I say we dust off and nuke the site from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.

[SpanishBirdman]

Well that went well. 35 marines dead, 8 wounded and we had to pull everyone off the planet. This mission is fucked, the creatures only seem to get stronger over time and we are only getting weaker. The good news is that they can't follow us up here to the Sulaco (right?) but I have no intention of sending more marines down there to die. Time to leave, let Welyand send their own guys to clean this colony up if they want it so bad. Oh right, we can't leave. Why is that again? Guess we'll have to launch the escape pods and abandon this multi billion dollar ship if we want to call it a day on this mission. Too bad they take 23 minutes to launch, this is what happens when you use the cheapest contractor. *sighs* Oh well, guess we'll just wait around here for 20 minutes, unless we get killed first.

The escape pods are really weird from an RP perspective. The kind of problems you usually need escape pods for don't generally give you 20 spare minutes to gas up, and sometimes pod fueling starts before the Sulaco even gets boarded. Abandoning a fully functional ship prior to being boarded doesn't make sense no matter how many casualties you've taken. These oddities get hand waved away for gameplay reasons, but it doesn't have to be like that.

Summary (a quick, 2-3 sentence summary):
What if instead, command could use the communication console to break orbit and leave, sending a nuke back towards the planet as a parting gift? Like abandoning ship, this action would require admin approval, so alien players about to get pissed off about marines being able to wipe the aliens out whenever they like needn't fear. Breaking orbit would take 20 minutes, after which all life on the planet would be wiped out. Aliens would receive the boosts they currently do, but there would be a greater sense of urgency to Sulaco attacks. "But SpanMan!" I hear you scream, froth flying from your mouth, "what about the escape pods?". Well first of all calm down, second the pods will still be used in this system. They would be manually activated from the bridge during boarding. The pods can ONLY be launched when there are as many or more aliens than active marines on the Sulaco. Pods would become irrelevant to victory conditions, marines escaping would do it solely for their own sake. The Queen can disable the nuclear launch if she makes it to the bridge in time.

Benefits (How this will benefit the server and game as a whole):
1. This fills in a couple plot holes commonly found in rounds where marines lose, such as "why doesn't the ship leave?", "why do escape pods take 23 minutes to work?" and "why is the Sulaco being evacuated despite not having been boarded yet?"
2. Speeds up late game by forcing the aliens to completely commit to the Sulaco attack. The hive spawning back into braindead larvae after a failed attack and the marines having to sweep the caves for the T1s lurking there, which is boring for everyone, is eliminated. Survivors in hidey holes on the planet delaying round end is also no longer an issue.
3. Escape pods work like they actually would, and at least one member of the bridge crew has to go down with the ship to save their comrades. This heroic redeeming sacrifice would add some great RP moments to evac.
4. Fortifying escape pods, which is also very weird, is no longer a thing.
5. Aliens can win a major victory even if the Sulaco is evacuated, as a space ship full of aliens is now on route to Earth.
6. Marines now have a reason to say the title of this post, which is one of the best quotes in all of Aliens. It also fits lore, since the movie marines considered this as a solution.
7. The nuke in the armoury can be removed, ending no small amount of confusion in new command staff.

Details (Description of how you think this would work, the benefits, etc):
The communication console has the option to "Break orbit and deploy atomic warhead". Selecting this option in the early game will result in the message "USCMC High Command authorization needed to abort mission". High Command takes information directly from MOTHER scans, and if they are not sure that retaking the planet is completely impossible they should not authorize. If High Command DOES authorize mission abort and the console option is selected, the marines will receive an announcement stating "Priming engines for exit trajectory. Brace for acceleration. Arming 200KT atomic payload. The Sulaco will reach minimum safe distance in 20 minutes." Actual acceleration, knocking down marines on the ship, is optional.

At this time, Aliens will receive a message as well over hivemind. This message will say "The new star that arrived with the hosts flashes brighter again. They are escaping!"

20 minutes later, the planet will be nuked. Once this happens, if the aliens kill all marines on the Sulaco (excluding escape pods). They will win an:
ALIEN MAJOR VICTORY!
The colony has been destroyed, but the hive is now on its way to Earth!

If the marines kill all the aliens on the Sulaco they will win a:
MARINE MINOR VICTORY!
The infestation has been destroyed, but so has Weyland-Yutani's investment!

