So your not robust or suicidal enough to pick runner, and you don't want to be bored to death being a drone. Welcome to the Spitin' Lizards, sister.
This guide is going to help you avoid being alien shitcurity, and be the best damn guardians there ever was. I'll be covering Larva, Sentinels, Spitters, Praetorians, Boilers, and other helpful information essential to being a xeno.
THE CASTE ITSELF
In case you don't know how you ended up here, notice how I said Defensive Caste. That's because all aliens in this caste are usually defending the hive, infested hosts, the queen, or something else important. You're going to be pretty shitty trying to play offense because if you do you're going to get mowed down due to your slow speed and low health.
As a rule of thumb, keep atleast one facehugger in your claws at all times. They stun marines in the short term, and give you more aliens in the long term. Always handy to have around, although many would say aliens are way too focused on facehuggers, that's for another thread.
If you ever do engage in combat, say Alpha squad is attacking the hive, the queen ordered to siege the FOB or attack the sulaco, keep these tips in mind:
- WEEDS. Always stay on weeds. If you're fighting somewhere that DOESN'T have weeds, be prepared to dart the fuck out whenever your health falls below 60%. Then yell at the drones and carriers to fucking PLANT MORE WEEDS.
- Stealth. "The darkness is a Xenomorph's greatest ally," this can't be more true than it is in CM. See that "Toggle darkvision" button in the Alien tab? That button is going to be your best friend soon enough. If you have macros, macro it. Use it whenever you're anywhere you think has lights, and even places where you don't think there's lights. Marines can't see you in the dark, though if you get detected they'll start blindfiring into the abyss.
- Zig-zag and Cover. Ever play an FPS and die because a sniper got you? How do you avoid that? The most reliable thing to do to NOT DIE when you're being shot at is to run behind something the bullets won't penetrate, like a metal wall or even a resin wall. More on resin later. If you don't have cover, then run in unpredictable directions so they can't shoot you. Be mindful of where the bullets are though, don't do a big circle just so you can run into a pulse round and explode.
- OTHER ALIENS. Your sisters are your other greatest ally, especially because as a defensive alien your role is largely support. Wounded? Pull back behind your friends. Spit neurotoxin on a marine and see them get facehugged with ease. Communicate with them and make sure they know what they're doing if they're in your hunting party.
LARVA, "TECHNICALLY NOT IN THIS CASTE" CHESTBURSTER
Yay, you're an alien larva. There isn't much to say about larva, they murder hosts as they exit them and scurry off to bother the queen about jelly.
Here's what you should be doing as a larva,
- IF YOUR HOST WAS IN THE HIVE OR OTHER SECURED LOCATION
When you know what the hive is about, go find the queen. By this time you should be ready to evolve, and ask her what the hive needs. If she doesn't respond, us the "Hive Status" verb in the alien tab to find out what the hive needs most.
Just try not to bother the queen with "JELLY MAMMY" because larva can't consume jelly until they're an adult.
When you ARE an adult, though. get jelly as soon as possible. Jelly evolution takes a long time, and you should get started on it the sooner, the better.
- IF YOUR HOST IS NOT IN THE HIVE OR OTHER SECURED LOCATION (see: OR1)
TICK THE FUCKING "HIDE" VERB. Go under a table, wooden barricade, whatever. Your sprite goes under whatever else is on the tile with you. Unless a marine right clicks or alt clicks, they won't find you.
ALT CLICK TO FIND VENTS. If you're on the sulaco this will be your lifeline. Vents can go anywhere and everywhere, just be mindful that marines might start welding them like they don't need to breathe anymore if they see you using them.
When that's out of the way and you managed to escape whatever marines composed your host's squad, get your little tail to the hive so you don't get discovered by a wandering patrol and die. When you're at the hive, see above.
TIER 1, THE SENTINEL
You've officially chosen the path of the spit, and are now a Sentinel.
You have a neat half-jogging sprite, rectangular head, and two sets of teeth, apparently. That or you keep your mouth open all the time. Either way, you're a Sentinel. Keeper of the Hive, Warden of the Infested. Yep, that's right. Warden. That's what your job is essentially.
You'll be guarding hosts and preventing them from escaping and causing damage to themselves, other hosts, or the hive. To aid you in this task, you have the ability to spit neurotoxin that, if it hits a human, instantly stuns them for a short time. This especially helps if the hive is for whatever reason, wide open space.
