Author Topic: AI War 2 v0.711 Released! "Re-Mark-able"  (Read 5170 times)

Offline keith.lamothe

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AI War 2 v0.711 Released! "Re-Mark-able"
« on: March 12, 2018, 04:43:35 pm »
Release notes here!

The entire UI system has been basically overhauled. The xml definitions are largely the same, but under the hood it's very different. The new approach makes it much easier to use in conjunction with the Unity WYSIWYG editor, which is very helpful when working with complex interfaces. The main menu has been redone, and other new stuff (credits screen, modal popups, etc) has been done via the new system.

Tons more updates to the unit visual models by Pepisolo and Goldenwolf.

BadgerBadger added the "Human Resistance Fighters" special faction; a fleet that will occasionally help you in close battles. There are also other changes to special factions by BadgerBadger (the Zenith Trader can now recover from being Devourer'd, etc).

54 of AIWC's music tracks have been added to this game; you can disable that in settings but it's helpful while we wait for the rest of the new soundtrack.

Lots of progress on integrating the voice acting.

The upgrade system for player units has been thoroughly revised:
- Now when you research Mark 2 Fighters, for example, your repair units will actually upgrade your Mark 1 Fighters to Mark 2 Fighters, and your Fighter cap will go from 10 squads to 20 squads (instead of 10 Mark 1s and 10 Mark 2s like in previous versions).
- You can now research normally up to Mark 4, instead of Mark 3. The Advanced Factory, rather than giving you Mark 4 where you already have Mark 3, instead just gives you +20% to your fleet ship caps.
- Experimental Fabricators no longer give you Mark 5 of a particular ship type, but give you a new experimental variant fleet ship type that's based on Mark 4 of a normal ship type. For example, you can get the BombBox, which is like the Bomber but without any kind of reasonable survivability or speed. It hits a whole lot harder, if you can get it in range. Another example is the less-extreme Interceptor, which is like the Fighter but faster, less durable, and generally better at reaching and shredding armored Bombers before they get too close.

Turrets now cost power again, and are galaxy-capped instead of planet-capped. Both changes work more smoothly with the new upgrade system than they would have otherwise.
- You also start with Mark 1 Needler turrets unlocked, and even placed around your starting planet's wormholes, to make sure you know that turrets are something you're going to need.

The AI now has more variety between planets because each planet only picks from a small set of guardians, turrets, and fleet ships to defend itself. There's a big difference between attacking a planet that "chose" Plasma Guardians and Sniper Turrets than one that focused on Needler, Laser, etc stuff.

Other rebalancing, including making "using the right weapon against the right defense" more important and generally making enemy gravity generators less frustrating.

And more; details are in the notes linked above.

Enjoy!
Keith
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Offline x4000

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Re: AI War 2 v0.711 Released! "Re-Mark-able"
« Reply #1 on: March 12, 2018, 05:05:13 pm »
It's worth noting that some of the benefits of these changes will be even more notable after you see the new GUI in action in the next few weeks.  The not-yet-done GUI, I mean.
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Offline TheVampire100

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Re: AI War 2 v0.711 Released! "Re-Mark-able"
« Reply #2 on: March 12, 2018, 05:43:02 pm »
The upgrade system for player units has been thoroughly revised:
- Now when you research Mark 2 Fighters, for example, your repair units will actually upgrade your Mark 1 Fighters to Mark 2 Fighters, and your Fighter cap will go from 10 squads to 20 squads (instead of 10 Mark 1s and 10 Mark 2s like in previous versions).
- You can now research normally up to Mark 4, instead of Mark 3. The Advanced Factory, rather than giving you Mark 4 where you already have Mark 3, instead just gives you +20% to your fleet ship caps.
- Experimental Fabricators no longer give you Mark 5 of a particular ship type, but give you a new experimental variant fleet ship type that's based on Mark 4 of a normal ship type. For example, you can get the BombBox, which is like the Bomber but without any kind of reasonable survivability or speed. It hits a whole lot harder, if you can get it in range. Another example is the less-extreme Interceptor, which is like the Fighter but faster, less durable, and generally better at reaching and shredding armored Bombers before they get too close.

