A position of command is a position of great responsibility. Unless you do not really care for your position that is… That might lead to disaster, sooner or later. Your skills and abilities in Natural Selection 2, as the commander, are the difference between victory and defeat. If you played NS2 long enough you would realise that without a good, competent commander nobody on your team will have any fun, because you will be squashed around every corner. Of course, into account we also have to take the abilities of the individual “soldiers”, but Marines with assault rifles cannot defeat a fully expanded hive, no matter how skilled they are.
The purpose of this guide is to provide some useful tips when playing as either the Alien or Marines commander. Some of these tips apply to both sides, though they differ in usefulness. If this is what you are after, read on! If you need more details on any of the aliens, abilities or marines, check out the Natural Selection 2 Wiki.
Who is going to win?
1. Rapid Expansion – Both the Marines and the Aliens need to quickly expand outside the boundaries of their bases.
The Aliens have a much easier task with this because they expand “organically”. What I mean by this is that an Alien commander can build Cysts all over the map, and as the infestation expands then place a few extractors (that will also build themselves) and speed it all up with the use of Drifters. Dutiful Gorges can also help expand your “empire”, constructing defenses where they are needed, and speeding up construction. Aliens do not rely on power, but their cysts needs a connection to a hive. So if you have long “veins” of cysts then losing any one of them, along the vein, will mean that anything following that vein will die. You should expand your cysts to create a “web” rather than straight lines, so that even if one or two die, the rest will continue to function.
Marines have a problem with rapid expansion. Initially you need to rely on your marines to construct any and all structures in and around the base. While skulks might be busy with scouting out your positions, your marines will be forced to act as engineers. Thankfully, once your Marines will be forced to engage in combat fully, you can build MACs. MACs are similar to drifters, in the sense that they can build structures, repair structures, and also fix up any armor on Exo-Suits and Marines. In other words, MACs have multiple uses, and it would not be a bad idea to use them when your marines are occupied with front line fighting. Take into account though, MACs are expensive to deploy during the early stages of the game. Once your base expands, or you have multiple outposts, that is when Macs will help you maintain all of your buildings, especially if there are no marines in the area.
The purpose of rapid expansion is not only to deny your enemy movement, but also for you to obtain more resources as you begin to fortify certain locations around the map. If you move forward too slowly you could find the enemy occupying most of the map, leaving you at a huge disadvantage.
2. Halting Expansion – When you are either a Marine or Alien commander you must quickly learn where the enemy is, and then quickly counter them. Killing off scores of Skulks and Marines will not bring about victory, you must destroy the enemy structures.
Aliens have one good early-game tool to achieve this, Bile Bombs. Gorges are not good at fighting enemy Marines, but their Bile Bombs allows them to rapidly destroy any Marine structure. The best way to explain bile bombs is to imagine that you want to burn something with acid. The more beakers of acid you throw, the faster and deeper the acid will burn. It is sort of similar. The more Bile bombs a Gorge throws at a structure the more damage will be done. If you ever saw two Gorges work in unison like that you can understand why these seemingly weak aliens are so instrumental to any victory. Your task, as the commander, is to let your Gorges obtain these abilities. In order to get the Bile Bomb you need Biomass Level 2 and a Crag (to research the ability at).
Marines lack an early game weapon to quickly kill alien structures with. Fire-Based weapons, such as the Welder and Flamethrower are the most efficient. However, the flamethrower calls for an upgraded Armory, while the Welder only works at close range. Other weapons can also perform well against enemy structures, but it will take much more ammo. Research Flamethrowers as soon as possible, so that your Marines can counter the infestation, and groups of skulks, with ease.
3. Upgrades – Both the aliens and the marines get upgrades. The Aliens have six evolutions. In order to unlock all of them for your aliens you need three hives, each one upgraded to each of the three categories (Shift, Shade and Crag) and then you need to build structures associated with each evolution type (Shell, Veil and Spur). Once you build three of one of these structures you maximize the benefits of these evolutions (for example, three Shells will maximize the armor benefit of the Carpace evolution). At the same time you have to remember about researching new abilities for your aliens. These call for you to have a number of hives and one of the necessary structures (Crag, Shade or Shift) as well as Biomass. Biomass is earned through building hives (each hive adds one biomass) and then you can evolve a hive to provide two more points of biomass (three total). Biomass does not only allow more research, but also increases the health of all your aliens, so the more the better!
