Lore Reasons for Xeno Explosion Immunity

[ty55101]

So while there was a discussion about the balance and in game aspects of the T3s and some others resistance to explosion stuns, there was not very much lore discussion. I have seen people comment that it makes no sense and I would like to clarify how it makes no sense for any xeno in the first place to have stuns from explosions.

So first off, why do explosions stun in the first place? Explosions stun humans because we are squishy. It creates ripples through our flesh and those ripples tear the flesh, damaging it. I am referring to high explosive and not fragmentation because that is what this server uses. So a way to think about this is that: our skin is like jello, and if you shake the jello to where it moves then it is going to rip. Except an explosion creates very violent and short waves so it isn't going to cause our skin to get a big tear.

So then, why wouldn't xeno be affected by it? Well the two major theories about xenomorph flesh is that it is either chitin like or it is going to be similar to iron chloride. Both of these are very solid and are not that flexible. So the skin of xeno is hard enough that a force of an explosion is only going to damage the skin because the force is not going to be able to travel like it does in soft flesh. Imagine taking a piece of solid rust and hitting it with a hammer. It is only going to damage the side you hit it and not go through to the other unless it is a crack going through it.

So it damages both in different ways. What makes it stun humans and not xeno? So what makes it damage humans is it ripples through the flesh and puts pressure on the myelin sheaths of the nerves that travel through the body. Momentarily causing an extreme amount of pain. For xeno, even if their nuerological system is similar to ours, their exoskeleton or skin blocks the force before it can ever get to the soft material inside of the body.

That is my reasoning for why it is fine that xeno be immune to stun and the only reason all xeno shouldn't be immune to stun is balance.

[Crab_Spider]

Hm. I like your analysis. There aren't many scans on explosions on the heavy hitters, but when they're killed by explosions, it's usually that of a nuclear bomb or explosion that's larger than a building (research facility). HOWEVER!!!!!!!

In Aliens: Civil War, when the safety bubble was being overwhelmed by the warring Hives, the Marines came up with a solution to lob several grenades to hold off the approaching Warriors. This actually doesn't add to the argument or refute it, the grenades on an individual had a 3 meter blast radius, the Warriors ranged from the typical 7 feet to the occasional 9 feet,!I think... There were no Praetorians or even Palatines (which are 50+ feet btw, making this point entirely moot)

[shyshadow]

Did you just say that it only gets damaged by shrapnel and only by the actual explosion to a small extent and the reason lore why is they're immune to explosions so based on their chitin like skin. Which is only some what durable considering a knife can easily cut through it, well my good man. When applying a very strong force, or newtons onto a being that creatures a lot of stress on the actual being itself. So if I apply let's say 5000 Newtons onto a plain Xenomorph, and it's right next to said newton. The creature was moving at 200 newtons in the opposite direction, all of those newtons will be applied onto said creature. And then it will apply an X amount of Gs based on amount of newtons. When you apply an ASS TON OF PRESSURE ONTO A CREATURE, what happens to it? It fucking breaks and gets damage and hurt.

[ty55101]

~snip~

Yes it gets damaged, I never argued against that. The whole argument is how it gets damaged. With humans the explosions shocks the entire body with not that much on the bare skin. With xeno it is mostly on the skin and not as much on the body.

A xeno should get the same amount of damage from an explosion that a marine gets and that is fine, but the actual shock from the explosion that causes humans to be stunned shouldn't affect xeno.

[Crab_Spider]

Did you just say that it only gets damaged by shrapnel and only by the actual explosion to a small extent and the reason lore why is they're immune to explosions so based on their chitin like skin. Which is only some what durable considering a knife can easily cut through it, well my good man. When applying a very strong force, or newtons onto a being that creatures a lot of stress on the actual being itself. So if I apply let's say 5000 Newtons onto a plain Xenomorph, and it's right next to said newton. The creature was moving at 200 newtons in the opposite direction, all of those newtons will be applied onto said creature. And then it will apply an X amount of Gs based on amount of newtons. When you apply an ASS TON OF PRESSURE ONTO A CREATURE, what happens to it? It fucking breaks and gets damage and hurt.

He's referring to the T3s. Also; newtons are a unit of force, moving at "200 newtons" would be somewhat impossible as there's no impact to measure it. Use speed/velocity.

[shyshadow]

He's referring to the T3s. Also; newtons are a unit of force, moving at "200 newtons" would be somewhat impossible as there's no impact to measure it. Use speed/velocity.

Oh right, well let's say it was pushed in the opposite direction for no reason because I'm too lazy to change it.

[alekfenrir]

Each blast would have to be looked at as for what it is:

If it was a big HE charge, you have raw force of the blast wave. And while Ayy's don't have organs, they can still be physically crushed by this (structures and vehicles are known to crumple and fold under this kind of pressure) and even an Ayy being tossed back to the ground abruptly might need a second to shake it off.

Then there's the heat, every explosion is just something burning -really- fast and trying to expand the gasses and energy into the area, since energy turns into heat and light when it has nowhere else to go, things can get fried if they're close enough.

Then there's anything they pick up along the way, rocks, small objects, cinderblocks etc, and are accelerated to very lethal speeds. So anything around a blast that’s loose gets picked up and tossed, often quite dangerously into the surrounding area. Its the same principal a frag grenade works on, it just brings its own stuff to throw around.

And that’s just an HE charge. Doesn't even have to be a big one to be scary, and while Ayy's aren't squishy, they can have this surfaces cracked and shattered by pressure and things thrown at them quite quickly. I'd say that’s all stun worthy.

[Heckenshutze]

Xenos are capable to keep running at full speed while being torn by normal bullets so I don't think they should get stunned by the explosion shockwave etc.. but saying that, xenos and humans are the same in one thing: Bullets and explosions can cripple them. So I wouldn't complain if we exchange the stun inmunity for more damage taken by explosions. Both human and xeno because I'm also aware that a marine can survive a sadar shot to the head.

[alekfenrir]

Bullets are basically having small lines drawn through you. There's actually very little kinetic impact when someone is shot, it's the amount of velocity times the mass of the projectile, which gives you the force applied to a very small area. Bullets stop humans because it pierces into or through us, fucks up organs on the way by, and then lets us drain vital fluids out onto the ground. We go into shock as a body life saving measure afterwards. Being shot isn't comparable, in general, to being in the forefront of an explosion.

Explosions are very very different, they may incorporate rocks, purpose made projectiles in the case of a claymore or grenades, and stuff thrown around like bullets, but that’s not at all the full effect of what’s going on when something blows up. Heck, normal everyday people can be shot and still keep moving. Depending on what’s happening sometimes they don’t even notice right away.