11 Minute Look at ALIENS: Colonial Marines - E3 2011

[Hudson]

I don't really think this is spoilerish at all honestly.

And, on salvaging the Sulaco...doesn't WY basically own it anyway? If the Patna is a conestoga class ship possessed by WY it's probably because they built it which would go to say they built the Sulaco and I'd think it'd be theirs anyway.

And yeah...taking it back to LV426...what?

This game's going to have a weird story, pure and simple.

[Hieronymus]

We don't know much about the Patna.  It may not have dedicated biological research facilities.  If so, the scraps that were retrieved from Fiorina 161 - bits of exploded alien; Ripley's blood samples; the facehugger if they find it, and maybe even the body of the dog or ox - would all have to be shipped to such a facility post-haste.  Meanwhile, WY is still itching to check out LV-426.  If they've already boarded the Sulaco looking for more samples, there's no reason not to commandeer it to go back to LV-426 while the Patna ships the samples back to a laboratory.

But that's all post-hoc justification, of course.

[Hudson]

But obviously they have a ship already...why would you bring the Sulaco with you instead of just sending it back to be refitted at "home base?"

[deezelboy]

And, on salvaging the Sulaco...doesn't WY basically own it anyway? If the Patna is a conestoga class ship possessed by WY it's probably because they built it which would go to say they built the Sulaco and I'd think it'd be theirs anyway.

Call me old fashioned, but I'm rather of the opinion that the purchasing of products denotes ownership rather than their production.

I can imagine people being pretty pissed off to find that their car they parked an hour ago is now gone because an employee of the car's manufacturers saw it and decided it was theirs!

If they've already boarded the Sulaco looking for more samples, there's no reason not to commandeer it to go back to LV-426 while the Patna ships the samples back to a laboratory.

You don't think that stealing a warship bristling with nukes from one of your more militarily-inclined customers might raise far more problems than it might solve?

[Hieronymus]

We don't really know how ownership of those ships works.  The Company already knows everything that happens aboard them, which suggests a pretty unusual relationship between WY and USCMC.

[deezelboy]

The Company knows everything that happens aboard the Sulaco, which was carrying ECA and WY representatives. It might be that this is a normal arrangement allowing data to be shared between USCM, ECA and WY when the USCM intervenes in US property administrated by the ECA and WY, as was the case with Hadley's Hope. Which is my best interpretation of that surprise admission by Bishop in Alien 3!

But WY having ownership of the Sulaco? I just can't see how that works for the USCM, given that it completely limits their ability to act independently, which I'd view as being paramount to advance and protect a county's national interests through the use of military force.

Hicks' plan about nuking the AP from orbit? Possibly not going to happen, given that WY wouldn't want to lose a multi-billion dollar investment and they want the Aliens. If WY have ownership and control of the Sulaco they can nix that option.

And God only knows what happens when the US gets into a shooting match with another side that WY has interests in as well. I can't see launching USCM warships which have been designed not to have any kind of crew as going down at all well for the US if WY has ownership of the ships. They kinda get to pick and choose the winner there...

[Hudson]

Maybe it's more of a dystopian future than we're allowed to know.