Marines can also improve their armor and damage. The Arms Lab allows the Marines to greatly improve their armor and damage, as long as the Commander invests enough resource into research. All weapons will benefit from increased damage, while armor research will also increase the “health” of exo-suits. Marine weapon research is a bit simplified, compared to what the aliens need. The Marines need only two Command Stations to research all the technology they need. The Armory will need to research all your initial weapons (Shotgun and Mines) but once it is upgraded into an Improved Armory the Grenade Launcher and Flamethrower will become available immediately. The Prototype Lab is where you research Exo-Suits and Jetpacks. Take note that you need two Command Stations to research the duel mini-gun exo-suit but you need only one to have the standard Exo-Suits and the Jetpack.
4. Supporting the Front – Both the Alien and Marine commander can help their front line troops, not only through their selection of abilties but also structures.
Both Marine and Alien commanders have abilities that allow for the quick healing of troops. In the case of marines you can teleport med-packs and ammo. An Alien Commander can make a Crag release a healing cloud, rapidly healing both alien players and structures.
In terms of structures, both sides have access to highly useful supporting buildings. The aliens have certain strengths the marines do not have. First and fore most, all alien support structures can move (Crag, Shift, Whip and Shade). A structured ordered to move will crawl along an infestation to your chosen location. That means that a Crag could follow your front slowly, providing your allies with much needed healing. Whips, defensive structures you can build, can also move, and even be used as artillery against structures. The Echo ability that the Shift possesses allows for any structure near it to be “teleported” to any other spot on the map, as long as there is an infestation there. This can greatly speed up the movement of crags or other structures.
What do the Marines have then? The armory is one of the most useful support structures, since it can heal and resupply ammo. MACs can fix armor and structures. Turrets can add a bit of accurate firepower against weaker aliens. The problem is that marines are at the bile bomb disadvantage. A distracting alien force would allow gorges to quickly take out key enemy structures, as well as damaging any armor on the marines themselves. In other words, a single well placed Gorge can turn any marine fortress into a death trap. To counter this marines have to use the weapons you research. Mines are very powerful, as are shotguns, flamethrowers and grenade launchers. Without them you will have a hard time holding any area. To add another nail to the coffin, marines best perform when there is plenty of space (long corridors). There are very few such areas, and often a fully equipped marine could die to a single cunning skulk, right around the corner. To stop this from happening, or at least to equal the playing field, you can deploy an observatory, or perform a scan, thus revealing all enemy units and structures in an area, for a few seconds. This will allow your marines to analyze the situation and react accordingly.
“Exterminate! Exterminate!”
5. Cysts – Cysts have one more important feature, not mentioned earlier. The infestation caused by cysts can attack buildings and ARCs. Let us say that you had a perfectly working Marine base. You spread your Cysts into it, thus allowing the infestation to cover the entire base. What happens then? The infestation will reduce the armor of all the buildings and ARCs to zero. ARCs will also be slowed down. However, all structures still have health, but the lack of armor will give your aliens an easier time in destroying them.
You can tell when a structure is attacked by an infestation by the residue covering it. The only way to stop the infestation from damaging your buildings is by destroying the local cysts. Even though Cysts can damage buildings and ARCs they will not damage weapons on the ground, exo-suits or MACs. It is still a useful support method during an attack, when you want to deny the enemy any armor on their structures.
6. On Power – All Marine structures need power. Each room or map section has a “Power Plug” that has to be built and kept functional in order for any structures to work normally. If that “Plug” is destroyed all the structures in the area will power down, so aliens might have an easier time destroying the power source than having to destroy all the other marine structures first. In the case of turrets you need only a sentry battery (“generator”). Destroying the plug will not power down the turrets, you need to destroy the generator located near the turrets to power them down (each generator can power three turrets).