Escape pods will not be able to be launched unless there are as many aliens on the Sulaco as there are active humans. This number is not solid, since 1.5 marines for every alien is still a bad day to be human. In any case, once the number is reached the command staff can launch the pods from the bridge consoles. MOTHER will announce "Critical crew lifesigns detected. Escape pods armed, bridge launch controls active. All hands abandon ship. All hands abandon ship.". Each pod is launched individually. The pods will make the liftoff sound and a 10 second warning will be issued before launch. Anyone on launched pods will be counted as dead for victory conditions. I've considered also having a card reader on each pod to allow command staff who are cowards or Bill Carson to flee themselves, but I personally like the idea of having to defend the bridge to evac more.

Anticipated Alien salt:
--Obligatory disclaimer that I play alien a lot--
This is not a nerf for Xenos. while it can end the round if they fail their assault, it also gives them a chance to win a major victory even if the pods launch. In fact, i'd call going on a road trip to Earth more of a victory than just killing everyone. This option will only be available to marines who have NO CHANCE of taking the planet, and it encourages wimpy queens to attack much more than evac does.

UPDATE: Shuttles
When the nuke goes off, it will destroy any shuttles on the surface of the planet and knock any shuttles out of orbit, sending them crashing into the ground. Escape pods are fortunately safe as they are launched on an exit trajectory from the system. Gameplay wise this means that when the nuke goes off both shuttles are locked into the Z layer they currently occupy. If that Z layer is not the Sulaco, everyone on the shuttle dies. The shuttle consoles no longer allow launch, and any launch in progress at the time is halted. The consoles will give error messages as follows, depending on where the shuttle is:

RADIATION WARNING: Drop site is saturated in lethal levels of radiation. Safety lockout engaged.

or

Transport signal not found, remote launch unavailable

UPDATE 2: The CL Pod
WY took the time to build the ship with an escape pod specifically for their toady, launching it from the bridge somewhat defeats the purpose. The CL pod in this suggestion would have a card reader in it that ONLY accepts a card found in the CLs safe at round start. Once this card is entered, the pod will launch. The bridge is totally uninvolved in this process. Unlike the other pods, This pod will not give a public 10 second warning, only those in the pod will be able to hear it. This creates even more RP and gameplay opportunities for players, such as:

Breaking into the CLs office to try and crack the safe and escape
Engineers welding the pod shut by order of a suspicious CO, and the CL having to find a way to get it open before evac.
Marines trying to buy spots on the pod.
The CL evacuating the station with as many xeno samples, cash, and antag objectives as he can get his grubby little hands on.
CL pod is kill

[ShortTemperedLeprechaun]

As someone who plays both teams, I like this. It's well thought out, fills in plot holes, and seems pretty damn fun honestly.

[1138]

This is a good suggestion in relation to the emergency shuttle protocol. If I might make a couple suggestions, some above already mentioned just to narrow this down easier:

- Make the entire Sulaco the emergency shuttle. Once the countdown is authorized (either by a mod or an admin), the Sulaco will prepare to jump and also glass the colony with a really big bomb. This will urge the xeno force to get off the planet as the hive will be informed via premonition that their hive is gonna be BTFO and the humans are escaping, then they will jump ship to the Sulaco and then take it over in order to survive.
- Repurpose the pods to be evacuation escape pods. They're not used under normal circumstances, but they're usable once the countdown finishes and the evacuation of the Sulaco is required. They won't be able to house many people individually, so command staff and civilians would be able to use them, but chances are that the marines would not. The evac pods can be armed manually (or by the bridge, in case someone wants to be sneaky and perform a sabotage via pre-mature pod launching) once the Sulaco prepares for a jump.
- As mentioned, every living mob on the colony should die if it gets caught by the surface glassing.

It'd be pretty interesting and it'd mix the meta up a little bit.

[Whistle]

+1
Adds so much more to the game and will allow the nuke to be used.

Food for thought.

Posted a suggestion about the re implementation of the Empress for a more aggressive queen lead which could be spawned forth with the knowledge her children were in imminent danger.
This can be explained by warning messages and/or sirens (HG sirens) being sounded within the colony.

Regardless, great idea.

[Edgelord]

I like this a lot. But I'm neutral on the whole "nuking the site from orbit" bit because Weyland-Yutani owns that shit and it might not go over too well.

Overall +1 though

[SpanishBirdman]

I like this a lot. But I'm neutral on the whole "nuking the site from orbit" bit because Weyland-Yutani owns that shit and it might not go over too well.

