Predators (Yautja) assessment of Abilities...

[MKSheppard]

Just how good are the Yautja really?

Their onscreen exploits are not that impressive:

1.) Hunting Central American Guerillas who have no equipment or training
2.) Hunting a US Special Forces team with little in the way of equipment.
3.) Hunting random civilians in Los Angeles
4.) Hunting Aliens, a race with only HTH equipment

Really, their "Rar! I'm invisible!" Schtick only works on people who panic easily or do not have modern night vision technology. Even if you don't have night vision technology, you can still see the "rippling" effect of their cloak; as well as see the effects of the predator on the environment (tree branches, etc); I'm sure they show up quite well on motion detector equipment or Ground Surveillance Radars (GSR).

The vietnam-era AN/PPS-4 GSR could detect personnel movement at 1500 meters; I'm sure modern radars have massively improved on that, through modern signals processing.

[Shroom Man 777]

Weren't those guerrillas Soviet-trained? Though that's not saying much.

Little equipment? Blaine would slap you with Ole Painless, you slack jawed faggot!

[MKSheppard]

Little equipment? Blaine would slap you with Ole Painless, you slack jawed faggot!

They're supposedly a 1980s Special Forces team right?

so where's the night vision gear, and possibly thermal imagers? That technology was around back then.

[Vympel]

The vietnam-era AN/PPS-4 GSR could detect personnel movement at 1500 meters; I'm sure modern radars have massively improved on that, through modern signals processing.

For comparison's sake, the Russian Fara-1 (Russia's Arms catalog) interfaces with heavy machine guns and automatic grenade launchers - ie the NSV/ Kord and AGS-17 / AGS-30 and can detect a man at 2.5km and materiel at 5km.

Location accuracy in range is 20m and location azimuth is 0.9deg. I don't know what America uses now but the signal processing should be better.

Should be enough for prepared infantry to go from, but then, the Predator doesn't attack well prepared positions. If he did he'd be creamed. He likes it hot, congested, and close quarters.

[MKSheppard]

If he did he'd be creamed. He likes it hot, congested, and close quarters.

That's the problem tho. if you got into congested close quarters; you lose all your advantages, like stealth and your firepower; since a guy with a 12 Gauge combat shotgun can bump into you and pump you full of buck.

[SylasGaunt]

The thing is that they're also incredibly strong and fast (remember from Predator 2 for example where one mulched all those gang members and was able to manhandle several of them up to the cieling before the SWAT team could charge in).

But as has been mentioned in several other Predator sources they scale their equipment based on two things:

1.) What they're hunting.

2.) How badass they want to look to their buddies and the women back home.

I remember a number of supplementary materials describing the Pred in P2 as being younger and less experienced, hence why he's got weapons and gadgets coming out the yin-yang to fight cops and street gangs while the one in P1 felt confident enough going after south american guerillas and special forces teams with nothing but a wristblade, a spear, his med-kit and his plasma caster.

They're big game hunters not kamikaze klingons. They want to make it a challenge but they also don't want to give you much chance to win either so if they've got the prep time they'll simply come back with heavier weapons more appropriate for a particular target instead of try and use stuff that's almost garaunteed to get them killed.. though a few might get ganked learning that lesson if it's a group.

[Shroom Man 777]

The Pred in 1 didn't have a spear, last I checked.

[Singular Intellect]

The Pred in 1 didn't have a spear, last I checked.

Wrist blades and plasma cannon, that was it. I know my Predator collection.

[andrewgpaul]

Also, it's possible that some of them are city-slicker Predators, who stand about resting their guns on their beer guts and shoot prey that's been rounded up into an enclosure for them to shoot at.

[Andrew_Fireborn]

The general story is they're basically Space Sparta. So, it's unlikely...

[Singular Intellect]

Just how good are the Yautja really?

Their onscreen exploits are not that impressive:

1.) Hunting Central American Guerillas who have no equipment or training
2.) Hunting a US Special Forces team with little in the way of equipment.
3.) Hunting random civilians in Los Angeles
4.) Hunting Aliens, a race with only HTH equipment

Your question answers itself, really. They're hunting, not waging any type of war or serious conflict.

Human hunters are even less impressive when they hunt their prey from well concealed locations, using all their advanced technology and high powered scope rifles to kill at extreme range. Compared to human hunters, I'd say Yautja hunters actually are really impressive. They hunt highly intelligent prey and close to hand to hand combat range often, and do so only against intelligent prey if it's armed with dangerous technology as well.

[Baal]

The Pred in 1 didn't have a spear, last I checked.

If I remember right in the novelization he had a spear.

[Baal]

Just how good are the Yautja really?

Their onscreen exploits are not that impressive:

1.) Hunting Central American Guerillas who have no equipment or training
2.) Hunting a US Special Forces team with little in the way of equipment.
3.) Hunting random civilians in Los Angeles
4.) Hunting Aliens, a race with only HTH equipment

Your question answers itself, really. They're hunting, not waging any type of war or serious conflict.

Human hunters are even less impressive when they hunt their prey from well concealed locations, using all their advanced technology and high powered scope rifles to kill at extreme range. Compared to human hunters, I'd say Yautja hunters actually are really impressive. They hunt highly intelligent prey and close to hand to hand combat range often, and do so only against intelligent prey if it's armed with dangerous technology as well.