This is so unusual for AI War and actually it makes a lot of sense. Why still use outdated ships when you have  a better version of it? because you can then build more? What makes you sop building more of the better version?
This is one of the little things, that show that AIW2 is the definitive upgrade to AIWC, it is really only a Quality of Life change but it does so much for players, so they don't have to worry about stupid stuff liek "Did I forgot to build the Mark 1 ships this time?".

Offline tadrinth

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Re: AI War 2 v0.711 Released! "Re-Mark-able"
« Reply #3 on: March 12, 2018, 06:54:35 pm »
Now when you research Mark 2 Fighters, for example, your repair units will actually upgrade your Mark 1 Fighters to Mark 2 Fighters, and your Fighter cap will go from 10 squads to 20 squads (instead of 10 Mark 1s and 10 Mark 2s like in previous versions).

This has some interesting tactical implications if the targetting logic from AIWC has been ported over.  Ships like to shoot at low-health ships, presumably because they're easier to take out and thus reduce the incoming damage. 

That means if you have a particularly important ship-type, you might be able to dramatically increase its survivability by upgrading it, if enemy ships switch to targeting another ship type that you didn't upgrade as much.  Though in practice, you'd need another ship type within similar health and identical defenses, or the multipliers will overwhelm this effect.  And you're not actually getting survivability, you're getting relatively survivability, as some other fleet ship gets shot up first. So probably not very noticeable overall.

Probably a good idea to avoid ship types with nonlinear scaling, like how grenade launchers in AIWC hit more targets with their AOE as they scale up. 

Offline x4000

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Re: AI War 2 v0.711 Released! "Re-Mark-able"
« Reply #4 on: March 12, 2018, 08:11:22 pm »
Glad you guys like it. :)

Once you see Eric's new sidebar in practice, I think you'll like it even more.  Keith and I saw that and our jaws kind of hit the floor.
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Offline Draco18s

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Re: AI War 2 v0.711 Released! "Re-Mark-able"
« Reply #5 on: March 12, 2018, 11:41:30 pm »
Oh my, that Mk2 change. Much love.
« Last Edit: March 13, 2018, 04:33:02 pm by Draco18s »

Offline zeusalmighty

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Re: AI War 2 v0.711 Released! "Re-Mark-able"
« Reply #6 on: March 13, 2018, 04:19:08 pm »
Playing a speed run through the new patch (getting all tech, scouting all, metal etc.)

I really like the new approach to marks, makes a ton of sense and makes choosing tech even more interesting when trying to exploit the AI's weaknesses. The redesign of the Advanced Factory feels rewarding as well--fun stuff!

One issue I observed occurred after I successfully hacked the Nanocaust Hive. They clumped on my starting planet (some 500K strength) and just sat there. They don't do much else except rally to this point and don't even assist my planet when it's under attack.

Offline BadgerBadger

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Re: AI War 2 v0.711 Released! "Re-Mark-able"
« Reply #7 on: March 13, 2018, 04:31:55 pm »
Got a save game for the nanocaust? If so, go open it on mantis and I'll take a look

Offline zeusalmighty

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Re: AI War 2 v0.711 Released! "Re-Mark-able"
« Reply #8 on: March 13, 2018, 05:03:46 pm »
Just uploaded the save on Mantis

Offline BadgerBadger

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Re: AI War 2 v0.711 Released! "Re-Mark-able"
« Reply #9 on: March 13, 2018, 06:52:44 pm »
I see what's going on, it should be fixed in the next release

Offline zeusalmighty

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Re: AI War 2 v0.711 Released! "Re-Mark-able"
« Reply #10 on: March 14, 2018, 05:16:59 pm »
Was playing around more and noticed that I didn't seem to have access to ships unlocked by capturing an experimental fabricator. Not sure if this was in the save I uploaded on Mantis but I'll check later tonight.

Offline BadgerBadger

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Re: AI War 2 v0.711 Released! "Re-Mark-able"
« Reply #11 on: March 14, 2018, 06:06:04 pm »
@Zeus, you are right. I can't figure out how to build units from a fab either. I opened https://bugtracker.arcengames.com/view.php?id=19492 for this, since I had a saved game sitting around.
« Last Edit: March 14, 2018, 06:08:31 pm by BadgerBadger »

 

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