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Difficulty: Medium Supervisors: Queen Rank: Not defined Duties: Grow the Hive, create defenses, secure hosts Guides: N/A Unlock Requirements: Not available. Detailed Description: Not defined |__________| |
Playing a Drone
As a Drone, your job is to assist the Queen in growing and reinforcing the hive. To this end, the Drone has the ability to shape structures out of resin by spending Plasma. The Drone has a moderate Plasma regeneration rate (and a cap of 750), deals little damage, and has little chance to disarm. Their movement speed is normal for Aliens, which is slightly slower than that of a Marine.
Drones can create resin structures through the spending of Plasma. For a list of structures that Drones can create, check out the Hives page.
Your sole job is to help grow the Hive, build defenses, and support the Queen. You should be aiming to continue to expand the Hive and ensure it's as reinforced as possible. Spread weeds across the hive and planet. You should also help secure captured hosts and ensure they can't escape, run around causing damage, or suicide. Escaped tallhosts are very bad.
When the round starts, the Hive usually needs at least two Drones. One Drone should become a Queen. Other aliens should search out and secure any local lifeforms for impregnation. The Drones should help create the new Hive, spreading out weeds around the local area.
Pheromones
Pheromones also affect the emitter! What does each pheromone do?
- Recovery: Increases heath regeneration, plasma regeneration on weeds, reduces stun times of affected Xenos
- Guard: Reduces damage taken
- Frenzy: Improves movement speed, damage, and tackle chance.
If a Xeno is injured, use recovery. Also use recovery to keep the pressure up if there's a skirmish. If there's a big push or fighting on grass, use guard. Frenzy may be most useful during an attack, trying to contain escaped hosts, or moving around the map with high plasma.
Drone Evolution
Drones can evolve into one of three possible castes:
The Queen, if needed. Enough said.
The Carrier is a more combat-oriented caste, and gains the ability to store 6 facehuggers for throwing. The Carrier can throw further and more accurately using the throw-facehugger verb (or by Middle-Clicking, if it is enabled in the Alien tab). These facehuggers are thrown directly from the Carrier's storage.
The Hivelord is a more effective Hive builder. They are bigger and slower, but gain much faster Plasma regeneration and the important ability to dig tunnels from one location to another.
Drones may upgrade. Upgraded Drones may still evolve into a Queen, as needed. But upgraded Drones can ONLY evolve into a Queen - not to Carrier or Hivelord.
Drone Tactics
- Build Hives with narrow corridors and fairly small rooms. The Marines are fast and have powerful ranged weapons, so force them to fight in tight spaces and on your terms. Covering floors with sticky resin adds to your advantage. In large open areas, build walls to block lines of sight and for your sisters to hide behind. Avoid using multiple layers of doors or making the Hive too tight and confusing.
- Build nests for dangerous hosts (humans) in a checkered fashion. 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 when standing in that initial door.
- When the assault begins, tag along at a distance unless you are needed to guard hosts. You are not a front-line combatant, but you may be needed to plant weeds, build defenses, and share plasma.
- When the full Hive is defending/attacking (boarding the Almayer, for example), Drones should to be in second line, placing weeds and nests as the main forces advance. Also, listen carefully to hivemind; place weeds and nests on request.