AI War Beta 5.068-5.069 "Old Enmity Reclaimed" Released!

[Cinth]

Definitely shield spam x8 

The first time I attempted it I ran out of shields to spam. That didn't go so well. went out and beat on the AI to get MK II lasers and shields can back and it was still pretty difficult. Spam shields make a close sweep of the DGs, return to shields to regen the module shields. It felt like it went on forever. I was running out of power across all my champs and  it was over!!! whew! I had saved those civilians from the Zerg onslaught. Shortly after that I noticed the bug and sent you some feedback as well.

[Kemeno]

It was my 9th mission, and I tried it with a zenith cruiser (I did the first 8 before the difficulty scaling change, not sure if that matters). Never actually beat it, but loaded out with bomber bays and laser modules I felt like the gattlings were pretty manageable (not so much before I switched to that loadout, though).

The third goal of the text was a little bit confusing, I felt like there was something I should have been doing instead of killing the gattlings (like disabling them somehow?), but if there's a secret to the mission, I couldn't figure out what it is.

It feels a little cheeky to go in, figure out what the mission is, and then reload with a special loadout based on that, though (and since I've done quite a few missions, I generally am going deep into AI territory to get to those wormholes, meaning I'm basically stuck with whatever layout I go in with - if I try to refit I'd surely lose the mission).

[keith.lamothe]

@Cinth, Yea, the spawns happen for about 8 minutes, so if you survive that long all you have to do is wipe up the survivng gatlings (the bases can probably do that solo unless they're in really bad shape).

Interesting that 8 minutes can feel like forever in a game like AIW, though not sure how much of that time was paused for you.  I don't think I paused on my run.

Oh, right, you run multiple champions.  Each (other than the first) adds 25% to the number of simultaneous dysons.  That starts at 5, is around 10 by 4 minutes in, and hits 15 at 8 minutes.  With 8 total champions that's 5*2.75=13.75, so you're facing 13 and soon 14, all the way up to 44 by the end... ah, yea

A lot of the power of the champion is in micro, so playing 8 as one person will be a lot of micro, but good to hear how the balance works out at the end

[Cinth]

I paused long enough to find a champ with power to burn and to set up the little sweeps. 8 minutes!!! wow, it felt a lot longer than that. And did I ever mention I hate micro  I felt pushed and hectic trying to keep a solid front.

I haven't had one with a larger ship yet so we shall see if it stays that way.

[keith.lamothe]

It was my 9th mission, and I tried it with a zenith cruiser

Yea, with 3x the main-ship power, 3x the total module slots (weighted more towards heavy slots in a zenith), and potentially 4x the power of the individual modules you had a lot more going into that than I did.  In return, since you'd completed 8 missions already (all successfully?) it increases the difficulty multiplier by 0.15*8, for a total multiplier of 2.2.  So you would have been starting out with 11 dysons simultaneously, up to 33 by the end.

It feels a little cheeky to go in, figure out what the mission is, and then reload with a special loadout based on that, though (and since I've done quite a few missions, I generally am going deep into AI territory to get to those wormholes, meaning I'm basically stuck with whatever layout I go in with - if I try to refit I'd surely lose the mission).

Yea, the loadout thing is an open-question for me.  Ideally it shouldn't be too hard to sneak some engies out there under cloaker cover so they can get those modules built for you.  I always try to keep a "pit crew" on the other side of the blue wormhole, though you'd also need to keep them out of wormhole-guard-post range.

[Cinth]

Just finished one with the Zenith frigate. Shield II, Missile II and 6x Laser II. A little bit better going this time around though I did have to replace each champ once.  It's going to get easier for us once we get a little more practiced with each encounter.

[Cinth]

Sorry for double post.

Threw in a SS of where my current game is. Note the 1200 ship CPA incoming 

As far as champ progress goes, I cleared the guard posts on 7 planets for 4 levels then did 2 nebula encounters (EER and Grey Spire). I have 3 Mk III modules unlocked and a few points banked for later unlocks.

[doctorfrog]

Is not being able to stop a golem from repairing a new thing? I started a 1/1/10 game to get my head around the new play mechanics and I noticed that I can't keep my engies away from the thing, whether it's turned on or off.

Save attached.

[Draco18s]

Its because their repair costs dropped by a significant chunk, so they're under the repair cost threshold now.

[keith.lamothe]

By the way, I'm open to suggestions for different values on the per-extra-champion scaling (+0.25 multiplier each) and the per-previously-won-scenario scaling (+0.15 multiplier each), those are each about half of what they were a few versions ago, and they seem to be a lot closer to right (I really want to avoid stuff being trivial because you brought 8 champions, or later scenarios being trivial), but still perhaps too punishing.

Ultimately, I'm not looking at the scenarios for "grind the player into a paste" gameplay, just something with a stiff enough challenge that you feel you've earned what you get as a reward, with some extra optional challenges with corresponding rewards (like popping multiple prisons at once in the mourner scenario) for folks who want to stretch it.

[Cinth]

The per champ multiplier I think is in a good place. Early encounters are very trying. I just finished my 5th and it was a prisons encounter. With Zenith destroyers I can't pop but 3 at the most. Most of that scenario, I only hit 2 at a time.  When I hit the 8th nebula, I'll come back with something to add.

[orzelek]

It's quite hard with the multiple scenarios modifier due to fact that it depends on what scenarios you have.
Main reason behind this would be the fact of getting larger shadow ship or getting different race one. So you are at will of rng.. as usual

[keith.lamothe]

It's quite hard with the multiple scenarios modifier due to fact that it depends on what scenarios you have.
Main reason behind this would be the fact of getting larger shadow ship or getting different race one. So you are at will of rng.. as usual

Yea, doing a nebula as a neinzul shadow may be tricky.  The cloaking/etc does open more tactical options but you're bringing a lot less firepower to the fight.

As for size, yea, succeeding X scenarios doesn't guarantee a particular size class, though I'm curious when people are getting their first DD and CA hull (minimums are 2nd and 5th scenario, respectively).  Though if it's a neinzul hull that may be a bit of a nelson laugh from the RNG depending on how much you like that variation.

[Cinth]

Current game: Got DD on the 3rd whoo. CAs on the 5th but got my favorite one on the 6th. Neinzul and Human both on the 5th.

[Cinth]

SS after completing 8 and 15 encounters. At the end I had 4 maxed modules and enough points to unlock the Mk V version after completing the 15th.  There is a metric ton of free K to be had.