Gearing up for the next AIW expansion: "Vengeance of the Machine"

[Aklyon]

Dire Guardians

Dire Guardians sounds more threatening than Super Guardians, I'd say.

[x4000]

AHEM!. This has been my bugbear ever since the Hybrids got implemented

Don't you think the AIP costs of then having to re-take those planets would be extreme, though?

[Mánagarmr]

AHEM!. This has been my bugbear ever since the Hybrids got implemented

Don't you think the AIP costs of then having to re-take those planets would be extreme, though?

Well, it's been discussed in the past, and it was generally agreed that the rebuilt gates and stations would NOT cost AIP to destroy again. (Nor would you be informed when they were rebuilt, to give you that nice little surprise wave)

[x4000]

It seems like that might confuse a lot of players, but hey if you are playing hybrids you are an expert anyhow.

[LaughingThesaurus]

I remember the old idea that I posted after a long day of SPAZ, about another game type where you deal with both the AI and a twisted 'infection' of sorts that takes over the galaxy if left unstopped. Could be fun. Maybe could use some additions and reimagination.

[Mánagarmr]

It seems like that might confuse a lot of players, but hey if you are playing hybrids you are an expert anyhow.

It could be as easy as calling the "Rebuilt station" -> "Rebuilt AI Command Station (Type)" and stating in its description that is does not cost AIP to destroy. Or even call it "Hybrid Command Station" and add even funnier abilities to it

[x4000]

True!

[Hearteater]

It seems like that might confuse a lot of players, but hey if you are playing hybrids you are an expert anyhow.

It could be as easy as calling the "Rebuilt station" -> "Rebuilt AI Command Station (Type)" and stating in its description that is does not cost AIP to destroy. Or even call it "Hybrid Command Station" and add even funnier abilities to it

That's the only way I'd enjoy it.  Otherwise it would be boring.  Wow, you recolonized a planet.  Give me 5 seconds and...now it's dead again.  Want to try again?  But, if the Hybrid CS is more like a Mod Fortress that spews out Younglings or something whenever I enter the system...ok, that's something more interesting.  Rocketry Hybrid Modular Fortress?  Now we're talking.

[LaughingThesaurus]

I mean they could just establish guard posts and a defense if you give them enough time too. Might be a bit grindy though.

[doctorfrog]

This isn't exactly a gameplay enhancement per se, but holy mackerel it would be nice to pick some more player colors in the game.

http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=5084

[Castruccio]

On a more serious note, I hope this expansion focuses more on new mechanics than new units. The new units already introduced in Light of the Spire and Ancient Shadows (woo, spelled "ancient" correctly first time this time ) are still in need of balance polish. Introducing too many new units would just "backpedal" the balance work even more.

Not saying I don't want new units; those are cool and all. But I feel that this shouldn't be the focus of this expansion, so balance isn't disrupted even more than the relatively recently added stuff already has. Then, time spent on keeping things balanced and "polished" can be more productive.

Just my $0.02

I could not agree more with this.  TechSY is a hardcore AI War player and I am only casual, but I feel the exact same thing he says here so I think this is a legitimate problem.

[chemical_art]

As someone who grew up in the 4.0, I don't worry much about balance if it interferes with new ideas. The more balance that occurs, the more solidified the status quo is, and the more opportunity cost to making new ideas occur.

[TechSY730]

All right, time to start spamming posts about long time AI bugs and/or "stupidities" that I have posted on mantis that have been bugging for a long time.

Although I am not really going to spam, I still do feel that the various AI "hiccups" really are holding the AI back in effectiveness. Considering the theme for this expansion, it just seems appropriate to try to address these issues.

Some I can think of off the top of my head (mantis links later if desired):
AI units getting "stuck" after an attack (this has been going on for a long, LONG time)
AI units not always moving into range to attack (this one is similar to the above, but is more recent)
AI not using carrier guardians and neinzul regen chambers effectively
AI should not retreat neinzul units unless there is a nearby carrier guardian or neinzul regen chamber nearby
AI sometimes entering wormholes when they shouldn't
AI sometimes not repairing units (seems to happen with expensive units more often; is the AI erronously getting a "large project cutoff" thing? I have a very recent save I can post demonstrating this with an AI reclaimed mercenary ship)
AI needs some way to deal with cloaked military if their static tachyon detectors (tachyon guardians) failed (either they slipped past, or were destroyed)

There are many others, but those are the ones I notice most often.


Other things like the expansion of the scitzo wave logic and the exo-like wave compositions would be cool, but nowhere near as important IMO.

[MaxAstro]

One of my old ideas comes to mind, possibly dovetailing very well with Keith's conversation about making hacking more important:

http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=8929

And I will also upvote the Hybrid recolonization thing, especially if they build some kind of nasty Hybrid Command Center.    Especially x2 if Hybrids are trained to send large strike forces at worlds with the specific goal of recolonizing it.

Basically I'm just all for anything that makes the Hybrids more devious. 

[keith.lamothe]

On the balance thing, yes, there are units from previous expansions (and from the base game) that can stand to be in better places.  And I'm certainly not going to just pack as many new units into all this as possible; the emphasis is more on new ways of incorporating and arranging things than on just more new things.  That said, feedback over the past year has not given me to understand that the balance is really all that off right now; specifically in the buff/nerf polls the things that come up and actually win are not really systemic problems so much as particular units that have caught the eye of several people at once as being OP/UP.

Obviously, we all have different levels of "aesthetic sensitivity" such that the knowledge that particular unit is perceived to be (or simply is) unbalanced (whether it's actually impacting your game, or even present in your game) can negatively impact your enjoyment.  But the average level of that seems to be such that the current irregularities do not pose a serious problem.