To implement 'Aliens' movie in Mongoose Traveller

[Greg Smith]

Okay, I can see that, sort of. But, it seems a little odd, a bit like sending the HMS Ark Royal with a crew of ten, two helicopters and a 20 Royal Marines.

Minister: "The Falklands is under attack. Send the Navy."
Admiral: "But we've sent the HMS Ark Royal to Gibralter."
Minister: "Well send it straight on from there."
Admiral: "But the rest of the crew and planes are in Plymouth."

 

[Beastttt]

maybe it could carry 2 squads but if 1 gunship is down for any of 1000 reasons having a back up is just being smart
but then if you had a 2nd squad the story would not have gone the same

with a 2nd squad in orbit more would have survived as they would have been on the way down just as soon as comms where lost to the those in the APC

I get the feeling the Sulaco is capable of carrying a much bigger force than it did in Aliens, I mean why would 2 squads need 2 dropships?

If it were taking a more active role, other than ferry as it did in ALiens I suspect it would have had more crew.

LBH

 

[Beastttt]

for me leaving a warship unmanned above a possible hostile force that may or may not have space flight capability was something I felt was wrong

It seems a trend in the Alien franchise that huge ships are run by a very small group of people.

This is probably just realistic.

The world's biggest container ship, the Emma Maersk, is able to transport
11,000 containers and is built for a crew of only 13 people. Now add in
some more automation, and in the not so far future a ship of that size,
397 meter / 1,300 feet long, can be handled by a team of 4 or 5 specia-
lists - a spaceship probably even with a smaller crew, since there are not
so many navigation hazards and the like in space.

I can see the Nostromo being crewed by just a few people, but the Sulaco appears to be a warship with weapons mounts and the like. Even modern warships have crews of 3-400, and carriers in the thousands.

But then the Auriga has a crew of 42 (IIRC), however that is 200 years later.

 

[Gruffty the Hiver]

Oh man I just love the weapons and tech in Aliens.....

"Game over man, game over!"

(sorry )

 

[Greg Smith]

Just done some watching:

Alien, from LV426 to Earth after the Nostromo landed: 10 months.

Aliens, clearly Newt didn't survive ten months. Somewhere around Hick's 17 days seems a more likely travel time for the same journey.

Alien Resurrection - the Auriga is 'outside regulated space', but is programmed to return to 'home base' which is Earth. Which takes 3 hours.

 

[vargr1]

Just done some watching:

Alien, from LV426 to Earth after the Nostromo landed: 10 months.

Aliens, clearly Newt didn't survive ten months. Somewhere around Hick's 17 days seems a more likely travel time for the same journey.

The Nostromo was an M-class Starfreighter towing 20 million tons of ore and the refinery for it, while the Sulaco is a warship. Couple that with a 60-year increase in the technology, and I can believe a greater travel speed.

 

[lastbesthope]

Ripley was a navigator,

Lambert was the navigator. Ripley was the warrant officer, which is fairly undefined.

In her log entry at the end, she lists herself as 3rd Officer.

Just done some watching:

Alien, from LV426 to Earth after the Nostromo landed: 10 months.

In the same log entry she states she should hit the frontier in the shuttle in about 6 weeks.

LBH

 

[Paladin]

for me leaving a warship unmanned above a possible hostile force that may or may not have space flight capability was something I felt was wrong

This is probably just realistic.

The world's biggest container ship, the Emma Maersk, is able to transport
11,000 containers and is built for a crew of only 13 people. Now add in
some more automation, and in the not so far future a ship of that size,
397 meter / 1,300 feet long, can be handled by a team of 4 or 5 specia-
lists - a spaceship probably even with a smaller crew, since there are not
so many navigation hazards and the like in space.

I can see the Nostromo being crewed by just a few people, but the Sulaco appears to be a warship with weapons mounts and the like. Even modern warships have crews of 3-400, and carriers in the thousands.

But then the Auriga has a crew of 42 (IIRC), however that is 200 years later.

Ya think? That was one of the STUPIDEST things in the movie.

 

[Mithras]

Low crew numbers are a plot device, because these are movies.

It allows the audience to identify all the key players and, as in all good horror movies, watch them go down one by one. Doesn't work quite so well in a 400 crew warship.

 

[Vile]

My mistake, Ripley wasn't the navigator. However, the point I was trying to make was that a navigator was required, so somebody on board had to at least program the autopilot before everyone went into hypersleep. But it does look like there is a certain amount of autonomy granted to the autopilot, such as diverting and waking up the crew to check out unexplained transmissions.

The impression I get from the films is that military ships are only intended for in-system combat, when the crew would be awake to man thw weapons systems. Presumably that makes a ship very vulnerable in transit, provided you can match its FTL flight and dock with it without waking up the crew. Hyperspace seems to be for passengers only.

