The following page is currently in the process of being created, is undergoing a major structural rework and/or is being moved. The reason for this is: "Rework! Drone has a new ability that enable it to be a pocket healer!"
Difficulty: Medium Duties: Weed the colony, build the hive, plant eggs for the Hive Guides: no separate guides Quote:Frenzy: on. Knuckles: cracked. Weed: ready. Yep, it's Combat Drone time.
Coming out of its former but short life as a small larva, the drone looks up in the nighty sky, gazing at the millions of stars sparkling down from the heavens. Which worlds become a home for the hive, which battlefields demanding of resin, which species will face extinction, and which aspirations will the hive have. Such questions will be answered as the drone looked away from the heavens and started planting resin nodes on the unfertilized ground.
Playing the Drone
Chances are if you've gone drone, you plan to either evolve to carrier, hivelord, deflier, shirke, queen, or even combat drone. You plant weed like no tomorrow and putting marines on edge with weed and speed.
The primary objective of the Drone as with most other Tier 1 caste Xenos is first, to stay alive.
In the meantime, here are some things you should focus on:
Weeding areas like no tomorrow
Planting weed behind xenomorphs' push so that they can retreat faster
Healing wounded xenomorphs
Annoying marines by stinging them with larval accelerator
Cocooning marines for psychic points
Making resin walls far FOB to make marines cry when they can't gun-ho
Building resin walls near FOB to let xenomorphs rest
Try not to combat drone all the time; remember, you cannot take a lot of damage, so guerilla hit and run tactics are your best bet if forced into combat.
The drone's most important duty is expanding the hive, whether by weeding new areas or building new defenses. When building, keep in mind that xenomorphs have a strong advantage against marines in tight winding corridors, and offset patterns. When weeding, keep in mind that you cannot plant weeds on rock, grass, or catwalks. Don't hesitate to set up forward hives and nesting areas close to combat, and bring eggs from the queen's hatchery to assist in quick infection of marines. R
Maturity Statistics and Evolution Paths
Your choices are relatively simple. You can evolve into carrier, or hivelord, which are tier 2, or queen, which is tier 4. Carrier and hivelord both evolve into defiler if they choose to evolve rather than upgrade.
Your upgrades primarily supplement your building abilities with increased plasma regeneration, and an increased plasma pool.
Maturity increases stats as follows.
Slash is the melee damage when the xenomorph is in harm intent and slashing marine. In the code, it's melee_damage.
Melee, bullet, laser, energy, bomb, bio, rad, fire, and acid are soft armor values, not hard armor, which means that they reduce damage by a percentage rather than a flat value.
Pheromone Strength determines how powerful some activities will be, such as pheromones themselves, as well as using abilities that heal.
Age
Health
Plasma
Slash
Melee
Bullet
Laser
Energy
Bomb
Bio
Rad
Fire
Acid
Pheromone Strength
Young
225
750
16
10
10
10
10
0
0
0
10
0
1x
Mature
250
800
16
17
17
17
17
0
5
5
17
5
1.5x
Elder
275
900
18
24
24
24
24
0
10
10
24
10
1.8x
Ancient
300
1000
18
31
31
31
31
0
15
15
31
15
2x
Drone Abilities
Ability
Description
Plasma cost
Recharge
Toggle Bump Attacks
This ability allows you to toggle bump attacks on and off. If for some reason you want to avoid them, toggle this off. The red arrow means it's on, you attack; the green arrow means it's off, you push.
N/A
N/A
Rest
This ability is used to rest and get up, you will heal faster when resting on weeds.
N/A
N/A
Psy Drain
This ability is executed on dead marines. Every dead marines psyhic drained will give 60 psychic points (scaled from 30 to 90 on number of marines) and 1/8 of a larva.
100
N/A
Toggle Cocoon
Devour your victim to cocoon it in your belly, then expels the contents of your stomach onto the current tile. With the marine inside, they still have life force and able to be revived, but it will give psychic points for 5 minutes. Yields a minimum of 1 psychic point every 5 seconds, but increases to a maximum of 5 points with lower server population.
N/A
N/A
Corrosive Acid
Expells acid onto an object or wall, destroying it after a while. If used on wall, after some time a hole will appear. Small xeno can climb through, large xeno can break the wall with hole.
Depending on caste:
Drone and Sentinel have weakest acid. Takes 8 minutes for a regular wall. Cannot be used on reinforced walls.
Hivelord, Shrike, Spitter, and Praetorian have common acid. 3 minutes for a regular wall. Cannot be used on reinforced walls.
Boiler Boiler, Queen, and King have strongest acid. Any wall is taken down in about one and a half minute.
75
N/A
Plant Weeds
Plants a resin weed node, which will start growing resin in a 3-tile radius that allows xenomorphs to heal and restore plasma while on top of the tile. Plasma cost is also halved before the shutters have been opened.
Right-Clicking the ability icon will allow you to select different types of weeds to plant.
Weed Types:
Default, does nothing extraordinary. Costs 75 plasma.
Boosts health and plasma regeneration by 20%, and doubles sunder recovery. Costs 150 plasma.
Slows humans and vehicles a small amount, can stack with sticky resin. Costs 225 plasma.
Can only be placed on a tile that does not already have a resin sac, and cannot be placed on rock, grass, catwalks, or snow.
75-225
N/A
Secrete Resin
Builds structures, which can be chosen by clicking on the ability while it's active. More in Guide to resin construction
Resin Buildings:
Resin Walls regenerate their own health. Starting at 150 HP, they restore 3 HP every 5 seconds, with a maximum of 300. Also reduces incoming bullet damage by 60%. 75 Plasma
Sticky Resin slows down human and vehicle movement drastically, while also slightly blocking flamethrower flames. Has 36 HP. Slowness can stack with sticky weeds. 50 Plasma
Resin Doors block movement for non-xenomorph mobs. Has 100 HP. 150 Plasma
50-150
N/A
Emit Pheromones
Toggles to see your pheromones, allowing you to select recovery, warding, or frenzy. You may only emit one at a time, and you can see which pheromones you are effected by in the game tab. Each pheromone uses 5 plasma every regeneration tick. Strength of pheromones is tied to caste and maturity, and increases effect. More in Xenomorph Mechanics.
A powerful heal that heals an adjacent target for 10 damage + 37.5% max health while regenerating 10% sunder.
Healing scales with regeneration pheromones.
200
60 sec
Transfer Plasma
Transfers your plasma to a fellow xenomorph, giving them up to 200 plasma.
0-200
N/A
Create Resin Jelly
Places Resin Jelly in your active hand, which can be used on yourself or other xeno castes for a 15-second protection from fire.
100
45 sec
Primordial Evolution
Once the hive has enough psychic points, your queen has the option to unlock powerful primordial evolutions for each strain. Primordial evolutions grant additional abilities for the relevant class.
For the Drone, this primordial ability is enhancement.
Drone tips & tricks
You are very weak, but your pheromones and ability to plant weeds make you a strong front line support xeno.
Xenos operate best in narrow, enclosed spaces. Consequently, marines operate worst in narrow, enclosed spaces. Build accordingly.
Your corrosive acid is very weak, but it's better than nothing. Don't be afraid to secrete some and call for a stronger acid xeno to come in the meantime.
Never try to 1v1 any marine. You are not built for that.
Mature
Elder
Ancient
