Yansuf

Re: First Wave, the First Review! Discuss, or risk Angering the Golden Tree! OK, so it is still the pulp era, shortly after WWII (to allow the Blackhawks in), but the reporters have mini-recorders instead of notebooks, the Blackhawks have a twin engine jet transport, TV is widespread, and cops carry cell phones. Not to mention the Blackhawks are a multi-racial, co-ed group. Sorry, my suspension of disbelief doesn't go that far.

Re: First Wave, the First Review! Discuss, or risk Angering the Golden Tree! Thank you, I am aware of his history; I was pointing out if you set the story in modern times that does not work.

Re: First Wave, the First Review! Discuss, or risk Angering the Golden Tree! Am I the only one who feels that putting this into modern times rather than between WWI and WWII is WRONG? Doc Savage is a war hero? What war? Etc.

Re: Eeep! Buck Rogers!!! I don't know your definition of canon here, but the original was definitely post apocalyptic. The Han had destroyed all other civilizations, and the first two years of the strip were the story (that had been told in the pulp story version) of Buck leading the surviving Americans (who lived in hiding in the forests and mountains for fear of Han airship raids) in over throwing the Han and reestablishing America.

Re: Save the American Space Program?!

Re: Military Super Squad Remember the Navy's first rule for a gunfight: Send the marines!

Re: How to Save That Train! And the problem with that is?

Re: Inspiration: The Jobs Of Yesteryear: Obsolete Occupations Copy Boy wasn't really an occupation, any more than apprentice or office boy was. It was the entry level position into the newspaper business; copyboys went on to become reporters or other positions. And I am pretty sure they were still around into the 1980's. Telegraph delivery boys were employed into the 1960's.

Re: VASIMR on its way? Care to explain that?

Re: Predators vs. Military Well, OF COURSE it depends on what the writer decides; this is true of ALL fiction. I must disagree with your statement on sensors. If we wanted to spend the money, we could incorporate radar and/or sonar sights on weapons, similar tp the old "snooperscope," today. (Current sonar for such would probably be short range only.) I have no useful information on the status of EM field sensors; do you?

Re: Predators vs. Military Randomly develop? I have mentioned 4 existing sensors (thermal imagery, radar, sonar, and EM field detectors) that might work. And work on better sensors is continuous today.

Re: Predators vs. Military

Re: Predators vs. Military

Re: Predators vs. Military Please note that the situation is VERY different if the soldiers have sensors that can detect the predator.

Re: Predators vs. Military

Re: Laser launched rockets I recall seeing a televised demonstration of laser propulsion that appeared identical to this system over a decade ago.

Re: Predators vs. Military True. But my original statement was only considering small units. Since we have no idea what heavy weapons predators have (except for the spaceship mounted DEW) we cannot evaluate that; and clearly we know that armed starships against a planet that does not have armed spacecraft and/or an extensive planetary defense system is not a contest. Nothing posted so far changes my mind on the ability of modern infantry to deal with predator "infantry", as long as the humans have individual sensors that can find and target the predators. I agree that is a big if, but I can think of several systems that might work. If you want to speculate about space combat, try predator ship vs Sulaco, or a reasonably designed warship for that technology. A reasonably designed ship would have many more point defense lasers at the very least.

Re: More cross-genre goodiness: The Predator vs. a Jedi

Re: Predators vs. Military Even with slugs, a shotgun has much less penetration than a rifle.

Re: Predators vs. Military In the first movie, the predator was wounded after the team shot up the jungle. Yes, they fired an amazing number of rounds, but almost all missed. They were firing 9 mm SMG, 5.56 ball, 7.62 ball, and 40 mm grenades. (Yes, we do not know that they were using standard "ball" ammo, but in that time period, in that area, it is a given.) One or more (probably one) rounds hit the predator, and wounded it. Based on that, 7.62 AP would definitely penetrate the predator armor, 5.56 AP probably would, and 5.56 and 7.62 "special" AP both definitely would. It has been mentioned that in the second movie a shotgun didn't penetrate the armor at point blank range. Well, shotguns may have GR8 power, but they have very poor penetration. (Unless you use very special sabot AP ammo, which I do not believe is commercially available.) So military rifles with "special" AP rounds will work. It has been suggested that predators would just stand off at long range and use their DEW. I don't think so. I don't recall its use in the second movie (I've only seen that one once) but in the first movie the weapon is clearly some kind of "particle" weapon (plasma gun?) that is sub-sonic; it will have a lower effective range than modern rifles. Finally, if we assume that the predators shown in the first 2 movies are hunters, that does not automatically mean their weapons are not state of the art. Until WWII, human soldiers' personal weapons were not better than hunters' weapons. Of course the "colonial marines" from Aliens are better armed than modern day infantry.

Well, the "I loves me some xenomorphs" thread has gotten interest in predators, so let's start a thread for that! Now, we don't have any information on whether the predators have organized military units, and if they do what their organization and weaponry is. But assuming that they do not (which I agree is a VERY iffy proposition) I think that a (properly trained) unit of modern soldiers would have a very good chance against an equal number of predators, even if the predators acted as a team, provided that the soldiers had sensors that could reliably detect and target the predators, and the predators weaponry is no better than what was shown in the movies.

Re: I love me some xenomorphs!

Re: I love me some xenomorphs! I agree with most of this. But a predator PETA gives me a headache.

Re: I love me some xenomorphs!

Re: I love me some xenomorphs! Sure we do!