While power plugs might be destroyed they can always be repaired by MACs or through using welders. The problem is that an area that lost power will have its lighting shut down, making it much more difficult for your marines to survive. Aliens have special alien vision that highlights the entire area, but this vision does not reveal the amount of lighting in an area, meaning that an alien sees everywhere equally brightly, but it might not come to the sad realization that there is a flashlight shining straight at it.
7. Constant Communication, Always – Voice communication is the single most important thin in Natural Selection 2. If you do not have a microphone you should, technically, not play as the commander. You can quickly inform your team of danger, guide your aliens/marines and answer any calls for help or assistance. Typing is never as efficient, and while fighting a Marine or Alien might not have the time to see what you are trying to tell him/it.
Having the most basic microphone and some headphones (to stop echo) is enough to let you perform your job at its fullest. At the same time remember to use markers to guide your marines to a destination, if they do not know where you want them to go. Markers will tell Marines/Aliens which way to go, saving a lot of time when trying to explain it.
8. Guns for Everybody! – During the later stages of the game you have to become aware that your team needs equipment. Equipment can be bought, or new life forms evolved, by the players themselves. However, if both teams are equal, and losses are heavy on both sides the players might run out of resources rapidly. If that happens, and you, as the commander, have a lot of resources, you can greatly help-out your team by providing ready alien eggs and equipment, when it is needed. While having a few points in reserve is always a good idea you should not hoard all the 200 team points, and spend them on equipment instead. Use voice comms to inform Marines/Aliens of Eggs/Equipment being available. Guns might eventually de-spawn, so do not spawn a mass of guns at base if there is nobody to pick them up. Let your team know you can take on requests, but also be careful. Giving the guy who charges alone an Onos or Exo-Suit is not the best idea.
9. War of Attrition – Holding the above in mind, it is important to remember that, in the end, the side which eventually wins is the one that has more resources. The enemy’s resources have to be wasted and equipment destroyed.
While open combat is the obvious solution the aliens have the Gorge to perform even further destruction. The Bile Bomb can destroy structures, yes, but it can also destroy any weapons on the ground. So if your alien force just ran over a well equipped marine group instruct your Gorges to bile bomb the weapons. It will take a few bile bombs to destroy a gun, but once it is destroyed you will know that the enemy might had wasted a lot of resources just there.
Destroying structures is an obvious necessity during such a war. Aliens are forced to destroy everything, with claw, tooth and bile, but marines could have an easier time destroying masses of alien structures simply by severing cyst lines. The destruction of a local hive can greatly aid in this, so if you ever have an opportunity to destroy a cyst, do so. Just hold in mind, do not destroy every single cyst you see. Run a short distance and then destroy one of the later cysts. You will destroy more cysts that way, for half the effort. Grenade launchers and flamethrowers will greatly aid in this task, so the sooner you make them available the sooner your marines can deal with alien structures. Welders can do the job as well, but they lack the combat abilities of larger weapons.
10. Transportation – While the battle rages and new bases or outposts are built it becomes obvious that your aliens and marines cannot run or crawl the whole distance to the front. Rapid transportation is necessary. How do we achieve that?
Marines have the Phase Gate, that can be researched through the Observatory. A phase gate connects to the network of phase gates that are build on the map, meaning that you can rapidly travel between points on the map, as long as there is a phase gate. The problem is that phase gates “cycle” through locations. If there are, let us say, four Phase gates (PG 1, 2, 3, and 4) and you were at Phase Gate 1, wanting to reach Phase Gate 4, you would have to enter the different Phase Gates three times. This can be time consuming and at time confusing. Still, it allows for Marines to quickly move between areas.
The aliens also have a system, but it relies on Gorges. Gorges can build Gorge Tunnels (a structure you can research). A Gorge can build a two-way tunnel, between two entry points it builds. The problem here is clear, a Gorge can create only a tunnel from place A to B. If you wanted a tunnel leading to point C you would need a second Gorge to build an additional tunnel between A-C or B-C. Gorge Tunnels are not connected, they are single “rails” that each player can build and has to maintain. You might think this can become terribly confusing, but in fact a Gorge Tunnel will have a floating text above it, explaining where does it lead to. By opening the map you can also view what is your system of Phase Gates, or where are the different Gorge tunnels and where do they lead to. One very important point about Gorge Tunnels, Marines can use them as well. If one of your positions gets overrun Marines could use the Gorge tunnel to deliver an attack straight into your hive.
