Poll: What's More Survivable? Xenomorphs or Yautja

[Calibanbutcher]

Well, we would be done for either way, but given that I am armed and everything, I would try to get a Pred to do a 1-on-1 deathmatch against me.
If I win I gain immunity, if I lose... Meh, seen it coming.
+ A xenomoprh infestation would mean that earth itself was completely, utterly f*cked, so I'd rather have some Pred come here, hunt us for sport, and leave.

 

[Aprilgold]

On a side note, how many people are actually reading the prompt that states you *aren't* a civilian and that the predator will target you even if you throw your gun away?

I'd say it would still be against their whole "Hunt for Fun" mentality to kill you off from orbit which they can fully do mind you. The whole idea is that they completely nerf themselves, even with the fire-arms they use in the hunts despite you having a gun.

Sure dropping your gun would mean that they would nerf themselves further but they wouldn't kill you with their full inventory if you did drop it.

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The hunt just to go one on one with the predator, not for any other reason then I might be able to run or kick the bucket trying to.

 

[godofallu]

I'd try and 1v1 the predator with my fists and loose completely. Still would be sweat sparring with it, even if only for a few seconds.

 

[Neaco]

***** please im dead both ways!
but i would definently prefer the Predator, one of my biggest fears was being "face hugged" and being the incubator for an angry demon worm.

this actually brings up a good point. does the time spent comatose and impregnated count towards survival time? if so, then the xenomorph is more survivable.

though i find is grossly unfair for the xenomorphs to have an entire infestation while the predators get a simple hunting party. one balanced terms (1 xeno, 1 pred, 1 armed human) i'd most likely be able to kill the xeno more times out of 10 than i would the pred. though if im unarmed, and the xeno just wants to kill me, you can bet shes gonna beat the pred's drama-hour.


we need one of these for xenos http://xkcd.com/135/

 

[JasonKaotic]

I'd say Predator. They can detect you, and they can turn invisible. And they can throw spears at you. And they're massive fuckers. I'll vote Aliens as more survivable.
Although a Xeno infestation would definitely be less pleasant.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Predators can snipe you out easily and since sniping itself is OP'd, Xeno's are more survivable. Besides that though, not by much. It's like trying to take on a HUGE pack of smart, rabid wolves that have acid for blood and can climb on walls and ceilings. Yeeeaahhhhh.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

Bonus points to anyone who knew what a Yautja was before coming to this topic.

Anyways, on with the question at hand. I had been intending to make a series out of this topic, and with the mild success of yesterday's "Xenomorph or Zombie?" topic (and with me having nothing better to do with my time at the moment) I've decided to make another one.

It seems the primary strength that people kept naming for Xenomorphs is their capacity to learn and adapt. Indeed, they are crafty little buggers that can come up with brilliant and tenacious assault plans while zombies pretty much only have one tactic: swarm because they can't take you all out.

So I think it's time to fight fire with fire, and as such today's What's More Survivable installment shall be the epic clash between those two most famous 20th Century Fox rivals: Xenomorphs - the returning champs - and Yautjas.

For those that aren't super-nerds on the subject, the more common name for a Yautja is simply Predator. So today's question is indeed the age-old battle of Alien vs Predator.

So which do you think would be easier to survive? Finding yourself caught in a Xenomorph infestation? Or finding yourself as the prime target in a Hunt?

The only rule for consideration is that, in the Hunt, you're not a civilian, you're some sort of armed authority (could be standard army, space marine, a cop, etc) and you can't cheat by simply disarming yourself to remove yourself as a target, as that is the simple and obvious answer that makes this no contest

Captcha: "Ginned Up" good god, solvemedia, it's only 9:30 in the morning you fucking alcoholic! :3

This hypothetical engagement requires hypothetical conditions. Is their a queen for one and how abundant are the "hosts"?

Also, is it an Elite hunt or a initiate hunt?

For the sake of an answer I'll assume the worst case scenario for both.

