Alien vs Marine RTS

[SM]

No games strictly follow canon - and yet some are fairly successful.

[MadassAlex]

It's not our fault that every attempt to reimagine the Alien has been retarded.

[SM]

That too.

These reports of GM Aliens in the new game are exactly thrilling either...

[MadassAlex]

Yeah, it's pretty sad stuff.

[RagingDragon]

Going by canon, the Aliens are severely limited in unit choice.

In addition, they're undeniably outmatched in a pitched battle against human firepower. The Alien's strength is in surprise, positioning and lightning attacks. An RTS would have lots of trouble representing that.

I have to disagree with both points.  First, as we've seen in Alien 3, an alien will inherit traits from their host.  In an RTS, this could make for some very interesting gameplay.  The Alien player would have to find these different hosts, humans, animals, predators, whatever, to gain access to different units.  These differences, also, could be represented by different stats and/or abilities.  Nothing about this goes against 'canon' unless you mean the neurotic and hopeless fans who will cry if there is anything in an Aliens game that wasn't strictly in the movies.

The second point is that though an alien may constantly lose to a marine if they have to run across a field in the open, that's the entire point of tactics and strategy.  It's no different than playing a game like Starcraft.  If you send out 1 Zergling against a Marine, it will die every time.  That's why you make more.  Plus, Aliens can burrow underground, climb, jump, and run reallll fast.  There are plenty of times in the comics and EU where a squad of troopers gets pasted in the open. 

Plus, the Marines would have objectives forcing them into tight spots.

If I made this game, it would be bad ass.   

[MadassAlex]

I have to disagree with both points.  First, as we've seen in Alien 3, an alien will inherit traits from their host.  In an RTS, this could make for some very interesting gameplay.  The Alien player would have to find these different hosts, humans, animals, predators, whatever, to gain access to different units.  These differences, also, could be represented by different stats and/or abilities.  Nothing about this goes against 'canon' unless you mean the neurotic and hopeless fans who will cry if there is anything in an Aliens game that wasn't strictly in the movies.

Aliens are minimally altered by the species they use as a host. The movies displayed this pretty clearly. You basically get the same creature every time.

The second point is that though an alien may constantly lose to a marine if they have to run across a field in the open, that's the entire point of tactics and strategy.  It's no different than playing a game like Starcraft.  If you send out 1 Zergling against a Marine, it will die every time.  That's why you make more.  Plus, Aliens can burrow underground, climb, jump, and run reallll fast.  There are plenty of times in the comics and EU where a squad of troopers gets pasted in the open.

Fair enough, but frankly the vast majority of the EU sucks. I remember an ALIEN book trying to tell me that the Aliens themselves were creations of man.

I don't want to play a game where Aliens rely upon vast numbers to win it. That's never what they were about. Starcraft is way different, because open warfare is a part of the setting itself, and the Zerg are adapted to it.

[Redlightning]

 Yeah, but when you think about it Aliens swarm just like Zerg. So it shouldn't be that big of a deal.

[SpreadEagleBeagle]

Yeah, but when you think about it Aliens swarm just like Zerg. So it shouldn't be that big of a deal.

You're right except that Aliens don't swarm like the Zerg.

[Mr. Domino]

Nothing about this goes against 'canon' unless you mean the neurotic and hopeless fans who will cry if there is anything in an Aliens game that wasn't strictly in the movies.

Ah, yeah, I love it when someone starts out by insulting the opinion of an overwhelming majority of users on the forum he's posting in.

If I made this game, it would be bad ass.   

No, it wouldn't. Because you're never going to make it.

[Redlightning]

Yeah, but when you think about it Aliens swarm just like Zerg. So it shouldn't be that big of a deal.

You're right except that Aliens don't swarm like the Zerg.

HURR UR FUNNEH

But yeah, they do. They're just not as big in numbers. but tey stillz swarm

[RagingDragon]

Ah, yeah, I love it when someone starts out by insulting the opinion of an overwhelming majority of users on the forum he's posting in.

If I made this game, it would be bad ass.   

No, it wouldn't. Because you're never going to make it.

Are you trying to tell me that:
1>  An "overwhelming majority" of people on here think that an Aliens game should never have any alien that wasn't in the movies?  That seems strange since AvP2 is one of the best Aliens games ever made, and it has plenty of characters that weren't in the movies.  Does this also include the newborn, because I would love to play as a giant idiotic ripley/alien baby.  Wait, .. no, actually I would despise that.

2>  If this is the case, then we would have all of 6 types of units, 2 being a facehugger and a chestburster.  I would love to see anybody make a playable RTS game with 6 units, especially when 2 of them are all but useless unless in a certain role.

I think I just insulted you, because you seem to be a very sensitive person.  My point was that in order to make a functional Aliens RTS, you need a variety of units.  The movies offer you... 3, not including the Queen.  Notice a problem there?  So, following that logic to it's conclusion, to make a game that is in any way playable or realistic will inevitably enrage fans like yourself because it must have more units.  To me, that = hopeless and neurotic.

Plus, different aliens are canon anyway.  The Fiorina alien was very different, considering.  Imagine an alien born from a shark, or a tiger, or a rhino for that matter.  Physical differences would be huge.

And the second part didn't make any sense... 

[RagingDragon]

Yeah, but when you think about it Aliens swarm just like Zerg. So it shouldn't be that big of a deal.

You're right except that Aliens don't swarm like the Zerg.

To me, swarm means that they are limited to melee, so they have to rush to close the distance in any battle.  You're right in that it wouldn't be like a horde of bugs from Starship Troopers, but I think a version of Xenomorph swarm would be uniquely terrifying...

[Okata]

I bet we could see some interesting Alien(s) maps created with the Starcraft II World Editor, once it's released. With the awesome triggers and custom model importers and such that the WC3 Editor had, we could see a whole new game evolve. And it could be potentially beautiful. There was a game in WCIII where there were alien players and marines, and the goal was to harvest the civilians on the map, or protect them for a set amount of time. I believe predators were thrown in as wildcards as well, but all I remember is it was fun. Though again, it was more or less an open setting. But I imagine with all the crazy world things you could pull in WC3, you might be able to manage a cramped space station map of some sort, with places hidden from view that you can see out of, only reachable by alien players.

[MadassAlex]

Yeah, but when you think about it Aliens swarm just like Zerg. So it shouldn't be that big of a deal.

No.

If you take them at face value, Aliens swarm like the Zerg.

If you think about it, they have absolutely no reason to.

[SpreadEagleBeagle]

Yeah, but when you think about it Aliens swarm just like Zerg. So it shouldn't be that big of a deal.

You're right except that Aliens don't swarm like the Zerg.

HURR UR FUNNEH

But yeah, they do. They're just not as big in numbers. but tey stillz swarm

No, they don't swarm... they creep up on you or just lurk, then attack, and then they grab you and disappear - they're not crazed warriors throwing themselves at the enemy (even though the ones in AvP kind of did that), they're silent killers. And it also seems like they more often than not work in pairs rather than in groups, even when they attack in large numbers. Nonetheless, they seem to prefer to hand out people's asses on their own.