New player impression and question

[Doo]

Hi all

Purchased AI war + expansions off Steam a couple of days ago and am really impressed after having tried it maybe a year ago on a friends computer and just not "getting it". I'm hoping in this it will be like Dominions 3, I never liked it when I tried the demo and then a year later I gave it another go... now it holds the title of my number 1 best game ever.

As a question, if the early game seems really easy am I playing on too low a level or will the difficulty ramp up later in the game? I'm playing at level 6 vs a mad bomber and a support corps and after 2 hours of playing have only received one (small) wave and I've assumed this is because I'm constantly attacking the Ai's worlds. Finding 2 IV science ships means I have a fleet of roughly 1100 ships, Ai worlds are overwhelmed quickly.

Merry Christmas!

[tigersfan]

Welcome to the forums! Glad you like the game.

As far as difficulty, it definitely gets harder. As you progress in the game and take more planets, you will notice the "AI Progress" go up. The higher this gets, the more the AI is going to retaliate.

That said, level 7 is considered "normal" difficulty, so you may never find 6 all that tough. But, if that's the case, fear not, things get tough real quick after level 7.

[Doo]

Yeah, I started a new game at level 7 and the difference was huge. Maybe in that level 6 game the Ai was watching soccer on youtube or something. The level 7 game had wave after wave after wave.... I lost, or rather gave up before the long end.

One thing I did notice was that the waves had lots of level 3 ships even though the Ai progress was under 100? I thought certain thresholds had to be reached before waves had higher tier ships, or were these ships that the Ai started with and they were freed up to join waves?

[eRe4s3r]

Just because you have an easy start and good run the first 20 planets does not mean you can win the game easily ^^

AI War can be very deceptive in that regard, you might never expect the cross planet attack of 2000 MK3 ships until its too late. But generally put.. on 6 the game is relatively easy if you know what you are doing.

[Coppermantis]

If it's not a cross-planet attack or exo-wave, getting a lot of higher-tech ships coming at you could mean you've encountered a Raid Engine. These things send a wave (with tech level equivalent to that of the planet they're on, so a Mk. IV planet would send Mk. IV ships, etc.) once a minute, so if you're finding yourself inundated with powerful ships check for one of these.

[zoutzakje]

even if you think you're beating the AI too easily, the endgame could change that. Killing the homeworlds is often one of the bigger challenges. Wouldn't be the first time I lost my game to the homeworlds

[Doo]

If it's not a cross-planet attack or exo-wave, getting a lot of higher-tech ships coming at you could mean you've encountered a Raid Engine. These things send a wave (with tech level equivalent to that of the planet they're on, so a Mk. IV planet would send Mk. IV ships, etc.) once a minute, so if you're finding yourself inundated with powerful ships check for one of these.

That was it, the countdown warning said "Raid Engine" and they came once a minute. Was hard setting up a base in the adjacent planet from the Raid Engine (where the fighting took place) as they kept targeting (and destroying and I kept rebuilding) the colony base thingy. I set up a shield and eventually had many turrets and thought I was safe but somehow they steamrolled me again. So much fun.

[Doo]

A question, can you have two shields protecting the one area? I'll try it later today.

[keith.lamothe]

A question, can you have two shields protecting the one area? I'll try it later today.

Absolutely.  By mid/late game I usually have a pile of over a dozen forcefield generators overlapping my home command station.  I can be pretty paranoid that way.