Poll: Necromorphs vs Flood

[_Janny_]

The flood actually makes me want to turn around and run my ass off. Necros not so much; you can always takes them down with the proper weapon.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

Ah, but one of the great things about the Borg is that any individual that the Borg takes into themselves is completely absorbed into the hive mind. Meaning that as soon as the Borg take over one Flood form, they immediately gain access to the entire Flood consciousness, they know everything about it, all of its weaknesses, and how to destroy it. Plus the Borg can then just activate the Halos (seeing as they are cybernetic organisms, they would be immune to the Halo pulse).

EDIT: Also, in a space fight, the Flood are fucked. One Borg cube destroyed thirty-nine of the best ships that Starfleet could throw at it.

It's my understanding that the Borg absorb an individual into their hivemind by overriding it's central nervous system. The Flood don't have a central nervous system, every single cell in every single individual contributes to the Flood's overall intelligence.

EDIT: And as for space combat, the Flood's primary method of ship-to-ship engagement is to crash their ship into the other ship. Then the Flood spreads through the other ship and it becomes their ship. Then they repair the first ship and now they have two ships.

The Borg's hivemind nature would make them more effective at containing a Flood incursion like this. But if there's enough points of entry and enough Flood it doesn't matter how coordinated the defense is.

 

[cthulhumythos]

Even if this is off the poll,I agree with the Nid's.I don't know much about the Flood,but I do know that necromorphs can't operate a spaceship to travel between places,maybe the creator of the marker can,but we're talking about the necromorphs here.
The Nids can,and when they do,they ravage entire systems leaving nothing alive.If the Flood are technically living(and considering that they infect other creatures,they are),then the Nids will consume them.
If a single still mostly human super soldier can stop the Flood for a while,what does that tell you when entire Chapters of truly super human Space Marines can barely do anything to stop the Nids?

But I suppose that if I had to choose between your two choices,I'll go with the necros,because they scare me the most,popping out of vents and whatnot.

don't underestimate the flood too much, the most advanced race at the pinnacle of technology discovered that the only way to stop them was to annihilate all life in the galaxy, hoping that the flood would starve to death(they didn't). the only reason that humans or anything else exist is because we got protected one way or another by aforementioned most advanced race in universe. however, annihilating most life in the galaxy didn't end them; but it left them trapped in the superweapons deployed against them. when we finally found them (couple hundred thousand years later)they were severely weakened. and they still managed to crush everything in their path, and the only way to slow there progress is to destroy the moon sized alien artifact that they can't get off of yet. i doubt they would have been stopped if they were 2% the height of their power before the rings fired.

before i go on halo lore overload (i'm not even going to get into the other 2 games), i'm just going to point out they're never stopped, we just halted the progress of on infection (there are still many places where they lie dormant).



and they fit that "all-consuming" thing as well.

i don't know what the nid are (though that whole thing about chapters of space marines screamed warhammer pretty well) so i'm not going to make any assumptions.

if you couldn't tell i think flood would beat the necromorphs.

 

[Lacsapix]

games aside:
Necromorphs

 

[Joshimodo]

Tyranids and Flood would take turns infecting eachother so they would be unable to kill eachother ^^

Nah, the 'Nids would just spore the planet to death and absorb all of the Flood's biomass. Not even a challenge.


As for Necromorphs versus Flood...I'd say the Flood. They don't have the mental capability to be scared, or even affected by the Marker. The Necros are just flesh, so can be infected, but I don't know if they have proper nervous systems, which the Flood need.

 

[Mass Effect]

I have to say necromorphs - they are extremely dangerous and various forms, but that's not the point. I have all the Halo books, games and film + all the Dead Space books, games and films - and in Dead Space: Aftermath the scientist Nolan Stross was driven mad by a tiny piece of the red marker (which then caused the outbreak) and when one of them tried to destroy it with gunfire "... It didn't even scratch it!"

