Halo Feats and Discussion Thread

Flowering Knight · Jan 16, 2022

So just from eyeballing some of this stuff, looks like we got cityblock-level Chief now? :pepesip

Maddie · Jan 16, 2022

Flowering Knight said:
So just from eyeballing some of this stuff, looks like we got cityblock-level Chief now?

Nah, room level from most of these because he was from a distance or inverse square law

Maddie · Jan 16, 2022

The Master Chief heard metallic clacks around the tent.

“Analyzing sound pattern,” Cortana said. “Database match. Identified as—”

“As someone cycling the bolt of an MA5B assault rifle. I know. Standard-issue weapons for Orbital Drop Shock Troopers.”
...

The remaining gunner completed his turn and opened fire. A three-round burst ricocheted off the MJOLNIR armor’s energy shield. The shield’s recharge bar flickered a hairbreadth.

An MA5B burst only knocks a hairswidth of his shielding

Their rounds go at 905 m/s and weigh 10 grams, giving a KE of 4095.125

4095.125 * 3 = 12,285.375 joules

Assuming it knocked out either 1/10 or 1/100 of his shielding leads to 122,853.75 joules to 1,228,537.5 joules

Along either side of the course there was something new: three 30mm chain-guns mounted on tripods.
...
Two more grenades and the automated guns were out of commission. He noted that his shields had dropped by a quarter. He watched the status bar refill. He hadn’t even known he had taken hits. That was sloppy.

He takes hits from multiple 30 mm cannons

"Tanks shots from 30mm chainguns without even noticing he was being hit and without his energy shields breaking."

https://jpeoaa.army.mil › masPDF
Handbook - U.S. Army

30x113 mm bullets used in the real life M230 Chaingun weigh 343 grams and have a muzzle velocity of 805 m/s

= 111,136.2875 joules

3 chainguns

111,136.2875 joules * 3 = 333,408.8625 joules

http://www.watchframebyframe.com/watch/yt/1rug36eaWW4

17:72 to 19:08

1.36 seconds for Chief to throw a grenade

2.72 seconds

625 rpm * 2.72 seconds = 28 shots

333,408.8625 joules * 28 = 9,335,448.15 joules

10,335,674.7375 joules * 4 = 37,341,792.6 joules

“I just accessed SATCOM,” she said. “I’m using one of their satellites so I can get a better look at what’s happening down here. There’s a SkyHawk jump jet from Fairchild Field inbound.”

He stopped. The automatic cannons were one thing—could the armor withstand air power like that? The SkyHawk had a quartet of 50mm cannons that made the chain-guns look like peashooters. They also had Scorpion missiles—designed to take out tanks.

...

In the blink of an eye, the dot had wings and the Master Chief’s thermal sensors picked up a plume of jetwash. In seconds, the SkyHawk closed—then opened fire with its 50mm cannons.

He jumped.

The wooden poles splintered into pulp. They were mowed down like so many blades of grass.

The Master Chief rolled, ducked, and flattened himself on the earth. He caught a smattering of rounds and his shield bar dropped to half. Those rounds would have penetrated his old suit instantly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheinmetall_BK-5
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_cm_KwK_39

835 m/s

A 50 mm shell is about 2.06 kilograms

= 718,142 Joules

3-5 rounds hit him I assume

2,154,426 to 3,590,710 joules

It only halved his shields

Max Shield Strength = 8,354,400 to 13,924,000 joules

Papa Nier · Jan 16, 2022

Flowering Knight said:
So just from eyeballing some of this stuff, looks like we got cityblock-level Chief now?

Pretty much

Papa Nier · Jan 17, 2022

Thorne and Palmer use the Hardlight Shield to block and deflect Covenant Carbine and Plasma Rifle fire, as well an Energy Sword

A soldier states they saw a Spartan using an Overshields to walk through a crossfire that would have dismantled a tank.

"Saw a Spartan with an Overshield walk through crossfire that would have dismantled a tank." — Private Dave Moriarty
Source: Halo: Spartan Assault

Kat-B320 using Armor Lock to tank Banshee cannon fire that blows up a Warhog.

Locke flips a 42.3-tonne Wraith tank from the shock wave of striking the ground near it.

Spartans can destroy Wraith tanks with a few punches.

Wraith armor is impervious to .50 cal DU anti-aircraft rounds and can tank their own mortars, which vaporize Titanium armor within 20 meters.

