Aliens vs Starship Trooper "Bugs"

[Kitsune]

The Alien vs Terminator (and others) gave me an idea

Aliens from the various Aliens Movies against the Bugs from the Starship Trooper Movie

Assume a huge number of Alien seeds or pods get dropped on Klendathu (or a lesser world if it would be better)

[Coyote]

I think it would really depend on who has the advantage in the initial meeting. They seem evenly matched at first-- the Aliens seem to be able to implant larvae in any living creature (at least any mammal, as we've seen) and the Soldier-Bugs' primary weapon is melee combat, where the Aliens do well and in death they'll spray acid all over.

On the other hand, the Bugs have a lot more specialized "troops", and if you accept Starship Troopers II as canon, they also have smaller bugs that can get into a person and "infect"/take over them, so they'll be a little quicker on the uptake with regards to that possibility.

I'm also presuming that the Bugs would be perfectly willing to kill one of their own kind to prevent an "impregnanted" member from spreading, but that's just guesswork on my part.

[Darth Hoth]

The superior co-ordination of the Arachnid hive-mind as compared to, say, humans should prove decisive. The hive would not be taken by surprise, and would be aware of any attack. The Xenomorphs would have no time to breed, as the bugs would annihilate the initial facehuggers at first contact and then proceed to de-contaminate the area. It might perhaps let a few develop to analyse them, but they would not be anything approaching a serious threat.

(Are Xenomorphs hive-minds, by the way? Not that it matters to the scenario, I am merely curious.)

[Maxentius]

There is no direct evidence of a hive-mind, but the movies show that the Xenos are capable of coordinating on some level, perhaps telepathically, though it's arguable if that is a 'true' hive mind. They seem kind of like ants, to be honest, and are definitely capable of concerted action and at least some fore-planning (cutting the power in Aliens, burning through the floor by killing one of their own in A:R, melting off the Queen's chains in AVP). I don't believe there was a Queen in AVP:R, and we still see them running in packs, so it's likely that their method of communication/coordination is not dependent on the Queen.

[tim31]

I seem to recall it being implied by Resurrection, which is valid if we're counting Hero of the Federation. If the arachnids are defending a planet, they win; if the xenos got there first, they can field a reasonable force, IF there is enough native/colonist life to prepare a hive. The xenos can tolerate extreme temperatures, but can they withstand a tanker napalm attack?

[Coyote]

I likened them to wolves in a pack-- an instinct to form a pack without any conscious thought guiding them.

[Darth Hoth]

I seem to recall it being implied by Resurrection, which is valid if we're counting Hero of the Federation. If the arachnids are defending a planet, they win; if the xenos got there first, they can field a reasonable force, IF there is enough native/colonist life to prepare a hive. The xenos can tolerate extreme temperatures, but can they withstand a tanker napalm attack?

It was a while since I last watched the films, but I think I do recall Xenomorphs being vulnerable to fire. So the Air Bugs should also be a serious impediment to them.

[Shroom Man 777]

The Bugs are a formidable conventional military force and could, conceivably, take out WWI-era equivalent militaries, IMO. The Bugs take it. Hard.

The xenomorphs are just motherfucking animals.

[SylasGaunt]

The basic bug soldier may be melee only and thus subject to acid bloodspray true.. on the other hand they're a lot more durable than xenos. You can see that in the movie where while Xenos can be killed with a burst or two most Warrior bugs need to get shot to pieces almost before they go down.

[Maxentius]

The basic bug soldier may be melee only and thus subject to acid bloodspray true.. on the other hand they're a lot more durable than xenos. You can see that in the movie where while Xenos can be killed with a burst or two most Warrior bugs need to get shot to pieces almost before they go down.

Xhave a (somewhat) humanoid form that includes limbs and a very visible center of mass, where most of their vitals are presumably located. Bugs, on the other hand, are somewhat larger and have a completely different body shape - and there was that one clip where Doogie Hauser comments that if you shoot them in the nerve center, they go down instantly.

[SylasGaunt]

Yeah if you shoto them in the brain they die. Anything else though and they keep coming until you tear them to pieces. Plus the Xenos don't have Niel Patrick Harris giving them tips on how to kill them now do they?

Furthermore the standard method of bug attack (i.e. charge forward rend and tear) doesn't give an attack angle on the nerve center unless you want to shoot all the way through them to get to it. Since the Xenos don't know about a vulnerable nerve center it's hardly an advantage, particularly when a bug can kill a xeno with pretty much any blow it lands and can keep killing them until it runs out of limbs or a lucky acid splash lets the stuff eat into its brain.

The basic point is that the Xenos need a 1:1 capture to death ratio just to keep their numbers even. The bugs meanwhile can throw troops away like candy and have more rearing to go. For example in the Fort Battle in SST the Warrior bugs were literally building a ramp of their dead up the side of the fort walls and using it to get in.

[Maxentius]

Oh, I fully agree with what you're saying, I just wanted to bring up the fact that Bugs do, in fact, have a vulnerable spot - they're not completely de-centralized killing machines.