To which Nolan replies that even if he did shatter it the tiny flakes that it would shatter into would still be there. This brings me to my next point, to destroy the marker Michael Altman had to sink it back to it's original place (so even then it was still in one piece), Isaac had to drop a whole continent on it in Dead Space (and this still left shards of it), in Dead Space: Aftermath they had to throw their tiny shard into the ship engine's core reactor and in Dead Space 2 the EarthGov sector (which is where the marker was) core reactor went critical.

This also brings me to my next point again - the Marker can drive people insane (so they end up doing a shitload of damage themselves first) and only a very small percentage of people are resistant to the Marker -- Michael Altman (Dead Space: Martyr), Ellie (Dead Space 2) - who never really came into direct contact with the Marker and Isaac Clarke (Dead Space (1/2 mentioned in Aftermath)) who was as it turned out the only person who could face his dementia, Nicole.

 

[Sam Warrior]

After reviewing points throughout the thread, I believe I have reached a decision.

In the two way struggle between the Flood and the Necromorphs, I give points to the Flood. They are more durable, the spores will happily latch onto anything that moves and create more Flood. The fact that they are intelligent enough to control space ships and use weapons (and we've seen that even simple mining equipment is enough against Necromorphs.

In a three way struggle between Flood, Necromorphs, and Tyranids, I once again go with the Flood. The Tyranids may be able to EAT everything, but eating doesn't help you when you're swarmed by hundreds of millions of spores that will infect you and and your people, take your ships to your homeworld, and then infect them too.

To end the threat of the Necromorphs: Send a miner.
To end the threat of the Tyranids: MORE DAKKA.
To end the threat of the Flood: Destroy all life in the entirety of the Galaxy.

Which would you rather deal with?

Nids would just evolve past being infected with flood spores no? seeing as they evolve intelligently to deal with whatever problem they come across.

 

[gonzo20]

in the games im going to have to go with the flood, they can use guns (albeit unaccurately) and they dont just mutate humans into slashers or slasher variants (the common enemys in dead space) but i think the necromorphs have a more psychological effect on people than anything.

BUT if it were dwarfs from dwarf fortress with acess to lava and pumps then may god have mercy on our souls....

 

[T8B95]

Ah, but one of the great things about the Borg is that any individual that the Borg takes into themselves is completely absorbed into the hive mind. Meaning that as soon as the Borg take over one Flood form, they immediately gain access to the entire Flood consciousness, they know everything about it, all of its weaknesses, and how to destroy it. Plus the Borg can then just activate the Halos (seeing as they are cybernetic organisms, they would be immune to the Halo pulse).

EDIT: Also, in a space fight, the Flood are fucked. One Borg cube destroyed thirty-nine of the best ships that Starfleet could throw at it.

It's my understanding that the Borg absorb an individual into their hivemind by overriding it's central nervous system. The Flood don't have a central nervous system, every single cell in every single individual contributes to the Flood's overall intelligence.

Not quite. The Borg absorb an individual by surgically inserting millions of nanoprobes into their neck. The nanoprobes take over the victim's DNA, and start growing those freaky robotics things all over their body. The victim is then taken to a Borg-controlled zone to be turned into a drone for the Collective. The central nervous system has nothing to do with it (although that raises the question of how Data can kill that drone in First Contact by snapping its neck).

Now I feel like a big Star Trek nerd, but there you go.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

Nids would just evolve past being infected with flood spores no? seeing as they evolve intelligently to deal with whatever problem they come across.

True, but that would be a massive evolutionary leap. The only observed organism to have Flood immunity are the Hunters (Mgalekgolo, to be more precise) and that's only because they're a gestalt of worm-like creatures which are individually too small and too unintelligent for the Flood to control.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

Not quite. The Borg absorb an individual by surgically inserting millions of nanoprobes into their neck. The nanoprobes take over the victim's DNA, and start growing those freaky robotics things all over their body. The victim is then taken to a Borg-controlled zone to be turned into a drone for the Collective. The central nervous system has nothing to do with it (although that raises the question of how Data can kill that drone in First Contact by snapping its neck).

Now I feel like a big Star Trek nerd, but there you go.

