Some balance questions...

[Vanifica]

I'm having a hard time figuring out how to correctly use lightning turrets. Their bonuses seem to be weak versus almost all common units, and they don't seem to do any significant damage to either me or the AI forces. Combine that with their high cost, limited unit cap, and high research price, and I don't see any reason to build them. I could be just using them incorrectly...how should I use them?

Leech starships seem a little too strong. Maybe I haven't faced the right AI units yet, but they seem to capture defenses and units really easily. Its possible I haven't faced the right AI yet...I'm still trying to stuff a level 7. Parasites, on the other hand, seem to be made of paper.

How do I correctly use dreadnoughts? I've never had good luck with them.

Also: is there going to be any more patches to the current AI war, or do I have to pay for the expansion?

[x4000]

Lightning turrets are absolutely deadly at wormholes, especially in the hands of the ai. But I think that most players tend not to use them overmuch except in perhaps a few cases.

Leech starships are quite popular, but it depends on the mix of ships facing them as to how well they really do. It is possible that they are a bit out of balance, but I have not heard many people bring it up yet. Thanks for raising the issue, it will be interesting to hear what other people who have used them in different situations might think on that.

Dreadnoughts are good against other starships. However, it is acknowledged that they are on the underpowered end of things at the moment. There is some discussion elsewhere on ideas for how to make them more for formidable, but I haven't felt the right mechanic has really been arrived at yet. They are still useful against starships, but that's about all at the moment.

Regarding patches, those will always be free for base ai war customers -- the current prereleases are compatible with just the base game, also -- please see my notes there. We use a unified binary system that means that no matter how many paid expansions we put out over the years, players never need to but those to have the latest free dlc, bugfixes, ai improvements, etc. The expansions are about new content and mechanics only, and are completely optional; the base game will be supported and extended through roughly monthly free dlc patches for another 2-5 years at least, or however long there is interest in the game. The current patch is simy taking longer because it is huge, and needed more testing time. So no worries!

 

[RCIX]

When i think "Dreadnought" i think "Big Honking artillery gun". Thus here is what i propose:

 * Area damage but does not affect allied units (so it's easier to use)
 * Inaccurate slow high reload time shot that deals a medium-large amount of damage

Perhaps some sort of energy-based AoE to explain why it doesn't damage allied units?

This would make it in a way like a giant Grenade launcher, with a primary purpose of providing supporting fire against unit clusters.

[I-KP]

I'd be tempted to give Dreads a healthy boost vs Raid and Leech starship engines.  At the moment not much worries a well husbanded trio of Raid starships but a (modded) Dread, along with its enormous range, would be the proverbial fly in the Raid tactic ointment.

Is there an AI type that employs Raid and Leech starships the same way Human players do?  These are by far the most cost effective multi-purpose units in the game (if you are attacking a system the Raid starships are all but obligatory) and none of the other starships seem to come close to snaffling their crown but I've never seen the AI use them to their fullest (which makes their effectiveness somewhat one-sided and perhaps balance-challenging). 

[RCIX]

I'd be tempted to give Dreads a healthy boost vs Raid and Leech starship engines.  At the moment not much worries a well husbanded trio of Raid starships but a (modded) Dread, along with its enormous range, would be the proverbial fly in the Raid tactic ointment.

Is there an AI type that employs Raid and Leech starships the same way Human players do?  These are by far the most cost effective multi-purpose units in the game (if you are attacking a system the Raid starships are all but obligatory) and none of the other starships seem to come close to snaffling their crown but I've never seen the AI use them to their fullest (which makes their effectiveness somewhat one-sided and perhaps balance-challenging). 

I wouldn't agree that they are unbalanced, because you really need 6 to hit III systems effectively, and IV and Core systems they aren't that helpful on.

[I-KP]

Having just taken several III and IV worlds I have to disagree with you: the Raid ships did by far the most damage (something like five times as much as anything else that you can bring with you).  They are largely unthreatened by anything that the AIs have when husbanded properly.  That's my point: if you micro them they are just about invincible but in the hands of the AI they are not even remotely as effective.  It's another example of where comparing numbers on a spreadsheet doesn't tell you the full story.  Of course, AIs are never going to be as handy with individual ships as a Human is but when in the hands of a competant Human Raid Starships are cheap, fast, early and nothing else comes close to their effectiveness.  Any unit that stands out so starkly has to ring the balance warning bell.

[orzelek]

Sadly I need to agree with that. I tried to play without Raid star ships and then when I was getting blown severely at force fields for example I had only one thought - go an buy them because there is nothing that works better than 3 or 6 Raid Star ships. But I didn't capture any lvl IV planets (not playing AI War much lately).

[NickAragua]

Don't be touching my raid starships, I just finally got a good number of them built.

FOCUS:

I would build lightning turrets at wormholes. Put down a good number of tractor turrets and lightning turrets (and grav turrets if the AI has ships immune to tractors), and watch the fireworks. Don't rely on them exclusively though.

Leech and Raid starships appear to have the same range, so you can just bunch them all up and let 'er rip. They have good range, are pretty tough, and do some nasty damage. Bring along escorts though (bombers, fighters and hopefully a fast ship type good against bombers) to avoid getting mobbed.

Dreadnoughts may be good against capital ships, but the other use I've found for them is to disable stragglers. If I take out a command center, a whole bunch of ships start running for the nearest wormhole to my system. I station some dreadnoughts at the wormhole to stop the enemy ships short (by disabling their engines), rather than having to keep a large force there. Sure, it's kind of overkill, but it keeps annoying little ships from running around in my systems.