User:LordisMangis/Xenomorph
REASON: Overhauled
Alien
Superiors: The Queen
Difficulty: Medium
Guides: Guide to Combat
Access: Any non-welded vent and anything you can pry open or melt with acid.
Duties: Protect the queen, build the nest, multiply.
Departmental Head
Unknown
| Abductor • | Ash Walker • | Blob • | Changeling • | Contractor • | Construct • | Cultist • | Guardian • | Lavaland Elite • | Malfunctioning AI • | Mindflayer • | Morph • | Nuclear Agent • | Pulse Demon • | Revenant • | Revolutionary • | Shadow Demon • | Slaughter Demon • | Syndicate Researcher • | Terror Spider • | Traitor • | Vampire • | Wizard • | Xenomorph • | Zombie |
| Combat • | Death • | Hacking • | Traitor Items • | Agent Items • | Crafting • | High-Risk Items • | E-maggable objects • | C-maggable objects • | Martial Arts |
Xenomorphs are a hostile, extremely intelligent extraterrestrial species who follow the will of a singular Queen and are bound together by a hivemind. They may evolve into various castes, granting them various abilities and a specialization within the hive. Queens are responsible for their continual reproduction, as she can lay eggs hatching facehuggers who can latch onto and inject a parasitic larva into a living host, eventually growing big enough to burst out of their chest. Instances of singular larvae sneaking into a station's vents are rare, but it's important to stay cautious as they have shown to easily wipe out entire crews with their agility and wit.
History
The terrible tales of the universe passed around by deep-space ship crews and station cantina patrons often contain legends of bluespace anomalies, treacherous freight routes, and the occasional pirate encounter; However, to a select few, there is a known threat that is far scarier than whatever the natural forces of the universe could produce: Aliens. Among experienced captains and crew, they're known as the biological terror that is responsible for the disappearance of crews and stations across the many systems. To your average spacefarer, they're nothing more than a monster in your closet.
Historians are unsure of when aliens were first encountered or how they came into existence, they often refer to the proliferation of aliens as a pattern more akin to the spread of disease. Most attempts to study these aliens have led to the loss of many scientific sites as well as high-profile biologists, epidemiologists, and zoologists. While Nanotrasen has never publically admitted to it, there are rumors that the corporation had lost a moon installation due to this exact reason. Once the intelligence and wit of these creatures became known to the scientific community, it opened up the doors for study by psychologists, although these studies have yet to progress very far.
Today, the community has only a basic understanding of the biological makeup of these aliens and some concepts of social structures. Scientists know that each alien "serves" a queen and that the hive as a whole work to constantly expand nests and integrate biological resources into the hive. What is not understood is why a creature such as a hyper-intelligent hive-queen often acts outside of its own accords and best interest, almost as it serves a higher power. This has drawn the interest of many theologists and has raised questions as to the origin and purpose of more specialized castes such as alien praetorians and sentinels.
However, the public does not know most of this. Once the true danger of these aliens was discovered by various organizations across the universe, a very tight lid was placed over disseminating knowledge regarding them. For many political powers, the "idea" of aliens served a better purpose as a political tool. While aliens are still viable as fear-mongering devices or biological weapons, it is unlikely that academic documentation regarding the species will ever be declassified.
Beginning Your Infestation
Aliens can arrive on to the station in different ways. The most common way is to have them rolled for a major midround role. Two alien larva will spawn, four if there are 80 players or more connected to the server. These larva spawn near vent ducts, and are set to be already 80% through their evolution cycle. Their presence will be announced to the crew in about 13 to 15 minutes after their arrival.
