*Credit goes to the people who did these pictures, Bungie/143, Microsoft, videos, and the guy who did the Profile, for I just added pictures.
====THE FLOOD====
“"Our urge to create is immutable; we must create. But the beings we create shall never again reach out in strength against us. All that is created will suffer. All will be born in suffering, endless grayness shall be their lot. All creation will tailor to failure and pain, that never again shall the offspring of the eternal Fount rise up against their creators. Listen to the silence. Ten million years of deep silence. And now, whimpers and cries; not of birth. That is what we bring: a great crushing weight to press down youth and hope. No more will. No more freedom. Nothing new but agonizing death and never good shall come of it. We are the last of those who gave you breath and form, millions of years ago. We are the last of those your kind defied and ruthlessly destroyed. We are the last Precursors. And now we are legion."
The Flood (Latin: Inferi redivivus[meaning "The dead Reincarnated “or The Parasite, as they are known to the Covenant), are a species of highly virulent parasitic organisms that reproduce and grow by consuming sentient life forms of sufficient biomass and cognitive capability. The Flood was responsible for consuming most of the sentient life in the galaxy, notably the Forerunners, during the 300-year-long Forerunner-Flood War. The Flood presents the most variable faction in the trilogy, as it can infect and mutate Humans and Covenant species, such as Sangheili, and Jiralhanae, into Combat Forms. They are widely considered to be the greatest threat to the existence of life, or, more accurately, biodiversity, in the Milky Way galaxy.
Recently the Flood was revealed to be….the Precursers! Or perhaps more accurately their reincarnated and somewhat sentient remains formed the first Flood. The Precursers were a immensely ancient race that crated both the Forreunners and Humanity, with the intent of passing on the responsibilities of the Mantle (the belief that one species must uphold the guardianship of all life) to one of them. Unfortunately they were kind of dicks and atomized those races that failed their tests, which they attempted to do to the Forerunners. The Forerunners rapidly retailiated using the Precurser’s own weapons against them, and wiped the species out mostly. However some Precursers, using their vast collection of knowledge and regeneration abilities, allowed their bodies to decompose into dust which was later used to start the first Flood infection in the Human-Flood wars.
===Recon===
The flood uses various forms for recon, most notably infection forms and combat forms. Infection forms are usually the first in the area, and they will quickly infect native residents or enemy scouts that they encounter. These Forms are very small and can easily traverse through small terrain. Also, any knowledge possessed by a host will transfer over to the Gravemind after infection, granting the flood very useful information should they absorb an important person. Lore-wise the Flood have been shown to use infiltration tactics to start a infestation, such as when they used Pelicans to sneak into High Clarity, stolen civilian ships to initiate the War on the Forerunners, and slow genetic infiltration on the human's bests to start the Ancient Humanity/Flood War.
===Infantry====
Name: Infection form
*Weapon Type: infection
*Armor Type: none
Mobility: 7
Formal Training: 5- instinctively know to swarm enemies and infect them directly after “birth”
Basic Description: The Flood Infection Form is the first stage of the virulent Flood xenoform. It is the most commonly seen stage of the Flood, and is the form responsible for spreading the Flood infection. Infection Forms will gather in large swarms, attacking in unison with their claws and tentacles. If the victim's shields are active, Infection Form will burst. However, the sheer force of numbers can sometimes deplete a victim's shields, allowing the remaining Infection Forms to take control of the Human/Brute/Elite/___ body.
Loadout:
--Body Hijacking: Small tentacles underneath its body penetrate the skin, tap into the victim's spinal cord, and unleash an attack on the host's nervous system via direct contact with the spine, killing the host almost instantly, though in rare cases leaving the victim conscious. Once this is accomplished, it rewrites the neural pathways of the victim's brain with its tendrils, forcing a resonant frequency match between its neural signals and the host's. Then it releases the Flood Super Cell which overwrites the host DNA and causes rapid mutation. After this is accomplished, it starts to morphologically augment the body, liquefying organs and redistributing biomass to create tentacles on the left arm from the calcium in osseous tissue. The central mass of the Infection Form will finally nest itself within the chest cavity of its host. This mutagenic process can occur within a matter of seconds. In exceedingly rare cases, such as if the Infection Form has been damaged or is incredibly old, it will go through the mutation process without killing the host, leaving them at least partially aware of what is going on, but unable to move or act.
Additional Factors:
Large Growth Rate: The infection forms are constantly being replenished by carrier forms, growth pods and flood walkers. No matter how many casualties then take, there are always more to replace them. They can also infect armored enemies, as they infect elites, forerunners, brutes, and can even infect Spartans!
The Infection form is a grunt unit, but it does not do much fighting itself. Instead, it turns the enemies very infantry against them through infection!
--Will be the most frequently encountered Flood unit
Name: Carrier form
*Weapon Type: Explosive
*Armor Type: none
Mobility: 3
Formal Training: 4
Basic Description:
- Carrier Forms perpetuate the Flood species by acting as incubators for newly created Infection Forms and keeping them safe until they're fully developed. Eventually, when a Combat Form has lived long enough, it will evolve into a Carrier, regardless of its status.
If potential enemy hosts are nearby, it will simply get close to them and explode, sending the Infection Forms flying at the unsuspecting and often injuring or killing enemies.
Loadout: Once the Infection Forms are ready, the Carrier simply explodes spontaneously, sending the new Infection Forms flying into the air. As soon as the Infection Forms are released, they begin searching for new hosts. The explosion of a Carrier Form is similar to the explosion of a fragmentation grenade, and deals damage to anything nearby.This detonation scatters the infection forms and can injure or kill potential hosts, with the explosion being comparable to that of a fragmentation grenade. Early sightings state that the carrier form can produce short bursts of speed once it spots a target. Later sightings claim they can also jump.
Additional Factors:
-Very slow, explosion of one form starts a chain reaction of all other explosive devices in the area.
--Upon explosion they release dozens of infection forms.
Name: Combat Form
*Weapon Type: Melee, Ranged
*Armor Type: Depends on form.
Mobility: 7
Formal Training: 6
Instinctive training, but also uses the memories of its host to aid in warfare.
Basic Description: A Combat Form is not a natural organism, but rather a mutated host infected by parasitic Flood Super Cells implanted by an Infection Form. Successful creation of a Combat Form requires a host with sufficient biomass and calcium store, and an infection form to infect the host. After mutation begins, the infection form attaches with one of its tentacles, which it uses to establish a neural connection that allows it to command the host's nervous system, thus rendering command of the legs and arms useless. During the infection process, the host's internal organs are liquefied and the nutrients from them are used to develop the tentacles and other appendages. Once fully transformed, the Infection Form has total control over the host's body and changes the physical appearance of the host to better suit its own needs (although an infected host will be roughly the same size as it was before). On rare occasions, this effect may be weakened by time in stasis for the Infection Form, allowing the host to regain some control, as in the case of Private First Class Wallace Jenkins. Combat Forms retain the host's previous attributes, therefore they can wield weapons, and drive and board enemy vehicles. However, Infection Forms do not require their hosts to still be alive for infection. Even dead hosts are suitable for conversion into a Combat Form; infection forms can infect recently deceased hosts and reanimate them in much the same way as they would living hosts. Although the brain tissue remains dead, the victim's biomass and calcium reserves are sufficient to warrant infection. Infection forms are far stronger than their hosts, and can leap great distances and take out Spartan shields with just a few, and in some cases, one hits.
Types:
The Jiralhanae Combat Form
is a formidable enemy and is more aggressive in combat than other Combat Forms, as it will charge towards an opponent recklessly; this behavior is most likely a result of the Jiralhanae's savage nature and preference for close combat. The Jiralhanae Form is more powerful than the Human Form, but falls short against the Sangheili Form. It is bulkier and slower than other Combat Forms. Since a Jiralhanae cannot be infected until their Power Armor is destroyed, the Jiralhanae Form cannot make use of their host's armor abilities. They are weak against melee. Brute forms typically wield brute weapons such as brute shots, brute spikers, and brute maulers. They can also wield the very powerful Gravity Hammer as a melee weapon. Covenant Weapons can be found here, since I haven't put the Covenant profile up yet and am too lazy to do so currently.
Human form:
The Human Combat Form is significantly smaller than other forms due to their original smaller size. As with other Combat Forms, it is capable of sustaining massive physical damage before being unusable to the Flood controller; in fact, as long as the chest cavity and legs remain intact, it will continue to fight. Although it cannot take as much damage as the Sangheili Combat Form can, the Human Form has some advantages. It seems to be more alert and is quicker to melee an opponent. It also presents a smaller, harder target to hit, especially the Infection Form, as it isn't protruding out of the body as much as those of Sangheili Forms. They can take more melee hits then its Brute version. Also note that these can also jump away from grenades, though it is the same percentage of dodging it like the Brute one. See the UNSC profile here for some descriptions of Marine Weapons
Elite forms:
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The Sangheili Combat Form is a formidable enemy as it is very agile and resilient. It is also capable of utilizing its host's armor abilities, such as Active camouflage and Energy Shields, to assist them in combat. The Sangheili Combat Forms are slightly larger than the Human Form and, as such, present a larger target. The strength of each Sangheili Form depends on the ranks of its host; an infected Sangheili Major will be considerably harder to kill than a Sangheili Minor. These forms are more intelligent then their other counterparts; if lobbed with a plasma grenade it might still charge, but if it's too far away, they will jump away from the grenade. This Combat Form has an increased chance of dodging a grenade. Active camo Infected forms are even harder to kill, as they are almost invisible and thus very hard to hit. Sangheili forms will wield weapons typical of the covenant footsoldiers, such as plasma pistols, plasma rifles, energy swords, covenant carbines and plasma cannons.
