Alien Franchise Rule Book: for Members by Members

YES...it's always good to have a cat aboard. It's after-all a long-standing Tradition also.

dk

TY for supporting my points!

Now, about lasers, Truth seperated from Fiction and Misconceptions:

You have to consider lasers from an advanced perspective extrapolated from advancements of today. People hear 'laser' they think continuous beam system that must be held on a target.

Nope.

My Husband works quite a bit with lasers of many types and applications, and has shown me a couple of years back what a Infrared laser with a pulse-duration of 1/10000th of a second and delivering a Total of 1.5 Kilowatts of energy into a target within that time will do. (The target was a bone-in ham as he was generous enough to clear things for a 'flesh and blood' test) It wasn't a 'surface burn' it was a deep penetrating wound, all the way through to and beyond the bone. There was massive trauma/tearing from the 'explosion' of matter into plasma state, and the target's wound site was sizzling and cooking for about 12 seconds after the shot. The damage relative to things like assorted other test targets showed that even vs Resisitant materials like refractory ceramics significant damage was done.

If you get shot by a weapon-grade laser, or a properly-set industrial laser, you will have a wound at least six inches deep, with a Permanent wound cavity diameter of approximately an inch. Post-impact, the thermal dump WILL start equalizing in your tissues, sizzling and cooking as it does so. The 'explosion' and it's associated mechanical effect is more than sufficient to fracture/shatter bone while charring it and thermally damaging it in other ways. You WILL bleed, there's no cauterization as the mechanical effects counter that from happening, and thermally damaged arteries/veins in the area will aneurysm profoundly.

If you are shot in the head, your skull will explode as the brain absorbs all that energy, as it is mostly saline water, and you have an instant and impressive steam explosion. Even a graze would cause massive harm and significant thermal damage.

Shooting an Alien with one...you'd be better off using a shotgun or assault rifle, less of a mess/acid problem...or kit-bash a flamethrower from a welding torch and some other odds and ends. :D

So far:

If a member did not comment, that insinuates no issue and therefore agreement- correct me if mistaken

So far for Neomorph’s Newborn 2 yay, 1 nay, 6 not present

Lone’s feline- 3 yay, 6 not present

BWW-

1 3 yay, 6 not present

1a 3 DGAF, 6 not present

2 1 yay, 2 nay, 6 not present

3 3 yay- GDL didn’t say so I took that as a yay; 6 not present

4 3 yay, 6 not present 

5 3 yay, 6 not present

as for the Newborn...yeah, it IS creepy and made an impressive Threat as it had all that massive Power...and had NO clue about the world around it. It's the kind of nightmare form that sticks in your mind.

Neomorph- OT. I checked out the video and yep- same guy. The anchor was laughing and making fun and obviously had absolutely no comprehension of what, how or why he was engaging in that study. She wouldn't have lasted 30 seconds in his situation.

BWW- Very interesting insight about laser advancements. I wonder about power consumption and availability in a field environment?

If they were deemed practical for field use, do you think it might add a Star Trek or Star Wars vibe to the Alien franchise which never used weaponized lasers perhaps violating your 3rd rule?

Here and accounted for your Honor 

Straight outta Auriga

Resurrection wasted an opportunity to portray something terrifying with the Newborn. There are a couple of scenes where it looks quiet menacing and truly alien, and like BWW said; it was a true hybrid trying to understand what is was and where it fit in the food chain. Didn't like the wasted, unnecessary use of a Queen and how easily she was dispatched though either.

But instead, as Neomorph pointed out.....we got a giant emotional peanut with man-boobs instead.

ninXeno426- how does the cadre member vote on the points leveled by Neomorph, Lone and BWW?

dk

The trick with lasers and regarding power consumption is the efficiency of the laser, and these days with development compounding upon development, progress is happening very quickly.

The other trick to managing power consumption is that X amount of energy if delivered in as short a span of time as possible (like Picosecond and Femtosecond lasers) can do some interesting things because the energy is so condensed, and a small amount of energy can yield effects far larger than one would expect. Pulsed laser emission is far more energy efficient, practical, and makes cooling/thermal management MUCH less of a problem as well. Continuous lasers, they need a lot of power and active cooling.

