Re: [SGII] Supression

At 05:21 PM 2/15/99 -0600, you wrote:
>
>>Nonsense.  Are you saying that if Antarans are 20% faster than humans
they
>>must then be 20% weaker to balance it out?  An alien can't be faster,
>>stronger, smarter, and more technologically advanced all at once?  I
don't
>>see why not--especially when you take genegineering into account.  The
>>universe is not always (or even usually) fair.
>>
>While the above may certainly be true, having a game with two different
>sides, one of them being superior in everything, wouldn't be much fun. 
If
>sides aren't "fair" in some fashion, the game will suck.

I'm not saying that there shouldn't be any balancing factor--superior
numbers, a defensive position, me rolling dice for the aliens ("Hey, he
pressed his ray gun against my head, and he *still* missed!  How'd he
*do*
that?").  I'm just saying that it's a little absurd (and boring) to say
that one human is exactly equivalent to one Kra'vak, who is exactly
equivalent to one Martian, who is exactly equivalent to one
Whatchamacallit.  Aliens are alien, and we can't logically expect to
meet
them all on precisely equal terms.  Now, personally, I wouldn't *want*
to
game with omnipotent aliens...but I wouldn't mind gaming *against* them
every once in a while.	I like a challenge, and I like variety.

>>However, if I were running Aliens (of the movie of the same name) I
would
>>NOT make them easier to hit, and I would NOT have them suppressed by
enemy
>>fire.  Different situation, different instincts, different behavior.
>>
>It's something of a dramatic device in movies, creating creatures that
don't
>suffer from the same weaknesses humans do to illustrate those
weaknesses,
>then exalt in the strength of the human spirit in overcoming those
>weaknesses and triumph over the "superior" forces.
>
>These are movies, after all, made for humans.

And it makes for a good game, too.  You don't want to do it every single
week, but it can be a lot of fun as a one-off scenario. 

>As far as Aliens are concerned - compare the body count total between
the
>Marines and the Aliens, and see who was harder to hit in a fight (not a
lot
>of Aliens low-crawling....)

Very true, but the Aliens were operating in very close quarters, with
limited means of access to their goal, and were literally crawling all
over
each other in their efforts to get to the Marines.  They normally moved
in
a crouch, or on all fours, and they blended well with the
terrain--outside,
or in the hive, things would have gone differently.  And consider the
first
movie, in which one Alien wipes out the entire crew of the Nostromo. 
No,
they didn't have big guns...but the Alien didn't just run down the
corridors at them, either.

And please, don't consider the third and fourth movies.  Ever.	"Aliens:
Ressurection" easily had the most absurd climax that I've ever seen.

John X Crimmins
johncrim@voicenet.com
  "...is one of the secret masters of the world: a librarian.
They control information.  Don't ever piss one off."
  --Spider Robinson, The Callahan Touch.