Grunt and Jackal forms- These forms are extremely rare and next to useless. The gravemind has deemed them as a waste of biomass, and thus Grunt and jackal forms will rarely be seen. The masses of grunts and jackals encountered by the flood are usually turned into regular biomass or carrier forms.
Loadout: All Covenant and UNSC weapons that can be wielded by foot soldiers are included in the weapons section of the combat forms. In addition to stolen weapons, they can also use powerful claws and tentacles to engage foes at close quarters combat. The are significantly stronger than their host forms, and thus cause much more melee damage.
Additional Factors:
Weaknesses- destroying the infection form will result in the deactivation of the combat form. However, if the host body is still useable another infection form will enter and take the place of its fallen comrade.
Weaker against fire and beam weaponry
Strengths- area specific weapons such as sniper rifles wont work on them as they past right through the rotten flesh without causing any significant damage. Pain and shock inflicting weapons have no effect on an enemy that feels no pain or fear. Flood can also not be crippled, so weapons made for that are rather ineffective.
As long as they have legs and an intact infection form, the combat form will continue to fight.
Biomass- Dead infection forms can be turned into flood biomass or carrier forms.
Very common- they make up the first waves of the flood infestation along with carrier forms, infection forms and flying infection forms. They are also constantly replenished through infection of native sentients or fallen enemies.
Auxillary! Now this is a very important section that cannot be completed now. But basically any biological enemies or native sentient capable of being infected will fall into the ranks of the flood if they are infected either the traditional way or by inhaling flood spores. All weapons and armor wielded by the infected will be added to this. So if the Dark Eldar Kabalite Warrior is infected for example he will use his pain weapons as he did in life. Being infected by the Flood does the following to combat efficiency:
--Makes the Subject more durable
--Seemingly Stronger then before
--Improves Coordination as the user is hooked up to a Hive Mind
--Possibly more agile then uninfected version
--May carry some traits of original's species at a bare minimum level For example the melee Brute Charges into combat and so to does its infected counterpart. A Dark Eldar infected might carry an extra dose of sadism compared to normal Flood.
--At the same time, as individual's, they are less intelligent then the uninfected forms that they have taken control of.
Before we close here I would like to note, for a final time, that the Flood have the ability to Hijack:
--Enemy Sentient Combatants
--Native Sentient
--Hijack Enemy Vehicles
--and Of course use all their weapons.
(50 minutes worth of soundtrack)
====ELITES====
Name: Stalker form
*Weapon Type: Melee,
*Armor Type: Hardened calcium, dense bones
Mobility: 8
Training: 5: preprogramed training
Basic Description:
The Flood Stalker Form is a crustacean-like Flood Pure Form that specializes in stealth and agility. It is apparently made from the re-casted bones of dead enemies. It will frequently mutate into either a Ranged Form or a Tank Form when the need arises. This form sits low beneath your field of view and their attacks can go widely unnoticed until you look down. They are able to crawl on walls and ceilings with ease, and are capable of making enormous jumps much like combat forms.
Loadout: Pinchers- Not very powerful, but due to its agility and stealth they can be a major annoyance to enemies, and quite lethal to unarmored foes.
Additional Factors:
Weaknesses- very weak, cannot take many hits. They also are the weakest of the pure flood forms. Cannot use weapons.
Strengths- very fast and agile, and capable of climbing up walls.
Shape shifting- the true use of stalker forms is transforming into tank and ranged forms, which are much more formidable. Stalker forms use their excellent mobility and small size to get into places that tank forms and ranged forms could not. For instance, they could swarm up fortified positions then transform into tank forms inside. They are always capable of transforming back into stalker forms.
Bonus against flying infantry- Enemies that use jetpacks and similar devices are targeted and brought down by stalker forms. They somehow know to deactivate Brute jetpacks, sending the flying trooper plummeting to the ground to be infected or killed.
Very Common
Takes out deployable cover and other such structures, making attacks easier for their comrades.
Name: Ranged form
*Weapon Type: Ranged
*Armor Type: Hardened calcium, biological. Ranged forms are very difficult to kill when they are curled up, as their armor is capable of withstanding lots of damage. Their weak spot is the mouth and the sensory organs. These are only exposed while firing.
Mobility: 0 (8) can transform into stalker forms to move to a more strategic position
Training: 5 instinctive training.
Basic Description: The Flood Ranged Form is a type of Flood Pure Form It is formed when a Flood Stalker Form is damaged or chooses to mount itself in a stationary position either on the walls, ceiling, or, with less frequency, on the ground. It has a mouth-like protrusion that opens up to reveal a living missile platform of regenerating spikes. They also exhibit a behavior unlike any other in the Flood arsenal. When fired upon these forms will curl up to shield their heads, their weak point. When the Pure Form is killed on a wall or ceiling, they will fall off.
Loadout: - Spikes- Ranged forms pelt enemies with very hardened spikes of super dense calcium. These spikes are fired at such velocity that they can damage even SPARTAN II armor. It is assumed that they grow
Additional Factors:
-Weaknesses- like all flood pure forms, they are weak to fire, beam and melee attacks. Immobile as long as they are ranged forms. Explosives can knock them from walls and put them in a vulnerable spot. Helpless when tipped over.
-Strengths- these forms are very dangerous to even a heavily armored Spartan, so in even small numbers they could devastate lightly armored troops and cause great annoyance to more heavily armored ones.
-By transforming into stalker forms they can get into hard to reach places like fortified dwellings or behind enemy lines. Well armored and hard to kill.
uncommon- on a flat battlefield they would not be too common as they are prone to enemy attacks. -Though the gravemind could mount them to flood krakens/walkers. In areas such as flood hives, buildings, city streets and forests, the ranged forms would be very common. Any stalker form is a potential Ranged form.
Name: Tank form
*Weapon Type: Melee
*Armor Type: Hardened calcium, biological
Mobility: 3
Formal Training: -5 instinctive training
Basic Description: Tank Forms are snail-paced in comparison to the other Combat Forms but they make up for it with relative resilience and their devastating melee attack, as they are unable to wield weapons with their arms that are shaped into hardened spikes (as opposed to whip-like tentacles exhibited by other Combat Forms). However slow, they can run on all fours for a short period, allowing a short burst of speed to overtake a target . On occasion Tank Forms eject Infection Forms from their 'mouth' as if regurgitating them (not explosively like the Flood Carrier Forms) as a form of short ranged attack, or an attack to counteract Bubble Shields. Like all of the Pure Forms, The Tank forms cannot be dismembered, only disabled.
Loadout: -only ranged attack is an infection form, which is regurgitated out. They also have a very devastating melee attack that can knock out a energy shield in a single hit.
Additional Factors:
-Weaknesses- like all pure flood forms, it is weak to fire, beam weaponry and melee attacks. It is also very slow.
-Strengths- very powerful in close range, roar can intimidate enemies. Hard to kill. Can use claws to defend itself.
-Can transform into stalker forms to get into better positions like in fortified locations or behind enemy lines. Then they transform back into tank forms and wreak havoc on enemy troops.
They work in tandem with ranged forms. Ranged forms pelt the enemy from afar while tank forms close in and smash enemies.
-common- very common around flood hives, these forms are more useful on the battlefield than the ranged forms. Any stalker form is a potential Tank form.
Name: Juggernaut form
*Weapon Type: melee
*Armor Type: hardened calcium, biological
Mobility: 8
Training: 5 (instinctive training)
Basic Description: Named for its size and its power, the Flood Juggernaut is very large, about twice as tall as John-117 and the Elites. Its mighty tentacles can kill most enemies in a single strike. The Juggernaut was created for Quarantine Zone as a way to stop the Enforcers, and one can imagine that with its long legs and long tentacles, that it would have little problem snatching an Enforcer out of the sky and tearing it apart. The Flood Juggernaut can leap twice as far as the already impressive jumping capability of a Combat Form, and it has the power of a tank.
Loadout: - Spiked tentacles- The Juggernaut has two extremely large tentacles that can kill A SPARTAN II with only one hit.
Additional Factors:
--Weaknesses- like all flood pure forms. It is weaker to fire and beam type weaponry. Its large size restricts it from entering most doorways, limiting its indoor capabilities. Large size makes it an easier target.
--Strengths- Very powerful, capable of killing a fully armored Spartan with one hit. Can leap twice as far as combat forms, and is very fast. It is the hardest flood form to kill.
--Very intelligent- of all non-gravemind flood forms, the juggernaut displays the greatest intelligence in tactics. They have even been known to let their guard down in order to taunt enemies into attack range.
-Bonus against low flying air warriors- the juggernaut was created to swat sentinels out of the sky.
--No regard of cover- juggernauts will easily swat away shields and coverings, and will leap over fortifications or reach over barricades to get enemies.
--Very rare- the juggernaut was originally found only in areas infested with sentinels as a way to combat the automatons. More can be created if the gravemind deems them important enough to field against the enemy.
--Note: Though the wiki lists it as a "deleted form" it actually exists in lore, and Bungie lists it in their flood autopsy.
Name: Forerunner Infected Form
*Weapon Type: Energy primarily
*Armor Type: Combat skin
Mobility: 6
Formal Training: 5
Basic Description: Forerunner infected forms were much like traditional infected forms. However, the forerunner combat skin is much stronger than any power armor wielded by the UNSC or Covenant, and their weapons are a bit stronger as well, which puts them in the elites category.
