Colonial Marines instead of Dutch's team

[AhabPredator]

I would put it in Jungle Hunter's favor for a number of reasons.

1. The motion tracker only works so well. Val Verde does have a host of wildlife meaning that you'd have to distinguish that between the Predator as Dutch's team even made that mistake. The Motion tracker is also not functional 360 degrees. Meaning you'd have to constantly rotate in order to get a bead on wherever the Predator is. However this also doesn't account for the elevation of the trees as Jungle Hunter spent a good deal of time up there. While you could also assume they could use later versions like the HUD integrated version, that only means that you don't have a dedicated tracker, it still doesn't account for wildlife, elevation, or 360 degree radar. Indeed the integrated variant didn't do the Marines on BG-386 any favors either as the Marines took a Hell of a beating by the Predators.

2. The Smart Gun is about as useful as Ol' Painless. I'd actually argue it's worse for usage in Val Verde seeing as the jungle was as cramped as it was. The Smart Gun auto-targets but it also has to differentiate between moving foliage and various animals on top of Jungle Hunter and because he primarily stuck to the trees, the gunners are likely to end up more like Blaine did. Regardless of Motion tracker variant, all Jungle Hunter has to do is go behind them and they're blind. Which he actually did for Blaine and he didn't even have future-tech.

3. The armor is good, not that good. The Colonial Marine armor is pretty durable but it has exposed points which is pretty awful to include here. The armor has exposed arms, head, and seeing as it lacks a face mask it probably can't stand up to a face-shot. The armor also being metal would also reflect in Val Verde's jungle meaning that it's just all the easier for Jungle Hunter to see them. Jungle Hunter's plasmacaster would practically shred the armor and even if it didn't that Marine isn't going anywhere. We know Jungle Hunter was also more than capable of firing on small points like the rifle or arms so I doubt it would change that much of Predator. But even if to a body shot that Marine survived, the armor is still damaged, it deforms to protect the wearer but just a double tap will do it. We also know Predator heat vision should pick it up. While this is seen on future Predators, we have no reason to believe that JH's wouldn't possess the same effect.

Then we got to look at the way the team went out.
1. Hawkins was caught off guard when Anna went to escape. Assuming the same happened, that Marine is still dead. Assuming that combat roles carry over I would assume this Marine would be the Motion tracker operator and that puts a significant dent in tracking the Jungle Hunter.
2. Blaine was hit from behind so not only would his motion tracker be facing the wrong way assuming the HUD version, he's also only protected by body armor, but all Jungle Hunter has to do is perform a double tap and regardless if its one shot or not, our Smart Gunner isn't getting back up from a plasma bolt slagging metal to his spine.

- While our Mac analogue may still show up, the Smart Gun primarily auto targets based on moving items and the Jungle Hunter made it pretty far. The Jungle Hunter being able to maneuver as easily as he does means he's more likely to escape. You also have to consider the foliage protecting Jungle Hunter as all those rounds did more to cut down the trees than it did actually pegging him. Otherwise should the Smart Gun be on manual fire it's bound to occur the same way with foliage obscuring the tracker, and our Mac analogue firing wildly into the Jungle. He likely still hits him though. 

3. Poncho is still likely incapacitated. Following the traps to kill Jungle Hunter (and the loss of the Motion Tracker), they'd probably resort to traps resulting in our Poncho analogue getting incapacitated by the trap.

4. Mac's analogue still gets headshot. Mac's analogue is still compromised due to the armor not covering his face or neck (I say neck due to a goof in his death scene and Dillon finding the body).

5. Dillon still gets his arm blown off. Our Dillon analogue still lacks armor on his arms and while the wrist blades might not be enough to initially penetrate the armor, Jungle Hunter does run fast enough (and we know Predators are strong enough) to effectively puncture just using physics. However that's only accounting for the chest as the abdomen piece is still fabric armor. Jungle Hunter could still leave this Marine to die from blood loss and or shock.

