A little help? Something isn't adding up...

[Kigan]

So, everything I read said we would be able to form our own squad of marines.

I've uncovered several so far, but when I find one I like I'm given no option to make him/her part of my squad.

I've got a horrible feeling that this means someone must die before I can recruit. Is that really the case? I'm a bit of a perfectionist gamer, resetting any time a character dies in order to have a perfect play through. I thought we'd be able to recruit marines that are stranded or trapped or whatever else and they would return to safety, thus making it possible to choose a squad at the beginning of each level. Or in that safe room.

Please tell me I'm missing something. Variety does not add up when we are meant to care about the characters yet are required to kill them for said variety.

[Corporal Hicks]

Yeah, that's spot on. You can only have 4 at a time.

[Kigan]

Man that's unfortunate. I really haven't had any other complaints, but that is just so punishing to the play-style of keeping everyone alive.

[Salt The Fries]

That rhino alien will kill at least 1 of your guys anyway

[Kigan]

No...I just finished with all my guys alive.

[Salt The Fries]

Heh, you're hardcore, I lost my first marine during Space Jockey fight and I believe I wouldn't be able to take him down with just 1 marine, simply because I'd lack grenades...I can't imagine taking down rhino alien without losing marines either...I haven't lost any marines during queen fights, though...

[Corporal Hicks]

I think we've found our Aliens Infestation champion! Lol. Seriously, good work. Must have been hard. Did you have to rescue anyone?

[Kigan]

No. I'd read somewhere that they could be taken off and in need of rescue, but I never had to do it.

I suppose that's what the various nest areas were for?

The only losses I took were against the first Queen, as I didn't exactly know what I was doing yet. I wasn't very good with aiming and had no idea I could aim diagonally until the third try, where I finally got down the controls. Once I had that down, she was probably furious because I wouldn't let her touch me. Jumping all over the platforms, running, rolling, and always shooting.

I did almost die in the space suit because I couldn't see where I was jumping to and almost missed. Aside from that, the absolute hardest things for me were:

The big guy in the derelict ship: I had trouble figuring out where exactly to shoot once I was out of grenades. Switched to my pistol and went back and forth until I found it.
The big ape/rhino/whatever that thing was that was so fast: I managed to take him with no losses, but I have to say that one may have been my biggest challenge. I had to master Stamina management and I had to do it fast.
The first queen I already covered. The second was just annoying because she liked to jump on my while I was activating the consoles.
The final queen was a challenge at first, once there were no barrels left, but I realized if I was in danger I could lead the alien she summoned to the far right platform (where you enter the area) and jump to the left to the top ladder platform where the turret was mounted. The alien gets stuck jumping at the entry platform and the queen herself cannot land on it, leaving me safe when I literally had nothing but my pistol left. It does stop working if you get down from that platform, but good to know if you are near death and out of ammo.

So my only losses were back in that first queen fight. Could I beat all of the bosses again without losses? Probably. As long as I remember the stamina control on that one boss.

What I may do is play through again and sacrifice 3 of the original 4 marines right off the bat and then play through to recruit the team I want with only the intentional losses on record. I haven't decided yet. I hate the losses, but I suppose it is part of the Aliens experience, in a way. Their first encounter a disaster, so the survivor (Whistler, for me. I like the idea of the newbie being forced to take charge) regroups, puts together a good team, and wipes those Aliens out!

And it didn't take long for me to beat it. I wonder if the approach of knowing the Alien universe helped me play through it so well?

Anyone else here helped by it when exploring?

Do the deaths show on that extras marine roster?

[SM]

No. I'd read somewhere that they could be taken off and in need of rescue, but I never had to do it.

I had one guy who got abducted, but I reached him too late.  He'd already been hugged.  I wish I'd stuck around around to find out what happened to him but restarted at the last save point.

And I discovered that  'cheat' to beat the last one too. 

[Kigan]

Yeah...kinda bizarre, but insanely helpful if like me, you find yourself with only a pistol. There's just not much chance of shooting the Alien she called and getting away from her wrath.





Fun times. Gotta admit that full roster looks rather nice. Almost makes me sad to go in and kill off marines to get the team I want.

[Corporal Hicks]

And I discovered that  'cheat' to beat the last one too. 

Prey tell?

[DiabloGuapo]

I've beat the game without losing one marine. The next time I'll kill off the others to get the team I want.

[Kigan]

Prey tell?

I mentioned it in my post when I talked about my challenges with the bosses. Where you could get the Alien the queen called for stuck on the far right platform so that it won't attack you AND she can't call more.

I don't know if I'd call it a cheat. A bug, maybe. See the spoiler for a better explanation. Pictures from the boss fight to go along with it.

Spoiler

First things first: You must have destroyed AT LEAST the two platforms on the far right with the explosive barrels, thus isolating the far right tower with turrets. This prevents the Queen from landing on the same level as you.



This is the platform you can trap the Alien on. Call it Trap Tower. What you do is either jump to it or climb up it when she summons an Alien. Once that Alien is scaling the ladder after you, jump to the left and land in the platform. In my experience, if you fall down the Alien will follow, so it won't work if you miss. You must actually jump and land on the platform or grab the ladder higher than the middle platform. It did not follow when I missed but grabbed the ladder that high. As soon as I had one foot lower, though, the Alien attacked. Don't worry about the Queen's jump. I've only ever been hurt by that if I was in her landing space.



This is where you will land. Call it Safe Tower. You are higher than the Queen, meaning she is left only to jump. On the right you see the previous platform, Trap Tower, and that is where the Alien remains as long as you do not leave this platform - Thus the name Safe Tower. The Queen will attack and scream and jump, but she will not be able to harm you. You can, if you so wish, descend to the middle platform to get some attacking in, but this puts you in range of her attacks and she may knock you to the ground.The Alien should not leave Trap Tower until you try to go lower than the middle platform on Safe Tower.



It should be noted that I only discovered and used this as a last resort. I had no bombs and no ammo. Just my pistol remained. It slows the battle down quite a bit, as your only chances to shoot her are mid-jump unless you can safely get some attacks in from the middle platform. It is possible, and I imagine you'd want to use your better gun ammo in this fashion so none is wasted.

And that's it, really. Rather simple, though I personally only see it as a last resort situation because of how slow the battle gets.

Added Note: In moving to finish that battle, I accidentally got knocked by the Queen. She knocked me to the left, AWAY from the Trap Tower, and even after reaching over halfway to the other end the Alien was still stuck. Need to check it more to see if descending from the Safe Tower a certain way allows it to stay stuck.

Note 2: It does not. I don't know if it was extended time on the ground, or getting so far away, but the Alien did break free.

[close]

[SM]

I found the flamethrowere was best for the final boss cheat/ bug/ whatever.  Flamethrowers never run out.  Took a while though.

I think you need to resist the urge to nade the Alien on the lower platform near the door as another will appear and climb up the ladder after you.  Let it just hang around on the door platform.

[Kigan]

Yeah, I leave that Alien alone. I won't even try to hit the boss with a grenade if it is on that side of the safe platform. It defeats the purpose of setting it up like that.

I hadn't thought about the flamethrower as a final boss weapon. I never had much luck with it.