I can think of no higher praise I can give a game than for me to purchase every expansion. This is the case with me for AI War. Purchased all five, and I am looking for more, so this is great news:
(I was surprised to see my review quoted in that vid. I had forgotten I even did an official review! LOL!)
August 18th for the new expansion!
Features Added In The Expansion
QuoteNomad Planets introduces dynamic topology to AI War for the first time, giving the player new challenges and opportunities beyond the previously-static wormhole network.
One of the Nomads also holds a secret weapon of truly dire power (that gives the expansion its title, hint hint).
The Exodian Blade is a powerful alternate way-to-win, but getting there is a multi-stage journey with a great deal of desperate fighting once things get going.
8 new AI types, from the humorous/annoying “Kite Flier” and “Cowardly” to the monomaniacal “Starship Fanatic” to the aptly named “Brutal”. There’s also “Mime”. Never trust mimes.
A new “Encapsulated” map style.
4 new Bonus Ship Types, including the Neinzul Combat Carrier (with Beam Drones, Rail Drones, Spider Drones, and Grav Drones) and the Maw-gone-mad Powerslaver.
2 new AI Guardian types, including the Combat Carrier Guardian (so humans don’t get to have all the ludicrous-drone fun).
A new “Preemption” optional AI Plot that lets the AI start taking more direct action against you from the start.
More awesome music from Pablo Vega! (that’s still being worked on, but will be added for the official release)
Count me in!
I have it but don't play it. Maybe I should.
Quote from: jomni on August 07, 2014, 03:04:32 AM
I have it but don't play it. Maybe I should.
I think it requires a lot of time to get the full effect. Unfortunately, I don't think it's one of those strategy games you can save and come back to a couple weeks later and jump right back in.
It's a wonderful game for the unique strategy and mechanics but at the same time you must remember your master plan which may not be easy if there is a large stretch of time between sessions. That said I certainly want to spend the time to finish a map sometime, for better or worse. There is obviously a lot of replayability there, too.
Quote from: jomni on August 07, 2014, 03:04:32 AM
I have it but don't play it. Maybe I should.
It's an extraordinary title. One of the most innovative games released in the last 5-10 years, using it's unique blend of 4x-meets-RTS tactical-meets-Tower Attack/Defense. The asymmetrical play features (the AI is vastly more powerful than you, but not very nimble until it starts to recognize you as a true threat) are brilliant.
Even if you have the expansions, I'd strongly encourage you to play the base game a few times (or more than a few times) to get the hang of it. In the expansions, the sheer volume of which-units-do-what-to-which-other-units can get a bit overwhelming, but the game play is awesome.
It's tempting to get sucked into micro-management of the battles, but as Nefaro says, keeping an eye on the big picture at all times is most important.
Undoubtedly Arcen Games's magnum opus. It's an extremely good game. In contrast to Rooks, I haven't bought any of the DLC because the base game has such an astonishing breadth of content that I really have no reason to.
Best played co-op but single player is awesome too.
By the way...you know how you can assign priorities to planets? You have me to thank for that. ;)
Quote from: Nefaro on August 07, 2014, 09:13:53 AM
Quote from: jomni on August 07, 2014, 03:04:32 AM
I have it but don't play it. Maybe I should.
I think it requires a lot of time to get the full effect. Unfortunately, I don't think it's one of those strategy games you can save and come back to a couple weeks later and jump right back in.
It's a wonderful game for the unique strategy and mechanics but at the same time you must remember your master plan which may not be easy if there is a large stretch of time between sessions. That said I certainly want to spend the time to finish a map sometime, for better or worse. There is obviously a lot of replayability there, too.
Yes. That's exactly how I feel. Learning and re-learning is such a chore unless you play it all the time.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on August 07, 2014, 01:26:54 PM
Undoubtedly Arcen Games's magnum opus. It's an extremely good game. In contrast to Rooks, I haven't bought any of the DLC because the base game has such an astonishing breadth of content that I really have no reason to.
But the expansions add so much content! For example, the game-changing Gollums, the Spire quest missions, and now special ships for the humans that can explore nebulae and level-up!
QuoteBy the way...you know how you can assign priorities to planets? You have me to thank for that. ;)
Really? That was a great idea!
Quote from: jomniYes. That's exactly how I feel. Learning and re-learning is such a chore unless you play it all the time.
