I’m going to assume that the UNSC " at the height of their power" is the UNSC pre-Covenant War because let’s be honest, post war UNSC is kinda overpowered.
Jul’s Covenant wins, no doubt. The Storm Covenant (I’ll call them that from here on out) at their respective height of power encompassed a vast fleet of at least 2 CAS carriers and several CCS, RCS, ORS, and CRS cruisers. Considering a good deal of those ships have likely been modified in some aspect from standard classifications, it is safe to assume that those ships pack quite a punch in comparison to the standard UNSC ships at the time. This is a significant boost in their favor, as there was always one rule for fighting the Covenant during the war: The battle was decided in space before it got to the ground.
The Banished, on the other hand, have shown to be considerably weaker in fighting strength than the Storm Covenant was. We know they had at least one modified CAS carrier. Any other naval vessels have gone unheard of, however there is a chance that there may be other vessels in their fleet given their intended actions during Operation SPEARBREAKER. Nevertheless, the Banished have shown to be much more ground-orientated than any other Covenant faction seen thus far. What makes it even worse for the Banished is that a converted civilian transport from the early days of the war, running on a little more than a skeleton crew, was able to pose a serious threat to Banished ground operations (the destruction of the Enduring Conviction doesn’t count because Sentinels did that), successfully sabotaging energy collection operations and eliminating several outposts and strongholds. If one ship can do so much damage to an entire faction, imagine what the rest of the UNSC could do.
Hmm, well we all know fleet size doesn’t mean poop. (The Fleet of Retribution took out Truth’s fleet during the Battle of Installation 00 when outnumbered 3 to 1)
It all comes down to brains really, when according the Isabel, the Covenant were unable to contain the threat of Atriox even at the height of the empire’s power.
'Mdama’s Covenant fought on par with a company of Spartans, outfoxed Infinity (the most advanced human warship with the best and the brightest soldiers) multiple times and managed to fool even Dr. Halsey into thinking he was a forerunner construct. Atriox lost to a slipspace-driveless outdated converted warship. Mdama was the far greater threat in spite of Atriox’s big hype.
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> > > I think that The Banished are stronger than Jul’s Covenant…Here are my reasons:
> > > - The Banished left the Covenant a long time ago and had more time to get weapons, tech, etc… - Jul is dead - The Banished have a leader who is clearly more powerful than Jul (If he was alive) - The Banished even gave the Covenant under the Prophets rule trouble…They wouldn’t have any trouble taking out one little portion of it
> >
> > 1. The Banished were on the run from the Covenant for most of the time, they by the looks of it only really gained much of a following Pre-Schism.
> >
> > 2. The conditioning of the question is at the height of their power, therefore this isn’t really applicable.
> >
> > 3. Being a powerful warrior means virtually nothing when commanding Fleets and armies, would have little if any affect to the overall outcome of a battle.
> >
> > 4. The Banished to our knowledge could never take the Covenant Empire on head to head, they relied purely on Gorilla tactics, having virtually no experience fighting an enemy head on, I imagine 'Mdama would have no problem dealing with them in a direct engagement.
>
> On the other hand pound per pound the Brutes make for better troops than the Elites and the Banished are less concerned about “messing with the technology of the gods”
Having better troops pound per pound isn’t much help when your entire fleet is being destroyed from orbit. In addition what evidence is their even to suggest Brutes are superior to Elites in combat, unless I’m misunderstanding your point.
The Covenant couldn’t contain and destroy a small force of Jiralhanae led by Atriox at the height of their power, what chance do you think Jul has? He has a small fraction of the former Covenant.
Definitely the banished because as you can see from the beginning cutscenes of Halo 5 all of Jul’s troops are handicapped and they don’t know how to fight.
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> I would say that Jul Mdamas Covenant was bigger at their height, they even had Promeathans as their allies.
> And after death of Jul Mdama, multiple deafeats and Sali Nyon’s coup, they were still able to have massive attack against Swords of Sanghelios, and would have probably succeed without Fireteam Osiris helping Arbiter.
This.
Jul on Requiem played the UNSC like fools. Atroix was still building up his forces after the fall of the Covenant.
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> 'Mdama’s Covenant fought on par with a company of Spartans, outfoxed Infinity (the most advanced human warship with the best and the brightest soldiers) multiple times and managed to fool even Dr. Halsey into thinking he was a forerunner construct. Atriox lost to a slipspace-driveless outdated converted warship. Mdama was the far greater threat in spite of Atriox’s big hype.
I mean Atriox really only lost because Isabel managed to gain control of the Enduring Conviction, if it wasn’t for Isabel and the sentinels the SoF would wreck of molten metal.
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> > 2533274807602068;14:
> > 'Mdama’s Covenant fought on par with a company of Spartans, outfoxed Infinity (the most advanced human warship with the best and the brightest soldiers) multiple times and managed to fool even Dr. Halsey into thinking he was a forerunner construct. Atriox lost to a slipspace-driveless outdated converted warship. Mdama was the far greater threat in spite of Atriox’s big hype.
>
> I mean Atriox really only lost because Isabel managed to gain control of the Enduring Conviction, if it wasn’t for Isabel and the sentinels the SoF would wreck of molten metal.
Eh, still pretty pitiful imo. It makes zero sense why the Conviction didn’t blow the spirit out of the air the moment it appeared in orbit. SoF lasting more than a minute against a CAS is just strategic incompetence.