No more a Star Trek nerd then I am a Halo nerd

And thanks for clearing that up, but how exactly do the nanobots control the victim? Regardless I think some degree of central control must be required, even if it's just that then whole nervous system is in the body. The Borg could probably make an individual Flood a drone in the manner you described but I doubt that would affect other Flood any more than Picard becoming a Borg affects other humans.

 

[Rhymer]

Nids would just evolve past being infected with flood spores no? seeing as they evolve intelligently to deal with whatever problem they come across.

True, but that would be a massive evolutionary leap. The only observed organism to have Flood immunity are the Hunters (Mgalekgolo, to be more precise) and that's only because they're a gestalt of worm-like creatures which are individually too small and too unintelligent for the Flood to control.

Not that big a leap for Tyranids. They'd just send a couple millions of weak rippers to get infected by the gas, single out the infecting substance and mutate randomly until theyre immune. Then spread immunity across hivefleet. Tyranids have evolved past greater threats.

 

[T8B95]

Not quite. The Borg absorb an individual by surgically inserting millions of nanoprobes into their neck. The nanoprobes take over the victim's DNA, and start growing those freaky robotics things all over their body. The victim is then taken to a Borg-controlled zone to be turned into a drone for the Collective. The central nervous system has nothing to do with it (although that raises the question of how Data can kill that drone in First Contact by snapping its neck).

Now I feel like a big Star Trek nerd, but there you go.

No more a Star Trek nerd then I am a Halo nerd

And thanks for clearing that up, but how exactly do the nanobots control the victim? Regardless I think some degree of central control must be required, even if it's just that then whole nervous system is in the body. The Borg could probably make an individual Flood a drone in the manner you described but I doubt that would affect other Flood any more than Picard becoming a Borg affects other humans.

Its never quite explained, but they override the victim's original DNA to replace it with Borg-controlled DNA. And like I said, I don't believe the central nervous system has anything to do with the Borg taking over a victim.

And if the Flood have a central intelligence as I understand it (Gravemind), then the Borg assimilating one Flood gives them access to the Gravemind, and the entire Flood consciousness as a result. I may be wrong there, because I don't know as much about Halo as I do about Star Trek.

Also, you never answered my other claim, which is that the Borg would completely dominate in space battles

 

[Xan Krieger]

Nids would just evolve past being infected with flood spores no? seeing as they evolve intelligently to deal with whatever problem they come across.

True, but that would be a massive evolutionary leap. The only observed organism to have Flood immunity are the Hunters (Mgalekgolo, to be more precise) and that's only because they're a gestalt of worm-like creatures which are individually too small and too unintelligent for the Flood to control.

Not that big a leap for Tyranids. They'd just send a couple millions of weak rippers to get infected by the gas, single out the infecting substance and mutate randomly until theyre immune. Then spread immunity across hivefleet. Tyranids have evolved past greater threats.

This. Tyranids would be immune so flood would quickly die out. Another point in the nids favor is that the flood don't manufacture weapons (though one kind is made with one) so you'd basically not even have the human, elite, and brute forms with their various weapons. Tyranids meanwhile have bioplasma which would burn up any infected flood form.

 

[kikon9]

This really isn't a contest. Necromorphs really aren't that scary, dangerous or even a threat especially in comparison to the flood. Even look at the people it takes to take out these threats. One person with a bucket on his head and an electrical saw versus someone who had been augmented from birth to be the best humanity can offer as a soldier (Who still needed a ton of help and barely pulls through and if my memory is correct still hasn't stopped them.)

No, they did stop them. But they had to detonate the most powerful weapon in the universe to do it.

 

[The Funslinger]

The necromorphs possess dead bodies, the flood possess both living and dead, I think.
It's not really coded into the games, but it's implied strongly. The only example I can think of off the top of my head is in Halo 2, when playing as the Arbiter and you realize flood have assaulted the heretic base and the lead elite says "we should have brought weapons to burn these bodies." I'm sure there are other examples, though it may be the recently deceased, and I'm sure living are better.