Loadout: - Melee- Similar to other combat forms, the forerunner forms have large tentacles to attacks foes with.
Ranged- They wield the powerful weapons of the forerunners, including hard light weapons and powerful explosives. These included (Halo 4 weapons valid, as they were invented by Forerunners to be used by Flood, and combat forms take the weapons they carried formerly in life)
-- Unidentified Energy Weapon:
 |
| As seen in origins. |
It is a white, claw shaped device that fired a bright blue bolt of energy. Upon activation the weapon generated what appeared to be a blade of some sort, capable, as previously stated, of firing bolts of energy. When multiple weapons were used in conjunction, they could apparently combine energy bolts to form a single large blade-like projectile that sliced through the air.
--Z-040 Attenuation Field Generator:
The Z-040 Attenuation Field Generator, more commonly known as a Pulse Grenade, is a usable Promethean Forerunner Grenade appearing in Halo 4 which generates a spherical area of effect upon contact that slows vehicles and drains shields and health (similar to the EMP effect of the Power Drain). It is ideal for clearing enemies from cover and can potentially reshape the layout of a battle. When killed by a Pulse Grenade, the target will sometimes disintegrate into orange particles of energy.
--The Z-130 Directed Energy Automatic Weapon : more commonly known as the Suppressor, is a Promethean Forerunner weapon in Halo 4. Its automatic fire and extreme efficiency at close range made the weapon a favorite of Forerunner troops against the Flood during the Forerunner-Flood War. It fires bolts of charged hard light that pierce and destroy any organic material
--The Z-180 Scattershot is a prominent Forerunner channel weapon that was used for close-range defense toward the end of their war with the Flood. While practically unstoppable up close, the most remarkable attribute of the Scattershot is its schismatic dispersal effect, drowning confined hard-surfaced interiors with brutal, ricocheting beams of energy.
-- Light Rifle :Described by 343 Industries as the amalgamation of the BR85HB SR Battle Rifle and the M395 Designated Marksman Rifle, the Light Rifle fires in three-round bursts of hard light when fired from the hip but fires a single, focused hard light round, when the scope is toggled. Both rounds use the same amount of ammunition, but the focused hard light round is stronger. As with the Scattershot and all other Promethean weapons, it self-assembles when picked up.
--The Z-390 High-Explosive Munitions Rifle, commonly known as the Incineration Cannon, is a usable Promethean Forerunner weapon that appears in Halo 4. Mixing traits from a Rocket Launcher, a Shotgun and a Flamethrower, the Incineration Cannon destroys all organic material in a wide radius. A highly destructive weapon, it fires four streams of explosive particles in a tight spread which release upon detonation in four different directions then detonating again individually, increasing the effective radius of the initial explosion to varying degrees.
--The Z-750 Special Application Sniper Rifle, known more commonly as the Binary Rifle, is a long-range Forerunner weapon appearing in Halo 4. It includes two core-mounted particle accelerators with unparalleled stopping power to bring down distant foes with one shot. The shot, when inflicted on an enemy, causes them to disintegrate, similar to when a Promethean Knight is killed. It also has two zoom modes to fulfill its purpose as a long range precision rifle.
Armor: Combat Skin: The Foreunners are known to wear Combat Skin power armor, said to be 6 times more powerful then a Mjolnir suit, however unfortunately little else is known except that it isn't equipped with shielding, which hurt them against the flood.
Additional Factors:
--Uncommon but not ultra rare: as this is a combined profile ( a "Franken profile" the Flood will have access to Forerunner infected as well as some reinforcements).
Name: Infected SPARTAN- IV combat form
*Weapon Type: Melee claw
*Armor Type: Power armor. They have fully functional Spartan armor, which combined with their speed and agility makes them hard to kill
Mobility: 7. Very fast, and they can jump quite far.
Formal Training: -7 they retain their general intelligence, and can even use new abilities.
Basic Description: Infected SPARTAN 4s are the among the deadliest of the flood combat forms. Unlike other flood forms they retain their intelligence and ability to use the SPARTAN armor. Also comes with some new abilities.
Loadout: -Claw- the infected Spartans have their right arm modified into a very large sword-like claw which is powerful enough to pierce Spartan armor. Their left had is free, and could theoretically be used to hold a weapon.
--Presumably they COULD use UNSC weapons, though are not seen to use them in Halo 4.
Additional Factors:
-Hunter form- these infected Spartans have thruster pack that they can use to quickly close the distance and propel themselves in the air
--Stealth form- these infected Spartans can use active camo to become practically invisible
--Luker form- these infected Spartans use promethean vision to see objects though walls, allowing for easy prey detection
--Infection- anything they kill becomes infected as well, possibly through injection of flood spores. Alternatively, infection forms could sprout off them into nearby dead bodies.
--Will be the absolute rarest of the Flood Elites.
--See UNSC profile, would have some of the training benefits as regular Spartan IVs
===HEROES===
The Flood are rather lacking in direct combat heroes, however they do have some a formidable control hero, in addition to their leader Gravemind, as well as a small class of dedicated tactical elites.
05-032 Mendicant Bias
Height: unknown
Weight: unknown
Age: 100,000+ years (10,000 at point of this profile)
Type of Hero Bonus: Control unit
Classification: AI
"What has taken you millennia to achieve, I erase in seconds."
05-032 Mendicant Bias was a Contender-class Forerunner Artificial intelligence. He was the most advanced Forerunner AI at the time of his creation, and was charged with organizing Forerunner defense against the Flood before his defection to the Gravemind, who ultimately caused him to become rampant, and turn against his creators. A Contender-Class A.I. is made up of many different AI. minds, is hyper intelligent.
Loadout
Ranged: Powerful sentinel beam, pulse beam.
Bias is more for leading and less for fighting though if caught in a deadly situation he could defend himself with traditional sentinel weaponry.
Defense: Sentinel Shielding, Energy Shielding
Energy shields
Special: Sentinels! The Sentinels included in the air section are under his control. In the actual forerunner wars, he commanded a fleet of over 5 miilion automated ships. For this battle he will possess several thousand sentinels of various types, with the option of creating more if deemed necessary.
Additional Factors:
- Extremely competent tactician- Bias was able to destroy the maginot sphere, and was winning battles against the forerunner navy with his fleet of 5 million ships.In fact a significant reason the Forerunners lost was because of him. It took an even more intelligent AI to finally defeat him.
-Very creative
-Created for the sole purpose of defeating gravemind, but defected over to the flood after the gravemind presented very convincing arguments
Keymind:
More like a minor Class then actual named heroes, a Key Mind is an exceptionally advanced form of the virulent Flood. Several were formulated to allow the Gravemind to stamp out the Forerunners with pure strategic might and the use of Precursor technology in the Forerunner-Flood War. Each Key Mind possessed processing power and strategic skill that easily matched that of a Metarch-level Ancilla, Such as Mendicant Bias and Offensive Bias. Being a compound, distributed intelligence, each Key Mind was an extremely large and well developed instance of the Gravemind entity, though not quite as good as the real thing. For this battle the Flood shall have two.
===Calvary===
The flood have no true cavalry units, though they are capable of driving captured enemy vehicles.In fact they are well known to hijack Covenant and UNSC vehicles, and even use them tactically, and for this battle they shall have a few of the following of the most common vehicles:
Name: Ghost/Type 32 Rapid Attack vehicle
Type of armour: Light Covenant alloy armour
Weapon Type: twin plasma weapons
Speed: 60/90 km per hour
Cavalry purposes: recon/infantry support
Classification: Light rapid attack vehicle
Basic description: A one man gravity effect vehicle which is the Covenant's go to vehicle for reconaisance and infantry support.
==LOADOUT==
Armaments: Type 2-Direct energy cannons: A scaled up version of standard Covenant plasma weapons, the twin guns on the ghost are designed to provide a power output of 259 Kw with a rate of fire of 1000 rounds per minute. These twin plasma cannons are designed to function as anti-armour; easily destroying light and medium armoured vehicles as well as infantry of even the heaviest armour. Also the weapon is designed for long periods of automatic firing without overheating as seen in Covenant personal weapons.
Defence: The armor is standard Covenant armour plating, it is only light however and will not last long in the face of heavy weapons or massed volley fire from infantry.
Special: The Ghost's Boosted Gravity engine has an overdrive function which boosts the speed up to 90 km per hours at the cost of manoeuvrability. Drivers of ghosts frequently use this overdrive to splatter infantry forces who get in the way.
Additional factors: The Driver is virtually naked, protected only by the front.
M12 Force Application Vehicle (Warthog)
Type of Armor: Titanium
Weapon Type: Variable
Speed: 78MPH
Calvary Purpose: The M12 can be configured to become a troop carrier, armament carrier, ambulance, reconnaissance vehicle, or communications vehicle.
Classification: All-terrain vehicle
Basic Description: The M12 FAV Warthog is the UNSC's primary ground vehicle, used for its scouting and reconnaissance capacity, or as an integral part of a mechanized infantry unit; the M12 has been a part of the UNSC's armored vehicle fleet for fifty years, and is the most recognizable vehicle in their arsenal. All designs can carry up to 3-4 people ; either a driver, passenger and gunner OR 1 driver/3 passengers.
LOADOUT:
Armament: (see Special)
Defense: Titanium hull
Special: Variations:
Since there is no set version of the Warthog, I will detail their variations.
