The Zerg swarm vs. The flood

Kind of self explanatory isn't it?

Basically this is a galactic war. All units up to HOTS

The Zerg

All units available in Sc2

vs.

The Flood

FIGHT

Flood

The flood fighters found in the halo games would be no match for the zerg in starcraft. Zerg can take down armored tanks, and space ships with nothing but their biological weapons. Flood's power is in it's ability to infect. So if the infection forms can get hold of enough zerg biology then they will stand a chance, since they will co-opt the biology of the zerg to fight back with equivalent fire power.

@Fortified_Hooligan: If the Gravemind is involved, the Zergs are screwed.

@Fortified_Hooligan said:

The flood fighters found in the halo games would be no match for the zerg in starcraft. Zerg can take down armored tanks, and space ships with nothing but their biological weapons. Flood's power is in it's ability to infect. So if the infection forms can get hold of enough zerg biology then they will stand a chance, since they will co-opt the biology of the zerg to fight back with equivalent fire power.

The Flood can take solar system busters. The flood can get way harder to kill than the Zerg. Some Flood Forms like the Juggernaut can take tanks with just one attack and withstand a hundred shoots. The Flood can also take control of any technology the enemy posses and can infect just anything biological. The Gravemind is way more powerful than Kerrigan for sure. The primordial would solo the Zerg.

@Fortified_Hooligan said:

The flood fighters found in the halo games would be no match for the zerg in starcraft. Zerg can take down armored tanks, and space ships with nothing but their biological weapons. Flood's power is in it's ability to infect. So if the infection forms can get hold of enough zerg biology then they will stand a chance, since they will co-opt the biology of the zerg to fight back with equivalent fire power.

Yeah I feel like that the flood could assimilate the zerg into flood quickly though the entire battle would be pretty epic

@GhostofOnyx said:

@Fortified_Hooligan said:

The flood fighters found in the halo games would be no match for the zerg in starcraft. Zerg can take down armored tanks, and space ships with nothing but their biological weapons. Flood's power is in it's ability to infect. So if the infection forms can get hold of enough zerg biology then they will stand a chance, since they will co-opt the biology of the zerg to fight back with equivalent fire power.

Yeah I feel like that the flood could assimilate the zerg into flood quickly though the entire battle would be pretty epic

The Flood would just keep spawning until The Zerg is dead. They won't have time to react. In less than two days The Flood was able to Overun the Ark which is 10-13x times bigger than Earth and they overrun Africa in less than some hours. Flood-Zerg units would be way stronger than normal Zerg units. Unless the Zerg has a massive army and time to react, they won't win. I mean. The Flood defeated the Forerunners.

@Frocharocha said:

@GhostofOnyx said:

@Fortified_Hooligan said:

The flood fighters found in the halo games would be no match for the zerg in starcraft. Zerg can take down armored tanks, and space ships with nothing but their biological weapons. Flood's power is in it's ability to infect. So if the infection forms can get hold of enough zerg biology then they will stand a chance, since they will co-opt the biology of the zerg to fight back with equivalent fire power.

Yeah I feel like that the flood could assimilate the zerg into flood quickly though the entire battle would be pretty epic

The Flood would just keep spawning until The Zerg is dead. They won't have time to react. In less than two days The Flood was able to Overun the Ark which is 10-13x times bigger than Earth and they overrun Africa in less than some hours. Flood-Zerg units would be way stronger than normal Zerg units. Unless the Zerg has a massive army and time to react, they won't win. I mean. The Flood defeated the Forerunners.

Good point guess you really can't stop the flood as an organic species unless you happen to have Chief on your side :D

@ghostofonyx: Is this the flood before being wiped out or after being wiped out basically.

Good fight though I think I will go with the Zerg.

Flood win

There was a whole universe/galaxy (not too sure which) filled with humans covenant and forerunners including all their technology and the Flood easily overran them because they couldn't be killed at a rate faster than what they produce. In fact the only way they where deafeated was by using the Halo rings to obliterate all life stopping the flood from eating.

Ok so now that is cleared up lets get too the feats for individual Flood. So this is going of the games only.

