I'm not sure whether to put this in Gaming Discussion or Off-Topic Discussion as it's half of each. If a mod feels this thread is misplaced, they should move it.
Who do you like more, the Flood or the Replicators?
For those that have no idea what I'm talking about:
The Flood
The Flood are a parasitic race whose only goal is to assimilate all biomass in the known verse. They operate as a hive mind, controlled by a network of telepathically linked, massive, hyper-intelligent conglomerates of different Flood organisms called Graveminds. Basically, once there are enough Flood in a region, a number of them form together into this one massive Gravemind that coordinates all their efforts so that they may be more effective. These Graveminds are bestowed with the knowledge of all Graveminds and all flood that existed before them and their intelligence is second to none, literally, in the entire galaxy. If measured, their IQ's would exceed 400.
Without other species' biomass, the Flood can only grow so much and can only create a few organisms, referred to as "pure" forms, as they consist purely of repurposed biomass instead of being infected hosts. There are only 4 confirmed pure forms, there are another 3 featured in "The Art of Halo 3," but they are only briefly mentioned and were left out of the game itself. The 4 pure forms are:
Stalker forms are fast, agile, and powerful, but not very resistant to attack. Stalker Forms can also climb on walls and ceilings, although their size makes them fairly easy to hit even when they're trying to evade fire.
Stalker forms can mutate into:
Tank forms are named quite accurately, as they are nearly invulnerable to all forms of attack. The only attacks that seem to work are energy based weapons. It would take upwards of 6 clips from a standard assault rifle firing 7.62x51 or 5.56x45 rounds just to bring one down. Also, all of the rounds must hit the somewhat vulnerable face or stomach to do any damage at all, as all other parts of the body are protected by very thick calcium armor.
Stalker forms can also mutate into:
Ranged forms are also aptly named, as they are the only Flood forms capable of long ranged attacks without some sort of weapon. They fire organic crystaline needles that they grow very rapidly in a launcher of sorts. The needles shatter and fly apart once they have hit their target. This is especially harmful to organisms, as the many tiny shards of the needle can shred the internal organs. The Ranged Forms can hit any target with a few hundred yards as they can fire all their needles at once, one needle usually hits a far away target. Ranged Forms cannot move, but they can mutate back into Stalker Forms at will. The Stalker Forms can mutate into Ranged Forms while on walls and ceilings, making them perfect for cutting off choke points like small hallways and corridors.
Infection forms do exactly what you probably think they would. They infect hosts. They are extremely agile (even more so than head crabs) and they can crawl on walls and ceilings as well. They can jump as high as 20 feet. Infection forms infect hosts by attaching themselves to the head, inserting a few needles into the host body, and using them to inject neurotoxins into the hosts' body that paralyze the host. The infection form then inserts a number of tentacles into the hosts neck and cuts the brain off from the rest of the body. From that point on, the infection form IS the host's body's brain. Then it injects a number of mutagens into the hosts bloodstream, and, by controlling which chemicals it injects and when, it can directly control the mutations the host body undergoes. The only mutation that always happens is the host body's head is bushed back or removed entirely to make room for the Infection Form and its own sensory organs (the red tentacles). Also, infection forms can reanimate dead corpses, even if their bodies have started to decay.
While the look of combat forms varies based on the host's species, the basic concept remains the same. Combat Forms are infected hosts designed to use whatever weapon they had in their hands at the time. The infection form locks the hands closed while it infects the host so that flesh may grow around the weapon and it may become a part of the host itself. Combat forms, while not able to withstand as much attack as pure forms, are still very deadly due to their sheer numbers and their ability to use the weapon the host was using.
Carrier forms, as you can see from the image, are Flood forms used to incubate, transport, and release Infection Forms. They are basically suicide bombers. Once the Infection Forms inside are mature enough, the Carrier Forms head to the enemy and burst open once in proximity, sending Infection Forms flying through the air.
