[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] ROBERTO jh Which is why I was saying the Flood wouldn't be effective against the Chaos gods, though I somehow doubt the God of Pleassure would get much out of the Flood. And the AI vs. Chaos thing was a legitimate question. Anyways, the Flood would be able to navigate it, since they assimilate all of their victim's traits. But let's say they can't: Forerunner slipspace is far more accurate in that it reliably lands you in the proper century and location, and is far safer, seeing as it is not actively trying to kill you. Plus it isn't limited by the likes of the Astrominican, like the Imperium is. It isn't a perfect situation, but it is a very favorable one--for the Flood. My post, btw, ignores the 4 Gods on purpose, seeing as the only thing that could conceivably destroy them would be the Precursors, or Halo, maybe. The material 40K vs. would have a significantly more difficult time with the Flood than maybe even the 'Nids, mainly because the Flood is both an infection and super-powerful galactic horde and the 'Nids are just alien locusts. Both have similar bio-evolution capabilities and are superb adapters, but the Flood turn everything you throw at them back at you ten-fold--technology, knowledge, soldiers, etc.--which is why any universe that has a larger, more powerful population would get swamped faster once the Flood reach the Gravemind stage. Like a dense forest in a forest fire. The Forerunner Flood at their prime far exceeded the required tipping point in their evolution. Everything else in the Haloverse just adds insult to fatality; the Forerunners alone are a galaxy-class insult, squared up with their equals Ancient Man. This is not to say it'd be an easy fight, or even one sided, but the simple mathematical advantage the Flood give is too great to be overcome, perhaps even alone, regardless of the other factions.[/quote] AI vs Chaos has never really been explained because of the near complete lack of AI in the setting. The Nen of Iron were AI and one of their STCs were corrupted by Chaos, but the characters weren't dwelling on their interaction and were more concerened with escaping them. Perfectly true. However, several species have significant presence in the Warp and unless the Flood traverse those currents they are not even going to scratch Commoragh, the Black Library, or any Eldar vessel that decides to hide in there. It should also be noted that Navigators don't need the Astrominican and can navigate without it. The 4/5 gods are iffy, but actions fuel them as well as devotion. Detonating a Halo would be a mass sacrifice to Khorne. Material 40k could beat the Flood as there are several wholly mechanical armies that could be deployed against them (Men of Iron, Necrons, Wraithguards and Wraithlords). As I mentioned before, Men of Gold (Humanity at its prime) also had access to black hole guns and chrono weapons that can destroy everything for hundreds of kilometers with a single shot. Plus, C'Tan which effectively have unlimited power in the material realm. Tyranids turn yourself on you too. It is hypothesized that Zoanthropes are the result of the Swarm devouring Eldar DNA and creating a creature more capable of channeling the Hive Mind. You often liken the Flood to a fire in a forest, but the Imperium has dealt with zombie apocalypses before. Even though they are not the Flood, the principle is similar. Nurgle's Rot is often cause of problems but is contained many times. Even Necromunda gets the odd zombie plague (they even came up with their own scientific name: the neurone plague) but they survive. Bias did some math for me once and calculated that lance batteries output power in excess of several petatonnes. A cruiser is said to be capable of stripping an area down to the mantle with a lance battery. [Edited on 10.01.2012 5:14 PM PDT]