Alien Evolution
Facehugger 
The crucial aspect of Xenomorph reproduction is the facehugger. It is a parasitic appendage that attaches to the faces of living hosts, rendering them blind, causing them to mumble their words, and knocking them down to the floor for 14 seconds. After this, it implants an alien embryo inside the host before curling up into a ball and dying. Xenomorphs typically use facehuggers by either throwing them at potential hosts or pulling them into large piles of facehuggers. They are sensitive to fire and temperature changes, and will die immediately in rooms above 300 Kelvin. Their latching abilities may be easily countered by appropriate headgear, with them being:
 MODsuit Helmets |
Comes with every MODsuit, which in turn are found in Engineering, Paramedic's Office, Cargo and Robotics. Can be made in Robotics. |
|---|---|
 Space Helmets |
Found in EVA. Found in the "Space Suit Crate" cargo crate. |
 Bio Hoods |
Found in Level 3 Biohazard closets in Virology, Janitor's Closet, Armoury and various locations of Science. |
 Riot Helmets |
Found in the Armoury. Found in the "Riot Helmets Crate" cargo crate. |
 Crusader Helmets |
Found in the Chaplain's wardrobe. |
 Blob Hats |
Bought in the arcade for 125 tickets. |
 Bomb Hoods |
Found in bomb closets in the Armoury, Toxins, and SciChem. |
 Radiation Hoods |
Found in Engineering. Found in the "Radiation Protection Crate" cargo crate. |
 Cueball Helmets |
Bought in the Autodrobe vending machine. |
 Snowman Heads |
Bought in the Autodrobe vending machine. |
 Welding Helmets (Hood on) |
Found in Engineering, Tool Storage, and are able to be produced with an Autolathe. |
 Carved Pumpkins |
Made by using a sharp object on a pumpkin. |
 Cardborg Helmets |
Can be crafted with cardboard. |
 Plasma Envirosuit Helmets |
Found on Plasmamen. Found in the "Plasmaman Supply Kit" cargo crate. |
 Berserker Helmets |
Hood of the Berserker Hardsuit. Found in Necropolis Chests obtained by destroying Tendrils. |
Alien Embryo
Stages of the infection visible by the Xenomorphs.
A dead embryo, removed out of the host before it can fully grow.
Next steps of the Xenomorph reproduction process happen inside the chest of the host. An Alien Embryo that was injected through the help of a facehugger begins to slowly grow about every 70 seconds, with the time slightly varying between each growth stage. The host will begin to turn sickly, experiencing a whooping cough and frantically sneezing, with the symptoms turning them more weakened the longer the parasite matures. The maturing embryo will grow regardless if the host is dead or alive. When the embryo matures fully, it will turn into a larva, flooding the host with massive amounts of toxins and begin to burst out of their chest. This kills the host instantly by ejecting all of their organs onto the ground, but can be prevented if their chest was already open through surgical means. The only way to rid the host of the parasite is by performing Internal Organ Manipulation surgery, which will kill it. Xenomorphs and medical HUDs are able to identify infected individuals, but only Xenomorphs and medical analyzers can tell the current stage of the infection.
Catching your First Crewmember
You need to catch a valid host to get another member of your hivemind and impress your Queen, but how? It's simpler than it seems, since you benefit from many factors such as stealthiness, element of surprise and raw strength. Overpowering potential prey can be done easier if you consider these guidelines:
- Go for the loners. Targeting singular, lonely crew without backup to get them out of your grasp is an easy path towards adding a new ally to your hive.
- If you are in maintenance and are suspecting potential prey, use the cover of darkness or a locker to your advantage. It can catch them by surprise and leave them unable to react to your assault.
Alien VS Predator
As a crewmember, dealing with Xenomorphs isn't just about running into maintenance with a welder and a helmet. They can easily tear apart or impregnate unprepared attackers, which only makes things worse for the station. Just staying in your department and doing your job can be more of a help in wiping them out than picking up a weapon. Before you do anything, confirm their presence. Preparing for a threat that doesn't exist will cause massive chaos, so make sure to only trust Security's or Command's words on it. If you have valid information about their existence, here are some tips to avoid becoming a new host for these monsters:
- Always stay in a group. You don't want to know how many people have died a lonely-chest bursting death due to not getting to watch their back if a Xenomorph does come around the corner.
- Construct cardborg helmets. They provide protection against facehuggers latching onto you and are cheaper than all the other alternatives. Hydroponics is able to mass-produce cardboard for this, or you can simply just flatten your starting resource box.
- If you have been eaten alive, you can easily break out by hitting an alien from the inside with the strongest weapon you have on hand. When it dies, you can simply move around till you burst out of it.
- As a Scientist, you should construct and distribute flamethrowers to the crew. Make sure to aim while using them though, since it's a pain both for you and the Xenomorphs to be on fire.
- As a Roboticist, constructing combat mechs should be your first and upmost priority.
