Xenos

= What is a Xenomorph? =

Aliens, also known as Xenomorphs to differentiate them from the general term, are an extraterrestrial lifeforms that uses other living beings as a host during their life cycle. With black carapaces and wicked sharp claws, standing taller than a man, xenomorphs are extremely dangerous. They are intelligent and capable of speaking to one another via a hivemind. In comparison to Earth species, xenomorphs are closest to parasitic wasps that live in colonies with queens and require another lifeform to gestate inside.

= Xenomorph Lifecycle =

Xenomorphs start life as an egg laid by a queen. This egg takes five minutes to develop, at which point it needs help from another alien to hatch. Xenomorphs are all female, but still reproduce asexually. Queens can lay eggs, but these eggs cannot develop into adults on their own. In order to get the other half of their genetic code they implant embryos within other life forms and use their DNA. From the egg, the next stage will emerge, called a facehugger.

The facehugger is not a true xenomorph, instead it carries half of its mother's genetic code (all dominant genes) and is used to more or less mate with other living creatures, usually humans. The facehuggers can be placed onto the face of a human or if called will jump on their own. Pets like Runtime and Ian are too small to support an embryo and so they cannot be implanted. The facehugger will leave the embryo inside the stomach of a host, and then fall off and die.

Inside the host, the embryo copies part of its DNA, then begins growing. Eventually it will become too large to live inside its host any longer and burst out of their body, killing them. The larval stage of the xenomorph is aptly named "chestburster."

The larval xenomorph is weak and must be allowed to grow before it can fight. It must uses its abilities to hide from anything that could do it harm. Growing up takes approximately seven and a half minutes. The chestburster can then shed its skin and become an adult, either a drone, hunter, or sentinel.

The xenomorphs who become drones must store up 500 plasma, at which point they can evolve into queens and start laying eggs on their own.

= Types of Xeno =

Facehugger
The only type of alien not controlled by a player, it is a parasitic cycle in xenomorph production with the appearance of two human hands held together and attached to a spiny, powerful tail. It has a proboscis it uses to implant embryos and provide oxygen while strangling a victim. The finger-like appendages are used for transportation and to attach itself firmly to a host body. Once implantation is complete, the facehugger falls off and dies. Facehuggers do not care about masks or helmets, and will easily tear them off when they pounce. Victims rarely remember implantation or even the act of being jumped in most cases, likely because of the asphyxiation caused by a facehugger's tail during the process and the psychological trauma of the act. Like all of the xenomorph species, not much is understood about its growth, motivations, or senses, but it is known that a facehugger can tell the difference between a living humanoid and a non-living humanoid such as corpses or cyborgs and that they are suicidally focused on reproduction. Xenomorphs often use crowds of facehuggers to take down large prey or grouped or well-defended humans.

Larva
Also known as chestbursters because of their method of exodus from the host body, larval xenomorphs are the third known stage in reproduction for that species. While developing in the body, xenomorph embryos attach to blood vessels to absorb nutrients and complete its unstable genetic structure using the host's DNA. Through an unknown process, this always results in a functioning offspring. This form is small compared to the adult, limbless, and serpentine. They have a strong instinct to hide after forcing their way out through the ribcage and violently tearing their host body apart. If left alone, xenomorph larva will undergo an unknown transformation process to adulthood. It is believed at this stage that the xenomorph is at its most vulnerable due to its small size and apparent lack of many senses, though this should not be misunderstood -- a larva is still deadly. Its powerful thrashing and sharp teeth got it out of a human sternum, after all.

Hunter
This form is usually the last in any given xenomorph's life cycle. There are many variants of the hunter (including forms that do no hunting, per se), but the human form is the most commonly seen on stations for obvious reasons. The hunter sports a phallic-shaped skull with hidden, mostly useless eyes protected by a one-way transparent dome. It has a host of esoteric senses, most prominently a theorized echolocation (explaining their near-constant hissing) and electroreception, though its primary sense appears to be smell. The scent of pheromones is experimentally shown to be the primary communication device of xenomorphs, most effectively transmitted by the ropey purple weeds the adults spread around the station. It is unknown where this tissue comes from, as xenomorphs refuse to make it in captivity. The primary byproduct of this weed is the strange substance plasma and as such most corporations are extremely interested in the connection between the xenomorphs and that chemical for production reasons. Like the facehugger, the hunter's blood is highly acidic, and there are rumors that it is capable of eating even through space station hulls, though it must be said that this is only a rumor.