-Light Reconnaissance Vehicle: Carries a Machine Gun that can fire up to 550 armor piercing rounds per minute.
- M12A1 Light Anti-Armor Vehicle : The M12A1 is equipped with a mounted 102mm SC-HE Rocket Turret which fires three 102mm rocket projectiles and requires four seconds to reload when the magazine was depleted.
- M12G1:
The M12G1 LAAV is one of the UNSC's few dedicated anti-armor vehicles, designed to quickly and efficiently defeat lightly armored vehicles such as Chopper" and "Ghost". The Gauss 'Hog is almost exactly the same in every detail to the standard M12 "Warthog" FAV except that it is equipped with a mounted M68 Gauss Cannon which fires 25mm hypersonic speed projectiles by asynchronous magnetic acceleration in the base of the cannon. It takes about a half a second to recharge between cannon shots.
- M12R Light Anti-Aircraft Vehicle: The M12R LAAV is designed to quickly and efficiently defeat lightly armored vehicles such as Type-48 LAGC "Revenant" and Type-32 RAV "Ghost". The Rocket 'Hog is almost exactly the same in every detail to the standard M12 "Warthog" FAV except that it is equipped with a mounted M79 MLRS which fires six 65mm rockets per volley every two to three seconds. Its rockets are capable of locking onto aircraft only, and can fire 6 of them before having to reload.
-M831 Troop Transport: The M831 is first and foremost a transport used to quickly ferry troops from one location to another. While obviously an important piece of UNSC field equipment, the M831 is rarely committed to combat because of its equally obvious lack of weaponry, with the rear bed of the vehicle featuring an expanded seating compartment. In its most common and optimal configuration the M831 has a transport capacity of four passengers, though with others it is possible to seat up to ten.
While uncommon in this role, the M831 can be used for offensive purposes. When properly armed the vehicle's crew and passengers can cover nearly all angles of fire at a given time, giving it a type of lethality not see in other Warthog variants.
Additional Factors:
- can travel 490 miles before needing to refuel.
- Role: Light reconnaissance, hit and run, mechanized infantry.
-Weakness: can roll over if caught on a sharp turn, driver/passenger side exposed.
===Armor====
M808 Main Battle Tank (Scorpion)
Weapon Type: Cannon/Machine Gun
Armor Type: Ceramic-Titanium
Speed: 33mph
Classification: Tank
Basic Description: The M808 Main Battle Tank, commonly known as the Scorpion, is the most common armored fighting vehicle employed by the UNSC during the Human-Covenant war, where it is used in operations requiring heavy firepower or an anti-vehicular platform. Combining firepower, resiliency and mobility, the Scorpion has proven itself formidable and earned the respect of friend and foe alike.
LOADOUT:
Armament :
-M512 Smooth Bore High Velocity Cannon : The M512 90mm SBHVC is the primary weapon of the M808B Main Battle Tank, and is mounted on the rear of the tank's chassis. The weapon's design remains for the most part unchanged from 20th century tanks, the 90mm cannon is mounted in a fully traversing turret weapon mount, this allows the cannon to rotate 360 degrees and to move -10 to approximately +60 traverse. A gyroscope is used to stabilize the cannon, allowing it to be effectively aimed and fired at the "short halt" or on the move. In Halo it can take out all but the strongest covenant vehicles in a single shot. It can hold canister shots that would be devastating against infantry units.
- M247T Medium Machine Gun : Machine Gun that fires armor piercing rounds.
Defense: Titanium Hull
Ceramic-Titanium armoring makes it almost invulnerable to small-arms fire and easily shrugs off normal ballistic and plasma weapons, while anti-mine software and electronics provide additional protection
Special:
Additional Factors:
- Up to 4 infantry can ride along its side.
Name: Wraith/Type-26 Assault Gun Carriage
Armour Type: Heavy Covenant polymer armour
Speed: slow/speed bursts
Classification: Anti-infantry/anti-armour unit
Basic description: The Wraith is the Covenant's go-to heavy assault vehicle. They are deployed to serve both as anti-armour and anti-infantry. Wraiths are sleek and bulbous; resembling an aircraft almost. Inside the cockpit the pilot is given a holographic 360 degree view of everything around the Wraith. The whole craft is wrapped in two feet of polymer armour that UNSC science does not understand.
Armaments: The Wraith is equipped with a type-3 plasma mortar that lobs balls at plasma in a parabolic arc. The plasma mortars are useful for long range bombardment as the parabolic arc allows the gunner to fire without having a line of sight. Upon exploding, the magnetic bubble holding the plasma bursts and releases a torrent of hot plasma in a twenty meter radius. After the plasma cools, thermal expansion takes place; resulting in a wave of fire which travels an additional twenty feet outside the original blast radius. This wave of fire can also produce a concussive wage which can literally burst internal organs.
In addition to that, the Wraith has two automatic plasma guns for anti-infantry protection. These guns are identical to the type-2 plasma guns on the undercarriage of the ghost. Some newer variants of the Wraith have a single type-2 plasma cannon onboard that is manned by a single gunner.
Additional factors:
The Wraith is driven by a boosted gravity drive which has an overdrive function lie the ghost. The Wraith can only overdrive for a few seconds, resulting in a burst of speed that can splatter foes across the Wraith's 47 ton bulk or get it out of a tight spot in a hurry. Like all Covenant ground vehicles, the Wraith can strafe left or right at nearly full speed.
Flood Heavy Forms:
* Many of these forms come from the Forerunner books or lore, so I won't be able to find much in the way of pictures.
Name: Thrasher form
*Weapon Type: Tentacles, legs
*Armor Type: hardened calcium, large size and natural flood durability
Mobility: 6
Formal Training: 5
Basic Description: The Thrasher Form is similar in purpose and behavior to the Flood Tank Form, but larger and somewhat resembling a Thorn Beast. It is intended to quickly get close to enemy ground units, using a devastating melee attack to deal significant damage.
Loadout: - Ranged: None
Melee- They appear as large, bulky creatures with tentacles that wildly thrash (hence its name) and walk on all four appendages. They attack by ramming themselves into units, or by swiping with their front legs.
Additional Factors:
Weaknesses- Same as all flood forms, they are weaker to fire and beam type weaponry. Purely melee. Cannot attack or defend against flying enemies.
Strengths- great anti-infantry and light vehicle. Very devastating melee attack easily takes out most infantry units.
Name: Devourer form
*Weapon Type: tentacles
*Armor Type: Size, flood durability, calcium armor
Mobility: 5 (8) The devourer form is rather slow on the ground, moving about the pace of a running human. It has the ability to float though, allowing it to move to new locations and drop in on enemies.
Formal Training: -5, instinctive flood training
Basic Description: The flood devourer form is a very large pure form that saw great use in the beginning stages of the fore-runner flood war. The Devourer can ingest even the most heavily armored foes and turn them into flood biomass. Alternatively, it can also hold down enemies with its tentacles and make it easier for infection forms to get to them. They always seem to be accompanied by flying infection forms. Uncommon for flood, it has one large eye located in its gaping maw. This form seems rather intelligent, and was capable of infiltrating enemy fortresses.
Loadout: - Melee: This large form had numerous tentacles that could be used for thrashing, capturing enemies and feeding them into its large maw.
Additional Factors:
Weaknesses- No known ranged weaponry, this form would need to get close to have an effect on the battlefield. It is also large and slow, making it a target for enemies artillery.
Strengths- Very large and intimidating, this form was more than a match for even the most heavily armored infantry units. It would also have no problem dealing with many ground based vehicles.
Name: Flood titans
*Weapon Type: Melee
*Armor Type: Very Hardened Calcium
Mobility: 3. They had several spider like legs but were rather large and slow.
Formal Training: - 5
Basic Description: The flood titan was a gigantic flood form that appeared as a heavily armored onsite infection form factory. It spewed clouds of infection forms and spores out of a chimney like vent on its back.
Loadout: -Tentacles- the Flood titan had a large maw that was filled with tentacles. When under attack it would retract them into its maw, and rely on its more durable armor to deal with the attack.
Ranged- the Titan would spew forth clouds of infection forms and spores that it grew inside of its body.
Additional Factors:
Weaknesses- very large and slow, it was much taller than most flood forms and could be targeted by artillery
Strengths- It was rather ridged for a flood form, suggesting very heavy armor. It was also an important support unit as it was capable of creating hundreds of flying infection forms at a time and delivering them right onto the battlefield.
Name: Flood walkers
*Weapon Type: melee
*Armor Type: hardened calcium
Mobility: 6
Formal Training: - 5
Basic Description: the flood walkers were comprised of many misscelanious flood forms who all filled the same role of walking cavalry. Some of them were 4 legged with several large tentacles attached to the front, while others were unusual dinosaur like bipeds who kept their tentacles hidden in their maws while idle. Still others were odd spider like beasts. They saw much use during the forerunner-flood wars.
Loadout: - melee- Flood walkers were like smaller, faster version of the large flood thrasher, and used thrashing tentacles to fight enemies.
Additional Factors: Transport- the walker forms seem capable of holding several infection forms, and possibly even serving as mobile platforms for ranged forms if the gravemind see it fit.
Name: Flood kraken
*Weapon Type: Tentacles, mass
*Armor Type: Hardened calcium, insane durability due to massive size
Mobility: 2 these forms were very large and slow, and they dragged themselves along with their tentacles.