- As a Cargo Technician or Quartermaster, order bulk amounts of laser weaponry and EVA gear. Lasers cause additional damage to Xenos while being easily rechargeable for repeated use, while space suits and helmets will allow you to even the battlefield if aliens spacing parts of the station.
Fluff
Facehugger
A parasitic cycle in xenomorph production with the appearance of two human hands held together and attached to a spiny, powerful tail. It has a proboscis it uses to implant embryos and provide oxygen while strangling a victim. The finger-like appendages are used for transportation and to attach itself firmly to a host body.
Once implantation is complete, the facehugger falls off and dies. Removal of a facehugger while it is copulating is always fatal for the victim, either because of a snapped neck, trauma from the facehugger ripping off the face of its victim, or the powerfully acidic blood of the xeno.
Like all of the xenomorph species, not much is understood about its growth, motivations, or senses, but it is known that a facehugger can tell the difference between a living humanoid and a non-living humanoid such as corpses or cyborgs and that they are suicidally focused on reproduction. Xenomorphs often use crowds of facehuggers to take down large prey or grouped or well-defended humans.
Larva
Also known as chestbursters because of their method of exodus from the host body, larval xenomorphs are the third known stage in reproduction for that species. While developing in the body, xenomorph embryos attach to blood vessels to absorb nutrients and complete its unstable genetic structure using the host's DNA.
Through an unknown process, this always results in a functioning offspring. This form is small compared to the adult, limbless, and serpentine. They have a strong instinct to hide after forcing their way out through the ribcage and violently tearing their host body apart. If left alone, xenomorph larva will undergo an unknown transformation process to adulthood.
It is believed at this stage that the xenomorph is at its most vulnerable due to its small size and apparent lack of many senses, though this should not be misunderstood—a larva is still deadly. Its powerful thrashing and sharp teeth got it out of a human sternum, after all.
Hunter
This form is usually the last in any given xenomorph's life cycle. There are many variants of the hunter (including forms that do no hunting, per se), but the human form is the most commonly seen on stations for obvious reasons.
The hunter sports a phallic-shaped skull with hidden, mostly useless eyes protected by a one-way transparent dome. It has a host of esoteric senses, most prominently a theorized echolocation (explaining their near-constant hissing) and electroreception, though its primary sense appears to be smell. The scent of pheromones is experimentally shown to be the primary communication device of xenomorphs, most effectively transmitted by the ropey purple weeds the adults spread around the station. It is unknown where this tissue comes from, as xenomorphs refuse to make it in captivity.
The primary byproduct of this weed is the strange substance plasma and as such most corporations are extremely interested in the connection between the xenomorphs and that chemical for production reasons. Like the facehugger, the hunter's blood is highly acidic, and there are rumors that it is capable of eating even through space station hulls, though it must be said that this is only a rumor.
The adult xenomorph is a living weapon, with an exoskeleton thick enough to absorb or redirect most trauma and temperature extremes, scythe-like claws, and a multi-tiered jaw system capable of projecting an acidic compound presumingly from their stomachs. Some varieties of hunter are crested, and most varieties have a heavy tail with protective ridges. Xenomorphs at this stage show semi-sapience and problem-solving abilities, and are capable of using pack-oriented tactics, creative stealth, and psychological manipulation. It is reported that in the presence of enough plasma xenomorphs can communicate in a basic way with sentient species, but there is little evidence to lend credence to such an absurd notion.
Queen
Very few xenomorphs undergo the transformation into queen. It appears to be done only in the case of very specific hive pressures. They are the only xenomorphs capable of laying the eggs that hatch facehuggers. While much larger than the hunters, they're also much slower, but are indeed much tougher. Even accounting for the size difference, a xenomorph queen can take drastically more punishment. A queen is most likely found where there are high levels of plasma, surrounded by hunters and swarms of freshly hatched facehuggers.
They are significantly more intelligent and highly protective of their offspring. While slow, they have all the adaptations and weapons of their previous hunter forms, a larger, thicker crest to protect their brain casing, and higher internal stores of plasma which they can utilize for the shaping of resin, the laying of eggs, destructive survival defences, and even a complex and poorly understood efficient means to form a natural cloak. Like all xenomorphs, there is little information about them.