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The Hive
The Queen, the Hivelord and the Drone all share the ability to secrete resin and shape said resin into structures. This ability is incredibly important, as it enables them to develop Hives: large resin chambers in which Xenomorphs can live, recover and gather hosts. These environments are generally hostile to non-Xenomorphs, and can be used as a defensive position, allowing Xenomorphs to shape the battle to their advantage as they get pushed back.
All resin structures, outside of the Resin Sac, must be built on existing resin weeds. This means that building Hives is a methodical process. Weeds must first be planted in an area and allowed to spread, before more complex structures can be erected atop said weeds.
Resin structures are relatively sturdy, and are able to sustain decent punishment from firearms, explosives and sharp weapons before falling apart. Weeds and sticky resin are exceptionally weak to fire and high-explosives, while Resin Structures are easily destroyed by explosive and incendiary ammunition types.
Note that weeds can only be planted in areas that do not have pre-existing structures or objects on them. Things like catwalks, grasses, and other obstructions prevent the weeding of an area.
Only one resin structure may be built on a chosen tile, excluding Resin Sacs. As such, it is impossible to stack a nest and sticky resin, or a door and sticky resin. If a structure is getting in the way, you can claw it apart or tear it down.
Hive Structures
- All Hive structures cost 75 Plasma to create(Hivelords build for 100 plasma, but make stronger structures.)
Resin Weeds | Uses | Image |
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Resin Weeds are secreted from a special Resin Sac that one regurgitates and places on the ground. From there, it will spread weeds tile by tile in a small, circular radius until stopping. Weeds are critical for even the most basic Hive to be built and are always beneficial even if no special fortifications are planned. In many cases, they can mean the difference between life and death for Xenomorphs. They are, however extremely fragile and easy to rip away. Note that the Queen's weeds spread faster, further and are stronger then ones placed by a drone. A hivelords weeds are just stronger then normal. |
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Thick Resin Wall | Uses | Image |
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Thick Resin Walls are a major upgrade over regular Resin Walls, exclusive to the Hivelord caste. While normal Resin Walls will tend to fall rapidly to enemy fire, Thick Resin Walls will usually hold up for much longer, for little added cost to the Xenomorph building and maintaining them. This makes a Hivelord invaluable when building Hives and forward positions, and can potentially stall Marine advances if positioned properly. |
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Hive Planning
While it is easy to throw down resin, it is essential to try and plan for what you want to do with the space you are using. Are you merely weeding the terrain? Are you planning to supplement existing structures with doors and walls? Are you making a full Hive chamber? Is it going to be a defensive chamber, a maze for assaulting unsuspecting marines, or a nest for captured hosts?
Not planning can lead to severe errors, and once a Hive is well underway, it is incredibly time-consuming to tear down resin structures to try again. Be careful about the space available to you.
Some standard tips to help you build a Hive worthy of your Xenomorph Hive:
- As time goes on, any area that isn't weeded and can be, should be. Weeds are the life and blood of the Hive, and as the Resin Weeds spread and extend through the colony, the area where Marines can safely navigate shrinks proportionally. In the event of combat, remember that even the smallest patch of weeds can be used to rest and recover plasma and health.
- An average chamber should be thoroughly sealed with Resin Walls and Resin Doors. A good hive should have wide entrances to make maneuvering easier and multiple exits to ensure that xenomorphs don't get cornered and trapped by the USCM.
- A wall of Resin Walls and Resin Doors is the most basic defensive setup. While it can be destroyed with concentrated fire, it allows Xenomorphs to break line of sight and provides secure locations to ambush marines. More advanced tactics can involve stacking walls, or creating single Resin Walls for Xenos to hide behind.
- Usually, every nest will be a trade-off between space efficiency, easiness to guard, and concentration of hosts within a chamber. As hosts that get up can help others break free, large chambers are unadvised due to humans being able to coordinate an escape effort. A more conservative setup is to use a square of four nests, preferably not full of hosts, with two guarding castes on each side to quickly put down any revolt. Small nest cells can always work, assuming you have unlimited space to work with.
- Sticky Resin is a useful tool to hamper human maneuverability inside the hive, with the drawback of restricting construction on the tile it is built on.
Check My Badass Hive Guide for information on building good Hives and visual examples.