Does flame actually kill aliens?

[Neila]

Which brings me back to my first entry, that a reliable statement is currently not possible here.

a bullet should kill it is speculative.
Was this mentioned somewhere?
then I'm happy to accept it.

But even if that is the case, it is illogical in the long run.
Considering what the critters can endure in some situations, it's strange that they die from a shot.

Alien isolation made it bulletproof, in other games they can be eliminated almost with a flick of the finger.
from which I conclude that it is relatively illogical how they keep changing it for the desired purposes.

[BigDaddyJohn]

It's logical in the context of the games in question. In AVP2 it's logical that they can be killed quickly enough, in Isolation it's logical the thing is unkillable considering what gameplay it establishes.

[Acid_Reign161]

It depends entirely on the bullets used. We see them mowed down in 'Aliens' with Pulse Rifle fire (and in Romulus) - but there's a big difference between 10mm explosive tip caseless standard light armour piercing rounds, vs handgun bullets for example (which we also see in 'Aliens' bounces off the head dome without causing any damage whatsoever; only when Vasquez repeatedly shoots the xeno in a vulnerable /less armoured spot at pretty much zero range repeatedly, do we eventually see any damage or bleeding.

So 'bullets' is quite a broad term, and on the whole I'd say, no, bullets *aren't* effective at damaging a xeno, never mind killing it. In example, colonial marshals are unlikely to be carrying explosive tipped ammunition... and we saw Apone assess that there was evidence of small arms fire at Hadley's hope; but there it seems to be implied that the melted flooring where Hicks  mentioned "somebody bagged one of Ripley's bad guys here" was from the same type of explosive damage from seismic survey charges (noted earlier by Apone, and evident by parts of the damaged/hanging ceiling structure).

[BigDaddyJohn]

In Isolation the shotgun, which is a big caliber weapon, still doesn't do a thing to the alien.

[SM]

Which brings me back to my first entry, that a reliable statement is currently not possible here.

a bullet should kill it is speculative.
Was this mentioned somewhere?
then I'm happy to accept it.

But even if that is the case, it is illogical in the long run.
Considering what the critters can endure in some situations, it's strange that they die from a shot.

Alien isolation made it bulletproof, in other games they can be eliminated almost with a flick of the finger.
from which I conclude that it is relatively illogical how they keep changing it for the desired purposes.

It usually takes more than "a bullet" but in Resurrection Johner did precisely that. One bullet right in the face.

[Acid_Reign161]

Which brings me back to my first entry, that a reliable statement is currently not possible here.

a bullet should kill it is speculative.
Was this mentioned somewhere?
then I'm happy to accept it.

But even if that is the case, it is illogical in the long run.
Considering what the critters can endure in some situations, it's strange that they die from a shot.

Alien isolation made it bulletproof, in other games they can be eliminated almost with a flick of the finger.
from which I conclude that it is relatively illogical how they keep changing it for the desired purposes.

It usually takes more than "a bullet" but in Resurrection Johner did precisely that. One bullet right in the face.

That is true, but it was an explosive bullet :-)

[Still Collating...]

Isolation makes the Alien bullet proof. You said it referred back to the original idea that it's difficult to kill - but it doesn't, as bullet should definitely kill it.

It doesn't do that whatsoever. It's hard to see when the thing is rushing towards you, but every bullet from the pistol, every shot from the shotgun and every shot from the boltgun pierces the Alien in Isolation no problem, with an acidic wound visible. Amanda just sucks at aiming most of the time and if you're shooting at the head, good luck seeing anything cause the head doesn't have hit registration, the dome doesn't have a bullet wound texture basically. Shoot anywhere on the body or limbs and you'll see that everything pierces it. The creature just didn't care unless it was fire.

It depends entirely on the bullets used. We see them mowed down in 'Aliens' with Pulse Rifle fire (and in Romulus) - but there's a big difference between 10mm explosive tip caseless standard light armour piercing rounds, vs handgun bullets for example (which we also see in 'Aliens' bounces off the head dome without causing any damage whatsoever; only when Vasquez repeatedly shoots the xeno in a vulnerable /less armoured spot at pretty much zero range repeatedly, do we eventually see any damage or bleeding.

So 'bullets' is quite a broad term, and on the whole I'd say, no, bullets *aren't* effective at damaging a xeno, never mind killing it. In example, colonial marshals are unlikely to be carrying explosive tipped ammunition... and we saw Apone assess that there was evidence of small arms fire at Hadley's hope; but there it seems to be implied that the melted flooring where Hicks  mentioned "somebody bagged one of Ripley's bad guys here" was from the same type of explosive damage from seismic survey charges (noted earlier by Apone, and evident by parts of the damaged/hanging ceiling structure).

Exactly this, people forget that the difference between most pistol rounds and a military grade armor piercing bullet is like the difference between getting punched by a toddler and by Mike Tyson.

In Isolation the shotgun, which is a big caliber weapon, still doesn't do a thing to the alien.

A shotgun is actually a very weak weapon IRL. What the movies and most games show with of gun is very unrealistic. Some pistol rounds are stronger than shotgun buckshot and slugs. Shotguns are devastating on soft targets, but are horrible against armor and hard targets.

Which brings me back to my first entry, that a reliable statement is currently not possible here.

a bullet should kill it is speculative.
Was this mentioned somewhere?
then I'm happy to accept it.

But even if that is the case, it is illogical in the long run.
Considering what the critters can endure in some situations, it's strange that they die from a shot.

Alien isolation made it bulletproof, in other games they can be eliminated almost with a flick of the finger.
from which I conclude that it is relatively illogical how they keep changing it for the desired purposes.

It usually takes more than "a bullet" but in Resurrection Johner did precisely that. One bullet right in the face.

