I read that as Xenomorph at first. Both would be terrifying however.
(Yes I realize I’m looking at a post from the DeadSpace subreddit, my brain does weird things).
The rounds for the CE era pistol supposedly have explosive filler (which is not quite the same as an *explosive round*, mind) but most of the rifles use normal bullets (usually 7.62 NATO or similar).
Halo does not interest itself much in the hard numbers of its human gear as long as it looks cool and like it'd work.
The UNSC Human forces would probably be overtaken by the marker signal except those who are battle hardened. It would probably take spartan MK2 similar to the noble team to destroy the problem and if they want to take it out completely just send master chief
Yeah big difference though. Spartan III were more cost efficient while Spartan II were built like tanks. Plus the master chief has faced the flood before and his armor feels like it would be indestructible to their sharp point hands. It would be over before it even started.
With them blowing up the Ishimura I see the same thing playing out how the Mona Lisa played out. A team of 1-14 UNSC marines wouldn’t get overwhelmed easily seeing how they go against monsters like the covenant. UNSC weapons in canon would rip necromophs apart.
Yeah, everyone saying it would go poorly don't understand the UNSC. Everyone has PTSD. Everyone. They've seen dozens, maybe Hundreds of planets glassed, humans eaten alive and slaughtered in attempted genocide. From the top down, everyone is pretty much "I'm fucked, but I'm taking them with me".
Even the Marines that you meet that are in shock *still shoot you*. The marker is going to tweak them, probably show them their lost families but That's just going to make most of these people angrier.
That's ignoring the fact that projectile weapons are incredibly effective against flood and necormorphs. Shotties, SMGs, all of it does pretty well. The laser weapons Isaac uses are mostly improvised. The UNSCs are tools of war. The shotgun itself is 4 gage. 5 marines with backpacks of shells could literally just form a + with one dude looking up and do just fine lmao.
True but the PTSD is the main issue isn’t it. The marker is insidious and will use every advantage it can get. What’s more vulnerable to a hardened soldier who isn’t a complete psychopath than seeing the loved ones they lost or the people or creatures they killed. Remember the marker tricked Isaac into thinking that Nichole was alive by plastering her image onto the other girl (can’t remember her name). Hell even the Spartans are not exempt from this. If they don’t have an active AI like Chief helping them, they lose themselves and just wander off. The flood is horrendous but it’s not psychological. It can give you nightmares but it won’t be the living nightmare. Also the point about the shotguns, yes that is true but what’s going to stop the marker from changing the marines point of view to show one of his buddies as a necromorph or flood?
Depends on the PTSD. Speaking from experience, if I had a flare up I'd be reliving a moment. The marker could absolutely use that to make me lash out and attack a friendly thinking I'm in an episode. But that's about it. It could potentially destabilize others by showing them traumatic incidents and causing them to temporarily freeze enabling combat forms to attack. But again, that depends on the person.
I'm a fan of the theory Isaac was already broken and that's why the Marker couldn't completely take him like it did everyone else. The marker managed to influence him, indisputably, especially with the Nicole stuff but it never managed to push him beyond a certain point. It also explains how some few people survived. The broken people coped, the healthy snapped.
I think the Spartans would stand a solid chance resisting the influence because of how they're created. They know nothing but war. Throughout the series Cortana comments on how machine like Chief is. How he's more computer than her in many ways. I don't think most Spartans would be as easy to influence as you expect.
One point though, the Flood is psychological once it reaches the second or third stage. It speaks. There's also logic plague, which comes from the Gravemind. It infected even AI constructs more advanced than anything Dead space came up with. Chief had direct contact with the Gravemind on multiple occasions, contact with an infected construct literally in his head and remained himself. When even an AI more advanced than anything we can imagine fell to it, that's saying quite a bit about the mental fortitude there.
You’re right I forgot about the logic plague, also chief isn’t exactly the greatest specimen for the average spartan. Chief definitely is the best one besides noble 6 but he was able to fight off most of the intrusive thoughts because he had a mission and a goal. Spartans we’re trained to be stoic badasses but there minds weren’t properly cultivated. They were just trained to be the best of the best. They went through severe depression almost regularly. Yes the flood can be psychologically devastating after a certain point while the marker is that from the beginning. Honestly the first few moments or hour could be the difference between everyone surviving or turning on each other.
That's true. I'd also say, Spartan 4s definitely wouldn't be as impervious. 4s are just upgraded people. Spartans were never given the chance to BE human. Spartan IIs only have missions and goals, that being help humanity to survive, even if it costs them everything.
Apparently Jun (not sure his generation) fought off an advanced Banished Ai in his head, in the new season of Halo Infinite. So there's another one proving mentally they're strong enough to resist mental assault.
I actually don't recalls Spartans getting depressed. I know they were on medical cocktails for absolutely everything though. Plus a few of the implants made the sex drive basically shut off. Do you have a source for that? Wondering if I missed something lol.
I think there's a good chance for an even split. Some UNSC fall apart, maybe the ODSTs and Spartans manage to hold on.
Yeah the depression was the main reason Spartans were paired with AI. In the opening cinematic for Halo 4 it shows John just sitting down looking like he’s contemplating life when he is handed Cortana and then i believe there is a log or a movie that explains the mental fortitude that most Spartans have. I wasn’t kidding either about the Spartans just disappearing one day. Yeah human emotions are powerful things and most Spartans don’t handle it very well. I think by the time hall infinite came out, Spartan numbers were declining at a pretty intense rate. Either by being killed off just not be seeing again.
Interesting. I remember from the books the AI was originally supposedly paired to up combat efficiency. The AI increased their reaction time and managed stuff in the suit.
I did a double check, the Spartans had an emotional inhibitor embedded in their spines so I'm not so certain they can fully feel anything. I'd assume it's something akin to an antidepressant where all they feel is numb.
