- Vincent K
- |
- Exalted Heroic Member
I don't think we can really equate the AHE's (Ancient Human Empire) fight against the Flood with the UNSC-era fight against the Flood.
AHE > Forerunner in the sense they found a counter-measure that assured they wouldn't be infected (although the Flood could just kill them, couldn't they?). Depending on how many humans were currently uninfected, this would mean that the humans could combat the Flood without each of their casualties becoming a new host for the Flood and reducing the number of Flood overall. If the Flood outnumber the humans, though, they could just spread through the Forerunner and other species and crush the humans that way. I haven't read Cryptum, admittedly, I only read a plot synopsis (which causes quite a bit of confusion given the events detailed in the Terminals and the events of Cryptum and not having a timeline to place each on; mainly the issue of Mendicant Bias' role in Cryptum given he would have been defeated prior to Cryptum by Offensive Bias) so I am not sure why or when the Flood left.
Forerunner > AHE in the sense that they beat the AHE and devolved the species.
The Flood, upon return, could only be contested by the Forerunners and they had to contend with, easily, the largest threat the Flood had posed. The AHE's countermeasure would only, at the very least, keep the Flood from learning AHE technology. In the face of the largest Flood thread ever, I don't think the AHE would have fared much better.
UNSC-era humans had to deal with smaller infestations overall. The Flood never claimed a single world. The only thing in common between the fight between the Forerunners and the Human-Covenant war battles with the Flood is the presence of a Gravemind.
Overall, though: at the end of Halo 3, the largest remaining threat would still be the Flood if they were to, once again, reach the Coordinated stage. That aside, I'm expecting Halo 4 to involve the Forerunners or Precursors.
[Edited on 08.06.2011 12:46 PM PDT]