To implement 'Aliens' movie in Mongoose Traveller

[N0-1_H3r3]

So.

Nostromo can go 24 L-Y in 10 months. Roughly 2 L-Y per month. 0.5 L-Y per week. A slow, massive cargo hauler.

The Nostromo's shuttle can travel from LV-426 to the "frontier" in about six weeks. So the edge of human space could be 12 to 22 L-Y from Earth, depending on how fast that shuttle is. Could be faster than Nostromo, perhaps. (I detect "speed of plot" and "wild guesstimation").

Sulaco can go 24 L-Y in two weeks; 12 L-Y per week. If a "strike team" is a squad, then it sounds like it typically carries up to 20 people, more or less? In traveller terms, that would make it something like an Escort. 600 tons, give or take?

The Sulaco can go 24ly in two weeks, using technology that's nearly 60 years more recent than that of the Nostromo, as well as being a military craft presumably built and equipped for fast response (at least in comparison to a cargo hauler/ore refinery like the Nostromo).

 

[rje]

I would look at the 800-ton Mercenary Cruiser as a direct comparison to the Sulaco. Carying twomarine squads, in two cutters with ATVs.

If a "strike team" is a squad, then it sounds like it typically carries up to 20 people, more or less? In traveller terms, that would make it something like an Escort. 600 tons, give or take?

I thought about that, but I thought maybe it's too big. The Merc typically carries 45 people. Although we could surely just have a version of it with less people.

 

[rje]

The Mercenary Cruiser is a very convenient target to compare with the Sulaco, so why not.

LV-426 must be near the "frontier" of human space -- that helps justify its Shake 'N Bake installation later. So, in Alien, it's "only" six weeks from the frontier by shuttle. So the shuttle is SLOW. That also means human space could be appx 48 L-Y in diameter.

So then, assuming these points, here are some guesstimates.

Ship Class              Volume     Speed      Example     Notes
Fast Colonial Cruiser     800t    12 LY/wk    Sulaco      carries 2 strike teams
M-class Towship          2000t     2 LY/mo    Nostromo    tows 63,000 metric tons
Small Shuttle              10t     2 LY/yr    Narcissus

 

[Myrm]

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?

Going back a bit....

Flamethrower - the Aliens RPG I cannot remember what it said but it looked contemporary so I'd just use the TL8 or so flamethrower from Mercenary.

The Smart gun is the hardest to model. IIRC Aliens RPG had it also as a 10mm caseless but Ive seen conflicting stories on how it works, some focus on the stabilisers and HUD and others on the idea that it only fires when on a target, and also that it doesnt fire conventional ammo given the little electrical item handed over by Vasquez in the film to disable the gun (though that might just be electronics that make the gun useless).

So how to model it....well I'd consider a gyrostabiliser system (from core rulebook) on an LMG. Possibly a VRF Gauss Rifle might work with its backpack. For a non-bullet based system its harder. Laser leaps to mind immediately as an option.

Sentry guns. Use the Gun drone from the core rulebook, load with software to self fire and mount and autocannon or LMG.

 

[Silvereye]

I would look at the 800-ton Mercenary Cruiser as a direct comparison to the Sulaco. Carying twomarine squads, in two cutters with ATVs.

If a "strike team" is a squad, then it sounds like it typically carries up to 20 people, more or less? In traveller terms, that would make it something like an Escort. 600 tons, give or take?

I thought about that, but I thought maybe it's too big. The Merc typically carries 45 people. Although we could surely just have a version of it with less people.

The Mercenary Cruiser is a very convenient target to compare with the Sulaco, so why not.

It's probably not too bad. Especially when you consider replacing the normal turret armaments with a "large" weapons bay and two "medium" sized weapons bays. They also have two cargo bays each containing a drop ship and APC. Ship Weapons (Disruptors) in Aliens came rated 1 to 9 (though it did say bigger ones existed on space stations). Sulaco carried 1x Class 7 Disruptor, and 2x Class 5 Disruptor.

