User blog comment:Zathronas/Analysis by an author - Ruby Rose/@comment-5426254-20160407005852/@comment-24122714-20160408010527

@Zathronas Ruby was not needed to find the White Fang hideout. People may argue that she brought Zwei who was the one who helped her spot the White Fang mooks transporting a container, until you realize that Zwei was unnecessary because Ruby could have easily spotted them as they were walking out in the open. Which makes it as easy as a character swap to make Ruby irrelevant. It could have been anyone other than Ruby and the result would be the same. Whoever was on watch could have alerted everyone else and they could follow the WF mooks right to their base, which would have been much more interesting than having the plot literally open under Ruby.

As for the attack itself, Cinder didn't even activate the virus, whether or not its because she wasn't ready or because the writer's forgot doesn't matter, so no, Vale would have not been taken over even with the White Fang helping, because Coco and her overpowered minigun which somehow got nerfed inbetween Vol. 2 and Vol. 3, an ENTIRE Atlas army (which arent infected with the Virus because Cinder has short-term memory like the majority of RWBY's viewers), and all the other teams still would have destroyed the outbreak. You could argue that it would cause more panic, but with everyone at full fighting potential, and a (currently) virus-free army of Sentinels, the fight would be over as fast as it did in the end of Volume 2 if not marginally longer.