How to make invasions less... redundant

This is a bit jarring on Mecha themed stuff, and since I plan on having one, I'd rather want to make it different. I mean, how many times have we seen aliens attacking a city because they want to take over the world/unlock super secret stuff?

Anyway, what do you think of this? Energy Beings attack a city because years ago one of them crash-landed and was captured by The Government, and the spaceship it used would be later on used for development of warfare activities.

Sounds like a stupid reason for an invasion. They should either just ask for it back or pull a cloak and dagger operation to get it back while only barely giving away their presence.

Or if they aren't concerned about survivors, just chuck a missile at the facility holding the crashed ship.

What if Energy Beings can't communicate (can only communicate through passing of energy, and most likely mundane folks would die when exposed through that) as well as, being beings of mass energy, have no physical embodiment other than the giant war machines, and it seems like they have a foresight to destroy the city/planet to prevent creating a massive upheaval of wars?

edited 22nd Aug '13 9:13:55 PM by Ookamikun

Do you realize that Energy Beings in giant war machines pretty much describes the Transformers? Just sayin'.

You might be on to something with the inability to communicate. You could have a similar scenario like what happened in Enders Game.

As to the foresight thing, does that mean that they start a big annihilation war in order to prevent on-going smaller wars? I don't see how that makes sense.

Wait, Transformers are like that?

And it's more something like this - Earth gets invaded. There's (surprisingly) a team of Combining Mecha pilots ready to take on the invading force. They did not know their mecha came from the reverse-engineered original machine that crash-landed on Earth. They do not know the Energy Beings attack because they do not want their technology to be used outside of their hands because of its danger, and believes destroying Earth will prevent it from spreading out on the galaxy.

And then there's that original machine and its Energy Being core escaping The Government...

That's basically what you said in the first post, except with more details. Again, see Post #2.

If the conflict can be resolved by everyone sitting down and talking reasonably or using other less messy methods, it's not really a good conflict. And destroying a planet because they don't want someone else using or spreading their dangerous tech and causing destruction with it is kind of contradictory and hypocritical.

Given what you've already told us, I would expect the plot to go more along the lines of a mecha version of the original The Day The Earth Stood Still (NOT the stupid remake) as opposed to a generic alien invasion story. (Which is not necessarily a bad thing, if you execute it right.)

edited 23rd Aug '13 9:25:09 AM by shiro_okami

How would Energy Beings with no method of communication communicate though? Their only known method is fatal to non Energy Beings.

And they probably don't know any other method, what with being a different species altogether.

If they can build robots to punch skyscrapers in half, surely they can also build robots to write on blackboards and communicate that way.

Anyway, I think you'll be fine if you keep these aliens as ultimately unknowable, alien beings, and all this stuff is just conjecture from the human side. Alternatively, play up them being arseholes; they could just see us as lesser creatures, which makes it easier to justify genociding us if it suits their wider purposes.

Yes. Poor Communication Kills is a lot easier to buy when one side is a Jerkass.

Generally, though, it helps if both sides have a compelling reason to fight even after they understand what the other side wants. So, for instance, the Energy Beings are pissed because a lesser race kidnapped one of their kind, did freaky experiments on him, and reverse-engineered their technology, and the humans aren't going to give their captive or the technology they derived from him back because it's been an enormous force for good on Earth (by turning them into a post-scarcity society, for example) and the consequences of taking it away again could be cataclysmic.

edited 24th Aug '13 2:58:47 PM by Iaculus

Well the technology is hidden and was currently under testing by the time the aliens attack. I actually plan to have it end in a Take the Third Option in that the main characters stop the invading force but not eradicate them, and at the same time destroy the (then) mass-produced weapons save for the mecha they are using.

Well, they pretty much lack any concept of communication towards any other being other than themselves. They're true aliens rather than the Planet of Hats variety.

edited 25th Aug '13 5:51:53 AM by Ookamikun

This sounds a lot like the plot of The Returner. In that Aliens did invade and wipe out almost the entire human race after we captured and killed one of their infants.

People have had lesser reasons for going on warpaths. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to say they feel the capture/death of one of their own is perfectly justified grounds for invasion/destroy all humans.

With that said the Energy Being that was captured escaped, fought the mecha and survived, "felt" the energy reading and decided to become part of said mecha.

your plot sounds kinda a bit like Neon Genesis Evangelion. with spaceship=Adam/Eve and spaceship for warfare=Evangelions and returning aliens=the Angels.

anyway, what do you mean by "redundant"?

Like most invaders wanting to Take Over the World for reasons. Here they just want to prevent to spread warfare.

Use one war to prevent more wars? Sounds like an oxymoron.

Like nuking a pair of cities to end a world war.

Sounds like the kind of thing a game theory tosspot would approve of. Considering that those people still wield considerable power in the real world, it's not impossible for these aliens (or even just one faction) to have such a motivation.

definition.

Isn't that what the point of invasion is? Take Over the World? what you want to do is probably warmongering aliens. I misread.
you're probably looking for Benevolent Alien Invasion. which still requires well, invasion. though in the sense of intruding, not concquering.

edited 29th Aug '13 3:09:00 AM by ShanghaiSlave

Well at the POV of the characters, especially early on, they think it's an invasion and they use these "experimental government researched" Combining Mecha. It's when the plot goes on that they realize what's happening.

hmm. seems pretty good then.

You don't have to give a reason. You don't have to have a reason. c.f. Free Space's Shivans.

Also the captured alien joining their mecha as the additional power source would count as the Mid-Season Upgrade.