It should be noted that system defence frigates and cruisers exist. system defence frigates carry a heavier weapons load and better manoeuvre engines at the expense of the Jump Drive. 1x Class 9 Disruptor, and 1x Class 7 Disruptor. Cruisers just carry a heavier weapons load than a frigate. 1x Class 9 Disruptor, and 2x Class 5 Disruptor. Cargo space is the same on each vessel.

The larger vessels - tugs and cargo liners are purely commercial. They are not targeted due to the astronomical costs involved in their construction or their value to humanity as a whole. Nostromo was the tug boat for a whole refinery, and the hydrocarbons it was carrying - it was more cost effective for the corporations to build a refinery to refine the oil in transit. Should these vessels be disabled then they need to bring a ship yard to them. So you get the deep space salvage teams that found Ripley. They are also out there looking for other vessels that might have broken down, or to recover the failed exploration drones that are fired out to pinpoint a system.

LV-426 must be near the "frontier" of human space -- that helps justify its Shake 'N Bake installation later. So, in Alien, it's "only" six weeks from the frontier by shuttle. So the shuttle is SLOW. That also means human space could be appx 48 L-Y in diameter.

Acheron is in the Bordino sector, the corporation that was colonising this area of space went bankrupt. Which is probably what delayed the colonisation as other corporation squabbled over the rights. Its supposed to have high value mining potential for heavy metals.

Catalogued space (other systems are known about and even used but not included in the Catalogue) tends to extend to a radius of around 50 L-Y from Earth. Bordino sector extends 76 L-Y, but is the most sparsely settled area with no major colonies.

The Smart gun is the hardest to model. IIRC Aliens RPG had it also as a 10mm caseless but Ive seen conflicting stories on how it works, some focus on the stabilisers and HUD and others on the idea that it only fires when on a target, and also that it doesnt fire conventional ammo given the little electrical item handed over by Vasquez in the film to disable the gun (though that might just be electronics that make the gun useless).

So how to model it....well I'd consider a gyrostabiliser system (from core rulebook) on an LMG. Possibly a VRF Gauss Rifle might work with its backpack. For a non-bullet based system its harder. Laser leaps to mind immediately as an option.

The Smart guns are disabled by removing the batteries (Vasquez brought spares). Mainly because the chest piece is used to contain communications and the smart processing gear for the gun. The ammunition is a higher powered version of the bullets in the Pulse Rifle, with the weapon able to alter the explosive fuse on the bullets.

I'd stick to the LMG but add buckets of stabilisation and some AI software to just make it more accurate and lethal.

 

[Sean-Khan]

I didn't spot any stattings for actual aliens yet in this thread, has anyone done that?

 

[Myrm]

I'd stick to the LMG but add buckets of stabilisation and some AI software to just make it more accurate and lethal.

Gyrostabliser, laser sight and an Expert Program running relevant GC/2 fits then?

 

[rje]

I didn't spot any stattings for actual aliens yet in this thread, has anyone done that?

Interesting thought problem. What do we know, and what is reasonable to infer?

A hive setup, obviously. A queen, its attendants/drones, and warriors.

A malleable UPP - this means the species is an automatic chimera producer?

Good reflexes. Fast. Strong. Durable. Animal-style cleverness?

What kind of armor rating do those things have?

 

[Silvereye]

Sounds about right. I don't know if there is more exciting weapon upgrades in Merc that might make it more Smart Gun. Certainly a bog standard TL8 Laser sight is a bit lacking to what the sights are (Thermographic and Movement tracking with range finders and probably others).

You may even want to add in a Str min as well.

 

[Silvereye]

A hive setup, obviously. A queen, its attendants/drones, and warriors.

A malleable UPP - this means the species is an automatic chimera producer?

Good reflexes. Fast. Strong. Durable. Animal-style cleverness?

What kind of armor rating do those things have?

You have the following:
Eggs
Facehugger
Chestburster (can secrete the acid through its saliva to chew through anything)
Warrior (7' tall ~300lbs, powerful claws/jaws, stinger in tail, secretes resin and can lay eggs if it eats organic matter, probably flack jacket levels of armour)
Sentry (leader of alien warriors)
Queen (varying sizes, incredibly powerful)

They are noted as being particularly sneaky and are pretty crafty in the film. Probably a Pouncer mentality. Though Killer seems to fit too.

