AI War 2 News

New beta build! https://wiki.arcengames.com/index.php?title=AI_War_2:Multiplayer_Alpha_And_Beta#Beta_2.741_Refining_The_Big_One

You need to use the current_beta branch on Steam or GOG to play this one. If you have trouble with it, there is a most_recent_stable_beta, now, too.

This is a refinement of yesterday's big new build, as you might imagine. One of the things that is unusual about this beta release is that we're breaking savegames from the prior build. They were just THAT unbalanced (in your favor), and we want to make sure that any further feedback on this beta branch is not some funky hybrid. Sorry about that; normally maintaining savegame compatibility is at the top of our list.

This new build fixes a number of bugs and tweaks a lot of things, but mostly it's just refining the same ideas into a more-balanced form, minus a few of the bugs that were also in the way. Players were having just absolute HEAPS of turrets in the prior version, and hacking points were still too abundant. So that is probably the most notable shift in balance here.

But at the same time, we're also trying to give minefields and watch standers their day in the sun, so there's a new and cheaper to hack structure that grants those. The Warbird balance changes that were supposedly in the prior version also didn't get applied, so that was still OP as heck. Now it's tuned properly.

On the other end of things, hacking ARSes and TSSes/ODSSes (the new split DSSes) no longer cause the AI response to ramp up. That was something that was too imbalanced against you.

Another interesting change is that now Relentless AI Wave units that find themselves on a planet of themselves or allies will fight there if there is at least 3 enemy strength there (aka you-strength, typically). This way, when you're hacking in enemy territory or enduring a counterstrike, the enemies don't run off for your worlds but instead fight you in place.

Hopefully this is a lot closer to the balance mark!

New MAJOR beta build! https://wiki.arcengames.com/index.php?title=AI_War_2:Multiplayer_Alpha_And_Beta#Beta_2.740_The_Big_One

You need to use the current_beta branch on Steam or GOG to play this one. If you have trouble with it, there is a most_recent_stable_beta, now, too.

This is the last major set of features and changes from the current beta cycle. There will be further tweaks and fixes and tuning based on feedback from players, but the goal is to get out of beta this week if all seems to be well.

This new build does a lot of things, all at once.

You can hack your transports to transform them between various forms, and the same for combat factories.

The ARS is way more valuable and can be hacked multiple times.

The IGC (if you even know what that is) has been removed for being useless.

The GCA (wow a central unit) has been replaced in all new campaigns by a way cooler and even more powerful Design Schematic Server (DSS). It should feel very familiar, but the nuances are very different.

Battlestations no longer seed in the new campaigns for you to capture, but you start the game with two battlestations instead of one... and those battlestations gain any turrets you unlock via the DSS (holy cow).

Citadels are faster, more expensive, but also get the DSS unlock benefits.

Higher difficulties no longer have slower hacks. The extra intensity is now packed into the same amount of time as lower difficulties.

There's a new transport type: High Capacity. It lets you double ship lines for a few ships if you put them in there.

The other basic boring transports now give you economic benefits if you leave them on a planet for 5 minutes without them getting crippled. Extra transports are now money, not annoyance.

And a bunch of other minor balance updates, bugfixes, and some notable mod updates. There's a lot in here!

New beta build! https://wiki.arcengames.com/index.php?title=AI_War_2:Multiplayer_Alpha_And_Beta#Beta_2.734_Bugfixes

You need to use the current_beta branch on Steam or GOG to play this one. If you have trouble with it, there is a most_recent_stable_beta, now, too.

More stuff to come later, but this is basically just a selection of bugfixes that needed to come out sooner than later. Thanks to all the folks who tested the new stuff and found these!

The AI Shield Generators mod by cml has also been updated to be in the new format that hacks use in the game now.

