[Flipside]

We also found all sorts of other ridiculous stuff in cargo cans to be honest, I don't think were exactly thinking canon when they were doing that.

[Black Wolf]

There are severaly types of energy - kinetic, heat, etc...

Food if fuel for the body - it needs nutrients to keep it's growth, to generate new cells, etc.
Heat is the product of kinetic energy that is again the product of moving muscles and blood flow.
While our body functions are controled by electroical impulses, you can't just eat energy, and genetic modification in that direction are ilarious to say the least.

Biochemistry time for you.

The universal basic unit of biochemical energy is Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP). It breaks down to ADP (Adenosine Diphosphate) in the cell, releasing a crapload of usable energy. Later on, the ADP gets reformed into ATP using an enzyme and additional high energy phosphate in mitochondria. So, a body designed to accept non-chemical energy (i.e. food) would simply need to be designed to filter and store phosphorus and oxygen, provide the neccesary energy (pump it in as simple electricty through some sort of biological conductor - thick cluster of nerves maybe) to form phosphate, then send the phosphate into the mitochondria. Complex, but hardly impossible to bioengineer I'd think.

[WeatherOp]

You're all ignoring the greater question:

What does Shivan taste like? 

BBQ Chicken.

[Carl]

Just give me your lunch and i'll leave you alone.

[TrashMan]

and the suggestion of some form of electrical/energy source within them from the Hallfight ani. 

Not really.
We do see them fireing some sort of energy cannon, however from where it gets it's power is a matter of debate. Allso it's questionable if it's part of their body.
The Tech Room says they have some sort of carpace.
A canno ncould be implanted into their body along with a batters or something, or it can be fused into theri carpace - similar to the pacemaker in human or a typical concept of power armor with integrated wrist cannon.

[aldo_14]

and the suggestion of some form of electrical/energy source within them from the Hallfight ani.

Not really.
We do see them fireing some sort of energy cannon, however from where it gets it's power is a matter of debate. Allso it's questionable if it's part of their body.
The Tech Room says they have some sort of carpace.
A canno ncould be implanted into their body along with a batters or something, or it can be fused into theri carpace - similar to the pacemaker in human or a typical concept of power armor with integrated wrist cannon.

I would say an inbuilt (note the 'integrated' part in the following quote) laser cannon - "The integrated plasma weapon also exhibits properties of an organic artificial fusion. The weapon may be a kind of focusing device powered by the energy of the being itself, though this point is the subject of heated controversy" - is a pretty strong suggestion of some internal power source.  Volition have stated that the carapace is to be considered part of the Shivan body; it's not an artificial construct in the sense that an implanted pacemaker or power armour (both are somewhat different concepts from each other; one acts to stimulate a failed internal ogan, the other is an operatable machine more akin to a Shivan fighter than carapace), but a part of the Shivan body in the same sense our bones are a part of ours.

 There is no mention of a battery/interchangeable power source, though; whilst that's obviously not conclusive (it's not made clear where all this techroom detail comes from), I think that the simple fact the techroom describes the possibility (by inclusion the most likely - to GTVA scientists at least) of some internal 'reactor' makes that the more likely.

[Polpolion]

Since their bio-enginerd, mayby there made to eat iron, or whatever kinda metal they use. Then they'd have little suckers on their feet, and since they'd need very little to eat (because they were bio-enginered), they would eat their ship (slowly).

[aldo_14]

Since their bio-enginerd, mayby there made to eat iron, or whatever kinda metal they use. Then they'd have little suckers on their feet, and since they'd need very little to eat (because they were bio-enginered), they would eat their ship (slowly).

But why would they want to?  The point isn't so much the food source (although it does relate to logistics), as the simple physiological requirements to break down and digest food - if you can bio-engineer it (or bio-engineer yourself, from the non-created species perspective) to eat metal, rock, whatever, why not to take some direct source of energy and avoid the whole hassle of finding somewhere safe to huddle down and eat?

[Taristin]

Didn't the shivan in the hallfight vid blow up? Would explain energy storage... >..>

[WMCoolmon]

It was hit with a grenade luncher IIRC

[Polpolion]

Well I wish I could eat metal. *pouts*

[Taristin]

It was hit with a grenade luncher IIRC

Hmm, was it really, though? Or is that just the general asumption?

[Black Wolf]

Wasn't there a massively long thread with people arguing about exactly what did happen to that particular Shivan?

