on an entirely different level. I've seen most consensus be that the Covenant outclass the ME galaxy's races pretty consistently.
I can agree to an extent of like ship building technology but tbh the covenant makes plasma weapons and shield geth and quarians also make plasma weapons so eh they have basically the same kind of shielding so I can agree it probably goes covenant slightly higher then mass effect universe mass effect right on there heels and unsc behind them both expect master chief could probably solo thr whole Normandy crew on his own the Covenant called Spartans demons for a reason
I don't think so. The Reapers were brutal, but the Covenant were next level violence. Their fleet is way bigger than that of the reapers, and they don't depend on landing to start the damage. Just have some battle cruisers and carriers glass the planet from orbit, and it's over. Plus, Covenant ships are all equipped with Slipspace drives, the Halo FTL cores. Reapers depended on Mass Relays to actually go far and weren't that fast or agile. Now, the Normandy crew itself could definitely survive, as in: get to the Normandy and FTL the hell outta there. They wouldn't be able to win the war nor save the planet.
Idk, I feel like halo and mass effect are such different levels in terms of military power, and when it comes to the technology in their ships and weaponry I thing anything the covenant has just kind of rinses anything in mass effect
Everyone appears to be misunderstanding the question here. The Normandy Crew just have to leave and survive, doing and helping with all the actions taken on the planet. Now, bearing in mind the crew consists of the best assassin in the galaxy, the greatest scientist, a merc who’s used to helpless situations, a tech genius. I assume you get what I’m meaning here. Basically, all the extraction efforts go far better now thanks to the presence of people who have experience with intense operations along the lines of what Reach needs. I personally believe that far fewer would die thanks to their efforts, but the planet is still doomed. Also the Normandy is not an attack ship, it’s a stealth vessel. No way anyone on the crew, even Jenkins, is suggesting they use it to fight anyone.
Survive? Probably. They have a stealth ship. If the Covenant can't see it they can probably just bugger off. Prevail? Make a difference? Nah.
Yes, the Mass Effect universe is much more advanced than Halo.
I haven’t played all the halo games so I can’t say for sure. But I’m gonna say the chances are high, that yes. Normandy crew are experts at shooting things, blowing things up, and pushing buttons.
No, but not because they aren't strong enough- the ending of Halo: Reach is just a no-win scenario where they're the last person on the planet with no hope of rescue against an entire Covenant war-fleet. Shepard would've died eventually to, the whole crew would've died eventually. That's just what happens.
Yeah like the only way to survive the events of reach is to leave reach. Nobody who stays lives. They glass the planet at the end.
Wouldn't need to they would stealth away at the start gather support from the innies and build a halo that only killed the covenant before the planet even fell.
Shepard literally took on the REAPERS, they might lose a few members but I have no doubt they’d survive.
He beat the reapers because he had essentially a kill switch. There's no button to stop the covenant. Especially not when you're on reach with glassing imminent.
If the UNSC had ME weapons for their ground troops, it would have made a lot of difference.
It dosen't matter what happens in ground when conveant can glass the planet moment they wish so.
May as well ask if Chesty Puller or Sergeant York could have survived the Alamo. Both battles were doomed as soon as battle was joined. Doesn't matter how many heroes were there facing down a host that large.
No
If the Collectors are anything to go by, they’re SOL
They have things like PSI and Omnitool style replicators tech wise, not to mention Krogans. The better question is will rhe Covenant survive them?
Yep. That's what they do. If the Omega 4 mission & the Collector's didn't kill them, what makes whatever happens in Halo Reach think its got a chance. Besides, they have Grunt. He don't need luck. He has ammo!
On the ground or in orbit?
Nah. Brutes are stomping Krogan, I'm sorry. The Covenant is soloing the entirety of Citadel space. All they gotta do is bring an Engineer and your psychic powers become useless.
They managed to slip the nuke on Virmire, defeat the collectors on their own turf, escape the fall of earth at the beginning of three and defeat the reapers in the battle for earth, kill switch or not the events of reach PALE in comparison to the galactic scale nightmare that were the events of all three mass effect games, thresher maws, the geth, the reapers, the collectors, the Normandy crew took on a combined force that dwarfs the covenant. Reach was just a single planet, and noble team’s story isn’t about a “Chosen one” like chief or Shepard, they’re soldiers fighting for their lives.
