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.

[Nick Naughty]

Yes all aliens serve a purpose, shock troopers, terriorize, adaptility, psions etc, even robots like the sectopod. The andromedons does seem to be the odd one out, looking more like an experiment which is something along the lines of terror from the deep, lets create monsters.

In saying that, maybe gate keepers go there aswell.

I don't know maybe it does fit into xcom, I mean if it was terror from the deep it would probably be some human inside the andromedon suit.

[Harukage]

IMO it is pretty simple.Andromedon fits a heavy shock trooper role.
It get's close in to use grenades/gun/fist while soaking up damage and distracting your soldiers. it's aim is pretty poor for any kind of long range engagement anyway.
Once a pilot is dead, suit switch to a pretty simple AI that is not capable of any complex tactics and just rush in to crash enemy in melee while spewing around it's pilot's life support liquid from it's broken tank that is pretty deadly on itself.
The suit itself seems to be pretty crude and low tech compared to Advent mech's and Sectopods, and pretty easy and cheap to produce, while still been effective.
Also do not forget about a psycjhological effect when suit reactivate itself after pilot's death and bullrash enemy soaking everything with acidic toxic stuff. Pretty scary.
They very much replaced Mutons, after later were evolved into more of modern tactic elite soldiers rather than no-brains muscles.

[no0ne]

Цитата допису st88:

But as it stands the alien is nothing but a pilot. That brings up the rather obvious question — why even bother?

For the same reason they bother to bring different species on battlefield. You DO realise that you don't need so many different aliens as army, don't you? In fact you need only one "race" with different weapon and equipment, that would be much more logical. It is just a game.

[I_Burner]

The way I look at it is that we we don't actually know a whole heck of a lot about what the Elders are actually doing. One thing we do know is that they spend an awful lot of time tinkering with DNA and cybernetics. None of the organic enemies across both games seem to be in a "finished" state. They made the Sectoids bigger and more powerful, the Thin Men became Vipers, the Mutons got smaller and faster, Floaters were upgraded into Archons, etc, etc. Maybe the Andromedons are a work in progress, and the exosuits serve as a sort of "incubator" for them as they evolve. Or maybe the suits are simply meant to keep them alive while the Elders work on the next steps for them.

[Spikeruth]

The autopsy report in-game would say otherwise (linked here: http://xcom.wikia.com/wiki/Andromedon_Autopsy)

The most important point about this is "I stress design here because perhaps more so than all but the most extreme examples, the Andromedon was engineered to exist only within the confines of the environmental suit we see them wearing in the field." Meaning that the Andromedon was created to be in the suit and only in the suit. So the question then becomes what's the point? My best guess that what they had created had the capability to resist the Ethereal's influence, so they confiened it to the suit to prevent it from doing so.

[User27445]

Цитата допису Spikeruth:

The autopsy report in-game would say otherwise (linked here: http://xcom.wikia.com/wiki/Andromedon_Autopsy)

The most important point about this is "I stress design here because perhaps more so than all but the most extreme examples, the Andromedon was engineered to exist only within the confines of the environmental suit we see them wearing in the field." Meaning that the Andromedon was created to be in the suit and only in the suit. So the question then becomes what's the point? My best guess that what they had created had the capability to resist the Ethereal's influence, so they confiened it to the suit to prevent it from doing so.

Maybe the plan was for the Ethereal's to become something kin to a Dalek. Their bodies have been rendered useless so they played with the idea of a fully enclosed life support system that could also function as a battle tank. Maybe the aliens were looking into using a biology that wasn't bound to oxygen. The Ethereals have experimented with silicone based life and even robotics in their quest. Why stick to oxygen breathers, especially given how bad oxygen is for oxygen breathers?

The main point here is that the Ethereals are totally alien. We don't REALLY understand what they have been through, have looked at, or what thought process has brought them here. They have a long history of failure and are willing to use every failure in the circus of horrors that they unleash.

[✨Nutkun7993✨]

Цитата допису st88:

Why not just give a muton

Which remind me of the lack of Muton Elite on this game. I can easily see them appear in heavy powered red armor with 15+HP 6 Armors, 100 Aim and 40 Defense on Legend.

[Darth Hernia]

I always thought they did it as a homage to 'The Adromeda Strain':
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066769/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

The idea is that the Aliens are all inspired by classic alien movies/literature. Sectoid = Roswell Alien, Thin Man = Man in Black, Cyberdisk = War of Worlds Martians, etc.