The adult xenomorph is a living weapon, with an exoskeleton thick enough to absorb or redirect most trauma and temperature extremes, scythe-like claws, and a multi-tiered jaw system capable of projecting an acidic compound presumingly from their stomachs. Some varieties of hunter are crested, and most varieties have a heavy tail with protective ridges. Xenomorphs at this stage show semi-sapience and problem-solving abilities, and are capable of using pack-oriented tactics, creative stealth, and psychological manipulation. It is reported that in the presence of enough plasma xenomorphs can communicate in a basic way with sentient species, but there is little evidence to lend credence to such an absurd notion.

Queen
Very few xenomorphs undergo the transformation into queen. It appears to be done only in the case of very specific hive pressures. They are the only xenomorphs capable of laying the eggs that hatch facehuggers. While much larger than the hunters, they're also much slower, but are indeed much tougher. Even accounting for the size difference, a xenomorph queen can take drastically more punishment. A queen is most likely found where there are high levels of plasma, surrounded by hunters and swarms of freshly hatched facehuggers. They are significantly more intelligent and highly protective of their offspring. While slow, they have all the adaptations and weapons of their previous hunter forms, a larger, thicker crest to protect their brain casing, and higher internal stores of plasma which they can utilize for the shaping of resin, the laying of eggs, destructive survival defenses, and even a complex and poorly understood efficient means to form a natural cloak. Like all xenomorphs, there is little information about them.

=How to Play= A lot of people like aliens, either playing as, fighting against, or being stroked by them. Fortunately for those of us who do, random alien events and/or answered prayers tend to happen very frequently. Unfortunately, however, it seems a lot of people have no fucking clue what they're doing when they spawn as one. This is a guide describing some basics and tips about playing as a xeno so you're not stuck in ooc going "how does I play alium?"

This guide is fairly comprehensive and long. There is no tl;dr for this shit, so tough it out, soldier.

Prologue
Aliens arrive on the station in one of two ways. The first way is for the random event where CentCom broadcasts that an Unidentified Lifesign has been detected aboard the station. This means that in a very few random places around the station, facehuggers and eggs have been seeded. They can pop up almost anywhere, even right next to you (if this happens you are pretty much stuck being faceraped). The second way is for admins to spawn them. This can either be as a forced random event (I think) that is exactly like the CentCom alert, OR they could just hide some facehuggers and/or eggs somewhere on the station while they cackle evilly to themselves waiting for some poor unsuspecting assistant to get a very slimy face full of alien wing wang.

"Shit, my face has been raped by xenos." Currently, being facehugged is not a guarantee of infestation. There is at least a small chance that you will not shortly explode, your guts sprayed across the cold metal floor plating of the station, as a new larvae is born. Good luck with that.

If you've been infected, there will usually be telltale signs. You'll feel sick. Your throat will be sore. You'll cough a lot. These symptoms mean you are forming a babby. Luckily, medbay is capable of surgically removing alien embryos. Making a backup in genetics then cloning you once you burst (or after your infected body is burned) also works, provided you can get the geneticists to stop dicking around for thirty seconds.

