To implement 'Aliens' movie in Mongoose Traveller

[Klaus Kipling]

Some further observations from Aliens.

over 300 surveyed worlds...

2 weeks to get an answer...

everybody smokes in 2169...

 

[JimG]

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.

That depends on the version of the movie you watch... the director's cut has an extended sequence with the sentry guns which was not seen in original theatrical release.

 

[N0-1_H3r3]

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

Not quite. As shown in the Director's Cut, one of the sentry guns ran out of ammo, and the other was about to when the oncoming swarm retreated. When they next attacked, they did so from a different direction, avoiding the sentry guns (which they had no way of knowing were ammo-less)

 

[Myrm]

As to the Aliens I still lean to Pouncer rather than Killer for the Warriors, Chestburster and Facehugger. Killer might work for the leader types.

Int 2 still has considerable adaptive behaviour capacity (look at tigers hunting for a start), without needing strong abstract thinking and the sort of things that could be loosely collected under higher cognitive functions.

Also for a hive system, perhaps we could cosider that only the Queen is really intelligent and the director, perhaps leader warrior types having some higher INT. The warriors could easily be low INT drones and still be vicious and effective.

 

[Silvereye]

I'm mostly with Myrm on the behaviours and rje's genetic averages (the Pred-alien from the computer game and AVP2 springs to mind) though I would increase the base numbers a bit as we see the warriors punch through big doors pretty quickly. And before Hicks shoots it in the mouth, one alien prevents Hudson and Vasquez from closing the APC door and forces it open.

Facehugger - Killer (aggressively attacks until it attaches)
Chestburster - Reducer (eats and sheds as fast as it can to grow in size)
Warrior - Pouncer
Sentry - ? (Totally under control by the Queen, probably be a Pouncer like warrior if the connection is lost)
Queen - ?

I'm not sure where I stand with their 'intelligence'. The fact that they are so cunning is what makes them terrifying, but they are also a bit single minded at the same time - charging down the sentry guns...

 

[rje]

Help me out with the spacecraft.

Ship Class         Code      Example    Notes

Recon              4p6                  1 strike team
Colonial Frigate   8p4       Sulaco     2 strike teams
Corporate Frigate  8p4                  
SD Frigate         8p0                  
Colonial Cruiser   Cp4                  
Corporate Cruiser  Cp4                  
M-class Tug        4p6       Nostromo (plus 78,000t)
Small Shuttle      s10s0     Narcissus

Code. An abbreviation of the ship's stats. The first number is its volume (times 100 tons). 'p' is Partial streamlining, 'u' is unstreamlined, 's' is streamlined. The final number is its warp rating, in parsecs per week, unloaded. For the shuttle, I include an initial 's' and use the actual volume.

FTL. The Alien Setting's FTL engine is best modelled using Traveller's "Warp" engine alternative.

Fusion Power. The Alien Setting's fusion power plant is best modelled using Traveller's "Fission" plant specs.

Maneuver. I'll see what Traveller has to say about reaction drives.


M-Class Tug

Bridge           20
Warp drive-Y    120
M-drive-Y        45
P-plant-Y       140
Staterooms/8     32
Cold berths/2     2
Hangar+airlock   20  (contains shuttle)
Lounge           21

TOTAL           400

 

[Silvereye]

I'd stick with the Fusion plants. The Tech manual and RPG both say that's what is used. Tech manual - Civilian plants run of Duterium/Tritium. Military ones Lithium Hydride (LiH.). Sub-light travel is by a mass reaction drive (civilian - water, Military - industrial diamond) using fission bleed off to vaporise/combust it.

FTL travel is odd. The RPG has "jump" and 1 week shutdown/recharge, The Tech Manual has a some tachyon based techno-babble.

The RPG and Technical Manual also differ in the spaceships.

RPG lists the following ships: Recon Ship, Colonial/Corporate Frigate, System Defence Frigate, Colonial/Corporate Cruiser, Tug/Superliner. The corporate ships tend to be more modern then the colonial vessels.

The recon ship carries 1 marine strike team and the biggest jump drive they can squeeze in it.

All the 'warships' are built on a modular design.

The Tech manual also arms the ships with Big Energy Weapon, Missiles, Point defence laser turrets and short range railguns. They are also designed for a Stealth - Ambush approach to space combat. Frigates (and I'd assume Recon ships) are capable of landing on a planet in an un-aerodynamic kind of way. No mention is made of cruisers being able to do this, but as they are only slightly larger I'd assume they could. The Towship can also disconnect from its cargo modules and enter atmosphere (As Alien). The Tech manual has the frigate cargo bays being able to contain Hypersleep pods and equipment for 800 marines. The cargo bay(s?) are connected to the Drop-ship/APC garages with a large deck lift Though there are only the two launch bays for dropships.

From you above post, I'd dramatically reduce the displacement of the Towship, its basically a massively powerful sublight engines designed to move huge cargoes through space (they also moves the system defence frigates around as they have no jump engine of their own). The jump engine is probably low powered, and and slows further when hauling freight. I think the 63,000 tons was the saleable cargo volume. I'd assume the refinery kit adds further mass.