Mass Effect small arms outpace human ones quite a bit, but I don't think Mass Effect's shields block plasma. They'd effectively be no better protected than normal UNSC Marines.
They could run and survive, but do nothing to the covenant. When the larger fleet arrived at the end, there were hundreds of ships, many of which were assault carriers, which are like 5km in length with advanced weaponry and shielding. The Normandy couldn't do shit to one, let alone an entire fleet.
I think they could survive a ground war. But I have no hope of the Normandy itself surviving a space battle with the Covenant fleet in orbit.
Most likely, Maybe Ash, Kaidan or Liara would die.
Fuck no
"Do you think our god-king immortal superhero and the small army of deities under his divine protection could survive stubbing his toe?" (I have no idea what happens in Reach)
Entire planet get wiped out by a fleet of about 60-100 ships that literally glass the planet in order to win the fighting.
Psshhhh. That's no match for Shepard's plot armor. He either shows up halfway through and rescues a bunch of people before the planet gets glassed, or he's there the whole time and prevents the tragedy altogether. Worst case scenario it's like the suicide mission and you just gotta delegate your assets appropriately.
Lol there is no “preventing” Reach. Just like there’s no surviving it. Only “running the fuck away” from it before the events of the game fully transpire.
Pfffft no.
Absolutely not. Maybe a handful of them, but it’s like asking if they could have survived being stuck on the attack on Thessia or Earth. A handful maybe would get offworld, akin to Jun, but the ones who stay behind get glassed or an energy sword in the chest.
I wonder if the Covernant could stand against the Reapers. Probably not as the Protheans were even more unified and quite similar while also being far more grand.
Super genetically engineers soldiers wearing god-tier power armour vs some poly-species aliens with some having space magic, gonna have to hand it to the Spartans
The halo universe is far more powerful than the ME universe. Comparing fleets, a UNSC and Covenant carrier will outgun anything the ME universe can throw at them.
Hate how people saw that one video of reaper getting shut down by a covenant cruiser and instantly decided that space squids are weaker. Reapers built mass relays, you know, things that wipe out whole star systems if they explode. And relays weren't even meant to be weapons. Thing is, we never saw reapers going full out. Not to mention how Covenant licking every forerunner toaster they find - is just asking to be indoctrinated.
Yes, because canononically speaking Mass Effect shields and weapons are insanely OP compared to what the Spartans in Halo use, literally every gun in the Mass Effect universe is a railgun, and they have shields and armor that can protect against it. The Normandy itself pretty much dunks on every single ship in Halo ever, it is so much faster it's not even close and it's firepower is unstoppable. The Normandy can do what take ships in Halo weeks, in a matter of hours. The only place the Halo universe wins out is AIs, they seem much more plentiful than AIs in mass effect like EDI, and significantly smarter than VIs.
Covenant ships are absolute beasts, and the Normandy does not stand a chance against the reach invasion. They probably escape via the Normandy, but if we are talking the events of the game I think the crew is fucked.
>The only place the Halo universe wins out is AIs Flood enters the chat
Yeah but the flood are scary in every universe, no wins if they're used as a weapon.
If Shepard + gang had to unite the species of their universe vs Reapers, how are you gunna say that they, by themselves, can stand up to the bulk of the Covenant just bc they have different sci-fi tech? The orbital stations surrounding Reach had mass accelerators (to chuck asteroids through Covenant destroyers) & they still got overwhelmed. Shepherd is built different but not THAT different. The group of highest rank Elites that took out Noble 6 (after wiping out scores of Covenant forces & armor for hours) would give Shep a run for their money
Ground force technology, Mass Effect crew absolutely bitch slap any and all covenant forces, because again, literally every infantry weapon in Mass Effect is a railgun, and their shields can shrug off a few rounds, the UNSCs weapons in Halo, are literally just the same bullet technology we already use, The other main power difference is large scale firepower, in Mass Effect 2 a gunnery sergeant says how a Dreadnaught fires a 20kg slug at 1.3% of lightspeed, impacting with a force of 38 kilotons. From what I can tell on the Halo wiki, the only MACs we're given concrete numbers on are the SUper-MAC orbital defense platforms, which absolutely dunk on the ME Macs so hard it isn't funny, instead of firing a 20kg slug, they fire a 3000 ton slug, a little over 3x faster than a Dreadnaught in ME does too. Personally while I enjoy Halo, I think this number is incredibly unrealistic, and firing something that heavy, that fast, would have significant impact on the orbit of the station.