Bonus Tip: Offense is the best Defense – If you played RTS games before you would realise that sitting in the base does not guarantee victory, ever. In order to win you have to attack. This can mean that in order to attack you have to save up some resources and equipment for the “big push” but the Big Push must happen.
Let’s go back to the beginning. During your initial game, both as the Alien and Marine commander, you have to make it your aim to expand as far as possible, without exposing your base or outposts too much. What I mean by that is that building seven extractors, without the Phase Gate/Armory support, and without decent equipment for your Marines to fight the aliens with, will mean that you will lose all your gains rapidly. You must set certain “Stages” to your advance, both as the alien and marine commander. If there is a situation where you are “stuck”, and neither side gets the upper hand your job is to ask yourself, “How do we change that?”. A lengthy siege, especially if other areas of the map are left unchecked, could mean that the aliens are preparing an attack elsewhere. If your attacks keep getting halted, and equipment lost, regroup your marines. Or at least, try to reason with them. Some of them might realise that wasting the sixth Exo-Suit on an unsuccessful assault is a bad idea.
There are always ways to break through a strong defense. It might be flamethrowers or grenade launchers. It might be a rush of Exo-Suits. Maybe a small group of jetpack and flamethrower armed marines. Do not forget about your ARCs. ARCs are mobile artillery guns that you have control over. If the marines provide the necessary line of sight then the ARCs can even fire through walls at enemy structures. If you were looking for a way to destroy all those alien turrets, you just found it. ARCs do not handle the infestation well, so make sure the marines clear the road for them.
The Marines have a more demanding early-game, because skilled Skulks can kill a marine from an ambush. As the commander you will have to balance your points carefully, and guide your marines to areas you consider important. Key points being: 1) You must maintain the areas you secure, through your marines. Turrets are poor at killing most aliens efficiently, and they can only fire in a specific arc, meaning that an alien can destroy the turrets from behind, without suffering a single hit. You can use turrets to seal-off passages (take into account ventilation shafts the aliens could use to dodge your turrets), or at least to give you a heads-up when the aliens are coming. MACs will let you maintain areas that do not have any marines present, however, do not waste too many resources on MACs, especially during the early game. Later on having a single MAC maintaining a base or outpost is more than enough. 2) You must deny the Aliens any rapid expansion. Aliens left unchecked can grow very quickly, throughout the whole map. Together with Gorges helping the infestation spread, and building their own defenses, you could find yourself in a deep pickle, so help your marines as much as you can, by giving them the gear and upgrades they need to complete the job. Do not let them focus needlessly on just one corridor. If the aliens keep you occupied on one end of the map that most likely means they are growing in the other direction.
As the Alien commander your job might seem easier, but it is not. While your aliens perform well on their own (a skilled skulk is a deadly skulk) you have to ensure that your underlings grow strong and powerful. Your job is not only to quickly spread the infestation but also research upgrades, abilities and evolutions, so that your aliens can perform even better. Just like the Marine commander you need to inform your aliens of danger, especially if one of your hives is threatened. Do not rely purely on your Gorges to build up defenses, or for your aliens to keep the marines back. Especially do NOT build all your Research structures in one place. If the marines discover this “Main Hive” and destroy everything? All your aliens will be an awful lot of levels weaker.
Lastly, when in doubt, play in “Explore” mode. This will let you play both as the Alien and Marine commander, without having a massive headache when players start telling you things. Since both Marines and Aliens have ways of building without player help (Drifters and MACs) you do not have to leave your commander’s seat to expand your base, and thus experiment. In your first baby steps you should go to rookie servers, and try your hand at commanding there. It might be a very bumpy first ride. Need more info? Check out the Natural Selection 2 Wiki.
P.S.: Due credit goes to player Hozz from the Natural Selection 2 Forums for correcting some of my mistakes in this guide. Cheers Hozz!
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