I'll have to say that Aliens is perhaps one of my favorite movies. In my
opinion it is the best portrayal of sci fi combat/soldiers in a film
yet. Sure the whole mothering theme was a bit thick, but beyond that a truly
excellent sci fi film.
> The entire troop compliment went down to planet side with no one on
Small elite unit which is on recon, not search and destroy. Expects to meet
friendlies planet side
> The Ship had all sorts of weapons, none were ever used to support
I don't recall any mentioned, but let's assume ortillery that could easily
flatten the small colony outpost. Who'd call that sort of support on their
position.
> The use of just one of the two landers when the ship had the capacity
Did the ship have capacity for more troops, seemed at full strength to me. The
other attack shuttle seemed to be happen chance or additional support.
> The helter skelterness of the op.
I'd be pretty freaked out to if I ran into an unknown enemy that, that
captured all my buddies, then inpregnanted them with baby enemies.
> The dumbass Lt that led the whole op.
Heck sometimes elites get poor leaders
> The act of leaving the entire battle ship when there was a big bug on
I'd say the ship was a heavy destroyer, cruiser tops. I don't recall
abandoning the ship when the alien was on board. Flushed out an air lock and
then everyone took cryo naps.
> On Fri, 24 Sep 1999 Aron_Clark@digidesign.com wrote:
> I'll have to say that Aliens is perhaps one of my favorite movies. In
I'll say that I liked it, but militarily it was lacking. that or the forces
were designed by comitte and never tested.
> Small elite unit which is on recon, not search and destroy. Expects
So when you don't get any kind of signal from planet at all, you do some
long distance recon, you don't go all the way into the complex...then realize
you are in deep shit. Flyovers, then send a scout team in. Not your whole damn
force.
> I don't recall any mentioned, but let's assume ortillery that could
They weren't mentioned, but look at the, oh what was it called, something
suitably greek sounding as I recalled. Anyhow, look at it during the beginning
of the film. It has some serious turrets on dorsal and spinal mounts. Just
remembered, Sulaco...
> > The use of just one of the two landers when the ship had the
You don't carry a second lander around for just a spare. Why not have a
second ready crew and command crew on board the ship?
> I'd be pretty freaked out to if I ran into an unknown enemy that, that
It'd be freaky, but gamers wouldn't freak out...<geek>(anyone remember that
"whats new" episode by Phil Foglio where Dixie and whatever his name
is discuss the merits of gaming on problem solving?) </geek>
> I'd say the ship was a heavy destroyer, cruiser tops. I don't recall
Doh, I was confusing the two first two movies...
> Ryan M Gill wrote:
> They weren't mentioned, but look at the, oh what was it called,
I thought the ship looked cool. Didn't like the idea of having to go cryo when
you traveled...
> > > The use of just one of the two landers when the ship had the
Would have made the film better. Imagen...The lander docks, out comes the
mother alien, and faces a whole squad of troopers with their weapons
drawn....Sounds like a great ending to me.
> > I'd be pretty freaked out to if I ran into an unknown enemy that,
"Whats New with Phil n Dixie" I loved that comic.
> > I'd say the ship was a heavy destroyer, cruiser tops. I don't
I never liked how the aliens seemed to know everything about the human ships
without knowing the human's language, having ever been aboard one before, ect.
Was it just my imagination or was the troopers using "projectile weapons"?
Could someone correct me on this?
Well, rather than reposting everyone else's stuff I'll just give my input. As
far as I have come to understand, the ship was armed, capable of carrying
something like a Company or something. It was intentionally undermanned to
fascilitate the corporate plan to bring back specimens. The whole two squads
(yes there were two squads) were thrown to the wolves fo the sake of weapons
developement (an underlying theme in every Aliens plot it seems)
The assault rifles were indeed projectiles 10mm caseless with liek a 12
gauge-sized grenade launcher. The big SAWs create a bit of confussion
however, being built off of German SAWs. They are supposed to be energy
weapons, which explain why all the gunners had to do is unplug a coupling to
disarm. The problem is that the ammo belts for the real world MGs sho up in
some of the shots.
I wouldn't say there's any evidence the Aliens know their ways around the
ship. I always saw it more as the fact that they are just THAT crafty. I mean,
they skulk around, get to know thei environment.
Well, that's it.
Eli
Ok, from the "Aliens Colonial Marines Technical Manual" (Great resource if you
can find one:o)
USS Sulaco, 13th in a series of Conestoga class starships. (Troop and
logistics support ship, originaly, now a light assualt ship. with space
control and orbital bombardment support capabilites)
Over 380 meters long, massing 78,000 metric tons. Lythium-hydride, or
"dry"
fusion powerplant. (output=3.6 Terawatts)
(As a note, hypersleep is required do to FTL speeds inducing
"time-expansion"
while in operation.) (Also note that according to the tech manual, the
hypersleep process is "totally safe for healthy individuals", and we ALL trust
government advertising right?:o)
The ship is "totally automated" to reduce crew and support life support
requirments.
