Let's make it unfair. Have the Reapers fight the Precursors.

Wouldn't Reapers vs. Forerunners be more fair?

Reapers indoctrination happens whenever they are close to reaper tech and they can drag covenent soldiers off to indoctrinate them Even key covenent leaders can be indoctrinated and be secretly used to cause havoc within the political system Reaper ships are very advanced for what they are they have been seen to litterally grab onto ships crushing them and ripping them in half Ships have the capability off traversing the ground of planets and keeping in orbit and firing reaper forces into battle fast They have two forms of ground attack on their ships being a heavy laser that is capable of destroying buildings and a laser about half the power of that used on ground forces Along with Capitol ships able to land on the surface of planets too such as harbinger the oldest reaper

[quote]Here are the rules. The Reapers are invading the Covenant before they first encounter humanity. The Mass relays are in the Halo Galaxy. [b]Firepower and shields are equalized proportionally to their mass so two ships of equal mass will be equally powerful.[/b] Please provide proof for your claims.[/quote] To be honest fam this rule is bullshit.

In an all-out naval battle, the Covenant would probably win. Their ships are much larger, plus they can target the mass relays to disable faster-than-light travel for the Reapers, while retaining their own ability to make hyper-accurate slip space jumps. Plus, Covenant ships are equipped with insane energy shielding, hundreds if not thousands of plasma turrets, energy projectors that can scorch entire cities, and (occasionally) invisibility. On the ground, it would be a massacre. The Collectors and Husks have few advantages over the Covenant's soldiers. Reaper Brutes are easily taken out by Hunters, Collectors are outmatched by Elites, and Grunts can, surprisingly, deal extensive amounts of damage in large groups, especially when armed with explosives. There's not much the Reapers can do against a Scarab either. Reaper air superiority is easily countered by Covenant AA guns and Vampires. You can also look at how far each came when fighting humanity. The Covenant reduced the UNSC military to almost nothing and glassed the majority of Earth's colonies before the war ended, while the Reapers barely touched Earth before the Citadel races brought them down.

Slipspace bombing

Kinetic barriers don't block plasma.

Assuming direct control

Well the "Leviathan of Dis" was found to be over a billion years old. So if we divide that by 50,000 we get 20,000. Since a reaper is created after each cycle that would mean there's at least 20,000 capital ship reapers. Since reaper destroyers are believed to be created from organics not used for the capital ship that doesn't include their numbers. Since they're used as escort ships and ground attack and they're considerably smaller there's probably more of them then capital ships. Also reaper minds are connected so communication is instantaneous. Under regular circumstances Halo wins because their weapons are far more powerful. Since OP equalized shields and firepower I think the reapers will win by sheer numbers unless the covenant has more ships than them.

Reapers shrek Covenant

Largest reaper ships are around 2km in length....the largest covenant ships are 29km in length. The smallest covenant ships are good match up against reapers but the entirety of the covenant is way to large for the reapers to handle. Covenant slipspace will also make them A LOT more faster then the reapers.

What reaper is it, bc if it's Sovereign or the finished Human reaper... Shits happening

Already had this discussion over on comicvine, this question has already been settled, Covenant godstomps. If we're talking about pre-Human-Covenant War Covenant, not long before they encounter the humans, then this is certainly not a discussion.

Batman with prep time

Glass them, done

The reapers win because they can dictate their enemies technology. They would have a problem with the covenant.

The reapers because shepard was a human not a covie

Direct intervention is necessary. [spoiler]reapers. [/spoiler]

Reapers dude they have a 50,000 year win streak

The Reapers would win because the covenant would kill themselves because of the halo rings and plus Reapers have done this more than once and the only reason the Reapers lost in the Mass Effect universe because there was the catalyst and also shepherd was God like so...

Reapers are pretty much gods dude

The covies would likely enter a civil war arising from debate over whether to worship or attack the reapers. The Covenant could destroy the mass relays to stop the reapers from traversing the galaxy, however that would also probably be considered 'blasphemous and heresy'. Also, doing that doesn't actually kill the reapers, just immobilises them. Also also, ME Andromeda may see the invention of FTL travel without mass relays needed. An individual reaper could take out multiple Covenant ships before being destroyed, however their numbers are likely a bit smaller and the covenant's largest ships are massive in comparison to the reapers. The reapers however have indoctrination, which is what I think would grant them eventual victory. Imagine the havoc they could enact on the Covenant if the prophets were indoctrinated, and 'weak' species like the Uungoy and Kig-yar are likely very easily turned. Reapers can also convert deceased corpses into combat forms, not too dissimilar to the Flood actually. This would turn the Covenant's strength in numbers against them. Glassing by plasma bombardment could probably kill a reaper pretty easily and effectively, however using that as a weapon is probably quite unreliable in most cases. I think Covenant shielding technology is also more advanced too. The reapers also have the collectors on their side let's not forget. However the Covenant would be pretty capable of dealing with them I think. I'd give this a narrow victory to the reapers. Narrow, however.

Reapers

The Reapers controlled the flow of life in the entire galaxy for about a billion years. This is an easy choice.

Reapers would destroy them. Took every fleet in the system to stand a chance and they still would have lost in mass effect