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Hey y'all,

I'm preparing to run CotG but this is something that I just don't understand.

So, the Heliades-class model usually has a Class D lifeboat module attached, but the Cronus had a science lab instead, which has since been jettisoned (shortly after leaving LV-1113 (as per CotG p.15)). We don't really know why the science lab was discarded, but presumably because someone tried to contain the infection, or some such (or it could be a mechanical failure or just madness that caused it). No problem there. However, I cannot for the life of me figure out where the ejected module is supposed to have fitted on the ship? I'm sure that I'm missing something really basic here, but where did the Heliades' lifeboat (on Cronus a science lab) used to go?

Thanks

PS: My memory of Prometheus (the film) is a bit sketchy, but is this lifeboat/science module ever featured in the film? Thanks.

Yes the module is showing being ejected from the upper-rear hull of the Prometheus in the movie near the end before Janek targets the Prometheus on the Juggernaut.
Look for the section where Vickers is rushing to get a spacesuit on.

Also illustrated here:
http://www.benprocter.com/picture/magel ... d=14717864

Yes the module is showing being ejected from the upper-rear hull of the Prometheus in the movie near the end before Janek targets the Prometheus on the Juggernaut.
Look for the section where Vickers is rushing to get a spacesuit on.

Also illustrated here:
http://www.benprocter.com/picture/magel ... d=14717864

Ah, right! Yeah, I had totally blocked this out. So, I found the scene on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/NRxvp4sfhMo

Since I won't have a chance to rewatch Prometheus before running CotG, would you (anyone) mind explaining to me what's going on there? Who're launching the lifeboat, and why (well, they are going to deliberately crash the Prometheus, so "why" it is launched is perhaps not that much of a mystery, really)? What/whose inside? I have totally blocked out the lifeboat story element.

Is it Vickers to ejects the lifeboat before she climbs into one of the 3 Company Rep. escape pods?

No, wait! The downed lifeboat, is that where Shaw fights the Engineer?

Gods damn, I need to re-watch this movie and pay attention to the tech and ship!

No, wait! The downed lifeboat, is that where Shaw fights the Engineer?

Gods damn, I need to re-watch this movie and pay attention to the tech and ship!

<spoilers>
Janek ejects the lifeboat to give Vickers and the bridge crew "2 more years of lifes" when Janek decides to kamikaze the Juggernaut.
Vickers races off to get in a suit and launch in a 1 person pod while Chance and Ravel decide to help Janek stop the Juggernaut.
The lifeboat ejects, and hits a pinnacle before landing.
Vickers ejects and lands in her 1 person pod.
The Prometheus rams the Juggernaut and then hits the ground ultimately getting Vickers.
Shaw then goes to the downed lifeboat, finds the Trilobyte where it had escaped from the med-pod where she left it.
The Engineer breaks into the lifeboat to get Shaw and she introduces it to the Trilobyte.

<spoilers>
Janek ejects the lifeboat to give Vickers and the bridge crew "2 more years of lifes" when Janek decides to kamikaze the Juggernaut.
Vickers races off to get in a suit and launch in a 1 person pod while Chance and Ravel decide to help Janek stop the Juggernaut.
The lifeboat ejects, and hits a pinnacle before landing.
Vickers ejects and lands in her 1 person pod.
The Prometheus rams the Juggernaut and then hits the ground ultimately getting Vickers.
Shaw then goes to the downed lifeboat, finds the Trilobyte where it had escaped from the med-pod where she left it.
The Engineer breaks into the lifeboat to get Shaw and she introduces it to the Trilobyte.

Thank you, mate! Do we know from where, on the ship, Vickers escapes in the pod?

Hm... It would be advantageous for my stupid brain to have a map of the Prometheus/Cronus with thumbnail scene pics overlaid. I might have to try to do something like that at some point (and same goes for the Nostromo, really).

Thank you, mate! Do we know from where, on the ship, Vickers escapes in the pod?

From memory, aft of the bridge, starboard side above the garage bay and below the engine pivot.

