Contain xenomorphs with a modern military base

[Aaron]

Whats the canon policy of the Alien universe? I've read a few of the books and their quality was crap at best. And from what I've heard of the comics there even worse.

[NecronLord]

We're in a facility, not New York City. And you're runaway xeno in NYC is probably gonna be just as deadly as a crazed hobo with a switchblade. Hell, if we have a kill-contest between a street person with a switchblade and a xeno, I'd bet on the hobo. Hide amongst the people, be nondescript as opposed to being a seven-foot-tall monster, just knife people discreetly, disappear in the crowds, whatnot. Well, the alien could hide in the sewers and shit - but if it gets spotted, it's gonna cause a shitload of ruckus.

The problem is not that they're particularly dangerous, it's that they can breed quite rapidly from killing people. They're an infection, not the Cult of Skaro. They're far from invincible, but they could become a serious problem if they remain undetected for long enough.

[Vendetta]

Whats the canon policy of the Alien universe? I've read a few of the books and their quality was crap at best. And from what I've heard of the comics there even worse.

There isn't a canon policy.

The comics are actually better than the books, at least the early ones. Things went a bit runny after a while though.

[Darth Wong]

To be entirely fair to the critters, their trying to run the machine guns out of bullets doesn't make them particularly dumb. This is what the generals on the Western Front tried for years, when they encountered new defensive techniques.

It's the lack of any evident tool use that makes them dumb.

Agreed. My comment was directed toward the claim that they always use cover when attacking.

[NecronLord]

They do seem able to figure out buttons, though. The Queen managed to operate a lift. That's about the best bit for the films.

Ressurection has telepathy (given that aliens that can't see each other, sealed in little boxes get the same ideas quickly). And the novel of ressurection has the Queen having learnt to read (to a degree at least), but those ones aren't stock aliens, but rather, partly human.

Their other behaviours aren't very advanced though; effective, but not advanced.

If they get loose, they'll hide out of the way in dark, deep places, and grab isolated people to breed from. In a city like New York, there's plenty of places they could go, provided they move quietly at night, though if Urban Exploration types are to be believed, in New York at least, a lot of these places are patrolled, since 9/11.

While they're certainly more dangerous than a guy with a switchblade, they're not all that smart. There's lots of insects that have identical behaviours to them. They're essentially six foot insects with some funky hive mind and the ability to use lifts. Planning should be done accordingly.

[Admiral Valdemar]

The reason insects are pests today is because of their ability to simply reproduce like, uh, rabbits(!). They're able to throw masses of soldiers your way and keep on at it. That is why if the xenos got a good hold of any suitably populated area for a time, they'd be a real bitch to eradicate. Likely not impossible, depending on available resources, but certainly not as easy as picking off local wildlife redneck style.

The fluorinated blood, ability to blend in well with dark landscapes and adapt to harsh conditions are what make them formidable, not their intellect which is really only a queen based thing anyway.

[NecronLord]

Let's see what they actually need to do to get to be any kind of problem.

1. Escape the three foot wide water filled test tube they're kept in.
2. Escape a brightly lit facility with air-vents no more than one inch high, past X number of armed guards, as well as securely locked doors.
3. Make their way past more guards, coordinated by security cameras.
4. Be smart enough (if they do have electric-sense, then they might just do this) to avoid whatever high power electric fence is jacked up to 'full' when a computer monitoring system notices they're out of their tube.
5. Make their way to a road from whatever isolated place they are stored in, without getting shot down by guys with hunting rifles on an old huey.
6. Get into someone's boot, or the back of a truck, without being noticed, or march across country.
7. Get into a town, and avoid being seen.
8. Avoid being found while they try to snag people.
9. Avoid being found and reported when people start disappearing - if it's just bums, perhaps they might manage...
10. Win when they eventually are noticed, and the national guard is sent in. Against a combined arms force with air support.

I'd be more worried about Al-Quaeda getting me than a successful xenomorph escape. And that's saying something.

[Gil Hamilton]

HCL(aq) + water -> H30+(aq) + Cl-(aq)

Hmmm... I wonder what happens when you put a xenomorphs cage in water?

[Admiral Valdemar]

Likely not a lot, since we've seen them in submerged before. Anyway, the commonly accepted acid for their blood is a fluorinated hydrocarbon as opposed to HCL or sulphuric acid. I assume that's what you were getting at, at least.