But there was an infantry screen to penetrate before they could dance with the tank, and both the LAAG gunner and the Marine in the passenger seat were forced to deal with a screen comprised of Elites, Jackals, and Grunts as the Chief slammed on the brakes, backed out of a crossfire, and turned to provide them with a better angle.
The M41 roared as it sent hundreds of rounds downrange, plucked Grunts like flowers, and hurled them back into the bloodied snow.
...
The gunner, who couldn’t possibly miss at that range, opened fire. There was an earsplitting roar as large-caliber rounds pounded the side of the tank. Some glanced off, others shattered, but none of them managed to penetrate the Wraith’s thick armor.
Source: Halo: The Flood

Parked in a clearing were Covenant vehicles, lined in three rows of four: mortar tanks. The tanks had two wide lateral fins, beneath which were armored anti-grav pods. They were extremely stable and fired one of the Covenant’s most powerful ground weapons: the energy mortar. Fred had seen them in action; they fired a shaped blast of plasma that obliterated everything within twenty meters of impact. Titanium battle plate, concrete, or flesh—it all vaporized.
Marines called these tanks “Wraiths” because you usually got one look at them before they made you one.
...
In unison the Spartans turned and fired at the far corner of the formation of tanks. Two blue-white blobs of liquid sun spat from the Wraiths and detonated. There was a dazzling light, an expansion of superheated white fire—and then there was glass-smooth ground and the smoldering skeletons of seven Wraith tanks.
More luck. If the tanks had been active, with hatches secured, they might have survived the first volley.
Source: Halo: The Flood

Kodiak and Holt tanking numerous Forerunner Sentinel beams.

Kodiak and Holt shrug off heavy Forerunner Monitor attacks and immediately recover.

Madsen tanking a direct Scattershot blast with his energy shield.

DeMarco tanks a direct airstrike and stays standing without his helmet while engulfed in flames.

Fireteam Majestic tanking a spaceship exploding while inside.

Tanaka flies straight through a Banshee aircraft that explodes in her face, and her energy shields are visibly active.

Papa Nier · Jan 17, 2022

Fireteam Osiris shrugs off a Forerunner Guardian blast that tears up the city, violently pushes aircraft out of the air, and causes earthquakes.

Fireteam Majestic evading automatic turret fire.

Ray and Thorne evade fire from numerous Covenants with their Carbine Rifles and immediately blitzes them.

Covenant Carbine rifles fire hypersonic (so Mach 5+) slugs.

Maddie · Jan 17, 2022

Carbines don't go straight to match 5, they accelerate to that speed. I calced it

With a starting velocity of 700 m/s once out of the barrel and reaching up to 1715 m/s at its maximum effective range of 600 meters, we can use a kinematic calculator to get its acceleration

Kinematics calculator

Online Kinematics calculator to help you in the physics preparation. This is also called kinematics equation calculator

physicscatalyst.com

2042.6875 m/s^2

We also get how long it takes for it to reach 600 meters and thus its half life.

Half life = 0.4968944099378882 seconds

The fuel rods for Carbines start at 100 grams, and become 50 grams by 600 meters

Afterwards we can use the calculator to find the time to reach certain distances and the resulting velocity

That time and the half life will be used for a half life calculator

Half-Life Calculator

This calculator computes any of the values in the half-life formula given the rest values. It also converts between half-life, mean lifetime, decay constant.

www.calculator.net

That will give us the mass of the projectile at a given velocity

So if we have the distance from the shooter, we have the velocity the Carbine was moving at, and also its kinetic energy

Flowering Knight · Jan 17, 2022

Maddie said:
snip

That implies it works in the exact same way as real carbines. Considering it's a major point that Covenant technology is well above the UNSC, it shouldn't be unreasonable to say that its rounds could be Mach 5 the moment the gun is fired. Plus, it would line up well with some of the previously mentioned feats.

Papa Nier · Jan 30, 2022

Adriana from Gray team kills a pair of Elites with an energy sword, dodging plasma fire at close range and slamming into a Seraph fighter hard enough to dent it.

The two Sangheili who’d turned a nearby corner looked up as she dropped onto them, the enemy shooting wildly into the air at where she had been a split second earlier.
She beheaded one of them with the energy sword. The other hit her with its shoulder, slamming them both into the hull of a decommissioned Seraph fighter. Adriana rolled out of the dent she’d made in the Seraph’s hull as the Elite tried to fire its weapon point-blank into her helmet. Melted alloy splashed back onto them both as the plasma bolt missed and hit the Seraph’s undercarriage just a centimeter to the right of where Adriana’s head had just been.
Adriana spun around the Sangheili and climbed up its back, grabbed its neck with her free hand, and forced it hard to the ground under her. The energy sword flashed as the alien hit the floor while she simultaneously impaled it. It wriggled, screaming as Adriana leaned all her weight into the sword, the weapon burning slowly through its chest and down into the deck plating.
Source: Halo: Envoy

Gray team pushing a Bumblebee 100 meters, which is a heavily armored drop pod that is larger and most likely heavier than the 66 tonne Scorpion tank.

