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The Hive
The Queen, the Hivelord and the Drone all share the ability to secrete resin in a manner which allows them to create structures. This ability is incredibly important, as this will enable them to develop Hives, large resin chambers in which Xenomorphs can live, recover and gather hosts. This environment hostile to non-Xenomorphs can also be used as a defensive position, allowing Xenomorphs to shape the battle to their will 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, where weeds are first planted to accommodate local structures, and those weeds then serve as the foundation for other, more complex structures.
Resin is relatively sturdy, able to sustain some punishment from firearms, explosive shockwaves and sharp weapons before falling apart. It is however notably vulnerable to fire. Resin structures can only be placed on a stable surface without existing foliage. Artificial flooring and sand are two notable examples of surfaces that can be used. Grass and any tiles containing water are notable surfaces that won't be usable.
Only one resin structure may inhabit a chosen tile, not counting 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 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Resin Weeds are secreted from a special Resin Sac that you will regurgitate and place on the ground. From there, it will spread weeds step by step in a small, circular radius until finally dying out. 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, with only the actual Resin Sac showing a minute resistance to attacks. 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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| Resin Wall | Uses | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Resin Walls are another important part of the Hive. Rarely will existing terrain be perfect for the Xeno'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. |
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| 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 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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| 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. |
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| Resin Door | Uses | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Resin Doors are specially crafted resin membranes, allowing Xenomorphs 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 Xenomorphs. 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 Xenomorph. |
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| Resin Nest | Uses | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Resin Nests are an important structure for Hive nurseries, allowing Xenomorphs 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 Xenomorph 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 long and arduous to break out on his own, it is effortless for him to be cut out by someone else, making them fairly useless if not guarded or left to the enemy. A skillful Xenomorph might still manage to use one as a trap of sorts, although it will only work on downed targets. |
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| Sticky Resin | Uses | Image |
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| 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 Xenomorphs 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. |
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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.