I just re-read Escalation #5 and #6 when the Infinity was hit by the glassing canon and I was wondering… what would happen if the Infinity was destroyed? The majority of the S-IVs are stationed on-board, the ship itself is the flagship of the UNSC and it the most technologically advanced human ship ever, of all time. Not to mention the best and brightest of humanity are on board. What would happen?
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> I just re-read Escalation #5 and #6 when the Infinity was hit by the glassing canon and I was wondering… what would happen if the Infinity was destroyed? The majority of the S-IVs are stationed on-board, the ship itself is the flagship of the UNSC and it the most technologically advanced human ship ever, of all time. Not to mention the best and brightest of humanity are on board. What would happen?
Well, not the most technologically advanced Human ship of all time.
It would be a tremendous loss but I’m sure not all of Humanity’s best and brightest are on board, likely just a few. They’d probably just create plenty more Spartan IVs and ruthlessly retaliate against whatever destroyed it. As far as I know, the majority of the Spartan IVs aren’t on board the Infinity, though if I’m wrong please include a source when you correct me.
The OP raises a good point.
Kilo-5 stated that the Infinity had swallowed up half the UNSC defence budget to construct. We don’t know if this represents the UNSC available resources in the final years of the war, or the UNSC’s available resources over the full 20 years it took to construct however its destruction would represent a huge loss both financially and militarily to the UNSC as its unlikely it could be replaced within any reasonable timeframe.
This is probably my biggest problem with the Infinity. Even if its is the most technologically advanced warship in the Orion spiral arm (which I’m far from convinced that it is), it can only ever be in one place at one time. In a full scale war a resurgent and revitalised Covenant empire could attack the UNSC on multiple fronts, using their superior numbers of ships to attack Earth and its surviving colonies simultaneously.
They wouldn’t need to take out the Infinity, only the economic infrastructure that its requires to function. (Ship-yard’s to service its FTL drive, ammunition factories which supply its tungsten MAC rounds and missiles, farmland which supplies its crew with food etc)
Of course 343 could always go ahead a pull another dozen Infinity-class warship’s out of magic hat, through this would only harm their credibility as its already been confirmed that the Infinity has an astronomically high and unsustainable production cost which pretty much rules out it being a standard-issue warship anytime soon.
To be honest my biggest concern isn’t that the Infinity would be destroyed with all hands lost but that it could be boarded and its command crew and personnel taken prisoner. To date over the course of 5-6 years the Infinity has been boarded 3 times and electronically disabled at least twice. Considering the Infinity is designated as a flagship its likely it will be holding some very senior UNSC brass on-board who’s capture along with the Spartan IV’s could provide any Covenant Remnant faction with everything they need to know of the UNSC’s defences. (Defences plans, location of military assets, compunction frequencies etc)
As the latest issue of Escalation (issue 13) has shown that UNSC’s command crew still has no tangible understanding technologically of Infinity’s Forerunner built engines, and neither to they have full control over them.
The UNSC loses it’s best ship.
Innies, Covies and other species party.
I start shouting in enthousiasm and humans Cat yeah plot gets dewstroyed.
I wouldn’t mind all the S 4s dying
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> > 2533274975398392;1:
> > I just re-read Escalation #5 and #6 when the Infinity was hit by the glassing canon and I was wondering… what would happen if the Infinity was destroyed? The majority of the S-IVs are stationed on-board, the ship itself is the flagship of the UNSC and it the most technologically advanced human ship ever, of all time. Not to mention the best and brightest of humanity are on board. What would happen?
>
>
> Well, not the most technologically advanced Human ship of all time.
> It would be a tremendous loss but I’m sure not all of Humanity’s best and brightest are on board, likely just a few. They’d probably just create plenty more Spartan IVs and ruthlessly retaliate against whatever destroyed it. As far as I know, the majority of the Spartan IVs aren’t on board the Infinity, though if I’m wrong please include a source when you correct me.
I guess I just assumed that the majority of the S-IV’s are stationed on the Infinity. Halopedia states “The Infinity also houses hundreds of SPARTAN-IVs led by Commander Sarah Palmer; the ship’s S-deck, affectionately known as “Spartan Town”, is dedicated to their use” There are only about 500 S-IV’s give or take. I guess it would just seem that the Infinity has the majority of the S-IV’s on board.
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> > 2533274846085892;2:
> > > 2533274975398392;1:
> > > I just re-read Escalation #5 and #6 when the Infinity was hit by the glassing canon and I was wondering… what would happen if the Infinity was destroyed? The majority of the S-IVs are stationed on-board, the ship itself is the flagship of the UNSC and it the most technologically advanced human ship ever, of all time. Not to mention the best and brightest of humanity are on board. What would happen?