[PREDATOR490]

Xenos will die in almost every encounter and this is especially true when they are unable to hide in buildings. The only chance the Xenos have is for facehuggers to implant some bugs and have them explode.

We know the Xenos take charateristics from their host so any Xeno-Bug mutations will potentially have abilities similar to the Bugs. I would expect the hive mind and mental intelligence to increase more than strength which could possibly allow the Xenos to fight better but I really doubt they would even survive that long.

[FaxModem1]

You know, this is something that has always bugged me. But the Arachnids, how do they eat? They don't seem to have enough room for a stomach, and I have no idea how they even get food into their mouths, their 'jaws' are good for shredding people, but how do they get them into their mouths?

[Darth Tanner]

and I have no idea how they even get food into their mouths, their 'jaws' are good for shredding people, but how do they get them into their mouths?

Maybe there's a specialist bug 'design' for feeding the warriors that pumps nutrients into a mouth somewhere. Or alternatively they don't eat and just use up the nutrients they were born with before expiring like some insect species do on earth. (I think, it was a long time ago that I saw that documentary so take it with a grain of salt)

conceivably, take out WWI-era equivalent militaries

That would be quite interesting, I'd imagine poison gas and mass artillery would be pretty much the only reliable weapon on stopping the warrior bug swarm seeing the amount of damage from those rifles a typical bug can take.

Anyway I have a hard time thinking of a scenario where the aliens win out over the bugs without creating some bizarre one sided factors like putting them all in a human facility where the alien humanoid form allows greater mobility.

Also if by some fluke the aliens do win then the bugs can just blast the lost planet with asteroids.

[Annatar Giftbringer]

You know, this is something that has always bugged me. But the Arachnids, how do they eat? They don't seem to have enough room for a stomach, and I have no idea how they even get food into their mouths, their 'jaws' are good for shredding people, but how do they get them into their mouths?

If I remember the RPG from Mongoose Publishing correct, they mostly live off of fungus and mushrooms growing within their tunnels, and the warrior bugs are fed by workers.

I don't remember if they actively cultivate the fungus, or if it grows by itself within the tunnels though... The worker bugs probably tend to it, since it appears in bug tunnels everywhere, regardless of planet IIRC

[Gil Hamilton]

I likened them to wolves in a pack-- an instinct to form a pack without any conscious thought guiding them.

I wouldn't say there is no conscious thought in wolves. Likewise, the aliens appear to have some intelligence to them. They aren't particularly bright to be sure but they seem to be able to do some problem solving and coordinated effort.

[Kitsune]

We know the Xenos take charateristics from their host so any Xeno-Bug mutations will potentially have abilities similar to the Bugs. I would expect the hive mind and mental intelligence to increase more than strength which could possibly allow the Xenos to fight better but I really doubt they would even survive that long.

Where does this information come from?

[NecronLord]

We know the Xenos take charateristics from their host so any Xeno-Bug mutations will potentially have abilities similar to the Bugs. I would expect the hive mind and mental intelligence to increase more than strength which could possibly allow the Xenos to fight better but I really doubt they would even survive that long.

Where does this information come from?

I believe the films have it - Alien 3's alien, IIRC, is doglike because it came from a dog. And so on.

It's elaborated in other, more spurious sources, too.

[Havok]

We know the Xenos take charateristics from their host so any Xeno-Bug mutations will potentially have abilities similar to the Bugs. I would expect the hive mind and mental intelligence to increase more than strength which could possibly allow the Xenos to fight better but I really doubt they would even survive that long.

Where does this information come from?

I believe the films have it - Alien 3's alien, IIRC, is doglike because it came from a dog. And so on.

It's elaborated in other, more spurious sources, too.

It's the whole premise of AvP2 isn't it?

[ArmorPierce]

You know, this is something that has always bugged me. But the Arachnids, how do they eat? They don't seem to have enough room for a stomach, and I have no idea how they even get food into their mouths, their 'jaws' are good for shredding people, but how do they get them into their mouths?

In ant colonies the worker ants feed the soldier ants for that very reason.

[NecronLord]

It's the whole premise of AvP2 isn't it?

I'm personally extremely iffy on viewing that as part of the same canon as Aliens ("A real live alien? It's a bug hunt. Unless it's one of those guys who have been encountered many times before and dominated our prehistory and have regularly killed entire groups of humans for sport.") but yes, from the few pictures of the 'predalien' I've seen, it is.

[Sea Skimmer]

Movie Bugs win, they would respond in massive numbers to the initial alien attack, and the aliens are going to have a hell of a lot of trouble capturing bugs to use as hosts. The bugs also have those various giant flamethrower/plasma shooter bugs and the flying bugs which would let them overwhelm the aliens in anything like a standup fight

[Ryushikaze]

Yeah, the 'Predalien' from AvP2 burst from a Predator and took characteristics from it. Not that it affected much, though it did give the pred-queen the ability to put chestbursters straight into a woman without need for face-hugging.

[Kitsune]

All of these seem to be more or less physical characteristics not something like hive instincts