One of the standard (foot soldier) flood can survive multiple rounds from a assault rifle (Halo version) which can take down the force fields of a elite pretty quickly. One of the carriers can carry up to 30 crawlers and gives out the damage output of a plasma grenade (able to 1 shot elites and Spartans). The crawlers are able to bring the dead flood back to life and convert organic beings into Flood.

So yeah I'd say the Flood win especially when they start taking over the Zerg's.

A number of issues I see with people's responses:

1. The Flood can takeover the Zerg

The Zerg's evolution is fueled by the assimilation of other species. So I don't see how the Flood is going to assimilate a species that does that themselves.

2. The Flood can reproduce faster than the Zerg

The Zerg are known for their fast reproduction as well. Anyone who has played the game would tell you that as well.

3. The Flood defeated the Forerunners

The Zerg defeated their creator's, the Xel-Naga, who I would argue has better tech than the Forerunners.

4. The Flood has durable units

The Zerg have durable units as well. Case in point, the Ultralisk. They can tank nukes with zero problems and use it to further their mutation.

Since it seems people don't know much about the Zerg, here is the opening video for Heart of the Swarm.

I think the Zerg take this without too much trouble. The Zerg overwhelmed the Protoss, Humans, and Xel'Naga, who are much more powerful then the Humans, Covenant, and Fore-Runners.

Kerrigan alone could take out a large majority of the Flood. Her TK and TP are greater then Gravemind. Kerrigan is even more powerful when you factor in all of the other hero units she has helping her like:

• Leviathans
• Dehaka
• Zagara
• Brutalisks
• Niadra
• Infested Stukov
• Naktul

If we are counting the Primal Zerg enemies of Sarah Kerrigan in her army, she has a gigantic roster of even morel hero units like:

• Brakk
• Kraith
• Silvan
• Yagdra
• Zurvan

The OP is unclear.

Currently the Flood are all but gone and the Zerg are at the strongest they've ever been.

This battle should also come under the assumption that neither Zerg nor Flood should be able to assimilate one another... Because then all that would happen would be Zerg geneticists would copy and enhance Flood spores and make their own... which would invariably become overcome by Flood spores... which would be copied and enhanced by Zerg geneticists.

@boringperson:

Zerg geneticists would copy and enhance Flood spores and make their own... which would invariably become overcome by Flood spores... which would be copied and enhanced by Zerg geneticists.

Zerg.Zerg can enhance and they outnumber Flood anyway.

Yeah, remember the last stand?They owned the protoss so bad...

@omgomgwtfwtf: Ancient Flood were fucking insane, a single Gravemind persuaded a Forerunner AI that was interrogating him into turning on his masters after a 43-year argument, and then the AI persuaded to destroy the planet, take over a fleet, and make the Forerunners shit themselves.

@fatherchaos: the flood at their prime would wipe the zerg out for good lol, it wouldnt even be a debate.

Fixed.

@omgomgwtfwtf: I would say Forerunners> X'el-Naga based on what they have created. Anyway yeah I agree with the assessment flood don't have big enough units to fight the Zerg, though if they could infect it would get reaaally sketchy as to who would win.

Zerg could potentially infect the Flood as well. Also, the Zerg may be able to evolve defenses against the Flood, but I agree, this thread will be impossible to discuss if we accept infecting as a means to win, because there is no way to predict how that would work.

@tparks: Pretty much, but only one zerg unit actually infects anything, other zerg simply consume organic mass and evolve after the consumption and some tinkering. I don't think we could actually discuss much other than zerg units are far more powerful than flood units.

@eisenfauste:

The Forerunner have better weapons I will admit that, but other than that I wouldn't say they have anything else that surpasses the Xel'Naga. The Xel'Naga were pacifists and didn't build death weapons.

@fatherchaos

That's an impressive feat, but its really not battle applicable. Zergs don't use computers and you can't trick them, they don't have a mind to trick. He can trying tricking Kerrigan, but I doubt he has decades to talk to her before she tries killing him. Kerrigan also has pretty insane tk and tp feats.

