NS2 Build 206 is now available on Steam. New Drifters, Oni and Clogs, oh my!

Here is a short video showing off some (but not all!) of the changes:

Here's the comprehensive list of changes.

Features

• Added new alien wave spawn. Aliens respawn in waves every 20 or so seconds.
• Onos can now charge by holding his movement key (shift). If he hits a target, he does damage to them, but then gets angry. During his angry phase, he takes less damage but is slower.
• Onos Gore no longer throws marines (unless he kills them, then he sends the rag doll flying).
• Merged Smash and Gore to be on the same HUD slot: the correct attack will automatically be chosen depending on your target.
• Gorges can now build Clogs! These are Minecraftian style building blocks of infestation that they can use to wall off areas or protect structures.
• Gorges no longer pay resources to build anything, but instead have a set limit of each type of structure they can build. They get more with each additional hive.
• Reworked Drifters. They no longer build structures - instead, the Commander can build structures directly out of the infestation. Soon, Drifters will given more support type abilities (thanks WorthyRival!). Read more here.
• Added spike tracer effect (so you can see projectiles) for Lerk and Hydras.
• Added Drifter Camouflage (when still, they fade away but provide line of sight).
• Added new Cloak/Camouflage effect.

Balance

• Reduced Lerk max speed by -15% (now 11...sorry SabaHell!).
• Bumped up emergency spawn threshold from 4 to 5 players.
• Further weakened Harvesters when they are built. Increased Harvester build time to 60. Watch out, they are very weak to start.
• Lowered initial Hydra health and armor, and it now takes 2 minutes for Hydras to mature.
• Increased Harvester and Whip build times to slow Alien expansion a bit (and increase Gorge help)
• Changed Onos hide armor to 6 again to compensate for his slower base movement speed.
• Added values for maturing eggs (200/0 -> 250/25 over 3 minutes.

Change

• Removed ability for players to spawn on attack after a game ends.
• Removed HydraSpike projectiles (it's now hitscan but inaccurate for fast moving targets as before).
• Added subtle slowdown for Lerks when gliding and turning fast by 180°.
• Eggs now mature.
• Cysts will not grow until the cyst/Hive they are connected to has been built.
• Cysts don't create infestation anymore when unconnected.
• You can now connect unbuilt cysts with each other.
• Hives can now only be build on infested tech points.
• Rupture is now only avilable at mature cysts.
• Increased Skulk bite range a bit to compensate for a previous bug fix.

Fix

• Fixed server error where Whips would incorrectly retain pointers to Entities which were destroyed.
• Fixed bug where logging certain non-ASCII characters would cause the server console to stop printing.
• Fixed bug preventing the Gorge from jumping in some cases.
• Fixed issue where network message hooks were not reset when reloading script files.
• Fixed bug where the flinch amount wasn't taken into account properly on the server for hit detection.
• ESC no longer brings up menu when escaping from chat (0002358)
• Fixed limit on the maximum length of a log message.
• Fixed crash when unpacking an Entity on the client whose class had changed since a previous snapshot.
• Fixed bug where ARCs won't restore their previous armor when undeploying.
• Fixed potential client crash when the server is trying to send too much data.
• The red low health warning screen effect will no longer display if a player is a Commander.
• Fixed bug where typing kill would show the wrong icon.
• Fixed spamming of error sound effect.
• Fixed bug where previously evolved upgrades would not be removed when entering the ready room and then joining a team.
• Fixed recycling of powerpacks (they now correctly power down the structure they are conencted to)
• Fixed bug where eggs from evolving Aliens won't play the idle animation.
• Fixed minor issues with Marine HUD (showing random pixels)
• Fixed bug where healspray ignored line of sight to target.
• Disabled crosshair hit indicator when Commander controlled units are attacking.
• Fixed bug with bullet tracers sometimes not showing up correctly.
• Fixed bug where Commander assist menu was sometimes not working properly when using energy based abilities (scan, nano shield, nutrient mist)
• Fixed bug where Lerk air friction was dependent on FPS.
• Fixed bug where you could see health % of players in ready room.
• Disabled showing of health % for unsocketed power nodes.
• Fixed bug where stunned Marines could move their mouse and their view would suddenly flip after the stun is over.
• Fixed Commander mouse cursor "hot spots", now the click spot on "select" cursors is in the middle of the cursor graphic instead of the top left.
• Fixed crash when running the game on a single core machine.
• The Upgraded Whip will auto-Bombard targets (Thanks Matso!)
• Fixed bug allowing a Marine to build a structure while not facing the structure.
• Improved the error detection/message when an out-of-date version of DirectX run-time is installed.
• Various crashes related to collision objects being destroyed.

Improvement

• The Skulk footstep sound on metal is now much louder for Marine players (you're welcome, competitive community!)
• Added new view model animations when Gored as Marine.
• Added custom spawning sounds for all Alien classes.
• Ragdolls exist for 8 seconds now, they start to dissolve after 6 seconds.
• Upgraded Whip now displays two circles, one for melee range and another for Bombard range (Thanks Matso!).
• Whip Bombard ability now has the same range for both manual and automatic Bombard attacks (Thanks Matso!).

SDK

• Passing in "info" to the Overview tool as the 5th argument will output info about the map offset and extents.
• Setup the Editor to "sanitize" the level on load and remove errors such as invalid vertex locations.
• Disabled post processing effects in 2D and wireframe views.
• Fixed bug where the hot keys would be active when first opening the Editor but before clicking on the viewport.