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Here is a snippet of what’s in store for build 332, which is coming soon! This changelog contains the Balance Patch Notes, there is much more in the full changelog which will be released when the build goes live.

General

● The health and armor status (hp bar) has been removed from enemy players in combat (We recommend enabling damage numbers)
● Re-drop block times for commanders placing cysts and resource towers is now 1 second (down from 5-7 seconds)
● Fixed cysts sometimes dying when placed (From Katzenfleisch)
● Fixed commanders forced to repress the grid key for dual action items (From Katzenfleisch)
● Fixed scan not having a visual range displayed (From Katzenfleisch)
● Fixed structures being …

This latest update brings something new and special to the game. Introducing the B.M.A.C, two exciting new robotic models joining the Marine forces.

The Bipedal-Mobile-Automated-Custodian and Bipedal-Mobile-Automated-Countermeasure are here to help and serve your needs. Play as one of these new marine models with up to 10 different variants for you to choose from. The B.M.A.C. also includes two brand new voices with all new taunts and requests. Community Development Team members Vlaad and Sweets worked very hard with our team over the last couple months developing the models and sounds respectively, and a HUGE shout out to Rune for all the trailer help and going beyond the extra mile. We’ve had so much fun building these into the game …

We’re coming at you with news and tournaments being run by our friends at the Natural Selection League!

ENSL.org Grand Open Tournament, Season 15 and Staff required!

Grand Open Tournament

The most exciting event of 2019 is coming soon! A Grand Open Tournament, run by the Natural Selection League (NSL or ENSL.org) in collaboration with UWE, will take place December 7-8, and feature a prize of $600 for first place winners and t-shirts for the runner-ups! Mark the dates, and get ready for some challenging games! This event will show which team is truly the top dog in 2019!

Short Season Announced!

The NSL has also opened the signups for its new season format! Beware that …

Thank you for all the feedback on Update 329. This hotfix should serve to improve your experience.

A note to our Linux users; Although we no longer directly support a Linux client, please be aware that NS2 does run when using Proton. If you are unable to start NS2 via Proton (right click at Library entry -> Properties -> check Force the use of a specific steam play compatibility tool -> select latest version of proton) please confirm that your system is compatible to dxvk (see https://github.com/lutris/lutris/wiki/How-to:-DXVK ).

Tweaks / Improvements

• Removed the DirectX 9 render option and defaulted all clients to DirectX 11. A lot of clients have been frequently crashing due to a bug in the DirectX 9

Welcome back to “Colony Zero,” the forgotten mining facility on the moon Freya IV. Greed and a continued push for dominance brought the TSF to this moon, but what they found while mining deep was something they felt was far more valuable than ore or minerals; little did they know it would start a pandemic reaching across the entire galaxy. 

Our newest official map, ORIGIN, a remake of the NS1 map, holds the answers to the Origins of Kharaa and is now available to play. You can earn the special Abyss Gorge skin after playing five rounds, but hurry as this skin is only available for a limited time! Thank you to pSyk for all his hard work on re-creating …

With the upcoming release of patch 329, we will officially be ending our support for the Linux client of Natural Selection 2. It has become increasingly more difficult to support and develop for the platform natively. We also struggle finding enough users with QA experience to help us debug and solve issues that arise with continued changes to the game. For Server Operators, we will continue to support the Linux server environment.

If you are a Linux user that purchased the game in the last 30 days, you will be able to request a refund from Valve outside the normal Steam refund policy.

However, we have verified that the windows client will install on Linux with the support of proton …

A Message from our friends at the Natural Selection League:

Are you bored by the chaos of public games?
Have you ever wondered how this game plays in a 6 man team willing to speak and work together? Ready to try something new?

Join the Newcomer Tournament!

Bring your friends, or find new ones, and fight in a competitive 6v6 environment against other newcomer-teams to be crowned the best new NS2 team of 2019. All of this will be streamed by our experienced shoutcasters!

When is the Newcomer Tournament?

The tournament will be played on Saturday, June 1 and Sunday, June 2.

But the fun starts when you are ready!
We strongly advise that all players who wish to …

In 327 we’re introducing some big changes to Gorge Tunnels, Alien PvE, Marine weapons and more. Below you will find extensive explanations and reasoning behind these changes- One common theme we want to emphasize however is that the goal of these changes is not to achieve a 50/50 balance for the game, but to balance for fun. By making changes to alien early game strategy and the intense reliance on PvE, we hope to lay the foundations for an overall healthier, more fun game for both teams. A secondary effect of this (but not the point) is simply shaking up the gameplay to keep the meta evolving. Additionally worth noting, as of this patch, official Ranked Server Status is …

Ever since NS2 was first announced, one thing I have always looked forward to is the hope of a new lifeform. We sadly weren’t able to get this – but I never gave up hope. Even now, I still dream of a sixth lifeform. Something totally new! And when I say this to people I hear something along the lines of … “What would it do though? the aliens already have most niches filled” …And to that my friends, I say: Hold my beer.

Below you will find 6 rough concepts of what I believe a new lifeform could look like and some examples of how it would play. I hope you all enjoy theorizing about these as much …