Lack of xeno players

[Polkjm]

Not enough people actually play xeno. At the start of a round, we're lucky if there's 7-8 xenos, whilst marines often get 30+ players.

This means we are left with a large amount of useless larvae for the majority of every round, which is pretty bad.

Part of the reason for this, in my opinion, is the almost complete lack of a Xenomorph community. It's painfully easy to see: 35 posts in the xeno forum, and 240+ on the marines forum. This is counting the fact that many posts on the xeno forum are made by marine players.

Why? Because people simply don't like playing xeno that much. I personally love xenomorphs, but when I see the amount of fun stuff and fun rp human players can have, I can't help but feel jealous.

But, the main problem, I feel, is the fact that xenos don't have names. It feels really bad when you play a game with such a small community for months on end, but get zero recognition for it, and feel like you're not even part of a community. It's really not surprising that xeno players only make up about 20% of the "community".

[Sargeantmuffinman]

Not when it's high pop.

Low pop, yeah.

[Rain7x]

7-8 xenos at the start of a round is normal, and really the 30+ marines won't rush the caves until usually after 12:45, and by that point there's more than 7-8 and you can get T3's. Kind of a non-issue

[Polkjm]

At the midgame it's about 60 vs 22 usually, with about 12-15 inactive larvae. It's not a very big issue but there's still a very real lack of xeno players. A lot of people who latejoin as xeno are dead marines, too.

[Toroic]

I agree it's a problem and I agree it comes down to not knowing each other, I recommend liberal use of looc to introduce yourself

[NoahKirchner]

I agree it's a problem and I agree it comes down to not knowing each other, I recommend liberal use of looc to introduce yourself

Does only speaking in memes over hivechat let people know that I'm the queen, or does that not count?

[Butterrobber202]

inb4 Xeno Name suggestion returns

[Polkjm]

inb4 Xeno Name suggestion returns

Kinda trying to keep the conversation going about it because at this rate I'm thinking of switching to marine for good after all this time.

[Toroic]

Kinda trying to keep the conversation going about it because at this rate I'm thinking of switching to marine for good after all this time.

That's sad but it happens.

It's possible to get to know other xenos, and discord has a hive channel.

[Butterrobber202]

Id be happy if they'd just let us choose a 3 character combo

[Jakers457]

I haven't really played xeno's since pre-alpha. When most of them weren't the size of dinosaurs. And it's not because there's a lack of names or what not, just simply because the gameplay and meta simply doesn't appeal to me anymore. Plus I have most of my macros set up for marines, having to have a different set of macros to keep up with the latest xenos strats seems like a pain to me

[Simo94]

how about we choose the xeno number, each number chosen is exclusive to u from 1 to 999, and ofc ban the meme numbers like 69 and 666

[Liran343]

how about we choose the xeno number, each number chosen is exclusive to u from 1 to 999, and ofc ban the meme numbers like 69 and 666

+1

[wastedfate]

IMO a large part of the reason nobody plays Xeno is that it's entirely marine-killing-focused. Xeno RP is minimal, limited only to speaking differently, which in itself gets tiring. There is a little differentiation between each caste, but in the end, with the exception of drone, they are all killers, they just kill a little differently. Even as a drone there's little room for creativity or finesse in your creations. Nests are always checkerbox nests, the rest of the hive is your own creative amalgamation of resin doors and sticky resin, the only two building blocks worth using.

You can stray from these norms, but the rest of the hive always complains. You just tirelessly gather hosts, and it's the same thing every round. Same hive location, same problems, same players. Try stopping for a moment to have a conversation, try building something new, try leading a team, you will get shit for it.

Whereas as a human, you're free to pick whatever role you want, pursue whatever goal you want, and play the game your way. So it shouldn't really be surprising that Xeno really only attracts players who are dead marines, or are entirely Competitive(PVP) focused. Sometimes people want a break from marine, and they go xeno, but it doesn't usually last.

[Simo94]

IMO a large part of the reason nobody plays Xeno is that it's entirely marine-killing-focused. Xeno RP is minimal, limited only to speaking differently, which in itself gets tiring. There is a little differentiation between each caste, but in the end, with the exception of drone, they are all killers, they just kill a little differently. Even as a drone there's little room for creativity or finesse in your creations. Nests are always checkerbox nests, the rest of the hive is your own creative amalgamation of resin doors and sticky resin, the only two building blocks worth using.