Formal Training: -5
Basic Description: these colossal gravemind-like horrors were the largest flood forms seen on the battlefield. They were gigantic, building sized beast capable of damaging and leveling even forerunner structures. Much like the gravemind they wielded powerful tentacles and could easily make short work of any infantry, cavalry or armored units. They saw great use in the Forerunner-flood wars as siege weapons.
Loadout: -Tentacles- these massive beasts used their tentacles and great size to level buildings by ripping into them, getting on top of the buildings or tearing down the supports. They can also scale buildings if they are large enough by pulling themselves along with tentacles.
Additional Factors:
Siege weapons- any fortifications will have to deal with this massive beast. Any openings in the structure provide ways for the kraken to reach in and consume the being hiding within.
Flood hive basis- the krakens easily have enough biomass to settle down and become foundations to flood hives.
Anti-aircraft: any aircraft that got near could be swatted down with the smaller tentacles that bristled on their surface.
===Air===
Name: Food Swarms
*Weapon Type: ranged, melee
*Armor Type: none
Mobility: 9
Training: 5, instinctive training
Basic Description: Flood Swarms are one of two type of flying Flood forms. They usually travel in groups, and attack with barbed projectiles. They are relatively weak, but can easily dispatch most infantry. Individual Flood Swarms have low health and do less damage than other Flood forms. They counter this by flying in groups of 15 to 25 members. When in a group, the Flood Swarms keep moving. This reduces damage to the individual forms, as one is more likely to spread damage over multiple Swarms. Another advantage of them being in a flock is that their normally slow fire becomes more quick fire; Flood forms that are ready to fire move to the front of the group, fire, and then head to the rear.
Loadout: -Barbed projectiles- The flood swarms fire barbed projectiles similar to the ranged forms. While not dangerous alone, a large group of these can eliminate most infantry units quite easily. They appear to not fly very accurately unless they have a specific point where they are supposed to go. They then pursue that target until the target or itself dies or the target significantly outpaces the Swarm. These parasites are very effective against small groups of light vehicles or infantry. When a group of Swarms first encounters an enemy, these monsters will almost always immediately begin shooting at the target regardless of range, dealing a large amount of damage in a short time. After the initial barrage, they will fire in a volley pattern, a few Swarms going to the front, firing, and then returning to the rear. Any enemy will be under considerable fire.
Additional Factors:
--Weaknesses- Very low health can be taken out individually. Rather ineffective against heavily armored vehicles and aircraft. Projectiles are not very damaging alone.
-Strengths- in swarms, these forms are capable of destroying any infantry unit and even vehicles such as wolverines. very damaging to small groups of scouts and recon.
-Very common- in halo wars they are common in groups of 15-20, though halo wars is centered around skirmishes with rather low numbers of units. In a 1 million+ army battle, swarm forms will be common enough to fill the skies.
-Flood swarms are infected flying natives. Flood dens seem to be capable of reproducing these forms though, either that or what ever host form they came from was extremely common. It may be possible for flying animals native to the battlefield to be infected into swarm species.
Name: Flood Bombers
*Weapon Type: Biological
*Armor Type: none
Mobility: 7- slow but airborne
Training: -5 instinctive training
Basic Description: The Flood Bomber Form is an airborne Flood form that was encountered during the Battle of the Flood-controlled Shield World in February 2531. It attacks by dropping growth pods full of infection forms on enemies. It is usually spawned through either a Flood den, vent or colony.
Loadout: - Flood growth pods. These don’t cause too much damage on their own, but they release a bunch of infection forms and spores right into enemy lines.
Additional Factors:
--Weaknesses- Rather slow and easy to kill. They are also quite irrelevant due to flying infection forms, but their ability still adds shock value to.
--Strenghts- can deliver infection forms into hard to reach areas, making the tactic of “holding the line” useless for the enemy.
Name: Flying infection form
*Weapon Type: infection
*Armor Type: none
Mobility: 9- quite fast, and they can fly effortlessly, seemingly through the use of lighter than air gases.
Training: -5, instinctive training
Basic Description: In some situations, such as on city-scape planets, Ground based flood infection forms lack the mobility to get around effectively. To get around this, infection forms are outfitted with gas bladders and propulsions systems that allow them to fly with great speed and agility. Aside from their ability to fly, they are identical to normal infection forms.
Loadout: - See infection form
Additional Factors:
Weaknesses- no armor, just as easy to kill as normal infection forms
Strengths- can fly, making it much harder for enemies to “hold the line” in order to prevent infection
Great numbers make it easy to swarm ground troops.
Very common- Just as common, if not more so, than normal infection forms. In areas where ground transport would be hard, like a planet covered completely in city, flying infection forms replace ground forms completely.
Name: Sentinels
*Weapon Type: Ranged beam weaponry.
*Armor Type: Energy shield
Mobility: 8
Formal Training: - 5 sentinels have thousands of years of combat experience, and they were programed to fight the flood and anything that could be perceived as a threat to forerunner culture. However, their limited AI holds them back here.
Basic Description: Sentinels are a broad category of Forerunner-constructed robots designed to suppress Flood outbreaks, construct Forerunner structures and protect Forerunner technology from alien lifeforms. To this end, they possess limited artificial intelligence, and boast a wide range of weaponry and equipment. Following the construction of the Halos, Sentinels were built to serve as the first line of defense against Flood outbreak and external instrusion. The non-organic composition of the Sentinels make them ideal combat units against the Flood, an enemy which thrived upon the biomass of their fallen enemies - by deploying the Sentinels en masse, the Forerunners could battle the parasite without contributing to its numbers. Controlled by their own basic AI functions, as well as their Installation's Monitor, Sentinels patrol the Halo rings and destroy anything deemed to be a threat. Sentinels are grayish-white in color, and have two arm-like appendages with two grapple fixtures at the end of each arm, along with a central "head" and a curved undercarriage containing a Sentinel Beam. The form of a Sentinel may differ depending on the situation of their Installation. Their powerful offensive beam weapons and defensive energy shield make them very effective in combat against intruders or foreign objects that present themselves as threats. Their smaller lasers are used for both repairing damaged Forerunner constructs, and self-repair should the Sentinel be damaged in combat. Sentinels are propelled by both an anti-gravity unit located on the undercarriage and small engines on the back of the unit. Thanks to the defection of 05-032 Mendicant Bias, the flood will gain units of sentinels to aide them in combat.
Loadout: - Sentinel Beam- The Sentinel Beam is a Forerunner Directed Energy Weapon. Sentinel Beams are often integrated into the Sentinels from whom the weapons take their name. The weapon is particularly effective against small Flood outbreaks and energy shields.
Additional Factors:
Weaknesses- They are capable of traveling at high speeds but cannot sustain long range travel. The Sentinel's energy shield is its primary defense mechanism - once taken down, the Sentinel is susceptible to any type of small arms fire
Strengths- When the Sentinel has been damaged beyond repair, the Sentinel explodes violently and releases a powerful EMP blast. This is a strategic last resort, as the blast will disable any nearby electronics, including any weapons the enemy may be using.
Uncommon- normal sentinels are rather weak on the battlefield, and will only see use around flood colonies and hives.
Variants
Different variants of the Sentinel have been utilized for different combat roles, and can vary from construct to construct; the following is a list of all known variants of the Sentinel.
Sentinel Major
Sentinel Majors are larger, more powerful Sentinel models used for heavy combat situations. They provide backup for Enforcers in the event of a massive Flood outbreak or attacks on the Halo Installations.
Enforcer
Essentially heavy Sentinels, Enforcers are equipped with a variety of offensive and defensive weaponry, including Pulse Beams, Missile Projectiles, Sentinel Beams, and dual Energy Shields covering both their top and bottom halves. They are designed to handle major Flood outbreaks but are also capable of defending their Halo Installation from external threats.
Onyx Sentinel
Onyx Sentinels both guard and make up the Shield World of Onyx. With the ability to combine themselves in order to increase their overall beam power, as well as a much more powerful individual beam, Onyx Sentinels are formidable opponents.
Super Sentinel
Considerably larger than normal Sentinels, Super Sentinels fill the same role of combating outside threats.
Protector Sentinel
Roughly similar in appearance to regular Sentinels, Protector Sentinels occupy varying roles, from healing or shielding other units to offensive capabilities similar to other sentinels.
===MISC AIR====
D77-TC Pelican
Type of Aircraft: Gunship
Purpose of Aircraft: Rapid insertion, dropship, Resupply
Classification: Troop Carrier
Basic Description:
The D77-TC Pelican, formally known as the Dropship 77-Troop Carrier and commonly known as the Pelican, is an extremely versatile space-to-ground capable craft used by the United Nations Space Command, mainly for the pickup and transportation of personnel, vehicles and equipment, as well as a powerful gunship. The Flood used this ship to airdrop in infected forms in the assault on High Charity.
Loadout:
Armament:
Pelican armament offers a lot of customization
Single or twin-linked nose-mounted projectile weapons: M370 autocannon (standard), 40mm chain gun, large-caliber rotary machine gun
Two ANVIL-II Air-to-Surface Missile pods (eight missiles each) (optional)
One internally mounted AIE-486H Heavy Machine Gun or M247 General Purpose Machine Gun (optional)
One optional 25mm Grenade Launcher
Defense: Light Titanium Hull
- Also hardened against an EMP
Special/ Detailed Purpose: Transport
The Pelican is capable of carrying up to seventy tons of passengers and cargo using a combination of internal and external methods. The main compartment of the Pelican is sometimes called the "blood tray”. Optimally, the "blood tray" has enough compartment space for ten seated people, but can hold five additional standing people, though the Pelican can carry many more passengers if necessary. However, this increased payload capacity is sometimes due to internal modification. It could probably carry a ton of infection forms, which is why the Flood used them to airdrop these in.