Armaments are listed as: (noted that this is "light" armament to expedite it's
secondary role as a warship)
Dorsal and Ventral duel rail gun turrets. (The turrets on top and bottom of
the hull) Side mounted neutral particle beam cannon (X2) (Two gun looking
things on the side) ASAT missiles in a dorsal bay, (X8) (high explosive
fragmentation warhead) Port and Starboard Laser turrets, (mounted below the
Particle guns) for point defense A forward Ventral despenser which can
dispense up to 60 orbital fragmentation mines, (limited manuverability) Aft
Ventral decoy Ballute, (balloon) decoy despenser (20) and 2 manuvering decoy
drones Forward magazine with orbital bombardment munitions. 80 seperate
re-entry
vehicles with various warheads including: Bunker-buster kinetic
warheads, high explosive, nuclear, as well as decoys.
All computer controlled.
(and if the tech reps back on earth told the computer not to "hurt" the
specimens.....)
Randy
> Small elite unit which is on recon, not search and destroy. Expects
> So when you don't get any kind of signal from planet at all, you do
Having been a fan of the movie (And the director James Cameron) I read an
interview with him where that was mentioned, as I recall the mission was
designed as a FUBAR from the time it was launched, i.e. the full ships
complement of troops was not aboard, an inexperienced Lt was assigned to just
a couple of ad hoc squads, being the only ships troops that they could gather
from a scheduled leave.
> I'd say the ship was a heavy destroyer, cruiser tops. I don't recall
abandoning
> the ship when the alien was on board. Flushed out an air lock and
> Doh, I was confusing the two first two movies...
According to the Colonial Marines handbook, the Sulaco is a troop transport
that has limited self-defence capabilities. Apparently the full-out
combat ships are really something to see.
BTW the DVD version of ALiens has about 14 minutes of new footage that was
edited out originally.
Los
> JohnDHamill@aol.com wrote:
> >> Small elite unit which is on recon, not search and destroy.
Expects to
> meet
Not
> >your whole damn force.
Also BTW, this additional footage is now available on the remastered VHS
version. Excellent footage.
Bill
BTW the DVD version of ALiens has about 14 minutes of new footage that was
edited out originally.
Los
> bbrush@rev.state.ne.us wrote:
> Also BTW, this additional footage is now available on the remastered
Especially the shower scene with Vasquez...
> Also BTW, this additional footage is now available on the remastered
<blink> What?
> At 2:31 PM +1000 9/26/99, Jeremy Sadler wrote:
that's the sound of someone planning a trip to the video store :-)
> Jeremy Sadler wrote:
> >> Also BTW, this additional footage is now available on the
Just joking. I wanted to see if anyone was awake in here.
> The assault rifles were indeed projectiles 10mm caseless with liek a 12
> gauge-sized grenade launcher.
> From the movie and the Aliens Colonial Marines Technical Manual:
10mm explosive-tipped caseless with 99 round capcity (only normally
loaded
to 95 rounds due to problems with jamming) with a 30mm under-over
pump-action greande launcher (4 round capacity).
> The big SAWs create a bit of confussion
Nope. According to the Aliens Colonial Marines Technical Manual again (as
someone mentioned eariler, a FANTASTIC book) the Smart Guns (M83 I think) fire
10mm rounds similar to the Pulse Rifle rounds stored in an ammo drum on the
side of the gun and carried on a continuous belt inside the drum. The
"coupling" is the "DV9 Lithium Battery" which is used to power the
Pulse-action firing system I believe. No battery, no shoot.
> >> Also BTW, this additional footage is now available on the
That one was one of my conclusions. The other were:
1. you'd mixed up Aliens with Starship Troopers 2. your Special Edition
version of Aliens was different to mine
If it was the latter, I was definitely going to be busting heads.:)
> Jeremy Sadler wrote:
> >> >> Also BTW, this additional footage is now available on the
> [quoted text omitted]
> Los <los@cris.com> wrote:
> BTW the DVD version of ALiens has about 14 minutes of new footage that
Note that this new footage includes the sentry guns.
Enjoy,
> At 07:31 PM 9/24/99 -0400, you wrote:
In my
> opinion it is the best portrayal of sci fi combat/soldiers in a film
Someone's probably already mentioned this, but the Colonial Marine Technical
Manual is an excellent book for Aliens fans, and builds elaborate back story
and justification for the way troops were deployed and handled in the film.
I'll go back to sleep now.:)