The next big update on my end is the Yautja Update. Yay! I'm sure many of you have already seen them in-game before now in various incarnations. You can forget all of that because they're fairly different now.
Here's how the Predators are going to work.
Each time an LV624 round begins, there is a roughly 25% chance of it being flagged as a "Predator round". This means that during the round start, up to 3 players who are: a) readied up, b) have their Predator preferences toggled on, and c) are whitelisted for Yautja will be randomly selected to become the Predators. They spawn on their own ship and must first ready their equipment and so on. The Predators have a teleporter to head to the planet surface.
This is a standard Yautja hunting party. In our theme, the Predators arrived on the planet many thousands of years ago to hunt the existing Xenomorph hive. After the area being abandoned, the awakening of the hive by Weyland-Yutani has enticed more Yautja to show up. What this means is that the Yautja in this area know hardly anything about humans, and therefore their primary goals are to observe, rather than actually hunt, until more information is known about both sides.
What does this mean in game terms? First, the Predators cannot leave their ship before the -30- minute mark. Use this time to RP with your fellow Predators, to practice your abilities, and to select a good set of starter equipment. It's a small price to pay for being able to play one, honestly, and it gives the humans and xenos a much needed head start.
Second, the Predators are not mindless killing machines. They are there primarily for a fair (or lopsided against themselves) fight. Most of the complaints about people breaking the Predator honor code have been coded out and the vast majority of Predator equipment has been nerfed or recoded significantly.
So how does it work for you, the player?
First, if you are whitelisted for Predator you'll see an additional option at the top of the character setup screen. This will let you select your predator's name and gender (other prefs might be forthcoming in the future). In the setup screen as well alongside the Survivor, Alien spawns in the bottom right, is Spawn As Predator, which must be toggled on.
If all goes according to plan, you'll spawn in the Predator ship as a yautja. Take the time to examine your equipment and the layout of the ship, and if there's any fellow predators, talk with them. When you're ready to select your equipment loadout, in the Yautja pane you will see "Claim Equipment". This will allow you to pick 1 out of a list of heavy melee weapons, and 2 out of a list of miscellaneous items. You can only select this ONCE per round.
Once the Predators reach the surface, your first goal will always be to secure a hunting lodge. Predators never hunt without a camp sight, and there will always be someone there guarding their trophies. This is the "last stand" location and should never fall into enemy hands. The temple in the northeast of the ground map is the usual place, as it is the older Yautja lodge from millenia ago.
When you hunt, bear in mind a few things:
Needless slaughter is not honorable. If the enemy cannot fight back, it is not a fair fight.
Genocide means you cannot hunt that species any longer. Do not hunt anything to extinction.
It is extremely dishonorable to kill while cloaked, unless it is not a hunt, but a battle -> being surrounded by xenomorphs for example, or attempting to escape an unexpected situation. Attacking while cloaked, such as to throw harpoons, is acceptable, but using the plasma caster or other ranged weapons is not. Cloaks are dropped when you fire weapons anyway, and there is also now a delay before it can be re-activated.
Hellhounds must follow your every command without complaint. You can't understand them, but they can understand you. Try not to give them conflicting orders. If your hound is being a worthless shit, just adminhelp and we'll replace them for you. Yes, hellhounds are a thing. They have the same RP standards as you do, so control them.
Never hunt without knowing everything there is to know about your opponents. Study them and share information with your fellow hunters. It is honorable to escape a battle if the only true reason for it was to test your opponents strength. Retreating from the same opponent twice is shameful.
Humans are NOT your friends. They are at best slaves and at worst dangerous psychopaths. If one insults or challenges you, kill them. If they're killing lots of xenomorphs, it makes them better prey, so feel free to targets them more. If they interrupt your hunt, it is perfectly acceptable to hunt them down in retaliation.
So! TLDR, you will be seeing Preds bit lot more often, but they're a bit weaker and wimpier than you remember, and admins don't have to spawn them by hand.
Also, don't worry Xenos, your big update is coming soon. I promise!
Gahn'tha-cte Bhu'ja: Honorable duelist, beserker charger, jungle hunter.
