What changed in Natural Selection 2 in 2020

Fixed typos in Alien Tunnel tooltips.

Numerous changes and fixes across various maps including Docking and Refinery.

Adrenaline no longer increases maximum energy pool.

Fixed tooltip for Gorge Belly Slide spamming on screen.

Gorge Webs are now always 1 hit with the axe, with improved hitbox.

Scan range will now be shown before clicking on the ground as a Marine commander.

NS2+ mod features merged into the game under the Advanced options menu.

Fixed Refraction graphics option defaulting to High even if Low was selected.

All map ambient sounds now have a volume slider adjustment.

ARC Factory Upgrade cost changed from 5 to 10 and no longer requires an Armory.

Fade initial blink speeds increased from 15 to 15.5 and 15.5 to 16 for celerity.

New skins and items added to the customization menu, including expanded packs for existing owners.

MAC cost changed from 5 to 3 and supply cost from 5 to 15.

Pulse Grenade damage radius increased from 3 to 4 and energy damage radius from 10 to 4.

Flamethrower damage decreased to 10 but now scales with Marine weapon upgrades.

Fixed occasional issue of research notifications showing up twice on screen.

Grenade launcher damage decreased to 74 but now scales with Marine weapon upgrades.

Cluster Grenade now only gives 20% of its damage to players, down from 50%.

All existing skin set DLCs for Marines and Aliens updated to include missing lifeforms and weapons.

Added a popup warning for users running the game on HDD instead of SSD.

Fixed parasite status icon not showing for Exos with Low HUD Detail.

Bulk of cosmetic skins now use material hot-swapping system to reduce data caching.

Fixed error in tracking Commander skills, causing incorrect skill values.

Gorge armor reduced from 75 to 50.

Robotics Factory cost reduced from 10 to 5.

Builder options under the 'Build' toolbar are now saved.

Mines will only show on the map for enemies if damaged recently or currently Parasited.

Added Halloween assets in Ready Room.

Movement changes aimed at making it more visually consistent and predictable.

Maturity and Gestation now have a slight softcap influenced by Nutrient Mist and Gorge Healspray.

Added notifications for field players to track researching tech.

Removed shadow casting pointlights to improve performance.

Auto-crouch feature removed until a better solution is found.

Multiple adjustments and fixes across various maps for gameplay and visuals.

Minimum speed set to 13.5, initial speed to 15, and additional speed from Celerity upgrades reduced.

Fixed progress bar not using the correct team theme when switching teams.

Fixed an issue preventing connection to a server while in a listen server.

Introduces per team skill tracking including commander roles.

Flashlight now has a larger cone size, greater range, and is brighter.

Fixed an issue where players could shoot slightly farther than the camera showed.

Fixed issue with throwing a grenade when a Marine has no weapon in both slots.

Each shell now adds 0.5 seconds of shield duration before the shield starts to decay.

Pistol damage is now 20 normal damage (down from 25 light).

Client now receives a popup warning when mods have been disabled after updating.

Arc Factory research progress now displays correctly on the Tech Tree menu.

Corrected the typo that said 'Jetpack, Jetpack'.

Numerous stuck spots in the Transfer map have been fixed.

Advanced Metabolize now requires Biomass 5 to research (up from 4).

Armor 1 and Weapons 1 research times now take 75 seconds each (up from 60 seconds).

Occlusion alterations made in Toxic Pool, Transfer, Regulation, and Furnace to address performance concerns.

Reflections do not initialize in the main menu on first launch.

Damage numbers showing too much damage done to Exos upon death have been corrected.

Damage numbers now reflect the correct values when using Bile Bomb.

A new and unique map, METRO, has been added to the game, showcasing the Human world.

The Armslab t-res cost increased to 20 (up from 15).

Warm up mode now shows the correct Advanced Armory model.

The Shotgun now has falloff once again from 5-15m, 50% maximum penalty, linear.

Skulks now receive 50% speed boost on the initial jump.

Power node build time is now 12 seconds (up from 8).

Killing shot damage numbers for an empty Exosuit now show correctly.

Skulk sneak speed is now 4.3 (up from 4.0).

Drifters can now patrol between more than two points.

Retry or Reconnect console commands are now usable when already connected to a server.

Altered collision issues mapwide for a smoother experience.

Mappers can now specify regions that should appear 'wet' or 'damp' without modifying materials.

Added a new atmospheric cityscape sound for the Metro map.

Decreased the maximum number of mines per marine from 2 to 1, reduced the cost from 10 to 5 p-res.

Railguns can now deal damage to aliens when the skybox is behind them.

Shotgun scaling received from the Armslab weapons upgrades is now 5.9% (down from 10%).

A sheet of cover has been added to the Toxic Pool area.

Main Menu background sound effects no longer continue playing when loading into a server or local mod.

Holes fixed in multiple spots across various maps.

Lighting tweaks made mapwide for better performance, especially with shadows enabled.

Skulk bitecone reduction has been reverted to 1.2x1.2 (up from 0.8x1.2).

Introducing the new map METRO featuring a unique cityscape aesthetic.

Projectile size increased to 60mm (up from 45mm).

All abilities have now a cool down of 12 seconds (instead of only 1 second for mucous and hallucinations).

Powernode Blueprints have been removed and all Powernodes now start socketed but unbuilt.

Web placement ghosts will now stay visible and turn red if you stretch them past their limit instead of despawning.

Skulk sneak speed changed to 4.0 (from 4.785).

Marine dropped weapon decay timer is now 16 seconds (down from 25).

Decreased cooldown to 15 seconds (from 16).

Fixed cluster grenade burn damage numbers being displayed to the target.

HP changed to 30 health and 9 armor (from 40 health and 5 armor).

Model size decreased by 10% (90% original size).

Bite cone changed to 0.8 wide by 1.2 tall (from 1.2×1.2).

Increased friction when moving faster than base blink speed.

Now also adds maturity to alien structures and speeds up player evolutions while they are embryos.

Babblers no longer gains biomass HP scaling (previously 1.5 hp per biomass).

Health and armor status (hp bar) has been removed from enemy players in combat.

Exosuits now 'self-repair' when out of combat at a rate of 8 armor/second.

Damage type changed to structural (2x to structures).

Re-drop block times for commanders placing cysts and resource towers is now 1 second (down from 5-7 seconds).

Primary attacks now generate an HP shield instead of healing.

Reverted to build 326-behavior with 17 pellets, each deal 10 damage.

Advanced Metabolize now heals effective HP (treats armor as 2 hitpoints).

The Healing softcap now correctly clamps overhealing.

Damage changed to 130 (from 150).

Implemented a softcap for maturity and gestation (evolving rate).

Reload time is now 3.5 seconds (from 5 seconds).

Removed energy damage (1 energy per hit).

Skulks now only receive a speed boost from a consecutive jump.

Damage decreased to 120 (from 160).

Now deals double damage to Mines (Damage: 5 -> 10).

Web Snare now reduces movement speed by 66% and tapers off gradually over 5 seconds (up from 2.5 seconds).

Webs now turn invisible, only fading into view at 5 meters or closer, with a distortion effect at longer range.

A new system that groups players by region and skill, allowing for quick matchmaking and private lobbies.

A new map called METRO is in the final stages of development and will debut in the upcoming patch.

Various bugs have been fixed and quality of life changes implemented, with details available on the bug tracker.

Critical issues with file asset handling and CPU task scheduling have been discovered, affecting loading times and stability.

Connection timeout decreased from 5 minutes to 5 ms, causing issues for some players unable to connect without timing out.

The Balance Team is working on gameplay tweaks and changes, with new team members joining to implement these adjustments.