Minions

Minions are the bulk of Alien lifeforms within Parasite. They are (relatively) weak, varied, and numerous Aliens that exist to spread destruction and infestation far and wide for the Host. Minion's don't refer solely to the automated, hostile Alien units, but also the structures that create them, along with other miscellaneous structures or entities that the Host can create and control.

## Description

Minions are endlessly respawning AI units that work autonomously for the Alien's side. They are (usually) uncontrollable, and will attack and destroy everything and everyone that is not an Alien. This can be somewhat counter-intuitive, as it hampers The Host from making any alliances with other Factions, or means minions will attack something that the Host is trying to keep alive.

Similarly to the Host themselves, Minions come in a large variety of types, and they even evolve into new types as the game goes on. Minion's strengths, maximum amounts, and types they evolve into, become better as the Host evolves further.

Minions are divided into three main types:

* Special Minions are special minions the Host either directly creates, or those who are not spawned under normal circumstances. They may or may not be controllable.
* Normal Minions are basic minions that are created automatically (sometimes manually) from Infestation Structures, and can evolve into stronger types of Minions.
* Structure Minions are structures that can be created either automatically by the Infestation, or directly through Drones and Larvae, all serving some special purpose.

## Evolution/Relationship Chart

Minions have a complex relationship with each-other, with Minions being able to evolve into other Minion types, and some Minion types existing solely to spread/create other types. The Host can even pitch into this web, being able to create manually controlled Minions which can begin Infestations themselves.

Normal Minions evolve with a system of timers and percent's. Every so often, a RNG chance will decide what a Normal Minion will evolve into, or if they evolve at all.

## Special Minions

Minions which are created through some unique circumstance, or have some unique ability/traits/purpose.

### Tier 1

* **Overlords** - Overlords are created whenever enough Minions load into a Spire on The Moon. They will fly to the Station, delivering their Alien cargo, and then self destructing themselves. They are able to be killed in Space, which will stop them from offloading Aliens.
* **Feederlings** - Feederlings are the primary vectors for Infestation. They are born from Creep Tumors, Infested Life Modules, Malignant Growths, and Hatcheries. Upon reaching a far enough distance from other existing sources of infection, usually off-creep, they will turn into a new Creep Tumor. A single Feederling can infest the entire station if not dealt with.

### Tier 2

* **Husks** Husks are relatively durable melee minions, looking nearly identical to the Tier 1 Alien. They are created when an Alien uses Infestation on a Life Module, creating an Infested Life Module.
* **Viral Larvae** - Viral Larvae are able to be created by the Host, being transformed from an Egg, and costing 25 Evo Points. They are manually controlled, very small/quick, and can cast Infestation, similarly to The Host/Spawns. However, they also have the ability to "Silent Infest", infesting someone without making any signs apparent. This, however, will kill the Larvae.
* **Changelings** - Changelings are able to be created by the Host, being transformed from an Egg, and costing 50 Evolution Points. Changelings are manually controlled, and are able to take on the form of any of the Crew **that the Host has successfully landed Devouring Chomp on at-least once**. Changelings are a perfect visual clone, however they lack the ability to use items, abilities, use weapons, or talk. Certain Alien Traits can remedy some of these. However, they are able to buy and infest Station Upgrades, and buy Upgrades for the Host's stats.

### Tier 3

* **Drones** - Drones are able to be created by the Host, Being transformed from an Egg, and costing 25 Evolution Points. They are manually controlled, and can be ordered to morph into Alien Structures, which can help the Infestation and Aliens in various ways. This will 'kill' the Drone, however.

## Normal Minions

### Tier 1

* **Creepers** - Creepers are the weakest Minion, yet also one of the fastest and most numerous. What they lack in stats, they make up for sheer numbers, and the ability to evolve into every other Minion if given enough time.
	+ Can evolve into Slashers and Exploders.
* **Slashers** - Slashers are basically just a slightly stronger version of Creepers. They can tank for Creeper hordes in the early periods of the game.
	+ Can evolve into Raptors, Cobras, and Brutes.

