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AndersP
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Re: Using xenomorphs as a biological weapon

Fri 07 Feb 2020, 14:33

The thing is that WY maybe isn't interested to use them unchanged in their natural state, but to use some of their abilities to genetically modify other organisms or humans. Their strange biology might be used to create deadly bacteria or virus etc.
 
They may also try to control them with bioimplants or something like that and use them as some sort of infantry. Think like some kind of drones (well, a drone-drone I guess) that is controlled remotely.
 
However, the only way to get hold of an alien is to send someone to retrieve it, and to get enough material you need to breed them. And there is where the PC comes into play either as worker for WY or as someone which will try to stop WY from succeeding.
 
PrometheusUnbound
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Re: Using xenomorphs as a biological weapon

Fri 07 Feb 2020, 15:41

First, what you need to remember is that Humans are not the first species to use them for other purposes. The Predators used them too, as game. And they used them for the same reason that a corporation might. You have a self-replicating, fast replicating (given enough hosts), extremely hostile, and hard to kill "perfect" organism. No overhead, No need to breed and train them. They do that themselves. If there is one thing any corporation, real world or Alien universe, strives to achieve it is profits. Less overhead means a lot more profits.

Also, remember, Weyland-Yutani never really understood them. They seemed to think they could somehow domesticate them like you would a dog. That they would be able to bend the will of a hive to their whims. As we all know, thats futile. They have a genetic impetus to spread and kill. They are pure in that way. No thought of morality, no f*****g each over for a profit (thank you Ripley). Domestication will never work. Despite this, they still funded R&D programmes to try. They felt the money sunk into it in the beginning was worth it. That the eventual product would pay for itself eventually. And, due to the fact that their Xenomorphs were domesticated, there would be no need to worry too much about them when the company lands their colonists or whatever they plan to do. Just round any Xenomorphs up and either keep them or euthanise them.

Then there is the other factor: deniability. Xenomorphs are the perfect bio-weapon for such a task. A bio-weapon that any corporation could use and say that there must have been Xenomorphs on that planet or whatever. You said it yourself, it only takes one Facehugger. It would be so easy to deny everything. Yes, other corporations and governments can point the finger, but unless the Xenomorphs used are branded "property of Weyland-Yutani" it is feasable that either the planet had a dormant hive no one knew about, or a colonist was already infected, meaning no proof.
 
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Diego
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Re: Using xenomorphs as a biological weapon

Fri 07 Feb 2020, 17:31

Frankly I am not a fan of the 'WY wants them for the weapon division' because frankly it's a bit cliched these days and as people have pointed out it is not very well thought out. There are far easier ways to kill people and afterwards you don't have an even worse problem.

What's more weaponising them is like the least forward thinking use. Look at them more closely, they can exist in vacuum, they grow to full size in hours, they can seemingly hibernate for an inconceivable amount of time, they have corrosive acid and seem to make themselves out of a material that is resilient to that acid and small arms fire. It's just about every other division of WY that should want them. Fabrication, materials, pharmaceuticals... hell the creature defies our laws of physics so the theoretical physics department probably wants a word.
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Konungr
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Re: Using xenomorphs as a biological weapon

Fri 07 Feb 2020, 22:02

I figured bio weapon was one of many applications. Studying their biology could have other applications. Weyland as a 80s corporations should be stripping the alien for every % of profit they can get. Medicines, acid proof coatings, resin farms. Weyland doesn't know WHAT the aliens real value is yet. They just know it's a resource they can capitalize on and they want to capitalize on it first before any other mega corporation or systems government gets the chance.
 
Bengt Petter
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Re: Using xenomorphs as a biological weapon

Sun 09 Feb 2020, 00:55

It’s also a question of what kind of game you want. If you like a computer game style (first person shooter) with a lot of action, the xenos could be there as very dangerous targets. You shoot them, they are weaponized in the most simple sense.

But as I and several others have already said: the real value of the xenos, also from a military point of view, might be more complicated. Maybe the embryo version is the most valuable to WY. It’s not yet dangerous, but all the potential is there. This would be another style of game: more thriller och spy drama.
 
S.M
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Re: Using xenomorphs as a biological weapon

Sun 09 Feb 2020, 01:16

I figured bio weapon was one of many applications. Studying their biology could have other applications. Weyland as a 80s corporations should be stripping the alien for every % of profit they can get. Medicines, acid proof coatings, resin farms. Weyland doesn't know WHAT the aliens real value is yet. They just know it's a resource they can capitalize on and they want to capitalize on it first before any other mega corporation or systems government gets the chance.
That's what Wren was going with in Resurrection.  Talking about new alloys and vaccines.
 
Luke Styer
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Re: Using xenomorphs as a biological weapon

Mon 10 Feb 2020, 06:23

From a corporative and capitalist point of view, using xenomorphs as a weapon of mass destruction is really expensive and the cost-benefice balance isn't suitable. So, I suppose, it's much cheaper and secure to launch a nuke to a world than using xenos.
In order for XX121 to be viable as a weapon of mass destruction you’ll need a supply of eggs, and while there would be expense in getting that up and running, it’s not inconceivable that once that obstacle is cleared the expense of a batch of eggs might be less than a nuke. We really have no way of knowing.

Putting aside the question of cost, if there’s a benefit to XX121 as opposed to nukes it’s probably psychological and logistical. A nuke just kills. A hive terrorizes and kills. Your enemy is going to be flooded with distress signals. And if those distress signals work, you destroy not only the initial target but also any rescue/relief teams that respond. And survivors of a nuke don’t carry more nukes away with them. Survivors of a hive may well carry embryos away to keep the destruction spreading.
 
EzMad
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Re: Using xenomorphs as a biological weapon

Mon 10 Feb 2020, 23:12

I think that Ripley from Alien 4 would be a more desirable end product. Genetically engineered human alien hybrids.
 
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aramis
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Re: Using xenomorphs as a biological weapon

Sun 16 Feb 2020, 01:10

I think that Ripley from Alien 4 would be a more desirable end product. Genetically engineered human alien hybrids.
Ripley? No. One fatal flaw for a product - no control over it.
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Diego
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Re: Using xenomorphs as a biological weapon

Mon 17 Feb 2020, 14:28

I think that Ripley from Alien 4 would be a more desirable end product. Genetically engineered human alien hybrids.
Ripley? No. One fatal flaw for a product - no control over it.
Well that's the entire issue with the xenomorph, it's a living creature that is intrinsically hostile, it's like trying to weponise a black mamba, your just going to get bit. At least super soldier styles Ripley's you can indoctrinate with propaganda and pamper to ensure loyalty (as much as you can any soldier)
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