[Gil Hamilton]

Likely not a lot, since we've seen them in submerged before. Anyway, the commonly accepted acid for their blood is a fluorinated hydrocarbon as opposed to HCL or sulphuric acid. I assume that's what you were getting at, at least.

I know we've seen them swim in Alien Ressurrection, but it can't possibly be healthy for them. All acids break down when dissolved in pure water, since all acids by definition spit off H+'s in water. I know we see them swim, but if they have an acid based biochemistry, it can't possibly be healthy for them.

[Admiral Valdemar]

It's most likely not an acid in the way we're thinking, since it's likely more advanced than a simple corrosive agent. It's meant to act as their blood, so having pure fluorine is not going to help. The biochem of the xenomorph is such that it can leech minerals from inorganics and use them for metabolism, so while the blood is good at eating away in that regard, it is not purely acid since it also allows cells to form complex polymers like glycoproteins.

They can survive cold, hard vacuum, so I'm not seeing water being as big a hurdle as one would think given their unusual physiology.

[Gil Hamilton]

I don't know about that. They call Xenomorph a strong acid in every instance I can think of, including in medical discussions about Xenomorph biology.

So we aren't calling it an acid and just assume that all references to acids just being BS?

[THEHOOLIGANJEDI]

It's most likely not an acid in the way we're thinking, since it's likely more advanced than a simple corrosive agent. It's meant to act as their blood, so having pure fluorine is not going to help. The biochem of the xenomorph is such that it can leech minerals from inorganics and use them for metabolism, so while the blood is good at eating away in that regard, it is not purely acid since it also allows cells to form complex polymers like glycoproteins.

They can survive cold, hard vacuum, so I'm not seeing water being as big a hurdle as one would think given their unusual physiology.

Also didn't Ash state in his analysis of the Facehugger that the Xenos shed their skin in an attempt to adapt to a new enviroment. Watery enviroments shouldn't be a big problem for at all, as indicated in Aliens and Alien Resurrection.

Now before anyone try to run with this and assume That I am trying to prove something otherwise slow down.

[THEHOOLIGANJEDI]

That's why they wasted most of their manpower in Aliens by charging headlong at the sentry guns until they ran out of ammo, right?

A Theory that you have yet to prove. You state with conviction that most of the Xeno forces were killed in sentry gun attack when the onsceen evidence and Dialog show or tell nothing of what you state. Where your proof?

What the fuck evidence do you need, asshole? Isn't the scene showing the guns blowing up a corridor full of aliens enough? Or Hudson saying that they're "wall to wall in there?" The hallway is full of aliens and bullets, fucktard.

Not really. I have seen the scene in question many times. All it shows was:
Part one: The First sentry gun scene shows the guns blazing. The cut back to the command center showing the counters on the Guns winding down. They transition like this back and forth until both guns are empty.(there is a scene where a Xeno gets wasted in between these transitions) At the end there is a pounding sound on the pressure door. It Stops and the Marines relax.

Here is the picture of the Hallway in question.
Part two: Pretty much the same thing happens as in Part one. Including another xeno getting wasted oncreen. Both scenes are nebulous on casualities. We never see a row of Xeno getting cut down onscreen.Nor is there much of anything to indicate that they waltzed in there an got mowed down.

To Directly quote this:

Isn't the scene showing the guns blowing up a corridor full of aliens enough?

It's enough to show me that there is a lot of carnage going on. We can assume that there were hits and misses, if you are tyring to insinuate that those guns hit more most of the targets they fired at then you must have watched a different movie than I.
But the fact that you are trying to say that this is some proof that I'm not seeing is ludicrous to say the least. There is even a brief look at one of the monitors in the corridoras the battle raged (there's movement): We don't see rows of Aliens be mowed down because they aren't moving in way you suggest. They didn't charge through it in rows like you suggest. Watch the movie again.

Do you understand the mechanics of this situation?

