AI War Beta 5.018, "Ions And Attritioners," Released!

[x4000]

Original: http://arcengames.blogspot.com/2011/09/ai-war-beta-5018-ions-and-attritioners.html

This one has a number of balance tweaks most specifically centered around the various ion-based units and the spirecraft attritioner.  These should now be a lot more fearsome in AI hands, but even more notably a lot more attractive for players to actually build and use themselves.  There are a couple of other minor tweaks and fixes in there, too.

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.

[TechSY730]

Hooray! 

Oh wait, I'm at work right now. NOOOO! 

Well, I'll test it out when I can. Based on the patch notes, looks really good so far.

[x4000]

All the thanks go to Keith!  But yeah, I'm loving the sound of the revised attritioners, too.

[BobTheJanitor]

Interesting to see how that Attritioner change ended up. I know the original idea was that attrition damage would not effect it. I'm curious to go play with these now and see how they end up working. Now if only there were some way I could remember to bring them along with my fleets... Yes, I'm a lazy player that boxes blobs and sends them through wormholes.

Huh, would it be possible to give military units with no main guns some sort of invisible gun with infinite range and zero damage so that it would still get selected with the rest of the fleet?

[Echo35]

Interesting to see how that Attritioner change ended up. I know the original idea was that attrition damage would not effect it. I'm curious to go play with these now and see how they end up working. Now if only there were some way I could remember to bring them along with my fleets... Yes, I'm a lazy player that boxes blobs and sends them through wormholes.

Huh, would it be possible to give military units with no main guns some sort of invisible gun with infinite range and zero damage so that it would still get selected with the rest of the fleet?

I seem to remember discussion about this a little while ago. Glad it got tweaked! Though I'm one of those people that used them anyways

[zoutzakje]

woohoo, sounds nice ^^
Í haven't tested it out yet, but I'm wondering if killing high health targets to use the attritioners to deal insane dmg to regular ships isn't a bit overpowered? If it turns out to be, perhaps it's possible to make it so that most high health targets won't affect the attritioners dmg when killed?
But we'll just have to test it out first.
thx for the update ^^

[TechSY730]

Interesting to see how that Attritioner change ended up. I know the original idea was that attrition damage would not effect it. I'm curious to go play with these now and see how they end up working. Now if only there were some way I could remember to bring them along with my fleets... Yes, I'm a lazy player that boxes blobs and sends them through wormholes.

Huh, would it be possible to give military units with no main guns some sort of invisible gun with infinite range and zero damage so that it would still get selected with the rest of the fleet?

Sadly, no, as the engine treats a weapon with 0 damage as the same as no gun at all.

However, giving it a token weapon (like, 100 damage or something) should be about the same. It's the approach used with passive guard posts after all, but it's enough to make them be considered military.

Also, if they get guns, they SHOULD get the "do not auto move to auto acquired targets" flag. No point trying to rush in with a token weapon after all.

[Hearteater]

Í haven't tested it out yet, but I'm wondering if killing high health targets to use the attritioners to deal insane dmg to regular ships isn't a bit overpowered? If it turns out to be, perhaps it's possible to make it so that most high health targets won't affect the attritioners dmg when killed?

Note that the damage done is DIVIDED up among all targets, not do to each.  So if you kill a 16 million health unit with a Mark V Attritioner in the system, 800,000 damage (5% of 16 million) will be divided among all the targets.  If there are 1,000 targets in the system they will each take just 800 damage.

[zoutzakje]

ahh I see, that makes sense then.
Gonna have to try out a full cap of all mark Attritioners on one planet. See how that works out.

[keith.lamothe]

Yea, another way to look at the new attrition-feedback mechanic is as a munitions-boost except that it's:
- planet-wide
- stackable
- affects all outgoing damage, not just that by ships not immune to munitions boosting
- is very statistically "spiky" compared to munitions boosting (only applies when you kill something, then applies all at once)
- much lower percentage wise

In fact, in that light, the percentages are so low that I wonder if it isn't underpowered compared to munitions boosting.  But I think combined with the normal attrition damage it works out to a generally useful unit.

[Ranakastrasz]

As a note, It also suppresses regeneration, which is really nice.

[keith.lamothe]

As a note, It also suppresses regeneration, which is really nice.

Really?  I intentionally set it to not do that, but perhaps I flipped the switch the wrong way.

[Ranakastrasz]

As a note, It also suppresses regeneration, which is really nice.

Really?  I intentionally set it to not do that, but perhaps I flipped the switch the wrong way.

Oh, it doesnt do that anymore? Dang, I suppose I wont be able to use it to wear down fortresses and similar anymore.

[keith.lamothe]

As a note, It also suppresses regeneration, which is really nice.

Really?  I intentionally set it to not do that, but perhaps I flipped the switch the wrong way.

Oh, it doesnt do that anymore? Dang, I suppose I wont be able to use it to wear down fortresses and similar anymore.

Sorry, I meant regeneration as in what the regeneration golem does: respawning destroyed ships.

Not hp repair, that's still effectively stopped by attritioners.

[Ranakastrasz]

As a note, It also suppresses regeneration, which is really nice.

Really?  I intentionally set it to not do that, but perhaps I flipped the switch the wrong way.

Oh, it doesnt do that anymore? Dang, I suppose I wont be able to use it to wear down fortresses and similar anymore.

Sorry, I meant regeneration as in what the regeneration golem does: respawning destroyed ships.

Not hp repair, that's still effectively stopped by attritioners.

Oh, I see. I suppose you ought to call The regeneration golem's effect Revive, Or something similar, to avoid miscommunications, eh?