UPDATE: Second Hive Queen attack on June 30th was almost thwarted, with the Queen at less than 2% carapace left, but it managed to hold on with the help of a Hive Behemoth and defeated a combination of Sol, Gen and Ma'al forces.

Sol and Genari worked together to defend a border region from the Hive Queen, and Ma'Alaketh's top player also came in to help when things got tough. The Hive Entity, Behemoth and Chrysalis were destroyed, but the Queen survived; once the Maalaketh Dreadnought was destroyed, things went south for the alliance.


The Sol Colossus Dreadnought surrounded by repair tenders confronts the Queen.


A Genari Interdictor Destroyer comes in for a close combat run against the Hive Entity.


A Sol Gorshkov Frigate gets sandwiched between the Behemoth and Entity.


Top view of the battle, with the Queen in the middle, Entity destroyed, Behemoth adjacent to the Queen, and Sol ships surrounding the Queen firing at range.


The MaAlaketh Sovereign Dreadnought comes in mid-battle to save the day, but eventually gets cornered and succumbs to the Queen.

The Hive Queen enters the Sol border, approaching a Greenland monitoring station.

As work is being done behind the scenes for Hive development, we are going to have a special event on Saturday June 22nd, peak playing hours of 1pm EST (5pm GMT).

The Hive Queen will approach a region bordering Sol and Genari space, by which the Sol/Genari warring factions can join forces and fight the Queen and the Hive Entities that will follow in with her.

Good XP to be had -- but can she be destroyed?



When the bulk of Matriarch Talagh-Zeranghi's forces assaulted the Hive homeworld 'Dark Core', their armada, consisting of a Nova, several heavy cruisers and other capital ships managed to overcome the defending organisms and destroy the Hive nest that existed there. The Matriarch declared this as the beginning of the end for the Perseus Hive and the Dark Core's defeat as the ultimate conquest for the Empire. She was premature in her announcement however: Things turned sour when this station-sized organism appeared from the dark side of the barren planet about an hour later. Undetected, it was within the planet's dead core itself; how it got out is uncertain. As it approached, it sent waves of energy against the Nova flagship, which was already significantly damaged. Before the flagship could escape during its dark matter transition phase, it got destroyed. It then systematically attacked each other heavy cruiser, forcing them to retreat one by one. All other remaining Hive organisms rallied around this superentity, and forced the rest of the Genari fleet to retreat. It has never been encountered again, but ever since its appearance, it has broken the Genari dream of overtaking Hive space. They've respectfully termed it the Hive 'Queen', definitely befitting its title. Unlike the Hive Nests which birth new Hive organisms, this Queen is mobile and acts like a Hive Entity. If it truly can travel between star systems, there may be nothing Sol or Genari could do to stop it.

Couple of Updates to Ma'Alaketh and Hive:



Hive Rank Labels now added
Hive 'Captain Ranks'
-Level 1 - Protonymph
-Level 2 - Nymph
-Level 3 - Developing Pupa
-Level 4 - Pupa
-Level 5 - Mature Pupa
-Level 6 - Hive Fledgling
-Level 7 - Hive Mind
-Level 8 - Greater Hive Mind
-Level 9 - Supreme Hive Mind
Remaining Hive Class VII through X added (Ship graphics, stats, lore)
-Hive Entity
-Hive Bombardier
-Bloated Hive Entity
-Megalith
-Greater, Lesser, Supreme Hive Entity
-Behemoth, Hive Queen

-Advanced 10 level officers can now be properly upgraded past level 5 (Past 70 officer points)
-New Ma'Alaketh ship 3D models coming soon.

Protopods & Neopods
What seemed to be harmless creatures floating in space, soon turned aggressive when the Genari started exterminating them in large numbers. Over the first year of Genari Clan Moshtigh's campaigns into Hive space, some of these spores began gestating into Neopods with offensive capabilities. They began to fire back; energy beams similar to lasers were relatively weak -- but the sheer numbers of these creatures tilted the balance. In addition, what looked to be their feeding mechanism -- their proboscis -- ended up becoming something more dangerous when in proximity to Genari ships. The proboscis would penetrate the hull, and absorb any organic lifeform it encountered: Namely the crew. This was just the first step in the Hive's counteroffensive.

