The most dangerous game: Yautja {Predator} vs Lictor {WH40K}

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sonofccn
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The most dangerous game: Yautja {Predator} vs Lictor {WH40K}

Post by sonofccn » Mon Aug 25, 2014 7:03 pm

Deep in the darkest depths of the jungles of Val Verde twin streaks of light from the heavens split the brooding night's sky and bath the sweltering, dense foliage as two pods plunged to Earth miles apart from each other. From one, eager to prove its the galaxy's greatest hunter, emerges a bog standard Yautja/Predator with its standard kit. Slithering from other, oozing pustule of a conveyance is a typical Lictor. Both combatants are blood lusted and seek nothing more than to kill the other.

By act of Q all humans are magically whisked away from Val Verde and are kept from entering or interfering; similarly neither Predator nor Lictor may escape until they've killed the other.

To which hunter does victory and glory fall?

Bonus scenario:

A bog standard Lictor replaces the Predator as the antagonistic against Dutch and his squad in the first movie. Do they fair better against a "Cthulhumaniod" than a space lizard with rayguns?

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Mr. Oragahn
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Re: The most dangerous game: Yautja {Predator} vs Lictor {WH

Post by Mr. Oragahn » Mon Aug 25, 2014 8:58 pm

Despite all its powerful attributes, there are things which do play against the Lictor.
For one, it might be stealthy, but many body portions are long and covered with rigid armour. As it's also quite tall, it will always risk to hit more foliage and other scenery elements by accident.

The other thing being that its chameleon skin would be useless against heat detection. The Predator also relies on other scanning bandwidths which are not entirely determined, but which may also play against the Lictor.

The Lictor might stay in place for a very long time, if it glows in the dark, considering its shape, the Predator will both easily see it and quickly assess the risk potential of such a hostile looking beast.

But that's all incumbent to the Tyranids being visible or not through thermal imaging. If the sucker is naturally cold as stone, then there's nothing the Predator could do to see the creature unless said creature starts moving.
Getting the info from Lexicanus, it's hard to say if it's spot on or not, although something as important as IR camo would be worth a mention, at the very least, but there's nothing to be found.

However, due to its size and the fact that it's dealing with a hunter which is used to move across tree tops, hiding up there won't be enough. Actually, it might be detrimental considering an odd larger shape would tip it off.

The creature also has large areas of exposed flesh and completely lack ranged attacks. Although it would probably take a handful shots to take down the Lictor, the Predator's shoulder plasma gun would work well here. The chitinous shell shouldn't be too hard to get through either.
A net wouldn't be big enough to encompass the whole creature but it would hamper it enough for some serious attacks.
The disc... not sure how it tracks its prey. Most logically through a combination of the same sensors found inside a Yautja helmet.

However, if it starts running towards the Predator, it's going to cover the distance fairly quickly and one on one, it's going to be a very dangerous oponent, in many ways, alike a superior xenomorph considering the number of limbs, the tail, the armour in some areas and the size. Say some immature queen, if you will.

The Pred might literally smell the Lictor, but I'm unsure how developped Predator's olfactive sense is. The Lictor might begin to leave a trail if it thinks it's onto something. Depending on the wind or both beings crossing each other's path by accident without resulting into an encounter, the Pred would smell the Lictor. But in terms of scents, the Predator hardly is stealthy either.

The Pred also has its camo so even if the Lictor can track the Pred through scent, it's still a system that suffers lag of information: scent isn't radiated and not fast. It's affected by gravity and winds and only good if it gives a rough idea of where to go. But with the Pred cloaked, it might just get the Lictor closer to death as it will follow the trail.

This is very hard to sort out. Plus that Predator is a rookie hunter. Not playing in its favour.

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Re: The most dangerous game: Yautja {Predator} vs Lictor {WH

Post by sonofccn » Tue Aug 26, 2014 1:09 pm

Mr. Oragahn wrote:The other thing being that its chameleon skin would be useless against heat detection. The Predator also relies on other scanning bandwidths which are not entirely determined, but which may also play against the Lictor.

The Lictor might stay in place for a very long time, if it glows in the dark, considering its shape, the Predator will both easily see it and quickly assess the risk potential of such a hostile looking beast.

But that's all incumbent to the Tyranids being visible or not through thermal imaging. If the sucker is naturally cold as stone, then there's nothing the Predator could do to see the creature unless said creature starts moving.
Getting the info from Lexicanus, it's hard to say if it's spot on or not, although something as important as IR camo would be worth a mention, at the very least, but there's nothing to be found.
For what its worth this is all that the Tyranid codex has to say on the matter:
Able to move swiftly and without sound through even the densest terrain, and concealed by a chameleonic carapace that renders it all but invisible to the naked eye, a Lictor can remain hidden until it chooses to strike.
No refrence to any other ability or trait so,barring some piece of fluff from a novel or something, I would have to say there is nothing inherent to the Lictor to keep it from showing up like a light house to the Predator's thermal vision.

Which should, as you said, give the latter one hell of a leg up in tracking the former. Killing it through would be another matter.
Mr. Oragahn wrote:The creature also has large areas of exposed flesh and completely lack ranged attacks. Although it would probably take a handful shots to take down the Lictor, the Predator's shoulder plasma gun would work well here. The chitinous shell shouldn't be too hard to get through either.
A net wouldn't be big enough to encompass the whole creature but it would hamper it enough for some serious attacks.
The disc... not sure how it tracks its prey. Most logically through a combination of the same sensors found inside a Yautja helmet.

However, if it starts running towards the Predator, it's going to cover the distance fairly quickly and one on one, it's going to be a very dangerous oponent, in many ways, alike a superior xenomorph considering the number of limbs, the tail, the armour in some areas and the size. Say some immature queen, if you will.
Well the Predator's hardware certainly is up for killing a Lictor but if it comes down to grappling mano-e-mano well my memory may be faulty but I don't recall the Predators doing that hot against the Xenomorphs let alone something more comprable in terms of size and mass to a large Grizzly.

I would argue the only way the Predator can hope to win this is to keep his distance pumelling the Lictor with his ranged weaponry and/or lure the bugger into a trap. Which is, admittedly, slightly against your typical Predator's mentality.
Mr. Oragahn wrote:This is very hard to sort out. Plus that Predator is a rookie hunter. Not playing in its favour.
The Predator should be just be your bog standard vanilla hunter, much like the Lictor, not exceptionally experianced but not inexperianced either.

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Re: The most dangerous game: Yautja {Predator} vs Lictor {WH

Post by Mr. Oragahn » Tue Aug 26, 2014 10:11 pm

I think the Predator's got the edge in detection, and assuming he doesn't screw up his other advantage in the form of ranged attacks, he could pull it off. But we've seen Predators miss their target (although very rarely, and the Lictor is hardly nimble either). The caster isn't the most accurate weapon against targets on the move, nor can it lay down any kind of real supressing fire.

The Lictor has a monstruous advantage because of its pair of main arms, which allow it to hit a prey without even having its torso come anywhere close whatever blade or spike the prey might use.
The Predator has interesting murderous blade weapons, but I'm afraid he'd only cut off one limb before being impaled thorough by the Lictor's other appendages.

If the Predator isn't too cocky (and considering the overall shape and size of the target, he would have no reason to be), he may win this one by virtue of being able to camp'n'snipe. But he better not miss its target or, at least, sufficiently maim it, before the Lictor closes the distance otherwise he's dead meat.

He'll certainly not have time to use his personnal sore-loser bomb, that's for sure.

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