Your theory why andromedons are even a thing.

[Tamiore]

When I originally saw the concept of andromedon I assumed that the reason aliens went with a hassle of the entire "closed environment suit" was because the alien inside was actually capable of something unique and powerfull.

But as it stands the alien is nothing but a pilot. That brings up the rather obvious question — why even bother? Why not just give a muton (or viper or sectoid) a similar power armor without the extra costs and problems involved in making it a closed environment suit?

I mean, really, you don't see terrestrial militaries giving dolphins or octopuses closed environment suits so they can fight on dry land…

My only theory is that the pilots inside were, in fact, supposed to be power psionic users (or something like that) and ended up the way they are due to some stuff (balancing or what-not) that happened during production.

[Giant Space Hamster]

Because game variety.

[Yian Yan]

It may just be that they wanted to introduce another alien with a different sort of backstory/origin/design that wasn't strictly in the original. Maybe it shows that the aliens do have SOME kind of compassion in that they are using an impractical race in their military lineup instead of just discarding them?

[Tamiore]

Originally posted by Giant Space Hamster:

Because game variety.

If the alien inside had some unique abilities it would have added even more variety.
If it was just a normal power armor piloted by muton or sectoid it would have added just as much variety without being illogical.

[Tamiore]

Originally posted by Yian Yan:

It may just be that they wanted to introduce another alien with a different sort of backstory/origin/design that wasn't strictly in the original. Maybe it shows that the aliens do have SOME kind of compassion in that they are using an impractical race in their military lineup instead of just discarding them?

If anything, that shows that elders are DESPERATE enough to stop XCOM that they are sending in units not intended to be used as combatants on earth.

[DirtyCaveman]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258470/

......the horrors !

KILL IT KILL IT WITH FIRE ! ;D

p.s.: yep THATS what "avatar" - project stands for ;) AKA only able to live in "closed" habitat AKA "fakes" VERY TOXIC ! they can even produce acidous "gas" byproducts ;)

nevertheless more of a "sideshow bob" ;DDD BUT still "hazadous" ^^

[Giant Space Hamster]

Originally posted by st88:

Originally posted by Giant Space Hamster:

Because game variety.

If the alien inside had some unique abilities it would have added even more variety.
If it was just a normal power armor piloted by muton or sectoid it would have added just as much variety without being illogical.

Disagree.

Additional unique abilities wouldn't make it add any more variety. Something that has two unique abilities doesn't "add more variety" than something with one unique ability...both add a unique enemy to the game.

Your second statement seems backwards. If you remove the unique abilities associated with the environmental suit (i.e. the acid trail and the fact that it's robotic in the second incarnation and not organic) then it would not be adding anything unique and would thus not be adding much variety.

[jouertue]

You made me think that maybe the point is the suit and not the pilot. They invented the power armor tech and it can work only filled with acid so they use those pilots..or the pilots are real patriots and want to help the cause so badly.

[TOG | Fulgrim]

Originally posted by st88:

Originally posted by Giant Space Hamster:

Because game variety.

If the alien inside had some unique abilities it would have added even more variety.
If it was just a normal power armor piloted by muton or sectoid it would have added just as much variety without being illogical.

Well the one unique thing about the andromedon is the acid attack, which precludes one of the other aliens from being in the suit as it draws from the internal atmosphere, other than that, just a theory, but maybe the andromedon suit was a test case for the Elders, since they are degenerating, the suit would allow them to get around while providing additional protection, but they decided that it was a stopgap measure and went with the avatar solution instead though it seemed useful to keep the andromedons around since they were potent in the field.
Just a theory, but it makes sense.

[StrangeLittleMan]

It's an acidic lifeform, the acid bolts it shoots could just aswell been "produced" by the alien inside the suit.

[Tamiore]

Originally posted by Giant Space Hamster:

Originally posted by st88:

If the alien inside had some unique abilities it would have added even more variety.
If it was just a normal power armor piloted by muton or sectoid it would have added just as much variety without being illogical.

Disagree.

Additional unique abilities wouldn't make it add any more variety. Something that has two unique abilities doesn't "add more variety" than something with one unique ability...both add a unique enemy to the game.

