Alien Commander

From NS2 community wiki

The Alien Commander is the hive mind that governs over Kharaa territory expansion and upgrades. Any Kharaa player as any lifeform can become a commander by pressing the Use key at a constructed Hive; however, only one commander may exist at any given time.

Gameplay

The Alien Commander has a hawk-eye's view over large portions of the map, allowing him to form strategies accordingly. The Hive provides 2 core elements of Alien Commander gameplay: the production of Drifters and Cysts through the use of Hive energy. Drifters are used to mutate into the various Kharaa structures upon infestation, an organic biomass created and maintained by Cysts. Without infestation to provide nutrition, most Kharaa structures will degenerate until death (with exception to the Whip and Hive.)

The Kharaa tech-tree is highly flexible as the Alien Commander can focus on different tech paths for alien lifeforms. There are three unique "chamber" structures which depend on the number of active Hives to unlock: the Crag, Shade and Shift. These structures are made available by default on the Drifter until one chamber is selected and built, thereby choosing the type of the primary Hive (e.g. Crag Hive). A second and third Hive will be required to unlock the remaining chambers.

Each chamber has specific team and lifeform upgrades, such as defensive-oriented upgrades on the Crag. The Alien Commander can spend Team Resources to research upgrades, lifeform upgrades purchased in the Evolve Menu, and evolve structures into mature versions for additional Commander-activated support abilities.

The Drifter can also mutate into a Hive, Harvester, or Whip. The Harvester must be grown on infestation and upon a Resource Node, where it will provide a steady stream of Team Resources for the Commander and Personal Resources for lifeforms. The Whip is the semi-static defense structure for the Kharaa, as it can uproot itself from infestation to crawl and root elsewhere.