Re: [SGII] Supression

At 12:22 AM 2/16/99 -0500, you wrote:
>John Crimmins wrote:
>
>> You are acting like there are only two ways to respond to incoming
fire:
>> freeze or go into a beserk frenzy.  This is not the case.
>
>Nope.	Let's say you are walking through the woods.  All of a sudden,
>someone starts shooting at you.  Do you A)Continue to walk through the
>woods, or B)Hide behind something solid and return fire in an unaimed
>and ineffective manner.  What other choices are there?  

For a human?  Well, you can hide behind something solid and wait, trying
to
figure out where the bullets are coming from--and then fire when you've
got
an idea of where to aim (this kind of presence of mind is quite rare,
however).  For an alien...to repeat myself, he might:

Go into overdrive--so instead of being suppressed his speed suddenly
quadruples and he is literally unable to stand still.

Or take to the trees--giving him a combat move that is restricted to
arboreal movement.

Or activate his holographic cammo suit--your effective range is cut in
half
as the enemy disappears and you start wishing for Arnie to make an
appearance.

Or instantly evaluate the threat (realizing that at THIS range, from
THAT
angle, you've only got a .000234% chance of hitting him) and just ignore
it
all--and just keeps on truckin', knowing that he's safe.

If you take
>cover, you're supressed.  If you don't, you very, very likely to get
>hit.  You can run in various directions--would you then suggest instead
>of supression the target gets another activation to move?

It would be a variation.  For a race that's evolved from herbivores, an
instant activation that can only be used to take a combat move AWAY from
the enemy would be interesting.  It would make 'em a pain in the ass to
game with, but I could live with that for occasional games.

>> Because he doesn't feel threatened by them.	He hears a gunshot.  He
looks
>> down.  He sees that he has no holes in his body (none that weren't
there
>> before, at least), he shrugs and moves on.  He doesn't drop to the
ground
>> and worry about being hit.  The human instict is to freeze when
threatened,
>
>Dropping to the ground is minimizing target area.  You continue to
walk,
>you're maximizing.

Dropping to all fours and scurrying through the underbrush wouldn't be
maximizing.  And it would not be suppressed, either.  This assumes a
different biology, of course.  As do a lot of these suggestions of
mine....

I have too many miniatures.

>> >> Why not?	Where is it written that all Aliens must be equivalent
to
human
>> >
>> >Law of Nature.  No such thing as free lunch.  Physics is damned
>> >equitable.
>> 
>> 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.
>
>No.  I'm responding to the 'why not'.	Bullets act the same regardless
>of what species you are--and humans continue to act the same.	Take a
>moving target.  If you only get one shot at it before it hits the
>ground, you probably won't hit it unless it's either close, moving
>slowly, or you're a good shot.  If it continues to stay up and moving,
>you will eventually hit it.

If it's a small enough target, moving fast enough, you might not.  You
might not even see it 'til it's right on top of you.  I have these
plastic
figures put out by Fortress a few years ago that look kinda like rabbits
with REALLY big teeth, see....

I told you that I have too many miniatures, didn't I?

>> 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.
>
>Of course, they only fight at close quarters, in the rain, in the
middle
>of night, etc.. . No time to get supressed.  :)

They choose their battlefield, like any smart commander.  Or
screenwriter....  And doesn't the movie make reference to them being
nocturnal?  Actually, if I had the terrain, I'd love to run an Aliens
scenario set in an urban environment.  Drop a Queen into the middle of
NYC,
wait a few weeks, and send in the Marines....  It would be a bloodbath
on
both sides, but I think that they'd eventually have to nuke the city. 
The
Aliens reproduce just too damned fast.

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.