User blog comment:So-Pro Warrior/Season 1-Battle 8: Battle of the two Forces of Good Armies: The Systems Alliance vs. The Grand Army of the Repubic/@comment-5795750-20130329102859

BG1's "OMG You're Making Me Do the Longest Vote Ever" Edges Part 2 - The Armies:

Alliance Marines vs Clone Troopers
Melee: As has been stated before, the Omniblade is superior over the Vibroknife which at least should add to the strength of the Marine's H2H

EDGE: Marines

Pistols: As the DC-17 is a heavy pistol and the Phalanx's description is that it "enjoys a ballistic advantage over most heavy pistols", and despite the ammo advantage, I am giving the edge to the Marines

EDGE: Marines

SMGs: As much as the Hurricane is good at providing suppression fire, I will have to give this to the DC-15S since it is accurate and reliable plus it has the bigger ammo clip

EDGE: Troopers

Rifles: Same as the Ashley vs Rex comparison of rifles - the Avenger is more reliable and versatile whereas the DC-15A has an issue with regards to reliability and weight

EDGE: Marines

Snipers: As far I can see, the Black Widow is a sci-fi anti-materiel gun and that's great for firepower and. given the description of its inception, fire rate but I can see that the DC-15x is going to have an edge here due to its accuracy, range and its ammo size

EDGE: Troopers

Explosives: With regards to grenades, the Alliance and Army bring some very seriously deadly payloads which to me seems to close to call (although I'm leaning towards the GAR for its EMP grenade that could mess up everything)

With regards to the launchers, the RPS-6 is primarily designed to take out vehicles and not soldiers plus it is unguided whereas the Hydra has a homing system and multiple warheads that could equate to some very very very serious damage

EDGE: The EMP grenades the Troopers bring and its devastating impact cancel out the advantage the Marines have with the Hydra so its Even

Special: Biotics and Tech - looking at what they are and what they do, I say this abilities trumps the devastating special weapons the Clone Troopers bring (unless the Troopers fire first and there is no 'recharge time' for the biotics and tech). However, I have a feeling that the biotics and tech will work at a much closer range than the rotary cannon and the flamethrower.

EDGE: Even (slight lean towards the Marines)

Armor: The armour the Clone Troopers bring is very lightweight allowing them to move around the battlefield quickly (provided the weapons don't kill them) and take cover. The armour the Alliance Marines bring in is very much an augmentating tool that gives the wearer higher durability and protection. Hmmm... this comparison is tricky but I will have to give it to the Marines because their armour has kinetic barriers that act like an energy shield and the Clones have nothing like that

EDGE: Marines

Vehicles: I was going to give this to the Mako but as Beast points out in his vote, the Mako is a bit unwieldly and underpowered - I disagree with it being small though since that allows for it to dodge the shots of the AT-TE. However, the AT-TE packs in the bigger punch and it has the multi-purpose factor - it is a very powerful assault vehicle, an equally powerful support vehicle and a transport ship (plus I can see this tank crushing the Marines before they could have a chance to use their biotics and tech against it)

EDGE: Troopers

X-Factors: Average of 91.75 for the Alliance Marines, Average of 88.25 for the Clone Troopers

EDGE: Marines

Overall Winner: Narrowly, I'm giving this to the Alliance Marines as they pack in the more protective armour that gives them almost superhuman powers (in the form of biotics) and relatively more powerful weaponry that will be extremely useful when the fighting gets up close

N7 vs Clone Commandos
Melee: So the Clone Commandos bring in essentially the same knife as the regular army but it is concealable and built-in. Hmm, makes it a lot harder for the Commando to lose the weapon but the N7 spec-ops have the Omniblade (which for reasons as stated trumps over the vibroknife) and one secret weapon of their own - the monomolecular blades.

EDGE: Narrowly, N7

Pistols: The Eagle easily trumps the DC-15s because it is more compact, more accurate, has the higher rate of fire and given the slow recharge time of the DC-15s, easier to reload

EDGE: N7

Rifles: The Avenger has an advantage in terms of accuracy and fire rates but the DC-17m has versatility (being a multi-purpose weapon), a larger ammo clip and a deadlier ammo payload with the ion pulse

EDGE: Commandos

Special: Again, the DC-17m has an edge here since it has versatility, a more powerful type of ammo with the ion pulse and more ammo overall - also, I reckon the stand-off between the two will contain A LOT of moving in addition to stealth so the Commandos here get the edge

EDGE: Commandos

Armour: Finally, the Commandos bring with them armour that is similar to the Marines and the N7s own. Since this comparison alone looks at the armour on face value then obviously, the N7 armour (with the benefits of that big shield and kinetic barries) wins out here

EDGE: N7

Overall Winner: I said that I was taking the armour comparison on face level - now when I look at the big picture then I see that the armour (including the barriers) may not be able to withstand the armour-piercing rounds of the DC-17m and given the level of stealth involved (perhaps), the Clone Commandos can easily outfight and outwit the N7 troops (even perhaps getting behind any N7 person and avoiding their shield)

Next part to this vote will look at the Navies and then give an overall summary (with the three battlefields of course)