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So let us say that the Covenant from Halo (pre-schism) exist in the 40k galaxy, at the fringes of the Imperium but nonetheless declare holy war against mankind and their affront to the gods (and the Imperium of course would do the vice versa). They become a regular player in the 40k.

Given their size, structure, power, tech, etc. (all as it exists at the start of Halo 1), how would they do? Are they doomed to extinction or bound for glory and conquest?

As a big Halo fan and a fan of the Covenant I'm curious to hear others opinions.

I'm pretty sure that this topic has been done to death.

Use the search engine. You'll find your answer there.

As a fellow Halo fan, I'd like to leave in my input.

The Covenant are a very advanced race who, technologically speaking, are somewhere between the IOM and the Tau. They have plasma weaponry that won't explode (barring Plasma grenades), energy shields that are quite common and ships that are packed to the brim with firepower. To compare them properly, however, we must look at how they fared against the UNSC humans during the games. I'd like to break down each of the Covenant's strengths and weaknesses in comparison to both the IOM and the UNSC.

Weaponry:
The Type 25 Plasma Rifle is an automatic submachine gun type weapon. However, compared to the Imperium's version of Plasma guns they are much weaker. In fact, they are very comparable to Lasguns in term of damage output though better at punching through armor. A Plasma bolt can eat through UNSC marine army with ease and leave big holes exposed flesh. Though, it is a different story with the heavier grades of weaponry. Spirit mounted Plasma guns have been described as being capable of bisecting humans (Source: Halo: The Flood) and Scarab mounted cannons melt through Scorpion tanks with ease.
I am not sure about the novels, but in game Covenant portable turrets are capable of damaging thickly armored tanks, melts through infantry armor and can down even Master Chief with sustained fire. So... they are at least the strength of a Heavy Stubber but with better armor penetration. The ball turrets that I can't name off the top of my head are probably bolter strength if not Heavy Bolter. So, Covenant heavy weapons are rather weak in comparison to the Imperial equivalents in terms of size but most likely with better AP values.
Vehicle mounted weapons are deadly, to put it in short. Lightly armored vehicles, like the Warthog and Pelican, are easily destroyed by even the meager Banshee. Wraiths can destroy anything the UNSC throws at them in a single hit and Scarabs... well, Scarabs are Scarabs. This isn't to say that a Wraith cannon is S10 AP 1 but more like S7 AP2, perhaps even S8.
Ship mounted weaponry are extremely potent. Though they would have problems dealing with thickly armored Battleships, Covenant ship weapons can probably damage most other ships and devastate ground forces. In fact, I'd dare to say that the Covenant is very comparable to the IOM in this regard if not a tick weaker.

Armor:
In terms of armor, the Covenant has suits that are polar opposites in grades. Grunts are well... grunts. But, Elites are dead 'ard depending on the rank. Boltguns could probably eat through all of them, though, barring hunters. So, Elites get flak armor and grunts get nothing. What really saves the Covenant, though, is their shielding. Though with minors a Heavy Stubber or a Multilaser could take them down with a few good hits a Zealot could probably soak up whatever a Boltgun throws at him. Like I said, it's a mixed bag and rank plays a big part in it.
Vehicle armor is also weak compared to what the IOM can field. Ghosts are toast, Wraiths are wrecked and Banshees are blown out of the sky if a devastator squad even looked at them. What the Vehicles lack in staying power, though, they make up for in speed. A wraith can accelerate to relatively high speeds and Ghosts zip about the battlefield. The exception to this is the ever pleasant Scarab, which would be a little less tough than a Land Raider but be able to soak up more damage... unless assaulted. Interesting special rule...
However, it seems the Covvies have invested greatly in their navy. Covenant fighter bombers are hard to shoot down unless with heavy weapons and their ships are incredibly hardy. In fact, one of the reasons why the UNSC got so pounded was that barely anything their ships could mount damaged Covvie ships. And even then they had to deal with the armor underneath.... which is squishy in comparison, to be fair.
Slipspace:
Ah, here is the Covenant's ace in the hole. What would really put them ahead in the 40k 'verse. Their FTL drives. Yes, one may argue that Slipspace may be the Warp let's assume for now that they are different. Warp travel is time taking, unpredictable and can result in the death of the entire fleet. However, Covenant Slipspace travel is reliable, near pinpoint accurate and fast. Not only that a Covenant cruiser can jump to it whenever they'd please and could do it during a battle to reposition themselves quickly. They would be among the fastest in the galaxy if not the fastest in terms of their naval speed.