> >
> >
> >
> > Well, not the most technologically advanced Human ship of all time.
> > It would be a tremendous loss but I’m sure not all of Humanity’s best and brightest are on board, likely just a few. They’d probably just create plenty more Spartan IVs and ruthlessly retaliate against whatever destroyed it. As far as I know, the majority of the Spartan IVs aren’t on board the Infinity, though if I’m wrong please include a source when you correct me.
>
>
> I guess I just assumed that the majority of the S-IV’s are stationed on the Infinity. Halopedia states “The Infinity also houses hundreds of SPARTAN-IVs led by Commander Sarah Palmer; the ship’s S-deck, affectionately known as “Spartan Town”, is dedicated to their use” There are only about 500 S-IV’s give or take. I guess it would just seem that the Infinity has the majority of the S-IV’s on board.
That’s a fair assumption. There’s likely just 100 - 200 Spartan-IVs not on-board the Infinity then.
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> This is probably my biggest problem with the Infinity. Even if its is the most technologically advanced warship in the Orion spiral arm (which I’m far from convinced that it is), it can only ever be in one place at one time. In a full scale war a resurgent and revitalised Covenant empire could attack the UNSC on multiple fronts, using their superior numbers of ships to attack Earth and its surviving colonies simultaneously.
That’s true. It would be a useful asset though for whichever front needed the most help. The Infinity has the potential to turn the tide in any battle. If the Covenant re emerge and was attacked Humanity in full force on multiple fronts including Earth. The infinity would probably mop up the invaders and move onto other colonies that are under attack and assist them.
Well, we could start by what the infinity offers first before looking at what would happen if it was lost.
It has: provided orbital support during a rebellion on Sanghelios, deployed ground troops along with Spartans on both battles of Requiem, and a couple of future engagements after that, destroyed/inflict heavy losses on at least 3 enemy fleets, blew a whole in Mantle’s Approach. All of which completed with overwhelming success. However, orbital bombardment, ship to ship engagements, deploying troops can all be done by a big fleet. Infinity probably has an advantage in ship to ship combat and would be a ridiculous force multiplier in a real battle, but that is pretty much it. Forerunner tech is still available on Onyx, other ships can hold troops, mammoths and Spartan IVs. Shields, energy projectors, advanced slipspace drives can be mounted on other ships. There are still scientists on other forerunner installations like other Halos and Onyx. Things can still go on but maybe a little more cumbersome. Infinity is probably worth as much as a large fleet, maybe 200 ships, including all other assets such a fleet would carry (engineers, vehicles etc.). Of course, there are still some things that can only be done by one large ship vs sending 200 ships. Missions requiring diplomacy, stealth while needing overwhelming force for emergencies/ clean up. I would I think however, Infinity’s loss will be more of a strategic disadvantage.
It’s the biggest and best ship by a LONG shot in the UNSC. It is the culmination of a ridiculous amount effort any funding. It is the presence of a huge fleet in but just one ship. It is what all enemies fear to go against. If suddenly poof, it would not only be demoralising on the human side, all of humanity’s enemies are going to rise up in force, or at least be much much bolder in their endeavors. I think it would be much like a country losing its leader today. Well someone can replace him/her obviously but the consequences of such a loss can be pretty bad.
Roland would be screwed!
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> Roland would be screwed!
By the nine, without Roland!!!
Really though I would love to play a mission at start of H5 maybe then boom, covie super assault carries come out of nowhere. Infinity destroys both however they are able to shoot their ventral plasma beam through the ship. (Not just a hole but completely crippling it for a few years atleast.) Crashing down on a strange planet. The battle above the planet continues, meanwhile covie ships deploy ground troops on the surface. Facing insane odds defeat is ultimately inevitable but then the UNSC Spirit of Fire jumps out of slipspace and deploys further Spartan, Navy, Army, Marine and Air forces across planet, battles take place over water, land and sky.
Thus Halo 5 massive sandbox 64 player BTB commences. A new generation of multiplayer.
I can always dream…
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> > 2533274799557323;10:
> > Roland would be screwed!
>
>
> By the nine, without Roland!!!
>
> Really though I would love to play a mission at start of H5 maybe then boom, covie super assault carries come out of nowhere. Infinity destroys both however they are able to shoot their ventral plasma beam through the ship. (Not just a hole but completely crippling it for a few years atleast.) Crashing down on a strange planet. The battle above the planet continues, meanwhile covie ships deploy ground troops on the surface. Facing insane odds defeat is ultimately inevitable but then the UNSC Spirit of Fire jumps out of slipspace and deploys further Spartan, Navy, Army, Marine and Air forces across planet, battles take place over water, land and sky.