Protoliths
Surviving Neopods eventually absorb enough organic matter to grow larger, and more 'experienced', to become a Frigate-sized organism. These Neopods get classified as Protoliths, ie. the precursor to the Lith stage of the Perseus Hive evolutionary process. Everything within this creature tends to improve, such as its sensiculum, energy beams, propulsive and regenerative properties. Far more durable than their smaller cousins, they can survive extended conflict with hostile Genari Frigates.

Chrysalis
These smaller masses are essentially undifferentiated Neopod cocoons, that will never molt into Protoliths. Scientists have not figured out why some Hive organisms never leave the cocoon, but these that are still alive generate a lot of organic energy. Somehow they can still communicate with other Hive organisms, and travel, albeit very slowly. They have been seen staying stationary in battle, as injured hive feed off the Chrysalis itself and increase their regeneration rates.


Spore
Essentially considered to be the 'infant' stage of this organism, where it has not differentiated into a truly functioning and independent unit of the Hive. Found often trapped in orbit of planetary systems, or gestating to the protopod stage with the help of a nearby stars' solar radiation. Completely harmless.

Protopod
Once a spore develops into a truly functional and self-sufficient organism, it differentiates itself with actual sensory and motor functions. These new hyper-reactive protopods have adapted to have defensive capabilities with a unique energy weapon.

Bloated Neopod
A little larger and thicker than the common Neopod, these bloated varieties tend to be slower and less reactive, but far more durable. Their regenerative properties and organic carapace are significantly more advanced than a standard Neopod. It seems to consume the same amounts of organic material as creatures of its class however.

Bursting Neopod
This unique neopod looks like it has a larger 'mouth', but it has developed a plasma wave weapon instead of its siblings' energy beams. The plasma wave delivers more damage, but has very limited range; so these organisms need to get within 2000km of an enemy ship .

Energized Neopod
Usually differentiated from other Neopods as a little more greenish in color, this more slender hive organism tends to be more 'energized' and moves a lot faster than creatures of its class. Whether it can be classified as 'smarter', it tends to hit and run invading warships, escaping retaliatory fire.

Bloated Protolith
When a 'bloated' Neopod advances far enough to its next growth stage, it commonly becomes a bloated version of the Protolith. It tends to be bigger and slower than a common protolith, with faster regenerative rates. Even though they are a lot less mobile than their siblings, they do tend to stay close to Chrysalis in a synergistic relationship that keeps them surviving protracted battles.

Bursting Protolith
The 'bursting' Neopods were the first to develop that unique plasma wave energy weapon, and this organism is the next step in its evolution. The original single-fire weapon has been split into two, doubling its effectiveness, though each with the same energy level as the original Neolith variant. Quite dangerous up close, these creatures are close combat brawlers as opposed to their hit & run energized cousins.

Energized Protolith
Those energized Neopods that do survive long enough and grow larger eventually develop into this class of organism. Like its smaller relative, it has a hyperactive propulsion unit at the expense of its carapace and regenerative properties. Also like its smaller sibling, it tends to be smarter, faster, and more inclined to hit and run enemy invaders.

Focused Protolith
It is uncertain how these small frigate-sized organisms managed to develop such powerful energy beams, but they are near-identical to Hive Entities' energy beams. Some proposed that the Hive Entities somehow spawned a part of themselves into a protolith, others suggest that the protolith itself acquired these more powerful offensive appendages from a Hive Entity. Either way, it can only support two of them, and it seems to have taxed their propulsion units similarily to the Spiral variant of the Protolith. It may be something to do with the energy required to maintain a high level of offensive appendages.