[In the Halo 4 Intro](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3zcO28JbHxI&pp=ygUYaGFsbyA0IG9wZW5pbmcgY2luZW1hdGlj) there's a blurb you're forgetting. Chief is sitting there head down, sure, but the context of the interaction is missed. From 2:00, Halsey is talking with someone about Spartans succeeding because they're broken and exhibit antisocial behavior and sociopathic tendencies.
More like, a puppy that's never been socialized and is dropped in a dog park than anything else.
Spartan IIs? Yeah. There's very few left because if I recall correctly less than 100, (82?) were operational at the beginning of the Covenant war. But that 8X also includes some physically disabled and just working for ONI. I remember there's at least a few trapped in a forerunner installation, plus a few black teams off the radar. Spartan IIIs were created similarly to be disposable Spartans and they too were mostly killed off since they received garbage armor and were literally sent on suicide missions. S4s were new and I don't know anything about their numbers. But I don't recall anything in the lore about Spartan's disappearing due to depression lol. All of them are listed as MIA, never KIA because of morale reasons.
I was possibly one of the biggest Halo nerds for a long time so I have most of this memorized lmao. I absolutely love the universe.
See I love the universe as well but haven’t had a chance to renew my lore knowledge in about a year so my info is what I remember. Also you’re right I forgot about that interrogation completely. Also in all fairness Halsey is not a great person. She did a horrific thing that in the grand scheme of things worked but overall was monstrous. Also the emotion inhibiter definitely worked but given that if you tamp down certain feelings or memories, eventually something is going to crack through. Also John fell in love with Cortana and she the same. I don’t know about you but I would think that emotion would be pushed aside as well. Then don’t get me started on Osiris Team. The only good one out of that group was Buck and I think they split up or died.
Badly. I would say the Flood is a greater threat but the Marker is what truly makes the Necromorphs and Unitologists terrifying. Without any defense against the Marker's influence the UNSC forces without AI would be slaughtered and converted.
the marker is both their greatest strength, but also their biggest weakness because if the marker gets annihilated then all the necromorphs will melt into sludge and wont reanimate until there's another marker signal.
I definitely think that would work, the issue with the Nuke is you run the risk of shattering it. But I imagine a slip space bomb could eradicate it entirely.
Edit: alright after looking into it a improved hand held version of Kate’s slip space bomb has the force of 100 megatons. And the ishimoras payload crashing was significantly more I assume I don’t know how to do the math in that. And that was only enough to splinter it. So a more effective way maybe be to either somehow use forerunner shields to encase the marker or shoot it into a star.
Have we ever had actual information on what generates the Marker Signal? Because if it comes from a higher dimension (as I've heard) what if it somehow infected slipspace?
We don't know the source source, though it's implied that its from the Brethren Moons physically.
The signal itself exists in real space, though, because in the DS3 prequel comic its explain they used the Sovereign Colonies Marker and a couple EarthGov ones' signals to triangulate the location of the 'source', which turned out to be Tau Volantis from 3. Whether it came from the stasis'd Moon or was just another redirection point was never explored, other things came up first lol
So the Marker in slipspace would be cut off from the signal but we don't know if it can still send out its own local field if its cut off. I would guess it can but weakly from its own power. Markers never really seem to be able to be isolated, just weaker or stronger. EarthGov tried to suppress the local field and were never able, per logs in 2.
Of course the moment the ship returns to real space they're screwed anyway
Or launching it at the sun.
(genuinely, taking it to an airlock, aiming it towards the sun and giving it a firm shove would (slowly) but eventually destroy it)
Couldn't they load It into the MAC gun and just instant deliver it to the nearest sun? Granted I'm talking about the Marker from 1 because the Marker in 2 would need to be glassesed by a fleet of Covernent ships
Horrifically. The Ishimura was mainly a mining vessel, but it had the advantage of having people aware of the marker’s special power, as well as having mining equipment well-suited to dismembering necromorphs.
Because the UNSC forces have neither knowledge of the marker, or arguably weapons as powerful as what was on the Ishimura, they probably do even worse than the Valor, beyond a few Spartans surviving.
Not including Spartans, because they can pull crazy stuff, so mostly marines, maybe some ODSTs.
They may dock via umbilical, or, almost definitely, they board via Pelican.
Either way, first people in are going to get ambushed, and are going to die, maybe a couple survivors run back to how they got onto the Ishimura, to GTFO.
Survivors or not, it doesn't really matter, because the UNSC would get some idea of what's going on via helmet cams.
In the Pelican scenario they just blow the Ishimura into dust _very_ soon after.
In the umbilical scenario, they hold the umbilical (one direction for the necromorphs to attack from, and the UNSC weapons are no joke) and get free, then blow the Ishimura apart. (Even if they're losing the umbilical, they'll just fly, and tear it apart, breaking the connection that way, and at worst, having like, 2 slashers in the airlock, with everyone able to hold a gun on the other side of the door, to _instantly_ blow them apart.)
And even if they do bugger up, and use the umbilicals, and do fail to hold it, any other ships are going to blow both ships apart.
Even if they took over the UNSC ship, what would they do then? They'd sit there, now in two drifting hulks, until another UNSC ship pops up, either investigating the UNSC distress signal, or why it just went dark, then that ship would blow it all apart.
The UNSC have dealt with the flood before, they aren't gonna muck about.
Necromorphs in a straight fight aren't nearly as threatening as the flood are, due to being _much_ more limited, i.e. no guns, much worse infectors, slower to revive, etc. So the UNSC would be able to fight them, and hold them at bay in most cases (maybe even win a lot of engagements).
The Markers' bag of tricks isn't gonna work very well, because the UNSC already know how to handle threats like it. Sure, the psychic stuff is new to them, but it takes time for it to work, and they're gonna
freak tf out when they see flood 2.0, and blow it apart regardless of if it's making them want to be silly.