If someone helps you, great. If you don't WANT help (perhaps exploding into a bloody mess as a glistening black monstrosity is born is your fetish, or maybe you've just grown to hate everyone on the station for being the fucktards that they are) you can do a few things to help ensure that your new little baby alien can grow up safe and happy. +   -

+   -   The best thing to do is be by an un-welded air vent where nobody is looking. The second best thing to do is to find an unpopulated, limited access part of the station like Engineering or Atmospherics where nobody will ever go unless they have to. +   -

+   -   If you want to be extra cautious, disable nearby cameras. The AI won't spot your special delivery until weeds are covering the station. +   -

+   -   From a metagame perspective, it's optimal for you to ensure the ongoing life of the alien larvae, as you are pretty much guaranteed to die. If he survives to raise a brood, you have a better chance of rejoining the game as a newborn larvae than you ever did trying to get the staff to scan you for a clone. +   -

+   -   However, metagaming is frowned upon, so for the love of god, if you're going to do it, be discreet. Because it's not direct griefing nobody is going to really care, especially since there are usually a lot of murdered people who would love to be reborn as xenos so they can get their revenge.

Phase One
Oh shit I'm a larva what do I do? If there's anyone around when you burst, you may be fucked. Turn on Yakety Sax and run for your life. Finding a vent is your best, and probably only chance of survival. You can spam crawl through vents faster than anyone is going to react to your presence, so don't be afraid to scout out as many locations as you can to figure out the best place to hide.
 * You've just spawned[[File:Aliensnake1.png]]and are weak as shit and are a bit slower the a human running.
 * Above the chat window is your status window. It has index tabs. Click the Alien tab. It shows you all your magical alien powers.
 * As a larva you ̶c̶a̶n̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶a̶t̶t̶a̶c̶k̶ CAN attack (but it's a fairly useless bite that only affects animals) and you have no special alien powers aside from Crawl Through Vents.
 * Use :a to communicate with any other aliens over hivemind chat.
 * If you're not in a good spot, find the nearest vent and for the love of god crawl through it.
 * A good spot is anywhere where you A) are not likely to be found and B) have an easy-access vent. If it's dark, that's even better, since someone who comes inside may not see you unless they get close.
 * If for any reason your hiding place is found out, don't be afraid to crawl through dem vents and find a new place.
 * If you're stuck in a room with no vents, and doors you can't open, turn "hide" on in the alien tab and (yeah) hide under the table. Hopefully nobody knows you're there.
 * Once you're in your spot, sit and wait to evolve.

Somewhat useful thing

As you develop (after bursting, of course) you will change colour. freshly hatched larva look like, evolving larva look like and ready to evolve larva look like.

Phase Two
Fuck yes, I'm a xeno, time to go kill some motherfuckers.
 * STOP RIGHT THERE, CRIMINAL SCUM, don't run off to kill people just yet. Or ever.
 * As a general rule, don't go into the hallways when you are the first xenos starting out. The most stupid thing you can do is run out slashing everything you see at this point. Going into the halls later on when you have more sisters should still be done by your own discretion and the discretion of your fellow xenos.

There are currently 4 classes past larva stage: Hunters, Sentinels, and Drones. Hunters hunt, Sentinels guard, and Drones set up a home for everyone. Drones are the only aliens that can evolve again into a Queen.

Hunters: Tunnel Snakes rule.
 * So you chose to be a Hunter[[File:Alien.png]]. You are the warrior of the group. You are stealthy, fast, and vicious. You are not tasked with killing everyone you see, though. You are mostly a courier, pulling freshly-tackled humans to the hive and let the facehuggers make babies.
 * Although you are fast as fuck compared to your xeno brothers, you have low plasma storage. You also regenerate plasma very slowly. Use your powers wisely.
 * Your exclusive power that no other xeno has is Invisibility. You become invisibile when you use the stalk stance. It doesn't require plasma and you will stay invisibile until you interact with something. You're not completely invisibile so it's better to use it in dark areas.
 * As a Hunter, you are not just tasked with stealing humans away and taking him to the nest, but also with planting weeds. Since you are the fastest, you can reach various areas quicker than the others. You can set up a small home with the limited plasma you have that others can flock to and make into a full-blown nest.
 * You can also pose a great threat to machines with your quick slashes. However, you should always attempt to attack a cyborg while in a group to maximize your abilities. You are a "hunter" after all, and the only thing more dangerous than a hunter is a group of hunters.

