You unpackaged a Nifty Little game called AI War at about 10 or so bucks, but you end up getting your head handed to almost every single time, So how'd you play it?
Well, the Answer lies Here, Read on, Greenhorn, And try not to misread, Or you might end up having your head on the line....Again
CHAPTER ONE : STARTING SCREEN/LOBBY/SOME SELECTION SCREEN/STOP! YOU VIOLATED THE LAW!
The Lobby, you know, the thing that you see upon hitting the "Play" Button, is the most important aspect of the game, From AI Difficulty to Limitations, it's all in here
Planet Selection, while slightly important, rarely affects your game, but it is highly recommended you choose a Planet neighbouring Bonus-ship Planets, even if it is not the Ship that you want, it'll assist in the Ship gathering, maybe even find it
AI Type is essentially how the AI behaves, Bully and Assassin are the "Nothing here, Nothing there" AI Types, Technological AI's are the worst for a beginner, Stay away from Mad bomber too, Fortress Barons are a bad choice : you'll be going up against Fortresses, which, by the way, is also in the Worst Case Scenarios, Turtles are also a bad idea, chances are, you won't even be able to Snatch Half a Flagstone from the AI, Mine enthusiasts are okay, but it can Annihilate your fleet without you even figuring what is going on, Raiders are a Decent enemy, but don't be surprised if it Walks over your defenses without you noticing, Teleporters are slightly okay, but their ability to drown you in ships the second you take a step in their planets might not be for you
AI difficulty should be set to 3-4 even for a beginner, 1 and 2's too easy, you'll steamroll them into the ground long before they can even throw rocks and sticks at you, Anything else higher than 4, and THEY steamroll YOU into the ground instead
Keep everything else the same, for a "Pure" feeling of AI War, no Marauders or other Russian gangsters, just you and the AI
Now pay the Court a Fine or serve your sentence
CHAPTER 2 : STARTING OUT/THE BEGINNING/SAVING HUMENS FROM SCIENCE AND OUTER SPACE
When Starting out, It is Critical that a Newcomer Focuses on Resources and The Economy, Get Engineers, Scouts, Basic Turrets(Scarcely), Stabilize your resource fronts first before building any ships
When building ships, Do not set them on Auto like what the Tutorial Said, If you Autobuild Ships, you'll get a huge Resource Spiral Downwards before you can say "SHUT IT DOWN!", Build them one by one and monitor the Spacedocks, if you are confident that you can make it build three ships then go off, Sorry to say, but Confidence does not mean that it works
Gather up your forces and strength, If any attacks come, Try to put your ships behind the turrets, Turrets are Cheap and replaceable, but the same can't be said of your ships, which do not leave any wreckages for rebuilders and also happen to cost much more than turrets in means of Repairs or replacements, Oh, and don't sent lone ships into enemy territory, they ain't Neinzen Supermen, as much as you think they are
Mercenary Ships are not worth it early game, Ship caps ain't anything you should worry about, as, you know, you only have a few ships
Starships, while nice and powerful, can break your economy and your arms if you are not careful, Early game is too early to worry about starships, their firepower helps you very little early on
Warheads, while powerful, are unstable, you should get some experience with the game before you venture into them
CHAPTER 3 : ATTACKING THE AI/INVASIONS/RESISTING ARREST
Right, that Fleet's finished, but it's no use sitting in your base doing jack, next phrase is sending them through a Wormhole, Send your view through while you are at it, Also remind yourself to being some scouts along, it's a big help to be able to see what's there
Once your ships are on the planet, you might get overwhelmed by the amount of stuff there, take a good look around and make priorities : The bigger the ship, the higher up the list, Hit Guard posts last, and ignore the AI command or the Warp Gates, For now, atleast, Also note on priorities : Fighters, bombers and Frigates have different strengths and weaknesses, it's almost like a game of Rock paper scissors, Use fighters to destroy Bombers, Bombers = Frigates and Frigates Fighters
Remember that this isn't some fair, pre-set game, you can always throw in more ships, and the AI can also throw in more ships, so always remember to reinforce your Frontlines, Brutality is the only way