Overall +1 though

Oh snap I got your 555th post. CHECK MY TRIPS. WY can also be part of the decision process, it takes place offscreen so the commander can get a fax saying "WY offworld development and the USCMC high command have jointly approved your request."

[Rey]

I really hope this makes it in, it's well thought out and would add a lot more interesting scenarios.
+1

[forwardslashN]

+1
This is a pretty thought out suggestion. I'd be interested in this.

[Varnock]

I love everything about this, and it was very well made. I'll +1 this over our current nuke system all day every day, ESPECIALLY for that sweet go down with the ship rp.

[Sarah_U.]

What about getting the OB from the SUlaco actually simply fire continuous orbital barrage on the planet as a PLAN A option and then having THIS for PLAN B? That way aliens get to hurry onboard due to the impending devestation and damage to the colony (Risky to stay) and if they survive the orbital bombardments the marines will have a cleanup chance so that they have less reasons to hold onto teh SULACO.

Just some thoughts, otherwise I do believe getting engines and a nuke is a relatively fine idea, even more if admin approval is given / required over it. +1-ish

(I know about lag, but I only have it as a suggestion if it's do-able without screwing over the whole server)

[Minijar]

While it all makes perfect sense. It's one thing for an alien to somehow use a drop ship. But it's another to disarm a fucking nuclear device.

[SpanishBirdman]

While it all makes perfect sense. It's one thing for an alien to somehow use a drop ship. But it's another to disarm a fucking nuclear device.

That part isn't all that necessary, actually. The Queen not being able to disarm it still leads to the same effect. If the aliens take the ship they win, if they don't they lose. I'll strike it.

[SpanishBirdman]

Just some thoughts, otherwise I do believe getting engines and a nuke is a relatively fine idea, even more if admin approval is given / required over it. +1-ish

It's the same amount of approval, you can't abandon ship without admin approval currently.

[Killaninja12]

+1
I honestly really like this idea, it definitely would be interesting to see how rounds later game would turn out now. It is odd that the escape pods take around 20 minutes to prime, and getting the round past the painful time that is the sit between the Marines and Aliens would definitely be lovely. Either way, I do think that this suggestion is well thought out and deserves to be considered.

[Egorkor]

hell, I like it a lot. the guardsman approves, +1.

[Fritigern]

+1 Makes a lot more sense and would spice up gameplay a great deal.

Adding onto it, it'd be nice if there were more ways to end the round in general. Some examples could be having marines escourt the nuclear bomb from the armoury to the planets surface and defending it for a pyrrhic victory. Taking canisters of nerve gas to the prison station's atmospheric chamber to circulate it in the air. Having a geothermal powerplant (or perhaps the engine core of the crashed alien ship?) under the ice colony that needs an engineer to solve a randomized puzzle to start a self destruct.

Just some thoughts.

[Artouris]

+1 I do like it.

Although there's the small issue of having the whole thing authorized because there are rounds when there are no admins or mods on. Unless you want to do the call transfer vote but if there are no mins or mods on and its like two minutes into the round it can happen. Although its not that much of a major issue. Something for when there are no mods or mins should be put in so it can still happen, but make sure one cannot do it five minutes into the round.

Perhaps add a limit to the timer so it has to be 30+ to be able to call that vote with some kind of thing to check how many humans vs how many xenos there are.

[forwardslashN]

While it all makes perfect sense. It's one thing for an alien to somehow use a drop ship. But it's another to disarm a fucking nuclear device.

CUT THE GREEN WIRE
I DON'T KNOW WHAT GREEN IS
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[Tristan63]

Make the pods deal 40 brute damage (possible broken bonez and limbs) when they crash land into the planet. Also add cryo tubes in them, as of now the EEV system we have is bad

Otherwise YOUR A GENIUS

+1

[Heckenshutze]

I like this a lot. But I'm neutral on the whole "nuking the site from orbit" bit because Weyland-Yutani owns that shit and it might not go over too well.

Overall +1 though

Gives the CL a reason to exist.

+1

[Edgelord]

I'm imagining a CL going on an undercover mission taking out Sulaco staff to disrupt the launch sequence

[RhMoore]

I love this, less plot holes, more RP sequences, CL involvement, quotes, and going down with the ship.
+1

[RoswellRay]

+1 Can't wait to defend the bridge valiantly so commander Carson has time to eject.

[Joe4444]

question....can we also put Carson in the Nuke launcher?

[SpanishBirdman]

question....can we also put Carson in the Nuke launcher?

He probably won't fit in the tube, but that's no reason not to try!