Bad John wrote:Hm. I'd say the number of humans to forerunners is 5 to 1, but every organic Forerunner soldier is worth a squad of human, and Prometheans can render a firefight UNWINNABLE, and their weaponry and mechanical units make it easy to outnumber and overwhelm humans. Even in a naval engagement with one Forerunner destroyer versus ten human ships, the humans have a slim chance of victory.
The humans saving grace is the Infinity, and the Spartans.
Is that ratio total humans to total forerunners? Or the number of human soldiers to forerunner soldiers? Excluding the Knights of course.
If it's the former the Forerunners have enough organic soldiers to field a decent army. There are billions of humans, so then that would mean there are hundreds of thousands of Forerunners. If it's just soldiers, then the UNSC probably has tens of thousands (at least), meaning there would be somewhere around some multiple of 2000 organic Forerunners.
If Spartans and snipers (with
gauss rifles) focus solely on Promethan generals, the rest of the infantry might have a slim chance. As for vehicles, I'm not too sure what would happen. I suppose that only the strongest of missile would be able to dent the armour those things have.
The REAL battle is in space however. If the Forerunners achieve orbital supremacy over a planet, it's game over. Then the just compose the population and be done with it, much in the same manner the Covenant would glass a planet and move on.
The Infinity, as you said, is the best chance but it would have to be used in hit and run tactics. Most likely via slipspace, since Humanity seems to have a better handle on it now.
BUT NO RAMMING. Forerunner armour is probably strong enough for the Infinity to end up harming itself on impact. MACs and nukes would have to be primary weapons, much like they were against the Covenant.
And the missiles? I'd assume they'd be little more the point defence, sent out to cause whatever the Forerunners classify as missiles to explode before they hit the ship.
All in all, it seems that Humanity should lose this fight. It's like 21rst century USA against colonial Britain.
However, since this is a story, we could pull off a "movie-esque" victory if you wanted to.
EDIT: Re-reading this, I can see how NationStates has changed me. I tend to factor in numbers, logistics, tactics, technology, and so on when thinking about battles now. Sorry if it comes off as annoying.