War with aliens

There are a huge number of confrontations in science and space fiction. This could be a war between states, planets or entire planetary systems. And the hero can take the side of those who are closer to him in terms of moral principles or place of origin. But at one not very wonderful moment, the need may arise to unite against a common enemy, which will be an alien race.

Confrontations with aliens are generally quite common in both books and films. Here you don’t even need to explain why your side is right. When you are fighting for the interests of the entire human race, then there is no time for moral torment. In addition, aliens are most often significantly different from people, both physically and morally. The concept of good and evil may be completely inaccessible to them, at least in our usual understanding. Well, or their interests are so strongly contrary to the interests of humanity that there can be no talk of any peaceful solution to problems.

The war with an alien race opens up the possibility of using new technologies in the plot that were previously unknown. After all, in the confrontation between people, both sides will use what was invented by humanity. Accordingly, everyone will be in more or less equal conditions. An alien race can (and most often will) have capabilities that are inaccessible to humans. This could be biotechnology, psionics, magic, or simply the latest technologies not yet invented by people. Moreover, thanks to the confrontation with new challenges, humanity itself will be able to begin to rapidly develop and use the corresponding directions.

The reason for the confrontation may be quite simple. Most often, this is a confrontation for living space - when both people and aliens lay claim to the same star systems. Sometimes it is a confrontation for the home planet, which they want to capture. Sometimes - a clash of interstellar empires, each of which seeks to expand to more and more new planets.

The way of thinking of aliens can be as close as possible to that of humans. Then it will be easier for the reader to understand their motives and empathize with the heroes on both sides. In fact, we will have a confrontation between the same people, differing only in appearance and physiological characteristics.

In another case, aliens will have radically different thinking and morality. Some swarming insect that simply absorbs more and more new planets is completely uninterested in the presence of other intelligent people on them and their opinion on this matter. Well, or an interstellar race with a thousand-year history may not consider other intelligent people as equals at all and, accordingly, listen to them.

Of course, aliens may have enormous capabilities. But people most often do not give up just like that. In a confrontation with superior forces, for example, brute force can be used. When a small number of super-advanced ships will be opposed by simpler but larger ships with enormous firepower.

Or vice versa, in conditions where the aliens are opposed more by numbers than by quality, they will be opposed by a small number of new ships possessing some kind of new weapons.

The author can focus on humanity, leaving the alien race to play the role of an enemy who can only be destroyed. But sometimes enough attention is paid to the alien culture for the reader to understand how they live, what their motives are and how they look at the confrontation from their side.

Sometimes it may even turn out that the confrontation started by mistake or does not make sense. And the confrontation ends not with the final victory of one of the parties, but with a peace that suits both

The presence of a well-written alien race (or several races) in the book significantly diversifies the plot and allows you to expand the scope of the events described in the book. Moreover, the reader does not even need to choose one of the sides of the confrontation - most often the choice of one’s own race is already obvious.