I just want to say that this expansion has been a huge upgrade from before. Several key (formerly annoying) aspects of the game have changed in a positive way, and I am now having more fun playing AI War than I ever did before.
1. AI no longer sitting outside the wormhole for an eternity. I love the new threat changes.
2. Champion scenarios give you something fun to do while your fleet is rebuilding. (Before you basically twiddled your thumbs)
3. The Special Guard Posts changes make it a lot more interesting and hectic to attack a planet.
4. The bonus ship and minor faction aid you get from the Champion Scenarios really adds to the enjoyment of the game. It's cool to be communicating and borrowing so much alien technology. I love the feel of all the different alien and human factions with weird names.
5. The Fabricator changes. No more 3 spider fabs in every game yay! It's great to see different Fabricators to go for this time.
6. The mini-fortresses - great change to make it much less of a hassle to defend those outer planets.
7. The AI Homeworld changes. I haven't actually tested these yet, but I'm definitely excited to try!
All in all this patch and expansion have breathed new life into this game for me, so I just want to give you guys (especially Keith) a gigantic thumbs up. I hope we continue to see new AI War patches and expansions for a long time to come!