Additional Factors:
The dispersal pod is a Flood dissemination mechanism. In essence, and in practice, the Flood dispersal pod is the equivalent of the SOEIVs used by UNSC Orbital Drop Shock Troopers and the orbital insertion pods used by Sangheili Special Forces. The dispersal pod uses hardened Flood biomass to shape the pod and protect the occupant from the stresses of orbital deployment. In Forerunner times they were deployed in such numbers that they blocked out the sky. They were also used to flood High Charity in Infection Forms.
===Support===
Name: Flood Den
*Weapon Type: none
*Armor Type: calcium armor regeneration
Mobility: 0
Formal Training: -N/A
Basic Description: these flood barracks have no attacks on their own, but they are capable of endlessly churing out Pure forms and infection forms.
Loadout: - other flood forms
Additional Factors: They take a lot of damage, and a lot of concetrated purging to fully put down. If damage is not sufficient they can come back from a dormant state.
Name: Flood spores
*Weapon Type: Infection/ Choking if there is enough of them.
*Armor Type: none
Mobility: 9 they appear as great clouds. Most of the time they simply fill the atmoshphere, but other times they can travel in a coordinated effort, actively seeking out enemies.
Formal Training: -5
"
"One single Flood spore can destroy a species."
—Rtas 'Vadum"
Basic Description: Flood Spores are the most basic of Flood forms that are crucial in the formation of Flood hives. Spores are also used as methods of suffocating future hosts and clearing the area of uninfected hostiles. It is not known if spores take a specific form or if they are just any type of floating Flood biomass. Spores linger through the air clogging air filtration systems and making it easier to infect hosts. If a spore lands in an area that can support it, it will form Flood Growth Pods. If the area does not have enough biomass to support a Flood Growth Pod, the spore will spread over floors and walls until it covers as much as it can. It is possible that if a non-infected host inhales or becomes covered with these spores, then the host may be infected through lysogenic replication, or the body will be dissolved into the necessary nutrients demanded for the Flood to create the various forms needed at the time.
Loadout: Selves. The flood spores are present in such numbers that they modify the bioshpre of a planet, give enough time. Body armor with air filtration is the only way to avoid infection once the flood modify the atmosphere, as noted by 343-guilty spark. Unuarmored units who remain exposed to flood spores too long with become infected and turn into combat forms.
Additional Factors:
Terraforming- the great clouds of spores are responsible for creating the flood biomass that covers the surfaces and forms flood hives. The spores can ruin an entire planet. Once the flood gain foothold, it will be very crucial for organic enemy troops to be fully armored and protected from this threat.
Extremely common- the flood spores are produced by a variety of units, and there will be no shortage of them. Aside from completely destroying all flood biomass or wearing body armor that contains filtration devices, there is no real way to counter the flood spores. Even killing other flood forms results in clouds of flood forms spawning.
--The Flood don't start off with a extreme amount of them but will grow them as time goes on.
Name: Flood hive
*Weapon Type: none
*Armor Type: hardened calcium, mass
Mobility: 0
Formal Training: -N/A
Basic Description: The processes that develop a hive begin during the "coordinated stage" of Flood development, once a viable Gravemind has been developed and the Flood has access to a sizable population. The Gravemind is a collection of the sentience and knowledge that has been gathered by the victims of the Flood Parasite. Once a hive has been established, it serves as a base for Flood assaults.
Loadout: -None
Additional Factors:
--Creation: In order for a hive to be founded, the Flood must have access to a suitably large populace and an environment capable of sustaining Flood life. The population of the area has to contain high enough calcium deposits to sustain the Flood parasite.
Once a useful area has been found, the Flood proceed to attack the hosts present, gathering food and biomass. The Flood attack with a strategy relying primarily on numerical superiority. The parasite then begins to pump spores into the atmosphere, restricting breathing for the hosts present, causing them to die of asphyxiation, or weakening them in order to make them less resistant to assimilation. Hosts who are infected will add to the Flood's arsenal. Older Combat Forms will develop into Carrier Forms, which generate more Infection Forms, continuing the cycle.
During this time, Flood Growth Pods start to grow on surfaces. Growth pods are constructed from flesh, and grow at an extraordinary rate. It is unknown how they develop, as this has not been observed, but it is reasonable to assume that they grow from spores that root themselves in a spot capable of sustaining them.
Later Stages
Once the Flood has access to enough calcium, they begin to develop a hardened carapace, onto which they add Flood Super Cells to form Pure Forms, a form of independent Flood drone which has no need for a host. As a result of this development, Combat Forms are relegated to defensive positions or are converted into more pure forms.
The functions of objects, such as doors, are replaced as growth pods grow over the original architecture. Under the Gravemind's orders, life support systems are sabotaged in order to speed up the demise of the inhabitants. The pouch forms eventually consume most or all of the original area. The growth pods grow large, bubble-like growths, which incubate new infection forms, essentially replacing Carrier Forms and further reducing the Flood's dependence on hosts.
Once the process is complete, the Flood disposes of almost all need for new biomass, becoming self-sustaining. Despite this, due to the Flood's natural instinct to infect and consume all life, the parasite rarely becomes content at this stage.
flood colony- Due to the flood being in a coordinated state, there will be no proto-gravemind. Thus, flood colonys will be rare at best, as their main purpose is to house a flood proto-gravemind. These forms are surrounded by large tentacles that can swat away foes.
Before we close here I would like to note, for a final time, that the Flood have the ability to Hijack :
--Enemy Sentient Combatants
--Native Sentient
--Hijack Enemy Vehicles
--and Of course use all their weapons.
===Defensive===
Name: Flood launcher
*Weapon Type: Biomass
*Armor Type: flood durability
Mobility: 0
Formal Training: -5
Basic Description: Flood launchers fire globs of Flood biomass at enemy forces. In Halo Wars, they are used as an anti-air defense, capable of shooting down the evacuation Pelicans for Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie platoons along with other aircraft.
Loadout: - The Flood launcher fires large globs of biomass capable of taking down most aircraft. Occasionally, the Flood launcher's ordnance will release a cloud of Flood spores. Like most other Flood structures, the Flood launcher is extremely resilient and difficult to destroy. Its weapon is quite powerful and can even match the range of a Locust.
Additional Factors:
Weakness- cannot move, much less durable than other flood structures as they can be killed.
Anti-aircraft, anti infantry, anti vehicle. The flood dens are great as all-around artillery units.
Name: Flood Root
*Weapon Type: melee
*Armor Type: none
Mobility: 0
Formal Training: 5
Basic Description: The Flood Root resembles a large tentacle capable of "whipping" units that get close to it.
Loadout: -It is perhaps the equivalent to a defensive Base Turret, although it is unable to attack air units and its effective range seems quite short. When attacking, it will swipe and slam enemy infantry. In some cases it will grab a unit and lift it into the air, causing the unit to dissolve into the same matter that a Flood spore cloud is made of. Against large armies, it is likely that the gravemind would modify these to be much larger to protect against a greater density of enemies.
Additional Factors:
Weakness- Cannot move, short range.
Can turn enemies into spore clouds, infecting the rest of the infantry units around.
===LEADERSHIP PROFILE===
Name: Gravemind
Notable Battlefield Accomplishments:
"I am a monument to your sins"
However, the Flood were growing in number, and were forming a centralized sentient intelligence to coordinate their efforts; the Gravemind, and their "raw computing power" began to overrun the last Forerunner naval countermeasures, which consisted of using Keyship vessels and drawing the Flood into pricey naval engagements which lasted for approximately 300 years. Forerunner commanders realized that their naval tactics were being overcome, and a new solution was necessary if the Forerunners were to pull out of this "stalemate"; a Contender-class Artificial Intelligence, 05-032 Mendicant Bias, was crafted by the Forerunners to directly attack the Gravemind form and any surrounding Flood biomass in an effort to eliminate the central Flood consciousness. At least three installations, the Ark, Onyx Shield World and an unnamed Shield World, were constructed by the Forerunners as shelters for themselves when the Halos fired.
The Gravemind contacted Mendicant Bias and convinced him to abandon the Forerunners and join the Flood cause, convincing him that the Forerunners were so gluttonous and proud as to deny the next step of biological evolution: the Flood. The Gravemind insinuated that by clinging to the legend of the Mantle, the Forerunners had doomed the galaxy to eternal stagnation; the only way for the galaxy to progress was for superior beings to "restart" it. These superior beings, unsurprisingly, took the form of Compound Minds such as Gravemind and Mendicant Bias himself. Convinced by the Gravemind's arguments, Mendicant Bias intentionally became rampant, developed a hatred for his creators and actively worked toward their destruction.
The Forerunners developed a new AI, Offensive Bias, which coordinated the final battle against Mendicant Bias and the Flood. The Gravemind was destroyed or stopped by the first activation of the Halo rings.
Human-Covenant war
Following the Flood outbreak on Installation 05, the Gravemind rebuilt itself deep under the Library of the installation. During the Battle of Installation 05, the Gravemind was capable of utilizing Delta Halo's teleportation grid. After capturing John-117 and the Arbiter, the parasite gave them their "assignments" to stop the Halo's activation, and then teleported them to their respective targets. It is not known how the Gravemind, a non-mechanical Flood form, is able to tap into the teleportation grid although it is possible when the Gravemind captured 2401 Penitent Tangent, he absorbed the knowledge of how to access Halo's teleportation grid, just like Cortana on the first Halo when she was in the Control Center.