For me, the gameplay is pretty easy to pick up even after a lengthy pause. The hard part for me are the set-up options. After a long layoff I find I need to re-read the descriptions for the bazillion set-up options for a campaign. :) I've never ever encountered a game with so many different toggles!
Quote from: FarAway SoonerIt's an extraordinary title. One of the most innovative games released in the last 5-10 years, using it's unique blend of 4x-meets-RTS tactical-meets-Tower Attack/Defense. The asymmetrical play features (the AI is vastly more powerful than you, but not very nimble until it starts to recognize you as a true threat) are brilliant.
Even if you have the expansions, I'd strongly encourage you to play the base game a few times (or more than a few times) to get the hang of it. In the expansions, the sheer volume of which-units-do-what-to-which-other-units can get a bit overwhelming, but the game play is awesome.
It's tempting to get sucked into micro-management of the battles, but as Nefaro says, keeping an eye on the big picture at all times is most important.
Exactly right. I am always amazed by the detailed stats each unit has in this game. At times it less reminds me of a typical rock-paper-scissors 4X game and more like a deep naval wargame.
Quote from: nefaroThat said I certainly want to spend the time to finish a map sometime, for better or worse. There is obviously a lot of replayability there, too.
I actually finished my first campaign earlier in the year. First time I ever won the game (I had to set the AI to low 3/4 difficulty level to do it). It was an epic fight (you can read about part of it here (http://burkesjoystick.blogspot.com/2013/09/etmirku-give-me-back-my-space-legions.html)) but I finally finished it. I wanted to do a complete AAR but I never got around to it. >:( Criminal.
My installed AI War on Steam did an auto-update today, so that seems like a good sign. :D
Quote from: JasonPratt on August 08, 2014, 05:07:45 PM
My installed AI War on Steam did an auto-update today, so that seems like a good sign. :D
Yup, they rolled out another update. And it looks like another is in the works. Nine more days until 8.0 and the expansion!
Started a new campaign today and had a random encounter with this guy:
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi226.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fdd70%2FCrusaderScott%2FAI%2520War%2FScreenshot_2014_08_08_21_35_49_zps0cd000d3.jpg&hash=27a90f5168428cfb26467efc0c87dca5041c6558)
That's a "Devourer Golem". It eats all ships under Class V. It wandered into my home planet at precisely the wrong time. I had a 200+ fleet preparing to launch an attack on an AI system. It ate them all! And then left.
Had to rebuild the entire fleet. ;D
A great game, even after all these years. The only downside is that whenever I play this game I always want to read another Fred Saberhagen Berserker novel. :)
I'd like to get a Co-Op game going at some point. But my inexperience and the time commitment for a campaign tells me that it's not likely to happen anytime soon.
Nef I'd be glad to, if our respective timezones permit it. After so many changes to the game I'm pretty much a noob again myself. You don't have to worry about the length of a campaign; the setup for each game is configurable as hell so we could make it a small universe.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on August 09, 2014, 02:27:06 PM
Nef I'd be glad to, if our respective timezones permit it. After so many changes to the game I'm pretty much a noob again myself. You don't have to worry about the length of a campaign; the setup for each game is configurable as hell so we could make it a small universe.
I may take you up on that sometime, when I get back around to it.
Is 8.0 a free upgrade or do we need to purchase the expansion to get it? I'm not too worried about it, as their prices have always been very affordable. Just wondering if it's a requirement.
I'm pretty sure everybody will get the 8.0 update since its a core change the expansions is "just icing on the cake" ;)
The AI is brutal in A.I. War. Played a couple of coop games with at good friend a month ago. And even though we own every expansion we only played with base game units and stuff. Its unbelievable how many units and options there are in this game :D
And yes we lost both games against to level 6 AI's... :buck2:
Quote from: Cougar_DK on August 09, 2014, 03:28:23 PM
And yes we lost both games against to level 6 AI's... :buck2:
Think I was only doing level 3 or 4 AI when I was learning it. Never finished though.
Yep, another incremental update patched in this afternoon. :smitten:
Quote from: RooksBailey on August 09, 2014, 12:18:24 AM
Quote from: JasonPratt on August 08, 2014, 05:07:45 PM
My installed AI War on Steam did an auto-update today, so that seems like a good sign. :D
Yup, they rolled out another update. And it looks like another is in the works. Nine more days until 8.0 and the expansion!