“There’s a large pond a hundred meters ahead. Let’s push.” Mike grabbed the side of the airlock and dug his armored boots into the ground. Jai put his shoulder to it. Adriana silently slipped in between them and did the same.
The Bumblebee scraped first slowly, then slid at a decent clip, eventually tumbling like a boulder with each coordinated shove. They’d disregard the safety of causing more volatile damage to the craft just to get it underwater as soon as possible.
It was the first time they’d done something this synchronized when not under fire since Glyke, Jai thought. He missed it, working together without talking or planning. Just knowing what the team needed and doing it.
They finally managed to shove the Bumblebee over the banks and into the large pond, letting it roll down a steep runoff and plunge onto the surface. It burbled and smoked a little before it slipped most of the way under the water, effectively putting out the fire.
Source: Halo: Envoy

"Usually the good Lord works in mysterious ways. But not today! This here is 66 tons of straight up, H-E-spewing dee-vine intervention! If God is love, then you can call me Cupid!" - Avery Johnson during the Battle of Mombasa on Legendary.
Source: Halo 2

Adriana from Gray team dodges plasma fire by moving out of the line of fire within a split second and blitzes an Elite.

The two Sangheili who’d turned a nearby corner looked up as she dropped onto them, the enemy shooting wildly into the air at where she had been a split second earlier.
She beheaded one of them with the energy sword.
Source: Halo: Envoy

Alice from Red team holds off a small Banished army, tanking numerous Banshee and Hunter fuel rod cannons and later escapes.

Papa Nier · Jan 30, 2022

Atriox tanks a gravity hammer swing from another Brute.

Atriox tanking several bursts of gunfire with no fucks given.

Atriox showed no reaction from being stabbed several times by Spartans. Later pulls the knife out.

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/DemandingPlayfulDromaeosaur-mobile.mp4

Tem'Bhetek the Prelate via enhanced San'Shyuum super-soldier evades fire from skilled Sangheili marksmen and is the fastest person Tul 'Juran had ever seen. Implied by the Half Jaw to be faster than brute Chieftains.

“We had their leader in our sights, but he moved too quickly—faster than anything I’ve ever seen. And then . . . he was gone.”
The Blademaster had marched up to join the Half-Jaw during the Scion’s tale and now said: “I’ve never heard of a Jiralhanae chieftain who could move like that. How large was his hammer?”
The Scion spat her words like bitter fruit. “Their leader was San’Shyuum.”
The Half-Jaw and Blademaster shared a surprised glance, and then listened, rapt, as Tul ‘Juran described what she had seen.
A San’Shyuum without a throne. A warrior in black armor who had evaded her keep’s finest marksman and disappeared into the smoke of the burning settlement.
Source: Halo: Fractures (Halo: Shadow of Intent)

Tem'Bhetek blitzed a group of Elites that ambushed him while evading and deflecting their gunfire.

The plasma fire had come from the aft side of the hangar. Six Sangheili had emerged at the top of a ramp leading to Shadow of Intent’s reactors. All of these warriors were lightly armored and carried only plasma pistols, and had likely been tasked with engineering duties rather than ship security. The Prelate went right for these unlucky first responders, half running, half gliding across the hangar, dodging their wild shots with quick lateral pulses from his anti-grav belt and swatting away accurate ones with his hardlight shield. In mere moments, the Prelate was across the hangar and up the ramp, a few paces from his foes.
Source: Halo: Fractures (Halo: Shadow of Intent)

Tem'Bhetek without warning deflects hypersonic projectiles from the Covenant Carbine that are not coming from his line of sight, and immediately identifies the shooter.

Uncannily quick, the Prelate raised his hardlight shield and deflected three shots from a Covenant carbine rifle. The bright green hypersonic slugs ricocheted with glassy pings, sparking radioactive fuel. A glance to his right and the Prelate identified the shooter: an Unggoy standing on the other side of the bay, at the top of a bow-side ramp. Two squads of Sangheili rangers were spilling down the ramp past the Unggoy.
Source: Halo: Fractures (Halo: Shadow of Intent)

Tem'Bhetek tanking three Covenant Carbine shots without his energy shields breaking.

he felt three sharp slaps between his shoulders, and he staggered forward onto a knee. The Prelate’s shields had kept the carbine’s radioactive slugs from penetrating his armor, and the chemicals in his bloodstream had dulled the pain.
Source: Halo: Fractures (Halo: Shadow of Intent)

Joseph Staten the writer of Halo: Shadow of Intent and Halo's original lead writer states that Prelates are powerful enough to beat Spartans in single combat.

