AI War Beta 6.040 "The Kinder, Gentler Sort Of Core Guard Post" Released!

[keith.lamothe]

(Crossposted from this blog post)

This one adds the expansion's 3 non-brutal core guard post types.  An AI Homeworld gets about 8 core posts in general, and picks a few (from 0 to 3, depending on difficulty and sometimes a little randomness) from the "brutal" list like Core Raid Engine and Core Wrath Lance, and the rest from this entirely innocent, very non-threatening list of core guard posts.  Minor sarcasm may have been utilized in the last sentence.

There's also some rebalancing of the expansion's "Lightning Torpedo Frigate" bonus ship type, since that was causing some excessive grief in AI hands.  Let us know if this is better, etc, please.

I'm also very glad to report that I think we've finally crushed the last "AI cloaked threat hanging out indefinitely on human planets without doing anything" bug.  Basically it was down to just the Zombie ships now, and that's been dealt with.  If you see it again, please let me know and please include a save file where I can see it myself.

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.

[Toranth]

Core Hunter/Killer Factory Guard Post
This guard post is armed with powerful Energy Wave cannons, but a far greater danger lies within: if an AI unit dies on its planet or any adjacent planet, or if any adjacent planet is not AI-held, this factory deploys the fearsome Hunter/Killer unit it has constructed. After deploying the H/K, the factory builds another in 30 minutes.

Reads patch notes.
Goes to AI War settings.
Selects Zenith Devourer.
Sets to "OFF - Permanently".

[keith.lamothe]

Core Hunter/Killer Factory Guard Post
This guard post is armed with powerful Energy Wave cannons, but a far greater danger lies within: if an AI unit dies on its planet or any adjacent planet, or if any adjacent planet is not AI-held, this factory deploys the fearsome Hunter/Killer unit it has constructed. After deploying the H/K, the factory builds another in 30 minutes.

Reads patch notes.
Goes to AI War settings.
Selects Zenith Devourer.
Sets to "OFF - Permanently".

Haha, yea, I can see why.

It uses the Neinzul Nest (from the Neinzul Nester AI Type) "anger" logic, and I don't think that triggers on Devourer kills.  Does it?

[Tridus]

Keith, there's a graphical bug with the new command posts if you zoom in. The external invincibility bubble isn't scaling up to the size of the larger command posts that were added.

[keith.lamothe]

Keith, there's a graphical bug with the new command posts if you zoom in. The external invincibility bubble isn't scaling up to the size of the larger command posts that were added.

I should add a new AI taunt saying, "Are you calling me fat?"

[Bognor]

Regarding the Protector Starship,

Counter-Energy-Shot Module
*  This module allows the Protector Starship to shoot down a finite number of incoming enemy energy shots (which is a broad definition including negative energy, energy waves, implosion shots, impulse reactive shots, flame waves, etc) per second.

Does the in-game text make it clear whether this works on Energy Bombs? 

[ZaneWolfe]

Well I just saw the notes on the Torpedo Frigates... And I am sad. And unless the cap per mark goes up dramatically I cant see these being of any major use. They cant attack from outside the range of any guardpost, or indeed any AI facility with weaponry, save the Anti-Starship post if only because it gets a single shot. They wont work well against most mobile forces because they will either out run them or shoot down the torpedoes. At a base cap of 2 per mark you can expect them to stand back and do much of anything by themselves, even with 6 of them (full caps of Mark I - Mark III). As part of a blob they dont stand out much either with their stats and the fact that they follow the same FRD logic that Spire Blade Spawners and the like have. You just cant get enough of them to overwhelm a static target with numbers, and unless you start in knife range you're not going to hit anything with those torpedoes against a mobile force. Unfortunately I can't think of a way to make them both usable by the humans and acceptable to face against when in AI hands. This is a clear case of the AI's lack of caps making a unit infinitely more dangerous in their hands than in the players. Since I picked them as a bonus unit for my latest game, I guess its time to restart.

[TechSY730]

Unfortunately I can't think of a way to make them both usable by the humans and acceptable to face against when in AI hands. This is a clear case of the AI's lack of caps making a unit infinitely more dangerous in their hands than in the players. Since I picked them as a bonus unit for my latest game, I guess its time to restart.

Yea, I hate to be the pessimistic one, but given the crazy nature of the Torpedo Frigates and the Neinzul Combat Carrier, I feel that we would be better off balance wise to just "shelf" them and remove them from the game for now. Otherwise, these may become the next tackle drone launcher or Neinzul enclave, just a plague on balance (either too high, or rather in this case, too low) for too many versions and will just "tarnish" the "name" of 7.0, as the amount of time it would take to find a good balance for both of these, due to their strange nature, would take much more time than we really have until release.

Maybe they can come back for a more ship-type focused expansion, where more time is allocated to nail down the balance of the new ships, rather than being split with time to develop and balance new AI features.

[Qatu]

 Well, I'm not in the alpha, so i can't tell with certainty, but the lightning frigate was one of the things i was the most looking forward to because i group move my blobs around, and it seemed like it would be an amazing addition in this way for blob on blob action.

[chemical_art]

Yea, I hate to be the pessimistic one, but given the crazy nature of the Torpedo Frigates and the Neinzul Combat Carrier, I feel that we would be better off balance wise to just "shelf" them and remove them from the game for now. Otherwise, these may become the next tackle drone launcher or Neinzul enclave, just a plague on balance (either too high, or rather in this case, too low) for too many versions and will just "tarnish" the "name" of 7.0, as the amount of time it would take to find a good balance for both of these, due to their strange nature, would take much more time than we really have until release.

Maybe they can come back for a more ship-type focused expansion, where more time is allocated to nail down the balance of the new ships, rather than being split with time to develop and balance new AI features.

It's quite the quagmire.

You see in my current game, I have 24 blade spawners guarding a world after 30 minutes of it being alert. That sucks. It really does.

Does it suck less then 24 lightning frigates? Yes.

However, I bring it up because the units that spawn other units, whether it be blade spawners, tackle drone launchers, enclaves / carriers, or the new lightning frigates, they all suffer a common fact: The units they spawn all lack a decisive counter that the player can reliably access on offense, and aside from gravity turrets, on defense.

[Qatu]

However, I bring it up because the units that spawn other units, whether it be blade spawners, tackle drone launchers, enclaves / carriers, or the new lightning frigates, they all suffer a common fact: The units they spawn all lack a decisive counter that the player can reliably access on offense, and aside from gravity turrets, on defense.

 Riots MK3 with gravity module is a complete hard counter to tackles and blades. It costs a ton of knowledge but they cant do anything if you add those to your blob and group move your blob.

[Aquohn]

I was rather surprised, mildly horrified, even, to see that, with the nerfing of the Torpedoes' health, the attack of the Wormhole Guard Posts actually had a significant tactical impact on the game.

[LaughingThesaurus]

I prefer the idea of a harder to shoot down torpedo that detonates when it gets in range of virtually any enemy ship. That way it can be fought against and countered with the bodies of expendable units. We might give that a shot before scrapping it entirely.

[Kahuna]

However, I bring it up because the units that spawn other units, whether it be blade spawners, tackle drone launchers, enclaves / carriers, or the new lightning frigates, they all suffer a common fact: The units they spawn all lack a decisive counter that the player can reliably access on offense, and aside from gravity turrets, on defense.

 Riots MK3 with gravity module is a complete hard counter to tackles and blades. It costs a ton of knowledge but they cant do anything if you add those to your blob and group move your blob.

If a x ship always forces the player to use knowledge on y there's something wrong.

[Faulty Logic]

If a x ship always forces the player to use knowledge on y there's something wrong.

I disagree.