Ship Weaponary

I agree, I couldn't see why they created a lifeform, specimen or the like without a countermeasure of some sort. But then again, seeing the Cobralien and it's near-immortal regenerative properties, maybe they did their job just a bit too well. Whatever is created from the goo seems to be fiercely predatory and hostile in nature, all with having acidic blood to boot. And about the Engineer, dunno. Maybe after having his ride totaled he thought to himself, "Lemme scan for lifeforms on this rock and find out who the jackass driver is." I also find it pretty funny that the engineer just non-chalantly left the head of David there while in flight.

It's understandable that the Prometheus lacked weaponry since it was a scientific expedition. It expected to encounter beings who were (a) benign and (b) so much more advanced that, if they turned out [i]not[/i] to be benign, fighting them would have been hopeless. As for the juggernaut, it probably had weapons, but a ship of such size was likely designed to be flown by a full crew, not just one individual. The surviving Engineer was able to fly it, but not operate the weaponry at the same time.

I'm guessing that the engineers and humans are the only two spacefaring races in the Alien universe. If so, the engineer craft was built well before humans had the ability to build spacecrafts, and the Prometheus was built before humans even knew the engineers existed, so neither expected to encounter another spacecraft, let alone a hostile spacecraft. Weapons are kind of pointless in that case.

I agree with Infidel753's take on it. Also from a plot point of view, there was meant to be more sacrifice than shot-em-up action. If they had rockets and stuff then a certain character with a five letter name starting with J wouldnt have to sacrifice himself, with two gamblers next to him. (not that there's meant to be a religious reference in there, of course. As for the idea that the SpaceJockeys have no external weapons because they haven't been to war... ah, they built WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION. These guys make war. I think we'll find out whether those ships have external weapons or not, in the next film, and between Shaw and David, one might be flying and the other shooting, or perhaps they'll have a real Engineer (not a space jockey worker drone clone) on board for the fight as well. I think that we'll see that they also do alien abductions for part of their experiments/ ritual sacrifices to host new versions of xenomorphs. From the large open spaces, and the cloned, worker drone vibe, and unemotional sacrifice, death cult thing, I'm guessing that they can make war without needing massive bombardment - the urns are not shaped like aerodynamic bomb casings or torpedos. But imagine the explendable platoons of drone Space Jockeys being dropped off on target planets, and then all hell breaking loose as Xenomorphs run rampant. Anybody not familiar with them is going to try shoot or stab them, and then realise exactly WHY they were designed to have acid blood. I suspect that their current war is against the ACTUAL engineers who we haven't met yet, but who resemble them in the same way we would resemble a room full of identical David androids. Perhaps 2000 years ago the drones woke up to the fact that, a bit like David, they have no free will, no purpose except to do the lonely, unpleasant jobs that their creators won't though. And further realised, or reflected upon the fact that their same creator made a sacrifice of one of their kind, in order to seed a planet, now populated by creatures with free will, who are expanding into the universe with 60 colonies, some of which are more than 30 light years out - nowhere near the same bit of space as LV-223, but it is less than 35 light years from Earth.

Good stuff all, I like the creative thoughts. All I have to say is if I'm going to build a ship with a trillion dollar price tag (as quoted in movie) to haul my wrinkled old butt halfway across the universe I'm going to add the best defenses I can to insure I get to where I'm going. I may call it a scientific expedition, but hidden agenda's are my forte (Mr. Weyland). I splurged and built a completely self contained life boat that would support me for 2 years if separated from the Prometheus (as quoted in movie, Vickers chamber). I'm going to have some firepower somewhere on my ship. As for the Juggernaut... If I can build life forms as weapons, I should be able to build a ship with a turret or cannon that can auto target and fire I would think.