> Thus Halo 5 massive sandbox 64 player BTB commences. A new generation of multiplayer.
>
> I can always dream…
I love your enthusiasm mate but spirit has six Spartans that’s it
As for infinity it would be a catastrophic loss for the navy that’s 1700 or 17 thousand can’t remember of the UNSC’s finest the only vessel that can stand up to a CAS also it would negate the Autumn class which was built around the principle of infinity also don’t forget the six frigates that would sink with it and with the idea that the resurgent covenant just neutralise infinity in a resource war it wouldn’t work because the UNSC just gives their huragoks some raw material I mean they are known to make cakes so its not impossible also its engines a re faster than everything the covenant can throw so it could actually meet every threat within a time frame.
They’d have to get through infinity’s fleet. Which depending on where you are is large. Close to human colony’s it has a large fleet. Made up of frigates autumn cruisers and marathons and probably destroyers. When there far fro. Human worlds they use the sub vessels under slung in the belly of the beast. The sub vessels are strident class frigates.
A big KABOOM and all the UNSC haters (so pretty much every civilian not on Earth) do a happy dance. That’s all I’ve got, didn’t read Escalation.
I still find it strange how many missions the Infinity goes on without support. Considering the cost, personell and technology, I’m suprised it’s not constantly escorted by Corvettes.
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> That’s true. It would be a useful asset though for whichever front needed the most help. The Infinity has the potential to turn the tide in any battle. If the Covenant re emerge and was attacked Humanity in full force on multiple fronts including Earth. The infinity would probably mop up the invaders and move onto other colonies that are under attack and assist them.
It’s still only one ship which by definition can only fight one enemy at a time, one front at a time. A unified Covenant offensive isn’t going to be considerate enough to fight the Infinity or the UNSC on those terms.
With all due respect I think you’re also massively overestimating the Infinity’s combat efficiency in your belief that it could “mop up” the invaders one front at a time. At Oth Lodon a single Covenant space station crippled the Infinity to the point where it could not fire back or make slip-space jumps to escape. If it can’t defend itself from a single Covenant space station approximately 1/5 its overall size, I really fail to see what use it would be against multiple Covenant warships.
Off course the deployment of a support fleet in the form of Autumn-class heavy cruisers and Strident-class frigates could well increase the Infinity combat effectiveness, but then only at the expense of the defence of the UNSC’s other strategic assets and colonies, which the Covenant would then be to then attack at will.
Halo Evolution made clear that post war the UNSC military was weaker than at any point since the development of the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine. Striping the Navy’s surviving assets and resources to provide the Infinity with the support it would require to function effectively would leave the UNSC with nothing more than a bare minimal token force to defend its remaining colonies and home-world.
During the Second Punic war the Romans learned to their cost that they could not defeat Hannibal Barca’s Carthaginian army in pitched battle, so they employed instead the Fabian strategy, war by attrition. Rather than attacking Hannibal directly on the field where they knew his battle hardened army would have the advantage, they attack his Italian and North African allies, they attack his supply lines in Spain, and finally his home city itself, slowly starving him of supplies and reinforcements until he was to weak to remain in Italy.
I can see a resurgent or remnant Covenant employing the exact same strategy against the Infinity by avoiding a direct confrontation with the Infinity and its support fleet but instead attacking the UNSC surviving colonies and home-world simultaneously. Alternatively if this Covenant splinter faction was willing to accept the losses they may well just decide to bite the bullet and send an entire fleet of CSO-class Super Carrier’s and heavy battleship’s in pursuit of the Infinity and destroy it with overwhelming firepower in a direct engagement. All depends on the resources available to them.
Going back to your original post, I think the Infinity’s destruction would simply be a loss the UNSC could not sustain without crippling them militarily and economically. Rather than pooling half their defense budget over 20 years into a single inflexible and cumbersome weapons platform, they should be producing post war as many Strident class-frigates and light cruisers as they can. Low production cost means they would be better placed to distribute their Spartan IV’s and light warship’s across multiple fronts in the event of a future war with the Covenant, as the loss of one ship would not compromise their ability to regroup and counterattack.
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> Well, we could start by what the infinity offers first before looking at what would happen if it was lost.
