Board Thread:Warhammer 40k General Discussion/@comment-27642965-20160211003725/@comment-27890440-20160301173239

The above of course lines up multiple 40k factions against the feds acting alone. If we are including multiple (read:all) factions from both settings there are so many unknowns it becomes largely a matter of interpreting the repsective canons as you see fit.

We know the IoM and federation pretty well in broad strokes and some detail. For instance we may not know exactly how many IG regiments there are at a given point, but we have a good feel for the scale of their recruitment pool, methods, structure and technical capabilities. Likewise with starfleet we are familiar enough with their operating procedures, tech and scale that we can make pretty reasonable assessments of their capabilities in wartime (ie not during their more peaceful operations we tend to see on a weekly basis).

On the other hand we do not have as clear an idea of the number of necron worlds, the number of borg cubes, the true relationship between the various hive fleets and the scale of the gestalt they represent, the vulnerabilities of 8472, etc

Nor do we have evidence about the interactions of these various (often pseudoscientific) unknowns,eg;  Could the borg assimilate tyranids? Could nano probes be adapted to deal with orc spores (as we have seen them adapted to eliminate/assimilate icro organisms en masse before)? How would the various telepathic/telekinetic races match up against psykers and would they also attract daemonic attention in this scenario? Would 8472 simply resort to routinely destroying planets (as they did with great ease during their conflict with the borg)? How would the webway and transwarp condiuts compare in terms of mass troop movements? How would void shields cope against polaron beam weapons which bypass most trek energy based shielding? You could go on all day.

To simplify it the real question would be how would our protagonist factions deal with each other.

If I had to put my money on it the crucial factor would be one of setting. In a straight up fight, out of context with no other factions involved in any form it's pretty much a given that the scale of the IoM would be the deciding factor. That along with their general willingness to throw human lives away en masse would be too much for the federation who would simply be overwhelmed by numbers. The losses would be horrific but the outcome certain.

If, however, they were to face each other with all of their usual contextual restraints in place then it becomes less clear cut. The IoM is already in a position of fighting a constant existential war with no obvious hope of relieving the pressure any time soon. Their numbers are vast but stretched thin against multiple threats. The federation on the other had has in the default state a pretty diplomatic set of relations with it's immediate neighbours (read Romulans, Klingons, etc) and can often in fact call on their assistance. Also, they have a pretty frequent habit of persuading contacted planets to alter their allegiances and join up voluntarily. In this case I suspect the IoM would struggle to stretch their already overloaded resources sufficiently to easily dispel a determined foe with starfleets capabilities. In doing so they would inevitably have to weaken their forces on another front.