What ground forces can Signs Aliens potentially beat?

[Agent23]

Ok, we have ridiculed and mocked them for decades, now, but maybe there is something out there that can make the battered and bruised signs aliens look good by comparison.

This will be limited to light arms only, no tanks or crew served weapons.


The terrain is that of the Signs movie.

Assume equal force sizes.

 

[Bear Ribs]

They could likely beat an equal number of DnD goblin or kobold warriors. Assuming no magic support they might even be able to take on hobgoblins and orcs.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Signs Alien took repeated blows to the noggin from a baseball player with a professional level slugging ability. So better get to chopping instead of bashing.

 

[Bear Ribs]

Good point, that probably means orcs are on the table then. Could they take on Klingons or Wookies who don't have ranged weapons and have to rely on Bat'leths and Ryyk Blades?

 

[Agent23]

What no SPENGO or Movie SST?

 

[Bear Ribs]

What no SPENGO or Movie SST?

Both have some decent ranged weaponry so they'll chew up the Signs Aliens before they get into convenient grabbing range.

Actually, the Spengo have some staggeringly advanced technology, it's just that they're so stupid they can't leverage it. Sadly the Signs Aliens also lack the kind of cunning and linguistic skills that would make them think to write "Pick me up" on a device that will kill whoever picks it up. Given a mission where their only instruction needs to be "Shoot everything that looks like a Signs Alien" they're likely to manage to pull it off.

How about the US Military from the Battle of Yonkers in WWZ? They did lose to shuffler zombies rather easily and Signs Aliens are at least superior to those.

 

[bintananth]

Considering that a group of kindergarteners with squirt guns and water balloons all thinking it's just a game are a serious threat to Signs Aliens I highly doubt any somewhat organized group of adults with even the slightest bit of intelligence will ever lose to the Signs Aliens without the scenario being a contrived almost-automatic guaranteed "I win" for the Signs Aliens.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Considering that a group of kindergarteners with squirt guns and water balloons all thinking it's just a game are a serious threat to Signs Aliens I highly doubt any somewhat organized group of adults with even the slightest bit of intelligence will ever lose to the Signs Aliens without the scenario being a contrived almost-automatic guaranteed "I win" for the Signs Aliens.

The OP doesn't imply full knowledge of the Signs Aliens overbearing weakness.

 

[Husky_Khan]

How about the US Military from the Battle of Yonkers in WWZ? They did lose to shuffler zombies rather easily and Signs Aliens are at least superior to those.

The OP stated even numbers. The US Military in the novel Battle of Yonkers was likely significantly outnumbered by the zombies. Keeping in mind their density (in spite of how 'realistic' it was) of numbers was somehow muffling the impact of artillery rounds and MLRS rockets and even thermobaric bombs and the like. Even with the weird physiology of the Solanum? virus zombies which made them resistant to overpressure, way more zombies were being blasted apart then there were troops present. The guy they interviewed about the Battle was saying as much IIRC. Plus I mean there's still no way the Signs Aliens can take out a Bradley or Abrams tank or the Apache Gunships etc etc that were present there. Those vehicles that weren't abandoned or whatever I guess were able to drive off.

 

[Scooby Doo]

A Chapter of armorless Spacemarines that are both unarmed and paralyzed from the neck down.


It'd be a tough fight, with many dying from spit.

 

[Husky_Khan]

A Chapter of armorless Spacemarines that are both unarmed and paralyzed from the neck down.


It'd be a tough fight, with many dying from spit.

I keep forgetting about the Space Marines being able to spit acid (literally speaking). 40Kers have done them a real disservice by not bringing it up more often.

 

[Scooby Doo]

I keep forgetting about the Space Marines being able to spit acid (literally speaking). 40Kers have done them a real disservice by not bringing it up more often.

Yeah it's really fun to do matches where they're nerfed and have to rely on acid spit to beat something that would normally not be a threat to them.

 

[bintananth]

The OP doesn't imply full knowledge of the Signs Aliens overbearing weakness.

Note "the slightest bit of intelligence" part of what you replied to.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Note "the slightest bit of intelligence" part of what you replied to.

I did note that. It's not relevant to the OP unless it's been modified that it takes place on a lake or during a rain squall to make it eminently obvious. Most of the film took place in rural land areas. There was only one scene with a lake and there's no reason to assume that the similar foreshadowing that took place in the film would take place in the OP.

 

[Bear Ribs]

The OP stated even numbers. The US Military in the novel Battle of Yonkers was likely significantly outnumbered by the zombies. Keeping in mind their density (in spite of how 'realistic' it was) of numbers was somehow muffling the impact of artillery rounds and MLRS rockets and even thermobaric bombs and the like. Even with the weird physiology of the Solanum? virus zombies which made them resistant to overpressure, way more zombies were being blasted apart then there were troops present. The guy they interviewed about the Battle was saying as much IIRC. Plus I mean there's still no way the Signs Aliens can take out a Bradley or Abrams tank or the Apache Gunships etc etc that were present there. Those vehicles that weren't abandoned or whatever I guess were able to drive off.