Halo Community Update - Books, Browsers, and Big Team

Welcome back to a new installment of the Halo Community Update. It’s been an exciting and eventful past few weeks, and we’ve got a few things to catch up on. Let’s do just that. Since we last spoke, Anvil’s Legacy has dropped, Halo 5: Forge for Windows 10 is here, and the Halo App is your new...

web.archive.org

“After I combined this idea with another that’s been kicking around my head for years—What if there was a San’Shyuum powerful enough to best a Spartan in single combat?—my Odysseus had his antagonist. And things just kept rolling from there. I hope Shadow of Intent gives Halo fans deeper insight into familiar characters and places while also raising new and exciting possibilities for future stories. After all, for Rtas ‘Vadum, it’s still a long way home.” - Joseph Staten

Maddie · Jan 30, 2022

Papa Nier said:
Adriana from Gray team kills a pair of Elites with an energy sword, dodging plasma fire at close range and slamming into a Seraph fighter hard enough to dent it.

Gray team pushing a Bumblebee 100 meters, which is a heavily armored drop pod that is larger and most likely heavier than the 66 tonne Scorpion tank.

Adriana from Gray team dodges plasma fire by moving out of the line of fire within a split second and blitzes an Elite.

Alice from Red team holds off a small Banished army, tanking numerous Banshee and Hunter fuel rod cannons and later escapes.

Actually official numbers for bumblebees make it smaller than a Scorpion, but assuming 66 tons

66 tons * 9.80665 m/s² = 587,165.253 newtons

* 100 meters = 58,716,525.3 joules

However this is not the correct number for the amount of work energy because:

1. Drag from friction in the ground
2. Bumblebees are like cylinders turning it on its side is like turning a wheel and efficiently lowers the amount of work needed done

Papa Nier · Jan 31, 2022

Hardlight tech might have potential in its durability.

It seems like some of the Hardlight technology was still intact after Master Chief set off the HAVOK Tactical Nuclear Weapon as Cortana was able to harness the tech at the end of Halo 4 to interact with Master Chief physically and teleport him away. The HAVOK nuke is a 30 megaton explosive.

This operation had to go off without a hitch. Blue Team’s mission was to draw out the Covenant rear guard and let Red Team slip through in the confusion. Red Team would then plant a HAVOK tactical nuke. When the next Covenant ship landed, dropped its shields, and started to unload its troops, they’d get a thirty-megaton surprise.
Source: Halo: The Fall of Reach

John carefully removed the bonding strips on the HAVOK tactical nuclear device and attached it to the wall of the sewer. The adhesive on the black half sphere stuck and hardened to the concrete. He slipped the detonator key into a thin slot on the unit’s face. There were no external indicators on the device; instead, a tiny screen winked on his heads-up display indicating the nuke was armed.

HAVOK ARMED, flashed across his HUD. AWAITING DETONATION SIGNAL.

The device—a clean thirty-megaton explosive—could only be detonated by a remote signal . . . a problem here in the sewers. Even the powerful communications package on a starship would be unable to penetrate the steel and concrete overhead.
Source: Halo: The Fall of Reach

Papa Nier · Jan 31, 2022

A high ranking Elite Half-Jaw can dodge point-blank Plasma Rifle fire.

Tem’Bhetek exhaled, released the last of his mental gates, and attacked the Half-Jaw with the full measure of his fury.
Shoving away his foe’s sword arm with the lance, the Prelate fired a point-blank burst with his rifle. But the Half-Jaw flowed with the lance and out of the line of fire, and then ducked under the Prelate’s arm and brought his blade around and down onto the Prelate’s armored neck.
Source: Halo: Fractures (Halo: Shadow of Intent)

Half-Jaw should scale to the Prelate, who can deflect hypersonic projectiles.

Uncannily quick, the Prelate raised his hardlight shield and deflected three shots from a Covenant carbine rifle. The bright green hypersonic slugs ricocheted with glassy pings, sparking radioactive fuel. A glance to his right and the Prelate identified the shooter: an Unggoy standing on the other side of the bay, at the top of a bow-side ramp. Two squads of Sangheili rangers were spilling down the ramp past the Unggoy.
Source: Halo: Fractures (Halo: Shadow of Intent)

Master Chief alongside three other Spartans with one injured and missing a limb pushing a 3x3x6 meter quartz monolith. That should weigh over 125 tonnes.

The room contained display cases of mineral specimens. There were sulfur crystals, raw emeralds, and rubies. There was a monolith of unpolished pink quartz in the center of the room, three meters wide and six tall.
...
“Quick,” the Master Chief said. He slung his rifle and moved to the back of the quartz monolith. “Push!”
Kelly and Fred leaned their weight against the stone and grunted with effort. The slab moved a tiny bit.
James sprinted forward, slammed into the stone, put his shoulder alongside theirs … and pushed. His left arm had been burned away from the elbow down, but he didn’t even whimper.
The monolith moved; it inched toward the hole … then tilted and went over. It landed with a dull thud and a crunching noise.
Source: Halo: The Fall of Reach

Linda uppercuts a Ghost and its Grunt rider in the air then lifts the Ghost and dunks it onto the Grunt killing it.