6. Billy is a bit different but wont put up much more of a fight. Now one of two things happen. Either this marine buys time or goes insane much like Billy and leads to a fairly quick death. Or this Marine remained armed and he aims his weapon into the jungle, into the jungle for an enemy he can't see. In this case I'd imagine Jungle Hunter just doesn't waste time and just shoots him. We don't know specifically what killed Billy if only that it was really quick, so regardless be it blades or just shooting him, JH didn't waste much time.

7. Poncho is still shot

8. Dutch's analogue relies on him still having access to his equipment to make the improvised weapons. It also means that he'd have to not have the exposed armor taking on heat from the surrounding jungle. Considering Dutch faces him with the improvised weapons and not the standard gear I'm going to assume it goes the same way as the Dutch that killed JH in the original film. Otherwise if that Marine gave Anna a weapon Anna is getting hit in the back. Said Marine should he start the fight with the standard gear JH is going to know hes there due to metal taking on more heat easier. Meaning should the fight be with the full gear, this Dutch is screwed.

All excellent points all around. But also I would add to your stuff by saying the SmartGun has some issues with friendly fire if your intended target is moving quickly and leaps past or toward a friendly target. It doesn't seem to have an Identify-friend-or-foe (IFF) component anywhere in the design.

As evidenced by when Rucker accidentally shoots Lee in the AvP: Life and Death comics when trying to kill the Hive Wars Predator.

Additionally, Predator weapons such as wrist blades, spears, and smart disks have been known to cut through marine ballistic armor with ease. This is first-hand viewed in Alien vs. Predator (2010) videogame. Dark is able to outsmart and outmaneuver the Colonial Marines with ease by using elevation, vocal mimicry, and cloaking tech. Which aligns with everything we know of these spacefaring hunter species.

Finally, I'm not positive on the actual science of how plasma weaponry works in the Predator universe. But in the Halo universe, plasma weaponry utilized by the Covenant can cut everything from body armor to capital ships apart with the greatest of ease. Only downside is that they have to be closer to do so.

[JokersWarPig]

Again, I think this is the best thing we have to draw upon for a USCM and Predator engagement

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMUS9_2D7qs

[close]

[AhabPredator]

Again, I think this is the best thing we have to draw upon for a USCM and Predator engagement

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMUS9_2D7qs

[close]

I literally couldn't put that book down. Favorite scene is when all the Predators were chillin' in the trees.

[judge death]

Most of those points the predator would win only because in predator movie they couldnt see the predator, with space marines its different as their infra red sights can see a cloaked predator without issues clearly from long range, example:

Mac and Dillon wouldnt have gotten killed like you describe it if they had the marines weapons and technology, when they are running after the predator they would been able to see it all the time and shot with pulse rifles or smart guns(can turn off tracking mode and shot manually like in aliens movie) and one hit and the predator is dead, if its up in the trees and is cloaked wouldnt help, Mac and Dillon would see him with infra red and shot it.

Billy: Now one of two things happen. Either this marine buys time or goes insane much like Billy and leads to a fairly quick death. Or this Marine remained armed and he aims his weapon into the jungle, into the jungle for an enemy he can't see
Ehm with marines tech Billy would see the predator and they wouldnt be shoting blind into jungle but precise shots at the predator as soon as he shows his face. Infra red practicly makes the invisible predator: visible for all to see.

But armour and motion tracker you are right about, but motion tracker would be useful as they would been able to see movement 360 degrees and can see one dot following them, and once they turn on infra red sights then its very easy to tell what is a human size thing from a snake.

In the predator movies we see infra red can see them, and in judge dredd vs predator infra red made it very easy to hunt and find the predator in urban enviroment, and in some games and comics.
So for the marines a predator cant hide and can see the predator just as easily as the predator can see them. Predators invisible advantage is gone.

