The Big Question...

[Xaranoth]

Grineer. Because naplams. Have you ever seen what 3-4 napalms can do in a crossfire mission? They'll clear the mission themselves with no problem whatsoever if you just sit back and watch.

[Talonflight]

Everyone is talking about the Grineer and Infested. Here's my 2 cents on the Infested.

 

While they're obviously a major threat, we have to remember that before the Tenno woke up the Infestation was mostly contained, and the only reason it got out of hand in the first place is because of our attempts to destroy the Grineer research that released spores into their population. Sure, the infestation is still around, hanging out on Eris and the Derelicts, but those locations are pretty isolated, and the Infestation currently has no cross-planet form of transmission besides Grineer and Corpus unintentionally bringing it with them. The infestation isn't a faction that can launch coordinated assaults. Even Jordas, arguably the most threatening Infested enemy, only lures people to him, he does not attack other ships or forces. The only part of the infested that actually goes to other places is when an idiot accidentally brings infested tissue or spores with him to somewhere and causes an Outbreak.

[Unus]

In my actual honest opinion? No one would win. The Infested will eat and eat and eat until there is nothing but themselves to consume, leaveing the dawning of an endless night where not even the vibration of a few ciliating bacteria will break the silence. 

 

The Grineer will decay and decay and decay, gradually corroding into nothingness as each generation is born as ancient and decrepit as 99 year old work war veteran. Even if they distribute a cure, no one, not even The Tube Man himself knows how to make more facilities, only utilize the old ones. When the last mechanized womb grinds to a halt, what Empire is left will burn away, it's unthinking clones going about their business as if they truly still are replaceable. . . till there is no one and nothing left to walk beneath the putrescence of their conqured world's skies.

 

The Corpus? Divided, exploitive, hard-scrabble. They will use and use and use until the last bits of gallium tumble out of the last extractor's processors. . . and what then? No one ever thought of a contingency plan, there was never supposed to be an "After Corporate" world, what do you do when the bubble bursts? Panic, rage, naval-gaze, hell-on-Earth occurs when the last resources are gone and everyone wants a slice of the gold-plated pie everyone else has. When the last system ship burns the last bit of fuel and the last radio crackles off for the last time. . . what will the former executives think, hideing in their safehouses and huddled around refugee fires like cavemen? "Life well spent?", boundless regret?, or perhaps even nothing, inured to thinking ahead by centuries of corporate "MoreSpeak" that they are numb to distant retrospection or futureproofing.

 

The Syndicates? Just look at modern Earth and it's petty squabbles, slap a polluted hellscape down with little islands of scarce resources and habitable land scattered around, and stretch it out into a vast size. With the loss of both massive juggernauts of industry, there might not be anymore Sol-Ships being made, or anyway to get her the resources to create them. A few grains of sand in a vast desert as far as the eye can see, marooned and surrounded by the ashes of what was. For some, stagnation, for others, complete annihilation.

 

In the end, only the Sentients could outlast the devastation humanity and it's offshoots inflicted upon itself, victory not by warfare, cunning, or skill, but by simply sitting back and waiting. Even then. . . what if Tau has gone through the same? With no communications back to the home world and no way back, how are Hunhow and Lotus  to know if their own fledgling (species-wise) world survived the growing pains of maturation? The sins of the parents, inadvertently passed on to their children via programming.

 

I see a dark, Soma-esque world where two beings of venerable lifespan, but, limited action sit and wonder what to do, now that both their goals are accomplished. . . not pretty.

[Undirys]

Aside from the Sentients (I know you told us to count them off), I think (sadly!) the Infestation would win. If we take this to a more tactical level, the Grineer may clone themselves and fight, but eventually they will fall. But what about the Corpus you say? You cannot negotiate with a hive mind like that... I freaking love the Corpus, but my money is on the Infested. The Orokin decided to create that and F*** everyone else, guess what? They are doing quite the job.

[TennoPain]

GRINEER they are military race easy win ... Than again there is CLEM 

[Rhekemi]

Having not read others' posts before writing my own, and having not looked at the poll, I'm glad to see the Infestation winning both the poll and the plurality of posts to this thread.

No, I'm not counting those Clem votes. Lol.

[Lost_Cartographer]

Grineer.  The infestation can spread quickly, but eventually it'll turn into a matter of just nuking any infested ship or slamming it into the sun.  Also, the Grineer are best suited to deal with the infested.  Fight numbers with numbers... and thick armor and flame throwers.  Also, Grineer make for poor substance for the flood.  It must be like trying to use dry paint on a water damaged, mildewed canvas to infest a grineer soldier.  Doubt runners actually make for a very stable and consistent form.  Most probably turn into useless blobs writhing on the floor, but game play demands that they're all successful mutations (and apparently both a Corpus army and some Orokin happened to be on every infested galleon as well.)

 

[Jeoxz]

I'm betting on the Grineer, because they are the only ones actually trying. But on the long term, since the Corpus are keeping them on check.

The Corpus' goal is to profit, they even trade with the Grineer and, besides off-shoots like Alad and Nef, only fight for assets(i.e. Gradivus), they don't want to conquer the system. Their bosses are security proxies that could go our of control, or factories.

The infestation is just living, spreading because it's what it does. It doesn't have a big strategy or army. All Infested bosses are either fighting against itself(Jordas) or trying to grow themselves(Phorid invites you, crazy Alad tries to make a new world). There's hints of a hive mind but they mostly retain individuality.

Sentients are out, I think their goal is actually to destroy this system or revenge against Lotus and Warframes.

Grineer on the other hand are trying to conquer, are breed for combat, have unyielding obedience to their leaders, the bosses are generals and other high ups that govern the place.