Gravemind later used the UNSC In Amber Clad to board the Covenant Holy City High Charity, crashing the frigate into a city wall and releasing numerous Pelicans full of the Flood plague. Within days, he took over the entire city, and all life within it.
The Gravemind initially planned to attack and infest Earth, but through the knowledge of the assimilated Regret (and possibly Mercy), he learned about the Prophet of Truth's plans to use the Ark to remotely activate the entire Halo Array. Realizing the extent of the danger he faced, the Gravemind did not attack Earth but instead used High Charity to make a Slipspace jump and crash-land on the megastructure. He briefly allied with the Chief and the Arbiter to stop Truth from activating the rings, but betrayed them the moment the crisis was averted. The duo managed to escape from their foe and discover Cortana's solution to the Flood—a replacement Halo ring made by the Ark. To activate it, the Chief infiltrates High Charity to retrieve Cortana, who has the Activation Index from the first Installation 04.
"We exist together, two corpses in one grave."
— Gravemind
As the Chief traveled deep into High Charity, he faced multiple Flood forms and heard the Gravemind taunt him, allowing Cortana to briefly send pained messages as he corrupted and tortured the UNSC AI. The Gravemind became increasingly frustrated at the Spartan's progress, becoming suspicious of what Cortana was hiding from him and threatening to "feast upon [the Chief's] bones" if she didn't reveal the secret.
After the Chief rescued Cortana, the Gravemind became enraged, realizing that she planned to use the incomplete Halo to destroy him. He attempted to kill them both, but failed, and the Chief successfully destroyed High Charity, presumably killing the Gravemind. After traveling to Installation 04 (II), however, the Chief discovered that the Gravemind was attempting to rebuild himself on the new Halo. The Gravemind ultimately failed to stop the Chief from activating the ring and destroying him, at least for the time being.
Summary of accomplishments-
Was winning the Forerunner war until the activation of the Halos Convinced an AI to defect to his side
In the 3 way war between the humans, covenant and flood, the flood were the most successful despite their initial numerical disadvantage.
Conquered High Charity in just a few days.
Convinced John-117 and the Arbiter to work on his behalf.
Technically started the Covenant civil War by showing the arbiter the truth of the halo rings.
Defeated the covenant empire in his brief alliance with the SPARTAN and the elite.
Survived his initial destruction and escaped to the new Halo in order to rebuild himself.
In conclusion, the gravemind was by far the most influential individual of the halo series, even more so than John-117.
Personality:
The Good: The Gravemind is very confident and collected most of the time. The Gravemind is not violent when it doesn't benefit him; this is what makes a Gravemind a key stage in Flood evolution. Unlike the savage and single-mindedly bloodthirsty Combat and Pure Forms that precede and obey him, the Gravemind is able to analyse situations and avoid confrontation when it is necessary for the Flood's continued survival. Therefore, unlike the Tyranids, the gravemind can and will ally with native species if he deems the alliance more useful than their biomass. He has worked with and helped John-117 and the arbiter multiple times. He is also known to be quite manipulative: in Halo 2, Gravemind tricks the Chief into being a decoy to distract the High Prophets as he attempts to take over High Charity, and in Halo 3, he helps the Master Chief and the Arbiter to kill the Prophet of Truth, only to betray them when they have outlived their usefulness. It is also notable that the original Gravemind was able to convince the Forerunner AI 05-032 Mendicant Bias to join his cause and turn his fleet upon the Forerunners by telling him that the Flood are the next step of evolution and that the Forerunners are denying it.
The Bad: The Gravemind becomes extremely irritated and enraged when unforeseen events happen. An example of this would be the anger he shows when John-117 makes improbable progress through high charity to rescue cortana. The gravemind also fails to see why other living races hate the flood so much. He views flood assimulation as the perfect society, and wonders why other races wouldn’t want to be a part of it.
Style of Leader: Hive mind: The gravemind has full control of all flood forms. He can speak through them, get them to do more specific tasks, and prevent them from attacking sentients. The Gravemind is like a puppeteer to the rest of his swarm. Another analogy would be that the gravemind is a brain, while the flood swarm is his body.
"There is much talk, and I have listened, through rock and metal and time. Now I shall talk, and you shall listen."
Leader X-factors:
Adaptive Creativity/Resourcefulness: 70/100:
The gravemind is responsible for all of the success of the flood. He uses very creative situations, such as allying with enemies. He also figured out how to use the Halo teleportation grid. The gravemind molds his army as he sees fit, which leads to the floods extreme adaptability. He can create new forms of flood if they are needed to fight certain enemies or discontinue certain forms if he deems them a waste of biomass.
Tactics: 86/100:
The flood display great tactics in battle, using a variety of tactics to overcome enemies. While normally swarm tactics are all that’s needed, the gravemind is capable of calling upon his vast bank of knowledge that he gains from every host that becomes part of the flood. He has the combined tactical knowledge of various forerunner, human and covenant leaders. The gravemind was able to overcome even the most brilliant naval commanders of the forerunner military and practically win the war. He is also willing to form allegiances if they help with the continuation of his species. Still he has lost to inferior foes before and hasn't technically won any war overall, which lowers his score (here and Strat)
Strategy: 81/100:
The gravemind has defeated the forerunners, the covenant, and could have easily defeated the UNSC if it had been more important than not activating Halo. The flood was the most successful faction of the Human-covenant war, and was defeating the forerunners for the duration of that war. However he gets rated down a bit since he hasn't TECHNICALLY won a war or prolonged conflict yet, even if he made all of them pyrrythic or barely victories for his foes.
Intuition: 78/100:
The graveminds near omniscience and vast intellect allow him to almost always predict future events accurately, This is part of the reason for his massive success. Events and battles pretty much fall into place due to his foresight, and he was responsible for most of the events in Halo 2 and 3. The score is slightly lowered though because he has been wrong quite a few times before, such as when he failed to see that john-117 could be so successful against him.
Audacity: 81/100: The gravemind himself does not actually participate in battle directly, though he has led his army into daring situations before. The lack of fear in his troops makes them charge without hesitation. The gravemind is not a simple swarm mind though, and he will retreat if he deems it more important.
Psychological Warfare: 71/100:
Very high. The gravemind has tortured AIs into rampancy with nothing but pure insults and taunts. He also can telepathically torment someone like he tried to with john-117. He is very manipulative and caused other AIs to defect to his side, and can convince former enemies to join him with bargins. The Gravemind is a master of Psychological warfare, and this will be very important at breaking alliances in his enemy troops, getting units to defect to him and convincing native species to join his cause. And yet he requires huge amounts of swarm tactics and destructive force, as well as the lost lives of millions of his kind to win wars. Also that Forerunner AI feat took a whopping 43 years!
Experience: 99/100:
The gravemind has fought in 3 known major wars, and was only defeated once through biological warfare. He is now aware of this, and will seek to avoid the same thing from happening again. He has fought centuries long wars with a tier 1 class sentient and would have won can the forerunners not wiped out all sentient life in the galaxy. Oh and apparently he has memories from god creatures now, so that bumps the score. The gravemind also possess the skills, knowledge and experience of ever sentient who was ever assimulated into the flood from its inception until the present.
Intelligence: 90/100:
Once again, the Gravemind possesses the combined knowledge of billions of assimilated sentients.
Discipline: 71/100:
The gravemind is usually calm and confident in himself, but when his foresight is wrong he becomes extremely irritated and enraged.
Leadership: 99/100:
The gravemind and the flood swarm are one. There is no true autonomy amongst the individual flood forms as long as the gravemind is controlling them. His leadership is so great he can even convince his enemies to fight for him, even after betraying them beforehand!
Corruption: 60/100:
The gravemind uses underhand tricks and manipulates foes into doing his bidding, but he is not truly evil. As a species, he believes that the flood is the pinnacle of evolution and that all life should want to be a part of the flood. His compassion for the flood is what drives him to do whatever it takes to ensure the survival of the flood and the assimilation of all sentient life.
"Resignation is my virtue; like water I ebb, and flow. Defeat is simply the addition of time to a sentence I never deserved... but you imposed."
Additional Factors:
- He is much like a wireless network in which the actual gravemind is only the control center. The gravemind can survive if the body is destroyed, it just can’t control the rest of the flood during this period. However, one of the main objectives of the flood is to form a gravemind, sohe can be quickly rebuilt if needed. His consciences and intellect remains intact even if his physical form is destroyed.
- rarely participates physically in the fight.
- has telepathy
- can somehow access mechanical files, possess some form of technopathy.
Breathes thick clouds of flood spores that he seemingly controls (he was able to prevent them from infecting the arbiter)
Extremely massive. Is about 300 feet tall, and has a mass of tentacles that extend for many miles
Nearly omniscient and can use tentacles and “see” through other flood forms even if his “head” is thousands of miles away
Can interrupt online and radio communications somehow.
Very durable- the gravemind is hard to kill, and even blowing up the city he was in could not kill him. It took an explosion on near planetary scales to put him down (for now).
===Army X-factors===
Morale: 90/100:
The flood are relentless in their goal to absorb all life. However, the graveminds attitude towards preserving his own species lower this score from a perfect, as he can be forced into retreat if he views no possible way to win.
