Whats with the easy to kill aliens in Sci-fi shooters?

[Raduque]

Man, the aliens in Crysis ARE difficult. Those shard guns or whatever walk right over you, and they take mags upon mags of ammo to kill.

 

[Lonyo]

Come on man. Haven't you seen Independence Day? Without shields a mid 80s fighter jet can take down "fighter jets" from aliens thousands of years ahead of us.

That's like a byplane taking down a raptor x 100.

And hey, a mid 90s Mac Computer can overcome the security systems of an entire mothership and then blow it the fuck up.

Technology isn't always beneficial.
There was an episode of Stargate SG1 where Apophis has a shield which stops all the bullets and staff weapons and everything else the SG1 team fires at him.
How do they defeat him? With a knife, because the technology protected against fast moving projectiles, but a slow moving knife could get through.

Sure, it's a made up situation, but then so is all of this. It just shows that advanced technology isn't always great since it might be designed to combat advanced weapons, rather than things like the projectile weapons of humans.

And as I've already said in the Mass Effect case, humans aren't thousands of years behind all the aliens, since we're sharing the same technology and working with aliens.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

If you want more challenging opponents, play against other people in online multiplayer .

 

[lord_emperor]

Technology for destruction advances faster than that for protection. Realistically the armor a human-sized creature is capable of wearing cannot protect against purpose-made munitions, i.e. armor piercing bullets, even if "only" chemically propelled.

Energy shields in the Star Wars / Star Trek sense may not even be possible, or would have such power requirements that using them on a personal level is impossible.

So, bullets could probably kill aliens.

Now the alien weapons on the other hand, I would expect to be at the least gauss or rail guns, and fire projectiles at relativistic speeds. There is no way we could protect ourselves against that, let alone any sort of portable energy weapon.

Or more likely they'd just kill us with gamma rays from orbit.

 

[pontifex]

Technology isn't always beneficial.
There was an episode of Stargate SG1 where Apophis has a shield which stops all the bullets and staff weapons and everything else the SG1 team fires at him.
How do they defeat him? With a knife, because the technology protected against fast moving projectiles, but a slow moving knife could get through.

Sure, it's a made up situation, but then so is all of this. It just shows that advanced technology isn't always great since it might be designed to combat advanced weapons, rather than things like the projectile weapons of humans.

And as I've already said in the Mass Effect case, humans aren't thousands of years behind all the aliens, since we're sharing the same technology and working with aliens.

wow, what a total ripoff of Dune!

 

[AndroidVageta]

Technology for destruction advances faster than that for protection. Realistically the armor a human-sized creature is capable of wearing cannot protect against purpose-made munitions, i.e. armor piercing bullets, even if "only" chemically propelled.

Energy shields in the Star Wars / Star Trek sense may not even be possible, or would have such power requirements that using them on a personal level is impossible.

So, bullets could probably kill aliens.

Now the alien weapons on the other hand, I would expect to be at the least gauss or rail guns, and fire projectiles at relativistic speeds. There is no way we could protect ourselves against that, let alone any sort of portable energy weapon.

Or more likely they'd just kill us with gamma rays from orbit.

You seem to be basing all your ideas based on what our current and near future technology can do. If aliens are 1000's or maybe millions of years more advanced than we are their technology for powering small personal devices could be on such a scale that we couldnt even comprehend it. They could have a power cell the size of a button battery that could power Las Vegas for years...I mean, we just dont know. So saying that something like a personal force field or having armor that couldnt stop a armor piercing bullet is just ridiculous, theoretically speaking.

I mean, look at all the technology we have now that just 50 - 60 years ago was thought to be IMPOSSIBLE...like space travel or all the advancements weve made in the medical field, etc, etc...now imagine where we could be a 1000 years from now...a MILLION years from now...even the most forward thinking minds in the field of science and technology would not even recognize us.

Plus, just the fact that they can travel 100's, 1000's, or even millions+ light years just shows that they obviously have technology far beyond what we could even imagine.

 

[sandorski]

You seem to be basing all your ideas based on what our current and near future technology can do. If aliens are 1000's or maybe millions of years more advanced than we are their technology for powering small personal devices could be on such a scale that we couldnt even comprehend it. They could have a power cell the size of a button battery that could power Las Vegas for years...I mean, we just dont know. So saying that something like a personal force field or having armor that couldnt stop a armor piercing bullet is just ridiculous, theoretically speaking.

I mean, look at all the technology we have now that just 50 - 60 years ago was thought to be IMPOSSIBLE...like space travel or all the advancements weve made in the medical field, etc, etc...now imagine where we could be a 1000 years from now...a MILLION years from now...even the most forward thinking minds in the field of science and technology would not even recognize us.

Plus, just the fact that they can travel 100's, 1000's, or even millions+ light years just shows that they obviously have technology far beyond what we could even imagine.

That might give them the ability to transport your Molecules into another Dimension, but it doesn't prevent them from bleeding to death from a high velocity piece of Lead.

