[OBSOLETE] How to see Alien lifeforms in their eggs CONSISTENTLY

Overview

/! This guide is obsolete and the trick described inside no longer works /! You can still follow it to activate a good funciton on NS2+, which is the player colour. It helps with minimap visibility. But you won’t see eggs.

Getting Started

Hello, it’s me, Jackson7th !

Here is a short guide to help you enable a neat little trick when you play as marines.
We all know that higher lifeforms (Lerks, Fades…) can be really difficult to kill and ruin your game. But WHAT IF YOU COULD KILL THEM BEFORE THEY HATCH?
If you follow these steps, I’ll explain to you how to spot aliens evolving in their egg.

First of all, you need to download the NS2+ mod on the workshop (EDIT: apparently, if you don’t subscribe to it and download it, you can still find it in your list because it’s a server-side mod. Just activate it if it’s there IDK if this works because I didn’t test everything, but according to Wooza it should be ok). If you don’t have it, it’s a shame. It allows for a lot of customisation and will improve your game experience greatly. It’s THE MUST HAVE mod.

When you have it, go to the Mod tab of NS2, on the main menu. You can find it there, it should have the “subscribed” status. Tick the box to activate it.
Once this is done, another secondary tab should appear on the left of the screen, under the MANAGE MODS tab. It’s the exclusive NS2+ menu where you can find lots of categories to customise your game. I’ll let you go through all of these to mod your game to your liking, you should do it. But for now we’ll focus on the trick to see the eggs.

Configuration

Once you’re in the NS2+ OPTIONS menu, find the “Minimap” category and click on it to bring all the options.

Then, find the “Marine minimap PLAYER color” and the “Alien minimap PLAYER color”.
By default they should be blue for marines and orange for aliens (standard color). It’s the same color as the structures on your minimap.
Change those colors so the PLAYER colors are different from the structures colors. I suggest bright green for marines, and magenta/purple for aliens.

First of all, it’s going to increase your minimap visibility because the players will have bright colors and stick out from the rest of the color scheme; grey, blue, and orange.
Second… it has an added benefit.
You see, the normal eggs are considered structures in NS2. So they’re orange on the minimap. But when an alien player goes back into an egg to evolve (either take new upgrades, or evolve to a different lifeform) they keep the player color, even in egg form.
This way, when there is a player evolving in an egg, this egg will have a different color on the minimap compared to normal, empty eggs.
And this is where you shine, because with this knowledge, you’ll be able to pin-point the exact location of an evolving player thanks to your minimap by having a scan or moving close by, and target the right egg in which a player is evolving.

It’s very strong to just go in the Hive room at the right moment and take an opportunity to kill an evolving player. His Pres will be wasted, and you’ll kill a lifeform without a fight! Priceless !

One thing you can do if you’re smart, is to actually time a push or a sneaky strike on an alien Hive when you think the timing is right for aliens to evolve. You either walk around the Hive with your minimap open to spot a different-colored egg, or you ask for a scan and go straight to the right egg to destroy it.

The timings depend on how many harvesters the aliens have during the game. A stronger economy means lifeforms will arrive faster.
But if you go in between 4min and 5min, you can catch a Lerk egg. If you go between 7.30min and 9min, you could catch a Fade egg. And between 12min and 15min you could catch an Onos egg.

Happy omelette everyone !