The minimap and line of sight#
Everything any player or structure on your team can see shows up on your minimap and in the commander's view. Enemies nobody on your team sees are invisible to the whole team.
Ways aliens see marines#
- Parasite: a parasited marine or structure is visible to the whole alien team, through walls, for 44 s.
- Rupture: parasites every marine in an area.
- Webs: parasite marines that touch them.
- Aura: shows marines within 10 m per Veil through walls (position only, no health).
- Hydras and structures spot marines in range.
Ways marines see aliens#
- Observatory: reveals cloaked aliens within 22 m.
- Scanner Sweep: reveals everything within 20 m for 10 s.
- Being attacked: an alien that attacks you is revealed, even if cloaked.
Cloaking#
Three things make aliens hard to see:
- Camouflage (Veil upgrade): the player fades out while slow or still.
- Shade cloak: everything near a shade.
- Shade Hive passive: cysts and drifters are camouflaged.
Cloaked aliens are only revealed by observatories, scans, getting very close, attacking, or taking damage.
Alien vision and flashlight#
- Aliens toggle alien vision with F: a bright, high-contrast view that shows marines through darkness. The AV Studio options let you customise it (see Client options).
- Marines toggle their flashlight with F. Rooms whose power node is dead are dark.
Pinging (middle mouse) an enemy you can see marks it for your whole team for a few seconds. See Context pings.