Getting started
Assimilation
Assimilated crew (Vessels) are not antagonists, and are not loyal to you, nor are they converted to your side.
With that out of the way, Assimilation is the core mechanic of the Hivemind Host. It's a very simple process, click on the Assimilate Vessel power within four tiles of a target, select a target from the menu and stand still for five seconds. Once that's done, congratulations, you have a vessel. If you failed for whatever reason (The target moved out of range, you got disrupted, or the target had a Mindshield Implant) then don't worry, the power's cooldown is refunded and you can try again immediately. Assimilation is completely silent and undetectable, meaning it's safe to attempt whenever you want.
Assimilating crew is the main way to gain power. The more vessels are in your hive, the more powers you unlock and the stronger some of them become.
Objectives
Hivemind hosts always have three objectives:
- Assimilate X crewmembers or Have X Assimilated crew escape alive on the shuttle
- Assimilate or kill/maroon a specific crewmember
- Escape alive and free
If you have the assimilate a specific crewmember objective, there's a decent chance that they're loyalty implanted. In that case, you'll either have to surgically remove it, or rely on the Bruteforce ability to destroy it.
Other hivemind hosts and you
As a hivemind host, it is incredibly unlikely that you will be the only one on the station. Other hosts may want to kill you, team up with you or simply not care, although the former is probably the most common reaction. Once a host has eight vessels assimilated, they obtain Network Invasion, which allows them to probe crewmembers for information. If the crewmember belongs to an enemy hive, you get to discover the host's real name, and they get to know somebody which vessel just got hacked. If an enemy host assimilates you, you'll boot yourself from their hive after a couple of minutes and they'll find out your name, but don't fret, they can't tell the difference from a vessel being hacked and a host booting themselves.
Once a host has eighteen vessels assimilated, they obtain Mass Assimilation which, when used on an enemy hivemind host, will steal their entire hivemind before killing them.
Hivemind Powers
Assimilate Vessel
Adds a target within four tiles to the hive after a 5 second channeling period. Doesn't work against mindshielded crew, and can be interrupted.
- Roundstart Power
Release Vessel
Immediately removes a vessel from the hive. Has the same range as Assimilate.
- Roundstart Power
Hive Sight
Allows you to see through the eyes of any vessel. Comes in handy for tracking
- Roundstart Power
Neural Shock
Knocks a target out for a period of time based on distance, for a maximum of 12 seconds(Later increases to 18/24/30/36).
- Requires 2 vessels, becomes stronger every 5 vessels until 20
Repair Protocol
Deal minor brain damage to vessels to heal brain, brute, burn and clone damage. Moving interrupts this.
- Requires 4 vessels
Distortion Field
Causes hallucinations in everybody in sight of the target. At 20 vessels it starts dealing stamina damage.
- Requires 6 vessels, becomes stronger every 5 vessels until 25
Network Invasion
Probe the mind of an adjacent crewmember to discover the identity of any other hivemind hosts they've been assimilated by. Takes 10 seconds on a vessel of ours, takes 30 otherwise.
- Requires 8 vessels
Mind Control
Take full control of a vessel's body for 10 seconds(Increases to 30/60/120 later on) as long as your body is undisturbed. If the vessel dies during this period, so do you, so be careful.
- Requires 10 vessels, becomes stronger every 5 vessels until 25
Induce Panic
Deals stamina damage and induces a variety of negative effects to anybody in range. Mindshielded targets have a chance to resist that goes down the larger your hive is.
- Requires 12 vessels
Bruteforce
When activated, Assimilate Vessel will destroy mindshield implants on use. Lasts 30 seconds.
- Requires 15 vessels
Mass Assimilation
After 45 seconds, kills an adjacent hivemind host and assimilates every vessel within their hive. Alerts the target, have them restrained and silenced beforehand. Should you be interrupted, this will backfire horrendously.
- Requires 18 vessels
Telekinetic Field
Creates a psionic forcefield, similar to a wizard's forcewall but larger and lasting less time.
- Requires 20 vessels
Medullary Failure
Overloads a selected vessel's medulla, inducing an immediate heart attack. Incapacitates within seconds and kills within a minute if not treated.
- Requires 25 vessels
Tips
- Start assimilating early, the bigger your hive the better! You lose your powers if you fall under the required vessel amount, so having a surplus of vessels is never a bad idea.
- Be careful when it comes to getting in fights. You can easily dispatch of any rogue vessels, but you have very little strength or survivability otherwise. The best way to fight is either by assimilating your target beforehand, or via proxy with Mind Control.
- If you want to kill an enemy host after having confirmed their identity, a good way is to assimilate them and then act within the two minute timeframe you get before they're booted.
- Death releases all your vessels, try not to die.
- Don't be afraid to kill problematic vessels, especially if they get in your way.
Tips for Security
- Vessels are not antagonists unless they are under mind control, and in most cases should not be treated as such. While it is acceptable to kill in self-defence, as Security you are heavily encouraged to implant them instead.
- Mindshielding an assimilated crewmember will immediately free them from the hivemind, and will give them the host's identity. Use this to track down the antagonists!
- Keep an eye out for unimplanted officers! An assimilated officer is a deadly attack vector that should be restrained and implanted as soon as possible.
- As the HoS or Warden, if you have spare implants, consider implanting heads of staff once you've found evidence of hivemind hosts amongst the crew. The last thing you want is the HoP handing out all access because he's been mind controlled
- As an officer, if you catch them early, you can beat a hivemind host with ease. However, once they start gaining more powers, things can get out of hand unless you take them on as a team. Induce Panic can potentially end a fight, Telekinetic Field almost guarantees an escape, and while officers are normally immune to assimilation, Bruteforce renders them just as vulnerable as normal crew.