The idea that the Covenant weapons were less powerful is absolutely incorrect.
give me a break.
first the Covenant didn't get any answer to the human sniper rifle or even a scoped pistol until Halo 2 both weapons were vastly superior to anything the Covenant had as demonstrated by the Covenant when they couldn't even return fire at range..... 4 shots dropped an elite 1 headshot on a grunt and 1 backshot on a brute easily done with the sniper rifle...... 10-12 shots dropped an elite 1-2 headshots on a grunt and 1 backshot on a brute easily done with the scope on the pistol all the while they were either totally inaccurate or couldn't return fire at all...... and the game allowed the player to hold 120 rounds of pistol ammo to boot!!!!
the Covenant weapons lacked range, their was a lag time involved in their shots making them easily avoidable even at medium range, pick any Covenant weapon in Halo 1 and you would lose against any terran save the MA5B which would be relatively equal at short to medium range, yes without a doubt the Elite plasma rifle was pretty good at medium and up close but medium to long all of their weapons were worthless.
and for fun let's talk about the Covenant tank or the Covenant gun emplacements..... both virtually worthless peices of garbage that was compared to the human tank by any measure.... slow rate of fire, slow rate of speed for the tank easily avoidable, as for the gun emplacement 1 headshot with the sniper rifle dropped the gunner and it's fire was inaccurate and apparently they can't see far with it both easy to take down by tank, jeep and for the gun amplacement with the sniper rifle, the pistol and or a plasma rifle.
Covenant banshees were kinda good but you never saw the Banshee pilots using the 2ndary weapon in Halo 1 that was saved for the gamer.
let's examine Halo 2.
pistol bacame as pathetic as it always should have been, the sniper and assault rifle were as devastating again especially at range and the only answer was the Covenant sniper rifle which was prone to overheating and ammo shortages and because Bungie wanted to embrace the idea of dual weilding weapons the Plasma rifle was weakened and offered up in 2 variants, one had a slow firing rate the other less accurate and prone to overheating...... also the human rocket launcher in both Halo 1 and 2 was superior to the covenant equivalent although the covenant carried more ammo but less accurate and less punch.
I liked Halo and preferred it over Halo 2 because by simply dropping the stupid over-powered pistol at least I didn't feel like I was cheating and the game required some skill on legendary level.
If I understand the story right, the covenant just had better stuff from the outset, not that they developed faster or sooner.
you don't understand right, according to the storyline the Covenant are 300 years more advanced.
both sets of weapons are neat in their own way and personally I liked the plasma rifle in Halo 1 but that's only because I'm an up close brawler so the MA5B and Plasma rifle suited my style......but in Halo 1 the human sniper rifle the shoulder mounted rocket launcher and scoped pistol were vastly superior to anything the covenant had as was the tank without question.
