The queen is the most vital member of the hive. She has the ridiculously important job of producing twice as many eggs as a small country in one half the time. The queen is incredibly tough, does immense damage, can gib any hostile it gets its claws on, has a paralytic scream attack, and gets swanky purple text in the hivemind chat. But with great power comes great responsibility, and often times we see it misused. Lets take a look first at tactics necessary for queen survival.
Tactics
As the queen, you can soak an incredible number of hits. Unfortunately, you are also slow and have a large hitbox, which if you are not careful can allow humans to hit you around corners. Remember, any tile your sprite is on is a tile you can be injured from. The queen needs to fight in cramped environments where the marines cannot focus fire upon her, as in the open she will quickly be torn to shreds by marines who can run faster than her, meaning all of them. However, your disarm timer is also rather long. If you manage to somehow catch a marine, perhaps by cornering him or surprising him, you have the potential to drag him into an egg chamber for instant infection, or just shove him in a nest if he was trying to escape. Your screech is an amazing crowd control tool, and you should not be afraid to engage in combat with the rest of the hive during a hive defense. Your purpose should be to warn the hive when you are about to screech, then run in and do it once they are in position. This will stun every marine and turn an assault into a rout.
When the hive is not under attack, you should be shoving out eggs rapidly. If someone wants jelly, ask them to give you some plasma first to pay for it, shits expensive.
Social Behavior
Okay, lets get this part out of the way: As the Queen, yes, technically everyone in the hive has to do what you say.
AH AH AH! NO! CLOSE BYOND RIGHT NOW AND FINISH READING!
This is the part that some people never read past. You can recognize these people because they treat the other alien players like slaves and never listen to anything they say.
An important thing to remember is that the aliens are a HIVEMIND. They are not "One Mind, Many Bodies". A Hivemind is a collective intelligence, that means that as the queen, you are actually the member of the hive with the LEAST personality. You are a reflection of every member of the hive. That doesn't mean you shouldn't give orders, but it does mean you should listen to the other aliens. Ten heads think better than one, and they're your eyes and ears. Refusing to listen to the other aliens is like putting a blindfold on.
Another important thing to remember is that while the other castes have to do what you say, they don't have to like it. They can bitch and moan and make your life a living hell by generally not giving it their all if they don't like you. As the queen, you need to be... NICE. The aliens have to LIKE YOU. If they don't, you're in for a real shitty time with a lot of fighting.
The number one rule of Queen has nothing to do with how you fight, or how you build your hive, the number one rule of playing Queen is:
BE POLITE
As the queen, you're a monarch, not a dictator. Whats the difference?
Well, a monarch does rule through worldly might, but also through charisma. Do you know what tends to happen when a Monarch is hated by the people he or she rules? The French Revolution, that's what. Now, obviously we can't rebel in this game quite so drastically, but aliens who hate the queen are demoralized, their behavior is erratic, and I'm not talking lore wise. When you hate your commanders guts, you will, at least subconsciously, perform WORSE.
A Dictator rules through purely military strength, a Dictator is not a leader, as the Monarch is, but a parasite, a leech on society.
So how do you separate the good queens from the bad ones? Well, here is a checklist that will henceforth be referred to as "The Shit List". If you score higher than a 5 on the Shit List, you need to check your behavior.
- The Queen insults the lower castes regularly
The Queen orders any lower caste member who disagrees or criticizes them to cease talking (NINE THOUSAND ONE POINTS!!! You do this, you're on the shit list, immediately, unless other members of the hive are telling that certain alien to be quiet)
The Queen refuses to even acknowledge suggestions from the lower castes
The Queen gives orders contradictory to the purpose of the caste (Ordering runners to play hive guard, ordering drones to capture hosts) (TRIPLE POINTS!)
The Queen expresses contempt for the lower castes
The Queen insults lower caste members who die in battle
The Queen refuses any responsibility for their failure (ONE HUNDRED POINTS! You cannot command the hive and not be willing to accept responsibility for your failures.)
The Queen refuses to allow the members of the hive to hunt at all, and keeps everyone inside even when a siege is not taking place (Only applicable when the number of aliens is greater than ten) (Triple Points!)
The Queen gives contradictory orders, or impossible orders, such as ordering the Aliens to only kill in defense of the hive and then setting slashing to Not Allowed. (ALPHA ONLY)
This is sort of a "How Not To Get Your Ass Kicked By The Police" for aliens. Avoid the aforementioned behaviors, and the Hive will be a happier, more productive place.