Given their hype the Banished should be stronger but the feats just don’t support it. Mdama is a far better strategist and has a larger fleet.
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> > > 2533274807602068;14:
> > > 'Mdama’s Covenant fought on par with a company of Spartans, outfoxed Infinity (the most advanced human warship with the best and the brightest soldiers) multiple times and managed to fool even Dr. Halsey into thinking he was a forerunner construct. Atriox lost to a slipspace-driveless outdated converted warship. Mdama was the far greater threat in spite of Atriox’s big hype.
> >
> > I mean Atriox really only lost because Isabel managed to gain control of the Enduring Conviction, if it wasn’t for Isabel and the sentinels the SoF would wreck of molten metal.
>
> Eh, still pretty pitiful imo. It makes zero sense why the Conviction didn’t blow the spirit out of the air the moment it appeared in orbit. SoF lasting more than a minute against a CAS is just strategic incompetence.
>
> Given their hype the Banished should be stronger but the feats just don’t support it. Mdama is a far better strategist and has a larger fleet.
Given how the SoF wasn’t destroyed despite the Carrier having working weapons and only used Banshees to attack it, it’s safe to assume Atriox was trying to disable it so he could capture it and add it to his fleet.
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> > > > 'Mdama’s Covenant fought on par with a company of Spartans, outfoxed Infinity (the most advanced human warship with the best and the brightest soldiers) multiple times and managed to fool even Dr. Halsey into thinking he was a forerunner construct. Atriox lost to a slipspace-driveless outdated converted warship. Mdama was the far greater threat in spite of Atriox’s big hype.
> > >
> > > I mean Atriox really only lost because Isabel managed to gain control of the Enduring Conviction, if it wasn’t for Isabel and the sentinels the SoF would wreck of molten metal.
> >
> > Eh, still pretty pitiful imo. It makes zero sense why the Conviction didn’t blow the spirit out of the air the moment it appeared in orbit. SoF lasting more than a minute against a CAS is just strategic incompetence.
> >
> > Given their hype the Banished should be stronger but the feats just don’t support it. Mdama is a far better strategist and has a larger fleet.
>
> Given how the SoF wasn’t destroyed despite the Carrier having working weapons and only used Banshees to attack it, it’s safe to assume Atriox was trying to disable it so he could capture it and add it to his fleet.
I just assumed it was because Atriox did not know about the SoF and he thought it was a powerful human warship because it was alone and it managed to get to the Ark.
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> > > 2533274807602068;14:
> > > 'Mdama’s Covenant fought on par with a company of Spartans, outfoxed Infinity (the most advanced human warship with the best and the brightest soldiers) multiple times and managed to fool even Dr. Halsey into thinking he was a forerunner construct. Atriox lost to a slipspace-driveless outdated converted warship. Mdama was the far greater threat in spite of Atriox’s big hype.
> >
> > I mean Atriox really only lost because Isabel managed to gain control of the Enduring Conviction, if it wasn’t for Isabel and the sentinels the SoF would wreck of molten metal.
>
> Eh, still pretty pitiful imo. It makes zero sense why the Conviction didn’t blow the spirit out of the air the moment it appeared in orbit. SoF lasting more than a minute against a CAS is just strategic incompetence.
>
> Given their hype the Banished should be stronger but the feats just don’t support it. Mdama is a far better strategist and has a larger fleet.
The reality is that if Atriox decided to just blast the SoF immediately we wouldn’t have much of a game, it would be over then and there, and at the end of the day PIS prevails.
the new covenant isn’t as organized as well as the banished. plus atriox was able to resist the full covenant, a beaten up version of it isn’t going to be any better than the banished.
I give it to the Banished. We just don’t know much about them and their fleet strength, but any faction able to beat back The Flood is a threat. Jul relied to much on the Didact and his gifts. Without the Didact and his “gifts” Jul’s forces were significantly weaker. When the Promethean’s turned on Jul he didn’t even last five minutes. Again in comparison, the Banished fighting a full Flood infection on one side and the UNSC on the other… and they lasted.
I have a theory Atriox has more of a fleet than just the Enduring Conviction. Anyone able to field countless Scarabs at once probably has a large star fleet to back it up. Even if it’s a handful of Frigates and Corvettes, Atriox might have more forces than we saw in game.
Tbh I don’t see The Storm winning by a long shot, air engagements the Storm would probably win but the thing is, they’re idiots. Did you see how awfully their ground forces were in battle. The only thing I think the Storm would have over the Banished of ground forces are the Jackals, I think they were trained by some Jackals you fought in the H2… Also Jul fell easily to a single spartan, Atriox fought off three Spartan II’s and was barely trying. Atriox also has tough commmanders in his army, Shipmaster who is immensely experienced with Ships, Colony a Hunter pair that can speak and they wreck havoc, Pavium a brute with a huge cannon on one arm and a shield his other arm, and Voridus a risky commander who released the Flood and recontained them. What does Jul have? I’d have to say the Banished would win.
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> Jul repeatedly gave the Infinity trouble, Atriox’s forces couldn’t even deal with 1 old ship with half its crew.
To be fair, neither could the Covenant. Banished were more evenly matched against Spirit than the Covenant on the shield world were because both use similar tactics and had older tech.