@omgomgwtfwtf: The Forerunners had limited time manipulation technology, called Timelocks, so that should give them a little more credit to them, and to the Flood for defeating them. The Didact used a Reverse Timelock to kill a Gravemind by aging it rapidly, but evidently that wasn't enough to stop the spread.

Also, the Flood also have really big, ship-sized floaty forms.... Dunno what those would do... But yeah...

@fatherchaos:

The time manipulation is pretty cool. As for the Flood having big, ship-sized floaty forms, the Zerg have Leviathans lol.

@omgomgwtfwtf: In that case I conclude that this battle ends in sex.

If Kerrigan is with the Zerg, then this can cause problems.

^^^^

For added effect, OP should've added the Borg and Slivers...

Yeah Flood Defeated the Forerunners but Ancient Humans defeated the Flood while the Humans is on war in two fronts with the Forerunners and The Flood

But Zergs are scale down Tyrannids they assimilated genes by devouring and evolving into new forms, Zergs could counter the flood infestation by changing their genetics/ resistance against the flood. If the Zergs become immune to Flood Virus they will completely turn the war into their favor but if not Flood will consume the Zergs. But im 80% sure the Zergs will find a resistance against the flood. Also if Kerrigan is here she will definitely will find something to counter against the flood.

Zergs are Biotech Civilization they don't use Machines unlike the flood who uses Forerunner Ships and Ancient Human ships to go planet to planet.(correct me if im wrong, kinda not sure but i red about it) Kinda like the Orks without Infections

The Flood will counter this and find a defense against the flood infection, If we check the Halo Lore, Ancient Humans found a cure to almost destroy the Flood. Now a Biotech Civilization like Zerg will definitely find a Resistance or even a cure.

I'm Kinda leaning on the Zergs(8-2) because of their genetics and resistance manipulation.

This is such a great battle. I agree with whoever said that the Flood could infect the Zerg. Even if it is hard to know for sure...obviously it is because these are two completely different games here. I still think the Flood could more effectively infect the Zerg army. The Zerg and the Flood are both obviously to be trifled with. Whoever said the Zerg defeated the Protoss...yup, the Protoss ain't no joke man. Anyone would know if you played the game. I know the Flood are powerful with powerful units but so is the Zerg army that produces such a huge massive army made to annihilate anyone. I'm just saying if the Master Chief can take on a Flood army...what do you think the Zerg are going to do? I think the Floods only chance is to coordinate a large enough army to "infect" the Zerg and that's only if they are successful. While the Flood try to do this, I think the Zerg would be too much and rip the Flood to shreds literally. As far as attack power vs attack power....I believe the Zerg are a lot stronger if we are talking about all out attack force.

@fatherchaos: Ironically, Protoss -who are still theoretically inferior to the Xel'Naga- have had time manipulation tech for a minimum of centuries... but have simply taboo'd it so heavily that even their harshest most insane criminals don't even consider it an option. Zeratul easily sent and himself back in time to prevent the end of all life even while the Protoss were at their absolute weakest in The Last Stand.

It's very often noted in game that Terran scientists are sure the Protoss could absolutely obliterate them/the Zerg if they used even a tiny percentage of their ridiculous tech for malicious intent. They just don't have minds for war.

Hell, even Reavers are actually intelligent farming droids.

@detrolord: There is a big difference between the human empire whom was on par and even winning against the forerunners and then your zerg. Heck even the forerunners found a cure basically, but they weren't willing to do it themselves, and ofc again if the flood were in their prime, the flood's numbers would destroy the zerg, they've already wiped out at least a galaxy before stretching into our galaxy.

Endless loop of assimilation

Can the Flood penetrate the armor of the Zerg? It is good enough to survive in space unaided which means it is airtight. If they have no means of penetrating it, then there is no way that the Zerg get infected. Mutalisks seem like MVPs here.

@diredrill: They have penetrated MC's suit before, as well as warrior caste forerunner suits, so yeah it won't be much of a problem with zerg, considering regular blades can cut base zerg without a problem. Ultralisks and mutalisks would be mvp, considering flood haven't shown a counter for them. I think flood could take this considering they actually have shown the ability to wipe out a race of aliens that are superior than protoss, and far superior than terrans, both of which give the zerg a hard time.