In summary.
Their ground forces would be a more agile Imperial guard with better AP values and good invuln saves. What really sets them ahead is their navy, which is speedy and heavy hitting but can't take much damage. To sum it up, their numbers and navy would make them a viable faction in the 40k verse. And their religious dogma, lack of pyskers and the fact they don't rely on the warp would make them a tad Chaos resistant but you'd see Chaos Elites/Grunts.

They'd probably fill a niche similar to the Tau, their empire isn't that big, they control far less than even a quarter of the Orion arm of the Milky Way.

Like pretty much every space-faring faction that exists in non-40K Universes, they'll take advantage of their far, far more efficient and quick FTL travel to wreak havoc on Imperial planets, vaporizing them and moving on to another system before Imperial reinforcements can arrive.

They'll do this for a long time, and then eventually they'll run into something that hits harder then they do, then they'll get destroyed.

It's the same story with Star Wars and other universes. The fact that it takes the Imperium months to years to travel with the warp is their greatest weakness.

BlaxicanX wrote:
Like pretty much every space-faring faction that exists in non-40K Universes, they'll take advantage of their far, far more efficient and quick FTL travel to wreak havoc on Imperial planets, vaporizing them and moving on to another system before Imperial reinforcements can arrive.

They'll do this for a long time, and then eventually they'll run into something that hits harder then they do, then they'll get destroyed.

It's the same story with Star Wars and other universes. The fact that it takes the Imperium months to years to travel with the warp is their greatest weakness.

Covy ships might be fast, but their large scale weapons aren't nearly as powerful as 40k scale WMDs. Also, Covy ships are a lot smaller and more poorly armored than the MASSIVE ships of the Imperium. A moderately sized Imperial detachment could easily take the entire covenant fleet. Also, the Covenant don't like to retreat (heresy and whatnot) so they'd end up throwing themselves at the Imperial meatgrinder.

They would be eaten alive.

BlaxicanX wrote:
Like pretty much every space-faring faction that exists in non-40K Universes, they'll take advantage of their far, far more efficient and quick FTL travel to wreak havoc on Imperial planets, vaporizing them and moving on to another system before Imperial reinforcements can arrive.

They'll do this for a long time, and then eventually they'll run into something that hits harder then they do, then they'll get destroyed.

It's the same story with Star Wars and other universes. The fact that it takes the Imperium months to years to travel with the warp is their greatest weakness.

Planetary Defense Weapons would probably wipe out a good portion of any attacking fleets, and the empire is honestly fairly small.

Also the Necrons would beaterise their faces in.

I reject your statements sir.

The Covenents tech was crafted by human hands. The Admech would TELEPORT onboard and take control.

Nothing in the halo universe (I love halo btw) could stand up to the IoM.

But again. This has already been discussed... dozens of times.

Search. Engine.

 DeffDred wrote:
The Covenents tech was crafted by human hands. The Admech would TELEPORT onboard and take control.

Nothing in the halo universe (I love halo btw) could stand up to the IoM.

But again. This has already been discussed... dozens of times.

Search. Engine.

The covenant's tech isn't made by humans... not at all.
It's all looted Forerunner tech.

Snow balls chance in hell, their religious dogma wouldn't allow then to sit on the fringes like the tau do, it would be a full out holy war from the start. and we all got to experience what the master cheif did to them so 10000 master cheifs,

Hell just send one marine per fleet

If they kept themselves to themselves they might have a chance of survival.

If they went all out against the Imperium, they wouldn't last a heartbeat.

Edit: Spellinz

The Covenant were having trouble with humans from below 3k so everything in 40k should outgun or outtech them. The tyranids would be floods on steroid and they were having troubles with the floods already. Even the Tau should be able to defend from them with ease. Only factions i see them doing ok against are orks. I guess they could be on the same tier as the Tau in the current 40k timeline due to they're numbers.

 DeffDred wrote:
I'm pretty sure that this topic has been done to death.

Use the search engine. You'll find your answer there.

So much of this.

there are a million and one threads on this (or very slightly different) topic, please use the search function in the future.

 Squidmanlolz wrote:

 DeffDred wrote:
The Covenents tech was crafted by human hands. The Admech would TELEPORT onboard and take control.

Nothing in the halo universe (I love halo btw) could stand up to the IoM.

But again. This has already been discussed... dozens of times.

Search. Engine.

The covenant's tech isn't made by humans... not at all.
It's all looted Forerunner tech.

Spoiler alert: The Forerunners were humans.

 DeffDred wrote:

 Squidmanlolz wrote:

 DeffDred wrote:
The Covenents tech was crafted by human hands. The Admech would TELEPORT onboard and take control.

Nothing in the halo universe (I love halo btw) could stand up to the IoM.

But again. This has already been discussed... dozens of times.

Search. Engine.

