Author Topic: AI War Beta 7.018 "Troubleshooters" Released!  (Read 14017 times)

Offline keith.lamothe

  • Arcen Games Staff
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 19,505
AI War Beta 7.018 "Troubleshooters" Released!
« on: April 07, 2014, 09:49:04 am »
(Crossposted from this blog post)

This one is another fairly small release while we're focused on the last few weeks before releasing The Last Federation,

So we shot some troublesome bugs.  Some old, like some missing art assets for non-steam installs.  Some new, like the Heroic AI using its newfound ability to buy more champions for its waves... a little too enthusiastically.

But the AI's also gotten better at shooting troublemakers.  In the kneecaps (or suitably analogous regions).  Mainly as a quality-of-life improvement, we've removed the AIP-on-death from Special Forces Guard Posts, so they're now autotargeted and won't clutter up your backfield with enemy units that trigger various "ah! There's an enemy on the planet!" logic in sub-optimal ways.  Since that AIP (or increased special forces size, if left alive previously) was a significant (albeit small) part of the overall balance, however, a corresponding buff was made to the SF.  Specifically, they now spend a portion of their strength on Riot Control Starships.  Some of you may not be familiar with how much havoc Riots can cause.  You'll probably know soon.

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.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games? Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline Draco18s

  • Resident Velociraptor
  • Core Member Mark V
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,251
Re: AI War Beta 7.018 "Troubleshooters" Released!
« Reply #1 on: April 07, 2014, 10:03:31 am »
But the AI's also gotten better at shooting troublemakers.  In the kneecaps (or suitably analogous regions).

I laughed.  And almost snorted hot tea all over my keyboard.

Have you, per chance, played Paranoia at all?

Offline keith.lamothe

  • Arcen Games Staff
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 19,505
Re: AI War Beta 7.018 "Troubleshooters" Released!
« Reply #2 on: April 07, 2014, 10:05:34 am »
Have you, per chance, played Paranoia at all?
Sounds like suspicious talk, citizen.

But actually no, I've seen little bits of discussion about it (all treason, I'm sure).  Did they have a bit about kneecap-analogues?
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games? Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline Kahuna

  • Core Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,222
  • Kahuna Matata!
Re: AI War Beta 7.018 "Troubleshooters" Released!
« Reply #3 on: April 07, 2014, 10:43:50 am »
weeeee Guardian unlock fix!
set /A diff=10
if %diff%==max (
   set /A me=:)
) else (
   set /A me=SadPanda
)
echo Check out my AI War strategy guide and find your inner Super Cat!
echo 2592 hours of AI War and counting!
echo Kahuna matata!

Offline Draco18s

  • Resident Velociraptor
  • Core Member Mark V
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,251
Re: AI War Beta 7.018 "Troubleshooters" Released!
« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2014, 10:45:12 am »
But actually no, I've seen little bits of discussion about it (all treason, I'm sure).  Did they have a bit about kneecap-analogues?

No, more the rest of that sentence.

"Congratulations, Citizen, you've been promoted to the status of Troubleshooter!  Your job is to find trouble, and shoot it!  Here is your RED security clearance, RED laser pistol, and RED reflec armor.  Remember Troubleshooter, if you find any commie mutant traitors, shoot first and we'll ask you questions later."

Quote
Sounds like suspicious talk, citizen.

I lost four clones before I'd ever even played. :P
My friend Jim is the only person I am aware of who achieved Ultraviolet clearance (and thus permission to read the rules) legitimately.

Offline keith.lamothe

  • Arcen Games Staff
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 19,505
Re: AI War Beta 7.018 "Troubleshooters" Released!
« Reply #5 on: April 07, 2014, 10:47:37 am »
weeeee Guardian unlock fix!
I'm sure you'll just be so happy when EMP guardians start visiting your chokepoint in the middle of a CPA again :)
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games? Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline Kahuna

  • Core Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,222
  • Kahuna Matata!
Re: AI War Beta 7.018 "Troubleshooters" Released!
« Reply #6 on: April 07, 2014, 11:08:23 am »
Yep! In addition to the 10/10 Neinzul Rocketry Corps' Mark III EMP Warheads!
set /A diff=10
if %diff%==max (
   set /A me=:)
) else (
   set /A me=SadPanda
)
echo Check out my AI War strategy guide and find your inner Super Cat!
echo 2592 hours of AI War and counting!
echo Kahuna matata!

