Versus Match Mark 33/34 Bolos (Bolo) vs Guardians (Halo)

[Spartan303]

The Combatants:

The Mark 33 Bolo (No Mark 34 pictures sadly)

The Forerunner Guardian

The Scenario: It is the very end of Halo 5 and UNSC Infinity has jumped out. The Guardians have EMP'd Earth and all local forces have been neutralized. The Guardians seem to have taken the planet when suddenly 24 Bolos appear on the planet (A full strength Regiment). There is at least 1 Mark 34 on Each Continent, the rest are latest era Mark 33s. After being given a briefing on the local condition the Bolos unsurprisingly decide to step up to defend Humanity without a microsecond hesitation. In response Cortana sends a dozen Guardians after them to neutralize this potential threat. But otherwise she will sit back and observe events without interfering.

Allies/Assistance: None. Infinity is outbound away from the System which means no Infinity, no Master Chief, nor will there be help from the local defense ODPs. For the Created there will be no help from Covenant Loyalists who have pledged to her, no help from AIs who have gone full turncoat nor anything Forerunner/Created aside from the Guardians themselves. Cortana is sitting this one out to observe and evaluate this new enigma.

Equipment: Standard equipment for both.

Victory Conditions: For the Bolo's victory comes when Earth and local Earth space is secured from Guardian attack. That means either destroying the enemy or driving them off. For the Guardians. Nothing less than the complete destruction of the Bolo's are acceptable. They can withdraw if the Bolos prove to be too much but if they do then the Bolos remain permanently or until Cortana and the Guardians are neutralized for good. If the Planet is rendered uninhabitable in the battle then both sides are considered losers as the point is to take the planet and its population as intact as possible.

Prior Knowledge/Preparation: Bare minimum. Both sides are given only the most basic information on the other. Things like weapons, defenses and capabilities must be tested and measured on the battlefield. No prior preparation aside from both sides are fully fueled and loaded for war.

Canon/Continuity: Books and Games for Halo. If its canon then its in. Same goes for Bolo.

Blood Lust: Neither are blood lusted as both are in character.

Calcs: Calculations on the Firepower of Bolos is pretty well know but the Guardians of Halo are a different story. So think 2 scenarios here. 1.) with Mid level Calcs and the 2.) with 'High' level Calcs (whatever that means)

Will the Honor of the Regiment hold true today as the Bolos triumph? Or have the finally met their Match against Cortana and Her Guardians who have proven simply too much for them to handle?

Discuss.

 

[Agent23]

Bolos are Continental/Planetary siege units with reaction speeds and data processing far beyond that of any regular human, the main hellbores were iirc something along the lines of 200 Mt/sec plasma thrown forward at relativistic speeds, they could also take out assets in orbit and were covered with more armament aside from the hellbores, infinite repeaters, howitzers, LVS tubes, smaller tanks and combat bots, scout and attack aircraft that could go hyper-sonic.

No idea what that thing is, but IMHO the Bolo takes this easily, as nothing I have seen in Halo can ever hope to take on Concordat-Malconian war.

Also, when I think about it, the 34 IIRC used a hellrail and was a very limited affair, that is purely anti-starship IIRC.

 

[Spartan303]

Bolos are Continental/Planetary siege units with reaction speeds and data processing far beyond that of any regular human, the main hellbores were iirc something along the lines of 200 Mt/sec plasma thrown forward at relativistic speeds, they could also take out assets in orbit and were covered with more armament aside from the hellbores, infinite repeaters, howitzers, LVS tubes, smaller tanks and combat bots, scout and attack aircraft that could go hyper-sonic.

No idea what that thing is, but IMHO the Bolo takes this easily, as nothing I have seen in Halo can ever hope to take on Concordat-Malconian war.

6MT a shot from their primary Hellbores. 500KT from their Infinite repeaters. A mark 34s Hellrails are slated at 90MT a shot.

 

[Agent23]

6MT a shot from their primary Hellbores. 500KT from their Infinite repeaters. A mark 34s Hellrails are slated at 90MT a shot.

Oof, I need to re-read Bolo Strike, I thought they were significantly more, though.

