ns/releases/performance-3.0.5/manual/alien_evolutions.html
2005-07-14 17:38:07 +00:00

223 lines
No EOL
13 KiB
HTML

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Natural Selection Manual</TITLE>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<script language="JavaScript">
<!--
function MM_swapImgRestore() { //v3.0
var i,x,a=document.MM_sr; for(i=0;a&&i<a.length&&(x=a[i])&&x.oSrc;i++) x.src=x.oSrc;
}
function MM_preloadImages() { //v3.0
var d=document; if(d.images){ if(!d.MM_p) d.MM_p=new Array();
var i,j=d.MM_p.length,a=MM_preloadImages.arguments; for(i=0; i<a.length; i++)
if (a[i].indexOf("#")!=0){ d.MM_p[j]=new Image; d.MM_p[j++].src=a[i];}}
}
function MM_findObj(n, d) { //v4.0
var p,i,x; if(!d) d=document; if((p=n.indexOf("?"))>0&&parent.frames.length) {
d=parent.frames[n.substring(p+1)].document; n=n.substring(0,p);}
if(!(x=d[n])&&d.all) x=d.all[n]; for (i=0;!x&&i<d.forms.length;i++) x=d.forms[i][n];
for(i=0;!x&&d.layers&&i<d.layers.length;i++) x=MM_findObj(n,d.layers[i].document);
if(!x && document.getElementById) x=document.getElementById(n); return x;
}
function MM_swapImage() { //v3.0
var i,j=0,x,a=MM_swapImage.arguments; document.MM_sr=new Array; for(i=0;i<(a.length-2);i+=3)
if ((x=MM_findObj(a[i]))!=null){document.MM_sr[j++]=x; if(!x.oSrc) x.oSrc=x.src; x.src=a[i+2];}
}
//-->
</script>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/alien.css" type="text/css">
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR=#000000 leftmargin="0" topmargin="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" onLoad="MM_preloadImages('images/design/buttons_nav_on.gif','images/design/buttons_gen_on.gif','images/design/buttons_front_on.gif','images/design/buttons_alien_on.gif','images/images/alien_bacterium_s.gif','images/images/alien_hive_s.gif','images/images/alien_chambers_s.gif','images/images/alien_species_s.gif')" background="images/design/page_background.gif" text="#FFFFFF" link="#0099FF">
<table border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="704" height="512" align="center">
<tr>
<td> <img src="images/design/spacer.gif" width=40 height=1></td>
<td> <img src="images/design/spacer.gif" width=33 height=1></td>
<td> <img src="images/design/spacer.gif" width=24 height=1></td>
<td> <img src="images/design/spacer.gif" width=375 height=1></td>
<td> <img src="images/design/spacer.gif" width=82 height=1></td>
<td> <img src="images/design/spacer.gif" width=175 height=1></td>
<td> <img src="images/design/spacer.gif" width=39 height=1></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan=2> <img src="images/design/surround_ne1.gif" width=73 height=34></td>
<td> <img src="images/design/surround_power.gif" width=24 height=34></td>
<td colspan=4> <img src="images/design/surround_n.gif" width=671 height=34></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td height="103" valign="top"><img src="images/design/red/surround_title_w.gif" width="40" height="103"></td>
<td colspan=3 height="103" valign="top">
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" height="103">
<tr>
<td height="57"><img src="images/design/red/surround_title_animated.gif" width="432" height="57"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" background="images/design/red/surround_title_s.gif"><span class="sectiontext"><font color="#FF6600"><a href="alien.html" class="sectionlink">Kharaa
Data</a> :: <a href="alien_species.html" class="sectionlink">Species</a>:
Evolutions</font></span></td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
<td height="103" valign="top"><img src="images/design/red/surround_title_c.gif" width="82" height="103"></td>
<td height="103" valign="top">
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" height="103">
<tr>
<td><a href="introduction.html" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore()" onMouseOver="MM_swapImage('button_nav','','images/design/buttons_nav_on.gif',1)"><img name="button_nav" border="0" src="images/design/buttons_nav_off.gif" width="175" height="25"></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="general.html" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore()" onMouseOver="MM_swapImage('button_general','','images/design/buttons_gen_on.gif',1)"><img name="button_general" border="0" src="images/design/buttons_gen_off.gif" width="175" height="23"></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="frontiersmen.html" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore()" onMouseOver="MM_swapImage('button_tsa','','images/design/buttons_front_on.gif',1)"><img name="button_tsa" border="0" src="images/design/buttons_front_off.gif" width="175" height="28"></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td height="2"><a href="alien.html" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore()" onMouseOver="MM_swapImage('button_alien','','images/design/buttons_alien_on.gif',1)"><img name="button_alien" border="0" src="images/design/buttons_alien_off.gif" width="175" height="27"></a></td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