Yes I do because it pretty simple: Factor 1- Sentry guns with high cyclic rates. Factor 2: Aliens with Great speed and agility. That problem is that you are assuming that the sentries didn't miss partly because you think they ran down the corridor in rows and were summarily cut down. (I'll get to that later)

Actually, the movie itself may even disprove what you state when you look at the size of the xeno attack force towards the end of the movie. (seeing as how there was a Huge force for a frontal assault and based on the fact that they were flanked from Behind)

Yes, let's look at it. It's roughly 30 xenos, which is what we see on Ripley's motion tracker just before they come through the ceiling, and we never see more than that entering the room itself, from any direction. What happened to the rest of them? Oops, I'll bet you never bothered counting how many xenos they're facing in this "huge" frontal assault force, did you?[/quote]The Problem with your counting method is that you forget that While there was a massive frontal assault with an ambiguous number of Xenos. There were others that got by: Hudson was grabbed By a xeno that came from beneath him. Whcih showed that they came from both the ceiling and from the floors. Burke used their only escape route which was flanked, as he was grabbed by a xeno. The truth is that they were attacked from Above, below and Behind throughout that entire scene.

On the contrary, It doesn't prove my point either, but then again All I've been trying to do is debunk your point because there is little to no support for it onscreen and that it is based strictly on an assumption and not hard facts. Unless you have another official canon source that supports you I can't agree with your assumption.

Frankly, I have half a mind to ban you for being a lying little shit right here and now. I have no problem with someone presenting alternate interpretations of movie scenes, but simply pretending that a scene never happened? That's fucking lying.[/quote]Never Happend?!? Now I think you are being dishonest Here. Where in that quote (or on this thread) do I say that the scene or your interpretation didn't happen at all. I CHALLENGED YOUR POINT OF VIEW JACKASS!! The fact that you are accusing me of lying when I haven't even posted a a declaration of my opinion on the scene in question is dishonest.
I have never stated that the scene never happened. I have (albeit barely) shown an alternative of what you think happened. Lying would be saying that the xenos Suffered absolutely no casualties in the scene in question. All have have said, (and this was a debate we had before) is that I take issue with the notion that the xenos suffered Massive casualties in the scene. That is all. I have yet to even give an alternative opinion on the matter at all. I just disagree with yours. If you want to hear my opinions I'll post them.

If you want to ban me that's your call enetirely. Do I ask for it? No. But if you want to put me in my place, please do.

Anybody who watches Aliens can see that they charged headlong into the sentry guns and got mown down; this is not an "assumption"; we saw it onscreen! Three sentry guns ran dry and the fourth one had only a couple of rounds left; that's a lot of concentrated killing. What the fuck do you want? Video clips?

No need. I have them on DVD. But to go back to your commentary. You are still dead wrong. You conclusions are unsupported completely. Two sentry guns ran dry in the first part of the attack and an unknown number of xenos knocked on the nearby pressure door and probably retreated. All we know for sure is that they Got past one depleted Sentry gun pair and backed off. As for the second part, we actually get a glimpse of the battle through one of the monitors and it contradicts you presumtion that they charged headlong without cover. (I watched the scene today) If you are trying to say that the guns being emptied (or close) as a means of supporting you claim: What are you getting at? Are you say that most (or all) of the rounds connected?? They obviously missed on some occassions (Automatics are less accurate) and hit on others. (Of course if you do in fact run headhong row by row into a pair of Sentry gun with high cyclic rates they sentries will probably at least have an initial accuracy rate of 90-95% percent, give or take) But That isn't the case here. On the Monitor we don't see any of that at all.

My only two issues with you are that your assumptions aren't supported any more than mine but you are crying about how they are supported simply by declaring that they are and saying that I am blind and stupid for not seeing them. That's not a point! If you want to convince me then do so. We can talk about this until Doomsday. Neither one of us can concusively prove their point with the evidence given, Speculation is the only thing we can do.

[Gil Hamilton]

Also didn't Ash state in his analysis of the Facehugger that the Xenos shed their skin in an attempt to adapt to a new enviroment. Watery enviroments shouldn't be a big problem for at all, as indicated in Aliens and Alien Resurrection.

Now before anyone try to run with this and assume That I am trying to prove something otherwise slow down.

I acknowedged they could swim. However, that doesn't change the fact that water should be really bad for their health, considering that a central facet of their biology necessarily must dissociate in water, as an acid. They could probably hang out in water a little bit, but long term exposure to water should be a rather large problem for them.

[THEHOOLIGANJEDI]

No. It's based on what we see in all the Alien films.They hide, they use the darkness to their advantage. It very simple. I'm not trying to say they are godlike in power they are simple and very cunning creatures.

Well, we're not going to make this facility of ours dark and with all sorts of crawl spaces, hidden areas and whatever bullshit there is, will we? No. So the aliens won't have anywhere to hide, it'll get caught in the middle of the corridors if it escapes, and it'll end up getting shot.