Your second statement seems backwards. If you remove the unique abilities associated with the environmental suit (i.e. the acid trail and the fact that it's robotic in the second incarnation and not organic) then it would not be adding anything unique and would thus not be adding much variety.

Acid trail and "reanimation" would have worked for a non-closed environment suit piloted by muton just as well. Acid would have just been a coolant or something.

See, with all other alien species the species themselves have some unique beneficial trait — sectoids are psions, vipers have poison and dodge, and tongue and binding, mutons are strong are durable, etc.

Andromedon pilots are literally the only species that seem to not have ANY beneficial special trait as such.

[The Cosmic Muffet]

Maybe they're teasing Terror from the Deep. Or giving it a shout-out, depending on whether they ever get a chance to make a modern TFTD.

Maybe one of their guys loves bioshock and wanted to work something in like that, and the writer didn't want to edit his awesome idea of living in a toxic atmosphere.

Maybe they had a test model that was cool, and a concept for an alien that can't be one-shot because it gets back up, and they put the two together, hoping everyone wouldn't think about it in too much depth.

Maybe the pitch for them was sort of like 'these guys are so dedicated to making awesome suits, that the suit can keep working even if they're unconscious or dead--just at reduced capacity--in order to carry out their mission or get them to safety', and then when it got through the art pipeline and it looks like a classic sectoid in a suit of armor, that flops out, clearly totally dead, someone retconned the idea that they had to be in a sealed environment to explain all the green goo and stuff, but the original idea makes less sense.

The whole thing could be 'it would be neat if there was like a spooky alien you couldn't really see behind a big weird dome thing on his armor', and then the other guy says 'uh, ok, but how do you know there's anything in there and that it's not just what the they look like' 'well we could have it rupture when they're shot up'. 'But then they're just dead, and who cares--a lot of our stuff explodes. Will anyone notice?' 'What about if it got back up and kept fighting' 'But it's dead so it looks like a zombie?' 'no the guy could be flopped out the front in this weird way where you're like "whoa what's happening"?" 'But why would aliens make a suit that can run itself and then put a guy inside it?' 'I don't know, toxic atmosphere or whatever. I've been up for 18 hours fixing UVs, and I'm a hair from caving in your head with my wacom tablet.' 'You've sold me. Let's do it'.

[Tamiore]

Originally posted by jouertue:

You made me think that maybe the point is the suit and not the pilot. They invented the power armor tech and it can work only filled with acid so they use those pilots..or the pilots are real patriots and want to help the cause so badly.

This directly contradicts the fact the suit works just fine when all the acid is spilled all over the place.

[Tamiore]

Originally posted by The Cosmic Muffet:

The whole thing could be 'it would be neat if there was like a spooky alien you couldn't really see behind a big weird dome thing on his armor', and then the other guy says 'uh, ok, but how do you know there's anything in there and that it's not just what the they look like' 'well we could have it rupture when they're shot up'. 'But then they're just dead, and who cares--a lot of our stuff explodes. Will anyone notice?' 'What about if it got back up and kept fighting' 'But it's dead so it looks like a zombie?' 'no the guy could be flopped out the front in this weird way where you're like "whoa what's happening"?" 'But why would aliens make a suit that can run itself and then put a guy inside it?' 'I don't know, toxic atmosphere or whatever. I've been up for 18 hours fixing UVs, and I'm a hair from caving in your head with my wacom tablet.' 'You've sold me. Let's do it'.

See, this is exactly what bothers me — it feels like they were really going somewhere with the hassle of providing a closed-environment, opaque and ominous suit. And then dropped the ball for no obvious reason and gave the alien inside literally NO abilities what-so-ever — all abilities are related to the suit itself and it's unique environment system, not to the actual ALIEN inside.

[Yian Yan]

The alien is clearly the pre-psi evolution of the Ethereal that isn't afflicted by the decay that still relies on their native caustic environment. They didn't abandon their kin but still utilize them to this day. Yup. That is it. Ignore the fact that the arm number is incorrect for this theory.

[Tamiore]

While we are at it, it's not like it would have been hard to give the alien inside some cool and unique abilities. It would have worked just fine as a psion-medic/support, or offensive psion, or some sort of illusionist, or even something more specialized like direct psionic kinetic manipulation of liquids.