We'd like to take a moment and shine a light on our partners over at the Natural Selection League. Sign-ups are under way for season 10 of great competitive NS2 action and we couldn't be more excited! Below is all the information and links you might need to get involved with the next season, so gather your friends, create a team and get in on the action!

New to the ENSL?

Welcome to the Natural Selection League. If you’re looking for getting more out of your Natural Selection 2 experience, look no further. Power plays, crackpot strats, and the greatest competitive minds of Natural Selection 2 converge here to duke it out on the battlefield. Talk strategy, metagame, and high-level concept Natural Selection 2 on our forums, or enjoy a gather and fight to the top of the food chain. If you’re looking for more information, check the bottom of this post.Any questions can be directed to our help desk or by messaging an admin on ENSL, Steam, by email or Discord. A full list of current admins can be found here.

Deadlines

Brace yourselves, Season 10 is upon us! But.. we will be extended the deadlines for signups for two weeks. The signup deadline for Season 10 is now October 13th. We want the potential to seed a lower division as high as possible, with the intent of more and better matches. A reminder to sign-up if you haven’t already, as time is ticking!For all new players, you need a team of at least six players to compete in Season 10, please read the final section of this post on how to create or join teams.

Gathers

Gathers have picked up steam and are running again. You can join a gather by registering an account and joining up here. Joining is easy, and practice can come in handy for the upcoming Season 10. Be sure to play more rounds to familiarize (or refamiliarize yourself on Mesh (formerly Docking2), Nexus, and Mineral, as these custom maps are staples of an ENSL season, and some have changed for the new Season.

Map Tests

Some of our mappers have come forward concerning high-level gathers on ns2_ayumi, a reimagining of the Natural Selection 3.0 map of the same name. Huge changes have happened recently with the map concerning balance, and feedback is necessary. Contact Kasharic or Mephilles for more information. If you have another map you’d like to see played in gathers, contact an admin.

Joining the ENSL

If you don't have a team or have yet to join the ENSL, it's easy to create an account or team with the following steps. If you want to register a pre-existing team, skip to step 4.

• To create a team, register an account and create a new team! Creating a team is not necessary, nor is joining a team. If you’re looking to join a team, find a team and select the Request to Join button on their page. You’re free to use the ENSL website without any pressure from any teams.
• Get your players to register and tell them to Join your team in their Agenda, which you can find at the top of the page! You can meet players in-game, in ENSL gathers, or on the ENSL or Unknown Worlds forums. As per usual ENSL rules, you must have at least six players for a valid Season 10 team!
• To accept your players on the team, go to Agenda → Click your team name → Edit and scroll down → Members → Change their status from Joining to Member, Leader, or Deputy. These roles can define what a player is to your team.
• To join the tournament, go to Agenda → Click your team name → Edit (scroll down) → Contests → Join Season 10 Signups. This will reserve your space in the upcoming Season 10. Get ready to rock!
• Verify that your team name exists on the Contest page. If your team does not appear here, please follow these steps again. If all else fails, contact an admin.

[ 2016-09-19 19:59:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

Natural Selection 2 pits alien against human in an action-packed struggle for survival. Wield devastating weaponry as a Frontiesman marine, or become the xenomorph as a deadly. Kharaa life-form.

Strategy Meets Shooter

Natural Selection 2 is a First Person Shooter and Real Time Stategy game rolled into one! Each team, alien and human, has a Commander. The Commander looks down on the battlefield and issues orders, places structures, collects resources, researches technology, and deploys abilities.



Here are some gameplay examples: A human Commander could drop health packs and ammunition to a trapped marine squad, and deploy sentry guns to help them defend their position. Or an alien Commander could grow a new Hive to spread infestation throughout newly captured territory, allowing more alien eggs to spawn...

Two Unique Sides

Aliens players choose to evolve into one of five lifeforms: The fast, fearsome Skulk can run on walls and deliver massive damage with is jaws. Lerks fly and deploy gasses to support their teammates in battle. Gorges heal other lifeforms and build tunnels, hydra turrets, walls, and other tactical structures. Fades blink in and out of battle, picking off marines with giant scythes. Finally, the giant Onos is so massive and so tough, that even entire marine squads can't take it down.



Marines wield rifles, shotguns, grenade launchers, pistols, and other weapons. Cluster grenades can clear ventilation shafts of sneaky Skulks, flamethrowers make short work of alien structures and infestation, and boosts dropped by the Commander increase combat effectiveness.

When attacking on foot doesn't cut it, marines can construct hulking Exosuits wielding miniguns and railguns, and equip jetpacks for high speed assaults on alien Hives.

Long Term Development

Natural Selection 2 receives constant updates. This year, 2016, Unknown Worlds continues to develop new features, content, and improvements.

Mod Tools Come Standard

Natural Selection 2 comes with all the tools we used to make the game. All game code is open source. That means you can create, and play, an endless variety of mods. Publish, share, and download mods from the Steam Workshop, and automatically download mods when you join modded games.

Digital Deluxe Edition

Digital Deluxe Edition includes:

• Official Soundtrack - 1 hour of tribal, industrial music composed by David John and Simon Chylinski
  
• Digital Art Book - 40+ pages of art by Cory Strader, including environments, creatures, weapons and more
  
• Exclusive in-game marine model - Exclusive in-game marine model - A new marine model with custom visor and armor plating
  
• Exclusive Wallpapers and Avatars - Unique views of the NS2 universe by Amanda Diaz