Queen Tips and Tricks

[GarlicBread]

In light of the other thread on how to be a better slave to the will of the Space Empress, this one is how to be a better Matriarch

Starter Tips

1. Lay eggs- this is VITAL for the survival of your hive, no eggs = no huggers = no infections = no larvae = you lose. There is no point to your role without a good surplus of eggs to back your hive up

2. Set HIVE Orders- it is important to put relevant information to these, especially for new larvae joining midgame as it can help orient them, eg. Runners scout/ get furry hosts avoid Nexus and Engineering/ Do not Engage Tallhosts alone/ Runners team with spitters

3.Develop your hive - your likely going to be spending alot of the early game in the hive pooping out eggs and jelly, likely you may not have a spare drone to help you, but you are a Plasma Regen machine and as such build a few SECURE nests and lay some doors and sticky resin tactically to hinder attackers

4. Don't go alone - The Queen is a tank, and moves like one sure you have a screech but the stun will probably be up by the time your able to go about 3 tiles and marines can run circles around your slow ass, get a couple of T2s or T3s to follow you around when you venture out into the wild because if you die its a long 10 minutes before Drone (1-7-incompetent) can evolve to take your place

5. ask for updates - Its important to know whats happening where, are marines scouting or crossing the river, are they stting up an FOB is there a lone marine or 2 chilling out having brewskies in the meddome and Runner (69) is not letting anyone in on the know? Well funnily enough everything you say is in a BIG PURPLE FONT and if they are keeping you in the loop then everyone else in the hivemind is also in on the loop, a hivemind that talks is a hivemind that's smart

Anyway, leave your sick Queen tips here too

[Azmodan412]

You are literally the fucking hive's eggslut. Do your job. Occasionally pop out some jelly for those MOTHERFUCKING RUNNERS WHO DIE NIGH INSTANTLY! Otherwise, eggs eggs eggs. You better be thinking about nothing but egg based food. Egg. Slut. Oh and Praetorians are a thing. Let them do their job and guard your slow ass.

Edit/Pro Tip: FOR THE LOVE OF THE MATRIARCH-MOTHER, DO NOT RP LAYING EGGS! It will get you bwoinked.

[Steven Sneider]

When attacking and using screech,dont block the way for other aliens to swarm the stunned marines.

[Toroic]

Control who evolves to T2/T3.

Sentinel evolve fastest, but rushing two praetorians is godawful. Drones evolve the slowest, and usually there aren't T2 slots left unless the queen forces one to stay open, or the second wave of xenos pop from monkeys.

Upgraded spitters are great, early crusher (yes I'm biased) is good, early hivelord is also helpful.

[Nyvrem]

If your plasma is ever about to hit max, fucking lay eggs. No matter where you are, eggs are always nice.

Also make it abundantly clear that you don't want three boilers or otherwise you will, for a fact, get three boilers.

[Toroic]

I wanted to address things that I've noticed as being a problem in multiple games, and some of them are particularly a problem on ice colony.

1) Slashing should be enabled right after all the monkeys are gathered, otherwise unnecessary xeno deaths will happen.

2) The primary purpose of the queen is to stay alive. Marines have gotten skilled with timing out grenades to keep a queen stunned until her death. At no point should you be roaming the surface/outside the caves alone.

3) Do not order attacks on marines simply because you are aware of their situation. Half the hive often dies on ill-advised assaults with young xenos on fortified positions. You don't know your enemy, let the scouts recommend attacks when they see vulnerability. Xenos have to obey, even when given poorly concieved orders. Sun Tzu says that to know your enemy and to know yourself is how to achieve victory, and that the best warriors put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat and prepare for oppurtinities to sieze victory. Ordering attacks with insufficient forces or out of boredom is poor leadership. Ice colony's surface is basically a land war in Russia. Difficult terrain, broken supply lines, heavy losses on the attacking side.

4) Hives in areas that can be hit with an orbital barrage is a good way to get yourself and other xenos killed. Diverting drone time and effort to a "forward hive" when the core hive isn't fortified with secure nests for captured marines Is a good way to have all the larva killed.

[Reuben Owen]

Seriously for a Queen, if you're just sitting there with full plasma, you may as well poop out a few jellys eggs. They'll get used and it'll be less likely you'll have runners other xenos asking you for them later.

[Renomaki]

While I don't play queen a whole lot, I might as well share some personal tips of my own that I think are good.

1: Don't cluster all your eggs too closely. I prefer to lay eggs with one empty space between them, making it so that not only do they cover more ground for less, it also makes it harder for marines to clear them out with bombs and flamethrowers. It also means building nests in between eggs is a piece of cake, allowing you to have a nest and 4 doors around every nest, without having eggs block the way.

2: Focus on getting a balance of T3s first before allowing doubles. A boiler, crusher, ravager, carrier and hivelord all together will help the hive greatly. After that, then you can get a little more relaxed, but do remember that a hive with 3 boilers isn't going to survive as well as a hive with an extra crusher, carrier and ravager.

3: Communication is key, and while you should try your best to provide eggs for your swarm, you should also keep in touch with your xenos. If a larva asks you what you want of it, tell them what you need for the hive. Tell aliens to wait before evolving so you can prevent xenos from accidentally stealing T3 slots you need to balance your hive out properly. And most importantly, make sure to assign tasks and jobs for xenos so they know what they are supposed to do (and if they don't want to do it, threaten to take away their slash. A weak queen will lose her hive, a strong queen will intimidate her subjects into loyalty)

4: Try to hold your xenos back a bit of possible. A lot of deaths are caused due to aliens thinking they are rambo and can totally solo 3 marines by themselves with only 2 huggers, or assume that because they are T3 now, they are able to oneshot marines like a hot knife through butter... Very often they are wrong. Xenos are strong when in groups, just like marines, but in the beginning, you won't have everything you need to attack the marines with. Until then, you'll have to ensure your hive knows to hold back and stalk the marines from the darkness rather than run around in broad daylight screaming "REEEEEEE" at the top of their alien lungs. Once you have enough intel gathered by your scouts and have a good balance of T3s under your command, then you should try to rally the xenos to your location and make a big push as one large swarm, rather than just telling xenos to go hogwild at some location. You ARE the warlord here, and thus should help lead the attack. But you can't lead it without your army by your side, so make sure everyone is on your butt before moving. There is nothing quite as satisfying as watching marines shit their pants from the sight of an army of xenos coming all at once.