After Annihilating half the ships on the planet, it is a good idea to hit the Warp gate next even if there are still the other half to deal with, missing Warpgates means that the AI can't Reinforce the missing half, after that, clean house, then blow up the Command, And Congradulations! You have taken out your first planet, Repeat that with bordering planets to ensure a good defense line
After doing that, you have passed Phrase 1 of Operation Defensive line, Phrase 2? Build Commands on each of your planets, But unlike the homeworld, focus on Military Might, Your HW will provide the resource, Also build plenty of turrets on your Homeworld, since your Fleet is going to be somewhere else, any breaches would have to be dealt by turrets
While you might get the idea of Charging the next planets, HOLD BACK!, While Direct Head-on charges might work out for the better players, it won't work for you, Send Raids against them, and take out the Warp Gates first, remember, with additional planets at your disposal, you have more space for error and destruction, so really, keep raiding them, until if you are sure that they are weakened enough, Charge them to death, build Command Stations, Etc, Etc, Etc
CHAPTER 4 : MID-GAME/THE MIDDLE OF YOUR GAME/ALIENS AND MONSTERS ARE ATTACKING MY PLACE
At this time, The Original Three ships are now useless, but you can upgrade them to become useful, build science labs on your conquered worlds so that they can gather Science Points, and with the points in hand, go to your nearest Lab, and you should get a interface
Science Points are extremely important, the game only has a limited resource(unlike Metal or Crystal, or Energy or AI Taunts), so spend them after thinking about their worth and value : Scouts are not important, the first Tier already does the work that a 3 does, only difference is the cloak, but really? who needs cloak when you can send lotsa scouts to their death?, Fighters are once again, slightly unimportant, there are rediculous amounts of other ships out there that does the work of the Fighter, maybe even better(Like the Ammunition Booster),Bombers are only useful if you are planning to Charge at the Main AI command at 2000 Miles a Second through 20-30-40-50-60-70-80-90-100-110-120-400,000 AI planets, Frigates are pretty great, Allows for Sniping, and very few other ships surpass it's capabilities, Z-Frigate? Limited numbers before Efficiency Goes down the drain, Snipers? Low damage
By now, Starships should have come into play, if you have plans for head-on assaults, the Starship works well to support your fleet, otherwise, Get the Riot, on Defense, it can easily bash down the weaker, more numberous ships, on Raids, it can cause little to moderate damage to every ship or half the ships on the planet before getting out, Dreadnoughts have plenty of firepower, but their slow reloads mean that they are unsuited for raiding, Parasite ships can cause some disorder and give your fleet a few cannon fodder/distractions, helpful for raids and Head-on assaults, but i warn you : Esscessive use of the Parasite can cause tremendous loss of Resources, Will, and Skulls, as well as your hands, too
Use Warheads, but do it very scarcely, and make sure it is always infront of your fleet, a accidental warhead explosion can cause half your fleet to cease to exist in your universe, and for the sake of every single diety that all 5 billion people on earth can think of, NEVER, BUILD, NUKES, THEY WILL BREAK YOUR ARMS, YOUR LEGS, YOUR COMPUTER, AND YOUR NECK, AS WELL AS YOUR GAME, AND YOUR HOMEWORLD
Merc ships now might play a part, but remember : they cost more than your ordinary Joe, and do not have any bonuses to fighting or defense, Be Aware
CHAPTER 5 : THE EMD/FINAL WORDS/ALL YOUR FRIENDS ARE DEAD, GOOD LUCK
And here on i end the Guide, There are still a Planet-load of things out there, well, You will discover, a Galaxy where the Possibilities, Strategies, tacitcs and Ships are endless, but always remember : Fight hard, Young Man, They say it's fair in war and love, well, they are wronger than a snail's judgment, There is no fairness or peace here, Only War, Death, Brutality, and unfairness
Go Forth and Discover
NOW GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE I BREAK EVERY SINGLE JOINT IN YOUR BODY, AS WELL AS YOUR COMPUTER AND YOUR DOOR
