Best game on Newgrounds
I love the work you've done on this game Homedrone, it's truly given me countless hours of enjoyment!
As a transposition of the board game to a flash format it's already perfection and I couldn't really suggest any gameplay improvements, only cosmetic ones eg. more graphic detail ( a cool idea might be including stats and a photo for a unit when you hold your cursor over it) or as someone suggested adding more sound bytes.
However I think there exists the potential to create a slightly modified alternate version of this game, one based around replicating as closely as possible the conditions and variables of the film. The following is a list of suggestions for measures that could be implemented to create this alternate version:
. In the hive mission have the squad move in a pre-determined order to match the order they react in the movie. My best recollection is: Hudson, Dietrich, Frost, Wierzbowski, Crowe, Hicks, Vasquez, Drake, Apone but this may not be 100% correct and could vary depending on where you take the action from. I'm taking it from Hudson's last line before the ambush " They´re all around us, man!"
. Have there starting formation as close to possible to the positions they appeared in the movie eg. Apone is by himself, Frost and Dietrich are near the stairwell etc.
. Make the ammunition satchel transportable by any marine but initially carried by Frost. If a Marine with a flame unit is grabbed there could be a percentage chance of them instinctively pulling the trigger , then a percentage change of them igniting a marine in their line of fire, and finally a percentage chance if the satchel is hit of it igniting. Once the satchel is ignited it has count-down timer before exploding of something like 1 turn.
. You could give Marines the ability to pick up the weapons of fallen comrades 'ala Drake and his salvaged flamethrower.
. In Ops depending which Marines survive the hive ambush and whether the ammo satchel makes it through; there could be a choice of weapons that can be equipped which matches what was available in the movie. This would avoid the unrealistic situation of say Dietrich and Wierzbowski being the only ones to make it to Ops and suddenly being only equipped with side-arms.
. As in the movie Gorman could have Grenades and the option to equip heavier weaponry depending on what was left over.
. As people have already suggested you could also add in a bonus mission, where it's Ferro and Spunkmeyer with pistols against a single Alien in the dropship. Turn 1 could start with the Alien leaping on Spunkmeyer; so the only way you can win is if he fights it off and kills it, or Ferro kills it or either of them manage to close the ramp and seal it outside. Of course if the player is successful then they don't have to play Ops or Rescue Newt.