Honor duels, and why it is pointless to bother.

[Renomaki]

Hey, anyone had an honor duel lately? No?

Not much of a surprise there. It is a rare thing indeed. So often when predators are in play, the idea of a duel never comes to mind (at least in my experiences so far). Of course, it is pretty easy to understand why.

For one, there is the logic of the situation. If a predator walks up to a marine and is all "Yo bro wanna 1v1 me?", the marine's first thought is probably going to be "KILL KILL KILL!" because a magical alien man with a big-ass sword and cloaking tech just appeared outta no-where. Bonus points if fellow hunters ended up scaring the marines previously, resulting in all marines going into KIll on Sight mode. And you know what? This is perfectly logical for a human marine.

See, humans don't understand fuckall about predator honor code and the concept of duels. They are marines: They eat, sleep, shit, shit, shoot, shit again, and breathe America [fuck yeah]. Nothing in their training prepared them for the idea of dueling tall alien humanoids that stalk them from the darkness and watch their every move, let alone one that has previously ripped their friends apart.

Moreso, when you think about it, it would be pretty meta for a marine to understand what a predator duel is. As I said before, it is perfectly IC for them to shoot strange alien people that spook them, or at the very least just stare at them in awe (before someone decides to shoot at it and get everyone in trouble).

But now I hear you going "well, why not just kidnap them and drag them to a remote place to fight?" Well, that is easier said than done. Not only will you have to struggle to nab someone without the marines chasing you down every step of the way, but the moment you finally have them where you want them... How do you even communicate in the first place?

The communication device is infamous for how awful it is as translating what you say. Sure, with a little creativity you might be able to make out some words here and there, but most of the time it is like speaking Spanish to a Japanese person. It almost seems pointless to even bother talking to humans with it, let alone xenos (although why you'd want to talk to them is beyond me). Explaining that you want to duel the person in question would be a hassle (unless they just metaassume, but then that wouldn't be good RP now, would it?).

So, marines are trigger happy and difficult to isolate, and attempts to communicate your intent is just as difficult and no doubt results in a lot of misunderstandings. What about fellow predators then? It is IC for predators to duel one another, right?

Oh wait, the majority of predators are very friendly to one another, so the chance of that happening is nada.

So... yeah...

While a lot of people applying for pred harp on about how they are going to duel as many marines as possible, I don't think they realize just how hard it is TO duel people, let alone fellow preds. And in all my time as a pred so far, I haven't bore witness to a single duel of honor. Just predators engaging in the hunt or having a full-scale battle with marines here and there. But no small duels.

Thoughts?

[doodeeda]

My predator doesn't really like Xur's so I can duel him ^^

I guess duels should happen like they do in the original movie with Arnold. It could happen naturally if you have an outstanding marine being your enemy and fighting you over a period of time..and you wanna make the final battle interesting. There are some marines that make themselves open to that by being aggressive to predators.

[Boltersam]

Look, I think it's about time that we stop trying to make every engagement a duel. We need to practise actually HUNTING our prey, picking them out and stalking them, engaging them a few times before finally killing them. Personally, I dislike hunting, because I know that no matter how much I stealthily stalk someone, they probably won't see it, so when I emerge from the shadows to violently impale them, they'll cry grief.

However, it's not really as if hunting is consensual for them. We should pick someone and start hunting them, maybe making spooky sounds, but duelling is probably going to be reserved for other preds. Now, I know that we're good at picking Xenos to hunt. After all, it's easy to judge their strength by caste and upgrade level, but Marines are sport. The equivalent to deer. They don't need to be physically strong, they just need to pass the time while we wait for the Serpents to be strong enough to hunt. In fact, hunting Marines might actually be more honourable than dueling, because they're strongest when using their ranged weapons.

EDIT: Yeah, Xenos are difficult to hunt because they're filthy cowards. What I meant was that judging their strength is easy.

[ShortTemperedLeprechaun]

Reno said it very well, I think. But on bolters thing about hunting xeno's, I've found that difficult in as of itself, as they'll either run away as soon as you show up, even if it's an ancient hunter (happened once to me), try to play cuddly pet, or just swarm and tackle spam. We're surprisingly not really meant for the CQC with xenos, as we have no way to stop them tackles.

As for honor dueling other preds, you just have to find your anti-thesis. Ghan is a berserker and isn't as bright as the others, but respects honor more than anything. I know bolters is a little arrogant (he has the rights to that, robust shit), and likes power. Etc etc. Just about finding who you'd hate.

[doodeeda]

There's no precedent for dueling another predator and killing them in the game unless I'm mistaken.. Did some admin do an event or something that I missed?

[ShortTemperedLeprechaun]

There's no precedent for dueling another predator and killing them in the game unless I'm mistaken.. Did some admin do an event or something that I missed?

Well I mean no. What I meant is, it's good to have a reason or a beef with another pred though. I'd think it's a little strange to go "Yo, morning, wanna fight to the death lol?"

[doodeeda]

But it won't matter if we have a reason because it's never been done before. Are we even sure it's allowed or something we want done? I thought it'd be reserved for events.

[ShortTemperedLeprechaun]

But it won't matter if we have a reason because it's never been done before. Are we even sure it's allowed or something we want done? I thought it'd be reserved for events.

Honor duels are reserved for honor (More or less). If a fellow hunter accidently kills your game, you can take offense to this and start a fight. Fellow hunter blows you up? Can take offense to this. I know for a FACT, that sarah_U once caught off apops leg with the war scythe in a duel. I'll get her input.

[Renomaki]

As the rules themselves state:

Honor Duels: Predators, may challenge either other predators or prey (mostly humans) they deem worthy to "honor duels".

So yes, if a predator does something that seriously offends another predator, a duel between them can happen. However, due to the nature of the whitelist and how often predators are mostly friendly with one another, this is a rare thing.

Most predator deaths are more due to marine or xeno swarms more than anything, deaths in duels are rare. 1 on 1, a predator can win most fights unless his rival is another predator. In that case, it is a fair fight, but a needless fight considering how predators often have to look out for one another in order to survive the hellhole that is whatever hunting ground they are on.

[Sarah_U.]

*Cough* Apop offended me IC saying I couldn't handle a young runner when I was trying not to kill the prey due to various reasons. So after deciding it was too great an offence, I honor duel'd him to show that I had enough skill to kill it and I just didn't bother.

In the end, I made Apop's pred a cripple (Elder) and we both fought the hive, him in a wheelchair and me with my totally healthy body.

Honor duels are nice, especially when there's a deeper RP reasons behind.

[Biolock]

I have zero problems both hunting prey and getting them involved in duels. The trick is to wait until one strays from the pack.

[doodeeda]

Yesterday, I dueled a ravager. Yes, other aliens got involved but the ravager was nice and told them to stop and go away. Just depends if you meet the right players or not! I'm guessing it's the same with marines.

[Snypehunter007]

Yesterday, I dueled a ravager. Yes, other aliens got involved but the ravager was nice and told them to stop and go away. Just depends if you meet the right players or not! I'm guessing it's the same with marines.

I know I'm a non-predator but to quote Feweh and Apop, "Xenos have no concept of honor, they can't engage in a honor duel."

[doodeeda]

Yeah that's why I didn't put honor duel. But it was practically the same. Good sport that player was.

[Biolock]

A xeno could potentially participate in an honor duel if it's the will of the queen. Risk losing an elite hunter in the headhunter's game to secure the safety of the hive.

... but fuk dat Imma get meh gank on.