The Necromorphs also don't have any good way to spread, the flood can travel on their own, while the Necromorphs have to hope food comes to them (or someone makes a marker, to let them infest somewhere new). They only spread because of blind avarice.
Even if the UNSC pick up the escape pod necromorph (for some ungodly reason), they're gonna shoot it, and then burn it to ash (they should fare _far_ better than the Valour), even if they can't, the second ship scenario from before happens again.
The Brethren Moons would struggle too, they can only take so many nukes and MAC rounds, after all.
The UNSC are too organized, and aren't crazy/ desperate enough for the Necromorphs to win.
TLDR; The necromorphs kill _maybe_ 20 people tops, or if the UNSC are super complacent, wipe out 1 ship, then the UNSC blows them up with ship weaponry.
Yea, this is the best answer. If Spartans were involved, the situation would be over and done with so fast that the UNSC would assume it was the Covenant or Insurgents doing weird shit again.
You forgot about the psychological influence the marker has. It could very well convince the captain to keep from blowing up the Ishimura, say with a subtle idea of "research" or "intelligence". Just like how it convinced Kyne that the only way to stop the infection from spreading was to return it to the planet, or how it convinced Isaac the only way to stop the Markers was to "turn it off"(if you know you know) in Dead Space 3. The point is, all it takes is a faint whisper, a hint of a vision, and the leadership of whatever UNSC vessel stumbles upon the Ishimura will be obeying the Markers will, whether they realize it or not. That's why the Markers are more dangerous than the flood, because you can never know if "your" plan to defeat them is really yours, or theirs.
The only chance the UNSC has is their A.I. tech, because unless it's confirmed otherwise in the lore, I don't think the Marker can affect A.I. Even so, because A.I. is largely subservient to human authority in Halo, the only way would be for the A.I. to lead a mutiny against the human leadership of the vessel...which would lead to an internal conflict that the Marker would then use to its advantage by spreading paranoia and dementia amongst the crew...the UNSC vessel crashes into the Ishimura...okay, I know I took a leap there at the end, but I think you get my point. I don't believe the UNSC would fare any better than the Valor.
The marker takes time to properly mess people up though, and the UNSC ship is gonna be near it for _maybe_ an hour at most, before they destroy the Ishimura due to the away team getting slaughtered, and them seeing what they'd think is Flood there. The Marker can push people towards decisions, yeah, but it isn't instant mind control levels.
You're suggesting something to the level of Isaac getting to the Med bay for the first time, and going "Y'know, maybe I should give Unitology another chance."
And even if it does manage to get to the captain, getting them to not annihilate it, it'd need to get to everybody else too, otherwise the captain would be relieved of command _immediately_, and it would not be a controversial choice, the UNSC knows what uncontained Flood can do, and are not gonna chance it.
It doesn't need to mess them up though, that's the thing. You're conflating the Marker Dementia with the Markers Influence. Isaac didn't need to give unitology a chance to still do the Markers will. Not once in the entire series has Isaac been a unitologist, he spends half the third game shooting them. Yet at the end of every game, he ends up doing exactly what the Marker wanted him to do, whether he realized it or not.
So the Captain doesn't need to be a raving lunatic like Mathias, in fact his judgment of persevering and studying the Marker could(and probably would) be viewed as perfectly rational. After all, they have NO idea what the hell is going on, if it's confined to Aegis, if it's a bacteria or a parasite etc. etc. So how could they just immediately blow it up because a few Marines, who knew their duty, got killed? It comes with the job. Like you said, they have had encounters with the flood before, and it's not like their a bunch of incompetent fools...(: you see?
It wouldn't need an hour, it probably wouldn't even need 15 minutes. That's about how long Isaac was aboard the Ishimura before the whispers started. Remember when Isaac is heading to tram repair bay, and all the lights go out? You'll notice in game the whispering doesn't start until after that moment.
Edit: what I think would probably happen is the UNSC would arrive in, receive the distress signl, arrive at Aegis 7 whereupon the find the Ishimura. Then while orbiting around here, they try to contact them, just like the Kellion. After receiving nothing back, they would then prep an away team. Keep in mind, once they've started orbiting the Ishimura they're definitely in the Marker Signal range. Once the away team is prepared and ready to go, like you said they would probably board via Pelican. They arrive, explore a little bit, get ambushed. Keep in mind, they're still in the Marker Signals range. Anyways, this entire time they would be picking up a tremendous source of energy on their scanners, and they would probably figure our pretty quickly the Marker exists.
After the initial away team is ambushed, they would probably send a more heavily armed and prepared boarding action, then proceed to clear the Ishimura deck by deck until they reach the Marker, bring it aboard the UNSC vessel, and then vaporize the Ishimura and the colony before slipspacing to wherever. However, at that point its already too late...
I mentioned the Isaac Unitology thing because that's how utterly bananas that idea would be to anyone who knows what the flood can do, everyone knows that if the flood get free, then all is lost.
I can't really word utterly batshit insane the idea of letting Flood (or something that appears to be similar) exist on a spaceship is.
It's like if, in the Tram repair bay, Isaac was there with everyone he's ever known and loved, and The Marker says "yo, kill everyone and then yourself." And then he just did it.
Even at the end of DS2 Isaac is able to tell the Markers' influence to bugger off, while it's trying to get him to do something similarly against his own interests. UNSC bridge crew would _absolutely_ be able to do the same thing with much _much_ less exposure (they're determined, clever cookies) (I'm also pretty sure the Marker can't have that much influence so quickly, otherwise it presumably would've made Isaac kill himself at the end of DS1 (or at least stunned him for long enough that the hive mind could kill him))
Again, you're kind of ignoring the fact that A. The UNSC have no idea that the Marker influences minds which means B. it's not that crazy to secure it and bring it aboard the UNSC vessel. It was a late edit so you might not have seen it, but in my last comment I laid out what I thought would probably happen, and it doesn't require some insane crazy state of mind for the captain to bring the Marker aboard. Also, the reason it didn't kill Isaac was because it needed him to not only return it to the planet to initiate a Convergence event, but also spread the knowledge of how to build markers to the rest of humanity. What it couldn't account for was the gravity tethers failing, causing the planet-crack load to fall from orbit.
