More than 2 AIs

[SmileyFace]

Other than that, someone should probably prepare a list of commonly asked for features that are present in ZR/won't be implemented.

That would be a good way to handle it! It would also provide a handy link for repeated suggestions included in an expansion. I don't think anyone minds being told "that feature exists, but it's in expansion X."

[x4000]

To me, the general feature list for the expansion is here: http://www.arcengames.com/aiwar_zenithremnant.php The bullets don't mention it, but the narrative text talks a lot about how much more varied it makes... everything.


It's certainly not expected that everyone have the expansion, or that everyone have an encyclopedic knowledge of the game in general, or that everyone be using the latest beta.  Aside from the strategy discussion subforum and a few other subforums, most people on this forum are using the latest beta (with or without expansion), though, simply because that's why they are here and what they are here to discuss.  Not that there's anything wrong with being here and not being on latest beta, don't misunderstand me, but that's just how the population tends to be in the majority.

Feedback on the base game is very valid, and it's a great point, but if there's something that was already "solved" in an expansion, then it's not something I'm going to be keen for discussing in the base game itself.  Again, please don't misunderstand: we fix bugs for everyone, the AI logic improvements are for everyone, interface improvements are for everyone, etc.  But if it's a "I wish there was more to do" type question in particular... see my comments above.  The free DLC is bite-size chunks of that, where the expansions are the fire hydrant.

Regarding the forum structure, it's that way for a reason.  When we have 5 expansions in another four years, if we do indeed hit that point, it's going to be even more of a stew of players with various expansions, for sure.  And honestly, that's okay.  Strategy suggestions are always a bit tricky in general, because you never know what options a player has in a given scenario based on what their bonus ships are, etc.  So discussion tends to be "use X or Y or Z, or if you have the expansion you can also use Z1 or Y1" or things along those lines. 

Honestly, the expansion has been out in prerelease form for about 7 months now, and in full form for almost 5, and this has never been raised as an issue other than in this thread.  My feeling is that it's working pretty well -- and the design of how all this would work was something that we certainly put a lot of thought into, and that I feel works better than what other RTS games are doing with their own designs.

[lanstro]

Thanks for the response.  Understood re too much coding work for the gain.

How hard would it be to simulate the effect by introducing an option for the AI to change personalities?  Eg, add 2 new personalities: chameleon and technologist chameleon.  Chameleon would cycle through the less specialised personalities, eg:

homeworlder
sledgehammer
tank
assassin
bully
experimentalist
feeding parasite
mad bomber
starfleet commander
tag teamer
vicious raider

etc.  And then the technologist chameleon is just the technologist version of it.

That way, the AI unpredictably changes its strategy at random points (or perhaps after major battles) in the game, which should challenge the player a whole lot more. 

[x4000]

Could be a great idea for a future expansion, yeah -- that's a pretty cool idea, with having them switching up strategies more, etc.  As a general rule we don't add new AI types outside of expansions (or new bonus fleet types), but we're always looking for new ideas for future expansions, too.  Could be great!

[SmileyFace]

Thanks for the feedback! The ZR feature list is a useful link; a good summary.

Feedback on the base game is very valid, and it's a great point, but if there's something that was already "solved" in an expansion, then it's not something I'm going to be keen for discussing in the base game itself. ...[snip]... The free DLC is bite-size chunks of that, where the expansions are the fire hydrant.

I understand. And that's a fun quote at the end, hehe. It's difficult for someone not using an expansion to know what it addresses, though. Looking forward, I'd like to write some sort of short base vs ZR guide after I've played 3-4 games with ZR. For example, the summary lists 14 new ship types but the first thing I noticed about them was that they're very different to anything in base AI War, so there's a lot more variety (tactically, at least) just with those additions.

Regarding the forum structure, it's that way for a reason.  When we have 5 expansions in another four years, ...[snip]... the design of how all this would work was something that we certainly put a lot of thought into, and that I feel works better than what other RTS games are doing with their own designs.

I follow; it would get fragmented otherwise. I've seen a lot of forums where games are split by expansion packs. It removes the version problem but it does make the discussions smaller.

[x4000]

For sure, regarding the expansion.  That's why we have a demo for it, where most games don't do that for their expansions -- that way players can look at all the new ships for up to 3 hours in given campaigns, etc, if they want to try before buying.  I've always hated how so many expansions make me buy completely blind, and then often don't have as much as I was expecting.  But yeah, having a bigger guide out there would only be a good thing, I think, for sure.

[x4000]

All right, I figured that sort of feature list would be a good sales tool if nothing else: http://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=AI_War_-_The_Zenith_Remnant

[SmileyFace]

Excellent work! That page gives a very clear idea of what ZR adds to the game. Such a long list...

[x4000]

Yeah, it's one of the bigger strategy game expansions I've encountered, no doubt.