@diredrill: why would u ask if they can penetrate zerg armor? when they can penetrate some of if not most of the heavy metals and armor in halo? (including forerunners and the ancient human empire)

@eisenfauste: @killerwasp: Regular Blades CANNOT cut through Zerg Armor. There is no regular blade used in Starcraft. Every blade used is a Psionic Energy blade. Zerg Armor can tank U-238 Gauss Rifle Rounds which would go through MCs armor like a hot knife through butter.

How do the flood even hurt the likes of Mutalisks and Guardians and Leviathans?

Protoss and Terran do not "give the zerg a hard time." The only reason why either are alive now is Kerrigan's general apathy. If she so chose, her swarm would wash over them with no real possible chance of stemming the tide. Heck, the video that OOWW showed is just a single Leviathan being deployed to the capital planet of the Terran Dominion and they utterly destroyed their entire defensive force. Protoss got their capital planet also razed with very little problem by the Zerg. Only the Dark Templar's cloaking has saved them thus far.

This is all forgetting the fact that the Zerg killed the Xel'Naga, a race that is far superior to the Forerunners.

@diredrill: The X'el Naga are not superior to the Forerunners at all, their tech is way above X'el naga. Anyway I could find you a direct book source where regular blades are indeed slicing zerglings to pieces. The zerg have trouble conquering the terrans (low tech level) and protoss (higher but inferior to the forerunners). That is what makes the flood impressive is that they were to wipe out millions of planets that had millions or more of people on them, as well as the powerful forerunners defending the planets. The gravemind is easily equal to kerrigan in terms of intelligence, and is actually far more experienced and I would argue is much more strategic than she is. What the flood do is find creases and weaknesses in armor and insert themselves into them and then begin the process of transformation. The forerunners couldn't stop the tide, I don't see how the zerg could stop them either, all they need is to release small flood forms int othe horde and begin the process of changing them.

@eisenfauste:

The zerg have trouble conquering the terrans (low tech level) and protoss (higher but inferior to the forerunners).

@eisenfauste: did diredrill just state x'el naga were superior to the forerunners? LOL

The Zerg seem to have a few big advantages, like advanced weapons and versatility, but i'm not sure if they can overcome the Flood. They have a tendency to just keep on coming.

@silverrings: advanced weapons and versatility, the flood will have that as well, and their own forms, which are no push overs, the only thing i see them having trouble with when it comes down to forms is with the ultralisk, but their bound to be infected anyway, as i've stated above if both races are at their prime, the flood wins.

@eisenfauste: I have never even seen a normal metal blade being wielded by anyone in Starcraft. Going hand to hand with Zerg is generally a bad idea without the tech to keep them at bay. The big problem here is that Zerg are space capable and their armor is part of them so no creases that you could find would be of value.

Why do you think that a race designed around overwhelming a foe would be overwhelmed by a race designed to do the same thing? This is the Borg versus Species 8472 all over again.

The Zerg have never had any trouble with either the Protoss or the Terran. It is Kerrigan's apathy that has allowed them both to live. When she chooses to go to war, the Swarm cannot be stopped. If she is here leading the Zerg then the Flood stand no chance. Only thing that the Gravemind has on Kerrigan is will, apathy is what keeps the Zerg limited.

One issue that the Flood may have is that they are "a species of highly virulent parasitic organisms that can reproduce and grow by consuming sentient life forms of sufficient biomass and cognitive capability." Nearly 70% of the Zerg have no higher cognitive ability, they live only to serve the Swarm. If this is true then the Zerg can overwhelm them as they have no requirements for infestation.

What do the Forerunners got that the Xel'Naga do not?

I agree that the battle is hard to quantify, but I assure you I do indeed have a quote of regular blade harming zerglings without much of a problem. Problem here is that only several flood spores are needed to get inside the ship and can accomplish this in a variety of means, infecting a zergling which is then brought back to the ship where it can transform in the shadows into a carrier to spawn more flood.

Yeah agree this is pretty much the same situation and is hard to quantify, though zerglings are cognitive they are just dominant of a more powerful mind giving them direction, a flood inserting itself is the cognitive function that will direct the zergling.