The flood juggernaut is the largest and most powerful Flood form on this list (there is one Flood form featured in Halo Wars called the Flood Thrasher Form, which is bigger and more powerful than the juggernaut, but there aren't any pics of any of the new Flood forms in Halo Wars, nor are there enough details on them to warrant being included in the list. I'm not even sure they're canon). The Flood Juggernaut was excluded from the final version of Halo 2, but was left on the disc itself. Might have been either careless or intention on Bungie's part, but whatever the reason, it's there and it's real. While it has not been confirmed, Flood Juggernauts appear to be pure forms. They are extremely tall, probably 12-16 feet, given that the Master Chief is 7 feet tall and Flood forms can vary in size. The Juggernaut has two long and powerful tentacles with what appear to be pincers that form very sharp weapons when closed, possibly hard enough to pierce through a tank's armor.
The last, and in my opinion, most dangerous Flood "form" is also the smallest. The spore.
Flood Spores can suffocate and infect other organisms, as well as create flood hives. Now, I don't mean they can mutate an organism and control it like an infection form, I mean it can kill the organism and mutate it into a Flood Gestation (also called growth pod, but I prefer the more accurate term) Pod. And if a spore lands in a suitable area, it will start to grow and it will create a flood hive. Essentially, all the flood need to create an entire massive hive is for one spore to get lucky.
An in-depth taxonomic analysis of The Flood [http://nikon.bungie.org/misc/jman571_flood_taxonomy/]Ignore his two theories as to the purpose of the Flood. They have been shown to be incorrect. The Flood were around long before the Forerunners and, in fact, had destroyed another, even more race that came before the Forerunners. When they discovered the Forerunners, they declared war on the "inferior" species. With the help of the Forerunner AI construct Mendicant Bias, who was in control of the Forerunner shield worlds (the hidden worlds designed to shield the Forerunners from the Halos when they were activated). He closed the portals to the shield worlds (two have been confirmed, Onyx and the shield world that is destroyed in Halo Wars), thus preventing the Forerunners from being able to escape once the Halos were activated. Without the help of Mendicant Bias, the Gravemind and the Flood would have been destroyed when the Halo system fired.
The Replicators
The Replicators are a race of extremely advanced machines that was first created by the ancients. The standard replicators are composed of a series of blocks held together and manipulated by the magnetic fields that each block can produce.
They can also form large "queens" that produce more blocks. They can also form intricate machines and they can take over existing technology using nanites. Replicators can also take control of people, as shown in these pictures:
The other form of replicators are the nanite colonies. Advanced forms of the original nanites that can look like and act like any human being. They're like the liquid terminators, except they can read the mind of whoever's form they take without having to kill the person. This lets them act just like real humans. They can inherit memories and even have feelings, although they're easy to differentiate from humans as metal detectors and advanced imaging devices like x-rays and MRI's can spot them easily.
The Replicators became such a threat in Stargate that Stargate SG-1 and the Asgard had to align themselves with Ba'al, their biggest enemy, in order to unlock a weapon capable of destroying them once and for all.
EDIT: For clarification: The Flood wiped out the Precursors and the Forerunners that came after them. The Flood was such a great threat that the Forerunners had to design a network of 7 massive, planet sized rings called Halos. These superweapons are designed to wipe out all life in the galaxy. Since the flood is a fungi and can reproduce asexually through spores, there is no way to eliminate it completely. The only way to destroy the Flood is to starve it to death by killing off its food. The Forerunners had constructed a number of "shield worlds" that were only accessible through special portals at the "Ark." The Forerunner AI, Mendicant Bias, who was in charge of the Shield Worlds, betrayed the Forerunners for the Flood. He was convinced by the Gravemind that the Forerunners were selfish and inferior and that they halted progress, they halted the evolution of the Flood, the ultimate species. Mendicant Bias closed the portals and prevented the Forerunners from escaping. They died when the Halos fired and their entire civilization was destroyed. All that remained was their technology. The Replicators, on the other hand, had almost taken control of a galaxy populated by races not nearly as advanced as the Forerunners.