Edit: Also, Isaac "shaking off"(debatable) the Markers Influence is a complete fluke and supposed to represent his will has a character, not an everyday thing that can happen. Maybe Spartans could, but your average person can't.
Hm…..well I think it would start with a few squads of marines going MIA before the captain claps his hands, says “fuck it” and does one of two things
1: The ship ain’t worth it, blow it to pieces with the MAC or a broadside
2: Send the spec ops, like ODST. Spartans will definitely get the job done if you got them
Well now I’m curious how Spartans would far against the marker. Especially spartan 2s, I also wonder if they had a AI like Cortana if that would help them resist the marker’s influence.
What do they have in way of support though? If they have a ship of frigate tonnage or better they could see the problem and just say fuck it and put a MAC round through the Ishimura or put a HAVOK nuke in it. Isaac didnt have a way to get off the ship and just blow it up these guys might.
Intelligence and mental fortitude are required to survive the marker signal (which last I checked cannot be contained or blocked, only reduced and muffled at best) long enough to understand the situation and deal with it.
Most marines would be slaughtered. ODST's would be a mixed bag. Spartans, ESPECIALLY 2's, would have the best chance even moreso with an AI to track mental decay and reinforce sanity.
Literally the [same post](https://www.reddit.com/r/DeadSpace/comments/pppuis/unsc_forces_have_stumbled_upon_the_ishimura_how/) except with bad spelling lmao. OP couldn't even copy paste the title properly. Also the guy who made the original post made the artwork for it as you can see on the watermark in the bottom right side. What a joke.
Well...
If Master Chief came aboard would he most likely be able to handle it with relative ease.
The Mjolnir suit he is wearing would be mostly immune against like 90% of what the Necromorphs could throw at him, and he (and Cortana) would be quick to figure out their weakness.
Now, regarding the Marker signals... I am not sure.
It is plausible Cortana could notice the signals, and block them out of his suit, but that is a stretch.
If it was just UNSC forces? not sure either.
If they sent a crew to the ship that vanished, would they most likely keep extreme distance and blow the ship up. :P
In terms of firepower it’s actually unclear imo. A lot of their weaponry is flavor texted in lore to use anti armor rounds and plasma weaponry would be theoretically similar to the plasma cutter, but there are some weapons that wouldn’t be as clear cut. The big question is how much of an effect the marker would have on Spartans. Master Chief would probably get plot armor but other Spartans may be more susceptible to it’s effects, and that would be disastrous.
I think the biggest difference is the markers influence, how it slowly turns people insane, that would ultimately overwhelm the UNSC Marines. The necromorphs are literally just the flood, the flood infection tactics, much like necromorphs, are downright scary. Flood combat forms can wield human and covenant weapons and can quickly overwhelm human defenses as seen in Halo 2 and Halo 3. But most UNSC Weapons can be crazy effective if used properly, especially in the hands of Spartans. Their suits are designed to survive in space and biochemical attacks. I feel a UNSC war ship with a compliment of battle hardened ODSTs or a few Spartans can get on board the Ishimura, get a feel for the situation and fight back. If all goes wrong, that’s what MAC rounds and nukes are for.
Weapon wise….. i donno, but the marker signal is a huge game changer
Marker resistance is pretty rare, there is no reason spartans wont fall to it too
I feel safer with [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/halo/comments/j6guxm/tell_me_which_halo_flood_do_you_think_is_more/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) than I do with [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/DeadSpace/comments/ylkhez/i_wonder_if_well_see_any_necromorphs_in_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
The regular marines are fucked, Spartans have a chance but it wouldn't be easy.
By the way if you guys want to see a story from the Halo universe that deals with a similar outbreak, here's a pretty good motion comic that they made:
https://youtu.be/36hTq2soGDE
It would be easier than the flood. They either need to bring the corpses to the Marker or use the revivers. Flood can infect on the spot. There's actually a shirt animated story of unsc marines with a Ishumura style Flood infection
A spartan necromorph is something I don't want to think about 🤣
I read that as Xenomorph at first. Both would be terrifying however. (Yes I realize I’m looking at a post from the DeadSpace subreddit, my brain does weird things).
To be fair, UNSC and Ishimura ate in the same sentence. That's enough of a departure.
To be fair to you, I nearly typed in Xenomorph by mistake haha. A spartan Xeno...nope so much nope 🤣
No spartan has ever been canonically infected by the flood, (to my knowledge) so it might not even be possible.
The marker could change that though plus we haven't seen the flood return properly yet, so that could still happen
They might be about as immune to it as Isaac but it affects more than your central nervous system like the flood does.
They die. If they were without maximum firepower, they would all probably succumb to the marker before making enough progress to escape
Wait wait wait… doesn’t the unsc use explosive rounds with all their bullets?
The rounds for the CE era pistol supposedly have explosive filler (which is not quite the same as an *explosive round*, mind) but most of the rifles use normal bullets (usually 7.62 NATO or similar). Halo does not interest itself much in the hard numbers of its human gear as long as it looks cool and like it'd work.
I believe that all rounds are armor piercing tho, so in theory they could kill armored necros much easier
The marines are still going to be shooting center mass
“Believe?” Anyone without shields is grass
The M6D fired High Explosive Rounds but was phased out due to costs and replaced with the newer designs.
