Board Thread:Fun and Games Forum/@comment-25906912-20150331202054/@comment-26809040-20150813080250

NOTE: My argument is based off the lore, so don’t go throwing in-game numbers at me, as level and game balance tends to tip the scales.

You guys paint the fallen as idiotic, low-tech scavengers that fall in droves in any fight and get their asses handed to them by the cabal. I disagree. Consider this: The fallen have a warrior society. Rank is earned by besting foes in combat, not by finding the shiniest bit of scrap. The fallen can’t be a race of bumbling idiots when it comes to tactics, otherwise they wouldn’t have survived as long as they have, and would have gotten steamrolled by the first semi-competent military they came across. And fallen tech is far more advanced than most people realize.

The fallen would be highly unlikely to fight the cabal on their own terms, in open battle. They would be far more inclined to use guerrilla tactics to engage an enemy that thrives in open combat, as well as to conserve resources. The fallen are a race of scavengers and nomads. Thusly, they probably choose their battles based on how many resources they spend versus how many they earn. If they lose more fallen and materials than they can regain, the battle is not worth fighting. They would be more inclined to hit and run attacks, ambushes, and faints than head-on charges, wars of attrition, and bloody battles on open ground. The fallen aren’t stupid. They haven’t survived since the whirlwind by blindly throwing themselves at whatever foe stands in front of them.

Physically, fallen are smaller and less beefy than cabal. But, this does not mean that they would get pulped in close combat every time. Fallen are smaller than cabal, but they are also much faster. Sure, a legionary could probably break a few bones in a dreg or vandal with the smash of a slug rifle, but to do so, it would have to hit the fallen in the first place. A dreg or vandal would likely be able to land several hits on a legionary before it could land a hit on them.

Fallen tech is looked down upon as being rusted, rundown pieces of shit that barely function as they are made from garbage. When you step back and look at it, fallen tech can vary from simplistic and functional to lethal and very advanced. If anything, it shows just how advanced their technology is overall to be able to quickly and easily fabricate high-tech weapons from simple materials and in such large quantities.

Shock pistols/rifles: These easy-to-mass-produce weapons are not pea shooters, but are in-fact comparable to the covenant’s arsenal from halo. Each of these guns produces an electrically stimulated bolt of plasma that is guided towards the target via a magnetic bubble. In the case of shock Rifles, the guns even have onboard computer systems advanced enough to lock onto their targets and guide the bolts home.

Shock daggers/blades: These two are polar opposites. The shock dagger is a simple short piece of sharpened metal attached to a grip and a shock core that acts like a knife and a stun gun. Shock blades on the other hand, are not merely larger versions of daggers, but have a complex matrix of shock cores and capacitors built into the hilt, that generate a lethal plasma cutting field along the blade: the kind of thing that turns multi-layered armour into tissue paper.

Shrapnel launchers: Most people assume these to be slow, ineffective shotguns. So why are they favored by captains? Simple: the shrapnel launcher is no mere firearm; it is actually, in its most basic form, a rail-shotgun. The weapon accelerates a mixed package of armour piercing darts and explosives down a pair of magnetically charged rails to deliver a blast that will shred armour, knock its target off their feet, and cause further damage via multiple micro-explosions.

Wire rifle: The fallen counterpart to a sniper rifle, the wire rifle is nearly as advanced as the shrapnel launcher. It uses shock cores to superheat thin wires of an unknown material into molten shards. Said superheated shards are accelerated down a pair of rails with enough velocity to form a sheath of plasma around them, and punch a hole through almost any helmet in the crosshairs.

Scorch cannon: Likely the most advanced hand-held fallen weapon, the scorch cannon functions using barely understood technology that is hard enough to produce to make it rare in the hands of the fallen. The cannon uses a solar “furnace” to charge rods that continue to gather heat even after they leave the gun. This weapon is not a mere rocket launcher, but a heavy weapon powerful enough to breach starship hulls if charged up sufficiently.

To sum up my argument, weather the fallen or cabal would win in a fight depends entirely on the rules of the fight. An open battle with little cover and no retreat? The fallen would probably get slaughtered while taking down a few cabal. A congested environment with plenty of hiding places? The cabal would get picked apart from every different angle and put some slugs through some fallen. Either way, before you make your conclusions, take a moment to realize that the fallen are a competent, crafty, vicious foe that simply fights differently than the cabal, and is not inherently weaker than them because they aren’t a professional military with 800 pound soldiers and such.