Spartans running through a large boulder.

Fred tanks a fuel rod shot though would have destroyed a dropship.

One Hunter eased its fuel-rod cannon around the edge of its impenetrable shields—green energized rounds glowing with deadly radiation—and fired.
Fred jumped from cover, his MJOLNIR armor ablaze as if it was burning phosphorus.
The Hunter hit him dead center in his chest, a blast that would have destroyed their dropship. His energy shields flared brighter, failed, and Fred crumpled to the floor, his armor smoking.
Source: Halo: Ghost of Onyx

Linda tanks a massive explosion from a landmine without damage.

Spartans surviving close range artillery strikes

An invisible wall of pressure slammed into Veta from the side, lifting her off her feet and hurling her a half dozen meters down the adit. She landed in the mud and slid another few meters on her belly. Her ears ached with speaker pop, her HUD flickered, and her faceplate was covered in orange slime.
She lay motionless, trying to catch her breath and wondering whether she had been hit by a mauler blast or run over by mine equipment. It dawned on her slowly that she was more surprised than hurt, that her armor was intact and her only pain was from muscles knotting in shock. She checked her hands and found she was still holding her MA5K—combat training was good for something—then rolled to her knees and swiped at the mud caked across her faceplate.
...
“It was almost certainly a gelignite packet,” Damon said. “Gelignite is a stable form of blasting gelatin often used in small quantities to clear oversize boulders from stopes or ore passes. It seems reasonable to assume that someone found a blasting magazine and used a packet to improvise a grenade.”
“That felt a hell of a lot more powerful than a grenade,” Fred said.
“I am certain it did,” Damon said. “The adit focuses the pressure waves, so any uncontrolled explosion strikes with a force far in excess of normal. Had that blast been as powerful as an artillery shell, the only survivors would be the ones wearing Mjolnir.”
Source: Halo: Retribution

A random Spartan destroying Wraiths in hand to hand combat.

Papa Nier · Feb 1, 2022

Halo - High Charity arrives

It's been ages since I played Halo, but there's a bunch of calc worthy feats in the series. After seeing it argued how the Flood couldn't penetrate the defences of a certain magical castle, I thought back to one of their notable feats. 0:15...

www.fanverse.org

Halo - Magnetic Accelerator Cannon

The MAC—Magnetic Accelerator Cannon—was the Commonwealth’s main weapon. It fired a super-dense ferric tungsten shell. The tremendous mass and velocity of the projectile obliterated most ships on impact. Unlike the Archer missiles, a MAC round was...

www.fanverse.org

Calc Requests, Part 25

From my Calc Request Blog. 1. Wakfu explosion (Wakfu, requested by TTGL) I can't calc the power of the explosion since it looks more like a glowing burst of light that progressively envelops the planet than an actual damaging explosion, but...

www.fanverse.org

Halo - A Spartan Will Rise (Part One)

So.. Basically, gonna be doing a series of blogs covering the various aspects of the series, be it infantry, weapons, ship-to-ship combat, etc. As far as I can tell, Halo doesn't actually have any blogs, despite the fact that it's not...

www.fanverse.org

Halo - A Spartan Will Rise (Part Two)

Continuing from the previous entry. We're still not finished with shield strength. As I said, there were a few other comparable feats to the one covered prior. Or at least, feats that would scale to the MJOLNIR's shields due to absorbing...

www.fanverse.org

Halo - A Spartan Will Rise (Part Three)

Continued from the previous entries. Alright, so we're finally done with shield strength. ..Unfortunately, gonna have to reference the values again to get a number for Spartan physical strength. Why? Because there's a scene in Ghosts of...

www.fanverse.org

Solar Sailor · Feb 1, 2022

Papa Nier said:
Halo - High Charity arrives

It's been ages since I played Halo, but there's a bunch of calc worthy feats in the series. After seeing it argued how the Flood couldn't penetrate the defences of a certain magical castle, I thought back to one of their notable feats. 0:15...

www.fanverse.org

Halo - Magnetic Accelerator Cannon

The MAC—Magnetic Accelerator Cannon—was the Commonwealth’s main weapon. It fired a super-dense ferric tungsten shell. The tremendous mass and velocity of the projectile obliterated most ships on impact. Unlike the Archer missiles, a MAC round was...

www.fanverse.org

Calc Requests, Part 25

From my Calc Request Blog. 1. Wakfu explosion (Wakfu, requested by TTGL) I can't calc the power of the explosion since it looks more like a glowing burst of light that progressively envelops the planet than an actual damaging explosion, but...

www.fanverse.org

Halo - A Spartan Will Rise (Part One)

So.. Basically, gonna be doing a series of blogs covering the various aspects of the series, be it infantry, weapons, ship-to-ship combat, etc. As far as I can tell, Halo doesn't actually have any blogs, despite the fact that it's not...

