The latest patch for the Natural Selection 2 Beta is now available on Steam. If you have pre-ordered the game it should automatically update on Steam. If you would like to pre-order and get instant access to the beta, you can still do so here.

Build 179 changes This build is mostly bug and balance fixes. Update: added Hugh's video showing it off.

• Server optimizations - Server should use less CPU with more players, resulting in a smoother experience. We're still improving this, but you should see a noticeable improvement.
• ns2_summit updated - Visual changes to Crevice and Welcome Area, added clip brushes for railings, fixed Generator power node, removed a lot of geometry from commander view to reduce griefing possibilities
• Added faint version of parasite indicator when marines are on infestation
• Aliens can now evolve upgrades without changing lifeform
• Added basic bile bomb Gorge ability (balance identical to NS1)
• Bilebomb researchable at the Whip and purchased from the alien buy menu
• Bumped whip movement speed to make uprooting used more.
• Increased ARC range to NS1 levels
• Fixed an issue where PowerPacks when recycled would not power down the things they were powering
• Marines sprinting on infestation move much slower than regular sprint (walking is speed 5, sprinting is 6, sprinting on infestation is 5.2). Thanks Revenge!
• Shotgun cost reduced from 25 to 15 (it was inflated from previous versions and NS1 and should help address the feelings of poverty on the marine side)
• Reduced Fade armor from 100 to 50 (translates to 20% less total "health" and should compensate for the fact that the Fades are now invulnerable while blinking, which wasn't the case in NS1...but it NS2 was using the health and armor values from NS1.)
• Reduced ARC cost from 25 to 20 (ARCs seem a bit rare and much of their cost is in the Robotics Factory. Pathing-related deaths are another reason for this change. Also note, all damage-dealing capabilities must cost personal res, not team res.)
• Fixed bug where Gorges could help speed building of hives (should prevent Fades from showing up early)
• Lowered energy recuperation when on fire from 20% per second to 10% per second (improves its "crippling" effect on Fades and others)
• Fixed an issue with HotGroups not working properly
• Fixed an issue where the ARC would not damage targets that were close and had a wall between them.
• Added profile to the dedicated server (can be activated with the -console command line switch)
• Reworked spectating to fix various problems
• Added ARC death sound
• Fixed bug where player energy was replenished when exiting hive (abusable)
• Fixed bug where lights set to "Ignore Power grid" were affected
• Fixed pistol quick-reload exploit
• Fixed bug where ARCs going outside of the map bounds would cause the server to generate crippling errors messages
• New look for powered down rooms - oscillates between complete darkness and a light reddish tint (not RED like before)
• Mute Fade velocity when coming out of blink instead of zeroing it out
• Added air control for Blink (you can now blink in any direction!). Initial forward velocity when starting blink is only given if no direction held down.
• Fixed animation blending
• Players, Drifters, ARCs, and MACs are now shown with the correct minimap icon
• Minimap icons are now rotated based on the rotation of the Player, Structure, MAC, etc
• Slowed down the backing up animation to be more in sync with the movement
• Fixed bug where add on upgrades for specific aliens wouldn't show up on the buy menu
• Purchased alien upgrades are now given after evolution is complete, not before
• Each alien upgrade takes 2 seconds extra time to evolve
• Added idle variants to the phase gate
• Fixed bug where "C" is bound to both voice menu and minimap (Z should be sayings 1, X sayings 2, C minimap, V votemenu)
• Whip shouldn't hit targets that then move out of range (and start rooted)
• Whips now attack proper "engagement" points (ie, base of Command Station)
• When a power node gets destroyed, light_ambients keep their original color (thanks Mendasp!)
• When on the spectator team show spectator on the scoreboard
• Delayed showing the crosshair until we know which crosshair to display, prevents the entire texture being shown as the crosshair when the player is loading into the game
• Fixed an issue where the gorge would not place a hydra or infestation down right away but would wait for the animation to complete. We now place it right away after starting the effect(it doesn't look that bad :P)
• Fixed an issue where when researching other tabs and tech became unusable.
• Fixed an issue where if you were a commander and the game ended it was possible to cause a script error
• Fixed bug where Drifter wouldn't build if commander left hive
• Refactored some code related to command button availability
• Fixed some issues with buttons being available for the commander when building.Added tooltip error message when too many entities in an area
• Fixed bug where aliens could fall through vents or the world while evolving
• Revised muzzle flash
• Fixed an error when selecting doors
• Draw text for hive sight blips for "needs healing", "under attack", "follow me" and "chuckles"
• Fixed ARC still playing sounds and effects after death
• Fix to ARC pointing wrong direction
• Added sound feedback for Frenzy and Swarm
• Fixed bug where "ghost" players could get left on the server if a client crashed during connection
• Fixed memory leak when shutting down a Network Host
• Fixed bug where spectating on alien team at end of game would keep you spectating in the ready room

You can always keep up to date with what we're working on for the next patch with our real-time progress tracker and don't forget to follow our Twitter account.