Does the new info from Warfleet confirm the Repulsor Engine to be a reactionless drive? Cos that sounds like something the Forerunners would’ve of used instead of Reaction drives. Wouldn’t a reactionless drive be more advanced then a reaction drive or would it not matter. I know the Covenant likely got the repulsor engine tech from Forerunner tech but it still seems odd to me that they’d use a reactionless drive when the Forerunners didn’t assuming i’m right about the nature of the engine. Or does it not matter as to the nature of the tech or how advanced it is, only the speed and velocities that’s it’s capable of and it’s advantages or disadvantages?
Halo Warfleet, page 92 (the glossary):
“REPULSOR ENGINE: Covenant diametric drive, which creates asymmetrical gravity fields that push and pull a ship through space without the need for reaction mass or conventional exhaust. They are an extremely advanced application of gravitics.”
According to Halopedia, Cryptum establishes that the Forerunners rely on a reaction drive that uses virtual particles. Also says they still need some onboard reaction mass. I haven’t cracked the book open again to see if there’s more detail than that. Your final question’s assumption may be the accurate one – the Forerunner may have streamlined the reaction drive concept to an extreme that outperformed repulsor drive technology’s equivalent, even accounting for the fuel conundrum. We don’t have answers, to my knowledge, on this subject.