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RorschachFiringPattern, I would be very interested in that. Not to hijack this thread, but I would take the movies as the baseline:

- Pistols don’t seem very effective against the xenos (Aliens)
- Military weapons (pulse rifles, smartguns, and grenades) seem very effective (Aliens)
- Present-day weapons (5.56 NATO rifles) are somewhat effective (Covenant)
- Acid blood is a huge issue on a spaceship (Alien)

I don’t care much about Covenant or the use of present-day weapons, but it might be a baseline for non-expensive rifle ammo.

Just off the top of my head:
- Bump pistol damage back to 1 (and 2 for the magnum)
- For explosive ammo: each success after the first adds +2 damage to anything that gets past armor
(for xenos, this means each additional success deals +2 damage; for queens, it applies after the second success)

To balance that out, I would make the xenos much more dangerous in close combat—something like giving them some automatic successes plus fewer dice. For example, if an attack normally has 10 dice, I would change it to 1 automatic success + 5 dice. That way, if you don’t have an action ready for defense, you’re in big trouble.
I’m old enough to have played the first edition of Space Hulk, and I’m not in doubt that it was heavily inspired by Aliens. I would really like to have that same dynamic, where the marines (Terminators in Space Hulk) only have a chance if they gun down the xenos (Genestealers in Space Hulk) before they get close—the marines’ chances in close combat are next to nothing.

To balance out the damage boost from explosive ammo, I would expand the acid spray effect. Perhaps everyone within short range (the same zone) is hit with half acid spray if the xeno was struck by explosive ammo.

RorschachFiringPattern, I would be very interested in that. Not to hijack this thread, but I would take the movies as the baseline:

- Pistols don’t seem very effective against the xenos (Aliens)
- Military weapons (pulse rifles, smartguns, and grenades) seem very effective (Aliens)
- Present-day weapons (5.56 NATO rifles) are somewhat effective (Covenant)
- Acid blood is a huge issue on a spaceship (Alien)

I don’t care much about Covenant or the use of present-day weapons, but it might be a baseline for non-expensive rifle ammo.

Just off the top of my head:
- Bump pistol damage back to 1 (and 2 for the magnum)
- For explosive ammo: each success after the first adds +2 damage to anything that gets past armor
(for xenos, this means each additional success deals +2 damage; for queens, it applies after the second success)

This might take a minute so bear with me I beg.

Standard 121 drones have Toughness 1, Resistance 1D3, Health 4. This roughly gives them enough resilience to survive a few bouts of 9mm hosedown, but they'll come apart under good M41A or sustained Autocarbine hits (more on that later). Armor, as said before, operates on static Toughness + rolled Resistance.

121 Soldiers are considerably more dangerous. Toughness 0, but Resistance 2D3 and Health 5. It's possible that they'll shrug off assault rifles, and need multiple M41A hits to take down. Their canon status is... debatable so do with them as you will.

For comparison, M3 body armor is a sort of middle ground performer in my eyes, in-universe. It is designed to counter military ammo, but its ability to do so is relatively limited. Toughness 1, Resistance 2D3. A bit swingy, due to the potential for weakspot hits and bad angles, etc.
- M3 also does a few more things. Thermal vision, blast protection, etc.

It shouldn'ta happened, I swear. They nailed me, square on the chest - no deflections or ricochets or anything. I was knocked on my ass, and when I came to, my face was bleeding from fragments of the round as it blew up. We dug the remains of it outta my breastplate - A Japanese 8.1mm explosive rifle round. By rights it shoulda penetrated the armor shell and exploded in my belly, but I guessed that somehow Mr. Watanabe had rolled bad dice that day...
- PFC D. Boone, 21st MAU, Technical Manual pg27

How I have it...
- M4A3 Service: Strength 2, Penetration 1. Range A/S, Modifier +2.
- - Weight 1/2, Rapid Fire, Ammo 2
Its strength is its good trigger, so you have Rapid Fire, a special rule that represents rapid semi auto or burstfire. Attack with Rapid Fire for +1 damage but -2 to hit, and two ammo checks. Compact enough, but not particularly effective against any sort of body armor.

- Handgun, special caliber: Strength 3, Penetration 1, Range A/M, Modifier 0
- - Weight 1/2, Ammo 1
Woe, muzzle flip upon you. Revolvers generally can't be fired as quickly, and their capacity is small.

- Venlar Vest: Toughness 0, Resistance 1D3
- - Weight 1/2
Light and easy to wear body armor. Space kevlar. Doesn't provide all that much coverage; not a good option for a real fight. In most cases taking a pistol (or worse, revolver) bullet will hurt, but probably not wound.

- Automatic Carbine Rifle: Strength 3, Penetration 1. Range S/L, Modifier +2.
- - Weight 1, Select Fire (access to Rapid Fire and Full Auto), Ammo 2.
This is your generic AR. M4A1, AK74, AKM, SA80, or something newer. Colonists probably want their cased ammo for reloading until the cases aren't safe to reload, after all. Against 121s, this gives anyone a realistic chance at killing their target before being introduced to the antimateriel tailstab.
Note also the slight Modifier improvement. I've tried to reflect the easier handling of long guns with three points of contact compared to pistols.

I'd talk about the Colonial Marshals patrol coat, but the bulletproof duster's a little bit out there and I'm self conscious.

So what does the M41A look like? Dangerous, more or less. It's a recoil dampened hosegun firing magnum ammo. That explodes.
Note two things: Ammo has been pushed out, ammo 1 is for stuff under 10 rounds, ammo 2 for 20 or less, ammo 3 for 30-40, and so on.
Second, Overpenetration. Every 2 Penetration left after armor, you do 1 less damage.
- M41A Pulse: Strength 4, Penetration 2. Range S/L, Modifier +2.
- - Weight 1, Select Fire (access to Rapid Fire and Full Auto), Ammo 5, Integrated PN 30mm USGL.