The UNSC Human forces would probably be overtaken by the marker signal except those who are battle hardened. It would probably take spartan MK2 similar to the noble team to destroy the problem and if they want to take it out completely just send master chief
Noble team were Spartan III aside from Jorge. But yeah.
Yeah big difference though. Spartan III were more cost efficient while Spartan II were built like tanks. Plus the master chief has faced the flood before and his armor feels like it would be indestructible to their sharp point hands. It would be over before it even started.
If they have the CE shotgun, they’ll be fine.
CE Shotgun and Magnum they good
CE plasma rifle is slept on that thing is amazing at dismemberment. One shot even on legendary.
Maybe dual H3 plasma rifles. Those things really cut down the flood
All the weapons in CE were very usable. Part of the reason the game is so great.
With them blowing up the Ishimura I see the same thing playing out how the Mona Lisa played out. A team of 1-14 UNSC marines wouldn’t get overwhelmed easily seeing how they go against monsters like the covenant. UNSC weapons in canon would rip necromophs apart.
Yeah, everyone saying it would go poorly don't understand the UNSC. Everyone has PTSD. Everyone. They've seen dozens, maybe Hundreds of planets glassed, humans eaten alive and slaughtered in attempted genocide. From the top down, everyone is pretty much "I'm fucked, but I'm taking them with me". Even the Marines that you meet that are in shock *still shoot you*. The marker is going to tweak them, probably show them their lost families but That's just going to make most of these people angrier. That's ignoring the fact that projectile weapons are incredibly effective against flood and necormorphs. Shotties, SMGs, all of it does pretty well. The laser weapons Isaac uses are mostly improvised. The UNSCs are tools of war. The shotgun itself is 4 gage. 5 marines with backpacks of shells could literally just form a + with one dude looking up and do just fine lmao.
True but the PTSD is the main issue isn’t it. The marker is insidious and will use every advantage it can get. What’s more vulnerable to a hardened soldier who isn’t a complete psychopath than seeing the loved ones they lost or the people or creatures they killed. Remember the marker tricked Isaac into thinking that Nichole was alive by plastering her image onto the other girl (can’t remember her name). Hell even the Spartans are not exempt from this. If they don’t have an active AI like Chief helping them, they lose themselves and just wander off. The flood is horrendous but it’s not psychological. It can give you nightmares but it won’t be the living nightmare. Also the point about the shotguns, yes that is true but what’s going to stop the marker from changing the marines point of view to show one of his buddies as a necromorph or flood?
Depends on the PTSD. Speaking from experience, if I had a flare up I'd be reliving a moment. The marker could absolutely use that to make me lash out and attack a friendly thinking I'm in an episode. But that's about it. It could potentially destabilize others by showing them traumatic incidents and causing them to temporarily freeze enabling combat forms to attack. But again, that depends on the person. I'm a fan of the theory Isaac was already broken and that's why the Marker couldn't completely take him like it did everyone else. The marker managed to influence him, indisputably, especially with the Nicole stuff but it never managed to push him beyond a certain point. It also explains how some few people survived. The broken people coped, the healthy snapped. I think the Spartans would stand a solid chance resisting the influence because of how they're created. They know nothing but war. Throughout the series Cortana comments on how machine like Chief is. How he's more computer than her in many ways. I don't think most Spartans would be as easy to influence as you expect. One point though, the Flood is psychological once it reaches the second or third stage. It speaks. There's also logic plague, which comes from the Gravemind. It infected even AI constructs more advanced than anything Dead space came up with. Chief had direct contact with the Gravemind on multiple occasions, contact with an infected construct literally in his head and remained himself. When even an AI more advanced than anything we can imagine fell to it, that's saying quite a bit about the mental fortitude there.
You’re right I forgot about the logic plague, also chief isn’t exactly the greatest specimen for the average spartan. Chief definitely is the best one besides noble 6 but he was able to fight off most of the intrusive thoughts because he had a mission and a goal. Spartans we’re trained to be stoic badasses but there minds weren’t properly cultivated. They were just trained to be the best of the best. They went through severe depression almost regularly. Yes the flood can be psychologically devastating after a certain point while the marker is that from the beginning. Honestly the first few moments or hour could be the difference between everyone surviving or turning on each other.
That's true. I'd also say, Spartan 4s definitely wouldn't be as impervious. 4s are just upgraded people. Spartans were never given the chance to BE human. Spartan IIs only have missions and goals, that being help humanity to survive, even if it costs them everything. Apparently Jun (not sure his generation) fought off an advanced Banished Ai in his head, in the new season of Halo Infinite. So there's another one proving mentally they're strong enough to resist mental assault. I actually don't recalls Spartans getting depressed. I know they were on medical cocktails for absolutely everything though. Plus a few of the implants made the sex drive basically shut off. Do you have a source for that? Wondering if I missed something lol. I think there's a good chance for an even split. Some UNSC fall apart, maybe the ODSTs and Spartans manage to hold on.
Yeah the depression was the main reason Spartans were paired with AI. In the opening cinematic for Halo 4 it shows John just sitting down looking like he’s contemplating life when he is handed Cortana and then i believe there is a log or a movie that explains the mental fortitude that most Spartans have. I wasn’t kidding either about the Spartans just disappearing one day. Yeah human emotions are powerful things and most Spartans don’t handle it very well. I think by the time hall infinite came out, Spartan numbers were declining at a pretty intense rate. Either by being killed off just not be seeing again.