The Borg
EVERYONE should know who they are. If you don't, just watch Star Trek: The Next Generation and enjoy.
Who do you like more, the Flood or the Replicators?
For those that have no idea what I'm talking about:
The Flood
The Flood are a parasitic race whose only goal is to assimilate all biomass in the known verse. They operate as a hive mind, controlled by a network of telepathically linked, massive, hyper-intelligent conglomerates of different Flood organisms called Graveminds. Basically, once there are enough Flood in a region, a number of them form together into this one massive Gravemind that coordinates all their efforts so that they may be more effective. These Graveminds are bestowed with the knowledge of all Graveminds and all flood that existed before them and their intelligence is second to none, literally, in the entire galaxy. If measured, their IQ's would exceed 400.
Without other species' biomass, the Flood can only grow so much and can only create a few organisms, referred to as "pure" forms, as they consist purely of repurposed biomass instead of being infected hosts. There are only 4 confirmed pure forms, there are another 3 featured in "The Art of Halo 3," but they are only briefly mentioned and were left out of the game itself. The 4 pure forms are:
Stalker forms can mutate into:
Stalker forms can also mutate into:
The last, and in my opinion, most dangerous Flood "form" is also the smallest. The spore.
An in-depth taxonomic analysis of The Flood [http://nikon.bungie.org/misc/jman571_flood_taxonomy/]Ignore his two theories as to the purpose of the Flood. They have been shown to be incorrect. The Flood were around long before the Forerunners and, in fact, had destroyed another, even more race that came before the Forerunners. When they discovered the Forerunners, they declared war on the "inferior" species. With the help of the Forerunner AI construct Mendicant Bias, who was in control of the Forerunner shield worlds (the hidden worlds designed to shield the Forerunners from the Halos when they were activated). He closed the portals to the shield worlds (two have been confirmed, Onyx and the shield world that is destroyed in Halo Wars), thus preventing the Forerunners from being able to escape once the Halos were activated. Without the help of Mendicant Bias, the Gravemind and the Flood would have been destroyed when the Halo system fired.
The Replicators
The Replicators are a race of extremely advanced machines that was first created by the ancients. The standard replicators are composed of a series of blocks held together and manipulated by the magnetic fields that each block can produce.
The other form of replicators are the nanite colonies. Advanced forms of the original nanites that can look like and act like any human being. They're like the liquid terminators, except they can read the mind of whoever's form they take without having to kill the person. This lets them act just like real humans. They can inherit memories and even have feelings, although they're easy to differentiate from humans as metal detectors and advanced imaging devices like x-rays and MRI's can spot them easily.
The Replicators became such a threat in Stargate that Stargate SG-1 and the Asgard had to align themselves with Ba'al, their biggest enemy, in order to unlock a weapon capable of destroying them once and for all.
EDIT: For clarification: The Flood wiped out the Precursors and the Forerunners that came after them. The Flood was such a great threat that the Forerunners had to design a network of 7 massive, planet sized rings called Halos. These superweapons are designed to wipe out all life in the galaxy. Since the flood is a fungi and can reproduce asexually through spores, there is no way to eliminate it completely. The only way to destroy the Flood is to starve it to death by killing off its food. The Forerunners had constructed a number of "shield worlds" that were only accessible through special portals at the "Ark." The Forerunner AI, Mendicant Bias, who was in charge of the Shield Worlds, betrayed the Forerunners for the Flood. He was convinced by the Gravemind that the Forerunners were selfish and inferior and that they halted progress, they halted the evolution of the Flood, the ultimate species. Mendicant Bias closed the portals and prevented the Forerunners from escaping. They died when the Halos fired and their entire civilization was destroyed. All that remained was their technology. The Replicators, on the other hand, had almost taken control of a galaxy populated by races not nearly as advanced as the Forerunners.
The Borg
EVERYONE should know who they are. If you don't, just watch Star Trek: The Next Generation and enjoy.
or how bout the Ori, god like beings 