 

[Magusigne]

Read Allen Dean Foster's Book of the Damned Series.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Damned_Trilogy

After the Weave scouts convince volunteers (mercenaries) from Earth to join the war, the tide turns for the Weave and the main conflict towards the end of the series becomes a question of what will happen to the new warriors when the war finally ends if they have not become more civilized (and therefore, less effective allies). Throughout the book the humans are greatly feared by the rest of the Weave, because of the human race's violent tendencies (the rest of the galaxy's species lived in harmony amongst themselves before they developed enough to reach out into space).

 

[dighn]

Read Allen Dean Foster's Book of the Damned Series.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Damned_Trilogy

After the Weave scouts convince volunteers (mercenaries) from Earth to join the war, the tide turns for the Weave and the main conflict towards the end of the series becomes a question of what will happen to the new warriors when the war finally ends if they have not become more civilized (and therefore, less effective allies). Throughout the book the humans are greatly feared by the rest of the Weave, because of the human race's violent tendencies (the rest of the galaxy's species lived in harmony amongst themselves before they developed enough to reach out into space).

Well, setting aside the question of how believable such a scenario is, the aliens in your typical game are clearly not shy of using violence.

Why are we arguing about this anyway? While storytelling has become increasingly more important in games, ultimately it is game play that dictates how the in-game universe works.

 

[Magusigne]

Well, setting aside the question of how believable such a scenario is, the aliens in your typical game are clearly not shy of using violence.

Why are we arguing about this anyway? While storytelling has become increasingly more important in games, ultimately it is game play that dictates how the in-game universe works.

Maybe the Aliens from AvP are just Culinary experts that were searching for rare spices when they came upon humans destroying their broodlings.

 

[Liet]

I read a fun science fiction short story where aliens are scouting Earth for possible invasion, and all they see on TV and entertainment is us killing aliens. They decide we're obviously giving military training to our young at birth and decide to leave us alone.

 

[lord_emperor]

You seem to be basing all your ideas based on what our current and near future technology can do. If aliens are 1000's or maybe millions of years more advanced than we are their technology for powering small personal devices could be on such a scale that we couldnt even comprehend it. They could have a power cell the size of a button battery that could power Las Vegas for years...I mean, we just dont know. So saying that something like a personal force field or having armor that couldnt stop a armor piercing bullet is just ridiculous, theoretically speaking.

I mean, look at all the technology we have now that just 50 - 60 years ago was thought to be IMPOSSIBLE...like space travel or all the advancements weve made in the medical field, etc, etc...now imagine where we could be a 1000 years from now...a MILLION years from now...even the most forward thinking minds in the field of science and technology would not even recognize us.

Plus, just the fact that they can travel 100's, 1000's, or even millions+ light years just shows that they obviously have technology far beyond what we could even imagine.

Well, imagine where we were 1000 years ago, we were stabbing eachother with swords.

As far as I know we can still be killed by swords, even while wearing kevlar and ceramic armor, because it's not practical to armor a soldier against bullets and melee weapons. That would just be too heavy and expensive.

Now if you set a squad of modern soldiers with assault rifles against some medieval swordsmen, the guys with guns would likely be victorious however there still remains a chance that one of the swordsmen will land a telling blow.

The question then becomes one of scale. When in their technological advancement do these aliens decide to fly over to earth and start trouble?

In theory humans could travel to another star right now. Japan has tested a solar sail and I'm sure with sufficient investment we could send some kind of radiation shielded box off into the sky to arrive in a few thousand years.

The way I see it though the aliens will either be relatively close to us, in which case we get hollywood style fights, or they're so far advanced they just selectively toast us from orbit.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Look, it's real simple. Any time a species with aggressive tendencies reach the point of FTL travel, the Shivans emerge from subspace and annihilate them. This is why no one is powerful enough to kill us.



More pragmatically, the simple reality is that any species sufficiently advanced enough that we're no threat is also sufficiently advanced enough to not want to hang out with us. We're wasps to them - yeah, no real threat, kind of annoying, and they could wipe us out with no trouble. But as long as we ain't trying to build nests in their living room, why bother?

 

[aigomorla]

Simply because humans are making the games not the aliens. We are supposed to triumph.

+1

And if worse comes to worse, we can steal at least 1 gun from the aliens and use it against them.

Well in most Sci Fi shooters, you always have the options to take 1 of the aliens weapons.

 

[TheStu]

Technology isn't always beneficial.
There was an episode of Stargate SG1 where Apophis has a shield which stops all the bullets and staff weapons and everything else the SG1 team fires at him.
How do they defeat him? With a knife, because the technology protected against fast moving projectiles, but a slow moving knife could get through.

Sure, it's a made up situation, but then so is all of this. It just shows that advanced technology isn't always great since it might be designed to combat advanced weapons, rather than things like the projectile weapons of humans.

And as I've already said in the Mass Effect case, humans aren't thousands of years behind all the aliens, since we're sharing the same technology and working with aliens.