They have actually been beaten back in multiple occasions before, and the terrans and protoss were giving the zerg a hard time. Mind you this wasn't a 2v1 situation this was all 3 factions kicking the crap out of each other and the zerg were getting dominated.

Again the flood spore is the cognitive function that inserts itself into the equation, zerglings have enough of a cognitive function for flood to assert their dominance over. Flood have improved the intelligence and cognitive ability of creatures before, and I don't see why it won't happen in this situation

Well this is where the forerunners really shine. Alright starting out for spaceships they have 30k long fortress ships with hundreds if not thousands of hard-light and plasma beam cannons, not to mention many fighter spacecraft on them. They have made entire constructs that contain life and entire ecosystems on them. Not only do they contain life, they have the ability to wipe out all life in a 25,000 light year distance (X'el Naga have no superweapon on this lvl at all). Not to mention it only takes several of their cruisers to completely wipe out a Halo ring construct, which is 10,000km in diameter so basically a moon or larger sized construct

On the ground they have things called War Sphinxes which are 15m tall, and have been stated to have the power to wipe out entire continents with their weaponry, X'el Naga don't have anything on that either). Not to mention the warrior caste of the forerunners have lvl 10 power suits. To put this in context Master Chiefs suit was stated to be a lvl 2 and his suit could stop bullets without going down, tank plasma bolts as hot as the sun, and tank several 50mm cannon shells while only draining to half power. Imagine the potential of a lvl 10 suit now.

I'll sum up their tech with them being able to teleport material and beings at will around any of their constructs or planets, being able to assemble massive starships in mere minutes. Having thousands of fleets of starships. Also having a "Shield World" which is made up of trillions of drones that interlink to form a shield barrier. To put the power of the shield world in context, it took several blasts from a covenant cruiser to destroy 40 interlinked drones with overlapping shields. These same blasts from the covenant cruiser have the ability to turn 10,000 hectares of land into molten slag. Now imagine what trillions of overlapping shields could tank 0_0. As well as the combined power of the drones being able to casually vaporize entire cruisers in a single shot, these same cruisers have been able to tank nuclear warheads without poblems as well as 1/2 the speed of light projectiles hitting them.

On top of That!!!!!!! They have a dyson sphere in its center which is basically a pocket dimension of sorts, in other words it is the size of a doorway, but once you step inside, it goes for infinity in all directions, and this in itself is an ecosystem with trees, rivers, and grass. Yeah the X'el Naga also don't have that at all.

Both the forerunners and X'el Naga created an incredibly dangerous foe that threatened the respective galaxy(halo), and several sectors(Starcraft). That is about all they have in common.

@omgomgwtfwtf: The Zerg have trouble with both of them, yes the zerg have stomped before, but the terrans have held back the tide as well as the protoss have held them back to, the zerg are not infallible.

@eisenfauste: well done, i was wondering when you would reply and i'm shocked u even did. xD

@killerwasp: Lol, I almost always reply to people, unless they are being rude so yeah of course I would, and thanks :)

@eisenfauste: i was tempted to reply, but then i was like so i decided not to.

@eisenfauste: Once a Zergling goes "offline" the entire Swarm would know. Then a Baneling comes rolling in and boom, infected Zergling is dead. Infecting a hive-linked race in secret is next to impossible. If any of their units are infected, they'll know and they will kill that foe with extreme prejudice. Zerglings also never "return to the ship" they are purpose bred to fulfill an objective. Once that objective is fulfilled, they go on to another objective they never return home unless in retreat and since the Flood have no means of countering Mutalisks and Guardians or Banelings, the Zerg will likely never be in retreat. How fast do Flood Spores take to mature? If it is longer than it takes a Zergling to turn into a Baneling then you'll never infect one.

The Flood's typical strategies will be useless here. The Zerg have no remorse in sacrificing themselves or killing one another. Forerunners, Humans, Covenant all have "human nature" making them weak. The Zerg cannot fall prey to that. They know instantly which creatures are Zerg and which are Flood there will be no ambiguity. The Flood succeed because they live in the grey area of morality. The Zerg have no morality. The second a Zerg is infected, they will Quarantine that member and destroy them.

