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There have been quite a few Colonial Marine-themed games over the years andAliens: Dark Descentmight be the most entertaining one yet. Instead of running around in another FPS or floating behind a trooper as a ghostly camera operator, Dark Descent turns you into the Gorman of the group as you bark out commands to your squad from relative safety.
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It’s an exciting mix of real-time strategy meets tactics game that always has a curveball or two to throw at you when you least expect it. For first-timers, it can be a grueling slog across the surface of the moon of Lethe, but with this handy guide, you may pick up some tips to keep your squad alive and intact as you attempt to escape the infested planet.
Beginners Tips
Right off the batAliens: Dark Descent throws a lot of mechanics at you. There’s stress management, equipment, alien types, missions, and sub-tasks to sort through, and aplethora of weaponry to tinker around withas you get to grips with the game.
It’ll feelvery familiar to those that have played the modern XCOM games as there’s a fair amount of similarity to how you’ll bemanaging your squad’s well-being and gear. Plus, like XCOM2, you’reoperating out of a giant ship. Albeit one thatdoesn’t move much after crashinginto the planet. To keep your team alive and churning out those side-quests, here are a few tips.
Know The Movement Speed Differences
First off a tip for your fundamentals, know themovement speeddifferences.There are two. One is a run, the other a normal walk. Why this is important is that whilst walking, your team canfire and suppress targets on the move. But whilst running,your marines can’t shoot.
So for example, if you’remaking a withdrawal from an alien waveyou’ll want to be walking so your marines canpick off any that get too close. However, if someone gets grabbed you’ll want toset them to run, then walk modewhen they get closer so they cankill the Xenomorph that’s abducting a marine. Knowing when to toggle between the two can make all the difference.
Tricks For Turrets
As useful as they were in the Aliens movie,Turrets are your best friendsin Aliens: Dark Descent. Thesebullet-spewing buddiescan be dumped down and left toguard a hallway or placed in a vantage pointto create the ultimate killing field in those tight corridors.
It’s highly recommended to ensure that youalways have at least twowith you as they’reanother gun on the fieldand they can be left behind during extractions asreliable guard dogs. The only downside to Turrets is that theyneed to be repaired manually if damaged, and once they’re out of ammunition you’ll need toextract the team to get another one.
Holding down theplacement buttonallows you torotate Turretsinto the perfect overwatch position.
Don’t Forget Your Armored Car
In most missions, especially early on, your team willcrash onto the scenein their armored car. Thistanky and chunky boyis not just your personal heavily armed Uber, it can also work quite effectively asback-up or as a patrollerin some of the more open maps.
you’re able to easilymove the APC around the mapinto any area that it will fit. So it’s quite useful forrolling it ahead into a big group of Xenoswhilst your troops walk behind, firing in support as ittrundles ahead like a shield. Also, since your teamuses it for extracts, you canposition it in the perfect spotfor a speedy getaway when it’s time to leave.
Have A Backup Team
It really can’t be stressed enough how important it is tohave a backup team. Permadeath is an ever-present threat and it doesn’t take much to take out a squad member. Sotry to avoid putting all your eggs in one basketwith one super-powered fireteam.
Instead,balance things out by swapping in a B-Teamfor each mission to level up a wider number of Marines. That way you won’t end up with abig bunch of under-experienced Rookieswhen you’re a couple of chapters deep into the game.
Some Squad Members will alsoneed to recuperate outside of combatif they’re too stressed. Not accounting for this will hurt you in the long run.
Avoid Being Trigger Happy
When you think of Colonial Marines in the Aliens universe you would expect a one-liner spewing, twitchy trigger-fingered individual. But in Dark Descent,being loud is the last thing you want. Every noise brings the attention of more Xenos, and going in loud just makes themmore aggressive much faster.
Luckily you canunlock silencerslater on in the game, but before you get there it’s heavily recommended that you focus on taking down targets withshort bursts and avoid explosiveswhere you’re able to. Every big bang, every prolonged engagement justdraws more attentionto your team, and because thehordes are infinite, you want to avoid provoking that proverbial Hornets Nest as much as possible.
Be Aware Of The Alien Aggressiveness Metre
As you wander around thederelict colony locations, the localXenomorphs will start to get a little testy. This is quantified in a meter onscreen marked “Alien Aggressiveness”, and the higher it goes, the harder the fights become.It goes from Easy through Medium into the cap at Hard. With the number of Onslaughts andthe amount of tougher Xeno’s increasing along with it.
The meter ticks upevery time you enter combatand you’ll know when it moves as it willshow little iconscorresponding to theXenos level of aggression. It’s worth watching this as you wander around asthe more it fills up, the harder the mission will become. If the meter goes too high, it’soften worth extractingas it will reset when you return.
As theAlien Aggressiveness Metermoves to each tier anOnslaught will spawnand head straight to your team’s location.