Plus the flood have Gravemind, which owns all, though if the living Gravemind was destroyed, I think the flood could survive to build a colony, and a new gravemind.

 

[The Long Road]

I'm definitely going to say the Flood here.

In general, they attack in larger numbers than the Necromorphs. They can also use weapons and vehicles, giving them a distinct advantage. Hell, the Flood have taken over entire ships, so they could just burn any world that the Necromorphs decide to show up on. Plus they have a central controlling entity that gets smarter with each new cell infected by the Flood.

In a one-on-one fight, I think the Necromorphs are stronger and would win. But the Flood grows at a geometric rate when exposed to an uninfected population. Given enough time, the Flood could grow so large that they could send an army the size of the entire Necromorph population without a significant loss on size or strength.

 

[squid5580]

I've got to give it to the flood in this case they're an extragalatic parasitic, species with a hive mind that gets smarter the more they consume. I haven't seen necromorphs display anywhere near the level of sophistacation the flood present.

To the guy wondering when the mods will show up as long as this is kept civil and no one starts flaming the mods will have no real reason to intevene.

That is the exact reason I chose necromorphs. Flood get smarter. Necromorphs just remain a killing machine. No intelligence, no chance of something like morals getting in the way. No chance of conversion. They just need to do something about the orange glowy spots.

 

[kikon9]

New thought: what if the Borg were in this fight? What then?

Well the Borg wouldn't fare much better than your average intelligent species against the Flood. Every individual Borg has a central nervous system so the Flood can infect and control them. Even if there's a greater hive mind with the Borg it's just remotely controlling the individual's brain, a Flood Infection Form could disconnect and override that.

As for a Borg "Borgifying" the Flood, well the Flood's intelligence is completely distributed so I don't know that they even could add any Flood to their collective. And even if they could and the Borg were able to get the Gravemind's "body" the remaining Flood would most likely still follow the unaffected Gravemind intelligence (because the Gravemind is the combined computational resources and memory of all Flood, not any specific creature itself).

Ah, but one of the great things about the Borg is that any individual that the Borg takes into themselves is completely absorbed into the hive mind. Meaning that as soon as the Borg take over one Flood form, they immediately gain access to the entire Flood consciousness, they know everything about it, all of its weaknesses, and how to destroy it. Plus the Borg can then just activate the Halos (seeing as they are cybernetic organisms, they would be immune to the Halo pulse).

EDIT: Also, in a space fight, the Flood are fucked. One Borg cube destroyed thirty-nine of the best ships that Starfleet could throw at it.

Thats only if the flood's goal is to destroy the cube, it would make more sense for the flood ships just to crash into the cube and start growing on the ship.

Also, your standard flood mutant doesn't have access to the Gravemind, the Borg would have to find and take over him in order to gain access to the flood collectively. Plus, I think that flood spores would have an easier time infecting a Borg drone than a Borg drone would a flood mutant. Given that all they have to do to infect something is run and jump.

 

[cthulhumythos]

After reviewing points throughout the thread, I believe I have reached a decision.

In the two way struggle between the Flood and the Necromorphs, I give points to the Flood. They are more durable, the spores will happily latch onto anything that moves and create more Flood. The fact that they are intelligent enough to control space ships and use weapons (and we've seen that even simple mining equipment is enough against Necromorphs.

In a three way struggle between Flood, Necromorphs, and Tyranids, I once again go with the Flood. The Tyranids may be able to EAT everything, but eating doesn't help you when you're swarmed by hundreds of millions of spores that will infect you and and your people, take your ships to your homeworld, and then infect them too.

To end the threat of the Necromorphs: Send a miner.
To end the threat of the Tyranids: MORE DAKKA.
To end the threat of the Flood: Destroy all life in the entirety of the Galaxy.

Which would you rather deal with?

Nids would just evolve past being infected with flood spores no? seeing as they evolve intelligently to deal with whatever problem they come across.

the flood evolve like this too.

so what i'm gathering is that this would just turn into an evolutionary arms race.