How to play Natural Selection 3.2

Getting started

1. Enter a name on the start page. Then join one of the games listed there, or host a new one: pick the map, the player slots, how many bots of which kind, the extensions and the rules, and click Host game. The others find your game in the list. A game ends as soon as its last human player has left.
2. The map is downloaded first (progress bar), the rest of the game data streams in while you play.
3. You spawn in the ready room. Walk into one of the team portals, or press F1 (Frontiersmen/marines), F2 (Kharaa/aliens) or F3 (auto-assign). F4 takes you back to the ready room.
4. Click into the game to capture the mouse. Esc releases it, pressing Esc again leaves the game and brings you back to the start page.
5. F11 switches to fullscreen.

If the server is password protected, the start page asks for the password once. There is no in-game menu: everything is done with keys and the console.

If the connection to the server drops, the game says so and reconnects by itself; you stay in the game unless it takes longer than the server's timeout (5 minutes). The game keeps running while its tab is in the background, so you aren't dropped for switching tabs.

Browser specifics

• Crouch is Ctrl. Browsers reserve shortcuts like Ctrl+W (close tab). While you play, the page asks before it's closed. In fullscreen (F11) Chrome and Edge pass these keys to the game. Alternatively bind crouch to another key, e.g. bind "MOUSE4" "+duck" in the console.
• Voice chat: hold Alt to talk. The browser asks for microphone access the first time you do; you hear others without granting it. Browsers only allow the microphone on HTTPS pages (or localhost) – the start page shows a hint when that's not the case.
• Mouse: mouse acceleration is on by default (m_customaccel 1), tune it with m_customaccel_scale (default 0.04) or turn it off with m_customaccel 0. In commander mode, in the popup menu and while spectating NS shows its own cursor, starting in the middle of the screen; the mouse stays captured.
• Leaving the game (Esc twice, or quit/disconnect in the console) brings you back to the start page. If the server dropped you, it says why there.
• The start page remembers the settings you last hosted a game with.
• Settings are stored in your browser (key bindings, sensitivity, video options). Clearing the site data resets them to the defaults listed below.
• The first visit to a map can stutter briefly while models and sounds load; afterwards they come from the browser cache.

The game in 2 minutes

Two very different teams fight over resource nodes and each other's bases.

Frontiersmen (marines)

• One player sits in the command chair (walk to the command station and press E) and plays a real-time strategy view: build structures, research upgrades, drop weapons and give orders. Leave the chair with the logout button.
• Everyone else fights in first person, follows the commander's orders and builds what the commander places (hold E on it). Request orders, health or ammo with the popup menu (hold right mouse).

Kharaa (aliens)

• No commander. Every alien gets resources and spends them itself: evolve into Gorge, Lerk, Fade or Onos, or pick upgrades – all through the popup menu (hold right mouse).
• Gorges build resource towers, chambers (offense/defense/sensory/movement) and new hives.
• Hold R for the alien movement ability (leap, blink, charge, …).

Marines win by destroying all hives, aliens by killing the command station and all marines. The in-game help hints explain a lot as you go (turn them off with cl_autohelp 0).

Key bindings

These are the defaults from the game's config.cfg. Change them in the console: bind "key" "command", unbind "key".

Bindable without a default key (popup menu covers them): impulse 80 request orders, impulse 10/11 need health/ammo, impulse 113–117 evolve to skulk/gorge/lerk/fade/onos, impulse 90–95 gorge builds (resource tower, offense, defense, sensory, movement chamber, hive).

Combat maps & ExtraLevels3

Maps starting with co_ are Combat maps: no commander and no resources. You gain experience levels by fighting and spend them on upgrades through the popup menu.

The host of a game can switch on ExtraLevels3, which adds levels beyond the normal maximum and extra upgrades. Type /xmenu in chat (or xmenu in the console) to open them. The ones for your team are among: Cybernetics, Reinforced Armor, Nano Armor, Advanced Ammopack, Static Field, Uranium Ammunition, Blinding Surge, Thickened Skin, Ethereal Shift, Blood Lust, Hunger, Acidic Vengeance, Sense of Ancients, Lifesheath and Combat Evolution.

Buildings: /buildmenu

Combat normally has no structures. The Combat_Buildings plugin (“Build menu” when hosting) lets players place some themselves: type /buildmenu in chat (or buildmenu in the console), then pick with the number keys. The building appears where you stand, and costs one upgrade point.

• Who can build: marines need a welder, aliens must be a Gorge. Not while dead or being digested.
• Turrets (sentries and siege cannons) need a Turret Factory nearby.
• Scans need the scan upgrade and a working Observatory, and can't be called too often.
• Space: buildings can't be placed too close to other structures (the Command Chair, Armory or Hive included) or where there's no room.
• Limits per team: 4 Turret Factories, 12 Sentry Turrets, 2 Siege Cannons, 4 Observatories, 4 Phase Gates; 4 each of Defense, Movement and Sensory Chambers and 12 Offense Chambers.
• You can only recycle your own buildings. Console shortcuts: recycle, recycle_last, recycle_all, scan.

Bots

The host of a game chooses its bots: RCBot plays on both teams, WhichBot only for the Kharaa. They are added on every map of the game. Bots are easy to spot: RCBot bots are called [rcb] <name>, WhichBot bots [wb] <name>. Bots need waypoints for a map to find their way; the start page says when a map has none.

During the game, anyone can add or remove WhichBot bots by typing in global chat (Y, not team chat):

Bots take player slots, like human players.

Maps & map votes

Maps starting with ns_ are classic (commander) maps, co_ are Combat maps. A few are marine vs. marine or alien vs. alien maps (the start page marks them): there, F1 and F2 join the first and the second team.

Voting for a map

Open the console (P or ~):

Unless its host set “Next map after”, a game stays on its map: when a round ends, the next one starts on the same map until enough players vote for another one. With that time set, the first round that ends after it moves the game to the next map of the cycle (the original rotation, then all other maps; votemap shows it).

Changing a running game

Everything is chosen when hosting a game. To change a running game, the server's admin can give everybody rcon access (NS_RCON_PASSWORD, see the README); then, in the game console:

rcon_password <secret>
rcon amx_bots 2 2 0           (RCBot marines, RCBot aliens, WhichBot aliens)
rcon amx_ext buildmenu off    (or xmenu, rcbot, whichbot, any plugin like antiflood.amxx; on again with on)
rcon changelevel co_kestrel
rcon mp_friendlyfire 1

amx_bots and amx_ext changes are kept for the rest of the game, rcon amx_ext and rcon amx_bots show the current settings. Other useful server commands: status (players and IDs), kick "name", mp_tournamentmode 1.

AMX Mod X admins

AMX Mod X (admin menus, kick/ban/vote commands such as amx_votemap, amx_kick, amxmodmenu) has no admins configured. To make yourself one, add a line to users.ini in the running container:

docker exec ns-web sh -c 'echo "\"YourName\" \"password\" \"abcdefghijklmnopqrstu\" \"a\"" \
  >> ns/addons/amxmodx/configs/users.ini'

Then, in the game console: rcon amx_reloadadmins, setinfo _pw password, and retry to reconnect with your password. New games read the file when they start. The change is lost when the container is recreated. Admins can also remove anyone's player-built structure: look at it and use admin_recycle; admin_probe shows who built it.

Settings & console

Open the console with P or ~. Settings are saved in your browser automatically. Useful commands:

Settings the game used to show in its options menu are console variables too; cvarlist lists all of them, cvarlist m_ those starting with m_.