Hunker Down During Onslaughts
On the topic ofalerting the Xenomorphs, if you make them a little too rowdyyou’ll be hit with an Onslaught. This is a brief period where the game dumps ahuge wave of Xenoson you, usually involving one or twoStage Two aliens, which are justtougher and more evolvedtargets to take down.
You’ll have30 seconds to set up a defenseonce the alarm is raised and there’sno way to avoid them. Sohunker down and hold out. Don’t attempt to outrun it or hide,they’re inevitableand won’t end until youdeal with the irritated alien horde. You’ll usually be able toavoid spawning them if you’re quietand haven’t moved the Aggressiveness Meter too much, but if yourteam is making a lot of noisethey’ll trigger more often.
During Onslaughts, try toposition yourself in chokepointsor find a good corner to camp out in. Otherwise, it’seasy to get flankedand overwhelmed.
Check Those Corners Marine!
Whilst you can stack up your Marines with equipment before you leave the safety of the Hub, there are alsoextra supplies that can be gathered in the field. Even thoughtheir number is finite, having an extra healing item, Flare or gadget can make a lot of difference.
However, these pickups areoften hard to findand they’ll normally betucked away in forgotten rooms and unlit areas. So if you have time or are just passing through an already cleared area, verify tosweep your flashlightinto each corner, there may be something there that you might have missed.
Don’t Get Greedy
On the topic of pickups found in the field, another good tip isdon’t get greedy with every single item you find. Each level, its layout, and the items left behind on itare permanent. So if you’re hoovering up everything you find on your first run-through, you may bedepriving yourself of itemsthat you might need later.
As a general rule of thumb,only take what you needand make amental noteof where something is if you’re alreadyfull on medkits and ammunition. You may not need it now, but considering how quickly things can get out of hand,especially in later missions, having resources in reserve in a spot you know can be quite handy.
Don’t Stress Extractions
One other important tip to keep in mind is tonever get stressed out about having to extract mid-mission. Thoughthere is a time limit later on, the levels are large and you’ll barely be able to clear everything in an area on your first go, even on lower difficulties. Yourplayground is largeand there’s a lot to do.
Often sometasks will take an entire mission unto themselves. So you could spend 20 minutes to an hour trying to do them. With stress and alien aggression levels constantly increasing, staying in combat for prolonged periods is only going to bedetrimental to your Squad’s effectiveness. Plus, heading back home allows your team torest up and rearmfor the next insertion.
Use Motion Sensor Shenanigans
One handy piece of equipment that often goes underappreciated is theMotion Sensor. Just like the movies, these bulky bits of gear will send out theirsignature sonar pingwhenever they pick up hostile movement in a specific area.
However, what most people don’t realize is that they can beused as a sneaky distraction tool. The Motion Sensors can let out ashrill noisethat draws every Xenomorph on the current floor level to their location before its destroyed. Why this is useful is that if you’re about to get hit with a horde, justactivate one way off on the other side of the mapto buy yourself some extra preparation time, or as a way to escape without encountering any hostiles.
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Stress Level Advice
Just like in real life,high-stress levels can cause all sorts of problems. In Aliens: Dark Descent though,stress is a measurable stat, and managing it is going to be one of your highest priorities.Stress builds when your Marines are in battleand it comes in four levels.Relaxed, Anxious, Panicked, and Terrified. Plus, the percentage of stress built increases with each tier.
At the end of a mission, your team is givenTrauma Pointsbased on those stress levels, and for every three Trauma Points they earn, they get a mental health issue. This takes the form of adebuff that comes in a variety of flavorsfrom reduced accuracy to other detrimental combat effects.
High-stress levels also come with the risk of your Marine undergoing what’s known as aStress Effect. These arerandom effects that stackand essentially cause things like reduced command points, confusion, reduced accuracy, additional damage taken, and firing in extra bursts thatleech your ammo reservesmore than normal. Keeping your troopers calm can take a lot of work, but as you can see it’s definitely worth it.
Reducing Stress
Thankfully you canreduce the stress levels of your soldiersand there are a couple of ways to do it. To start with, you can take them toShelter Roomsmarked on the map during a mission. These come withweldable doorsthat will let your troops take a break for a while.
The next option is usingmedical supplies such as Naproleve. This is a medical bottle in the ingame menu during a mission and willreduce one soldier’s stress level by 100 percent. It’s the same as taking a rest in a room, but it only applies to just a single soldier.
Another option is touse the Medics' Morphine upgrade. It’s only available if there’s a medic in your crew and it applies a30 percent reductioninstead of the full 100, it’s not much, but itworks in a pinch. Finally, Marines can also rest at home in the Hub, though doing thistakes them out of the fight for a certain number of daysdepending on how much trauma they need to work through first.
Stress can be affected by Bravery. This is astat that can reduce a soldier’s Stress Levelaccumulation.The higher the bravery, the slower the build. Certain classes and also Ranks, like the Seargent, can alsoincrease the entire Sqauds Bravery Stats.