Sentinels: The Guard of the Hive
 * A Sentinel [[File:Aliensentinel.png]] is a warrior, but not meant to stray far from the Hive. You are tasked with defending the weeds, the Drones, the Queen, if you have one, and the eggs. If a human stumbles upon your home sweet home, you must make sure they don't harm anything.
 * You come, in your arsenal of alien powers, with Neurotoxic Spit and Corrosive Acid. Currently, spitting corrosive acid over a range does not work, and you should instead use the Corrode with Acid power.
 * Neurotoxic Spit stuns a human temporarily, causing toxic damage and knocking them to the ground. Basically a long range tackle, this actually does a fair amount of damage to them, so don't overdo it.
 * Corrosive Acid eats through various machinery, including doors, APC's, and lockers. If you don't want to crawl through a vent to get somewhere, want to open up a door for other aliens to drag humans into, or make an opening for a Queen to get through, this is the power to do it. You cannot corrode humans, monkeys, or any human being with acid. Really, though, you should never want to do something that damaging to a possible host.
 * You must make sure the Drones don't get hurt while they plant weeds upon weeds, set up shop, and keep things running. You are the protectors of the working class, not a Hunter with spit and acid. Don't hunt humans down unless you have absolutely no Hunters or larva that can become Hunters.

Drones: Plant Weeds Erryday
 * You are a Drone[[File:Aliendrone.png]], a worker. You are tasked with planting a fuckton of weeds until you eventually can become a big, fat Queen. You are far from any bit of a fighter. As such, never go out alone into uncharted areas that may be dangerous without a Sentinel or Hunter willing to help.
 * You, like the Sentinels, also have corrosive acid, but no neurotoxin. You can also Evolve into a Queen once you reach 500 Plasma and decide to, and there isn't another living queen.. The one power you have, though, that no other xeno has is shaping resin structures.
 * Resin walls are hardly like normal walls in their own respect. They are mounds of purple slime, shaped into a protective wall. You can make a membrane or a resin wall. The membrane is a wall that's just thin enough to allow light through. In a way, it is your xeno version of a window. Membrane walls are easier to destroy, but both you and any humans can destroy both with a fair amount of ease. They are mostly used for aesthetics in the Hive. You can also build resin doors, they're extremely useful because they act as a wall for humans and as a door for your alien brethren. The most functionally important resin structure you can build is the nest, it's a mound of slimey substance that can entrap your victims until they bursts and acts like a cuffbuckle shitcurity combo. Just drag the infected over it and buckle them in. Be sure to support hunters and sentinels by building a nest when you see them dragging a human.
 * You, if not your own candidate for Queenhood, maintain the hive, making useless walls of slime and weeds. You're faster than the Queen but slower than any other class of xeno. Many Drones simply choose to become a Queen, since they satisfy the working class' requirements with the addition of egg planting.
 * You are also a sub-par defensive line for the Queen. If the Sentinels aren't defending the Queen, and she is being attacked, you should attempt to defend her, but not at the cost of your life. If she does die, you and/or your fellow Drones should determine the next Queen in line and continue the cycle.