www.fanverse.org

Halo - A Spartan Will Rise (Part Two)

Continuing from the previous entry. We're still not finished with shield strength. As I said, there were a few other comparable feats to the one covered prior. Or at least, feats that would scale to the MJOLNIR's shields due to absorbing...

www.fanverse.org

Halo - A Spartan Will Rise (Part Three)

Continued from the previous entries. Alright, so we're finally done with shield strength. ..Unfortunately, gonna have to reference the values again to get a number for Spartan physical strength. Why? Because there's a scene in Ghosts of...

www.fanverse.org

I love how Mike is one of the biggest skeptics in the comments of these calcs

but when he does one of the calcs himself, it’s the most impressive one speedwise :skully

its ironic

Papa Nier · Feb 1, 2022

They create these high dimensional bridges called Star Road

Star road

Star roads, also known as unbending filaments, were neural physics-based megastructures created by the Precursors.

www.halopedia.org

These Star Roads are used to link their star systems, and they can also move them.

We were overtaken by the vast weave of reawakened star roads, spinning and churning like serpents in a huge nest— the graceful and haunting structures of our deep past now made fell and horrifying. The tangle looped around Uthera, deftly avoiding intersecting the planet. Then, incredibly, the planet itself began to crack and shrink, as if squeezed by a huge fist. The resulting shift in our orbit thrust us farther into the mass. An entire planet was being destroyed— just to draw us closer. “This is the way Precursors moved stars,” Maker whispered.
Source: Halo: Silentium

The Star Roads are stated to be unbreakable, even by Forerunner standards.

....Dreamers and makers whose minds transcended many realms, they seeded uncountable worlds with the building blocks of life, built cyclopean laboratories made of crystallized reality, forged roads through alternate dimensions to link their great works, and then began a grand experiment to create and uplift new sentient species...
-------------------------------------------------------------
Before they vanished, the Precursors reshaped the galaxy with tools of metal, flesh, and energy that were linked across space and time using neural physics... They sailed between worlds in vessels guided by knowledge engines, but also waled on the star roads, bridges of unbreakable filaments that wove in and out of the deepest layers of slipspace.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Eldest of the sapient minds of the Milky Way. They had infinite forms, many voices, and singular purpose. The realms they grew and the life they crafted continue on, though they themselves have sunk into unreachable depths.
Source: Halo: Warfleet

The Precursors are said to hold over 100 billion years worth of knowledge and are stated to originate from a time before stars.

The Gravemind tells us something impossible to understand— that most of what has been gathered comes from before there were stars. We do not believe in such a time, but the Mind insists … The life-patterns and living wisdom of a hundred billion years.
Source: Halo: Silentium

The Star Roads are but shadows of the true structures in real space. Furthermore, the Star Roads are stated to be made of strange matter, which means that the pressure applied to Star Roads constantly holding them together is equal to or exceeds those found inside neutron stars. Star Roads are also stated to exist in "unreality".

Untouchable and perpetual filament of neurophysical energy woven between dimensions by the Precursors. Their shadows in realspace took the appearance of multi-kilometer-thick filaments of strange matter. Rendered inert with the passing of the Precursors, the Gravemind reactivated the star roads to transport plague fleets, moved filaments to crush Forerunner fortifications, and dredged up forgotten artifacts anchored in the deepest layers of unreality to cleanse entire star clusters of life the star roads splintered when Halo fired.
Source: Halo: Warfleet

Strange matter - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The author of the Forerunner Saga books, Greg Bear, confirmed that the Precursors could simply combine thought and matter to create Neural Physics objects.

Hey Greg! I had some questions regarding Neural Physics, and the Flood's ability to interact with it. I'm super fascinated with this stuff, and its been eating away at me for some time, so I'm glad I found this discussion board.

In the Forerunner trilogy, we see the Flood use what I assume to be nearly every facet of it there is. However, I was wondering if the Flood had the ability to create objects as well? It was noted that they took control of the Star Roads, but also that they were able to use it for superluminal travel. Were the Flood able to use Neural Physics to the same degree as the Precursors, or less so?

My other question is with regards to how Neural Physics based objects are brought into existence. It was said that the basic beliefs/principles were that the mind was connected to inert matter (I think,) and that the universe was a living "thing". To me this implies that they (Precursors,) simply brought these Neural Physics objects into existence with their minds, but I was wondering if you could shed some light as to your intentions there?
------------------------------------------------------------
Excellent questions! To dig out the answers I'll have to resort to a brief survey of science fictional ideas, including my own in other novels, such as HEADS and MOVING MARS, which exploit a far-out theory of physics that combines information theory with particle theory, making up "particle-bit structure."

