Late games are often decided by one question: can the marines' ARCs kill a hive faster than the aliens can protect it? The alien answer is Shade Ink. This page works out exactly how the two interact in the game code, how big the gap between inks really is, and what it means for both commanders.
The short version#
That cuts each ARC from 10.5 shells a minute to 4, about 62% less damage. Ink doesn't make a hive safe on its own, but it slows ARCs down enough for healing to matter.
The re-ink window#
The cooldown is up 15 s after the last cast. The ARCs' second shell would land about 1.4 s after that. Re-ink anywhere in that window and the second volley is cancelled before it fires. Miss it and every ARC lands a second shell:
| Re-ink this late after the cooldown | Shells per ARC per cycle | Cycle length |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 1.4 s | 1 | 15–16.4 s |
| 1.4 s to about 7 s | 2 | up to 22 s |
| more than about 7 s | 3 | longer |
So the button can wait a moment after it lights up, but not long. Waiting 1.4 s doubles the shells that get through that cycle, and the window shrinks further with lag and slow clicks. Treat "ink the moment it's ready" as the rule and the window as a safety margin.
Holding ink: how many harvesters#
Ink costs 3 team res every 15 s: 12 team res per minute. Each Harvester gives 1 team res every 6 s (10 per minute). Constant ink therefore takes the income of 1.2 harvesters:
1 harvester120%2 harvesters60%3 harvesters40%4 harvesters30%5 harvesters24%6 harvesters20%- 1 harvester can't pay for it. Ink costs more than one harvester makes, so a one-harvester team drains its bank with every cast.
- 2 harvesters can ink on cooldown, but it takes most of the income: little is left for eggs, upgrades or rebuilding.
- 3 or more harvesters make ink cheap, and holding a hive that way is sustainable.
A long siege adds up: a 2-minute hold costs 24 team res, the price of 3 harvesters. A team with no harvesters at all only gets 1 team res every 12 s and can't keep ink up.
Siege calculator#
Set up the fight and see the hive's health over time. Purple bands are ink.
Time to kill a hive#
Hive just built (4000 hp, 750 armor)
| No ink | Ink on cooldown | Ink 2 s late each time | Ink + 1 gorge | Ink + 2 gorges | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 1 ARC | 63 s 12 shells | 177 s 13 shells | 97 s 12 shells | holds | holds |
| 2 ARCs | 29 s 12 shells | 72 s 12 shells | 46 s 12 shells | holds | holds |
| 3 ARCs | 17 s 12 shells | 42 s 12 shells | 29 s 12 shells | 207 s 45 shells | holds |
| 4 ARCs | 11 s 12 shells | 27 s 12 shells | 17 s 12 shells | 57 s 20 shells | holds |
| 5 ARCs | 11 s 15 shells | 27 s 15 shells | 17 s 15 shells | 27 s 15 shells | holds |
Mature hive (6000 hp, 1400 armor)
| No ink | Ink on cooldown | Ink 2 s late each time | Ink + 1 gorge | Ink + 2 gorges | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 ARC | 92 s 17 shells | 237 s 17 shells | 136 s 17 shells | holds | holds |
| 2 ARCs | 46 s 18 shells | 117 s 18 shells | 68 s 18 shells | holds | holds |
| 3 ARCs | 29 s 18 shells | 72 s 18 shells | 46 s 18 shells | 267 s 57 shells | holds |
| 4 ARCs | 23 s 20 shells | 57 s 20 shells | 34 s 20 shells | 102 s 32 shells | holds |
| 5 ARCs | 17 s 20 shells | 42 s 20 shells | 29 s 20 shells | 57 s 25 shells | holds |
Time from the first volley landing (ARCs deployed in range, target visible) to the hive dying. The alien commander inks 1 s after that first volley, which cancels the second; after that ink is recast the moment the cooldown is up (or 2 s later). “Holds” = the hive survives 5 minutes.
What the table shows:
- Ink on cooldown makes a siege take about 2.5× as long. Three ARCs kill a mature hive in 29 s without ink and 72 s with it. Re-inking 2 s late each time cuts that to 46 s.
- Ink plus healing beats a small ARC push. Each ARC only lands 530 damage per 15 s, and one gorge heals more than that. With ink on cooldown one gorge holds a hive against 2 ARCs, and two gorges hold a hive even against 5, as long as every ink is on time.
- Without ink, healing doesn't save the hive. Two gorges alone only slow 3 ARCs down (a mature hive falls in 69 s).
- A crag alone barely matters: at most 42 per 2 s, less than half of what one inked ARC deals.
- Five ARCs win anyway unless two gorges are healing: the single volley per gap is 2650 damage.
How it works in the game code#
ARC#
- Cost: 15 team res, 25 supply, built in 10 s at an ARC Robotics Factory (10 res upgrade). At most 5.
- Range: 7–26 m measured flat (height ignored), through walls.