Started a new campaign today and had a random encounter with this guy:
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi226.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fdd70%2FCrusaderScott%2FAI%2520War%2FScreenshot_2014_08_08_21_35_49_zps0cd000d3.jpg&hash=27a90f5168428cfb26467efc0c87dca5041c6558)
That's a "Devourer Golem". It eats all ships under Class V. It wandered into my home planet at precisely the wrong time. I had a 200+ fleet preparing to launch an attack on an AI system. It ate them all! And then left.
Had to rebuild the entire fleet. ;D
A great game, even after all these years. The only downside is that whenever I play this game I always want to read another Fred Saberhagen Berserker novel. :)
you suck ;) .....it was that fuc*ing picture that got me, who can resist a fleet swallowing AI bastard machine from hell. Please tell me there are some good tutorials and can anybody point me too an informative lets' play.....$%%#$^^$#%#% .....at least i got a good price......Holy F**k :idiot2:
Quote from: -budd- on August 12, 2014, 10:10:22 PM
Please tell me there are some good tutorials and can anybody point me too an informative lets' play.....$%%#$^^$#%#% .....at least i got a good price......Holy F**k :idiot2:
I just used the in-game tutorial to get acquainted, and then I was off on my first campaign.
The real chore is learning the key commands that you will regularly use. There are a metric shit-ton of them available, but you will probably only use a small amount of them regularly. There are some that you will
need to use. Definitely one of those games I write down the keyboard hotkeys for while running through the tutorial (and anytime else I have to look one up while playing).
budd, my basic advice is:
- Pay careful attention to the tutorial. The game play is different than other games, which is a lot of where the novelty comes from, but it does require a little attention.
- Learn the interface. There's a lot of stuff to manage, but the interface is actually very powerful and helps you to take advantage of it.
- Don't try to micromanage the battles. Just get a feel for what units do really well against what other types of units, plan the composition of your assault force accordingly, then sit back and watch the fireworks.
- Don't just conquer systems for the sake of conquering systems. This isn't your standard 4x. Every star system you conquer gets the AI to take a little more notice of you. And as the AI starts to take notice of you, bad things happen. If he mobilized all his forces to go after you, the game would be over in about 45 seconds, but that's why you tiptoe around the fringes of his space...
- Expanding on the prior point, take any systems with Advanced Research Posts (to give you new classes of ships) and any system with factories you can use to produce specific types of ships. And then take systems to create secure bottlenecks. Just don't get greedy.
- Your first few games, build lots of defensive turrets--and different types of them--around the various warp points in your home system. I was always stingy with my defenses, and when I got whacked, I'd then have to spend the next hour of game play cleaning up the mess after the alien breakthrough lead to AI units rampaging in my rear. It was only after I played co-op and I saw how my friends never ran out of turrets, and how much more often I got creamed by attacks, that I realized I was being too stingy.
I could go on, but have fun!!
Cougardk, I can appreciate the problem. Even at the lower difficulty levels, if you go about needlessly poking the hornet's nest, you will get very badly stung!
thanks for tips...i'll take all the help i can get.
Understanding where enemy AI attacks can come from was another facet that took me some time to learn. I have to relearn that every time I played, too.
A larger extension of that is knowing what specific types of AI installations do. Each type has a special purpose and scouting ahead is essential to get intelligence on what kind of problems taking or avoiding a specific planet may cause. As FarAway mentioned, it's best to avoid most of them if you can. However, you want to take the ones that will give you unit upgrades and create defensive bottlenecks so that you can get the most out of the limited quantities of defenses you can build on the front.
You are essentially waging a guerilla war.. IN SPAAAACE! ;)
Some nice beginner guides in the Arcen forums on strategies, tactics, etc. Best one is at:
http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,1839.0.html (http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,1839.0.html)
This guide is also worth reading: http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,13369.0.html
Quote from: -budd- on August 12, 2014, 10:10:22 PM
you suck ;) .....it was that fuc*ing picture that got me, who can resist a fleet swallowing AI bastard machine from hell. Please tell me there are some good tutorials and can anybody point me too an informative lets' play.....$%%#$^^$#%#% .....at least i got a good price......Holy F**k :idiot2:
LOL! Sorry about that. :) As for advice, the guys above me pointed out all the good stuff. Really nothing to add other than start off with a stripped down campaign with low level AIs to get a feel for it. Like the others said, AI War looks like your typical 4X game but it isn't. It is something quite different. And the amount of depth is amazing - just the sheer number of different ship types is remarkable. Personally, I think it is one of the finest space strategy games we have seen in a very long time.