You can stray from these norms, but the rest of the hive always complains. You just tirelessly gather hosts, and it's the same thing every round. Same hive location, same problems, same players. Try stopping for a moment to have a conversation, try building something new, try leading a team, you will get shit for it.

Whereas as a human, you're free to pick whatever role you want, pursue whatever goal you want, and play the game your way. So it shouldn't really be surprising that Xeno really only attracts players who are dead marines, or are entirely Competitive(PVP) focused. Sometimes people want a break from marine, and they go xeno, but it doesn't usually last.

thats why xenos have and SHOULD have a higher win rate, cuz at times its the only attractive thing about them, in the end no one wants to be the bad ''guy''

[Renomaki]

thats why xenos have and SHOULD have a higher win rate, cuz at times its the only attractive thing about them, in the end no one wants to be the bad ''guy''

In SS13, EVERYONE wants to be the bad guy, because then you have more freedom to cause havoc and have fun without getting punished (within reason, of course).

Here in CM, Xenos are easy to learn, easy to use, easier to coordinate attacks, etc etc.. In general, being a xeno is way easier than being a marine, and I think that could be one of the reasons WHY xenos aren't as popular. Given enough time, even a mere runner can become a deadly threat that can slaughter marines with ease with a bit of practice.

Meanwhile, marines are complicated, hard to control (which is saying something, since it is a regular issue queens have to deal with in their own hives), and even if huggers weren't a thing, could easily die by having their arms and legs torn off by elite hunters or ravagers, or melted into puddles by spitters or boilers. Combine that with poor leadership and a lack of night vision and you have a bunch of bumbling idiots who blow themselves up with their own landmines on a regular basis.

This is why winning as a marine is more thrilling than as a xeno, because oftentimes it seems xenos are just handed victory on a silver platter, while marines have to bake that sweet, sweet victory themselves and hope they got the recipe right, to which they mostly fail because they just refuse to figure out the obvious and just keep throwing things into the mix to see what works. Hell, some victories were just blind luck.. And that kinda makes marine wins all the more interesting, because it is uncommon. Not RARE.. Just uncommon

And of course, there are some of the more common issues, such as the sameness of their tactics, the small selection of castes to choose from, the lack of downtime to allow for social interaction, etc etc.

I myself play xeno every now and then when I join in half an hour late, and sometimes even roll roundstart xeno, and while it is a nice change of pace to be a super-powered killing machine once in awhile, it is often more satisfying attempting to slit the queen's throat with a bootknife as a marine, knowing full well how stupid it is.

[Simo94]

CM players are much more simple than that really, they get to shoot guns and have cool reloading and shotty pump sounds as marine, they dont as xeno, dont think anyone comes to CM for roleplay options, not the majority atleast

[apophis775]

Lol, part of it is the Xeno Start Cap Limit
30 Marines limits it to 8 xenos.

It's how the game works. If Xenos ever outnumber the marines, it's basically GG.

[Polkjm]

It's true that the game is basically designed to have less xeno players... But that makes little sense from a game design perspective, unless less people WANT to play xenomorph, which is actually the case.

[Simo94]

its not just the system cap, there is 5+ larvas just laying around most of the time

[Sailor Dave]

I do think that fighting a losing battle as a xeno is actually a much more entertaining experience than just curbstomping the marines all the way to the nexus/sulaco. I find it pretty boring to be xeno when we're just winning, winning, winning.
One part of the problem, I think, is the location. These days, xenos only set up hives in the northeast because of how much better a hive location it is compared to northwest. The tunnel, the tighter spaces, a lot of things come together.

I would like for the northwest section of the map to get some love so it becomes a favorable position to set up, but that's probably not too likely at the moment. It's only part of the problem anyway. I dunno, something about playing xenos just feels.. Unsatisfying. Maybe it's because of hugger combat, I'm not sure.

[Liran343]

heh.. I don't know what's so bad about hugger combat. All you need to do as a marine to not get your face violated is to make sure you have a helmet and not out alone in the dark. simple as it sounds.

And you can't blame the xenos for actively pursuing you to get facehhuged... it's not like they can lure a squad of marines to an egg infested field and just expect the marines not to use their grenade launchers to get rid of the eggs.

[apophis775]

7-8 Xenos I think is the scale limit for 50 players.

[Liran343]

7-8 Xenos I think is the scale limit for 50 players.

Isn't it for every 4 marines one xeno spawns at round start?

[Jackie Estegado]

You can usually recognize me by the constant amount of swearing towards basicaly everyone that is not competent and that I get half of the captured marines.