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The Alien (A.K.A. Xenomorph) is a moderately difficult antagonist role to play aboard the Colonial Marines server. The aliens' strength comes mostly from close-quarters combat. You'll have to maintain at least a noticeable level of role-play and avoid meta-gaming situations at all costs. Your job is to serve the queen of your hive. You do not feel remorse or compassion, no needs other than to propagate and protect your own kind. If you do well, then there will be little in your way to stop you.
Starting Out
In the beginning, you are spawned in with a group of aliens, ranging from a Drone, several Runners and many Larva, aboard the mysterious planet know as LV-642, the alien infested planet. The amount of starting aliens scales with the number of Marines that initially join at round-start. The original aliens should have full knowledge regarding the locations and areas of the planet and human settlement to assist them in their mission of repopulation.
Several locations on the planet are prime nesting grounds, complete with a few monkeys and other animals to help repopulate. You would be wise to establish your Hive somewhere in the far northern cave network, nesting in the southern jungle is very risky.
If you're a first-timer, check the Xeno Quickstart Guide. Here are additional tips:
- Speak in Hivemind by using :a before your message.
- Example: Say ":a My life for the Queen!"
- You are a slave to the Queen's will. Follow her orders or die trying - unless it's against the server rules.
- Grow the Hive. Gather together any hosts and bring them to her chosen nest for repopulation.
- Weeds weeds weeds. Plant weeds everywhere. While on weeds, aliens regenerate health and plasma very quickly.
Tier 1 Evolution
You have a choice of three castes of xenomorph: the Runner, the Sentinel, or the Drone. After that, advanced evolutions become available as long as the hive has a living Queen. Each caste has its pros and cons.
| Job | Role | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
 Drone |
Support: Grow the hive and support the Queen. | Medium |
 Sentinel |
Defence: Defend the hive,guard captured prey and eliminate and deter threats from range. | Medium |
 Runner |
Offence: The fastest Xeno with the most constant speed (besides the Crusher). Leap over tables with ease and pounce on the enemy. Capture and harass prey. Recon threats. | Hard |
Tier 2 Evolution
| Job | Role | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
 Spitter |
Defence: Defend the hive, employ your more powerful acid to better stun targets and break down fortifications. | Hard |
 Hunter |
Offence: Capture and harass prey. Use stealth to turn nearly invisible and set up ambushes or assault prey positions. | Hard |
 Hivelord |
Support: The ultimate support. Very large plasma capacity for spreading weeds and resin. Dig holes into the ground to create pathways for other Xenos to travel between. | Medium |
 Carrier |
Support: Carry a pile of facehuggers and throw them at prey, or use them as area denial. | Hard |
Tier 3 Evolution
| Job | Role | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
 Praetorian |
Defence: Very strong and quick-firing acid. Able to melt walls quickly or stun marines from a distance. | Hard |
 Boiler |
Defence/Offense: Defend the hive, support the offence. Use your powerful and long-range acid/neurotoxin "bombs" to quickly destroy the strongest of fortifications and attack humans. Use your acid/neurotoxin spray that covers the ground and stuns everything that walks on it and invokes area-denial. | Hard |
 Ravager |
Offence: The bringer of death. Very powerful claws, and able to charge to close short distances. | Hard |
 Crusher |
Offensive Support: Weaker in melee than the Ravager, but able to run much faster, deflect bullets using the enlarged and hardened head crest, and charge through enemy defenses. An immunity to explosions makes minesweeping a useful tactic. | Hard |
Tier 4 Evolution
| Job | Role | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
 Queen |
Lead the hive. | Very Hard |
How To Infect Hosts
One of the Hive's most important duties is reproduction. The Alien life cycle is complicated.
Eggs
The Queen should lay as many eggs as possible. Eggs have several functions. First, egg fields are basically minefields. If hosts run near eggs without clearing them out, they'll get hugged and infected. The Queen should lay eggs in important defensive positions. Second, eggs provide ammunition for the Hive. Aliens, especially Carriers, will grab facehuggers and fling them at hosts. More eggs means more ammo. Third, eggs are necessary for infecting captured hosts.
Using Facehuggers
Hosts can get hugged actively or passively. Hosts walking through mature egg fields will get attacked by facehuggers and infected. Or, aliens can fling facehuggers at hosts to actively cause an infection. A helmet can stop one or more facehugger attacks, so be ready to attack with more than one. Once attached, a facehugger will stun its host. Once a host is infected, the aliens will become aware of any baby sister inside through an icon. The icon gets bigger as it matures.
Moving Hosts
A host can be dragged to a new location by ctrl-clicking on the host. Certain aliens can also devour a host (click the host with grab intent active and then click yourself) and regurgitate it (use the regurgitate button in the [ALIEN] tab) after carrying it to a nest. Carrying it inside is faster. A devoured host will die at some point between 15 and 30 seconds inside an alien, so be careful holding them too long.
Securing Hosts
It may not be necessary to secure small hosts (like monkeys) into a nest. These hosts are not dangerous and the young chestburster may still grow and develop. Still, a clean Hive is a happy Hive.
Dangerous hosts (like Marines) should be secured into a nest. Otherwise, they'll run or shoot up the Hive. This is very bad. A Drone, Hivelord, or Queen should set up nests for dangerous hosts using the [secrete resin] function. These nests should be in a secure location, away from the center of the Hive, and away from any young chestbursters. Move the host to the nest. Then click the host and drag it onto the nest. A Drone, Hivelord, or Queen should then use the secure host button to restrain the host with resin handcuffs. This takes several seconds and can be interrupted. Beware, dangerous hosts can and will escape the resin cuffs. Be ready to secure these hosts again if they're re-captured after escape.
Injured hosts are less dangerous. But injure them too much and they'll die before their time. Should hosts be injured just enough to make it impossible for them to escape? Maybe rip off their hands or feet?
Guarding Hosts
At least one Sentinel, Spitter, or Praetorian should guard these hosts until their usefulness ends. The [spit neurotoxin] function is made for this because it stuns the host until they can be placed back in a nest and secured. Hosts can also be tackled by clicking on them with (Disarm or Grab?) intent. This stuns the host.
The area surrounding these nests should be constructed to provide maximum safety. A checkerboard pattern is regularly used. See Drone Tactics. Place a single door, and put four nests adjacent to it. (Above, Below, Left, & Right). Then surround those nests with doors. This allows Sentinel castes to guard all four nests by standing in that initial door. There are other effective methods, including building nests next to solid walls or walling off small rooms full of nests with only one exit.
After Birth
Listen to the screams and celebrate the birth! Prepare the nest for another host. Dead hosts can be eaten. Move any unconscious chestbursters to a nursery. This should be located in the most secure part of the Hive.
Tips
- Plant Weeds often to spread weeds as far as possible. Plasma is the life force of the xenomorph.
- Aliens only heal when standing on weeds, and some castes will die slowly if they've been off of it for too long or knocked unconscious.
- If you are injured, you will regenerate plasma at a much slower rate.
- Live to fight again. Fall back to weeds when wounded. Heal up before re-joining a battle.
- Aliens do not need to breathe. You can traverse open (and oxygenated) space without permanent damage.
- As a Queen, there is no greater advantage you can give your brood than to plant as many eggs as possible. Not only is it an excellent defence, but a powerful weapon when your sisters have access to facehuggers to immobilize their prey.
- Remember you are in a hivemind, you have no free will.