A guide on hiveminds.
By Vivyan Armstrong, Gary Johnson (stolen) et. al.
Introduction
Greetings hiveminds new and old, whether you be the borg, a horde of alien locusts, or dirty communists, I’m sure you and your vessels seek one thing : to become one. This guide will go over all the basics, from humble beginnings as a lonely vessel to becoming a hivemind up to your necks in vessels lining up to become bound to you. You have a difficult road ahead of you but if you play your cards right you’ll be able to run a ship tighter than any lunatic captain. As a precaution, all the information I’m about to give out is up to date as of December 11th, 2022. You’re a big shot, fresh out of a containment cell in some facility, let’s get you back to glory as the #1 hivemind this sector has ever seen, first target, space station 13.
From Humble Beginnings
So you’re finally awake. You’ve started off in your department of choice, ready to seize the station by whatever trickery you can. The first thing you’ll notice is your small collection of psionic abilities. Psychic plane, Assimilate Vessel, Hive Vision, and Neural shock. These will be your bread and butter now and later. Before you begin throwing assimilations left and right, there are a few important distinctions to make, the name may seem a little misleading, but “Assimilate Vessel” is closer to a tool for marking your territory, it’ll give you points towards more abilities, but by no means does this mean that your vessels will obey you. Though be patient, you’ll be able to enforce your will later. Moving on, your psychic plane will allow you to see yourself and other hives, these will be denoted by color, when you assimilate a vessel a small icon will appear next to them denoting your color. Hive vision will allow you to see through the eyes of your vessels, and Neural shock will allow you to briefly stun whichever vessel you select, from anywhere, though it decreases with distance, the more vessels you obtain, the stronger it becomes.
Psionic Awakenings
Having looked at the other hives in the psionic plane, as well as your objectives, you’ll notice 2 things. First, you’re not alone here, there are others seeking to take this station for themselves, second, you may get an objective telling you to “Integrate” a member of another hive. You may think to yourself that you may soon reap the benefits of possessing and dominating the will of one of your own. You’d be mistaken, integration is a process by which you hold another Hive host as tightly as possible, while ignoring the sounds of their gasps and wheezes for air, in order to slowly integrate them. Once their consciousness is integrated into your hive, they will cease to exist. They will quite literally blow apart leaving nothing but the head and organs. However, the integration will grant you additional psychic abilities, as draining the head of a hive accounts for 5 or so vessels. Speaking of, you’ve gotten 5 vessels by now! Congratulations, you’ve just unlocked access to the spells Integrate, Network Invasion, and Probe mind. As previously mentioned, the other hives will have been hard at work converting as many people as they can possibly manage, whereas you, the clever cookie, have been reading this guide. Probe Mind will allow you to scan your vessels to detect any other hiveminds with influence over that vessel, if you’ve found that one of your vessels has the taint of another hive, worry not! Network Invasion will let you attack foreign presences in a target’s mind, allowing you to keep them all to yourself. Though, be aware you can claim another hive host as your vessel, as well as probe them, but probing a hive host will knock you on your back, and reveal what hive that host is a part of. At 10 vessels claimed, the fun begins. You unlock Compel, Concentrated Infiltration, and Awaken Vessel. As time progresses, you’ve no doubt attempted to claim a member of security, or perhaps the captain himself, but alas, the mindshields prove to be too much! That’s where Concentrated Infiltration comes in, it is a toggleable spell which allows Assimilation of mindshielded members into your hive, the mindshield will however continue to exist, you are merely able to penetrate it. Compel, luckily, is exactly as it sounds, on a 2 minute cooldown, you’re able to force an objective into the mind of your vessel, this is an excellent method of getting captain to give you that all access, or getting the vip to publicly broadcast his bank pin. Lastly, the building block of any aggressive takeover, Awaken Vessel. After aggressively holding someone in place, we’re able to tap into their mind, place our hands on their temple, and override their consciousness. If you’ve done this, congratulations! You’ve just removed another sentient creatures’ free will! This vessel, above all else, is under your will. A word of note : You can only support one or two awakened vessels at this current state, every 5 or so additional vessels, you’re able to support yet another.
A Return to Power
Give yourself a pat on the back, because you’ve just hit 15 integrated vessels, it wasn’t easy, some would even say mildly inconvenient, but you did it! With it, you’ve unlocked Repair protocol, Telekinetic Field, and Induce Panic. As the title of this chapter implies, you’re finally beginning to reach the level of power you once had before you woke up here. These three spells are excellent utility when you’ve been made as a hive host, or you’re being hunted down by one in order to be integrated. Regardless, via Repair Protocol, you are given the ability to leech off of the mind of one of your vessels, curing you of your mental and physical wounds. With Telekinetic Field, you’ve been given the ability to create a pink bubble at your will, it acts as a solid wall which only you can pass through, and stays stationary where you summoned it until it fades. Lastly, Induce Panic, as it implies, you’re able to fill the minds of your opponents with fear through a burst of psionic energy, inducing a debilitating fear. For unknown reasons, it seems as though silicon-based life is also briefly affected. Around this time, you, your posse of higher ups and robust underlings patrol the halls, searching for other hive hosts or maybe a target of yours. At 20 Integrated vessels, you’re finally able to use Crush Protections as well as Hive Rhythms. Crush Protection allows you to destroy a mindshield implant any vessel of yours might have, without the need to worry about the bits of metal still jumbling around in their brain, and Hive Rhythms is a powerful tool for you and your warriors, sending out a burst of psionic energy invigorating your nearby awakened vessels, removing any stuns.
One Mind. Aka “Ow my ears”
One mind is similar to a heretic ascension in some regards. It’s a radical decision, it alerts everyone to your presence if they weren’t aware already, and it’s a sign that sec hasn’t been keeping up. One mind having been unlocked is a sign of sheer domination. It’s a sign that you came out on top over the other hive hosts, announcing so with a shrill, growing screech that highlights you and all of your awakened vessels in a bright pink glow, not only painting a massive crosshair on your back, but also annoying the ever loving hell of anyone unfortunate enough to be wearing headphones at the time. The requirements to be able to use One mind is simple, you must have at least 15 vessels, and at least 20 more than any other hive host, however this second requirement can be reduced for every hive host you’ve integrated, the requirement goes down by 5 vessels. A shining feat of one mind however, and the reason many seek to attain it as soon as possible, is that it will remove your cap for awakened vessels, allowing you to convert as many people as you could possibly want to your hive, however the cooldown of a minute between awakenings still remains, so try to use this strategically, preferably in a way wherein you can have a reliable influx of vessels.
Conclusion (please tell others to join the hive)
“But Vivyan” you may be asking, “How can I possibly know who to convert and who to save for one mind?” Well that’s simple. Use your experience with other players, remember traits about them, maybe the janitor who seems somewhat useless is a prodigy with a sharpened mop, maybe that medical doctor is a strategic mastermind, and a suitable advisor. All in all, try to give all of your pawns a piece on the chessboard, and don’t forget that all heads besides Hop, Hos, and Captain start off with no mindshield, and are extremely useful tools for success. Just know being a hivemind host is a dangerous task, and you need to be able to handle yourself and be willing to sacrifice a few pawns to take the king. You are important above all others, the hive dies with you.
Those who are our vessels will become One with Us, as we will become One with Them.
As for those who are not, they shall be shown the true terror of the word Hivemind.
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