My only other piece of advice would be to read this while playing: http://smile.amazon.com/Berserker-Saberhagens-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00A4Q4FLK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407977429&sr=8-1&keywords=berserker+fred+saberhagen
;)
Wow I thought development for the game had ceased.
I have started it countless times to quickly get overwelmed and close it again.
:)
Still it calls out to me at times.
Quote from: Yskonyn on August 14, 2014, 02:48:52 AM
Wow I thought development for the game had ceased.
I have started it countless times to quickly get overwelmed and close it again.
:)
Still it calls out to me at times.
I don't think the base concepts of the game are difficult to learn. They're just unusual. Plus there are buttloads of different units in the game, but they're not as daunting when you know what the stats and traits are. Having lots of "Stuff" is always good IMO. Keeps it dynamic.
Quote from: RooksBailey on August 13, 2014, 07:50:43 PM
My only other piece of advice would be to read this while playing: http://smile.amazon.com/Berserker-Saberhagens-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00A4Q4FLK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407977429&sr=8-1&keywords=berserker+fred+saberhagen
;)
Thanks for bringin Saberhagen up, I found a coulpe of his books free here: http://www.epubbud.com/search.php?q=Fred%20Saberhagen
I'm reading Blue Death right now on my iPad - great stuff !
Quote from: Cougar_DK on August 17, 2014, 12:00:30 AM
Quote from: RooksBailey on August 13, 2014, 07:50:43 PM
My only other piece of advice would be to read this while playing: http://smile.amazon.com/Berserker-Saberhagens-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00A4Q4FLK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407977429&sr=8-1&keywords=berserker+fred+saberhagen
;)
Thanks for bringin Saberhagen up, I found a coulpe of his books free here: http://www.epubbud.com/search.php?q=Fred%20Saberhagen
I'm reading Blue Death right now on my iPad - great stuff !
Thanks for posting that link! Nice to see Saberhagen making the leap to ebooks. I noticed Amazon has now converted a lot of his Berserker novels and short fiction into Kindle e-books for $5 a piece. I can now fill in my library with some titles that have been long out of print.
PS: Haven't read Blue Death yet. My favorite is the original short story collection called Berserker! or sometimes Berserker: The Beginning. Shiva in Steel is also very good. My favorite part of that book was when a Berserker robot was virtually destroyed but it still showed its dedication to eradicating "bad life". Even though it couldn't complete its mission to kill the human it was targeting, it could kill a nearby houseplant instead. Life is life, after all. So it started smashing it before it short circuited out of existence. LOL!
The new expansion is out today: $4.49 over at Gamer's Gate. Gonna go pick it up later.
Version 8.0 is also out. Word from Chris Park:
http://arcengames.com/ai-war-8-0-launches-alongside-expansion-6-destroyer-of-worlds-and-linux-support/
QuoteAI War's run from 7.0 to 8.0 took a long break during our development of The Last Federation, but still contained over 60 new releases in 425 days. Thanks to player feedback (some new, some from years ago) the game is now better than ever.
Biggest on the radar is the addition of the new "hacking" mechanic which gives the player several abilities which can be extremely useful but also quite risky. Hack wisely, and you can turn defeat into victory. Hack foolishly, and you can turn humanity into hamburger. The idea came out of long discussions with players on improving the relationship between metal and crystal. Those two mechanics had become far too similar, and ultimately the idea of merging them in favor a new radically-different mechanic found a lot of support from the community.
"Salvage" is another major new mechanic based on years of community feedback. Basically if you lost your whole fleet in an attack it could take a long time to rebuild but often there wasn't much actual danger. In a game where 8 hours is a "short" campaign, players don't want to be stuck spending real "wall-clock" time without much actual "game" happening. So salvage allows the AI to harvest the remains of your ships lost in its territory to build a "reprisal" force that threatens you after a fleet-wipe, and allows you to harvest the remains of AI ships lost in your territory to accelerate your rebuilding. This led to a somewhat bumpy ride balance-wise but it's shaken out pretty well by now and has significantly improved enjoyment of the game.
