Natural Selection II

Overview

In October 2006; the newly founded company, Unknown Worlds, officially announced that it was developing Natural Selection 2. Charlie Cleveland and Cory Strader (Natural Selection creators) will be continuing their work on the new game. On December 1 2006, Unknown Worlds, announced on their development blog, the first major feature, named " Dynamic Infestation."

On July 10 2008, Unknown Worlds announced their move from the Source Engine to an in-house developed engine. However, fans of the game were worried that going from the stable Source Engine to a new engine would delay the game. The creators stated that making the switch was the right call. This was because, at that time, most of the new engine was already completed, and Natural Selection 2 was on schedule for launch.

Gameplay

After joining a player run server, you will be able to walk around in an area known as the Ready Room. This room is used for after round banter and team selection. The three options in the room are Marines, Aliens, and Spectator.

Marines start the game with a Command Station and an Infantry Portal (spawns Marines.) Once a player decides he wants to command the team, he will jump in the Command Station. The Marine Commander is unique in that his view changes to a top-down perspective ala Starcraft. He can then drop buildings, health, ammo, and scan the area for aliens. While the commander supports, Marines are the ground are sent out to kill and take resource nodes.

Resources nodes are important to each team as it will provide money for the individual player (PRes) as well as the commander (TRes). A Marine can use his PRes to purchase different weapons from the Armory while Aliens can evolve into different life forms. TRes is used by the commander to purchase buildings and upgrades for the team.

Aliens start the game with a Hive, Eggs, and three Drifters. The Hive is the equivalent to the Marine’s Command Station and will provide the person with a top down perspective. Unlike the Marine Comm, the Alien Comm duties are slightly different. In order to take resource nodes or another Hive, the Alien Comm has to spread infestation throughout the map by dropping Cysts. Infestation allows Aliens to move faster and will slow down Marines. In addition, the Alien Comm does not need players to build the teams structures (although Gorges can help out.)

In order for any team to win, all Hives or Command Stations must be destroyed, or the other team must surrender.

Aliens/Kharaa

Skulk All Kharaa start off as the Skulk. The Skulk moves fast on four legs and can climb walls to take advantage of ambushes and alternate passage ways such as vents. Primary Attack - Bite: The crushing power of a Skulk's jaw comes down on an unfortunate foe. Alternate Movement - Sneak: Lowers movement speed, but also eliminates any noise while moving. Ability - Parasite: A projectile is shot at an opposing player therefor making them viewable at all times on the map. Augmentation Tier 1 Attack - Leap: With the power of all four legs, the Skulk can launch himself at his enemies. Augmentation Tier 2 Attack - Xenocide: A timed suicide bomb that can devastate groups of marines.

Gorge The Gorge is the helper class for the Kahraa commander. Gorges can heal and build structures to help secure victory. He can also slide on his belly. Primary Attack - Spit: A green ball of corrosive slime slowly kills anything it touches. Secondary Attack - Heal Spray: Releasing fluids, the Gorge can heal any wound inflicted on an ally or structure. Healing a structure also decreases its build time. Alternate Movement - Belly Slide: Slide on your belly to get a burst of speed. Ability - Build: The Gorge can choose to build a set number of 5 different structures. Hydra's (Stationary flowers that shoots projectiles), Clog's (Structure used to block corridors), Babbler Egg's (Small ant-like creatures that can be used to attack enemies or attach to allies to create armor), Gorge Tunnel's (Structures that allows for fast traveling across the map), and Web's (Slows down enemy movement when passing through). Augmentation Tier 1 Attack - Bile Bomb: A sack of corrosive liquid is dropped on structures and foes below doing armor damage over time.

Lerk Lerks are kings of the sky. They can fly around the map and cause mayhem using guerilla warfare. Primary Attack - Poison Bite - Take a bite out of an enemy while dealing small poison damage over time. Alternate Attack - Spikes: From the sides of their mouths, Lerks can shoot spikes in rapid succession. Alternate Movement - Roost: Allows a Lerk to perch on the wall or the ceiling. Augmentation Tier 1 Attack - Umbra - A large puff of orange smoke that can be used to coat allies, which deflects 1 out of 3 bullets. (Can be evaporated by the flamethrower) Augmentation Tier 2 Attack - Spores: As the Lerk flies, it can release a deadly toxin gas that will confuse sentry turrets and slowly choke a player to death. (Can be evaporated by the flamethrower)

Fade A teleporting Kharaa with two scythe-like blades for hands. Primary Attack - Swipe: With one scythe after another, the Fade turns into a meat grinder. Alternate Movement - Blink: Rapidly travel while entering hyperspace. Augmentation Tier 1 Movement - Shadow Step: A quick dash in any direction. Augmentation Tier 2 Movement - Vortex: A time-limited recall ability that allows a Fade to attack and then teleport back. Augmentation Tier 2 Attack - Stab: A high damage attack that requires a wind-up time.

Onos The Kharaa power house. With it's huge size, the Onos is the equivalent of a living Tank. Primary Attack - Gore: Uses the horn on the front of it's head to attack. Augmentation Tier 1 Movement - Charge: Rush forward and see the fears in the eyes of enemy players. Augmentation Tier 1 Defense - Bone Shield: Create a shield using the boneblades on the forehead. 100% damage negation. Reduces movement speed and energy recovery. Augmentation Tier 1 Attack - Stomp: Two front legs come down creating a shockwave disabling players and structures.