Well naturally. If you know their basic tactics then you don't build facility that can give them advantages if there is a breakout.

Now apply that to a city like NYC:

We're in a facility, not New York City.[/quote]No shit!! Read the context of my response. Since it doesn't apply why even bother responding to it.

And you're runaway xeno in NYC is probably gonna be just as deadly as a crazed hobo with a switchblade.

Really? I'm all ears.

Hell, if we have a kill-contest between a street person with a switchblade and a xeno, I'd bet on the hobo.

Except that cops will eventually catch the hobo b/c they will screw up and leave evidence behind. plus the fact that I doubt that a Hobo is going to have the time to haul a body for disposal.
A xeno while it would probably have few opportunities to kill, will be harder to find. It would kill in isolated areas and mostly people who are alone. The Homeless will be it main victims. Take that into account along with the fact that Aliens take their bodies with them. The victims will be missing persons and the Cops will treat it as such until someother evidence shows up. The Hobo's Victim will be treated as muders and forensic evidence will be collected.
I Forsee a hobo being caught for those reasons.
It would take a longer time to realize that the missing people were mudered by a 8 foot creature seeing as how there would no bodies left at a crime scene. (until they find a nesting spot which would take even longer, because where will they start)

Hide amongst the people, be nondescript as opposed to being a seven-foot-tall monster, just knife people discreetly, disappear in the crowds, whatnot. Well, the alien could hide in the sewers and shit - but if it gets spotted, it's gonna cause a shitload of ruckus.

You do know that people have done the crime you decribe and have been caught by the cops within a short period of time. Forensic evidence from the body will work againt the assailant. Then there's the fact that the victim would survive the ordeal and might possibly ID the perp. It really isn't that easy to get away with knifing people discreetly. Blood spatter on clothing, luring the victim, dealing with samaritans, most effective place to stab sombody.
and far too many to think of.

The big advantage of the Xeno is that it's victim won't be left behind to warrant the case to be treated as a missing persons case.

[THEHOOLIGANJEDI]

Also didn't Ash state in his analysis of the Facehugger that the Xenos shed their skin in an attempt to adapt to a new enviroment. Watery enviroments shouldn't be a big problem for at all, as indicated in Aliens and Alien Resurrection.

Now before anyone try to run with this and assume That I am trying to prove something otherwise slow down.

I acknowedged they could swim. However, that doesn't change the fact that water should be really bad for their health, considering that a central facet of their biology necessarily must dissociate in water, as an acid. They could probably hang out in water a little bit, but long term exposure to water should be a rather large problem for them.

But that's the problem. Is their blood Acid as we know it? I never really call it Acid, just a corrosive agent.
Admiral Valdemar's explanation makes sense. It's possible that it just got associated with the term acid based purely on observation and not any actually study of it's blood, it could just be a misnomer that stuck.

[Darth Wong]

Not really. I have seen the scene in question many times. All it shows was:
Part one: The First sentry gun scene shows the guns blazing. The cut back to the command center showing the counters on the Guns winding down. They transition like this back and forth until both guns are empty.(there is a scene where a Xeno gets wasted in between these transitions) At the end there is a pounding sound on the pressure door. It Stops and the Marines relax.
Here is the picture of the Hallway in question.
Part two: Pretty much the same thing happens as in Part one. Including another xeno getting wasted oncreen. Both scenes are nebulous on casualities. We never see a row of Xeno getting cut down onscreen.Nor is there much of anything to indicate that they waltzed in there an got mowed down.

"Wall to wall", asshole. What does "wall to wall" mean in your world? One guy? It means the corridor is full of them, and those guns are blasting away right into them.

It's enough to show me that there is a lot of carnage going on. We can assume that there were hits and misses, if you are tyring to insinuate that those guns hit more most of the targets they fired at then you must have watched a different movie than I.

How the fuck could they not hit targets if the corridor is full of aliens? Do you figure Hudson was just lying?

But the fact that you are trying to say that this is some proof that I'm not seeing is ludicrous to say the least. There is even a brief look at one of the monitors in the corridoras the battle raged (there's movement): We don't see rows of Aliens be mowed down because they aren't moving in way you suggest. They didn't charge through it in rows like you suggest. Watch the movie again.