Precursors (so to speak) to these notions may be found in CITY AND THE STARS, by Arthur C. Clarke, where inhabitants of a city a billion years in the future can materialize anything they want through a kind of city-wide transporter system just by thinking. Interestingly, a similar idea is taken to extremes in the film FORBIDDEN PLANET, where the subconscious minds of the Krell take over such abilities and destroy their civilization. Wonder if Sir Arthur was irritated by this homage/ swipe? At any rate, FP added substantially to the mythos.
Source: Greg Bear Discussion Board

Greg Bear: Discussion Board Archives

The Precursors are stated to have created and moved galaxies.

"That's the power the Precursors once had...isn't it? They shaped and moved galaxies!"
Source: Halo: Silentium

The Precursors have intergalactic travel capabilities and could artificially accelerate the evolution and development of life.

As the [Forerunners] had no examples of civilizations with technological accomplishment greater than their own—with the exception of the Precursors—this is a theoretical ceiling. They can travel intergalactically and accelerate evolution of intelligent life. These may be creatures of legend.
Source: Bestiarum

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The Gravemind, an intelligent Flood, could make the AI Cortana feel pain and gain the sense of smell. Some sort of reality-warping maybe, or high control and understanding of technology or space-time.

That’s not just an analysis of air composition. I haven’t got the right sensors on this station. And . . . I can really smell it. I shouldn’t be able to smell, not like an organic, not this sense of . . .

Smell.

It was something she‘d never experienced before, even though she knew exactly what it was. She could run diagnostic tests on air samples if she had a link to filters and a gas chromatograph. But that just told her what was in the air in stark chemical terms, and that wasn‘t the same as what she was experiencing now. This was emotional and unfathomable. The smell tugged at memories. It was a flesh-and-blood thing. She felt the world as if she was in another body, anorganic body.

Cortana scooped up a handful of decaying leaves—some clammy, some paper-dry skeletal lace, some recently fallen ones still springy with sap—and with them the clear memory of being someone else. It was a second of heady disorientation. For a moment, a welter of glorious new information about a world of stilt-cities, creatures she‘d never seen before, and lives she'd never lived poured into her. She devoured it. So much language and culture, never seen by humankind before.
Source: Halo: Human Weakness

The Star Roads are stated to have sub-light speeds of around 0.33c.

“Unknown construct approaching at one-third light-speed,” it said. “Instructions!” Sharp still refused to believe. The expanded gray circle outlined an irregular ball of coiling and twisting star roads, Precursor artifacts that had been around for as long as any Forerunner could remember— unchanging, unresponsive. Revered by both Forerunners and humans as the remnants of our Creation. “It’s going to arrive here about the same time as those ships,” Maker said. “Can we outrun it?” I asked. “No,” she said.
Source: Halo: Silentium

The Star Roads could easily destroy entire star systems.

I have watched nine star systems sliced to dust and glowing rubble by star roads— and they used to trace such pretty curves between our worlds.
Source: Halo: Silentium

The Precursor AI, Abbadon, could disintegrate fully armored Forerunners at will.

I shall make you suffer. And you have taught me how best to do that.” “Our armor,” Trial said. “That’s how it knew about the crawlers.” And our presence at the trial, Bornstellar thought sickly. And the deadbolt key . . . “I shall make you suffer,” it said again, “and I shall be remade.” It lifted its arms, spread its wide, violet, graceful wings. Beside Bornstellar, Voices lifted his rifle, and then crumbled to indigo dust. Finder cried out in horror, and then he too was gone. The celestial figure turned its gaze upon Bornstellar. He braced himself, but Abaddon seemed to make a decision. Its eerily beautiful face twisted in pain.
Source: Halo: Fractures: Extraordinary Tales from the Halo Canon

It is stated the Gravemind as the Primordial had brought entire galaxies to an end. Whether this means eradicating entire galaxies or outright destroying them remains unclear.

“This we were told by the Gravemind, the greatest of them, who has consumed ten thousand planets and brought entire galaxies to an end. This we were told…”
Source: Halo: Silentium

The Precursors Star Roads can shut down Forerunner ship weaponry and shields.

"...Suppression fields of enormous power appear to be magnified by local star roads, which are taking on new and startling configurations."
"Our weapons are no longer usable."
"Hundreds of infected ships have attempted to blast or cut into our own. With protective fields suppressed, we may not be able to withstand them much longer."
Source: Halo: Silentium

The conversation between the Didact and the Last Precursor, the Primordial, seems to imply the Precursors could come back from death in new biological forms or their previous forms were but avatars of their higher dimensional selves.

“It was long ago decided. Forerunners will never bear the Mantle.”

“Decided how?”

“Through long study. The decision is final. Humans will replace you. Humans will be tested next.”

Was the Primordial giving me a message of hope? Doom for our enemies . . . ascendency and triumph for humanity?

“Is that to be our punishment?” the Didact asked, his tone subdued—dangerous.