 

[Myrm]

Sounds about right. I don't know if there is more exciting weapon upgrades in Merc that might make it more Smart Gun. Certainly a bog standard TL8 Laser sight is a bit lacking to what the sights are (Thermographic and Movement tracking with range finders and probably others).

I envisaged the following
1) Higher tech laser sight thats non-visible but shows up on the HUD (also covers the thermographi I think (I'll look for thermal sights).
2) The movement tracking etc etc is abstracted in the Expert programs offering assistance.

 

[rje]

Ecological niche: Pouncer

UPP is a mix of base numbers plus half (rounded up) of the host's "genetic average". This includes Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, and Intelligence.

Height and Weight scale by Strength + Dexterity + Endurance / 32.

Instinctual, like animals, rather than educated.

Special feature: concentrated acid for blood.

Example 1 - human host. A human host has a genetic average of 7777. So a queen that gestated from a human would have a Strength of 8 plus half of the human's average strength, rounded up (4), for a total of 12. Similarly for the queen's other stats. So, its UPP is CAA800. Its height is 4m x 32 / 32, or 4m. Its weight, similarly, is 200 kg (sans egg-laying apparatus).

Example 2 - canine host. A garden-variety canine host might have a genetic average of 4842. So a warrior that gestated from a canine would have a Strength of 8 plus half the canine average strength (2), for a total of 10. Its Dexterity would be 6 plus half of the canine average (4) for a total of 12. Its Endurance would be 6 plus half of the canine average (2), for a total of 8. Its Intelligence would be 2 plus half of the canine average (1), for a total of 3. Its UPP is AC8300. Its height is 2.1m x 30/32 = 1.96m, and its weight is 122kg.

Example 3 - xeno-pilot host. The Xenopilot might have a genetic average of E6E7. So a warrior that gestated from the Pilot would have a UPP of F9D600. Its height is 2.43m, and its weight is 150kg.

Gender      UPP      Height Weight  Jaws  Claws  Tail  Resin  Armor  Speed
Egg-Layer.  666400   4.0m   200kg*    y     y     y      y      4      1
Facehugger. 222000    -      7kg      n     n     y      n      2      1
Drone.      666400   2.3m   140kg     y     y     y      y      4      2
Warrior.    866200   2.1m   130kg     y     y     y      y      4      2

* sans egg-laying apparatus

 

[Klaus Kipling]

Its supposed to have high value mining potential for heavy metals.

Too right. LV426 is 1200km but has gravity of 0.86 (watching Alien as we speak). So it must be veerryy heavy indeed. Or they used Book3 to design it.

Also, Nostromo is a tug, hauling several million tonnes worth of an ore processing plant. Carrying that, it's 10 months to Earth; perhaps by itself, it is much faster?

 

[dmccoy1693]

I'd argue that they have a higher Int then 2. Those things were freaking smart.

 

[Greg Smith]

I'd argue that they have a higher Int then 2. Those things were freaking smart.

True.

Ripley: "They cut the power."

Hudson: "What do you mean thay cut the power? How could they cut the power, man? They're just animals."

 

[Gruffty the Hiver]

They also figured out how to circumvent the remaining sentry guns by going in through the ceiling void. I'd say Int 3 minimum.

 

[dmccoy1693]

Thats it, game over man. Game Over!

 

[rje]

They also figured out how to circumvent the remaining sentry guns by going in through the ceiling void. I'd say Int 3 minimum.

You add in half of the average Int of the host species to the base. So a human host would generate a warrior with Int 6, on the average. I suppose that could mean a smart human might generate a warrior with a higher Int.

 

[rje]

Also, Nostromo is a tug, hauling several million tonnes worth of an ore processing plant. Carrying that, it's 10 months to Earth; perhaps by itself, it is much faster?

Almost certainly.

 

[Beastttt]

I believe the sentry guns ran out of ammo is how they got past them

They also figured out how to circumvent the remaining sentry guns by going in through the ceiling void. I'd say Int 3 minimum.