AI War 2

AI War2 is a grand strategy RTS hybrid that reverses many of the conventions of both genres Take territory without attracting attention build your empire with care and adapt to an ever-evolving galactic battleground It s also a sequel to Arcen s enormo-space RTS AI War which we called one of this year s finest strategy games back in2009 Tom Sykes PC Gamer The most devious and acclaimed artificial intelligence in strategy gaming evolves
Most recent is2021 s Paradigm Shift which has overviews and tutorials in that link Every year since2018 this AI has become more devious and the factions facing it subordinate to it or simply neighbors with it grow more numerous and more lifelike
The premise is simple you ve already lost the war The entire galaxy belongs to other factions mostly the AI You are starting with one small planet in a sea of hostile territory and you must endeavor not to draw too much notice from the AI Your job is to carefully evaluate targets strategically expand your territory just enough to run your fleets and defensive networks and then strike at the heart of the AI s when you are ready
AI War2 is meant to be both accessible and deep Early2021 has seen major improvements to make the midgame easier to get into for new players plus a more forgiving Science system and a much more powerful Hacking system Q32021 is going to introduce a new Expert mode for those who want the more extreme sort of challenge that comes from having elements of permanent loss more reasons to hold disadvantageous positions and so on Which mode you choose to play will always remain a personal choice
Unexpected Technical Advancements
In the twelve years since we coded the first AI War we ve made a lot of improvements to our simulation engine which is now running on top of the Unity3 D engine However AI War2 has presented some truly unique technical challenges mainly involving running insane amounts of AI and simulations in a massively parallel fashion We ve been able to harness the power of modern multi-core processors to a degree that most game simulations cannot and our challenge from2020 onward has been to bring that into the multiplayer realm While multiplayer currently remains in beta it is also a bit of a technical showcase
Mod support is heavily embraced by this game and having mods be multiplayer-safe or have deep access to change parts of the core simulation in general is not typical for games as a whole let alone this genre We ve managed to make multiplayer a self-repairing affair which is beneficial both for playing with friends on different OSes and hardware and for having most mod-code mistakes be corrected by the core game
The AI has dramatically improved in intelligence every year since2018 and your framerate is also decoupled from your simulation performance You can have a great machine with120 fps during heavy battles and a friend at30 fps and you both stay in sync and the actually simulation doesn t slow down You can speed up and slow down the simulation without any extra load on your CPU which is very helpful to avoid any boring waiting around and you can pause at will
The interface respects your time by automating things that you would do the same95 of the time anyway For that other5 there are indeed advanced features such as placing spy nanites tweaking or disabling the rules of automation or redesigning your fleet compositions as much as you want Hacking is one of the most interesting ways to customize your existing fleet leaders as you can give them unusual upgrades or even transform them into new versions of their class.Streamlined yet deeper
Sometimes when a sequel says it s streamlined it can really mean dumbed down And there are indeed fewer tiny choices to be made in some areas here you don t have to decide how to wash each dish you have a dishwasher And it s a good thing you do to be honest because the rabbit hole of complex and confounding scenarios goes as deep as you want it to
If you want to play at a level approaching Expert you ll need that spare brainpower to design your fleets manage multiple fronts at once juggle offense and defense and continually revise your empire design to suit your needs as the campaign unfolds If you want to play more casually that is absolutely okay as well and the game can be much more forgiving while still providing a lot of interesting macro choices
There s too much to memorize but tooltips are always right there anyway and there s always an unfamiliar element Clicking fast won t help you To win the AI War you ll have to improvise adapt and use your wits
As it should be.How About Some Highlights Many optional factions each with their own goals and strategies create a living galaxy
The fleets system gives you tons of ships that can be organized and distributed with a minimum of fuss
Science upgrades are simple to manage but provide many options on how to approach any given campaign based on your preferences and what you find in the wild
Hack the enemy hack your allies hack yourself Hacking points are limited but extremely powerful ways to get more ships or capabilities directly weaken enemies or even steal from enemies
A ton of map types and with a lot of sub-options to make them even more varied
Outguard can be hired as a way of deploying surprise mobile forces whever you need and many factions can be allies
Warden Hunter and Praetorian Guard sub-fleets of the AI provide for new challenges and sometimes opportunities in how both you and the AI interact with each other
Crazy moddability with many levers available in easily-accessible XML A number of player-supported mods are shipped directly with the game defaulting to off so that you always have the latest version of them and don t have to hunt for them to download them.What s New Compared To The Original
More approachable gameplay but with a rabbit hole that goes as deep as ever
More to do in terms of moment to moment gameplay and choices More to find more to conquer or be conquered-by
Polished gameplay mechanics representing everything learned from first game s six expansions plus three years of development on this sequel
Trimmed fat repetitive boring tasks have been automated or streamlined but more options than ever have been added for you to customize things when you want to Our goal is never to waste your time but always have an array of interesting challenges for you to pursue at once
Redesigned UI that gives you a ton of information and power right when you need it
15 hours of new music added to the45 hour included score from the original game
Multithreading for modern performance and a codebase that will not summon an elder god recoded from the ground up for modern rigs
Over1900 lines of spoken dialogue from more than25 actors