Alien Hive

General
The Alien Hive is a primary vessel used by the Aliens to spearhead their attacks on the Miner Rebellion. They have appeared in great numbers through Unstable Wormholes ever since the event Incursion.

Alien Hives are extremely slow and mostly rely on their long-range firepower to defeat enemies.

Description
When this ship first appeared in Unknown Signal Fleets, it only carried squadrons. However, they were extremely powerful and often destroyed entire fleets from afar.

In Hive Fleets, Alien Hives have weaker squadrons but gain the ability to defend themselves with short-range weapons. Long-range weapons are additionally used in Large Hive Fleets. This is shown by four orbs which slowly orbit the ship during combat.

In Barrage Hive Fleets, Alien Hives have no squadrons, instead using devastating weapons with extremely long range and the ability to generate a Stasis Field to slow down enemy advances. However, they are relatively vulnerable at close range, because most of their weapons have a huge minimum range.

Strategy
Unknown Signal Hives can be defeated relatively easily using a carrier and five anti-squadron battleships. All you have to do is shoot down incoming squadrons while slowly destroying the Alien Hives with your own squadrons.

Regular Hives can be outranged by battleships, so use the same strategy as above, occasionally using your battleships to damage them from a safe distance as well. Large Hives may require the use of cruisers to tank the damage as you close the distance.

Barrage Hives are best countered by cutters paired with an Agility Field, due to their Stasis Resist when upgraded and high forward speed, minimizing the time required to close the distance and enter the "safe" zone.

Description
These Alien Hives have no weaponry but can summon Alien Reapers in the same fashion as regular Ancient Reapers. In addition, they are completely immobile, unlike other Alien Hives.

Strategy
Get close as soon as possible and destroy any Alien Reapers on the way. Then, take out the helpless Alien Hives before they can spawn any more ships.

Trivia

 * This hull was never mentioned before its release and was a complete surprise to every player.
 * When destroyed, the orbs surrounding the Alien Hive disappear, hinting that the orbs with the weaponry is directly linked to them and are not separate entities.