Downtown Khazan: Siriel's Temporary Edition

[Omegalith]

Y'know, there's not really any way that absurdly large spaceship crash at the end of Alien 4 wouldn't cause vast orders of magnitudes more death than a simple outbreak of man-sized acid bugs.

They're scary and individually deadly, not an actual threat to a dedicated millitary response.

[Sharkerbob]

I have always had mixed feelings on Eva, but the Rebuild movies do seem to be a definite improvement, albeit a bit abridged in pacing in some spots.

[Sharkerbob]

[Sharkerbob]

Gotta love all those Yahoo articles telling us that everything we eat is trying to kill us.

[The MunchKING]

Y'know, there's not really any way that absurdly large spaceship crash at the end of Alien 4 wouldn't cause vast orders of magnitudes more death than a simple outbreak of man-sized acid bugs.

I thought the point of the prisoner guys surviving was that it was a controlled-crash, somewhere where they could evacuate the civilians, or minimize property damage, but I admit it's been a LONG time since I watched Alien 4.

They're scary and individually deadly, not an actual threat to a dedicated millitary response.

I dunno. That's the kind of logic that gets rabbits introduced to Australia. And these are much biggere and nastier than rabbits. Not to mention better at stealth and urban survivability. So while in the short terma that would certainly be true; if "Xenomorph" was a new species living under New York or something, I'm betting over the long run a LOT more people would have gotten eaten.

[Beadle]

Okay, fine: you want real animals so we can stop arguing the square cube law?

100 Eohippus

or

1 Argentavis Magnificens

Round One: FIGHT!

I find it somewhat amusing that you of all people, 'Lith, take even the slightest umbrage at someone applying a rationalist approach to one of these discussions.

[Omegalith]

I find it somewhat amusing that you of all people, 'Lith, take even the slightest umbrage at someone applying a rationalist approach to one of these discussions.

Well, for one thing the Square-cube law is kind of old news for giant animal discussions at this point and we've all already heard it, but more importantly I had already stated the animal's abilities scaled appropriately and everyone ignored it.

[Omegalith]

I thought the point of the prisoner guys surviving was that it was a controlled-crash, somewhere where they could evacuate the civilians, or minimize property damage, but I admit it's been a LONG time since I watched Alien 4.

They show the collision- The fireball consumes almost a quarter of Africa.

I dunno. That's the kind of logic that gets rabbits introduced to Australia. And these are much biggere and nastier than rabbits. Not to mention better at stealth and urban survivability. So while in the short terma that would certainly be true; if "Xenomorph" was a new species living under New York or something, I'm betting over the long run a LOT more people would have gotten eaten.

Even ignoring the biosphere-wrecking impact we're shown, I'm pretty sure a Xeno hive is a lot easier to locate than tracking down a bunch of rabbit warrens.

[Beadle]

Well, for one thing the Square-cube law is kind of old news for giant animal discussions at this point and we've all already heard it, but more importantly I had already stated the animal's abilities scaled appropriately and everyone ignored it.

Ah, well in that case, I'd definitely take my chances with the tiny horses.

[mailedbypostman1]

Even ignoring the biosphere-wrecking impact we're shown, I'm pretty sure a Xeno hive is a lot easier to locate than tracking down a bunch of rabbit warrens.

You'd think so, but who's to say anybody can stop it before it consumes a significant area?

[Omegalith]

You'd think so, but who's to say anybody can stop it before it consumes a significant area?

I'm hardly going to say they're not dangerous, but Weyland-Yutani and Ripley both seem to be seriously overestimating them.

I guess if you could decode whatever genetic engineering secrets went into their creation you could make some pretty neat supersoldiers. Otherwise you're basically airdropping horrible preadators into a warzone then hoping your opponents are too stupid and incompotent to burn out the infestation before it takes root.

[mailedbypostman1]

I'm hardly going to say they're not dangerous, but Weyland-Yutani and Ripley both seem to be seriously overestimating them.

I guess if you could decode whatever genetic engineering secrets went into their creation you could make some pretty neat supersoldiers. Otherwise you're basically airdropping horrible preadators into a warzone then hoping your opponents are too stupid and incompotent to burn out the infestation before it takes root.

Why would they have to be stupid and incompetent to not be able to stop the infestation?
They spread quickly, they move in stealth, and the other side is fighting a war with other forces with no knowledge that the xenomorphs are on the field.
They're perfectly practical applications for a source of auxilliery troops.

Although it's really not a good idea if you want to have anything to rule over, but hey, trade-offs.

[Siriel]

*Is reading through the Loki arc of Journey Into Mystery*

I rather like Volstagg's portrayal of Thor in his story.

(On the Worthy)

"They have hammers, Volstagg! I have the hammer. That's my thing! They should get their own gimmick!"

[Omegalith]

Why would they have to be stupid and incompetent to not be able to stop the infestation?
They spread quickly, they move in stealth, and the other side is fighting a war with other forces with no knowledge that the xenomorphs are on the field.
They're perfectly practical applications for a source of auxilliery troops.

Although it's really not a good idea if you want to have anything to rule over, but hey, trade-offs.

They overran the colony in Aliens because it was barely armed, and by the time a millitary response showed it was a single squad horribly outnumbered by Xenos in what was effectively a huge metal hive.

To gain enough momentum to be a real threat rather than picking off a handfull of random members of the herd, they need to take down a significant fraction of the army and hole up in a well-entrenched defensive position that can't just be carpet bombed before anyone works out what's happening and deploys countermeasures.

They'll have some impact, particularly if they stumble by blind luck into eating critical provisions, but nonviral bioweapons with subhuman intelligence and no training or oversight just ain't cost effective.

[mailedbypostman1]

They overran the colony in Aliens because it was barely armed, and by the time a millitary response showed it was a single squad horribly outnumbered by Xenos in what was effectively a huge metal hive.

To gain enough momentum to be a real threat rather than picking off a handfull of random members of the herd, they need to take down a significant fraction of the army and hole up in a well-entrenched defensive position that can't just be carpet bombed before anyone works out what's happening and deploys countermeasures.

They'll have some impact, particularly if they stumble by blind luck into eating critical provisions, but nonviral bioweapons with subhuman intelligence and no training or oversight just ain't cost effective.

This assumes that the company deploys them directly against a full military force, which is obviously dumb. Much more likely that the dudes use them against isolated areas where the military has yet to acquire any intelligence or support, as area denial. Situations where the force is entrenched in a fort are much less likely in the age of spaceships and orbital death.

In addition to that, consider how cost-effective training an army of men, equipping them with high-tech weaponry, maintaining them as a fighting force is, as compared to feeding a small group of what are basically animals, then dropping them behind enemy lines without anything more than their skins is.

Even if the xenomorphs have less impact then your soldiers, the company loses nearly nothing just having them on board as pest control.