Phase Three
I'm a queen, but how is babby formed?
 * Let's get this out of the way, first: You can caress anyone with your scythe-like arm by clicking on them with an empty hand, with the Help intent active, while they're next to you. This is no help to you or anyone else. Moving on.
 * You're a queen[[File:Queen.png]]. Awesome. You get some nifty bonuses and defects compared to regular aliens. Let's go over them.
 * Cons: You are slow. And by that I mean fucking slow. Snail's pace. You also can't vent crawl. Oh yeah, and your attack power sucks. You basically have zero mobility compared to everything else in the game. You also stand out. You basically suck balls.
 * Pros: You can lay eggs[[File:Egg.png]], you build plasma four times faster than regular aliens (20 units per tick as opposed to the normal 5), and you have more health. Also some people will think you're sexy. You basically kick ass.[[File:weednode.png]]
 * One other special thing you can do is once holding someone by the neck you can devour them whole by dragging their sprite onto yours, regardless of their condition. They will stay inside your stomach until digested. This is usually not helpful as you should instead infect them for more alien help, and eating live humans can lead to severe terminal indigestion.
 * Your first task is to lay an egg. You start with 250 plasma even though you needed 500 to evolve, and you'll build more very quickly.
 * If at any point in time you have plasma built up and don't know what to do with it, lay another egg. Laying more eggs increases the facehugger swarm and is your best weapon against the humans.
 * You can open any door that isn't ID locked, but locked and/or bolted doors require that you spit corrosive acid on them. Corrosive acid is your all-access pass to the station. If you're stuck for any reason, or want to get in somewhere (example, rooms with monkeys or plasma tanks), use dat acid. It takes a while to eat through doors usually, so spit early and lay eggs while you wait.
 * Remember how I said you're weak as shit? It's true. Alone, aliens are wimpy, and a queen even more so. One lucky assistant with a toolbox to the head can end your infestation very quickly, so don't let it happen. Always lay low and keep a wall of eggs and facehuggers between you and anywhere humans can get at you from.
 * Remember, darkness is your friend. Smash dem lights.
 * If you for any reason need to defend yourself, RIGHT-CLICK > SPIT (25) (or clicking the spit verb in your alien tab) is your godmode. Don't bother trying to melee people, that's only if you like dying. This also applies to regular adult aliens. Spit spam is fucking ridiculous. It's cheap to cast and acts like the Wizard's magic missile, including the homing and meager damage.
 * When you incapacitate someone for any reason (probably by stunning them with spit), stroll on over and strip off all their possessions. Start with dangerous things like radios, weapons, air tanks, and backpacks. ALWAYS take off the radio first. If they call in your position and you don't have enough facehuggers, you are fuuuuuucked.
 * Drag anyone you incapacitate back towards the heart of your hive. Make sure that when they get back up, a facehugger will be within jumping range. The alien wing wang is your best and final weapon. Once they're impregnated, feel free to drag them to some dark corner and caress them while you emote sultry things until they explode into a new alien baby.
 * Remember what I said earlier about monkeys? Monkeys and the humans they've probably been turned into are viable facehugger targets, and are a fantastic way to rapidly expand the size of your brood without needing to hunt down those pesky oxygen tank-wielding humans. From a meta standpoint, they also let more players into the game without killing anyone, so it gets more ghosts back to playing, which is always good. Same goes for AFK people.
 * Once you've amassed an army of facehuggers, and hopefully ambushed a couple unsuspecting crew who were unfortunate enough to stumble on your nest, you should communicate closely with the other aliens and prepare to start really branching out across the station. You've already started this, probably, especially since the other alien players are probably being more aggressive than you.
 * Only the first queen will be called a Queen, and she is the leaders. All other queens will be called princesses, but will still be able to lay eggs. No more pretty alien princesses, there is only one queen, and drones can't evolve into a new queen until the old one dies.

General Advice

 * You do not need air to breathe as a xenomorph! Feel free to walk around the outside of the station and make a good safe area to plant weeds and store plasma on (i.e., the solars, or toxins test area if no one is bombing or has bombed it). You can also spit acid on windows/grilled to destroy them, so any window is a potential entry point. If you get spaced you're usually out of luck, though!


 * The atmospherics vent leads to a safe 3x3 room with a single canister inside it. Go here if you really have nowhere else to go, as it's 99% safe. Only bombs can get you there and even the AI can't see that room.


 * Don't go into space without ripping a lamp or light bulb out of it's socket. Not only does this give you a tactical advantage later, you can throw those if you slip into space or (more likely) a facehugger jumps like an eager puppy in front of you and gets you stuck in space.


 * Rip out lights and smash them against walls! You can see further in the dark then humans, and facehuggers have even better vision. Humans, without flashlights, can only see one tile ahead. Break all those lights and humans will become afraid of entering the dark areas, with good reason. This goes double for a queen, since the queen can't really fight worth anything and relies on the facehuggers and other xenos to protect her.


 * You cannot facehug the dead but a dead guy has a chance to chestburst if he was infected while he was alive.