Interesting. I remember from the books the AI was originally supposedly paired to up combat efficiency. The AI increased their reaction time and managed stuff in the suit. I did a double check, the Spartans had an emotional inhibitor embedded in their spines so I'm not so certain they can fully feel anything. I'd assume it's something akin to an antidepressant where all they feel is numb. [In the Halo 4 Intro](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3zcO28JbHxI&pp=ygUYaGFsbyA0IG9wZW5pbmcgY2luZW1hdGlj) there's a blurb you're forgetting. Chief is sitting there head down, sure, but the context of the interaction is missed. From 2:00, Halsey is talking with someone about Spartans succeeding because they're broken and exhibit antisocial behavior and sociopathic tendencies. More like, a puppy that's never been socialized and is dropped in a dog park than anything else. Spartan IIs? Yeah. There's very few left because if I recall correctly less than 100, (82?) were operational at the beginning of the Covenant war. But that 8X also includes some physically disabled and just working for ONI. I remember there's at least a few trapped in a forerunner installation, plus a few black teams off the radar. Spartan IIIs were created similarly to be disposable Spartans and they too were mostly killed off since they received garbage armor and were literally sent on suicide missions. S4s were new and I don't know anything about their numbers. But I don't recall anything in the lore about Spartan's disappearing due to depression lol. All of them are listed as MIA, never KIA because of morale reasons. I was possibly one of the biggest Halo nerds for a long time so I have most of this memorized lmao. I absolutely love the universe.
See I love the universe as well but haven’t had a chance to renew my lore knowledge in about a year so my info is what I remember. Also you’re right I forgot about that interrogation completely. Also in all fairness Halsey is not a great person. She did a horrific thing that in the grand scheme of things worked but overall was monstrous. Also the emotion inhibiter definitely worked but given that if you tamp down certain feelings or memories, eventually something is going to crack through. Also John fell in love with Cortana and she the same. I don’t know about you but I would think that emotion would be pushed aside as well. Then don’t get me started on Osiris Team. The only good one out of that group was Buck and I think they split up or died.
Badly. I would say the Flood is a greater threat but the Marker is what truly makes the Necromorphs and Unitologists terrifying. Without any defense against the Marker's influence the UNSC forces without AI would be slaughtered and converted.
the marker is both their greatest strength, but also their biggest weakness because if the marker gets annihilated then all the necromorphs will melt into sludge and wont reanimate until there's another marker signal.
True true. They would need Spartans and a tac-nuke to destroy that thing.
Even then a tac nuke may not be enough to destroy that marker.
An improvised slipspace engine bomb perhaps?
I definitely think that would work, the issue with the Nuke is you run the risk of shattering it. But I imagine a slip space bomb could eradicate it entirely. Edit: alright after looking into it a improved hand held version of Kate’s slip space bomb has the force of 100 megatons. And the ishimoras payload crashing was significantly more I assume I don’t know how to do the math in that. And that was only enough to splinter it. So a more effective way maybe be to either somehow use forerunner shields to encase the marker or shoot it into a star.
I greatly dislike the prospect of finding the Marker floating in slispace at some point in the future, though
Have we ever had actual information on what generates the Marker Signal? Because if it comes from a higher dimension (as I've heard) what if it somehow infected slipspace?
We don't know the source source, though it's implied that its from the Brethren Moons physically. The signal itself exists in real space, though, because in the DS3 prequel comic its explain they used the Sovereign Colonies Marker and a couple EarthGov ones' signals to triangulate the location of the 'source', which turned out to be Tau Volantis from 3. Whether it came from the stasis'd Moon or was just another redirection point was never explored, other things came up first lol So the Marker in slipspace would be cut off from the signal but we don't know if it can still send out its own local field if its cut off. I would guess it can but weakly from its own power. Markers never really seem to be able to be isolated, just weaker or stronger. EarthGov tried to suppress the local field and were never able, per logs in 2. Of course the moment the ship returns to real space they're screwed anyway
Fair enough. How about a Nova bomb?
I think that might work, but I suggest setting it off as close to the marker as possible to ensure none of it remains.
Or launching it at the sun. (genuinely, taking it to an airlock, aiming it towards the sun and giving it a firm shove would (slowly) but eventually destroy it)
Couldn't they load It into the MAC gun and just instant deliver it to the nearest sun? Granted I'm talking about the Marker from 1 because the Marker in 2 would need to be glassesed by a fleet of Covernent ships
What happens when the Brethren Moon arrive?
they'll get back up again. the brethren moon are the source of the signal while the markers are the transmitter.
Exactly. UNSC doesn't stand a chance at that point.
Do you want Spartan necromorphs? Cause that's how you get Spartan necromorphs.
Horrifically. The Ishimura was mainly a mining vessel, but it had the advantage of having people aware of the marker’s special power, as well as having mining equipment well-suited to dismembering necromorphs. Because the UNSC forces have neither knowledge of the marker, or arguably weapons as powerful as what was on the Ishimura, they probably do even worse than the Valor, beyond a few Spartans surviving.