Offline Aklyon

  • Core Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,089
Re: AI War Beta 7.018 "Troubleshooters" Released!
« Reply #7 on: April 07, 2014, 11:30:58 am »
Oh dear, SF Riots.

Offline Labfiend

  • Newbie Mark II
  • *
  • Posts: 15
Re: AI War Beta 7.018 "Troubleshooters" Released!
« Reply #8 on: April 07, 2014, 12:51:08 pm »
Does this mean that Special Forces posts now need to be destroyed to take out Eyes?

Offline RockyBst

  • Full Member Mark III
  • ***
  • Posts: 219
Re: AI War Beta 7.018 "Troubleshooters" Released!
« Reply #9 on: April 07, 2014, 12:55:38 pm »
So, uh ... those guardian picks are only chosen on AI start, right? They never unlock more guardians?

'cos that 10 planet diff 10 could do without EMP guardians in the mix.

Thanks for the heroic fix, I just couldn't find a reasonable way to cheese my way through the latest CPA + 2 waves + fallen spire exo situation as things were. As for special forces getting riots ... man. As if 15,000 ships all showing up while your armada is miles away from the nearest exit weren't bad enough, now they get bonus engine damage and tractors too!

Offline keith.lamothe

  • Arcen Games Staff
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 19,505
Re: AI War Beta 7.018 "Troubleshooters" Released!
« Reply #10 on: April 07, 2014, 01:04:47 pm »
Does this mean that Special Forces posts now need to be destroyed to take out Eyes?
I don't think it should impact that, no.


Quote from: RockyBst
So, uh ... those guardian picks are only chosen on AI start, right? They never unlock more guardians?
Each AI gets a new guardian pick at 50 AIP, and another one every 100 AIP after that.  That's total progression, rather than effective (so ignoring data centers, etc).

In your 10/10 game iirc you've already passed the 50 AIP mark (at 94 or some such?) so that pick's already happened.  And I suspect that if you reach 150 AIP in that game then whether or not it rolls EMPs will probably not be your biggest problem :)


Quote
now they get bonus engine damage and tractors too!
For now they only use a single 4xLaser, 2xShield layout for the SF riots, so no tractorization.  And just MkIs, so no tazers or grav modules, etc.  If more pain is called for, more pain will be delivered ;)
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games? Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline Eternaly_Lost

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 336
Re: AI War Beta 7.018 "Troubleshooters" Released!
« Reply #11 on: April 07, 2014, 05:24:37 pm »
For now they only use a single 4xLaser, 2xShield layout for the SF riots, so no tractorization.  And just MkIs, so no tazers or grav modules, etc.  If more pain is called for, more pain will be delivered ;)

So, one of these days, the SF will include Spire Fleet Ships, or Golems?

Offline keith.lamothe

  • Arcen Games Staff
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 19,505
Re: AI War Beta 7.018 "Troubleshooters" Released!
« Reply #12 on: April 07, 2014, 05:26:29 pm »
For now they only use a single 4xLaser, 2xShield layout for the SF riots, so no tractorization.  And just MkIs, so no tazers or grav modules, etc.  If more pain is called for, more pain will be delivered ;)

So, one of these days, the SF will include Spire Fleet Ships, or Golems?
Oh, not the core mechanic.  Maybe the Hunter plot would :)  Though I suppose the Hunter's H/K's don't really scale up such as you'd notice in one of your games.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games? Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline Draco18s

  • Resident Velociraptor
  • Core Member Mark V
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,251
Re: AI War Beta 7.018 "Troubleshooters" Released!
« Reply #13 on: April 07, 2014, 05:27:06 pm »
So, one of these days, the SF will include Spire Fleet Ships, or the AI will start repairing Golems?

FTFY ;)

Offline Vinraith

  • Hero Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 806
Re: AI War Beta 7.018 "Troubleshooters" Released!
« Reply #14 on: April 07, 2014, 09:01:07 pm »
A long, long time ago, under 4.x or so if I had to guess, Chris went through and added extra data centers for a number of AI types that spawned AIP producing structures. SF Captain was one of them. I suppose he doesn't need his extra data centers anymore. Actually, with the AIP change to black hole machines the one way doormaster might need a tweak too.