There is a shot after the pod doors close in the suit-up room that shows the pod itself detach from the side of the ship and jet away.
I would assume there are also some on the port side but have not checked this.

On the Nostromo, the E1 Narcissus is going to give you a real brain pain because the location shown for the shuttle in the exterior model shots are "miles" from where it seems to be based on Ripley's path taken in the interior scenes.

Arthur Dallas has some great maps on DeviantArt where he's wrestled this to a reasonable compromise... and just handwave any inconsistencies between screen and map as "minor differences or refits between versions of the same ship"

Now, *if* you happen to have ALIEN: THE BLUEPRINTS by Graham Langridge (as I do) which are considered tier II canon... then you can see the B-deck plan which links the bridge and cargo areas to the pylons where the E1 Narcissus and E2 Salmacis garages are.

But, ALIEN: THE BLUEPRINTS shows the main lifeboat but does not show deckplans or the personal escape pods ... onscreen is all we get.

Thank you, mate! Do we know from where, on the ship, Vickers escapes in the pod?

From memory, aft of the bridge, starboard side above the garage bay and below the engine pivot.

There is a shot after the pod doors close in the suit-up room that shows the pod itself detach from the side of the ship and jet away.
I would assume there are also some on the port side but have not checked this.

On the Nostromo, the E1 Narcissus is going to give you a real brain pain because the location shown for the shuttle in the exterior model shots are "miles" from where it seems to be based on Ripley's path taken in the interior scenes.

Arthur Dallas has some great maps on DeviantArt where he's wrestled this to a reasonable compromise... and just handwave any inconsistencies between screen and map as "minor differences or refits between versions of the same ship"

Now, *if* you happen to have ALIEN: THE BLUEPRINTS by Graham Langridge (as I do) which are considered tier II canon... then you can see the B-deck plan which links the bridge and cargo areas to the pylons where the E1 Narcissus and E2 Salmacis garages are.

But, ALIEN: THE BLUEPRINTS shows the main lifeboat for the PROMETHEUS but does not show deckplans or locations of the personal escape pods ... onscreen is all we get.

I'm preparing to run CotG but this is something that I just don't understand.

Checked the maps again for CotG and both the personal escape pod things and the science module are mapped.

Cronus deck B for example has "Vestibule 2" between the bridge and engine pod 2.
The forward/upper bulkhead has markings for 2 escape pods whereas the movie shows 3.
W-Y must have gone cheap on later Heliades to make up for that trillion dollar expedition loss of the Prometheus...
No lifeboat, 4 escape pods ... crew of 30... someone paid off an inspector or two to get the Cronus out of the shipyard that way.
That same inspector probably got paid 2 years later to ignore the Nostromo leaving with the Salmacis non-working...

The outline for where the science module would have been is at the aft of the ship past the reactor on the same Cronus deck B map.

I'm preparing to run CotG but this is something that I just don't understand.

Checked the maps again for CotG and both the personal escape pod things and the science module are mapped.

Cronus deck B for example has "Vestibule 2" between the bridge and engine pod 2.
The forward/upper bulkhead has markings for 2 escape pods whereas the movie shows 3.
W-Y must have gone cheap on later Heliades to make up for that trillion dollar expedition loss of the Prometheus...
No lifeboat, 4 escape pods ... crew of 30... someone paid off an inspector or two to get the Cronus out of the shipyard that way.
That same inspector probably got paid 2 years later to ignore the Nostromo leaving with the Salmacis non-working...

The outline for where the science module would have been is at the aft of the ship past the reactor on the same Cronus deck B map.

Geez, the Science Module is, indeed, right there! Sorry 'bout that... I'm stupid.

I like the way you think re the safety inspector

I don't think the Vestibule 2 quite fits with where Vickers climps into the escape pod; as you say, there are two pods on the Cronus whereas the Prometheus has three, and the on the Prometheus the pods are on the end-wall, not on the side as in the Cronus map, but, as you say, they are different ships and the Prometheus was likely quite modified to aline with Weyland's wishes. vs.