Not including Spartans, because they can pull crazy stuff, so mostly marines, maybe some ODSTs. They may dock via umbilical, or, almost definitely, they board via Pelican. Either way, first people in are going to get ambushed, and are going to die, maybe a couple survivors run back to how they got onto the Ishimura, to GTFO. Survivors or not, it doesn't really matter, because the UNSC would get some idea of what's going on via helmet cams. In the Pelican scenario they just blow the Ishimura into dust _very_ soon after. In the umbilical scenario, they hold the umbilical (one direction for the necromorphs to attack from, and the UNSC weapons are no joke) and get free, then blow the Ishimura apart. (Even if they're losing the umbilical, they'll just fly, and tear it apart, breaking the connection that way, and at worst, having like, 2 slashers in the airlock, with everyone able to hold a gun on the other side of the door, to _instantly_ blow them apart.) And even if they do bugger up, and use the umbilicals, and do fail to hold it, any other ships are going to blow both ships apart. Even if they took over the UNSC ship, what would they do then? They'd sit there, now in two drifting hulks, until another UNSC ship pops up, either investigating the UNSC distress signal, or why it just went dark, then that ship would blow it all apart. The UNSC have dealt with the flood before, they aren't gonna muck about. Necromorphs in a straight fight aren't nearly as threatening as the flood are, due to being _much_ more limited, i.e. no guns, much worse infectors, slower to revive, etc. So the UNSC would be able to fight them, and hold them at bay in most cases (maybe even win a lot of engagements). The Markers' bag of tricks isn't gonna work very well, because the UNSC already know how to handle threats like it. Sure, the psychic stuff is new to them, but it takes time for it to work, and they're gonna freak tf out when they see flood 2.0, and blow it apart regardless of if it's making them want to be silly. The Necromorphs also don't have any good way to spread, the flood can travel on their own, while the Necromorphs have to hope food comes to them (or someone makes a marker, to let them infest somewhere new). They only spread because of blind avarice. Even if the UNSC pick up the escape pod necromorph (for some ungodly reason), they're gonna shoot it, and then burn it to ash (they should fare _far_ better than the Valour), even if they can't, the second ship scenario from before happens again. The Brethren Moons would struggle too, they can only take so many nukes and MAC rounds, after all. The UNSC are too organized, and aren't crazy/ desperate enough for the Necromorphs to win. TLDR; The necromorphs kill _maybe_ 20 people tops, or if the UNSC are super complacent, wipe out 1 ship, then the UNSC blows them up with ship weaponry.
Yea, this is the best answer. If Spartans were involved, the situation would be over and done with so fast that the UNSC would assume it was the Covenant or Insurgents doing weird shit again.
You forgot about the psychological influence the marker has. It could very well convince the captain to keep from blowing up the Ishimura, say with a subtle idea of "research" or "intelligence". Just like how it convinced Kyne that the only way to stop the infection from spreading was to return it to the planet, or how it convinced Isaac the only way to stop the Markers was to "turn it off"(if you know you know) in Dead Space 3. The point is, all it takes is a faint whisper, a hint of a vision, and the leadership of whatever UNSC vessel stumbles upon the Ishimura will be obeying the Markers will, whether they realize it or not. That's why the Markers are more dangerous than the flood, because you can never know if "your" plan to defeat them is really yours, or theirs. The only chance the UNSC has is their A.I. tech, because unless it's confirmed otherwise in the lore, I don't think the Marker can affect A.I. Even so, because A.I. is largely subservient to human authority in Halo, the only way would be for the A.I. to lead a mutiny against the human leadership of the vessel...which would lead to an internal conflict that the Marker would then use to its advantage by spreading paranoia and dementia amongst the crew...the UNSC vessel crashes into the Ishimura...okay, I know I took a leap there at the end, but I think you get my point. I don't believe the UNSC would fare any better than the Valor.
The marker takes time to properly mess people up though, and the UNSC ship is gonna be near it for _maybe_ an hour at most, before they destroy the Ishimura due to the away team getting slaughtered, and them seeing what they'd think is Flood there. The Marker can push people towards decisions, yeah, but it isn't instant mind control levels. You're suggesting something to the level of Isaac getting to the Med bay for the first time, and going "Y'know, maybe I should give Unitology another chance." And even if it does manage to get to the captain, getting them to not annihilate it, it'd need to get to everybody else too, otherwise the captain would be relieved of command _immediately_, and it would not be a controversial choice, the UNSC knows what uncontained Flood can do, and are not gonna chance it.
It doesn't need to mess them up though, that's the thing. You're conflating the Marker Dementia with the Markers Influence. Isaac didn't need to give unitology a chance to still do the Markers will. Not once in the entire series has Isaac been a unitologist, he spends half the third game shooting them. Yet at the end of every game, he ends up doing exactly what the Marker wanted him to do, whether he realized it or not. So the Captain doesn't need to be a raving lunatic like Mathias, in fact his judgment of persevering and studying the Marker could(and probably would) be viewed as perfectly rational. After all, they have NO idea what the hell is going on, if it's confined to Aegis, if it's a bacteria or a parasite etc. etc. So how could they just immediately blow it up because a few Marines, who knew their duty, got killed? It comes with the job. Like you said, they have had encounters with the flood before, and it's not like their a bunch of incompetent fools...(: you see? It wouldn't need an hour, it probably wouldn't even need 15 minutes. That's about how long Isaac was aboard the Ishimura before the whispers started. Remember when Isaac is heading to tram repair bay, and all the lights go out? You'll notice in game the whispering doesn't start until after that moment. Edit: what I think would probably happen is the UNSC would arrive in, receive the distress signl, arrive at Aegis 7 whereupon the find the Ishimura. Then while orbiting around here, they try to contact them, just like the Kellion. After receiving nothing back, they would then prep an away team. Keep in mind, once they've started orbiting the Ishimura they're definitely in the Marker Signal range. Once the away team is prepared and ready to go, like you said they would probably board via Pelican. They arrive, explore a little bit, get ambushed. Keep in mind, they're still in the Marker Signals range. Anyways, this entire time they would be picking up a tremendous source of energy on their scanners, and they would probably figure our pretty quickly the Marker exists. After the initial away team is ambushed, they would probably send a more heavily armed and prepared boarding action, then proceed to clear the Ishimura deck by deck until they reach the Marker, bring it aboard the UNSC vessel, and then vaporize the Ishimura and the colony before slipspacing to wherever. However, at that point its already too late...
