AI War Beta 4.038 Released!

[TheDeadlyShoe]

I agree that the attacks escalating endlessly is demoralizing, very demoralizing.  I've finished diff 8 games in 4 hours before, but the map types/ai types i'm playing know arn't conducive to quick victories.  I think the game should stick to the concept of AI progress increases from discrete player actions for the most part - and the Spire Waves are like an alternate AI progress.

Speaking of which - is there a reason the Spire waves are unannounced? It's always kind of a pain to be busy with something else, then look over at a border system and find 3 golems half way to the next warp gate.

And I don't know if its a bug or not but the spire waves seemed more obsessed with getting to my homeworld then to the spire city.  

[keith.lamothe]

Ok, with stuff like that it just sounds like the overall challenge mechanic is flawed, if you're wanting it to go back to AIP.  That basically means ripping it all out, and making the Spire stuff not nearly so powerful so as not to require as intense a counterbalance to maintain challenge.

[TheDeadlyShoe]

Nooo i was just making a comparison.   

I mean really here i had no idea at all the waves were getting bigger as time went on. And if its intended to balance spire out, well, its kinda weird cuz it means spire is more powerful on maps/setups you can finish quickly and less powerful (even game-losing) on maps you can't finish quickly.

[Lancefighter]

Perhaps what we really need are spire defensive weapons. As it is, the current ones are very mobile and you WANT to use them on offense. The spire cities whine when they are placed near the AI.. So we need something else. to fill the gap.

[keith.lamothe]

The Spire cities are intended to be the defensive bonus.  They can't be the very front line but they can be one system back.  Their forcefields haven't blocked movement in the past but you could use them to cover a normal one on the wormhole itself and the result could hold off even a massive attacking force for at least a brief time.

I'm quite happy to buff Spire City defensive modules quite a lot, if that would help.  They're supposed to be major starbase-level defenses, etc.

Can also just make their forcefields block movement, to remove the need to add a normal generator to cover the wormhole.

You are using them to cover your wormholes-towards-your-homeworld, right?

Of course, during the buildup, losing one is a problem of its own.

[Lancefighter]

of course, all of my planets are tiered like that :p


But 'one planet back' isnt exactly good enough - even if its under eventy billion forcefields, you never want a hub to encounter the enemy.. Because your defenses have already failed at that point.

No, I think there should be something else - after the second or third hub, you should be able to build/research some sort of spire defense platform, which is basically the defensive level of a spire reactor..

Perhaps limit these by the number of reactors you have in the galaxy similar to shipyards and such as well.

[keith.lamothe]

Yea, I'm thinking more of defense during the final phase, where you only have to hold your homeworld for 30 minutes to win, and the cities can be used to the hilt defensively.

Before the fifth city and capitol go up and you can research the ability to build your own spire colony ships, losing a city is basically the end of the questline, so I do understand that you don't want to really be relying on the city's guns.

I like the defensive platform idea.  The original design actually called for defense platforms but they were folded into the reactors and hab centers.

I'll need to reuse some art for these, but that's ok.

[Lancefighter]

More defensive toys 

Now I can finally make my epic chokepoint of +7 spiredefense

[keith.lamothe]

And the AI gets to play "how many artillery golems does it take to get to the center..."

[Lancefighter]

well, its last wave of 3 and assorted armoed golems didn't, soooo 

[orzelek]

well, its last wave of 3 and assorted armoed golems didn't, soooo 

No worries.. that was a warm-up
When 5+ golems with at least 10 or more core starships plus assorted starship escort arrive you can test your defenses.

[Kron]

And the AI gets to play "how many artillery golems does it take to get to the center..."

O_O

Well, it's official. Everyone strike a pose, cause shit just got real!

[mecharm]

Just throwing this in (to give some positive colors too), the new Spirecraft are just pure awesome. They are my favourite ships now, and are a huge help against the The Raiders of the Lost Spire.

That is, until that 6 golems came...

[Lancefighter]

6?


SIX?


I just got hit by a wave of 6... armored golems alone. Add in another 8 black widow, maybe 4 artillery...
*at which point in writing this I hear the signature flame wave sound of golems, and go 'ohshit' and tab back into the game*

This whole 'rebuild your entire turret mass each wave thing' is getting slightly annoying though, and that last wave took out a good 2/3 my fleet. I hope I've enough time to pick up the 5th city before the next one hits :x

[mecharm]

The funny thing is, for my fleet golems are the "easy" prey.

By the end of the wave, when everything is in flames, corpses and motherboards float gently in the quiet vacuum, it's always that ungodly amount of "common" mark 5 ships that stay standing...