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 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
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.	Any Xenomorph 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 Xenomorph 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 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.	Completely blocks line of sight. Xenomorphs can use their special vision to see mobs through them regardless. Sturdiest structure available to the Xenomorphs, 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 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.	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)	Allows vision through, while giving the same protection as a resin wall.

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. Hivelords can make construct or upgrade existing resin doors to make them stronger (there is no name or skin change for upgraded doors).	Allows Xenomorphs to pass through somewhat seamlessly while denying access to humans unless destroyed. Less sturdy than a wall, but capable of holding its own against limited punishment.

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 impossible to break out on his own, it is effortless for him to be cut out by someone else. Hence these nests are only allowed to be built near the queen herself, while she is alive.	Allows the Hive to secure hosts for incubation. Increases Xeno Embryo growth. Can only be built in a 15 tile radius near the queen in ovipositor mode. 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 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.	Slows down and even halts non-Xenomorph 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 xenomorph. This allows Xenomorphs 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.	Speeds up down Xenomorph 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 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.