Spitters will probably be around to help you if they aren't busy hunting, but Praetorians will be busy with the queen most of the time, unless she's in the hive, in which case they'll also be helping you. Boilers will either be waiting in the hive being useless or on the assault with the hunting castes, they're not very dependable for hive security, but that's not their job anyway.
If there is command, the chain of command goes like this: Larva, Sentinel, Spitter, Praetorian/Boiler, Queen, Empress, Queen Mother.
Those last two aren't important because they don't exist on LV-624.
So what should you be doing? Most of the time you should stay in the hive watching hosts and acting as defenders should the hive come under attack by anything.
There isn't really that much to it. Unless you're a sentinel during roundstart, in which case you should be either giving plasma to the queen and drones to build the hive, or helping the runners with small furry hosts.
TIER 2, THE SPITTER
So you've evolved by use of royal jelly. You're now slightly slower than a sentinel, but you are far better at spitting, and can switch between your base, non-lethal neurotoxin spit, and a lethal acid glob. By now you're either doing the tasks of a glorified sentinel or running around with hunters to help them with capturing hosts.
If you are hunting though, be aware that you are SLOW AS FUCK. Not boiler levels of slow, but in comparison to everyone else, you're fairly goddamn slow.
Your acid glob is useful in situations where you can't grab hosts either because they're behind a table barricade or there's so many hosts that you'd die if you tried to drag them off.
TIER 3, THE PRAETORIAN
Congratulations, you survived long enough to evolve into one of the tier 3s. That's not hard when you sit in the hive all day, but either way, you're a praetorian now.
Do you love the queen? This is a good role for you then, as praetorians are tasked with defending the queen and the more sensitive areas of the hive.
You still keep your spit, both types from when you were a spitter, and now you also have the ability to secrete Pheromones to aid your sisters.
There is three types of pheromones
Frenzy, it helps during attacks and general combat
Guarding, it also helps during combat, but is more focused on defending an area.
Recovery, which boosts health and plasma regeneration. Recovery pheromones are powerful and can save lives if used well.
Pheromones don't stack, and are best when used in combination with each other. Other praetorians can make pheromones, of course, but the Queen, Carrier, and Drones can also secrete the same pheromones you have. The only downside to pheromones is that it constantly drains your plasma, so make sure you're on weeds when you use them.
You, as a tier 3, also have a hardened exoskeleton. It gives you a chance to deflect bullets, and once in a blue moon, rockets, but don't depend on that unless you're the only thing standing between the queen and a murderous squad of marines. As I said, the best way to not get hurt, is to use cover and darkness.
TIER 3, THE BOILER
So you like being a walking, living piece of biological artillery? So do I.
The most notable differences between you and the praetorian, is, well, everything. You're absolutely shit at doing anything except bombardment, you glow in the dark, which cancels out anything you get from hiding in darkness, and you have no hardened exoskeleton to speak of.
Although you have lost your projectile spit in favor of bombardment, you do have an acid spray now. This is essentially an alien flamethrower. Great for area denial in tight spaces, acid spray can save your life if you're being chased by marines.
Your bombardment, like the spit, has nonlethal neurotoxin gas, and lethal acid clouds. Most of the time you should be using the lethal acid, it burns the skin and demoralizes marines, and injures them, but you need around six concentrated acid shots to kill anyone outright. However if you're mopping up remnants or if your escorts can facehug everyone in time, nonlethal gas can be handy. It knocks out marines for a short time, like an area of effect neurotoxic spit.
Do you have a boiler friend? Stand side by side and stagger your fire. Rotational boiler acid is one of the best ways to break a FOB.
THE HIVE AND YOU
This is your home. Your domain. Your realm. I'll now tell you some of the most common constructions and how they work, aswell as the resin itself.
- Resin Door: Resin doors are pretty weak, but unlike walls, they allow aliens, and only aliens, to pass through them like a door. You also can't see through them, and nor can the hosts.
- Resin Wall: Resin walls are the bread and butter of the hive's foundations. They're the strongest resin available, and although that's not saying much, they can be destroyed in about five pulse rifle shots, they're better cover than nothing. Like doors, you can't see through them either.