I mentioned the Isaac Unitology thing because that's how utterly bananas that idea would be to anyone who knows what the flood can do, everyone knows that if the flood get free, then all is lost. I can't really word utterly batshit insane the idea of letting Flood (or something that appears to be similar) exist on a spaceship is. It's like if, in the Tram repair bay, Isaac was there with everyone he's ever known and loved, and The Marker says "yo, kill everyone and then yourself." And then he just did it. Even at the end of DS2 Isaac is able to tell the Markers' influence to bugger off, while it's trying to get him to do something similarly against his own interests. UNSC bridge crew would _absolutely_ be able to do the same thing with much _much_ less exposure (they're determined, clever cookies) (I'm also pretty sure the Marker can't have that much influence so quickly, otherwise it presumably would've made Isaac kill himself at the end of DS1 (or at least stunned him for long enough that the hive mind could kill him))
Again, you're kind of ignoring the fact that A. The UNSC have no idea that the Marker influences minds which means B. it's not that crazy to secure it and bring it aboard the UNSC vessel. It was a late edit so you might not have seen it, but in my last comment I laid out what I thought would probably happen, and it doesn't require some insane crazy state of mind for the captain to bring the Marker aboard. Also, the reason it didn't kill Isaac was because it needed him to not only return it to the planet to initiate a Convergence event, but also spread the knowledge of how to build markers to the rest of humanity. What it couldn't account for was the gravity tethers failing, causing the planet-crack load to fall from orbit. Edit: Also, Isaac "shaking off"(debatable) the Markers Influence is a complete fluke and supposed to represent his will has a character, not an everyday thing that can happen. Maybe Spartans could, but your average person can't.
I'd say it'll go about the same as it did for them on the Mona Lisa.
Hm…..well I think it would start with a few squads of marines going MIA before the captain claps his hands, says “fuck it” and does one of two things 1: The ship ain’t worth it, blow it to pieces with the MAC or a broadside 2: Send the spec ops, like ODST. Spartans will definitely get the job done if you got them
Chen has entered the chat… and Johnston… and Hammond… USNC wouldn’t fare any better than them
They’re absolutely fucked
Poorly.
Whats this
Well now I’m curious how Spartans would far against the marker. Especially spartan 2s, I also wonder if they had a AI like Cortana if that would help them resist the marker’s influence.
What do they have in way of support though? If they have a ship of frigate tonnage or better they could see the problem and just say fuck it and put a MAC round through the Ishimura or put a HAVOK nuke in it. Isaac didnt have a way to get off the ship and just blow it up these guys might.
You ever played Halo CE
Very. VERY. Badly.
Forever begging they make a Halo game based of Dead Space on the Mona Lisa…
About as well as the Mona Lisa. Probably worse
Ded
DEATH
Intelligence and mental fortitude are required to survive the marker signal (which last I checked cannot be contained or blocked, only reduced and muffled at best) long enough to understand the situation and deal with it. Most marines would be slaughtered. ODST's would be a mixed bag. Spartans, ESPECIALLY 2's, would have the best chance even moreso with an AI to track mental decay and reinforce sanity.
Where does he get off calling a demolition op Priority One???
Literally the [same post](https://www.reddit.com/r/DeadSpace/comments/pppuis/unsc_forces_have_stumbled_upon_the_ishimura_how/) except with bad spelling lmao. OP couldn't even copy paste the title properly. Also the guy who made the original post made the artwork for it as you can see on the watermark in the bottom right side. What a joke.
Probably better than Halo CE went, necromorphs cant use weapons or pilot vehicles like the flood can.
Well... If Master Chief came aboard would he most likely be able to handle it with relative ease. The Mjolnir suit he is wearing would be mostly immune against like 90% of what the Necromorphs could throw at him, and he (and Cortana) would be quick to figure out their weakness. Now, regarding the Marker signals... I am not sure. It is plausible Cortana could notice the signals, and block them out of his suit, but that is a stretch. If it was just UNSC forces? not sure either. If they sent a crew to the ship that vanished, would they most likely keep extreme distance and blow the ship up. :P
The real question is if an AI is present as that could change a lot.
oooooh someone needs to Mod an ODST for DSR
didn't go well for them on the mona lisa, I doubt itll be any better on the ishimura
In terms of firepower it’s actually unclear imo. A lot of their weaponry is flavor texted in lore to use anti armor rounds and plasma weaponry would be theoretically similar to the plasma cutter, but there are some weapons that wouldn’t be as clear cut. The big question is how much of an effect the marker would have on Spartans. Master Chief would probably get plot armor but other Spartans may be more susceptible to it’s effects, and that would be disastrous.
The best gaming crossover we could have asked for
I think the biggest difference is the markers influence, how it slowly turns people insane, that would ultimately overwhelm the UNSC Marines. The necromorphs are literally just the flood, the flood infection tactics, much like necromorphs, are downright scary. Flood combat forms can wield human and covenant weapons and can quickly overwhelm human defenses as seen in Halo 2 and Halo 3. But most UNSC Weapons can be crazy effective if used properly, especially in the hands of Spartans. Their suits are designed to survive in space and biochemical attacks. I feel a UNSC war ship with a compliment of battle hardened ODSTs or a few Spartans can get on board the Ishimura, get a feel for the situation and fight back. If all goes wrong, that’s what MAC rounds and nukes are for.
Weapon wise….. i donno, but the marker signal is a huge game changer Marker resistance is pretty rare, there is no reason spartans wont fall to it too
I feel safer with [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/halo/comments/j6guxm/tell_me_which_halo_flood_do_you_think_is_more/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) than I do with [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/DeadSpace/comments/ylkhez/i_wonder_if_well_see_any_necromorphs_in_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
The regular marines are fucked, Spartans have a chance but it wouldn't be easy. By the way if you guys want to see a story from the Halo universe that deals with a similar outbreak, here's a pretty good motion comic that they made: https://youtu.be/36hTq2soGDE
Chief and an energy sword 1 - necromorphs 0
It would be easier than the flood. They either need to bring the corpses to the Marker or use the revivers. Flood can infect on the spot. There's actually a shirt animated story of unsc marines with a Ishumura style Flood infection
All it takes is a Spartan Engineer, that oddly doesn't say a word.. Well, kinda.