Two teams, very different#
| Marines | Aliens | |
|---|---|---|
| Fight with | Guns from range | Melee and abilities up close |
| Heal by | Med packs, armories, welders | Regenerate on their own, gorges, crags, hives |
| Get stronger by | Buying weapons, jetpacks and exos | Evolving into new lifeforms |
| Tech comes from | Research at structures | Biomass from hives + research |
| Command from | Command Station | Hive |
| Resource towers | Extractors | Harvesters on infestation |
| Respawn at | Infantry Portals | Eggs around hives |
How a round goes#
- Start. Each team spawns at its base on a tech point. Each has one player in the command chair.
- Early game. Both commanders grab resource nodes; skulks hunt for marines and extractors, marines escort their builders.
- Mid game. The marines get Phase Gates, better weapons and armor; the aliens get a second hive, upgrades and lifeforms such as lerks and fades.
- Late game. Jetpacks, exos and ARCs against onos, fades and bile bombs. Someone breaks through.
How a round ends#
A team loses when:
- its last command structure (Command Station or Hive) is destroyed, or
- all its players are dead and it has no way to respawn (no Infantry Portal / no eggs), or
- it concedes by vote.
Resources matter most. A team that holds more resource towers can afford more of everything; most rounds are won by the team that controls the map, not the one that gets the most kills.
What makes NS2 different#
- The commander is a player too, and the team plays around them.
- Asymmetry: marines and aliens play nothing alike. Learn both.
- No kill rewards: killing players does not give resources. Killing resource towers, power nodes and structures does the damage.
- Information: the minimap shows what your team sees. Calling out what you see is half of teamwork.