Spiral Protolith
On the surface, this looks very similar to a common Protolith, until you see that the 'eyes' have multiplied; those are not eyes of course, but appendages for energy weapons. The beams have split into two separate units on both port and starboard sides, though slightly weaker in overall strength. This increases this organism's beams from four to six. Energy signatures coming from the propulsion unit seems to be slightly lower however. It is not really understood why this specific kind of Protolith has modified itself this way, but it continues to thrive, perhaps even more successfully than the common Protolith.

NeoChrysalis
When a neochrysalis expires, whether by constant drainage from other hive organisms, or other trauma, it hardens into a dead variant. Its core still seems to have some minor energy signature, but it is too faint to produce any regenerative properties. Still though, these are seen brought into defensive positions, as the Hive organisms have learned they can be useful to absorb weapons fire. With such hardening into an asteroid-like structure, it is capable of taking a lot of damage before being destroyed.

Players involved in breaking through the Ma'Alaketh Frontier line: 500 credits
Players involved in breaking through the Ma'Alaketh Core line: 1500 credits
Players involved in destroying a Ma'Alaketh Shipyard: 3000 credits each shipyard
Players involved in destroying Ma'Alaekth home world: 5000 credits + Ma'Alaketh killer Legacy Medal

Current Successes:
Ma'Alaketh Frontier Line broken! (Sol)
Locke, Thanos, Pav, Mercy, Jerbear (won 500 credits each)
Ma'Alaketh Frontier Line broken! (Genari)
Trygore, Hook, [AT] Maverick (won 500 credits each)

Ma'Alaketh Core Line broken! (Sol)
Thanos, Nymndoss, Daoron, Mercy, Bigksan, Bardo, Beo, Freddi1995, Jerbear, Capnnig (won 1500 credits each)

Ma'Alaketh Shipyard Destroyed! (co-op)
Beo, Tainted_Ego, Thanos, Mercy, Bardo, Jerbear, Aquarius (won 3000 credits each)

Ma'Alaketh Homeworld Conquered! (co-op)
Thanos, Beo, Jerbear, Mercy, Hook, Holy_Diver (won 5000 credits each)

Battle Royale Event Set for Saturday April 27th at 1pm EST (5pm GMT)



(Will be Frigate class, all active and passive captain skills allowed).

Frigate-based competition, all players can join. Winner gets 500 credits.

Rules:
Players select any frigate of their choice (can be Sol or Genari, including variants), and enter the battlefield. Spawning is random of the map, and it is a free for all, last man standing competition. Only one survivor.

All on a new map!

-Ma'Alaketh regions now spawn AI NPC's, which will help alert the AI director of incoming invading ships.
-Ma'Alaketh AI ships now have 25% built-in evasion.
-Ma'Alaketh player ships can now no longer exceed faction limits.
-Basic Ma'Alaketh defense drones now return fire.
-Lucky shot now does 100% chance to hit no matter what the enemy evasion stats are.
-Overload and Rally can no longer be used together.

Veterans and new players can compete in the new Europa server that launched on Thursday, April 18th, 2019. Come and fight against the new faction, with a third race in play the dynamics have changed substantially. Will it become a free for all or will two sides combine their strengths to fight a greater foe? Battle for regions can end up becoming busy with a possibility of three races fighting it out against each other in the same sector.
Even the Hive will play a role…

The top player of Sol (Jerbear) pressed hard against the Genari advance, even achieving the strongest ship in the game (Colossus) but Genari had already conquered and destroyed Vega, Sirius, Wolf359, and Arcturus leaving Sol extremely vulnerable.

The top 30 players below, some who achieved the 100K+ xp milestones:



The newbie server will be active through this week, until the start of the next server, on Friday April 19th. It will also introduce the Ma'Alaketh race, as fully active and playable. Veteran player invite only for Ma'Alaketh, then fully open to the public on the subsequent server.

Here is a new ship variant which players can compete for a build!
The most original and practical version of the ship will be selected; the player who submits that winning version gets 500 credits, and is mentioned in the lore for that ship.

Time for the Firebolt Missile Frigate!



Visit the SpaceWars forum.
Or direct link to the thread for the shipbuilding contest: Shipyard Section