The covenant's tech isn't made by humans... not at all.
It's all looted Forerunner tech.

Spoiler alert: The Forerunners were humans.

No, they weren't. In the newer Halo novels it is revealed that the Forerunners and humans are in fact separate species. However, the Forerunners considered the humans to be their heirs. So that's what Guilt Spark was talking about.

IoM hand down, Covenant would get themselves locked down against and imperium world, since they are very much a 'slaughter them to a man' type of army they would realise that this is the worst mistake they could make. They would learn the hard way that the humans they fought before are pathetic in comparison to the IoM. The IoM would bury the Covenant in bodies and tank treads. The race they would have the best chance against...none come to mind

TheCustomLime wrote:

 DeffDred wrote:

 Squidmanlolz wrote:

 DeffDred wrote:
The Covenents tech was crafted by human hands. The Admech would TELEPORT onboard and take control.

Nothing in the halo universe (I love halo btw) could stand up to the IoM.

But again. This has already been discussed... dozens of times.

Search. Engine.

The covenant's tech isn't made by humans... not at all.
It's all looted Forerunner tech.

Spoiler alert: The Forerunners were humans.

No, they weren't. In the newer Halo novels it is revealed that the Forerunners and humans are in fact separate species. However, the Forerunners considered the humans to be their heirs. So that's what Guilt Spark was talking about.

Really? That sucks. Guess I don't love Halo anymore.

 DeffDred wrote:

TheCustomLime wrote:

 DeffDred wrote:

 Squidmanlolz wrote:

 DeffDred wrote:
The Covenents tech was crafted by human hands. The Admech would TELEPORT onboard and take control.

Nothing in the halo universe (I love halo btw) could stand up to the IoM.

But again. This has already been discussed... dozens of times.

Search. Engine.

The covenant's tech isn't made by humans... not at all.
It's all looted Forerunner tech.

Spoiler alert: The Forerunners were humans.

No, they weren't. In the newer Halo novels it is revealed that the Forerunners and humans are in fact separate species. However, the Forerunners considered the humans to be their heirs. So that's what Guilt Spark was talking about.

Really? That sucks. Guess I don't love Halo anymore.

And my dislike of the Halo series has only increased even more.
Seriously, humans are the heirs of the galaxy? That's somehow even worse than the Forerunners being human.

They would join the Tau.

 Mr Nobody wrote:
They would join the Tau.

They would probably go to war with the Tau.
The Prophets have a massive ego problem and will refuse to be equals while the Tau will hold strong with their "first among equals" soapbox.
The two forces are similar and neither would accept a position that they see as inferior to the one that they already possess.

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:

 DeffDred wrote:

TheCustomLime wrote:

 DeffDred wrote:

 Squidmanlolz wrote:

 DeffDred wrote:
The Covenents tech was crafted by human hands. The Admech would TELEPORT onboard and take control.

Nothing in the halo universe (I love halo btw) could stand up to the IoM.

But again. This has already been discussed... dozens of times.

Search. Engine.

The covenant's tech isn't made by humans... not at all.
It's all looted Forerunner tech.

Spoiler alert: The Forerunners were humans.

No, they weren't. In the newer Halo novels it is revealed that the Forerunners and humans are in fact separate species. However, the Forerunners considered the humans to be their heirs. So that's what Guilt Spark was talking about.

Really? That sucks. Guess I don't love Halo anymore.

And my dislike of the Halo series has only increased even more.
Seriously, humans are the heirs of the galaxy? That's somehow even worse than the Forerunners being human.

Not so much the heirs to the galaxy as the heirs to what the Forerunners left behind, IE the Halo rings, the Ark etc. Here is some more info on the humans and the Forerunners. Spoilers ensue.


EDIT: Back on topic, the Covenant actually wiped the floor with the UNSC throughout most of the war. The only way their navy lost was when the UNSC had a massive advantage and even then casualties were near total. What really gave the UNSC the edge was the Great Schism. Without it, humanity would've been exterminated. So... I don't think they'd get rofl stomped any harder than other smaller alien empires. Especially with their superior FTL tech.

Did they leave it solely to humanity? It seems more likely that they left all of the sentient species who were saved by the Ark would have had a chance.

 Squidmanlolz wrote:
Did they leave it solely to humanity? It seems more likely that they left all of the sentient species who were saved by the Ark would have had a chance.

Yes. All their tech works well only to humans. That's why the Chief can activate halo's systems at the touch of a button while the Covenant have to monkey around with them and that's why Truth needed Johnson at the end of Halo 3 to activate the Ark.