[aldo_14]

 
Emerging from the dark end of the corridor come 3 Shivans.  They are huge, easily towering over the soldiers.  They move both by jumping/walking and grabbing onto the ceiling, unhampered by the zero-g..  They approach the boarding party but stop about halfway.  They pause and appear to be studying the Terrans.  They carry no discernible weapons.

[closeup of the front soldier’s eyes over his gunsight, as they widen in shock]

Spice:      What the hell is that!

[cut to medium shot of soldiers]

Flex:      Oh my God…. look how they move….
 

[brief pause, as the Terrans recover from shock]

Soldier-1:   Open fire!

Massive automatic gunfire erupts from the Terrans.  The Shivans react very quickly and start to jump toward the party.

Zombie:      *screaming* Die!

[Cut to closeup of a Shivan bounding towards the Terran unit.  It’s visibly taking the brunt of the Terran’s firepower, and goes down about 8 meters away.  The two behind it quickly bound around/over it and continue on, undamaged.]

They each swing an arm and odd protrusions appear.  They appear to be energy blades of some sort.
 

[Cut to reverse of Shivans coming down on Terrans.]

The Terrans start screaming as one of the  Shivans jumps  directly on one of the soldiers and nearly slices him in half with the blade.  The other one bounds over the first and starts mauling the remaining 2 soldiers.

Soldier-1:   Fall back!

Spice:      Too late!

Control-1:   What’s going on?!?   Please respond!?

A Shivan now pounces on Soldier-1 throwing him into the side of the corridor as it lands. 

Cut to reverse of Spice backing up slowly.  She has stopped shooting and is nearly frozen with terror.  The closest Shivan turns and sees her.  Camera zooms into it as it turns and rotates an appendage.  An odd hole opens up.

Not exactly conclusive, natch, although IMO that would seem to indicate it was more the thing exploding that down to a grenade.  Watching the ani, I don't see anything that looks like a grenade being fired, and I think all the guns have visible muzzle-flares (not that this would overrule a grenade thrown or an undermounted launcher); where does the idea of them even having a grenade launcher come from, anyway?  I thought the sounds of the larger gun sounded more like a gatling gun(more specifically, IMO there's seemingly one sound that is of one of those, and one soldier carrying a heavy weapon, so I thought maybe that was a sort of futuristic M-60 equivalent).

[Taristin]

Wasn't there a massively long thread with people arguing about exactly what did happen to that particular Shivan?

Beats me, I ignore those hreads as they're filled 90% with useless junk and it's hard to find the important stuff in.

[MicroPsycho]

If you look at the weapons the Terrans are holding in hallfight, there are clearly at least 2 distinct weapons, one of which has a fairly large, open muzzle, possibly being a grenade launcher.

[aldo_14]

If you look at the weapons the Terrans are holding in hallfight, there are clearly at least 2 distinct weapons, one of which has a fairly large, open muzzle, possibly being a grenade launcher.

Well, there's something that sounds like a rotary gatling gun, albeit it could be Shivan noises (it stops when the first one blows up, although the soldier with the larger gun also stops firing at that point).

One thing, though - how much use is a grenade launcher in zero-g?

[knn]

*Goes to find FS1 CD and watch (without sound as everyone is sleeping)*

[starfox]

Perhaps the Grenade is rocket propelled...or something.

[knn]

*Finds out that his 1:1 copy of his damaged FS1 CD2 and his corrected backup of FS1 CD2 swapped cases* 
*Watches hallfight*

Ok, 4 of the soldiers have machine guns (one handed)
1 has a bigger two handed weapon, that has a grenade launcher-like explosive muzzle flash, and explodes upon impact. *watches again* However, there is no visible explosion up until the shivan dies. All impacts from the "grenade launcher" are off screen as far as I could see, but a small bit of the impact animation can be seen, it's white, like the muzzle flash. The last one is, however, a big yellow explosion, so it is likely that the Shivan exploded.
*watches with sound* I couldn't hear the small booms when the "grenade launcher" was fired (kept the volume down, it's 0.33 here).
It's possible that the power-down like sound that stops when the Shivan is killed was not the launcher.

Perhaps the Grenade is rocket propelled...or something.

Yeah, but it's also quite fast, it's not like a slow rocket launcher. IMO it's a large cannon, like the Maxim. That would also explain why there's no big explosion when it hits, only a small impact animation. It's also possible that it's an ML-16 or something similar