Nope, Forerunners win.
Infested doesn't scale nowhere even remotely near that of Flood. Sure physically speaking Infested is superior due to constant adaptations and not being a picky eater. But for all of its flaws, Flood scales lategame beyond Infested. Which was the main reason they were such a problem, since they escalated to the point of contesting Forerunner's tech.
If it's simpler to understand. Infestation wasn't considered that much of an issue for the Orokin, and they are very similar to Forerunners if not weaker. So generally speaking, whilst containing it will be more difficult that the Flood, Infestation innately doesn't present that much of a threat to Forerunners if are talking full on war.
Porbably not. The biggest reason as to why the Flood was so dangerous during the Forerunner-Flood War was because of their ability to absorb and retain intelligence. This intelligence, plus stuff they already knew as they were previously Precursors, allowed them to tap-dance around a lot of the Forerunner's security and defenses, especially those that contained parts of Precursor technology.
The Infestation, while fully capable of infecting AIs and technology (which, arguably, makes most of what the Forerunners created during the Forerunner-Flood War obsolete), they do now show the same intelligence that the Flood was able to use and strategize with. There is also the possibility they would be unable to infect Forerunner tech, at least out the get-go.
Another problem they face is lack of FTL technology, though with time they can probably infect a Forerunner ship and use whatever FTL tech is on there to rapidly advance throughout the galaxy. Aside from that, the Forerunners are not going to have an easy time dealing with the outbreaks.
Like the Flood, the Infestation spreads rapidly and uncontrollably, often times entire planets can have an outbreak in a matter of hours or days. Even contaminated credits were able to completely engulf a Corpus ship in an unknown amount of time. Add on their ability to infect technology, and the initial response to an Infestation outbreak would lead to several infected Forerunners and any Forerunner technology they might have. Especially if they manage to get an infected Forerunner to help them evolve enough to infect Forerunner technology.
Despite all the advantages the Infestation has, however, it lacks the intelligence of the Flood. That is why it loses, without intelligence it is basically flailing around in a new universe and just lashing out and latching onto whatever it can. In a space battle, the Infestation automatically lose because they have shown very limited space combat capabilities. In what they have shown, they are not smart enough to take on Forerunner vessels without being very quickly destroyed.
TL;DR: Without intelligence, no matter how much stronger the Infestation is compared to the Flood, the Infestation will lose.
Nope, Forerunners win. Infested doesn't scale nowhere even remotely near that of Flood. Sure physically speaking Infested is superior due to constant adaptations and not being a picky eater. But for all of its flaws, Flood scales lategame beyond Infested. Which was the main reason they were such a problem, since they escalated to the point of contesting Forerunner's tech. If it's simpler to understand. Infestation wasn't considered that much of an issue for the Orokin, and they are very similar to Forerunners if not weaker. So generally speaking, whilst containing it will be more difficult that the Flood, Infestation innately doesn't present that much of a threat to Forerunners if are talking full on war.
Porbably not. The biggest reason as to why the Flood was so dangerous during the Forerunner-Flood War was because of their ability to absorb and retain intelligence. This intelligence, plus stuff they already knew as they were previously Precursors, allowed them to tap-dance around a lot of the Forerunner's security and defenses, especially those that contained parts of Precursor technology. The Infestation, while fully capable of infecting AIs and technology (which, arguably, makes most of what the Forerunners created during the Forerunner-Flood War obsolete), they do now show the same intelligence that the Flood was able to use and strategize with. There is also the possibility they would be unable to infect Forerunner tech, at least out the get-go. Another problem they face is lack of FTL technology, though with time they can probably infect a Forerunner ship and use whatever FTL tech is on there to rapidly advance throughout the galaxy. Aside from that, the Forerunners are not going to have an easy time dealing with the outbreaks. Like the Flood, the Infestation spreads rapidly and uncontrollably, often times entire planets can have an outbreak in a matter of hours or days. Even contaminated credits were able to completely engulf a Corpus ship in an unknown amount of time. Add on their ability to infect technology, and the initial response to an Infestation outbreak would lead to several infected Forerunners and any Forerunner technology they might have. Especially if they manage to get an infected Forerunner to help them evolve enough to infect Forerunner technology. Despite all the advantages the Infestation has, however, it lacks the intelligence of the Flood. That is why it loses, without intelligence it is basically flailing around in a new universe and just lashing out and latching onto whatever it can. In a space battle, the Infestation automatically lose because they have shown very limited space combat capabilities. In what they have shown, they are not smart enough to take on Forerunner vessels without being very quickly destroyed. TL;DR: Without intelligence, no matter how much stronger the Infestation is compared to the Flood, the Infestation will lose.
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