AI War Beta 5.088 "Strategic Reserve" Released!

[keith.lamothe]

(Crossposted from this blog post)

This one deals with several longstanding requests that have been at the top of the mantis voting for a while:

1) Now the game will tell you what the local time is, and how much real time you've actually spent in that particular game, when you mouseover the in-game clock.  Note: the "how much real time you've actually spent in that particular game" timer will only be correct for game started in this version or later, as it doesn't know how much real time has elapsed in older saves.

2) It's now possible to have auto-FRD on but still have some units ignore it, by using the new per-control-group controls on the CTRLS window.  You can also have it only auto-FRD those control groups you designate, if you prefer a more targeted use of the feature.  It also allows more granular use of the Auto-Kite behavior, since some people have asked for that.

3) The shard seeding in the Fallen Spire campaign no longer pays attention to how much territory you've conquered.  Generally this makes things easier, but from the feedback I've been seeing other recent changes should more than make up for any decrease in that part of the challenge, since it hasn't been the really killer part of it anyway.

Also, not from the mantis voting but from more recent feedback, we've added another tool to the AI's arsenal: the strategic reserve.  This functions mainly as a homeworld defense force but is less susceptible to baiting than other defensive mechanics.  In general this should help prevent cases where it feels like the homeworld is underdefended, but without piling tons of ships on it all game.  Balance feedback is, of course, welcome.

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.

[Volatar]

3) The shard seeding in the Fallen Spire campaign no longer pays attention to how much territory you've conquered.  Generally this makes things easier, but from the feedback I've been seeing other recent changes should more than make up for any decrease in that part of the challenge, since it hasn't been the really killer part of it anyway.

This could be huge for my playstyle. I like to play on maps with far less connections, like the maze types. Thanks!

[Lancefighter]

So minor question about the new shard seeding - Is it still 2 planets, then 3 planets for the first city shard? Do the first few shards also still not go through paths with mk4 planets?

I must know it all so I can keep cheesing, yousee..... :p

[Toranth]

3) The shard seeding in the Fallen Spire campaign no longer pays attention to how much territory you've conquered.  Generally this makes things easier, but from the feedback I've been seeing other recent changes should more than make up for any decrease in that part of the challenge, since it hasn't been the really killer part of it anyway.

This could be huge for my playstyle. I like to play on maps with far less connections, like the maze types. Thanks!

Yeah, this could be huge.  Without the ability to predict where the signal will spawn, it'll be much more difficult to protect the Shard by Warp raiding everything nearby.  That may be a good thing, or not.  Either way, this certainly nerfs my favorite FS cheese.   

[keith.lamothe]

So minor question about the new shard seeding - Is it still 2 planets, then 3 planets for the first city shard? Do the first few shards also still not go through paths with mk4 planets?

I must know it all so I can keep cheesing, yousee..... :p

Yea, the only thing that changed for everything except the last shard is that it counts distance out from the human homeworlds, not "human homeworlds + human planets + neutral planets".

The last shard now just always goes on an AI core planet (unless there are none, in some kind of degenerate 10/15 planet game, there it picks an AI homeworld).

[Lancefighter]

I think that change will remove a lot of the 'protect the shard' difficulty, with the majority of it going to 'hold the line' instead

I think? that is a good thing? I am not actually sure exactly where the waves spawn (always nearest warp gate?), which would really make it very easy to do ultra-heavy chokepointy things. I am again not sure if this is good or bad yet

[Volatar]

Previously you kind wanted to shape your empire to get the shard to spawn on the planet you wanted. It was a bit to metagamy. Now you can't do that.

[TechSY730]

So minor question about the new shard seeding - Is it still 2 planets, then 3 planets for the first city shard? Do the first few shards also still not go through paths with mk4 planets?

I must know it all so I can keep cheesing, yousee..... :p

Yea, the only thing that changed for everything except the last shard is that it counts distance out from the human homeworlds, not "human homeworlds + human planets + neutral planets".

The last shard now just always goes on an AI core planet (unless there are none, in some kind of degenerate 10/15 planet game, there it picks an AI homeworld).

I wonder if this will necessitate increasing the number of hops out, now that the number of hops out is no longer "artificially increased" by expanding your "empire".
I guess only playtesting can tell.

[Lancefighter]

Well, previously I just started never leaving my homeworld and taking other planets until I had the first city shard signal. Game is really easy to roam around and do stuff at 10 aip..

[TechSY730]

Well, previously I just started never leaving my homeworld and taking other planets until I had the first city shard signal. Game is really easy to roam around and do stuff at 10 aip..

You also don't have a lot to work with if you stick with only your homeworld, so it sort of balances out.
EDIT: Granted, getting that first shard with no extra AIP gives you a pretty strong tool for no AIP cost...

[Aklyon]

in-game clock.

Yay~
More (strategy) games with ingame clocks is always nice.

