Shade Hive Suggestion - Shysts

MaxPower

What if choosing a Shade Hive allowed Cysts to upgrade into Shysts? The idea combines a Shade and a Cyst together, allowing Alien Commanders to upgrade and hide their cysts from normal Marine vision.


What a Shyst might look like

Shysts could have varying degrees of power:
2-3 rez: Cyst mutates into a Shyst, cloaking itself from normal view. Only viewable after taking damage or observatory scan/ within observatory range; Infestation still visible? Marines bumping into it do not reveal it.
5-10 rez: Cyst mutates into a Shyst, cloaking itself and other structures within 3 yards. It is essentially a weaker shade that also acts as a cyst. Can be discovered by all normal means.

For balance purposes and to not undervalue the Shade structure, perhaps Alien lifeforms cannot hide by a Shyst. Shades remain the only structure with Ink Cloud ability.

The idea is to make Shade Hive a little more viable of a choice as first hive, and fits the illusion/deception vibe.

Image originally from Mystic Cyst mod, found on the steam workshop here.

ChrisStark

I like the idea in general.
But the infestation should be invisible, too. Otherwise you would know there must be a shyst.
A second upgrade could be loudless walking for marines on the infestation

NovoRei

Excellent idea. Pub matches may make more use of it.

Nordic

Why add something new when shades do the exact same thing

MaxPower

Personally, my favorite is the first option of the two. I hate rebuilding cyst chains, especially really early game with aggressive marines. It would be nice to have nearly unbreakable chains for the first couple of minutes of a game. The cloak field was just an after thought, but I felt like mentioning it anyway.