### Tier 2

* **Exploders** - Exploders are suicidal explosive Minions who run at the nearest hostile object, before exploding. They deal relatively high damage to structures and biological targets.
* **Raptors** - Raptors are even stronger, faster, and tankier than Slashers, along with the ability to leap at targets.

### Tier 3

* **Cobras** - Cobras are essentially a slightly better fodder Minion, having about the same stats as Hunters, but spawning much more commonly.
	+ Can evolve into Cobralisks and Breeders.
* **Brute** - Brutes are strong and slow melee fighters, with high damage, moderate health, and a Shell which makes low-damage attacks almost useless.
* **Cobralisk** - Cobralisks are less numerous Cobras with slightly better stats, but have the powerful capability of being Ranged, allowing them to take down any static defense that they out-range such as Sentries.
* **Breeder** - Breeders are large and slow, with high health and damage, however their main danger comes in their ability to create Creepers, and spread Creep wherever they move, along with being able to evolve into the strongest Minions.
	+ Can evolve into Hydradons and Xenodons.

### Tier 4

* **Hydradon** - Hydradons are the strongest type of ranged Minion. Moderately tanky, high single-target damage, and immense range, they can easily snipe down players and most static defenses from a safe range.
* **Ultradon** - Ultradons are the strongest type of melee Minion. Very high life and damage, along with a dangerous Burrow Charge ability which can throw people into the air. They can easily kill unprepared players, but can still give upgraded players a problem, even if briefly.

## Structures

### Tier 1

* **Creep** - Creep, while not necessarily being a 'structure', it still is apart of the terrain. Creep causes any and all Alien lifeforms to gain increased movement speed and Life regeneration, along with occupying building spaces for Humans, blocking off deployable Items like Barricades or Turrets.
* **Creep Tumor** - Creep Tumors are able to be transformed from Viral Larvae, or created by other Creep Tumors, Infested Life Modules, Malignant Growths, and Hatcheries. Creep Tumors spread Creep around themselves in a radius, buffing the speed/regeneration of all Alien Lifeforms, along with creating Feederlings. Rarely, they can even directly make a new creep tumor on their own, without needing a Feederling. If enough Creep Tumors are in a single location, they will combine into a Malignant Growth.
* **Spire** - Spires automatically form on the Moon's surface if the Moon is mostly covered with Creep and Infestation. They allow other Minions to enter Overlords, which will then spawn from the Spire and head to the Station, depositing them in the Cargo Bay.

### Tier 2

* **Infested Life Module** - Infested Life Modules are not really a 'structure' that Aliens can create, but they are more like special terrain pieces that can be Infested for the Alien. They are caused by using Infestation on a Life Module, which will then cause that Life Module to begin spewing out Creep, Feederlings, and Creep Tumors. They are additionally the only source of Husks, a numerous and relatively tanky Normal Minion. Infested Life Modules are able to be cleaned by using an Auto-Doc on them.

* **Malignant Growth** - Malignant Growths are created when multiple Creep Tumors automatically combine together. They are much larger/tankier than a regular Creep Tumor, along with having the ability to directly create higher-tier Minions than what a Creep Tumor could. Malignant Growths are able to coordinate, and will cause all their Minion spawns to collectively occur at whichever Malignant Growth is nearest to an enemy. This is bad news for anything trying to clear/kill one.

### Tier 3

* **Hatchery** - Hatcheries are created from Drones, and will constantly produce Creep, Feederlings, and Creep Tumors. While they produce less Infestation than Malignant Growths, they are significantly tankier, and additionally allow the Host to manually create other types of Minions, including Viral Larvae, Drones, and all the Normal Minions. Only one hatchery can be made originally, but two can be made at Tier 4, and three at Tier 5.
* **Gas** **Blocker** - Gas Blockers are created from Drones, and can only be built on the Gas thingies within the Vents. Doing so will become the Vent to become blocked, disabling Vent Decontamination from occurring. The Gas Blocker must be killed by the Crew to re-enable Vent Decontamination to activate.
* **Sunken** **Colony** - Sunken Colonies are created from Drones. They are moderately sized defensive structures which shoot a tentacle at out any enemies automatically. This tentacle does moderate damage, but can be avoided somewhat easily.