The OP specifies light arms only, the Battle of Yonkers military won't have any Abrams or Apaches.

Even ignoring the zombie's weird physiology the Battle of Yonkers included some extreme stupidity from their military, such as not bothering to clear the area leading to zombies in houses they never checked swarming their back lines, and bringing less ammo than there were zombies and then getting a surprised Pikachu face when they ran out of bullets. Assuming they do the same here they're going to have to beat the Signs Aliens in hand-to-hand when they run out of ammo, and may be taken by surprise when they walk past Signs Aliens instead of looking to see if any are in the house they're fortifying first.

 

[Husky_Khan]

The OP specifies light arms only, the Battle of Yonkers military won't have any Abrams or Apaches.

Even ignoring the zombie's weird physiology the Battle of Yonkers included some extreme stupidity from their military, such as not bothering to clear the area leading to zombies in houses they never checked swarming their back lines, and bringing less ammo than there were zombies and then getting a surprised Pikachu face when they ran out of bullets. Assuming they do the same here they're going to have to beat the Signs Aliens in hand-to-hand when they run out of ammo, and may be taken by surprise when they walk past Signs Aliens instead of looking to see if any are in the house they're fortifying first.

The brainbug of zombies overcoming the US military is a common trope but I don't see it somehow delivering odds of an even number of Signs Aliens overtaking the US military. They still have assault rifles and machine guns and grenades. Guns used by the military were repeatedly shown to be effective against the Zombies even in the Battle of Yonkers and the plot induced stupidity wasn't an inability to shoot straight. It's even numbers in a rural environment. There's no significant amount of houses to fail to check after fortifying or surburban "in fill" to be plagued by.

Plus the OP didn't specify "fortifying" for one side or the other. The zombies in Yonkers, from the only anecdote I can recall were barricaded up in a closet or room in one of the buildings while the Signs aliens in the movie were, as amusingly pointed out by the Preacher, had trouble with pantry doors with some furniture stacked in front of them. Intentionally barricading themselves inside of structures and lying in ambush for the enemy wasn't even a behavior exhibited by the Signs aliens IIRC.

 

[Bear Ribs]

The brainbug of zombies overcoming the US military is a common trope but I don't see it somehow delivering odds of an even number of Signs Aliens overtaking the US military. They still have assault rifles and machine guns and grenades. Guns used by the military were repeatedly shown to be effective against the Zombies even in the Battle of Yonkers and the plot induced stupidity wasn't an inability to shoot straight. It's even numbers in a rural environment. There's no significant amount of houses to fail to check after fortifying or surburban "in fill" to be plagued by.

Plus the OP didn't specify "fortifying" for one side or the other. The zombies in Yonkers, from the only anecdote I can recall were barricaded up in a closet or room in one of the buildings while the Signs aliens in the movie were, as amusingly pointed out by the Preacher, had trouble with pantry doors with some furniture stacked in front of them. Intentionally barricading themselves inside of structures and lying in ambush for the enemy wasn't even a behavior exhibited by the Signs aliens IIRC.

I meant team Yonkers fortifying a house only to discover there were already signs aliens inside, as happened to them against zombies, and/or not bothering to check if there were any signs aliens behind them when they start trying to entrench themselves, which again happened to them at Yonkers.

And yeah, the PIS wasn't an inability to shoot straight, it was an inability to shoot at all due to not bringing as many bullets as they had enemies. Assuming the same canon PIS happens they'll inflict significant casualties on the Signs Aliens and then run out of bullets and be reduced to hacking at them with knives and trying to hit them with shovels.

 

[Husky_Khan]

I meant team Yonkers fortifying a house only to discover there were already signs aliens inside, as happened to them against zombies, and/or not bothering to check if there were any signs aliens behind them when they start trying to entrench themselves, which again happened to them at Yonkers.

And yeah, the PIS wasn't an inability to shoot straight, it was an inability to shoot at all due to not bringing as many bullets as they had enemies. Assuming the same canon PIS happens they'll inflict significant casualties on the Signs Aliens and then run out of bullets and be reduced to hacking at them with knives and trying to hit them with shovels.

But it's even numbers. Unless the US Military is literally going to run out of ammunition failing to hit anything of significance by going full Predator on an empty cornfield or something I can't see them losing. Unless there's something in the novel about them getting a half a magazine of ammunition or something.

 

[Scooby Doo]

But it's even numbers. Unless the US Military is literally going to run out of ammunition failing to hit anything of significance by going full Predator on an empty cornfield or something I can't see them losing. Unless there's something in the novel about them getting a half a magazine of ammunition or something.

Hmmm

Would be better fight for them Signs Aliens to fight the Yonkers Zombies then.

 

[Bear Ribs]

Hmmm

Would be better fight for them Signs Aliens to fight the Yonkers Zombies then.

That would go to interesting places. I'd have to hand it to the Signs Aliens pretty handily, the weirdness of the Zombies (For some reason a zombie corpse will jam a tank's treads if it runs a zombie over f'rex) won't really affect the Signs Aliens and the zombies are still readily vulnerable to having their heads punched in.