“It is the way of those who seek out the truth of the Mantle. Humans will rise again in arrogance and defiance. The Flood will return when they are ripe—and bring them unity.”

“But most humans are immune,” the Didact said. Then he seemed to understand, and lowered his great head between his shoulders like a bull about to charge. “Can the Flood choose to infect, or not to infect?”

The wide, flat head canted to one side, as if savoring some demonic irony.

“No immunity. Judgment. Timing.”

“Then why turn Mendicant Bias against its creators, and encourage the Master Builder to torture humans? Why allow this cruelty? Are you the fount of all misery?” the Didact cried out.

The Captive’s strange, ticking voice continued. “Misery is sweetness,” it said, as if confiding a secret. “Forerunners will fail as you have failed before. Humans will rise. Whether they will also fail has not been decided.”

“How can you control any of this? You’re stuck here—the last of your kind!”

“The last of this kind.”

But the Captive still managed to speak.

“We are the Flood. There is no difference. Until all space and time are rolled up and life is crushed in the folds . . . no end to war, grief, or pain. In a hundred and one thousand centuries . . . unity again, and wisdom. Until then—sweetness.”
Source: Halo: Primodium

This is evident of the Precursors having innumerable different forms in the past.

"The Precursors lived in many shapes, flesh and spirit, primitive and advanced, spacefaring and locked to their worlds... Evolved over and over again, died away, were reborn, explored, and seeded many galaxies... This I was told. I understand little."
Source: Halo: Silentium

Halo: Warfleet states they have infinite forms. It also states that the Star Roads wove in and out of the deepest layers of Slipspace.

....Dreamers and makers whose minds transcended many realms, they seeded uncountable worlds with the building blocks of life, built cyclopean laboratories made of crystallized reality, forged roads through alternate dimensions to link their great works, and then began a grand experiment to create and uplift new sentient species...
-------------------------------------------------------------
Before they vanished, the Precursors reshaped the galaxy with tools of metal, flesh, and energy that were linked across space and time using neural physics... They sailed between worlds in vessels guided by knowledge engines, but also waled on the star roads, bridges of unbreakable filaments that wove in and out of the deepest layers of slipspace.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Eldest of the sapient minds of the Milky Way. They had infinite forms, many voices, and singular purpose. The realms they grew and the life they crafted continue on, though they themselves have sunk into unreachable depths.
Source: Halo: Warfleet

Cortana states that Slipspace is 11 dimensional.

Had it seen what she had done? Had it understood what she'd just accomplished? And if so, why declare it a "heresy"? True, manipulating eighty-eight stochastic variables in eleven-dimensional space-time was not child's play... but it was possible that the other AI would be able to follow her calculations.
Source: Halo: First Strike

The Precursors mastery over Slipspace is further established by their ability to place Forerunner vessels in other universes while the vessels are in Slipspace.

We've entered orbit around an unexploited gas giant and are using it as a shield. All feasible orbital solutions for leaving this system are blockaded.… "We are surrounded by over a thousand Forerunner vessels of all classes."
"More alarming, we cannot open slipspace portals; three of our ships have ‘echoed’ from attempted transits and show powerful causality mutations. Some clearly were caught between our continuum and incomplete, inefficient universes."
Source: Halo: Silentium

The Precursors FTL technology works by having the vessels travel through multiple different universes, if not the multiverse.

The Falchion is informed of a high density of enemy vessels arriving through neural physics transmission. they materialize slowly, characteristic of Precursor transit, shedding multiverse residues at a rate that makes them temporarily vulnerable to the Falchion's immediate response.
Source: Halo: Silentium

Maddie · Feb 1, 2022

I once asked Greg Bear if Planet Breakers can do what they say and he said yes

Maddie · Feb 1, 2022

I found a way to somehwat ballpark the power of Chiefs punch for the wraith thing, but too busy waging. It's based on using the pressure obtained from such explosion.

Maddie · Feb 1, 2022

Okay back,

So a Wraith's mortar blast is claimed to be a "mini-sun" and the ground is described as hot as the surface of the sun when blasted by one, so I will assume 5778 K degrees for how hot the mortars are

Combined Gas Law Calculator

Try this combined gas law calculator to determine the basic properties of the most common thermodynamic processes.

www.omnicalculator.com

Assuming a room temperature of 293 K, that leads to a pressure of 1,998,143 pascals or 289.8 psi

Chief is ~2.52 m^2

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/154193128603000417

His fist would be 2.3% of that, or 579.6 cm^2

579.6 cm^2 * 289.8 psi =115,809.914 newtons force

Assuming his punches travel 1 meter, that is 115,809.914 newtons * 1 meter = 115,809.914 joules

So his punches would surpass 115,809.914 joules.

Flowering Knight · Feb 6, 2022

Curious, how do we view spartans being able to harm and defeat each other in HtH?

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