Zerglings were evolved from essentially wild animals. They are no more sentient than a dog. Unless you can show the Flood infecting a dog then I don't see how any of the Zerg would be in danger. They'd need to supplant the organ that the Zerg installed that grants them control.

At no point have the Zerg been "beaten back" they've successfully held every planet they ever conquered. It took a Deus Ex Machina to get them off Shakuras. The Zerg have never been beaten, they have only been complacent. Everything that happened during the Starcraft 1 was pre-ordained by the Overmind up until Tassadar sacrificed himself so that Zeratul could use his dark energy to kill him. But even that served the Overmind because it allowed Kerrigan to come to power and she is the only one who could take on the Hybrids. Any "loss" they suffered was designed to complete a higher objective.

So far the Forerunners are no impressing me much. There is a mission in Starcraft II that takes place on a Xel'Naga Worldship. It features not only a full Protoss Base but also has enough space for a full Terran base. Most maps, that don't take place indoors, are meant to be spread out over the size of a major metropolitan area. Your 30km ship would fit inside a Worldship. Hard Light and Plasma are such low tech weapons that the Protoss use them. Protoss Motherships can glass entire planets.

We never see any of the Xel'Naga's weapons but if we take a look at the Xel'Naga Temple on Shakuras we find that even their power plants can wipe specific races off of an entire planet. See, the Temple was nothing more than an energy collector like a Solar Power Plant. It is likely that it was a fuel depot for their Worldships. The Protoss retrofitted a powerplant into a powerful weapon. Now considering that, how powerful do you think their weapons would actually be?

Level 10 Power Suits! ZOMG! Masterchief's Level 2 Powersuit doesn't even compare to a lowly Marine's Powersuit which on that scale would have to be like a 5 or 6. If Marines are half as strong as Forerunners are and Protoss' suits are stronger than Marines then Protoss' suits are nearly as powerful as Forerunners. Forerunners don't sound like they could take the Zerg either. A Terran Ghost with one of the bigger nukes can take down half a continent so I don't see how War Sphinxes are impressive.

Protoss can construct entire massive starships in moments and teleport objects anywhere they have a psionic field. Protoss < Xel'naga. You have yet to show me anything that Protoss couldn't beat. You mean the Forerunners are so stupid that rather than building 1 massive shield generator they built a trillion of smaller ones? That isn't a feat of intelligence, that is a feat of stupidity. They are attempting to apply Greek Phalanx strategy to shield dynamics. They must not understand how shields work then. See the bigger your shield generator, the more power it can accept the stronger the shield becomes. By building multiple small shield generators, they actually weakened the shield potential of their world by alot. This is why smaller ships have less shields than larger ships. Bigger Power Plant = More Power = More Shields. This tells me 1 of 2 things; either the Forerunners are dumb or they couldn't figure out how to build a shield generator of the right size for their planet which means they are still dumb.
Either way, this is not impressive.

That Dyson Sphere is their one actually impressive feat but when you consider that the Xel'naga seeded the entire Milky Way Galaxy with life it gets a little bit less impressive.

The Xel'naga seeded an entire galaxy with life, they created multiple potential threats that we never ever see but were trying to duplicate the means by which they came into existence. We don't know what type of life was created on the thousands of planets that they seeded. We only get to see how their machinations effected a single sector. They just chose the Protoss because they somewhat resembled them already. When that failed they moved on to the Zerg. Only they failed there. I say failed but again, that went according to Amon's plan which influenced the Overmind's plan.

@eisenfauste: o snap it looks like the person u are arguing against is gonna be a hard one LOL especially this "That Dyson Sphere is their one actually impressive feat but when you consider that the Xel'naga seeded the entire Milky Way Galaxy with life it gets a little bit less impressive." <-- says forerunners aint impressive, but says this yet fails to realize what u said about the forerunners LOL, and the fun fact that they wiped a whole galaxy in moments, yet after they wiped it out they saved every living thing and repopulated a whole galaxy, but then again in his eyes thats still prolly not impressive as the xel'naga because they didnt do it lol.