 * Totally eat people if your life is in danger, and you need health (don't eat everyone, you need xeno babies to be born). NOTHING CAN POSSIBLY GO WRONG (except reverse chestbursting, but that hardly ever happens because you stripped your food first right?)


 * You can also pick up anything medium sized or larger, such as boxes and backpacks. This means if someone somehow leaves an energy sword on the ground, in the 'on' mode (this makes it a bulky item), then there will be sword wielding aliens. In general you can better use this to just pick up backpacks and throw them for movement in space. (Please note that backpacks make very poor weapons.)


 * Drones and Queens can create alien nests made out of resin. You can use the alien nest as a lethal weapon by downing your victims and buckling (drag and drop) them to the nest. They can get free on their own but it will take them two minutes, enough time to attach a facehugger to their face.

Common Mistakes as an Alien Queen:


 * Not putting down eggs ALWAYS! If you have free time, you should be planting weeds, making nests, and planting eggs.


 * Not throwing facehuggers. If your target doesn't have a RIG suit helmet on, you can throw a facehugger and instantly get them facehugged!


 * Not going to an isolated area. Picking somewhere with access to space is a good idea. Being in an area where you have no way out into space is a bad idea.


 * Spacing yourself. If you find you are a retard/lagged a lot and spaced yourself, you can make resin walls in space to get a good footing and send yourself somewhere else. If not, you can throw an object to change your trajectory.


 * Attempting to fight the station all by yourself. Don't try to be a hero, you are slow and very vulnerable. Try to stick to the relative safety of space.


 * Not disarming cyborgs/other hostiles. If you disarm a cyborg or a person, you'll stun them for a good amount of time. You can easily take a cyborg 1 on 1 this way.

=How to Defeat= Oh shit it told us to weld the vents what now?!
 * Calm the fuck down. Are you a human being or a groxian hyper-coward? The latter is the proper response.
 * Have you welded the vents yet? It's good advice.
 * Make sure a hive is never set up. Use suicide vests, flamethrowers, energy guns, and the secret monkey technique to destroy facehuggers and alien weeds so that an infestation never finds a foothold. Note: THROWING THINGS AT FACEHUGGERS JUST MAKES THEM ANGRY.
 * Kill your friends for fun and profit! They can just be cloned or borged, but if they've got a bun in the oven, it's already too late for them. Kill them before they kill themselves and everyone else on the station.
 * Amy Lessen, stop that! Certain crew members may seek to make peaceful contact with the aliens, or may actively seek to become infected. Take precautions to ensure the crew know the dangers of consorting with the xeno menace.

'But we're all hopelessly stupid and incompetent. The aliens are everywhere! What now?' 'Everyone is dead but me! What do?'
 * Shoot everything that isn't person shaped.
 * Shoot everything that's person shaped but helping the xenomorphs.
 * Shoot the monkeys too, just to be safe. CentCom will send us more.
 * Keep a transparent barrier between you and the xenos at all times. Use flashbangs and other detainment devices to keep them at bay. Remember that their spit is acidic and paralytic! They will use it to ruin you.
 * Stay close!
 * If you see a larva, chase it.
 * Seriously consider calling the shuttle.
 * If you have weapons, use all of them. Even if you don't think something is there, shoot the empty hall anyway! Aliens can turn invisible! They're behind you right now I guarantee it!
 * If the shuttle is here, get on it, weld the doors shut, make sure nothing is in there with you, and hide as best you can. Central Command has a plan for this sort of thing. They'll save you and your little cat too.
 * If you are eaten alive by xenos THIS IS A GOOD THING. Take out your oxygen bottle or any other weapon in your hand, and TRY MOVE AROUND LIKE A FURIOUS BABY WITH FAMILICIDE IN MIND. You'll slam the thing you're holding into the alien's stomach lining, and if you do it enough you'll EXPLODE out of the aliens chest cavity like some kind of reverse-larvae. CAN YOU TAKE WHAT YOU DEAL OUT, XENOS?!
 * If the shuttle isn't coming, write a book of warning and contempt and throw yourself into space.If you're too much of a coward to do it the glorious way, bash yourself unconscious and wait to be eaten.