One should also remember that as a general rule we humans rarely hunt anything that has a chance of hurting us. The average hunter shoots at deer or ducks. Big danger there. The only time there is a real threat like bear hunting or African big game we arrange it so that we are probably even safer than the guy who is out hunting ducks.

[SylasGaunt]

The Pred in 1 didn't have a spear, last I checked.

You are correct sir that was my bad.

But yeah the one in P1 had considerably cut down his arsenal while hunting something the Pred's consider exceptionally dangerous prey due to our tendency to shoot back. If he'd made it back to the pred homeworld he probably would have been neck deep in pred poon tang.

[Baal]

The Pred in 1 didn't have a spear, last I checked.

You are correct sir that was my bad.

But yeah the one in P1 had considerably cut down his arsenal while hunting something the Pred's consider exceptionally dangerous prey due to our tendency to shoot back. If he'd made it back to the pred homeworld he probably would have been neck deep in pred poon tang.

Pred Poon Tang. Why do I get the really depressing feeling that if I Google that I will come across at least one fanfic drawing soemone has done of a female pred with big tits and a spear (topless of course).

[SylasGaunt]

Because it's the internet?

[Crazedwraith]

Not quite topless but:

[NeoGoomba]

I think I woke up next to her one terrible morning after a party at Vassar

[Lord Relvenous]

Not quite topless but:

OHHHHHHH GOD, WHY? MY EYES BURN!!!!!!!

I don't think we can make a real assessment of Preds until we see them in a no-holds-barred war. That's when the real stuff comes out. Maybe in AVP 2

[Rye]

Just how good are the Yautja really?

Their onscreen exploits are not that impressive:

1.) Hunting Central American Guerillas who have no equipment or training
2.) Hunting a US Special Forces team with little in the way of equipment.
3.) Hunting random civilians in Los Angeles
4.) Hunting Aliens, a race with only HTH equipment

Really, their "Rar! I'm invisible!" Schtick only works on people who panic easily or do not have modern night vision technology. Even if you don't have night vision technology, you can still see the "rippling" effect of their cloak; as well as see the effects of the predator on the environment (tree branches, etc); I'm sure they show up quite well on motion detector equipment or Ground Surveillance Radars (GSR).

This is like saying, "Just how good are the humans, really?" when all you have to go on is a couple of films of rednecks hunting deer, or maybe a bear or crocodile.

Maybe they just hunt us for fun or religion and want to make it exhilirating by limiting their weapons to something approximately close to ours, instead of just shooting some scaled up version of wrist bombs or shoulder cannons from orbit to destroy as many people as they want.

[Darth Ruinus]

I don't think we can make a real assessment of Preds until we see them in a no-holds-barred war.

Im not entirely sure how the game Alien Vs Predator Extinction stacks up on "officialness" but in that game, we do see soldier Predators, Hydras and, Blazers I think they were called. (I am very positive those were the actual names, its been a while since I played it though)

The Blazers had shoulder mounted cannons that were shoot beams that are "hotter than the sun" or something to that effect, and Hydras had some type of backpack self guided mini missle weapon.

http://www.ea.com/official/avp_extinction/predators.jsp

Though the website doesnt provide the nearly the same amount of info as the actual game does.

[Howedar]

Human hunters are even less impressive when they hunt their prey from well concealed locations, using all their advanced technology and high powered scope rifles to kill at extreme range. Compared to human hunters, I'd say Yautja hunters actually are really impressive. They hunt highly intelligent prey and close to hand to hand combat range often, and do so only against intelligent prey if it's armed with dangerous technology as well.

I agree with your line of thinking, but not your final conclusion. Near-perfect stealth is an absurd advantage that a human hunter cannot hope to duplicate.

[The Grim Squeaker]

Human hunters are even less impressive when they hunt their prey from well concealed locations, using all their advanced technology and high powered scope rifles to kill at extreme range. Compared to human hunters, I'd say Yautja hunters actually are really impressive. They hunt highly intelligent prey and close to hand to hand combat range often, and do so only against intelligent prey if it's armed with dangerous technology as well.

I agree with your line of thinking, but not your final conclusion. Near-perfect stealth is an absurd advantage that a human hunter cannot hope to duplicate.

Except that humans can and DID counter it in the Movie, and visual stealth would be ineffective against a wide variety of species (Such Those with eye-sight in the Infrared range, or a keen sense of smell).
Human weapons were quite capable of killing a Predator, albeit with difficulty (The Mini-gun made it bleed, and it didn't charge through it or run around it using it's "L33t Stealth").

[Ford Prefect]

As has been mentioned, we're essentially judging the entire species off a couple of hunters out in the middle of nowhere. I mean, if you really want to did through the stuff on them, you get AvP: Extinction, which had Preds with powered armour, personal point defense plasma grids and shoulder-mounted missile cells (the Electroshock Missile battery) designed as ECCM*. There is also the aforementioned Blazer, with the star heat beam.

*It amuses me that the Yautja might just believe that the most appropriate response to ECM is to hit it with a barrage of missiles.

[Big Orange]

I thought that the two ceremonial Yautja warriors acquitted themselves well against heavily armed US special forces, reasonably well armed Marxist gurillas, black ops team under DEA guise that laid a trap and LA street gangs that often carried around SMGs (at the start they doing a good job against the inept LA SWAT and even shot down a LAPD helicopter!).