Hives

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 Aliens can live, recover and gather hosts. These environments are generally hostile to non-Aliens, and can be used as a defensive position, allowing Aliens 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.

Special Hive Structures

• Hive builders, (drones, hivelords, Queen) must first designate a tile with weeds on it to designate where they want it built.
• All aliens can contribute their plasma in building these special hive structures by simply clicking on it.
• Hive leaders as well as the Queen can destroy special hive structures by clicking on them with harm intent.

Spawning Pool	Uses	Image
A pool of primordial goop, reeking of sour smells. Home to many small, wriggling masses. A necessary component of the hive that allows burrowed larva to spawn from it, provided there are some in reserve. Bursted bodies from captured marines (not the ones you burst from at roundstart) and monkeys thrown into it can generate additional larva. Health Points: 900	Allows larva to spawn when new players join the hive.

Hive Core	Uses	Image
A giant pulsating mound of mass. It looks very much alive. The center piece of all hive structures. Allows for additional alien hive structures to be built. Health Points: 1200	Allows other special hive structures to be built.. Produces hive weeds, a slightly tougher version of normal weeds, one which slow down tall hosts much more. Once built, it creates a hardened resin ceiling that prevents orbital bombardments, mortar fire and air strikes from targeting the area.

Hive Pylon	Uses	Image
A towering spike of resin. Its base pulsates with large tendrils An essential part of the hive. Its weeds slow tall hosts down as well as providing shelter from skyfire (CAS/Mortars). Health Points: 1800	Allows other special hive structures to be built.. Produces hive weeds, a slightly tougher version of normal weeds, one which slow down tall hosts much more. Once built, it creates a resin ceiling that denies mortar fire and air strikes from targeting in the area. Does not protect from Orbital Bombardment	File:HivePylon.png

Egg Morph	Uses	Image
A disgusting, organic processor that reeks of rotting flesh. Capable of melting even bones into something far more useful. An egg morpher that turns bursted bodies into eggs. It also acts as a large egg that will launch facehuggers that enters its vicinity. Gradually produces and stores up to 6 facehuggers, which can be retrieved by aliens. Health Points: 300	Produces facehuggers without the need for a Queen to be in Ovipositor mode. Launches facehuggers at tall hosts if it gets within range, similar to hatching eggs.

Recovery Node	Uses	Image
A warm, soothing light source that pulsates with a faint hum. The recovery node heals adjacent Aliens next to it a lot quick than those who would normally rest on weeds. Only one alien can be healed per activation at a time. Health Points: 400	Allows for aliens next/near it to be healed quicker than normal.

Evolution Pod	Uses	Image
A green fleshy orb, faintly humming an ominous tune. It calls for you. The evolution pod allows for aliens to evolve quicker by .5 each. A maximum of 2 can be built at a time. Health Points: 400	Allows for aliens to evolve quicker.

Hive Structures

• All Hive structures cost 75 Plasma to create(Hivelords build for 100 plasma, but make stronger structures.)

Resin Weeds	Uses	Image
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 Aliens. They are, however extremely fragile and easy to rip away. Health Points: 11	Any alien standing on weeds will receive increased plasma regeneration and will regenerate their health slowly. They need to rest to heal at a faster rate. In addition to this, any alien on weeds will have their speed increased slightly. Humans moving through weeds will be slowed down slightly, making it harder for them to evade and maneuver.

Resin Wall	Uses	Image
Resin Walls are another important part of the Hive. Rarely will existing terrain be perfect for the Alien's use, and often they may wish to adjust it. Resin walls are big, opaque and fairly tough structures, capable of withstanding a reasonable amount of fire Their most obvious use is to delimit chambers inside a completed Hive, but their properties also make them excellent cover. As you will almost always be threatened with ranged weaponry, this makes resin walls invaluable in defensive setups. Health Points: 900	Completely blocks line of sight. Aliens can use their special vision to see mobs through them regardless. Sturdiest structure available to the Aliens, making for good hardcover until destroyed.