>
> It has: provided orbital support during a rebellion on Sanghelios, deployed ground troops along with Spartans on both battles of Requiem, and a couple of future engagements after that, destroyed/inflict heavy losses on at least 3 enemy fleets, blew a whole in Mantle’s Approach. All of which completed with overwhelming success. However, orbital bombardment, ship to ship engagements, deploying troops can all be done by a big fleet. Infinity probably has an advantage in ship to ship combat and would be a ridiculous force multiplier in a real battle, but that is pretty much it. Forerunner tech is still available on Onyx, other ships can hold troops, mammoths and Spartan IVs. Shields, energy projectors, advanced slipspace drives can be mounted on other ships. There are still scientists on other forerunner installations like other Halos and Onyx. Things can still go on but maybe a little more cumbersome. Infinity is probably worth as much as a large fleet, maybe 200 ships, including all other assets such a fleet would carry (engineers, vehicles etc.). Of course, there are still some things that can only be done by one large ship vs sending 200 ships. Missions requiring diplomacy, stealth while needing overwhelming force for emergencies/ clean up. I would I think however, Infinity’s loss will be more of a strategic disadvantage.
>
> It’s the biggest and best ship by a LONG shot in the UNSC. It is the culmination of a ridiculous amount effort any funding. It is the presence of a huge fleet in but just one ship. It is what all enemies fear to go against. If suddenly poof, it would not only be demoralising on the human side, all of humanity’s enemies are going to rise up in force, or at least be much much bolder in their endeavors. I think it would be much like a country losing its leader today. Well someone can replace him/her obviously but the consequences of such a loss can be pretty bad.
It’s still only one ship and once it’s lost, it lost along with half the UNSC Navy’s operational combat strength. I just can’t see how it could be replaced in a reasonable timeframe after its already cut the UNSC available combat strength in half. (Under 20 years)
For argument sake let’s suppose the production cost of the Infinity is equal to the cost of fifty Strident-class Frigates. It only takes one lucky shot from a Covenant warship or poor decision from the Infinity’s captain to see the Infinity destroyed, whilst for fifty smaller and cheaper Strident-class frigates the law of averages is allot better.
A crippling defeat for the Infinity will likely result in the loss of both the ship and its support fleet, a crushing loss for the UNSC it terms of resources and man-power that they would not be able to replace. A crippling defeat for a fleet of say fifty Strident-class frigates augmented by the same support fleet would be just as damaging to the UNSC, but at same time more sustainable as its unlikely (though not impossible) that by law of averages every ship would be lost. Those ships that survive out of the original fifty Strident-class frigates and the UNSC support fleet whether they number half a dozen over between 30-40 can then re-group and counterattack later on, and keeping doing so time after time until either they or the Covenant fleet pursing them are destroyed.
As I said before the Infinity is just once ship and once it’s gone, it’s gone.
What one ship can’t do, many can.
That’s how the UNSC Navy should have based their combat doctrine from the start.
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> > 2533274975398392;8:
> > That’s true. It would be a useful asset though for whichever front needed the most help. The Infinity has the potential to turn the tide in any battle. If the Covenant re emerge and was attacked Humanity in full force on multiple fronts including Earth. The infinity would probably mop up the invaders and move onto other colonies that are under attack and assist them.
>
>
>
>
> It’s still only one ship which by definition can only fight one enemy at a time, one front at a time. A unified Covenant offensive isn’t going to be considerate enough to fight the Infinity or the UNSC on those terms.
>
> With all due respect I think you’re also massively overestimating the Infinity’s combat efficiency in your belief that it could “mop up” the invaders one front at a time. At Oth Lodon a single Covenant space station crippled the Infinity to the point where it could not fire back or make slip-space jumps to escape. If it can’t defend itself from a single Covenant space station approximately 1/5 its overall size, I really fail to see what use it would be against multiple Covenant warships.
>
> Off course the deployment of a support fleet in the form of Autumn-class heavy cruisers and Strident-class frigates could well increase the Infinity combat effectiveness, but then only at the expense of the defence of the UNSC’s other strategic assets and colonies, which the Covenant would then be to then attack at will.
I meant it as a hypothetical and potential situation. I assume that the infinity would have their fleet accompanying it as well.
The only major defence of Earth is destroyed and every faction that hates the UNSC gets an open invitation to invade Sol.
ecause the UNSC doesn’t like doing the logical thing by outfitting every ship with augmented tech instead of one.
Whats the saying? Putting your eggs in one basket?
Personally, I think the UNSC Infinity needs to be destroyed for the sake of plot; if every situation the ship gets in has a last minute deus-ex machina, the plot will become stale very quickly.
One Covenant Super Carrier is at least 4 times the size of Infinity. Assuming the Storm Covenant got a hold of one they could destroy the infinity.
Even an Assualt Carrier would put up a fight.
Unless the UNSC has an even larger ship.