Predators. If anything I can at least hide from them. Predators hunt in small packs, which means the ground they can cover is very limited. Even with their advanced hunting gear, they can't see through dense obstructions. Predators have also shown a tendency to lose patience, which may prompt them to move on if I decide to cower away.

Aliens, on the other hand, want me for my fertile bodymass. Even if I hide, they will never leave... and somehow I think the most adaptable species in the AvP universe would outlast me if I was to wait it out. I'm dependant on food, water and at least some excercise, so even if I do manage to hide from them, I will eventually have to move in order to survive longer.

Unless help is expected, Aliens will inevitably have me, or at least starve me to death.

 

[RJ 17]

This hypothetical engagement requires hypothetical conditions. Is their a queen for one and how abundant are the "hosts"?

Also, is it an Elite hunt or a initiate hunt?

For the sake of an answer I'll assume the worst case scenario for both.

Predators. If anything I can at least hide from them. Predators hunt in small packs, which means the ground they can cover is very limited. Even with their advanced hunting gear, they can't see through dense obstructions. Predators have also shown a tendency to lose patience, which may prompt them to move on if I decide to cower away.

Aliens, on the other hand, want me for my fertile bodymass. Even if I hide, they will never leave... and somehow I think the most adaptable species in the AvP universe would outlast me if I was to wait it out. I'm dependant on food, water and at least some excercise, so even if I do manage to hide from them, I will eventually have to move in order to survive longer.

Unless help is expected, Aliens will inevitably have me, or at least starve me to death.

While I do think the Xenomorphs could kill you in a shorter time-frame than the Predator, I think you might be giving the Preds a too little credit. Granted, they have to take the time to mess with you by killing off your squadmates and friends first before they get to you as the primary trophy target, but they're pretty determined once they set their eyes on something/someone. They might grow overconfident and make mistakes due to this, but I wouldn't call them impatient. Hell, the first half of the first Predator movie features the Predator just stalking Arnold's squad through the jungle, it doesn't even attack until after the squad has made it to - and cleared out - that massive rebel (or whatever they were) hide-out.

 

[Doclector]

Hmm...yes. I thought of hadleys hope a while after replying, how it seems none of them were kept alive. Not for long, anyway. That, and the aliens, in popular theory, are not an independant race, as such, and they don't look to further advance their species, only to kill all around them, as in popular theory, they are effectively a biological weapon, something to be sent to a hostile planet, and kill everything on it.

Yeah, I dunno if Prometheus is going to shed any light on that, but I've read a whole bunch of fan theories on what, exactly, the Xenomorphs are. Since it seems like they take on traits of whatever their host organism happened to be, it's hard to say what a "pure" Xenomorph would be. I know that the most popular theory seems to be that creature found in the derelict ship on LV-426 ("The Pilot," "The Space Jockey," "The Engineer" - whatever you want to call it) was transporting the eggs as a bioweapon... but there really just hasn't been much evidence to support it either way.

One of the earlier (rejected) scripts for Prometheus had the "pure" Xenomorph being similar in size to large-ish ants, and used by the "Space Jockey" race for agriculture. The script was called "Alien Harvest" and it was pretty terrible (I really don't want to learn about crop rotations in a freakin' Alien movie), but it's still floating around out there if you want to read it. Watch out though, because "Alien Harvest" is also the name of one of the DC comic book series' and a novel by Robert Sheckley - neither of which have anything to do with Prometheus.

Hmm...Could it be possible that there is no pure xenomorph? The face hugger is as pure as it gets, such is it designed.

Man, you can really tell the quality of a fictional universe by the ability of nerds to discuss it.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

Hmm...Could it be possible that there is no pure xenomorph? The face hugger is as pure as it gets, such is it designed.

Man, you can really tell the quality of a fictional universe by the ability of nerds to discuss it.

In terms of canon material? I don't think we've ever seen, or even really got any sort of hints at, what a "pure" Xenomorph would be. The facehugger probably is the only "pure" Xenomorph, since the chestburster and whatever it happens to grow into would take traits from the host. But even then... Queens also come from a host, so would a facehugger be different if it came from an egg hatched by a Queen that came from a host that wasn't human?