TheCustomLime wrote:


EDIT: Back on topic, the Covenant actually wiped the floor with the UNSC throughout most of the war. The only way their navy lost was when the UNSC had a massive advantage and even then casualties were near total. What really gave the UNSC the edge was the Great Schism. Without it, humanity would've been exterminated. So... I don't think they'd get rofl stomped any harder than other smaller alien empires. Especially with their superior FTL tech.

Keep in mind the UNSC compares much more easily to modern western militaries moreso than an uncaring meatgrinder that is the Imperium of Man. Also remember that autoguns(what the UNSC Assault Rifles boil down to) are inferior in damage to Lasguns, at least according to FFG (and maybe DV, havent bought it yet).

 Wardragoon wrote:

TheCustomLime wrote:


EDIT: Back on topic, the Covenant actually wiped the floor with the UNSC throughout most of the war. The only way their navy lost was when the UNSC had a massive advantage and even then casualties were near total. What really gave the UNSC the edge was the Great Schism. Without it, humanity would've been exterminated. So... I don't think they'd get rofl stomped any harder than other smaller alien empires. Especially with their superior FTL tech.

Keep in mind the UNSC compares much more easily to modern western militaries moreso than an uncaring meatgrinder that is the Imperium of Man. Also remember that autoguns(what the UNSC Assault Rifles boil down to) are inferior in damage to Lasguns, at least according to FFG (and maybe DV, havent bought it yet).

Yes, this is quite true but UNSC firearms have issues taking down Covenant infantry that are equipped with shields. For instance, the MA5 rifle takes (On heroic difficulty, which is the canon difficulty according to Bungie) at least a clip and a half for most shielded enemies. Except grunts and jackals but that is still a lot of dakka. As for your first point, yes, the UNSC does operate differently than the Imperial Guard but it's the Guard's MO to grind down enemies. The thing is is that the Covenant excels at delivering air to ground firepower which would help them against the Imperial Guard. Their weak spot against their IG is that their armor is really fragile but it is speedy.

They'd get destroyed against almost everything. They might be able to deal with 2 or 3 planets until they decided to attack somewhere real (Terra, Cadia, Fenris) and get roflstomped

 TheAngrySquig wrote:
They'd get destroyed against almost everything. They might be able to deal with 2 or 3 planets until they decided to attack somewhere real (Terra, Cadia, Fenris) and get roflstomped

You could say that about most factions, though. The Sisters of Battle couldn't land on Fenris, it took a lot of effort from Chaos to take Cadia and Terra is nigh unassailable.

TheCustomLime wrote:

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:

 DeffDred wrote:

TheCustomLime wrote:

 DeffDred wrote:

 Squidmanlolz wrote:

 DeffDred wrote:
The Covenents tech was crafted by human hands. The Admech would TELEPORT onboard and take control.

Nothing in the halo universe (I love halo btw) could stand up to the IoM.

But again. This has already been discussed... dozens of times.

Search. Engine.

The covenant's tech isn't made by humans... not at all.
It's all looted Forerunner tech.

Spoiler alert: The Forerunners were humans.

No, they weren't. In the newer Halo novels it is revealed that the Forerunners and humans are in fact separate species. However, the Forerunners considered the humans to be their heirs. So that's what Guilt Spark was talking about.

Really? That sucks. Guess I don't love Halo anymore.

And my dislike of the Halo series has only increased even more.
Seriously, humans are the heirs of the galaxy? That's somehow even worse than the Forerunners being human.

Not so much the heirs to the galaxy as the heirs to what the Forerunners left behind, IE the Halo rings, the Ark etc. Here is some more info on the humans and the Forerunners. Spoilers ensue.

Spoiler:

Sometime before the Halo rings were fired the humans had a great Empire. Like, an interstellar Empire. And they were allied with the Prophets. So, when the flood first invaded the humans went to war with them. They won by modifying the genes of a good portion of their population and "Feeding" them to the flood, killing them somehow. After their victory they went to war with the Forerunners and were literally blasted back into the stone age. Forerunners wiped out all evidence of humanity's empire and put 'em on Earth. After that the flood came back and the Halo rings were fired and the rest is history.
So, the Forerunners decided that humanity would be the ones to inherit their tech after they all died out for some reason. Someone who has read the new novels will shed light on it.

EDIT: Back on topic, the Covenant actually wiped the floor with the UNSC throughout most of the war. The only way their navy lost was when the UNSC had a massive advantage and even then casualties were near total. What really gave the UNSC the edge was the Great Schism. Without it, humanity would've been exterminated. So... I don't think they'd get rofl stomped any harder than other smaller alien empires. Especially with their superior FTL tech.

And now my contempt is over 9000.
That has to be the most ridiculous and contrived sci-fi story that I have ever heard of.