Happydude996: Hey, great post! I was in the middle of writing up a post on my favorite server settings. You beat me to it with video no less.
I was going to say that disabling the disc is always a good option, but disabling the pistol and grenade launcher depends on what map you're playing on (or if you're playing coop). Always disable GL and skeeter specialists though.
Olde72: I have yet to find a map that can tolerate proxy mines. Even in the biggest maps like Nostromo and Jockey they're annoying, mostly because as the alien you have to maintain momentum. When I suddenly hear that mine's beep I know it's too late to change direction and run right into it. The regular grenades and frag grenades I don't have a problem with, it's those damn proxies everyone loves to spam.
As for the predator pistol, among high-skilled players it's generally considered a cheap weapon against aliens because: A) the rate of fire is so fast; B) a direct hit will instantly kill an alien; C) no charge-up is necessary; D) the weapon deals moderate splash damage; E) the projectile is relatively large and travels in an arc, meaning it covers more of a vertical axis than a straight-shooting projectile like the shoulder cannon and speargun; F) a fully charged predator gets about 15 shots with it. It's a very deadly short range weapon. As you know, the alien has to get up close to do damage in the first place, it's very hard to bring down a pistol-using predator as the alien because it takes one pistol blast for you to die, but three fully charged tail attacks to kill the pred. I've witnessed highly skilled aliens get taken down by a first-time predator with the pistol.
I agree, though, that on coop mode you can enable everything (I still prefer to go sans disc, though) as long as friendly fire is turned off. :)
I play alien too, so I totally agree with you and I know the arguments against the pistol and GL. I was just saying that I'm okay seeing them in very specific circumstances.
I'm ok with the GL only in games like 7 pred vs 1 marine or predator tag with no FF and only on maps where there's just one mag of proxies available and you have the object respawn set to 120 or higher.
The pistol is fine in marine vs predator games or when you want to give the predator the upper hand intentionally like games with a predator score equal to the winning amount and alien equal to zero. Funky stuff like that.
I'm a fan of unusual game settings, what can I say! =p