[Lancefighter]

Well, previously I just started never leaving my homeworld and taking other planets until I had the first city shard signal. Game is really easy to roam around and do stuff at 10 aip..

You also don't have a lot to work with if you stick with only your homeworld, so it sort of balances out.
EDIT: Granted, getting that first shard with no extra AIP gives you a pretty strong tool for no AIP cost...

You can support a full cap of mk1/2 fleet starships, zenith mk1, riot mk1, the heroship, and full mk1 fleet ships.(it actually is slightly more with a few nebula mission constructor things) Sure, as i posted elsewhere, it takes forever to build it, but that does give you time to play with a few nebula missions (I think my current record is level 20 by an hour >_>)

Anyway, that fleet is *mostly* plenty to deal with a mk4 world, because reinforcements are basically nothing at 10 aip. The main problem actually ends up being hybrids, because hybrids become a huge threat really quickly (on like 100 planet maps at diff 8 with hybrids at 5ish).

Once the first city shard spawns, I can afford to start annexing things all over the place though. Unfortunately, I havent actually put enough time in games to make it far past this point (I seem to run into huge m/c problems expanding this quickly, I cant deal with the reinforcements on the chokepoints I set up in conjunction with the hybrids at inflated aip yet. Hybrids stack up really quickly..)

Anyway, Its plenty honestly to deal with most stuff most of the time. The best part about it though - Counterwaves are weak. very weak. I hate counterwaves.

[TechSY730]

Well, previously I just started never leaving my homeworld and taking other planets until I had the first city shard signal. Game is really easy to roam around and do stuff at 10 aip..

You also don't have a lot to work with if you stick with only your homeworld, so it sort of balances out.
EDIT: Granted, getting that first shard with no extra AIP gives you a pretty strong tool for no AIP cost...

You can support a full cap of mk1/2 fleet starships, zenith mk1, riot mk1, the heroship, and full mk1 fleet ships.(it actually is slightly more with a few nebula mission constructor things) Sure, as i posted elsewhere, it takes forever to build it, but that does give you time to play with a few nebula missions (I think my current record is level 20 by an hour >_>)

Anyway, that fleet is *mostly* plenty to deal with a mk4 world, because reinforcements are basically nothing at 10 aip. The main problem actually ends up being hybrids, because hybrids become a huge threat really quickly (on like 100 planet maps at diff 8 with hybrids at 5ish).

Once the first city shard spawns, I can afford to start annexing things all over the place though. Unfortunately, I havent actually put enough time in games to make it far past this point (I seem to run into huge m/c problems expanding this quickly, I cant deal with the reinforcements on the chokepoints I set up in conjunction with the hybrids at inflated aip yet. Hybrids stack up really quickly..)

Anyway, Its plenty honestly to deal with most stuff most of the time. The best part about it though - Counterwaves are weak. very weak. I hate counterwaves.

Ah, but would that be enough to get you through the core worlds and the homeworlds?

Yea, you can seriously mess around with the AI at AIP 10, but I'm pretty sure you can't win it.

However, I do feel that starships are a little TOO durable at the moment...

[Lancefighter]

Meh. I could do the same things I did with fleet ships given the same amount of knowledge.

Its somewhat important to note that my basic fleet costs like a full million metal and crystal each. A similar firepower in fleet ships would be a third that. ish. I'm pulling numbers out of my ass.

The thing about starships is that theyre really good at deep striking because of their resistance to attrition (the theory of combat, not the game mechanic.. though they function similarly). Particularly because of projected forcefields and riot forcefields. Those are really good.. I wish I could unlock the projected repair field consistently.

I dont really plan on winning the game at 10aip - If I'm not mistaken, there were a few deep strike rules I'm skirting with as it is doing this. At 10aip, I honestly mostly dont have the energy to support enough units beyond that fleet. And mostly I am trying to ideally do some sort of roleplay game of spire victory.

So yeah - At 10aip, I can clear about a dozen systems within the first hour or two. Too much later, hybrids start stacking up, because my limited fleet doesnt have the firepower to deal with the full force of 100 planets of hybrid construction.

[LordSloth]

Once the first city shard spawns, I can afford to start annexing things all over the place though. Unfortunately, I havent actually put enough time in games to make it far past this point (I seem to run into huge m/c problems expanding this quickly, I cant deal with the reinforcements on the chokepoints I set up in conjunction with the hybrids at inflated aip yet. Hybrids stack up really quickly..)

Anyway, Its plenty honestly to deal with most stuff most of the time. The best part about it though - Counterwaves are weak. very weak. I hate counterwaves.

I recommend you pick Infiltrators as your bonus ship. The per cap cost is somewhat like half that of bombers, and power use a mere fraction. A full cap of Mk3 Infiltrators can kill one hybrid in under two seconds. A cap of Mk1 takes under six seconds. That is technically slower than bombers, but that's ignore stacking shield modules. They rarely even get the chance to flee.