And for that matter, what came first? The Queen or the Egg?

 

[Doclector]

Hmm...Could it be possible that there is no pure xenomorph? The face hugger is as pure as it gets, such is it designed.

Man, you can really tell the quality of a fictional universe by the ability of nerds to discuss it.

In terms of canon material? I don't think we've ever seen, or even really got any sort of hints at, what a "pure" Xenomorph would be. The facehugger probably is the only "pure" Xenomorph, since the chestburster and whatever it happens to grow into would take traits from the host. But even then... Queens also come from a host, so would a facehugger be different if it came from an egg hatched by a Queen that came from a host that wasn't human?

And for that matter, what came first? The Queen or the Egg?

Yeah, that's a point...and for that matter, would the queen be different? I suppose, seeming as the comics are one of the few materials to go into other sub species of alien, the answer might lie there. But f*** that, waterstones wants twenty five quid a pop for them. >_>

As for the queen or the egg? The egg. It would seem that an alien who is alone starts the cycle by turning themselves into a queen after a while, at least from the latest AVP game (which seems fairly accurate in the lore). How long it takes is a mystery though. We'd have to assume it's at the very least a day, as the alien in the first film doesn't try to start this process. Perhaps the alien aims to kill everyone in the area first, ensuring a secure place to undergo the metamorphosis?

 

[BrionJames]

Assuming I'm fighting just one enemy, I'd rather fight the Xenomorph.

-They can be "easily" killed with current-day weaponry. In Aliens the Colonial Marines use M-41A Pulse Rifles which fire 10mm rounds - which exist now (albeit, not in the '10mm caseless explosive-tipped light armor piercing' variety seen in the film). Corporal Hicks is also seen killing a Xenomorph (and possibly more, off-screen) with a 12-gauge Ithaca Model-37 shotgun.

-They're clever, but not particularly smart. In the Special Edition version of Aliens there are a few scenes where the Colonial Marines set up four sentry turrets to defend two possible entrances to Operations/Medical. The Xenomorphs walk right into the turrets' line of fire and many of them get gunned down ('shooting gallery' according to PFC Hudson). After implied heavy losses they let up their attack, even though three of the four guns are out of ammunition and the fourth gun only has five rounds left. In other words, they'll try to brute-force an objective before looking for an alternate solution.

-Assuming I'm fighting just one, it means I'm not going to get cocooned in front of an egg because there aren't any queens or facehuggers around, so even if I lose my death will still likely be swift.

So, to beat a Xenomorph, all I have to do is get myself a gun I feel comfortable using, find myself a hardened room with a single entrance, set up a lawn chair on the opposite side of the room from the entrance, sit down in the lawn chair, point my gun at the entrance, and wait for the Xenomorph to attempt to brute-force its objective. Bam. No more Xenomorph.

The Yautja would probably just use its cloaking device to sneak in, or use indirect weaponry against me, or just brute-force the objective and succeed since Yautja are often seen taking heavy weapons fire like it ain't no thang.

Yup, in Predator 2 you see Danny Glover shoot the thing like 6 or 7 times with a short barreled shotgun, sure it knocks it unconscious for a minute or two, but then it choke slams him from the floor and then proceeds to fight him hand to hand for another half hour of screen time.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Yup, in Predator 2 you see Danny Glover shoot the thing like 6 or 7 times with a short barreled shotgun, sure it knocks it unconscious for a minute or two, but then it choke slams him from the floor and then proceeds to fight him hand to hand for another half hour of screen time.

Not to mention all the other people shooting it beforehand in the rest of the movie, including Key's team immediately before and the people on the train only a little while before.

Personally, I've always thought it wasn't unconscious, it was just playing dead because Glover's character had gotten the upper hand for a moment.

...

Oh, if you win against a Predator, it blows up at you. Not sure who gets to make the decision during a group hunt, though, do they all get bombs and they trust everyone else not to use them if only they get in trouble?