Yep, that always was a bit ridiculous, but at the same time, that's from a gun 200 years in the future from 2179, with a strange red glowing bullet which I can buy is a special weapon. The way Casey's pistol round went right through the very metallic seeming helmet of the guard either means that the Betty pirates either have really special pistols or that's just the tech level of the period in question.

Personal opinion: being resistant to one type of damage is very different than resistance to other types of damage and completely plausible to me IMO. Do I wish Big Chap was blown to bits at the end of Alien like it was meant to be? Yes, but now like this at least we can use it as an argument against the ridiculous notion of it being so weak to fire like what some portrayals are trying to do.

And people really underestimate the power of today's weaponry. There's a huge spectrum of force and effectiveness. The M41A in the Technical Manual is reported to have the stats that equal to about the force of a .50cal. But lets say you ignore that, but stuff like .50cals exist. Thick personnel steal plates can't stop that thing. Nothing human sized can be realistically bulletproof unless they're completely a solid metal object. That's why I can't get into Quiet Place films, cause they couldn't be bullet proof and completely impervious to a modern military weaponry.

Alien has enough things we need suspension of disbelief for, I don't want to make the Alien into a magical bullet proof ghost monster thing. The Alien is scary to me cause it almost feels like it could be real. But yeah, there are a lot of more or less fire resistant materials, but nothing that can stop our handheld weapons with a relatively thin layer of material.

[SM]

There's a lot of variables.  A pulse rifle volley will knock an Alien down.  Possibly kill it.  A smart gun will more than likely kill it. A shotgun will hurt it at range.  Right in the mouth, it's toast (along with the gun).  A small sidearm isn't going to do much unless it's multiple rounds at point blank range.  Sentry rounds will chop them up.

[Neila]

I generally have my objections when it comes to durability. It is adapted too much to the needs of the story without having a real constant.

In isolation, the alien is injured by the firearms. You can see acid coming out. But it doesn't have much of an effect.

Stompy stops briefly and then runs you over.

It is necessary for the game that it is like that.

And it makes more sense to me if we want to talk about a perfect and resilient organism.

In the first AvP game, a few shots are enough to blow the beasts apart.

Overall, it would make more sense to me if the aliens were more resistant to light firearms and could also withstand individual heavier shots, like a shotgun.

(The Pred, on the other hand, has a body that is relatively similar to that of a human, i.e. rather soft. But it can take several bullets without giving up)

What do xenos have their biomechanical exoskeleton for?

It looks like it is pretty resilient. Light bullets should actually bounce off.
After all, they ram into steel doors and don't break.
If individual bullets penetrate, they should be dissolved by the acid and a healing process begins.
Pulse Rifle, Smart Gun, etc. could wipe them out, however, because the body is damaged too much.
You also have to watch out for the acid splashing around.

[Still Collating...]

There's a lot of variables.  A pulse rifle volley will knock an Alien down.  Possibly kill it.  A smart gun will more than likely kill it. A shotgun will hurt it at range.  Right in the mouth, it's toast (along with the gun).  A small sidearm isn't going to do much unless it's multiple rounds at point blank range.  Sentry rounds will chop them up.

Exactly, well put. A short, yet "all you need to know" explanation of how the different weapons effect the Alien.

[Kimarhi]

A round fired out of a rifle fires with a much higher velocity than one fired out of a pistol. 

The PRs have adapted 10mm (already a heavy round), makes it armor piercing, and then gives it an explosive tip. 

A standard issue (at the moment) nato round is actually smaller than a 9mm bullet, but it is a rifle round because of how much faster and further it shoots due to having a huge cartridge packed with that secret government can't have as a civilian propellant (and because its smaller size makes it light weight) so if you are a grunt, or were a somebody else who was running around on the ground having to carry that shit like I was, you can carry more ammo with less of a weight penalty. Ounces make pounds, and pounds make pain as the saying goes.  The new rifle with the bigger round has more stopping power, but less capacity for magazines, and you'll have to carry more weight to carry the same loadout we did in the GWOT days.  I don't plan on going back to being a sapper anytime soon, so if its better at dropping folks with fewer rounds, good for it I guess. 

So the weapons in the future shoot a far more dangerous round than they do today. Since the pulse rifle doesn't use cartridges (lore wise at least), they can carry a bunch more of ammo, with less weight penalty than they would before.  Just two magazines gives you about the same ammo as what we used to have to carry 7 magazines for. 

When you look at a bullet online, only the very end of it is what actually hits you.  Everything else is propellant inside a cartridge that detaches.  I know most know it, but some don't.  We had people in BCT who didn't understand how guns work until we were on the firing range. 

So you can also have a difference of effect on the Alien because they are probably using different rounds throughout the series/comics/games and the era that these all took place.  I would think that IN SPACE, they are probably using hard hitting, but slow traveling subsonic rounds so they don't shoot through the hull of the ship or station.  Which is probably why the Marshalls and their weapons (and anybody else who ends up with them) aren't actually able to kill the Aliens in isolation. 

I also have a personal headcannon that the Aliens outerbody is more protected than its inner body, so the shotgun to the mouth would drop it instantly, where a shotgun to the dome might not have the same effects.  A bullet with a starting point INSIDE the defenses vs outside. 

Steve Perry thought this too, because his (spoiler alert) android Marines in Earth Hive would have the Marines waiting for the Aliens to open their mouths before firing a 10mm handgun round into their jaws where it would rattle around in their domes like a mad bee in a jar. 

I think fire probably does the same thing.  Enough concentrated on them would probably kill them, and it for sure kills the facehuggers, and chestbusters, but generally an adult is just gonna split because regardless it probably hurts for something to try to burn you alive whether you have a resistance to it or not. 

[Acid Splash]

Why yes officer the xenomorph does in fact have level 4 plates.