*Logistics: 89/100
As long as there are animals and ample biomass, the flood can survive in almost any habitable environment, regardless of atmosphere. This is a species that can survive in the vaccum of space and under water. though they are a bit more sluggish in the cold and weak to very hot environments (like mustafar and desert climates)
Espionage: 55/100: the flood don’t even need specialized forms to infiltrate the enemy. All they need to do is infect them with flood spores, and the enemies memories belong to the flood. This still doesn't take away from the fact that they don't bother to sabotage, infiltrate, or assassinate their foes.
Discipline: 95/100 (20/100):
They have enough autonomy to complete their funcitons in the heat of battle, but other than that they are simply extensions of the gravemind. If the gravemind is killed or not present, they become savage and focus only on the consumption of all life and rebuilding the gravemind.
Overall Army Intimidation: 85/100
They may not be as scary looking as tyranids, but their rotting appearance, disgusting forms and threat of infection are enough to drive most races into panic. Watching your friend get painfully tested into a combat form is truly terrifying, and this has been known to drive marines who witnessed the act into insanity.
Misc x-factors:
Reinforcement Rate: Nightmarish high
The Flood can create thousands, if not millions, of infection form right on the battlefield per day. Their spores can infect any unarmored life forms and turn them into flood, as can infection forms. As long as their structures are up and running they will endlessly spew forth more flood. Once they reach the hive stage they are capable of creating pure forms without having to take in additional biomass. At their peak and assuming a plenty full of sentient they can out-produce even the Tyranids and Zerg. . In the span of a week after planet fall, the flood could have easily infected half the life on the planet, filled the atmosphere with spores and created massive flood hives. Unless the other faction detects them quickly, they can number in the hundreds of millons (counting infection and swarm forms, ground forces will be much less than that.) by the time the battle officially starts.
PAST OPPONENTS:
Ancient Humans: The flood fought the ancient humans, who were just as advanced as forerunners but less numerous and more militaristic. They were forced to retreat after the humans, who studied the flood extensively for decades, developed a biological weapons that turned the flood against itself. The Gravemind, impressed, voluntarily retreated and let humanity live (note: this was confirmed in latest Forerunner novel)
Foreunners: When they returned, they caught the forerunners off guard. By the time the forerunners realized the threat, they were vastly outmatched. Despite their advanced technology and massive armies of inorganic troops, the forerunners practically lost the war. They were forced to destroy all sentient life in the galaxy in order to wipe out the flood, and what ever few forerunners were left retreated beyond the milky way.
The Flood also fought the UNSC on several occasions, though in the feral stage they did not pose too much of a threat. When the flood created a gravemind, they were much more adept, and posed a significant threat to UNSC and covenant forces alike. The gravemind and his temporary allies, John-117 and The arbiter, were able to defeat the Covenant rather quckly. Against the UNSC the Gravemind got experience against devastating World War II era technology, and against the Covenant he got experience against a culture of deluded fanatics. The flood were technically beaten by the UNSC, as it was John-117, cortana and Sergeant Johnson who eventually destroyed the gravemind.
Quality vs. Quantity: Massive quantity
The Flood have the greatest quantity of all factions on the list, as they are the fastest to multiply their forces. They also have some quality forces such as their armor forms and elites, but in general the flood win by overwhelming the enemy. However they do have some quality if they gain a unit that would be considered qualitative (see Forerunners) .
Offensive vs. Defensive: Massive Offensive:
I can't think of a single time I remember the Flood being focused on defending. They almost rely on massed swarm tactics and overwhelming numbers to bury the enemy in bodies.
===ADDITIONAL FACTORS===
-Swarm Telepathy: All flood forms are connected through the graveminds telepathy. Anything the flood forms see, the gravemind also sees. He is also capable of speaking through his individual forms.
--Flood and Pain: The Flood are to be considered highly resistant but not wholly immune to pain, as it certainly seems to bother them less and the lower creatures have no sense of self-preservation.
--Flood and Pain: The Flood are to be considered highly resistant but not wholly immune to pain, as it certainly seems to bother them less and the lower creatures have no sense of self-preservation.
- Overmind semi-Reliant: All flood forms are controlled by the gravemind. However, unlike the arachnids, taking out the gravemind does not weaken the flood too much. They just become more savage and are more likely to resort to simple swarm tactics until the gravemind is rebuilt.
All –Terrain : The flood are perfectly adapted for nearly all-terrain, including vacuums, toxic atmospheres and under water.
-Evolutionary: The flood are one of the most adaptable races. They create new forms for different situations, like flying infection forms in areas where ground travel is impractical and forms to combat flying enemies. Theoretically the flood can create a form for almost any task, though their normal forms are usually more than good enough to win.
- Infection- almost all flood forms are capable of at least carrying spores and infection forms. Even if the enemy manages to kill the footsoldiers, they still have to find a way to combat the spores.
--Combat Doctrine/Behavior:
While possessing an unusual sentient intelligence, with Combat Forms still retaining extremely high-level cognitive functions such as vehicular operation, traits such as dexterity and complex battlefield tactics are notably lacking in the Flood, especially in their psychological and combat behavior. While the Gravemind coordinates Flood strategy on a galactic scale, small encounters are not coordinated between individual Flood warriors.
The Flood's strategy is simple: They throw themselves at potential hosts in huge numbers and with any and all weapons available. Flood tactics are based primarily on asymmetrical warfare: the Flood uses all types of its different forms to kill the enemies that it sees. Infection forms swarm across the battlefield in waves, reanimating any corpses they can find, while Combat forms attack and kill any hosts in sight. Pure forms, if present, provide support to Combat forms in a number of ways: Stalker forms move to strategic positions and mutate into either Tank or Ranged forms, which can destroy enemy vehicles or fortifications or provide suppressing fire from afar.
The Flood have a strong preference for close-range combat: combat forms possess abnormally strong melee attacks by whipping their tentacles, capable of lowering a SPARTAN-II MJOLNIR armour’s shields to half its original power with a single hit. Carrier forms cause tremendous devastation at close ranges, and their explosions are extremely devastating to friends and foes alike, with the added benefit of disseminating infection forms in the immediate vicinity of enemies. Infection forms are capable of attacking only at point-blank ranges, exploding in damaging bursts when meeting an opponent's personal energy shields or instantly grabbing hold of an unshielded enemy organism and infecting it. Combat forms can also use firearms, and have only ever been seen clutching them in one hand (regardless of whether it is one-handed or two-handed). However, combat forms struggle with ranged weaponry: it is believed that the neurological ramifications of Flood infection significantly decrease accuracy, as well as weapon recoil if held in only one hand. The Flood are, on the other hand, very effective with heavy weaponry such as the M19 Rocket Launcher or the M90 Shotgun, and are curiously ill skilled with close-quarters weapons such as the Energy Sword. However, it is still possible that a Flood with an Energy Sword can kill a fully shielded Elite or Spartan in one blow.
However, as mentioned previously, the Flood demonstrates a curious higher intelligence despite their poor combat aptitude and coordination. The Flood collectively learn any general information a species possess, even if only one member of that species is assimilated. For example, during the ill-fated raid on the Infinite Succor, after only one Sangheili was infected, the Flood could open any doors and access any system on the ship immediately afterwards, demonstrating that the Flood can share collective knowledge across their species. Furthermore, when the Flood assimilated the Minister of Etiology, the Flood reflected the high-level knowledge of him through its individual organisms to Special Operations Commander Rtas 'Vadumee, mocking him with the words, "the Forerunner could not defeat us...what chance you?". The Flood, however, reflect unusual knowledge in the individual psychologies of its individual species in processes facilitating increased infestation: The Flood were sighted gathering bodies in the corners of the Covenant ship Truth and Reconciliation, perhaps making it easier for Infection Forms to find hosts to reanimate. The Flood were also gathering body parts for a new Brain Form aboard the Infinite Succor.
Flood Combat forms have been sighted crudely operating Ghosts, Warthogs, Wraiths, and Scorpions in ground operations, although with slow deliberation and clumsy driving and accuracy. The assimilated crewmen of the UNSC frigate In Amber Clad were also able to initiate a Slipspace micro-jump for the frigate and perform rudimentary maneuvering of the In Amber Clad, navigating the frigate from the atmosphere of Delta Halo to High Charity and then crashing the vessel into a tower, releasing Pelican dropships to rain down upon the capital.
The Flood's millennia of existence has made the assimilation process extremely brief: hosts killed in a short firefight can be reanimated within seconds to minutes by an infection form, and live creatures can be mutated into fully developed combat forms within the same time frame. Sometimes the rate of the mutations can vary in very rare cases: when Rtas 'Vadumee battled his comrade-turned-combat form Bero 'Kusovai aboard the Infinite Succor, 'Kusovai continued to mutate throughout the duration of the battle at a restrained and constant rate.
--Weakness: Since the Flood is a parasitic life form, they depend on other organisms for survival. Thus, the only logical foolproof way to eliminate them permanently is to take away their food sources
===VICTORY GAINS===
-New forms: The flood will gain new combat forms based around their fallen enemies or native species of the planet. In addition, if they achieve one form the deleted flood forms not included that are in the art book will be canonized for this tournament. They will not absorb non-sentients though.
-Numbers: As Victories increase, so too shall the floods starting number.
-Technological Adaption: High- the flood are capable of using ships, vehicles, weapons and just about anything their host was capable of using. Thus any captured enemy weapons and vehicles defect to the flood
-New memories/mental powers: as the flood continue to absorb more enemies, the intelligence and knowledge of the gravemind increases. Should the flood absorb any psyker type species, the graveminds mental abilities will greatly increase.
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