- Shell: 530 damage at the target's centre, splash 7 m with falloff (damage × (1 − (distance ÷ 7)²)). Hurts structures only, including your own ARCs.
- Targets: prefers hives. Ignores eggs, cysts and contamination; hydras only when ordered.
- Must see the target: the structure must be sighted by your team or detected. Cloaked structures (near a Shade) need a scan or an Observatory within 22 m.
- Deployed: 2600 health and 0 armor (undeployed 2600 + 400). Deploying takes about 3.6 s, packing up about 2.8 s.
- Firing: the shell is fired by the animation. The aim ("target") animation plays at 0.4× speed and takes 4.1 s; the shell goes off at the start of the "fire" animation, which takes another 1.6 s before the next aim starts. The ARC looks for a new target every 0.2 s.
Shade Ink#
- Needs: a Shade Hive and a built Shade.
- Cost: 3 team res per cast.
- Duration: 6.3 s on paper. The cloud is removed on the ability's next 0.185 s update, so it really blocks ARCs for about 6.5 s. The cloud sits on the shade.
- Cooldown: 15 s from the cast, shared by the whole team. Two shades do not let you ink twice as often.
- Effect on ARCs: any target within 16 m of an ink cloud is invalid. Within 0.2 s every ARC drops its target and stops aiming; when the ink ends they start the aim again from the beginning.
- Scans don't help: ink blocks ARC fire no matter what marines can see, and a scan within 20 m of the cloud reveals nothing until the ink is gone (it starts working when the cloud ends, if it is still running).
- Shade cloak: structures within 17 m of a shade are cloaked, so ARCs need detection to target them at all. Taking damage uncloaks a structure for 2.5 s.
The gap, second by second#
Counting from the moment ink is cast, with ink recast on cooldown:
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 0 s | Ink lands. Every ARC drops its target; an aim in progress is wasted. |
| 6.5 s | The cloud is removed. ARCs pick the hive again within 0.2 s and start aiming (charging sound). |
| 10.7 s | First shell from every ARC. Then the fire animation, then the next aim starts. |
| 15 s | Ink is ready again. Recast now: the second aim is cancelled. |
| 16.4 s | The second shell would land here if nobody inked. This is the end of the re-ink window. |
Hive numbers#
| Health | Armor | Shells to kill | Ink cycles at 1 shell per ARC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hive (just built) | 4000 | 750 | 11 | 3 ARCs: 4 cycles |
| Mature hive | 6000 | 1400 | 17 | 3 ARCs: 6 cycles |
Healing a hive: heal spray heals structures a flat 60 per spray (every 0.8 s, 10 energy each, so about 60 per second sustained from a gorge's energy), a Crag up to 42 every 2 s (×1.3 during Heal Wave). Several crags don't stack on one target. The hive does not heal itself.
Marine commander: breaking an inked hive#
- Bring enough ARCs to win a single gap. Against good ink you get one shell per ARC per cycle, so count ARCs, not time. Five ARCs land 2650 damage per gap; two ARCs land 1060, which two gorges heal back.
- Kill the gorges and the shade. Healing is what stops a slow siege. The shade has 600 health (1200 mature) and no armor, but it sits inside its own ink, so marines must kill it by hand; grenade launchers are ideal. No shade, no ink.
- Punish late ink. Every time the alien commander is more than 1.4 s late, your ARCs get a second volley. Pressure the alien commander's attention elsewhere at the same time.
- Scan as the ink ends. The hive is usually cloaked by the shade, and a scan near ink shows nothing while the ink is up. A scan dropped as the cloud fades lasts 10 s, long enough to cover the whole gap, for 3 res. An Observatory in range is cheaper over a long siege.
- Protect deployed ARCs. They have no armor while deployed: skulks and onos shred them. Keep marines and a MAC next to them.
- Shoot the hive too. Bullets add damage while the ink is up, when ARCs can't.
Alien commander: holding a hive#
- Ink the moment the cooldown is up. You have about 1.4 s of margin, not more. Every late ink lets every ARC fire twice in that cycle.
- Don't waste the first ink. The first volley lands 4.2 s after the ARCs start aiming, so you can ink as the ARCs deploy and still cancel it; ink before the first shell, not after.
- Keep a shade within 16 m of every hive, not in the hive room's corner. Further than that and the ink doesn't cover the hive.
- A second shade is a backup, not more ink. It keeps the cloak and ink alive if marines kill the first.
- Heal. With ink on cooldown, one gorge out-heals two ARCs and two gorges out-heal four or more (see the table).
- Hold enough harvesters. Ink needs 1.2 harvesters' worth of income on its own. Below two harvesters you can't keep it up for long.
- Kill the ARCs. Ink buys the 6.5 s you need to get skulks on deployed ARCs.
See also#
ARC · Shade · Hive · Harvester · Observatory · Marine commander · Alien commander