You can't see shit in that scene; all you can see is glimpses of the grainy video camera footage from the sentry guns, one brief shot of an alien being blown apart (which tells you how many losses they must be taking if they're advancing on the guns, since that ammo is more than powerful enough to rip them to shreds), and Hudson saying that the aliens are "wall to wall in there". Not "one guy, I think we might have hit him but missed most of the time".

Do you understand the mechanics of this situation?

Yes I do because it pretty simple: Factor 1- Sentry guns with high cyclic rates. Factor 2: Aliens with Great speed and agility. That problem is that you are assuming that the sentries didn't miss partly because you think they ran down the corridor in rows and were summarily cut down. (I'll get to that later)

Great speed and agility? Compared to machine-gun fire? You really are a fucking wanker.

The Problem with your counting method is that you forget that While there was a massive frontal assault with an ambiguous number of Xenos. There were others that got by: Hudson was grabbed By a xeno that came from beneath him. Whcih showed that they came from both the ceiling and from the floors. Burke used their only escape route which was flanked, as he was grabbed by a xeno. The truth is that they were attacked from Above, below and Behind throughout that entire scene.

And aliens above the roof and below the floor would also be picked up by the motion tracker, you fucking idiot. Or didn't you notice that it was picking up aliens above the ceiling? The fact is that we never saw any number of aliens greater than what we saw on that motion tracker, which was about 30. Your bullshit notwithstanding.

Never Happend?!? Now I think you are being dishonest Here. Where in that quote (or on this thread) do I say that the scene or your interpretation didn't happen at all. I CHALLENGED YOUR POINT OF VIEW JACKASS!!

What "point of view", you fucking liar? You said there were no visuals; I pointed out the sentry gun scene. You said there was no dialogue; I pointed out Hudson's dialogue saying that they were "wall to wall in there". A point which, by the way, you have conspicuously ignored in your reply.

The fact that you are accusing me of lying when I haven't even posted a a declaration of my opinion on the scene in question is dishonest.
I have never stated that the scene never happened. I have (albeit barely) shown an alternative of what you think happened. Lying would be saying that the xenos Suffered absolutely no casualties in the scene in question. All have have said, (and this was a debate we had before) is that I take issue with the notion that the xenos suffered Massive casualties in the scene. That is all. I have yet to even give an alternative opinion on the matter at all. I just disagree with yours. If you want to hear my opinions I'll post them.

Then where the fuck did all these aliens go, you blithering idiot? This "massive" and "huge" assault force of yours never numbered onscreen to more than 30. And the Queen had only a pitiful handful of guards left to defend her base at the end when Ripley went in. So if the sentry guns didn't mow down most of their force, what the fuck happened to them? If you're going to tell me that your idea of contradictory evidence is to use qualitative terms like "massive" and "huge" with no real attempt to generate an actual number whatsoever, you're going to quickly learn that we expect a higher standard of evidence. Especially when I can produce a number, and you have done precisely jack shit to show that anything's wrong with it.

If you want to ban me that's your call enetirely. Do I ask for it? No. But if you want to put me in my place, please do.

You ask for it by being a fucking liar.

No need. I have them on DVD. But to go back to your commentary. You are still dead wrong. You conclusions are unsupported completely. Two sentry guns ran dry in the first part of the attack and an unknown number of xenos knocked on the nearby pressure door and probably retreated. All we know for sure is that they Got past one depleted Sentry gun pair and backed off. As for the second part, we actually get a glimpse of the battle through one of the monitors and it contradicts you presumtion that they charged headlong without cover. (I watched the scene today) If you are trying to say that the guns being emptied (or close) as a means of supporting you claim: What are you getting at? Are you say that most (or all) of the rounds connected?? They obviously missed on some occassions (Automatics are less accurate) and hit on others. (Of course if you do in fact run headhong row by row into a pair of Sentry gun with high cyclic rates they sentries will probably at least have an initial accuracy rate of 90-95% percent, give or take) But That isn't the case here. On the Monitor we don't see any of that at all.

Once again, you're full of shit and you're proving that you're a liar. You can't see shit on that monitor and you know it, yet you are assuming that Hudson calling it a "wall to wall" advance must be wrong ... because you say so. I'll be the first to say that character dialogue isn't infallible, but you have to produce evidence that it's wrong, rather than just calling it an "assumption". But oops, I forgot, you decided to simply ignore that point, didn't you?