<td height="103" valign="top"><img src="images/design/surround_title_e.gif" width="39" height="103"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td height="103" valign="top" colspan="7">
<table width="768" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" height="424" align="left">
<tr>
<td background="images/design/red/surround_w.gif"><img src="images/design/red/surround_w.gif" width="40" height="482"></td>
<td width="472" background="images/design/red/background.gif" valign="top">
<p><img src="images/design/red/background_n.gif" width="689" height="16"></p>
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="100%" height="63">
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="top">
<table width="100" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td><img src="images/titles/alien_evolutions.gif" width="628" height="25" hspace="25"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<table width="628" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" bgcolor="#330000" align="center" bordercolor="#CC0000">
<tr>
<td>
<p><b>Summary:</b> the Kharaa can travel up their
own family tree, changing their &quot;race&quot;,
and evolving extraordinary abilities. Evolutions
are broken down into three categories &#150; <a href="alien_evolutions_d.html">Defensive</a>,
<a href="alien_evolutions_m.html">Movement</a>,
and <a href="alien_evolutions_s.html">Sensory</a>.
</p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<table width="628" border="0" cellspacing="5" cellpadding="5" align="center">
<tr>
<td>
<p> <img src="images/images/10red_data.gif" width="13" height="10">
When it was first noticed that the aliens seemed
to be modifying themselves over the course of
a prolonged engagement &#150; growing more resistant
to gunfire, or becoming utterly silent &#150; it was
assumed that they were reacting to our actions,
and developing immunities much like a virus does.
The truth is more complex.</p>
<p>Just as a marine structure contains coded information
that allows a ship or base's nanotech to perform
new, military grade, functions, so do the aliens
begin with base-level resources, and construct
structures to increase their combat abilities.
The difference is, a Kharaa defensive tower (for
instance) is less like a computer, and more like
a time capsule. It contains information similar
to a Hive's, but more specific &#150; this information
describes variations of creatures from the Kharaa's
history: a genetic family tree. When a Kharaa
gains a new ability, it is evolving from its base
form, down some specialized branch of that tree:
growing more sophisticated, and without fail,
deadlier. This fast-forward evolution allows for
dozens of variations of alien: each supposedly
suited to some environment, lost in the Kharaa's
past. Similar to Earth species that may have arctic,
desert and jungle variants, that while all the
same kind of animal, have evolved into unique
sub-species. </p>
<p>Multiple chambers appear to also offer more and
more information, improving the effectiveness
of each evolution. Once more than three chambers
are active, this improvement plateaus.</p>
<p>Since the Kharaa have probably never seen man-made
environments like ours, and since humans don't
always attack the same way twice, they don't choose
just one variation. They tend to evolve a wide
range of species types &#150; ranging from brawlers,
with increased speed and armor, to assassins,
with silent movement and enhanced senses.</p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table width="628" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" bgcolor="#330000" align="center" bordercolor="#CC0000">
<tr>
<td>
<table width="628" border="0" cellspacing="5" cellpadding="0" align="center">
<tr>
<td width="33%">
<p align="center"><b><a href="alien_evolutions_d.html">Defensive<br>
<br>
<img src="images/evolutions/d.gif" width="64" height="64" border="0"></a></b></p>
</td>
<td width="33%">
<div align="center"><b><a href="alien_evolutions_s.html">Sensory<br>
<br>
<img src="images/evolutions/s.gif" width="64" height="64" border="0"></a></b></div>
</td>
<td width="33%">
<div align="center"><b><a href="alien_evolutions_m.html">Movement<br>
<br>
<img src="images/evolutions/m.gif" width="64" height="64" border="0"></a></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="100%">
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="top">
<div align="center"> </div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
<td background="images/design/red/surround_e.gif"><img src="images/design/red/surround_e.gif" width="37" height="482"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" height="2"><img src="images/design/red/surround_s.gif" width="768" height="81"></td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</BODY>
</HTML>