- ROBERTO jh
- |
- Fabled Heroic Member
Posted by: PLUT0NIUM 235
biggest problem for Universe comparison is lack of continuity, the way all of the said Universes seem to change whenever something else is required to assist the 'hero', the same thing happens with Star Wars and Star Trek debates, an example of universal messing, Star Wars Star Destroyers are said to be able to put out Gigaton levels of power with their Turbo-Lasers, a Star Destroyer itself has no issues taking countless hits from these weapons, yet in Episode V (I think) a Star Destroyer gets hit by an asteroid around 1/10 the volume of the bridge section, which cripples the Destroyer, the speed its moving and the size of it, the energy released by the impact would be several Kilotons at best. so right there is a classic example of 'science' in these universes changing to suit the needs of the stories.
same thing happens in Halo countless times, Magnetic Accelerator Cannons are powerful multi-Kiloton weapons, however a Spire in Reach gets destroyed by something less than even a Kiloton yield. Pillar of Autumn survives being hit by something like eight Plasma Torpedoes in the original cut-scene without catastrophic damage, these Plasma Torpedoes are said to 'melt ships...', again altering to suit the current situation.
Star Trek is also rather guilty of the same thing, Phase Cannons for example are said to put out 500 Gigajoules of energy, which is only around 180 tons of TNT, however in the first test of the Phase Cannon we see the weapon quite simply level a mountain on an asteroid, like the whole mountain and create a substantial crater! that is more like 500 Gigatons of TNT or an ungodly amount of Joules. Photon Torpedoes and Quantum Torpedoes change yield depending on the scene as well, they are significantly more powerful than Phase Cannons, yet said to put a 'kilometre crater in an asteroid...' something we witnessed the Phase Cannons doing, so like I said inconsistent as hell!
Stargate is plagued by these continuity conundrums as well, so all I am getting at is, its not possible to compare two different universes when individually they are in internal turmoil with dramatically altering weapon power, defence power and such. even 'Canon' sources are contradicted by other 'Canon' sources, which are contradicted by Game/Film footage, see Star Wars, Star Trek and Stargate and they appear left right and centre. so I personally recommend we cut it out with the comparison threads, unless you can find some 'rock solid' foundation for comparison, otherwise its going to, like always end up in a massive flaming war.
Which is why the logical approach SHOULD be (read: should ) to go with the highest canon source.
That'd be the Mass Effect Codex, the Star Wars movies, whatever 343i says for Halo, since in game depictions of technology is limited to whatever power the engine can depict, etc..
Though those above Halo inconsistancies are as follows: The MAC rounds in Reach are fired at low power to prevent collateral damage and the Covenant did not want to destroy the Pillar of Autumn, only disable it so as to question the crew. Again, they were firing on lower settings.
I don't delve deep enough into the Trek universe to understand their weapons though.
For example, people overestimate their universe's powers all the time. Krogan skin is not that tough, the Codex says they are killable with black powder weapons. None of Star Wars' weapons are close to being that powerful, the movies time and time again contradict this with literally every shot fired, and Elites' health cannot recharge in Halo.
Nothing that is in any of the Star Trek books is canon, only the movies and TV shows (people tend to use book quotes in arguments). Really Warhammer is the only consistently overpowered universe out there.
The point I'm trying to make is that contemporary Halo (UNSC, Covenant, not including Flood), modern Star Wars (Rebel Alliance, Galactic Empire), and Mass Effect are about on par with each other. Ancient Halo (Forerunners, Precursors, Flood, Anciet Man), Ancient Star Wars (Rakatans, Celestials) and Warhammer 40K (everything) are more comparable at that point.
[Edited on 06.09.2011 6:49 PM PDT]