In any case, I doubt any land based weapon from Halo can take this, their capital ships were somewhat impressive on the high end, but IIRC it still took them a huge fleet to properly glass a planet.

EDIT: Also, obligatory boomer ranting to follow.GOD DAMN IT, I swear that the Baen site is getting worse and worse with years, not better! What is this! The baen Free Library and catalogue worked perfectly 15 years ago, damn it!

 

[Ash's Boomstick]

Try this lot

BaenCD at the Fifth Imperium

baencd.thefifthimperium.com

 

[Agent23]

Try this lot

BaenCD at the Fifth Imperium

baencd.thefifthimperium.com

Nah, it probably won't be there, but I did find Bolo Strike, a quick search says 5Mt/sec per hellbore.

This is a delicate procedure, one demanding absolutely perfect

control.

In the past, I have tended to think of my secondary armament as

"only" 20 centimeter Hellbores, weapons useful for antipersonnel or

antivehicular work, but far inferior to the 5 megaton/second firepower of

my main batteries. I must remind myself that the very first Hellbore put

into the field was a 25cm weapon of half-megaton/second output mounted

on the Bolo Mark XIV during the early 24th Century, a weapon that until

then had served as the main battery for the then-Concordiat Navy's

Magyar-class battlecruisers. A weapon's relative obsolescence does not

make it any the less deadly in absolute terms. Even knives and arrows

can still kill.

At my Commander's word, I open fire again on the tunnel entrance.

For 3.5 seconds, the shielded doorway stubbornly resists the full energy

output of all three of my primary Hellbores, reflecting or absorbing a torrent

equivalent to fifteen megatons of energy per second. The thunder of the

discharge echoes from the mountainside, and my hull, already hot from

the surrounding forest fire, grows hotter still at the touch of the reflected

thermal energy.

Damn, this is as much fun as I remember.

 

[Spartan303]

Nah, it probably won't be there, but I did find Bolo Strike, a quick search says 5Mt/sec per hellbore.

When the first model Mark 33s came out, yes. But advances in technology got it up to 6MT as you see with Hector during the events of Bolo Rising.

 

[Agent23]

When the first model Mark 33s came out, yes. But advances in technology got it up to 6MT as you see with Hector during the events of Bolo Rising.

This is from Bolo Strike, the events in it happen a long time after the Human-Malkonian war.
I am of the Church of Bolo Whank, so I will not dispute the 6Mt/S!

 

[Spartan303]

This is from Bolo Strike, the events in it happen a long time after the Human-Malkonian war.
I am of the Church of Bolo Whank, so I will not dispute the 6Mt/S!

Bolo Rising is about 200 years after the Concordiat/Melconian war. Hmm. A bit of a discrepencie here.

 

[The Whispering Monk]

I haven't played Halo 5 at all, and I have no idea of the capabilities of the Guardians.

 

[Ash's Boomstick]

I have a handful of Bolo Books I can upload on a gdrive if you guys want

Anyway. Much as I'm a Bolo fan, the Haloverse has a much higher capacity in their weapons and defences than the Boloverse on their ships. However given that this is on the ground... its far more on the Bolo side.

These not only have megaton level guns (which only need water to make new ammo) but they have multi-hundred kiloton secondaries and a very larger number of anti-vehicle and anti-personnel clusters for close in combat.

On top of that they also have howitzers and mortars both of which can at fire at least every five seconds, missile batteries that can fire hundreds of warheads in the battle (anything from hi-ex to chemical to nuclear).

Then we have the battlescreens and armour both of which take a Bolo's own firepower to penetrate and even then it takes multiple shots in the same area to do so. This is further backed up by the drones (air and ground) that are carried on a Bolo allowing them to remote control more firepower.

This is all finished by the fact that it can enter orbit by itself and its airspeed (due to its ability to hover) is 500mph at surface level. Which means anything out there on the ground that the guardians have will have a REALLY bad day when they find a Bolo coming after them.

Add in the speed of its through abilities, the incredible breadth of experience each Bolo has in combat and their datalinking... anything this side of a 40k Titan will have problems with a Bolo.