Getting in#
- Marines: press E on the Command Station.
- Aliens: press E on a Hive.
- Leave with the logout button at the top left. The first commander of a round must stay in for 30 s.
The interface#
- Top bar: team resources, supply used / 200, number of resource towers, and the ARC count (marines).
- Bottom right: the button grid for the selected structure or unit. Every button has a hotkey; by default Q W E A S D F Z X G V.
- Bottom left: the minimap. Click to jump the camera.
- Alerts appear on the left (structure under attack, research complete, player requests).
Cooldown numbers. Commander buttons (med packs, nano shield, abilities) can show the remaining cooldown in seconds. Turn it on under Options > Mods > Shimizu QoL.
Selecting and ordering#
- Left-click to select, drag to box-select, Ctrl+number to save a hotkey group (1–9), the number alone to select it again.
- Right-click on the map with players selected to give move, attack or build/weld orders.
- Players see orders as waypoints. Use them; many players follow them.
Alien orders. The alien commander can give orders to alien players: attack, move, defend, construct and heal (gorges get construct/heal orders on structures, other lifeforms get defend orders). Orders to the same player are paced to one per second so nobody gets spammed.
Placing structures#
Pick a structure from the build menu and click on the map. A green ghost means it can be placed. Marine structures need a powered room (the power node is socketed automatically); alien structures need infestation (cysts and hives do not).
Commander habits that win games#
- Spend your res. Res sitting in the bank does nothing.
- Watch your towers. Rebuild lost extractors/harvesters immediately.
- Talk. Tell the team the plan: "push Cargo", "defend the hive".
- Support the fight that is happening now. Med packs, nano, enzyme and mucous win fights.
- Scout. Scans and drifters tell you where the enemy is going before they get there.
See also#
Marine commander · Alien commander · Marine commander abilities · Alien commander abilities