[Tamiore]

Цитата допису Harukage:

IMO it is pretty simple.Andromedon fits a heavy shock trooper role.
It get's close in to use grenades/gun/fist while soaking up damage and distracting your soldiers. it's aim is pretty poor for any kind of long range engagement anyway.
Once a pilot is dead, suit switch to a pretty simple AI that is not capable of any complex tactics and just rush in to crash enemy in melee while spewing around it's pilot's life support liquid from it's broken tank that is pretty deadly on itself.
The suit itself seems to be pretty crude and low tech compared to Advent mech's and Sectopods, and pretty easy and cheap to produce, while still been effective.
Also do not forget about a psycjhological effect when suit reactivate itself after pilot's death and bullrash enemy soaking everything with acidic toxic stuff. Pretty scary.
They very much replaced Mutons, after later were evolved into more of modern tactic elite soldiers rather than no-brains muscles.

Non of these functions requires the closed environment system. Suit would have been even simpler, cheaper and more robust if the closed environment was either removed or replaced with extra armor and the pilot was a muton.
Acid could have been integrated as something much more volatile in a separate tank (military-grade flamer, etc).

[Tamiore]

Цитата допису no0ne:

Цитата допису st88:

But as it stands the alien is nothing but a pilot. That brings up the rather obvious question — why even bother?

For the same reason they bother to bring different species on battlefield. You DO realise that you don't need so many different aliens as army, don't you? In fact you need only one "race" with different weapon and equipment, that would be much more logical. It is just a game.

But the game follows it own logic, namely — all alien species have at least one beneficial trait or ability that is species-dependent. All except andromedon pilot, that is.

[Tamiore]

Цитата допису I_Burner:

Maybe the Andromedons are a work in progress, and the exosuits serve as a sort of "incubator" for them as they evolve. Or maybe the suits are simply meant to keep them alive while the Elders work on the next steps for them.

Now this is getting somewhere. However, it does make you wonder — what is it about those pilots that make them even worth the attention in the first place? It's not like elders mass-produce hybrids of any species they can — usually even at the early stages those hybrids have at least SOME rather obvious beneficial trait or ability that makes them stand out.

[Tamiore]

Цитата допису Spikeruth:

My best guess that what they had created had the capability to resist the Ethereal's influence, so they confiened it to the suit to prevent it from doing so.

They are not immune to human psionics, that's for sure. Still, even if they are somehow better resistant to it — why would elders create/use troops that are basically only really good to be used AGAINST them?

[Tamiore]

Цитата допису Adrian:

The main point here is that the Ethereals are totally alien. We don't REALLY understand what they have been through, have looked at, or what thought process has brought them here. They have a long history of failure and are willing to use every failure in the circus of horrors that they unleash.

Actually most of these questions are answered pretty well between XCOM EU and XCOM 2.
Elders were searching for a "perfect" species that can combine great psionic potential and physical resilience.
All the "failures" they created along the way now serve a rather well-defined and obvious role in their "army". And, yes, they DO cycle out hybrids that become redundant.


Reading the answers in this thread I'm leaning to a conclusion that — if the andromedons are NOT just a byproduct of game-design process — they key to their purpose is just beyond the scope of what was shown in the game so far and the fact that they are used as combatants on Earth is nothing short of Elders being actually pushed to deploy sub-optimal troops from other worlds/projects to try and stop XCOM.

[JaegerBane]

If I had to guess, Andromedons are reinforcements from the Elder's other holdings. They've presumably subjugated other species before and since they only seem to turn up when XCOM start hitting Advent hard, I suspect that they're a ready source of trained troops from another planet, with their expertise and the peformance of their suits offsetting their vulnerability to our environment.

I mean, being realistic, the risk is entirely the Andromedon's to take. The Elders don't care if they sizzle due to a suit puncture.

[Tamiore]

Ok, let's speculate a bit about what other world/environment/project would actually facilitate the mass production and use of andromedons. Let's start by presuming the following implication is true:
- andromedons as we see them in the game (with the suit, and "acid" and all) are more or less the way they are used in their "intended" role.

Then my theories would be:

#1 - there is a pathogen elders REALLY want to protect some of their troops from that the "acid" protects from.

#1.1 Most obviously — that "pathogen" is something that "the greater enemy" the elders are fighting uses. Maybe this "pathogen" IS "the greater enemy" the elders are fighting. I mean, really, if there are, indeed, mirconoids(tm), acid-based life would be a perfect counter — mirconoids can't survive the acid, and the lifefrom can not survive if REMOVED from the acid. It's really fool-proof.

#1.2 Maybe the "pathogen" is just some sort or radiation or phenomena or weapon that the acid protects from. Maybe the "crystal contamination" we see in the game.

#2 Closed liquid-phase suits are just needed to work in high-pressure environment. That would also explain the sheer strength of the suit.

#3 Pilots are actually very good at some task (astro navigators or maybe bio-computers) — we just don't know what it is.


#4 + Your ideas?