AI War Beta 3.717 Released -- AI Carriers!

[Collic]

I've noticed flak guardians are deadly in particular to blobs of fleet ships- sometimes they can make things seem worse than they are, you can lose a whole fleet in seconds if they're weakened. Artillery guardians can be a headache too due to the incredible amounts of withering fire they can hit you with immediately on entering the system. They out range seige starships as well. When you get the fleet in range they die fast, especailly if you have a decent composition backed with some seige and light starships.

It's just getting in range of the artillery guardians before you die to withering fire that's a little tricky at the moment I still seem to see more artillery guardians than anything else. Dialling back the artillery guardian's damage a little could make a big difference. These are just initial impressions, the guardians seem okay to me by and large.

[keith.lamothe]

So is V 4.0 your big "make it or break it" plan, or is there a plan B as well?

Well, Chris knows the numbers and I only know some of them, but Arcen Games isn't going away regardless of how the 4.0 release goes.  It could make a big difference, though.

I've been using the demo of the Unity version, and its quite nice. I'd buy it if I hadn't already. First priority though, would be to update those last two tutorials, because that's going to be crucial for new players.

Yea, Chris has been working on the tutorials, not sure where he is with those last two.

[keith.lamothe]

I've noticed flak guardians are deadly in particular to blobs of fleet ships- sometimes they can make things seem worse than they are, you can lose a whole fleet in seconds if they're weakened.

Hmm, maybe their flak shots need to hit fewer targets per burst, or perhaps their reload time needs to increase.

Artillery guardians can be a headache too due to the incredible amounts of withering fire they can hit you with immediately on entering the system. They out range seige starships as well.

Ouch, yea, they shouldn't out-range the sieges if sieges are to be a viable ship against them.  I don't know if Chris intended Sieges to work against the "Guartians" but it seems with the more aggressive AI defenses that we could really pump up the Siege's range like has been requested a number of times; before it didn't make sense because then Sieges could be used fairly easily to whittle away at AI turret balls and whatnot without drawing much retaliation, etc.  Now I think they need more range just to survive

[Collic]

I wouldn't nerf flak guardians too hard though. They are beasty things, but they seem to die very easily ( I do like them, actually ).
At the minute they seem to be fulfilling the final knife in the back if you let them get in range. AOE overload is what's causing this I think; in some systems you might get ganged up on by lightning and flak guardians, meanwhile the artillery guardians are hitting you and the beam guardians are rolling into range.

It just kills fleets very fast unless you enter the system and immediately start kiting away as much of the damage as you can.

Edit: siege ships normally survive fairly well, the guardians seem to concentrate almost solely on the fleet ball.

PS: I hope to see the tractor beam guardians cropping up more to steal my ships

[zebramatt]

I couldn't find this on Mantis so I'll post it over there as well but:

Zooming doesn't appear at all responsive when the game is sped up (using the + key).


Also, I'm not sure how much work you guys have left for the Galaxy View (nor whether this is already in Mantis / known issues) but I've noticed planet icons randomly disappearing and reappearing constantly...




Also also, I'd just like to say: for all the rough edges, so far I'm really loving the new AI War!

[zebramatt]

Oh! One other also: could we have a way on Mantis of adding Comments to Resolved issues?

[Lancefighter]

well, you can reopen your own stuff if thats an issue, but you cant comment on someone elses' closed item

[Inglonias]

Question: Does the game seem more difficult to anybody else? I've started a new game (5 and 6 difficulty, or was it 5 and 7?) and that Special Guard Post is really pissing me off. In fact, guard posts in general are posing a problem.

Maybe if I tried to only send bombers or something...

[Lancefighter]

Frigates is the traditional counter to special forces.. i think

[Collic]

yup, frigates or seige starships will easily out range it. Just keep your other ships far enough away.

[x4000]

My main note: per my original post, the game is ridiculously brutal hard at he moment. This is not intended, please relax. The general difficulty of the game should get back to the level of 3.0 or so in the next couple of days at he latest. 3.189 was way too easy because stuff was in progress. Now the opposite is true. This is "how the hotdog is made."

Fleet ships are indeed getting absolutely murdered at the moment, which was not intended. And some of the guardians need balance. And so do the starships. And the danger of the early worlds, and scouting, is insane right now. Please bear with us, it's either this or not letting you guys in on the beta at all, right? Most game devs don't let you see the hotdog creation process for a reason, but I think it's nothing to hide if everyone is on the same page during the process.

[Collic]

We understand. Hell, brutally hard or not, it's still fun

[Inglonias]

Damn right. Its great figuring out what tactics work and what don't. Like I just did. (Fifty bombers or so fixed my problems!)

[Lancefighter]

Oddly, i dont disagree overly much with this level of difficulty..

[Collic]

Oddly, i dont disagree overly much with this level of difficulty..

It is still doable, for sure! I've managed to progress by baiting out as many guardians as I can, sniping the odd guard post, then running back home (hopefully with a few ships still intact) to hide behind a wall of turrets before going in again haha