AI War Beta 5.013, "Resurgent Underdogs," Released!

[x4000]

Original: http://arcengames.blogspot.com/2011/08/ai-war-beta-5013-resurgent-underdogs.html

This one has quite a bit of stuff, actually.  Many various "underdog" units have been made more attractive in various ways:

Things that can now be scrapped that could not be before:
gravity drills

Cheaper knowledge costs or AI Progress costs:
riot control starships
scout starships
gravity turrets
Zenith spacetime manipulators
mark II scouts
armored warheads
cloaker starships
neinzul enclave starships

Now knowledge-free:
mark I riot control, cloaker, and neinzul enclave starships

Improved function:
mark III lightning/armored warheads
siege starships
mercentary neinzul enclave starships

Other Changes
But that's not it!  Starfields actually got a bit more attractive and a bit lighter on the GPU (they were already trivially light anyhow, though).  And even more importantly, fixed a longstanding bug that has been mucking with AI retreats, and which recently has been causing astro trains to stall out on player planets.

So expect a more dynamic, responsive foe when you spring a trap that the AI recognizes and wants to run away from.  Previously the AI was issuing retreat orders that a good portion of its ships were simply ignoring to stay and shoot at stuff!  Now they'll shoot stuff as they flee, then come back when it's inconvenient for you.


What's the deal with all the balance changes above?
Well, these are all ships that players seem to ignore as not being useful, because their cost-to-benefit ratio was just slightly off (or, in the case of riot control starships, it was too big a gamble to unlock the mark I version and then see if you need them or not).

The tweaks overall are fairly slight, but they should help bring the difficulty of the expansions (sans minor factions and other special features) back down at least a little bit closer to that of the base game alone, while at the same time encouraging experimentation and use of more of the ships that are there.

I also changed around the knowledge costs of a few of the lesser-used techs to make them more attractive.  Several new things now fall into the "candy tech" realm, where they are attractive to take but start to "rot your teeth" if you take them too much.  I think the same will now be true of the armored warheads when it comes to AI Progress costs, too, actually.  We used to have that dynamic with lightning warheads back in the 2.0-3.0 days, and this will hopefully bring elements of that back.

Enjoy!

This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time.  If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

ooo some interesting changes

King

[x4000]

Oh, and I forgot to highlight in the release notes that this also effectively nerfs the stealth battleships in particular -- they now don't have a bonus against artillery hulls, which means that things like siege starships have a much better shot at them (especially with now having 2x the health).

[Hearteater]

Cheaper gravity turrets?  Was there anyone who didn't unlock these?  They are insanely useful.  Or were they lowered because they are so key?

[BobTheJanitor]

Cheaper gravity turrets?  Was there anyone who didn't unlock these?  They are insanely useful.  Or were they lowered because they are so key?

I would bet that most people don't take them because they think that tractor beams make them unneeded. Of course, maybe those people don't know that tractor beams keep enemies from running into mines...

[x4000]

Cheaper gravity turrets?  Was there anyone who didn't unlock these?  They are insanely useful.  Or were they lowered because they are so key?

I would bet that most people don't take them because they think that tractor beams make them unneeded. Of course, maybe those people don't know that tractor beams keep enemies from running into mines...

Yup.

[Entrenched Homperson]

Also grav turrets are just plain better in general. I rarely build tractors anymore. Grav Turrets are just better, especially in multiplayer when wave sizes are 1200 ships first wave against one planet.

[Philo]

Interesting changes, Siege starships and SSB change sounds awesome. Have to try these out.

[Coppermantis]

Cheaper gravity turrets?  Was there anyone who didn't unlock these?  They are insanely useful.  Or were they lowered because they are so key?

I would bet that most people don't take them because they think that tractor beams make them unneeded. Of course, maybe those people don't know that tractor beams keep enemies from running into mines...

   THEY DON'T?

My defenses need a drastic reorganization then.

And I just unlocked Riot Control Starship. Well then. Yay for updates though.

[Hearteater]

I actually don't mind tractors keeping ships out of mine fields.  But that's only because I'm not running a choke-point defense so I never have enough tractors to catch everything.  So the units that do hit the mines are the ones that make it past the tractors and are the bigger threat anyway.

I tell anyone I'm showing AI Wars to: "Think of Gravity Turrets as Frost Turrets from any other Tower Defense game.  Now read the Gravity Turret description and tell me how powerful that sounds in a Tower Defense game."  Best response I've received is: "That's OP as F^CK!"  Which is actually fairly accurate.

[BobTheJanitor]

I just wish there was a way to make grav turrets more resistant to damage. As powerful as they are at holding back waves, they're pretty squishy and as soon as the enemy blows one up they all come streaming in through the hole. I guess I should work on redundancy.

[Hearteater]

I use 2-3 normally in a triangle between the warp point and my command station, with the triangle "pointing" toward my CS.  This puts two grav turrets covering everything spawning.  Against some melee ships I've actually found 3 grav turrets just inside a Military Command Station's shield is extremely effective.

[keith.lamothe]

I just wish there was a way to make grav turrets more resistant to damage. As powerful as they are at holding back waves, they're pretty squishy and as soon as the enemy blows one up they all come streaming in through the hole. I guess I should work on redundancy.

I try to keep them under ff's, personally.  Other than that, they're supposed to be pretty flimsy.  Basically the only way to counter them is to shoot at them, and if they were very tough too it'd just be mean

[lanstro]

The tinkering around the armoured warhead just goes to highlight how much better matyrs are than warheads

As for AI ships that make the game far more difficult, we've had far more difficulty with spire maws than battleships in recent games.

[Zair]

Martyrs are a non-renewable resource though, unlike warheads. (Then again, I still prefer martyrs since there's no AIP and tractor beams are fuuuun.)