Thick Resin Wall	Uses	Image
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 Alien building and maintaining them. This makes a Hivelord invaluable when building Hives and forward positions, and can potentially stall Marine advances if positioned properly. Health Points: 1350	Straight upgrade over Resin Walls, able to soak up much more punishment before falling apart, for the almost the same initial investment and build time. Can only be built by a Hivelord, replacing normal Resin Walls.

Resin Membrane	Uses	Image
Resin Membranes are a transparent resin structure, with the strength of Resin Walls, allowing direct line of sight. This is particularly useful for larvae gestation as every infected marine within the line of sight of each other speeds up the incubation process meaning that you'll have more larvae in a shorter amount of time. Hivelords build an upgraded version of the resin membrane that has more health. (The name is the same, yet the sprite is darker) Normal Health Points: 300 Thick Health Points: 600	Allows vision through, while giving the same protection as a resin wall.

Resin Door	Uses	Image
Resin Doors are specially crafted resin membranes, allowing Aliens to navigate through the Hive. Thanks to the special elastic resin used to shape them, they will collapse back to their original shape after a short while, opening and closing themselves for passing Aliens , although this ability means that a resin door must be placed next to a resin or normal (metal walls, cave wall, etc..) or it will collapse. Resin Doors are paramount to most Hives for obvious reasons. A chamber is of no use to anyone if it cannot be entered or left. However, you should consider adding more than one door. Faced with Resin Doors in multiple directions, no-one can be fully confident which one will open to reveal a Aliens. Hivelords can make construct or upgrade existing resin doors to make them stronger (there is no name or skin change for upgraded doors). Normal Health Points: 600 Thick Health Points: 900

Resin Nest	Uses	Image
Resin Nests are an important structure for Hive nurseries, allowing Aliens to lay down and secure hosts using extra resin provided within the nest, preventing them from easily leaving and thus allowing a relatively large amount to be guarded safely. The medium it provides is particularly suited for incubation, meaning that Aliens Embryos will grow faster within nested hosts. Nests are not particularly sturdy and will be destroyed fairly easily. While a nested host will find it impossible to break out on his own, it is effortless for him to be cut out by someone else. Health Points: 400	Allows the Hive to secure hosts for incubation. Increases Alien Embryo growth. Can only be built on hiveweeds. Multiple hosts that are in line of sight of each other increases embryo growth.

Sticky Resin	Uses	Image
Sticky Resin is an arrangement of thick, stringy resin filament strewn across weeded floors able to easily delay and bog down any human going through them. This allows Aliens to make their Hive even more dangerous to navigate, with no other cost than making the selected space not usable for anything else until destroyed. A Hive might find it wise to fill empty spaces with sticky resin once the layout of the Hive is done. In a pinch, it is recommended to at least cover entrances, doorways and surround nests. Praetorians are capable of a ranged thin sticky resin spit, which can be helpful for quick stick. Health Points: 45	Slows down and even halts non-Aliens movement A bit harder to get rid of compared to Resin Weeds.

Fast Resin	Uses	Image
Fast Resin is an arrangement of sleek resin filament strewn across weeded floors able to easily hasten the movement of any fellow alien. This allows Aliens to make navigation from the hive to the front (and vice versa) much easier, with no other cost than making the selected space not usable for anything else until destroyed. Though the benefit of speed is somewhat mutual to the marines. Fast resin will not slow the marines down but it won't boost their speed. Health Points: 30	Speeds up down Aliens movement when walking over it. Doesn't slow down marines.

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 Aliens 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 aliens 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 Aliens 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 Aliens to hide behind.

• Usually, it is best to nest tall hosts near the smalls, to increase their burst speed. However, if the marines are nearing the hive, it can be a good idea to move the tall hosts to a more secure location to ensure a safe burst.

• 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. However, if you do choose to build, you can clear stick resin in one swipe.

Check My Badass Hive Guide for information on building good Hives and visual examples.