Using another Stargate example, the replicators were a highly feared robotic 'race' that would consume everything in their path. The most advanced and powerful species in 2 (maybe 3) galaxies, the Asgard could barely hold them off since the replicators were shielded against all energy weapons. You know what they weren't shielded against? Little bits of metal that were explosively fired at them.

Or using the Harry Turtledove series 'In the Balance' as an example. Aliens come to Earth during WWII, and brought an invasion fleet with them. In this instance, the alien civilization was actually fairly slow to develop, and when they had last observed Earth, 1000 years prior, decided that it was an easy target and launched their fleet. What they found instead was WWII technology, which was impervious to most of their tactics. Their shields were worthless against slow moving projectiles (such as cannons), their EMPs didn't work against our fighters, and although their vehicles and weapons were much more powerful and they could kill 10 tanks for every loss, we could build 15 tanks to their 1.

Sometimes you just have to throw wave after wave of your own men at the problem.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

+1

And if worse comes to worse, we can steal at least 1 gun from the aliens and use it against them.

Well in most Sci Fi shooters, you always have the options to take 1 of the aliens weapons.

"Since when did the humans get themselves a mother fuckin' freeze ray?"

 

[TwinsenTacquito]

I think it's realistic when you're talking about the best soldier we have to offer and some aliens stacking crates somewhere.

 

[nageov3t]

advanced technology doesn't necessarily make you immune to a bullet through whatever makes up your brain

 

[mooncancook]

Because the human race just excels at war. That's why no alien race has invaded us yet, they know when it comes to war we are badass

 

[xCxStylex]

Dude. This is like, some Kevin Costner movie or some shit, I think it was "The Last Samurai" or something.

The Japanese guys with horses and swords know they have no chance against the whiteys with guns, but they fight them anyway.

lol

Well, imagine where we were 1000 years ago, we were stabbing eachother with swords.

As far as I know we can still be killed by swords, even while wearing kevlar and ceramic armor, because it's not practical to armor a soldier against bullets and melee weapons. That would just be too heavy and expensive.

Now if you set a squad of modern soldiers with assault rifles against some medieval swordsmen, the guys with guns would likely be victorious however there still remains a chance that one of the swordsmen will land a telling blow.

 

[BladeVenom]

We are thousands of years ahead of sharks in technology, but people still get killed by them.

 

[callaway86]

This reminds me of one of my favorite pieces of interweb art:
http://pictures.deadlycomputer.com/d/30800-1/StormtroopersNazisBig.jpg

 

[bunnyfubbles]

We are thousands of years ahead of sharks in technology, but people still get killed by them.

but we're also millions of years behind them in terms of evolution

In this analogy sharks kill humans because they were looking for food, not a fight, and the human was likely just in the wrong place at the wrong time not looking to actually engage themselves with a shark.

In media with humans vs. aliens, the aliens are usually violent aggressors, to equate that back to the shark analogy, it would be like humans specifically declaring war on sharks yet the sharks would somehow beat us back to where we would lose our campaign.

Not possible, not only would we have 0 losses amongst forces specifically set out to kill sharks, we would likely use some sort of biological warefare against the sharks to the point where we wouldn't really have to personally kill any of the sharks anyways...that is if we were to actually ever bother with such silly nonsense...

which is again yet another criticism of alien antagonists. Any aliens advanced enough to visit our planet would likely see us as dumb as we see ourselves in comparison to sharks and likely wouldn't even bother with us beyond basic familiarization like how we do with sharks...and just like sharks don't or cant even comprehend that we do such things, the same could be true of aliens in regards to us.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Using another Stargate example, the replicators were a highly feared robotic 'race' that would consume everything in their path. The most advanced and powerful species in 2 (maybe 3) galaxies, the Asgard could barely hold them off since the replicators were shielded against all energy weapons. You know what they weren't shielded against? Little bits of metal that were explosively fired at them.

Or using the Harry Turtledove series 'In the Balance' as an example. Aliens come to Earth during WWII, and brought an invasion fleet with them. In this instance, the alien civilization was actually fairly slow to develop, and when they had last observed Earth, 1000 years prior, decided that it was an easy target and launched their fleet. What they found instead was WWII technology, which was impervious to most of their tactics. Their shields were worthless against slow moving projectiles (such as cannons), their EMPs didn't work against our fighters, and although their vehicles and weapons were much more powerful and they could kill 10 tanks for every loss, we could build 15 tanks to their 1.

Sometimes you just have to throw wave after wave of your own men at the problem.

Zapp Brannigan - military genius

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_fJSsuBIks

 

[JTsyo]

Come on man. Haven't you seen Independence Day? Without shields a mid 80s fighter jet can take down "fighter jets" from aliens thousands of years ahead of us.

That's like a byplane taking down a raptor x 100.

And hey, a mid 90s Mac Computer can overcome the security systems of an entire mothership and then blow it the fuck up.

If the bi-plane could line up shots on the raptor, the shots would go through. Same as how today's soldiers would die to poison darts from BC era.