These days, hobbyists are making what could be called 1st generation laser weapons out of scrapped DVD player parts, rifle and pistol config, and while they're not powerful enough to do more than blow a hole through a CD at a range of a couple feet, each year lasers get more powerful, more efficient and with the advancements in Metamaterials being used as Optical Lens elements, in about 20 years (if there's market demand) we will have the technology to build practical, durable, USEFUL laser weapons on the personal level.

Concerns about a Star Wars/ Star Trek/Space Opera vibe:

No, as these are not weapons any sane person wants to get shot by. These are Hard-R rating weapons, they have grieviously ugly effects on flesh and bone. A bullet does damage by kinetic force and a shockwave effect in body tissues, the Temporary vs Permanent wound channel.

When a laser hits, that tissue is GONE, plasmatized for the most part and mechanical effects rip things up very well and much worse than a bullet. A laser firing in the UV frequency, at 1.5 Kw Delivered Pulse Energy at 1/1 millionth of a second would hit a man in the sternum, and you'd see large sparks half-congealed gore and pieces of charred bone blown out of a hole in his back the size of a toddler's fist. Internally, there's massive and progressive thermal damage to every organ and artery/vein within 5 inches of the beam-path-wound channel. Imagine having 2nd and 3rd degree burns on your stomach, diaphragm muscle, heart and aorta. ;)

Pulse lasers can also fire in burst mode or autofire akin to modern projectile weapons, and a triple-pulse burst of the above characteristics would pretty much cut a man in two.

Also, having seen what a relatively low-power laser pulse did to that Ham...no, it's NOT 'Star Trek' or 'Star Wars' clean. :D

Thanks BWW. Your response alone could make for an interesting movie.

dk

You're welcome and TY for reading all the technical info. :) End of the day, weapon-grade laser wounds are quite horrific, much uglier than anything a bullet can do.

I must also say lasers firing in pulse-mode are not quiet, they make a 'Crack' with a muzzle flash every bit as loud as any firearm, and even a IR or UV (non-visible frequency laser) has a fairly visible beam path as it creates atmospheric glow along it's path. The muzzle flash is the air at the muzzle suddenly being cranked up several energy states.

They had lasers on the Nostromo.  Pity we never saw one fired but I don't imagine it would've ended well.

Thanks for including me in the rule book!

I'm in favor of keeping the rule. The Newborn was the equivalent of jumping the shark for me. Although, it's possible Alien Covenant may yet redefine "jumping the shark".

chadsbrothermatt- I don't understand. Do you want to keep or can the newborn. Also, no coments on issues presented will result in a favorable vote for Neomorph, BWW and Lone.

Thanks for checking in and participating!

S.M

YES!!! Thank-You for remembering that!!! Original script and such, and even a look at the Props, the weapons were laser-based.

BWW- Now I can't help but thinking about unruly people grabbing old dvd players and 3D printers, making weapons and committing the naughty.

I would like to Thank you for posting the Rulebook.

As I've mentioned I'm working on a piece for the ALIENverse, and while I will always defer to my own internal 'rulebook' the one you posted here has already proven useful to me and I have taken a copy of it so I have a 'guiderope' to what to avoid and what to keep. In short, it will be a further assist in helping me stay faithful and true to the genuine 'feel' of the ALIENverse.

I love this fanbase as much as I do the Firefly fanbase!!

That is awesome BWW! Most like to have fun and be creative in this forum. I probably came off as an ass early in the thread and I apologize to anyone whom may have perceived it that way. I am trying something new here- sort of a court room quasi serious but not vibe. These threads almost always go OT though so there it is. 

NEFARIOUS NINE:

We have members with issues of contention that require mitigation. I understand we are all over the world so it can be difficult to be here at any designated time. However, these members' issues must be addressed promptly. All nine have posted the rules, but since I am operating the thread, weighing in on deliberation will cease 2359 March 31st. Non participants will be considered affirmation/complicity to members' proposals. The vote tally will then be presented to Chris for final judgment.

Thus far we are considering proposals frome BWW, Lone and Neomorph.