The FRS ships had a number of bugs with them last version, but one thing that has been clarified (as well as being fixed up) is that now their bonuses DO affect the flagship, except for the speed bonus. The tooltips make all of that clear, and the turbo raiders can be in fleets that are +1 larger since they don't help the flagship. This means that ultima bombers pair GREAT with a golem or ark and a collection of frigates, for instance.

The starting defensive fleets have also been toned down, as a balance item in this release. For whatever reason, they wound up otherwise being about 2x as powerful as all other fleets and from what you get from a GCA, etc. Now they're consistent with everything else.

The rest of the stuff was actual bugs, with interface/display issues, FRS mechanics, and some extra officer fleets seeding.

New beta build! https://wiki.arcengames.com/index.php?title=AI_War_2:Multiplayer_Alpha_And_Beta#Beta_2.733_Arks.2C_Reprogramming.2C_And_FRS

You need to use the current_beta branch on Steam or GOG to play this one. If you have trouble with it, there is a most_recent_stable_beta, now, too.

Right... so I'm still plugging away at the hacking overhaul work and related balance. It's taking longer than expected, but the results are, frankly, pretty glorious.

Last build, golems got the ability to be buffed by you hacking them to give them much more hull durability. This build, arks join in the fun. Some can get buffs to their shields in the same way, while others get firepower buffs. You can really beef out these ships if you want to, now.

On the other hand, competing for your hacking points, you can now "reprogram enemy units." There were previously some one-off "hack ion cannon" and mass driver hacks, but this is a more generalized version of the same thing (capture an enemy unit and bring it to your side). It scales how much it costs by what the unit is and how high a mark it is. You can capture the ion cannons and mass drivers, are well as black hole machines, magnifiers, fortresses, and superfortresses. Or you can sabotage them for less HaP, or you can just fight them.

The FRS structure has had a HUGE revamp in its units. They are all marks 5-6 now from the get-go, and are very powerful just as regular ships; basically the experimental fabricator from the first AI War. These cost far less AIP to take, so are actually viable. Their fleet-wide bonuses are still there, but only work on very small fleets now. It says the size of the fleet for each one, and what units are good to pair with them. If you like to main frigates, a couple of formerly "useless" FRS ships are now a goldmine for a small fleet like that.

Most of the hacks that allow you to get science via odd ways are gone (spire archive aside). Bad balance. More hacks will be added tomorrow!

New beta build! https://wiki.arcengames.com/index.php?title=AI_War_2:Multiplayer_Alpha_And_Beta#Beta_2.732_Recon.2C_Golem_Buffs.2C_And_Sabotage

You need to use the current_beta branch on Steam or GOG to play this one. If you have trouble with it, there is a most_recent_stable_beta, now, too.

Okay, whew, this is lasting a bit longer in beta than intended. But I still hope to escape this week. There is a TON going on in this one.

Essentially, there have been a lot of major upgrades to the hacking mechanics under the hood, and also to how it works for you in the interface. This paves the way for a lot of more additions and updates in the next two days, too.

New in this version are some hacks that allow you to greatly improve the recon range of specific logistical or military command stations... at quite a hefty hacking point cost. But the power of this can be pretty insane, if used at the right time.

Also new is the ability to hack your own golems and majorly increase their durability (regardless of their mark level). The hacking cost here isn't too extreme, but it's the sort of thing that is now competing for your hacking points with other things.

The sabotage hack has been upgraded massively so that you can now select the target from a list rather than it being a fiddly "the thing you are closest to" mechanic. It also now has variable hacking point costs depending on the target, rather than always being a flat 15 HaP. This allows for us to make certain other targets sabotage-able, such as... warp gates! This is a new interesting way to dodge AIP, but it comes at the cost of HaP that you may prefer to use elsewhere.

Distribution nodes now give you 80 HaP rather than 20, so those are suddenly extremely valuable and exciting. Turret ranges are a bit higher at mark 1 for you, but no longer increase with higher marks. Some lobby options have been removed that now have equivalent hacks in-game.

Things are shaping up well!