New update: Hive leaders, burrowed larva, M54CE2, XM88, XM51

M54CE2 Heavy Assault Rifle

By @cephalo222

The M54CE2 is here. Its case includes a bipod, which you must deploy to use it effectively.

It can rapidly gun down any xenos in front of you if you fire controlled bursts.

It is obtainable in Requisitions; 3. Three are included in the armaments vendor for free, and bundles of two can be bought for $4000.

XM88 Heavy Rifle

By @magicocity

The XM88 has been added, it's a gun that rewards good accuracy but punishes misses severely.

Its unique mechanic is that it gains more damage and AP and cycles faster after hitting multiple shots in a row.

Squad Leaders get one for free, and Requisitions gets a few and can buy more.

XM51 Breaching Scattergun

By @metalsage

The XM51 allows you to destroy any structure quickly. Two hits will destroy a wall, and four hits will destroy a reinforced wall.

Requisitions gets 3 of them for free, and can buy 2 more per crate for $3000 each.

Hive leaders, Queen ovipositor abilities, and Hivelord resin structure upgrading

The Queen can choose up to 4 hive leaders, which will emit the same pheromones as her with her 4x pheromone multiplier while she's in Ovi.

She can also use 600 plasma to remotely heal any xenos in a 4-tile radius for 30% of their health each, which is also only usable while she's in Ovi.

The Queen can also devolve any T2 or T3 xeno that does not follow her orders for 500 plasma. If you are one of them, you may now self-report in #general by complaining about this change so that we can also role-ban you from Xeno for LRP.

Hivelords can also upgrade regular resin structures into thick resin by using the secrete resin action near them. Doing so will cost them the difference in plasma cost between the upgraded and unupgraded resin structures.

Burrowed Larva

Any xenos not taken by players at round-start will now be burrowed larva, saving xenos from having to drag them around and keep them safe. A count of them is displayed in the watch Xeno UI.

These spawn from the hive core, and if there is none, the Queen.

Marine late-joins will now give xenonids additional burrowed larva, scaled to the role that they spawn as (squad role or otherwise) and how soon or late they join into the round.

Armor preferences and shoulder holster

By @officialsans

Armor preferences allow you to choose which type of medium armor to get from the vendor. This preference can be changed in the Customize > Appearance tab.

The shoulder holster has also been added. It can be attached to your uniform and allows you to carry a sidearm and two magazines.

The uniform surplus vendor also has 15 of each type and now correctly has 1 radio telephone pack.

Other changes

• Added both round-start ARES announcements, one greeting marines and one announcing the planet.

• Added custom pill bottle labels and colors in the chemmaster, by @blue321

• Added grinders to the kitchen, medbay and research rooms.

• Added the IMP ammo rack backpack, which lets you carry around three magazine boxes. Requisitions gets 2 for free. By @sio3732 and @vermidia

• Added the shoulder holster, by crystalHex.

• Added new lobby art, by @nairodian.

• Fixed not showing counts for votes. This will go away again once we have vote accumulation like 13.

• Fixed Lurker crippling strike not resetting your melee attack cooldown. It will now let you quickly melee twice. This does not apply to tackles. By @rainbeon

• Fixed the Scout Specialist not getting a JTAC radio encryption key.

• Fixed penlights having a larger light radius than intended.

• Fixed watermelon helmets giving blunt protection.

• Fixed dropship part fabricators being unanchorable.

• Fixed reagent tanks being anchorable and blocking interactions.

• Fixed evacuation pod and lifeboat doors not being solid, not having gravity, and the lifeboat windows being opaque. By @feroxz

• Fixed no melee damage sound not working, by @officialsans

• Fixed defibrillators having less uses than intended and being able to have their battery swapped, by @vermidia

• Fixed sentries continuing to fire at a target past their range, by @vermidia

• Fixed helmets being size small, by @vermidia

• Fixed corrosive acid taking too long to apply on items, by @vermidia