But that's not what we were talking about, is it? The game setting already provides for nations not having any big conflicts among each other (the two friends in the analogy) and they do work together to fight the aliens in the form of PHALANX. The argument was about governments handing out weapons to normal citizens, which would NEVER happen, not even during an alien invasion.
That's true, handing out weapons like that probably wouldn't happen, I agree.
Actually, this thread was originally about something to do with "Civilian AI and ranged stun weapons" and got pulled off-course in a different direction more than once. In the interest of bringing it at least somewhat back towards being on-topic again, I'll say that ranged stun weapons do sound like a good idea and it would be nice if they were in the game.
I don't know if advanced taser-guns could be in the game, or something based upon them, or perhaps something that works differently? Or how about a short-range launcher that fires a net that wraps around an alien then discharges a current to stun them? These are quick off-the-top-of-my-head ideas, but with some creativity and thought I'd imagine something could be put into the game for capturing live aliens without having to be directly next to them.
Also, regarding AI, people have different personalities, I think it would be important for more than one reaction - meaning some people would cower in fear not knowing what to do, others would run in terror, etc. Whatever ends up being in the release when that day comes, I think it would make sense if not all of the civs acted the exact same way.