Champions have also been the subject of quite a bit of player feedback since they were introduced in the fourth expansion. Some people really liked them, some people really did not. One of the biggest issues was how the nebula scenarios (the main way you could improve champions) were so disconnected from the rest of the game. So we've added an optional alternate way to improve your Champion units that's much more aligned with playing normally. There's probably more to be done on this topic, but what's been done thus far has helped.
"If anyone beats difficulty 10, that's a bug" is one of our old jokes with the community. Actually, we laugh when we say it but we're not joking. Several players have managed to beat Diff 10 over the years and the refinements to prevent this (without being too heavy-handed) have continued. Several AI improvements were made for 8.0, especially it's pushing an advantage during a large-scale attack. Balance dials have also been cranked to even-more-painful levels, and as of this writing there are no confirmed reports of a "normal" diff 10 win since the last round of related changes. The gauntlet's right there on the ground, folks.
Player feedback (and our own devious minds) prompted tons of other changes in 8.0 (counter-attack posts being made optional comes to mind, and many turret caps becoming per-planet), but this account has to stop somewhere. Oh, and let's not forget the engine upgrade and the addition of linux support :)
I've been enjoying the hacker mechanic. It is a fun way to get new units and makes perfect sense for the setting.
Note: You can get the entire DLC pack at Arcen Game's website for $4.00. It puzzled me that it was cheaper to get them all than just Destroyer of Worlds, but I was happy because apparently I had missed Vengeance of the Machines!
Quote from: son_of_montfort on August 18, 2014, 06:54:22 PM
Note: You can get the entire DLC pack at Arcen Game's website for $4.00. It puzzled me that it was cheaper to get them all than just Destroyer of Worlds, but I was happy because apparently I had missed Vengeance of the Machines!
Anybody get this? Are they separate keys for each expansion?
I bought from Arcane site after i read they are serperate steam keys and indeed they are...so i have the other 5DLC's available for anyone who needs them. I only needed Destroyer of Worlds. Post here and i'll catch up to you.
I'm going to post this in the game donation thread.
Credit goes to DoctorQuest for noticing that GOG is selling the entire AI War package (including the new Vengeance of the Machine expansion) for $6.79. At that price, I can't resist! (Sigh...)
http://www.gog.com/news/release_ai_wars_collection
Same price at the official arcen store: http://arcengames.com/arcen-store/
Quote from: FarAway Sooner on August 12, 2014, 11:12:18 PM
budd, my basic advice is:
- Pay careful attention to the tutorial. The game play is different than other games, which is a lot of where the novelty comes from, but it does require a little attention.
- Learn the interface. There's a lot of stuff to manage, but the interface is actually very powerful and helps you to take advantage of it.
- Don't try to micromanage the battles. Just get a feel for what units do really well against what other types of units, plan the composition of your assault force accordingly, then sit back and watch the fireworks.
- Don't just conquer systems for the sake of conquering systems. This isn't your standard 4x. Every star system you conquer gets the AI to take a little more notice of you. And as the AI starts to take notice of you, bad things happen. If he mobilized all his forces to go after you, the game would be over in about 45 seconds, but that's why you tiptoe around the fringes of his space...
- Expanding on the prior point, take any systems with Advanced Research Posts (to give you new classes of ships) and any system with factories you can use to produce specific types of ships. And then take systems to create secure bottlenecks. Just don't get greedy.
- Your first few games, build lots of defensive turrets--and different types of them--around the various warp points in your home system. I was always stingy with my defenses, and when I got whacked, I'd then have to spend the next hour of game play cleaning up the mess after the alien breakthrough lead to AI units rampaging in my rear. It was only after I played co-op and I saw how my friends never ran out of turrets, and how much more often I got creamed by attacks, that I realized I was being too stingy.
I could go on, but have fun!!
Cougardk, I can appreciate the problem. Even at the lower difficulty levels, if you go about needlessly poking the hornet's nest, you will get very badly stung!
Excellent advice, which I'm going to take from now on. All my games have ended in disaster for me. It's a great game, but I think success with it is an art form if like me you play it every now and then. ::)