[SuperiorIronman]

Most of those points the predator would win only because in predator movie they couldnt see the predator, with space marines its different as their infra red sights can see a cloaked predator without issues clearly from long range, example:

Mac and Dillon wouldnt have gotten killed like you describe it if they had the marines weapons and technology, when they are running after the predator they would been able to see it all the time and shot with pulse rifles or smart guns(can turn off tracking mode and shot manually like in aliens movie) and one hit and the predator is dead, if its up in the trees and is cloaked wouldnt help, Mac and Dillon would see him with infra red and shot it.

Billy: Now one of two things happen. Either this marine buys time or goes insane much like Billy and leads to a fairly quick death. Or this Marine remained armed and he aims his weapon into the jungle, into the jungle for an enemy he can't see
Ehm with marines tech Billy would see the predator and they wouldnt be shoting blind into jungle but precise shots at the predator as soon as he shows his face. Infra red practicly makes the invisible predator: visible for all to see.

But armour and motion tracker you are right about, but motion tracker would be useful as they would been able to see movement 360 degrees and can see one dot following them, and once they turn on infra red sights then its very easy to tell what is a human size thing from a snake.

In the predator movies we see infra red can see them, and in judge dredd vs predator infra red made it very easy to hunt and find the predator in urban enviroment, and in some games and comics.
So for the marines a predator cant hide and can see the predator just as easily as the predator can see them. Predators invisible advantage is gone.

I chose to ignore things like specialty equipment because we'd have to assume the nearest equivalent else it stops being the circumstances of Predator 1987. I decided for the nearest analogue to the team because units are inconsistent in extended media and so is the equipment. Motion trackers I boiled down to the HUD version or the dedicated tracker for that reason. I don't believe I mentioned it in the post but I also just assumed they'd largely use a base-line Pulse rifle and even then it's inconsistent. When you factor in things like attachments it gets even more complicated because we know one version does have specialty attachments whereas we don't know if the others support it. And in terms of team layout if we build it to specifically hunt the Predator, that sends us further into speculation territory. At that point we're building a team of Predator hunters and ignoring why Dutch's team was outfitted in the first place.

But on the note of the infrared sight I specifically ignored it because we don't have an analogue for it used by any member of Dutch's team.

We also know that the Motion tracker is generally what's in front of the user and does not have a 360 degree range.

We'd specifically have to pull from specific eras in order to make equipment work and even then some of those weapons are the way they are for gameplay purposes. We know that the BG-386 Marine equipment could take down a Predator but that's also factoring in that it's supposed to do that in multiplayer. That basically means that should one survive or not we don't know for certain because that lacks mostly hard stats.

Life and Death also had issues in the Predator portion where they performed trophy kills out in the open and leapt in to oncoming gun fire which deprives us of hard stats. It's really easy to kill something if its coming right for you so I elected to largely ignore it.

[judge death]

Ahh alright I see your point then, can see it go down like that if we remove most of their standard equipment.
I presumed a standard marine squad like what we see in Aliens movie who use standard pulse rifle and standard infra red sight they have in their helmets, and shoulder lamps etc and pretty sure marines then have the advantage.

The motion tracker in Aliens had 180 degrees of range so one need to look around(like a normal soldier should always do) to cover 360 degrees, else you only see straight forwards and bits to the side

[AhabPredator]

Ahh alright I see your point then, can see it go down like that if we remove most of their standard equipment.
I presumed a standard marine squad like what we see in Aliens movie who use standard pulse rifle and standard infra red sight they have in their helmets, and shoulder lamps etc and pretty sure marines then have the advantage.

The motion tracker in Aliens had 180 degrees of range so one need to look around(like a normal soldier should always do) to cover 360 degrees, else you only see straight forwards and bits to the side

That's why you are trained to cover, scan, and then holster after any kind of engagement when it is deemed "clear." But to NEVER cover on an empty magazine because you may need to send freedom seeds at the threat.

There's only so much tech can do. Still requires human input and tactics. At least that's what I was taught in small unit tactics. I would assume military personnel teach something similar.