Posted on

Troll Empire vs Gem Empire, who wins?

roachpatrol:

variablejabberwocky:

vastderp:

humanity >:D

this is a really good question

cause both are aggressive authoritarian hellholes who mass-produce their population and chew up and re-purpose the Unfit

but when you’ve got Bug People vs Rock People, and the first is still mortal however long lived, and the second is dependent on having the time to find and produce new units but is effectively immortal, then who DOES come out on top?

they both got:

  • superpowers
  • sound-related superweapons
  • advanced spacefaring technology, including weapons
  • a large empire from which to harvest resources
  • experience crushing other civilizations and species underfoot (presumably)

thing is gems have slightly better technology in some circumstances

they can: 

  • communicate near-instantly across vast distances with the right technology
  • move troops near instantly with a teleportation network

both of which are SUPER important for winning fights

that and they’ve got ~1-3 leaders who all seem a bit more level headed than Condie so prolly better leadership too

so i think, eventually, the Gem Empire would win unless somehow the Troll Empire was able to move in quick enough to do enough harm to put them behind the ball in later conflicts

…uh sorry to hijack the ask, luka

i think that the gems come out ahead on logistics— they don’t need food, sleep, or air, plus they can teleport anywhere they establish a beachhead with a platform, as you say— while trolls come out ahead on firepower. i think they both have ansibile communication technology, so that’s a tie. the trolls may use killbots to pad out their numbers, so that could probably be a tie as well. 

but in combat, the trolls absolutely would not hesitate to target and shatter their opponents’ gemcores, and the gems’ projected forms seem particularly vulnerable to disruption from slicing and puncturing damage. while conversely, trolls can soak up a lot of stabs before they finally keel over. 

karkat, as a low/mutantblood young adolescent, took at least four direct knife wounds to the torso from spades slick during the game and didn’t seem particularly incapacitated by it, and of course gamzee as a highblood older adolescent soaked up the damage from a semiautomatic. jasper’s a top-tier quartz soldier but she was disrupted by a single lucky impalement. against swarms of archers and lancers, gems could really be in trouble. 

it would definitely be a close fight, and a really long one, but i’d bet on the trolls.