Natural Selection, the
mod for Half-Life, has some variations inherent to its gameplay that can be fairly confusing to somebody new to it. One of these frustrations is the fact that both sides play very differently from each other, and as such the strategies for one side will get you turned into space goo when playing the opposite side. Here's a quick rundown of some elements in the game:
-
Marines(
Frontiersmen)
- Have a commander that plays from an RTS perspective
- Structures are placed by the commander, and built by normal marines (in practice, this means that the commander places a non-operational building, and the marines must build it by walking up and "using" it)
- Weapons, armor and upgrades are all researched/given by the commander
- Without a commander, your team is screwed
-
Kharaa(
Aliens)
- Can have up to three hives, at pre-determined locations around the map
- No commander; every alien is responsible for their own upgrades
- Each alien has an allotment of resources to spend
- Buildings are built by an alien species called Gorges
Marine detail:
Each marine is
spawned at
base equipped with a
Light Machine Gun (
LMG), a
pistol, and a
knife. This
loadout is only effective against lower level
Kharaa, and even then it's wise to
travel in numbers. To acquire better weapons, the team must first build the buildings required, then upgrade to the weapons. At various points, the following weapons become available:
Shotgun,
Grenade Launcher,
Heavy Machine Gun (
HMG). In addition, the general effectiveness (read: damage) of the weapons can be upgraded.
In addition to better weapons, it is also possible to get
Heavy Armor, which gives a large armor bonus to the marine wearing it, but also slows them down. Both Regular and Heavy armor benefit from overall armor upgrades (functions the same way as general weapon upgrades do). Also useful:
welders, which replace the pistol in weapons slot 2, are for repairing buildings and repairing your teammates' armor;
jetpacks, which are mutually exclusive with Heavy Armor (i.e. can't use both at once and blast around the map laying waste to everything in sight) and function pretty much how you'd expect a jet pack to function. There are also various fun items, such as
Laser Tripmines.
Kharaa detail:
The Kharaa do not have a commander, therefore the individual must be able to access resources to be able to
evolve. Resources are automatically distributed among the team. However, the number of
Hives that exist affect the total number of resources each alien can have available. With one hive, the resource cap for all but the
Gorg is set at 33/100, and the next highest forms, the
Fade and
Onos, require 54 and 70 resources, respectively. With two hives, the resource cap rises to 66/100, and with all three hive locations filled with a hive, the cap reaches 100/100. (the
Gorg is an exception to this resource cap, because they must be able to build; however, switching to a
Gorg and then evolving to a Fade without having two hives doesn't work.)
Each alien is spawned at base (base being the first, initial, hive) as a
Skulk, the lowest rung on the alien evolutionary ladder. They are fast, dog-sized creatures able to climb up walls and leap out at unsuspecting marines with a fury. Their
bite attack is useful against marines wearing regular armor, but fairly ineffective in small numbers against marines in
Heavy Armor. Their secondary attack is ranged, and implants a
parasite in the targeted Marine, making them show up on
Hive Sight at all times. With two hives, a skulk can use the
Leap ability, which propels them a distance at great speed, very useful for getting from A to B. The final
Skulk ability, coming along with three hives existing, is
Xenocide, which explodes and kills the
Skulk, but dealing damage to everything caught in the blast radius.
Initially available evolutions, if you have enough resources, are the
Gorg and the
Lerk. The
Gorg is a slow creature, slightly larger than a
Skulk, that is the "
builder" of the
Kharaa. Their primary slot is a projectile: they shoot a blob of
slime at enemies. They are capable of building structures, repairing structures, and healing teammates. These latter two take up the second weapon slot, being a healing spray with a close range. With two hives, a
Gorg's third slot is the capability to place
Webbing. This ensnares any enemy that touches it,
immobilizes them
momentarily, and disables their weapons. The fourth and final
Gorg ability is to create
Babblers, which are weaker, computer-controller versions of
Skulks, and they automatically attack enemies nearby and
self-destruct after a short amount of time. The
Lerk is the only flying
Kharaa, and its primary slot is a bite attack, much like the
Skulks. Their second slot is a ranged spine weapon, shooting spikes at opponents from a distance. Coming with two hives, a
Lerk's third slot is a cloud called
Umbra, which slows down any
bullets entering it, effectively reducing the likelihood that any alien within the cloud is going to be hit with a bullet. This does not hinder any other type of weapon, however, so they are still susceptible to things such as
knives and
grenades. With three hives comes the fourth slot ability: a ranged attack that shoots a slow-moving
spore that explodes on impact, spraying a cloud of
corrosive particles into the air, damaging all
organic matter within the explosion zone.
The
Fade is the most powerful commonly used
Kharaa unit (this is because by time the Onos comes around, the game is pretty much over). It becomes available with the construction of two hives. Standing taller than a Marine, it has powerful claws used in its primary, swiping attack. Its second slot attack is a projectile; missile-like, that explodes releasing
splash-damage acid on targets near the blast point. It's third slot is a short-range
teleportation ability called
Blink, useful for getting out of situations in which the
Fade is overpowered. With three hives, the
Bile Bomb ability becomes available. It's a heavy,
arcing projectile that explodes and does massive damage to everything within the blast area.
The final
evolution that a
Kharaa can undergo is that to the
Onos, the most powerful alien unit available. This requires that all three hive locations be occupied. With massive
hitpoints and massive armor, it is a
tank on four legs. Its first slot ability is
Gore, which is a
melee attack that does a considerable amount of damage to a single enemy target. The second is
Paralyze, which is a
close-range attack that prevents the victim from moving, though they can still aim and fire a weapon. The
Onos's third slot attack is
Charge, which rams enemies and deals massive damage to both Marines and structures. The fourth and final Onos ability is
Primal Scream, which is a
benefical area-of-effect capability that boosts energy recovery in the
Onos and nearby aliens in much the same way as the
Adreneline upgrade does, albeit for a short amount of time.
In addition to these major
evolutions, there are also "
Chambers" which allow minor upgrades and enhancements. There are three total available:
Defense,
Movement,
Sensory. (There is also an
Offense chamber, but these can always be built. They attack nearby enemies with a projectile attack.) Only one type can be built with a single hive; two hives allow two kinds to be built; three hives lets all of them be built. Each also has a special function of greater or lesser import that it can perform. The
Defense chamber heals nearby units and buildings. The
Movement chamber allows
instanteneous teleportation from the chamber itself to the furthest hive. The
Sensory chamber reveals any hostiles it can "see" on
Hive Sight, and marks nearby enemies in much the same way the
Skulk ability of
Parasite does.
Work in progress, still have to add: marine buildings, kharaa buildings, more specific damage, armor and health amounts.