Once more, since you ignored it the first time:

HUDSON: "Jesus. They're wall to wall in there."
...
RIPLEY: "How many?"
HICKS: "Can't tell. Lots."

My only two issues with you are that your assumptions aren't supported any more than mine but you are crying about how they are supported simply by declaring that they are and saying that I am blind and stupid for not seeing them. That's not a point! If you want to convince me then do so. We can talk about this until Doomsday. Neither one of us can concusively prove their point with the evidence given, Speculation is the only thing we can do.

See above, you lying sack of shit. For someone who claims to have watched the scene repeatedly in order to verify your claims, you seem to have suffered a sudden case of hysterical deafness.

You are also demonstrating an appalling lack of general intelligence. Just how the fuck do you advance upon a machine-gun which is firing down a corridor almost constantly, moron? I'd love to see your tactical plan to explain how they are accomplishing this without using a wall of flesh. Are they laying down suppressing fire on the sentry gun, to cover their advance?

[Stark]

I'd like to add that the alien assault - 'wall to wall' aliens - shows their tactical thinking. Aside from the other movies (isolated individuals striking targets of opportunity), when there is a nest and intruders, they simply walk over and try to eat them. They used the crawlspace ONLY AFTER the slaughter by the sentries. What was the tactics used once they penetrated the defence? Say 'rarrr' and try to eat people. That's it. Their 'cunning' seems to be limited when they're in a large group. Isolated aliens might hide and strike from the darkness, but in large groups - or with a nest to defend - they respond like ants and simply launch frontal assaults.

Remember, the inital attack was DOWN CORRIDORS. Lit corridors, with whirring beeping guns. They only changed tack when slaughtered, and that could be simply chemical (like how ants avoid areas where many ants have died due to pheromones) allowing them to find alternate routes without having to actually 'think', 'know' or 'understand' jack shit.

[The Yosemite Bear]

yes the aliens had the tactical brilliance of WWI generals. They sent more drones then the enemy had bullets, and charged the guns like it was Gallopoli

[Stark]

In the comics they'd be aciding on powerlines to create shorts, destroying communication equipment and using small numbers of drones to draw out the marines. Or - get this - CONTROLLING THEM WITH DREAMS.

[Shroom Man 777]

Conceeded on the hobo point.

Well naturally. If you know their basic tactics then you don't build facility that can give them advantages if there is a breakout.

No, but you would just build a facility that won't give them advantages if there's a breakout. With a five hundred megaton nuclear bomb for good measure.

Anyway, has it been conceeded that a small number of xenos cannot escape a smartly run facility barring something remarkably stupid happening?

Oh, and I just finished reading The Femal War novel. It seems like we don't really need some complicated watertank to contain the xenos at all, just stuff made out of the same materials used to contain hazardous materials. I can't believe that's been overlooked.

Oh, and the giant xenos that guard the Queen Mother aliens, which are as big as normal Queens, can be dropped by non-excessive carbine fire. So no, even the T-rex sized xenos are still deadable to an amount of bullets not exceeding than usual xeno-deading quantity.

And if the book is cannon, then the Colonial humans are even more utterly stupid. Remarkably moronic, in fact. Get this, their APC gets banged up a bit, scratched by by some giant xenos, and because of that its reactor melts down and explodes five minutes later. Jesus.

Hm, how high can aliens jump? Can they climb on 90 degree walls? If we push our luck, we might not even have to build ceilings, heh. But that's dumb.

[Admiral Valdemar]

I don't know about that. They call Xenomorph a strong acid in every instance I can think of, including in medical discussions about Xenomorph biology.

So we aren't calling it an acid and just assume that all references to acids just being BS?

No, just that it's not pure acid. If it were, do you think they'd be able to grow anything? The xenomorph's blood acts like an acid and also supports transportation and energy storage, so it's a complex compound unique to their physiology. It has a nice side-effect of being able to eat through a great many substances while supporting their obscure biology.

[Gil Hamilton]

No, just that it's not pure acid. If it were, do you think they'd be able to grow anything? The xenomorph's blood acts like an acid and also supports transportation and energy storage, so it's a complex compound unique to their physiology. It has a nice side-effect of being able to eat through a great many substances while supporting their obscure biology.

I'm having trouble conceiving of a substance or solution that could all of that at once.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Yet it happens. This is sci-fi, afterall.