My in-game view of the Sulaco is that it was an old, second-line ship and the squad with its inexperienced officer was the most the Company could finangle out of the CMC. That's why they got creamed. :twisted:

 

[Gruffty the Hiver]

Does The Colonial Marines Tech Manual give specific details of the various weapons in Aliens? Like the sentry gun, smart gun, flame thrower, pulse rifle etc? Does it say what the calibers etc the weapons are?

 

[Myrm]

The Pulse Rifle was a 10mm caseless rifle in the Aliens game from Leading Edge (based on Phoenix Command).

To me its a classic ACR example.

 

[Vile]

Does The Colonial Marines Tech Manual give specific details of the various weapons in Aliens? Like the sentry gun, smart gun, flame thrower, pulse rifle etc? Does it say what the calibers etc the weapons are?

Yes. Yes, it does.

 

[Mithras]

It is indeed an awesome book.

 

[N0-1_H3r3]

My mistake, Ripley wasn't the navigator. However, the point I was trying to make was that a navigator was required, so somebody on board had to at least program the autopilot before everyone went into hypersleep. But it does look like there is a certain amount of autonomy granted to the autopilot, such as diverting and waking up the crew to check out unexplained transmissions.

There was a navigator - Lambert.

The impression I get from the films is that military ships are only intended for in-system combat, when the crew would be awake to man thw weapons systems. Presumably that makes a ship very vulnerable in transit, provided you can match its FTL flight and dock with it without waking up the crew. Hyperspace seems to be for passengers only.

Personally, I saw the Sulaco as primarily a transport, rather than a warship. Then again, just from the perspective of the movies, space does seem like a very empty place, with large concentrations of ships only at major space-ports like Gateway, and with that in mind it seems like actual space combat would be quite uncommon. Plus, we're dealing primarily with the Marines here - actual space combat would or could in theory be covered by an United States Colonial Navy.

My in-game view of the Sulaco is that it was an old, second-line ship and the squad with its inexperienced officer was the most the Company could finangle out of the CMC. That's why they got creamed. :twisted:

I saw the platoon from the Sulaco as being under-strength - there should, IMO, have been another two four-man squads, and maybe a second Sergeant, with Gormann being a brand new replacement for a recently-deceased platoon commander.

In her log entry at the end, she lists herself as 3rd Officer.

I see that more as her role on the ship, rather than her rank - she's the ship's 3rd [Executive] Officer (with, IIRC, Dallas, Kane and Ash being the only three aboard the Nostromo more senior than her), and holds the rank of Warrant Officer within the Weyland-Yutani Merchant Navy (or whatever the organisation would be called).

In the same log entry she states she should hit the frontier in the shuttle in about 6 weeks.

Which suggests nothing more than the fact that, along the shuttle's current route, the frontier is about 8 and a half months from Earth, with the territory along that path being 'settled' space.

 

[Gruffty the Hiver]

Does The Colonial Marines Tech Manual give specific details of the various weapons in Aliens? Like the sentry gun, smart gun, flame thrower, pulse rifle etc? Does it say what the calibers etc the weapons are?

Yes. Yes, it does.

...git...

Vile: have you got a copy of this book, then?

 

[Gruffty the Hiver]

The Pulse Rifle was a 10mm caseless rifle in the Aliens game from Leading Edge (based on Phoenix Command).

To me its a classic ACR example.

Thank you Myrm, that is most helpful.

Unlike *a certain sarcastic git* around here (yes, Vile, I mean *you* ).

 

[lastbesthope]

In her log entry at the end, she lists herself as 3rd Officer.

I see that more as her role on the ship, rather than her rank - she's the ship's 3rd [Executive] Officer (with, IIRC, Dallas, Kane and Ash being the only three aboard the Nostromo more senior than her), and holds the rank of Warrant Officer within the Weyland-Yutani Merchant Navy (or whatever the organisation would be called).

You're close, Ripley outranks Ash, she clearly chastises him on that point in the MedLab after he's countermanded her order abnout letting Dallas, Kane and Lambert on board. When they're off the ship she's in charge.

LBH

 

[N0-1_H3r3]

You're close, Ripley outranks Ash, she clearly chastises him on that point in the MedLab after he's countermanded her order abnout letting Dallas, Kane and Lambert on board. When they're off the ship she's in charge.

Ah, right.

In which case, and having reminded myself of the particulars, it might well be that Ripley is 4th in command after Dallas, Kane and Lambert, as those were the three crew who were off the ship while Ripley was in command (and Lambert's role as navigator seems sufficiently important that she fits that high in the chain of command; IIRC, Lambert and Dallas are both dead by the time Ripley gets access to Mother as well, which helps my musings...)

 

[lastbesthope]

I think Ripley outranks Lambert, she onlys pecifically lists Dallas and Kane when she reprimands Ash, and as you point out, Lambert is still alive when Ripley gets Mother Access.

I'd peg her as 3rd in Command, hence 3rd officer.

LBH