Marines

The marines do not have different classes like the Kharaa. Instead they have a variety of weapons and items they can purchase to give them access to new abilities. Items can be purchased with personal resources or the marine commander can use team resources and purchase items for an individual.

Switch-Axe

This is the Marine's last-resort melee weapon.

• Cost: Free
• The Switch-Axe deals double damage versus structures.

Pistol

This is the Marine's standard secondary weapon. The pistol does a moderate amount of damage with high accuracy.

• Cost: Free
• Holds 10 round magazines, with each marine starting with 5 reserve magazines.

Assault Rifle

This is the starting weapon for every newly spawned Marine.

• Cost: Free
• Alternative attack: Attack with the butt of your gun in order to do a small amount of melee damage. If used on a jumping skulk it can stun the skulk for several seconds.
• Benefits from the weapon damage research

Shotgun

This weapon can be researched early, and is a large improvement over the Light Machine Gun, especially at close quarters.

• Cost: 20 resources
• Holds 8 shotgun shells at one time

Grenade Launcher

The Grenade Launcher fires a powerful grenade over a moderate distance, effectively giving the wielding Marine siege capabilities.

• Cost: 15 resources
• Similarly to the Switch-Axe, the Grenade Launcher does double damage to structures.
• Detonation can trigger on impact on a hostile target.
• Holds 4 grenades

Flamethrower

The Flamethrower is a powerful area-clearing weapon, which can set any alien lifeforms and structures on fire.

• Cost: 15 resources
• Deals 5x damage to Cysts and Clogs.
• Flaming aliens have a decreased energy regeneration rate.
• Instantly burns away gasses such as Spores and Umbras.
• Very effective in removing infestation in general.

Mines

• Cost: 15 resources
• Sold in packs of 3 mines which can be placed anywhere on the map.
• Useful for protecting buildings and outposts from roaming aliens.

Hand Grenades

• Cost: 3 resources
• Newly introduced, three separate types of grenades are purchasable: Cluster, Nerve Gas, Pulse.
• Cluster - Explodes on impact and scatters smaller bombs in a radius.
• Nerve Gas - Deals armor damage to alien lifeforms
• Pulse - Explodes on impact and deals damage while lowering the attack speed through small energy pulses.

Welders

• Cost: 3 resources
• Welders are needed to repair buildings and restore armor to other marines.
• Having several marines with welders following exosuits for repairs is a popular late game strategy.

Jetpacks

• Cost: 10 resources
• Allows for vertical movement as well as a faster horizontal speed in the air.
• Has a fuel limit, but it recharges quickly when not in use.

Exosuit

The exosuit is the most powerful weapon at the marines' disposal. The exosuit has infinite ammo and instead has a weapon that can overheat if used too much. When inside the exosuit the marine loses his personal health pool and instead just has a large amount of armor. This means they are more susceptible to anti-armor attacks such as the the gorge's bile bomb.

• Cost: 40 (Single Minigun/Railgun)/60 (Dual Miniguns/Railguns) resources
• Research Upgrade Railgun - A high-powered railgun that replaces the minigun. Instead of overheating, it has a gauge that charges when holding down the attack button, and the more full the gauge, the higher the damage.
• Research Upgrade Dual Railguns - Two railguns. TWO.
• Research Upgrade Dual Miniguns - The exosuit gains access to a second minigun with it's own overheating bar. When properly controlled the dual exosuit can fire bullets indefinitely. Note: Once you buy the exosuit you cannot upgrade to the dual minigun version.

Extendability

The game will ship with a powerful editor in which you can script and create your own mods, weapons and scenario's. All the editor tools the developer used to create the content is available like a level editor, a cinematic tool and the full source code of all scriptable objects in Natural Selection 2. The game was mostly written using the standard LUA language and is therefore heavily moddable.

The game will be part of Steam Workshop to easily add and get the modded files.

Organic Indie Pre-order Pack

On January the 6th 2010, Unknown Worlds teamed up with Wolfire Games to make a pack available for pre-order. This pack contained Overgrowth and Natural Selection 2 available for $40, saving the consumer money if they were planning to buy either of the games. On top of this offer, anyone who had already pre-ordered Natural Selection 2 or Overgrowth was given the other game for free if they redeemed their code in the set time period. The pre-order pack offer closed on January 13th 2010.

PC System Requirements

Minimum

• OS:Windows 7 32/64-bit / Vista 32/64 / XP
• Processor:Core 2 Duo 2.6 ghz
• Memory:2 GB RAM
• Graphics:DirectX 9 compatible video card with 1GB, ATI X800, NVidia 8600 or better
• DirectX®:9.0
• Hard Drive:5 GB HD space

Recommended

• OS:Windows 7 32/64-bit / Vista 32/64 / XP
• Processor:Core 2 Duo 3.0 ghz
• Memory:4 GB RAM
• Graphics:DirectX 9 compatible video card with 1GB, AMD 5770, NVidia GTX 450 or better
• DirectX®:9.0
• Hard Drive:5 GB HD space
• Other Requirements:Broadband Internet connection