AI War Beta 6.041 "Brutalizing Expansion Features" Released!

[TechSY730]

You basically asked for this. 

Not at all.
I had said the showdown response was too strong, in fact.

I was talking about the very, very final step. All the steps before then, and the "new mothership" were indeed OP given the stage of the game and how much the humans really have threatened the AI, and needed a nerf. However, a last-resort "all-in" should be just that. You triggered that "panic button", and now you will pay for it!

Unless I am misunderstanding the lore, and the AI isn't "lorewise" pushing the panic button. If that is so, or if there isn't a warning that the final step will cause the AI to push a "panic button", then yea, you didn't ask for this, and this was just an unfair challenge sprung on you without knowing what you are getting into, which is bad. (TBH, I never got to the final step of the showdown plot, so I don't really know what the in-game description for that last step is)

[keith.lamothe]

New one

[keith.lamothe]

Core Hunter/Killer Factory Guard Post

I note with some concern you did not specify the mark of the H/K.

Alas, it is not that much fun.  Just a humble mkI.

The "FINAL" CPA really does launch everything now.

If this means what I think it means, I oppose this. It makes it optimal to spend tedious hours killing ships everywhere, and makes the hunter plot quite ridiculous.

I had suggested it for FS, because the final exos there were a bit lacking IMO, and because the extra ships wouldn't have that big an impact (with a couple exceptions : nemeses, and special forces) and would add to the flavor. But here, especially if you intend to have this be possible without superweapons, I don't think it was a good idea.

We can have it back off on the full-release-of-everything, but in that case it should probably just scrap the extras.  It just seems really weird to say that the AI is throwing everything left at you (including the Home Command Stations) and have it hold something back like that.  I was aware of the "then it becomes optimal to scour the galaxy before doing showdown" facet, this just seemed the lesser of two evils.

Interestingly, in most of the saves I'm seeing from players, by that stage the galaxy is already mostly-or-entirely- empty of normal CPA fodder.