 

[N0-1_H3r3]

I'm not sure where I stand with their 'intelligence'. The fact that they are so cunning is what makes them terrifying, but they are also a bit single minded at the same time - charging down the sentry guns...

Surely that's covered by the Instinct ability score (the animal equivalent of Education, used for problem solving, etc). Certainly Instinct and Pack (as described on page 69 of the rulebook, though Pack could be renamed Swarm or Hive in this instance, as appropriate) seem more appropriate for such creatures than Education and Social Standing - they do, afterall, lack any notion of education or society.

 

[rje]

Sub-light travel is by a mass reaction drive (civilian - water, Military - industrial diamond) using fission bleed off to vaporise/combust it.

I haven't got the core Traveller book with me, else I'd see what it offers. Unless it specifies a generic reaction drive, I'd be tempted to port one over from the reaction drives in other versions of Traveller.

From you above post, I'd dramatically reduce the displacement of the Towship, its basically a massively powerful sublight engines designed to move huge cargoes through space

You're right.


I'd like to know more about how efficient those sublight mass-reaction engines are. If they're highly efficient, then we'll just use M-drives and be done with it.

Terms

• W-drive: FTL drive using alternative "warp" spec.
• F-plant: Fusion reactor using alternative "fission" spec.
• Sleep Berth: hypersleep berth using Emergency Low Berth spec.
• Armory: just a room to store and maintain weapons, armor, etc.

Recon Ship

 300 #3 Hull (std)
---- --------------
  20 Bridge 
  70 W-drive-N (6 pc/wk = 2.7 LY/day)
  25 M-drive-N (6 G's)
  80 F-plant-N
  52 F-plant fuel (1 yr @ warp)
  24 Staterooms/6
   2 Sleep berths/8
   4 Armory
   3 Turrets(3) + FC
  20 Storage etc
---- ---------------
 300 TOTAL

Colonial Frigate

 600 #6 Hull (std)
---- --------------
  20 Bridge
  20 Backup bridge
  75 W-drive-P (4 pc/wk = 1.8 LY/day)
  27 M-drive-P (4 G's)
  86 F-plant-P
  54 F-plant fuel (50 wks @ warp)
  48 Staterooms/12
   4 Sleep berths/16
   8 Armory
  51 Bay weapon
   7 Turrets(7) + FC
 200 Hangar (contains landers, loaders, etc)
---- --------------
 600 TOTAL

System Defense Frigate

 600 #6 Hull (std)
---- --------------
  20 Bridge
  20 Backup bridge
  39 M-drive-V (6 G's)
 122 F-plant-V
  40 F-plant fuel (1 yr)
  64 Staterooms/16
   6 Sleep berths/24
  12 Armory
  51 Bay weapon
  51 Bay weapon
  51 Bay weapon
   5 Turrets(5) + FC
 100 Hangar
  19 Storage
---- --------------
 600 TOTAL

Colonial Cruiser

1200 #C Hull (std) 
---- --------------
  40 Bridge
  40 Backup bridge
  90 W-drive-S (4 pc/wk = 1.8 LY/day)
  33 M-drive-S (4 G's)
 104 F-plant-S
  68 F-plant fuel (1 yr @ warp)
 128 Staterooms/32
  12 Sleep berths/48
  24 Armory
  51 Bay weapon
  51 Bay weapon
  51 Bay weapon
  51 Bay weapon
  51 Bay weapon
  51 Bay weapon
   6 Turrets(6) + FC
 350 Hangar (contains landers, loaders, etc)
   1 Storage
---- --------------
1200 TOTAL

M-class Tug

The W-drive-U can move a 2,000 ton ship at W=4. The tug in Aliens pulls roughly 80,000 tons, which might compute to a speed of W=0.1: 0.27 LY per day, or 1 parsec every 12 days.

 500 #5 Hull (std)
---- --------------
  20 Bridge
 100 W-drive-U (unloaded: 6 pc/wk = 2.7 LY/day)
  37 M-drive-U (unloaded: 6 G)
 116 F-plant-U
 152 F-plant fuel (2 yr @ warp)
  32 Staterooms/8
   2 Sleep berths/8
  20 Hangar + airlock (contains shuttle)
  21 Lounge, storage, etc
---- --------------
 500 TOTAL

L-class Tug

A slightly more powerful Tug, capable of pulling an 80,000 ton load at W=0.11, or 0.3 LY per day, or 1 parsec every 11 days.

 600 #6 Hull (std)
---- --------------
  20 Bridge
 125 W-drive-Z (unloaded: 6 pc/wk = 2.7 LY/day)
  47 M-drive-Z (unloaded: 6 G)
 146 F-plant-Z
 192 F-plant fuel (2 yr @ warp)
  32 Staterooms/8
   2 Sleep berths/8
  20 Hangar + airlock (contains shuttle)
  16 Lounge, storage, etc
---- --------------
 600 TOTAL