New to AI. Is Ancient Shadows worth getting?

[Gershawl]

Hello all. Just last night i decided to purchase the alien bundle off of steam and i couldnt stop playing.

ty to the devs!

Was wondering if AS added enough to warrent my hefty 5 dollars. Also was curious what you veterans think of the newest expansion.

[Oralordos]

Well the new map and ship types are nice and all, the Champions, which are the main feature, are really good. Especially for playing multi-player with someone who is new to the game.

[keith.lamothe]

Welcome to the forums, and to the game

I'll leave the question of whether it's worth it to the players, but just to make sure you know what you're getting for your $5 (4.50 or so on steam right now, I think, during the first week) :

* Champions.
* 2 new map types.  Clusters is my favorite now.
* 2 new AI types.  They're very hard, though, so if you're just getting into the game it may be a while before you want to try them.
* 9 new bonus ship types.  With the alien bundle you don't really need more bonus ship variety, but there are some really fun ones in here like the Tackle Drone Launcher (my new favorite) and the modular "bonus starship" Spire Corvette.
* Modular Fortresses.
* New Dark Spire minor faction.  Again, very challenging, you would want to learn the game without it on at least for now.  But major chaotic fun potential.
* 3 new AI Core Guard Posts; you won't see these til the AI homeworlds, though, and it might be a while before you see those.
* A whole bunch of new music from Pablo Vega, and the general consensus I'm hearing around here is that it's his best AIW work yet.

Anyway, my suggestion would be to download the expansion and play a trial game on a clusters map with Tackle Drone Launchers as your starting bonus ship, and a champion.  If that doesn't catch your interest, probably just wait to get it later, but I think you'll like it

[Coppermantis]

I think it's definitely worth it. Only five dollars for the new map types, AI types (although if you're new you probably won't want to play against the new ones since they're pretty brutal), new music., new bonus ships, and of course the champions which are great even in singleplayer and make the game a lot more fun. They require micro though, unlike the main game so if you dislike micro you may want to let a friend man the champion ship instead.


Keith also brought up the new minor faction and new non-bonus ships. Totally worth the money, I think.

[Gershawl]

aha! ty for the responses.

honestly I'm most excited about the music-i love it to death (everything except the rocking guitar stuff so I'm hoping there is more of the 'chill' tunes in AS?)

also the champions seem awesome. are they available right from the get go? or do they require some research?

btw I'm only plannin on playing this single player for now

(was just playin and was decimated on random easier-thank you very much for giving me a challenging game. i really appreciate it)
on the note of difficulty-will i ever be dissatisfied by the ai after learning the ropes? for instance if i worked my way up to a decent difficulty will i just crush the computer? id prefer to always have a challenge ofcourse

have a good one

[keith.lamothe]

honestly I'm most excited about the music-i love it to death (everything except the rocking guitar stuff so I'm hoping there is more of the 'chill' tunes in AS?)

Here's the OST that Pablo has on sale: http://arcenmusic.bandcamp.com/album/ai-war-ancient-shadows

I believe there's samples there

also the champions seem awesome. are they available right from the get go? or do they require some research?

Right from the get go, just set your player role in the lobby from Normal to Normal+Champion.

(was just playin and was decimated on random easier-thank you very much for giving me a challenging game. i really appreciate it)
on the note of difficulty-will i ever be dissatisfied by the ai after learning the ropes? for instance if i worked my way up to a decent difficulty will i just crush the computer? id prefer to always have a challenge ofcourse

I'm not aware of anyone who can "crush" the computer on the highest difficulty; a few people here can actually win at that level (a bug we've incrementally moved towards fixing over the past few months ), though I don't think anyone has since the last batch of big changes to it (not long ago).  But those victories have all been hard-won, to my knowledge.  And in general it's expected that even the really good players will find the 9-9.8 range more enjoyable than the brutality which is 10.

If you'd like to read about some games people have played (including some with champions, if that helps you figure out what you think of them) :
http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/board,24.0.html

[Spikey00]

I'd say it's worth it in terms of encompassing a unique playstyle in both singleplayer and multiplayer which suffices the occasional desire to just blow stuff up without having to construct a base (only in multiplayer though), and as Copper said the expansion is quite nice at five dollars and will help support the developers to further support the game.  IMO all expansions that Arcen releases are worth the price.

As for the latter, not too much.  The AI is mechanically consistent--there aren't really any cheese tactics that completely negates the challenge.  Well, except maybe Spire campaign ships, golems, and stacked attritioners with gravity turrets on a whipping-boy planet to varying degrees; but, AI War is highly customizable to your difficulty liking so you can disable elements you think are too imbalanced for an enjoyable experience.

[Wanderer]

I think I was one of the first recent players to whack the 10/10 in a legit scenario.  It's not easy and it involved much cheese.  Said cheese has been modified, removed, altered, and/or banished.     Then they stepped up the difficulty on me again AFTER that.   

It's nearly impossible to not find a challenge at the top-most level, particularly since you can layer on your own pain with additional 'evilness' for the AI... from independent Hybrids to neutral attack everyone neinzul enclaves.  You'll find that usually you'll need to argue with AI 5/5 or so until you get your first win and really get a handle on the system.  That can be anywhere from two to twenty games.  Once you've done that you'll usually step up to 7/7, where the AI no longer hides any of its toys in the dirty tricks bag.  From there, you'll increment yourself based on how 'easy' that was up through, usually stopping off in the 9/9 region if you're die-hard.  8/8 is an accomplishment for any player though, really.

Oh, and welcome to the forums.  Humans forever!

Errr: And to your initial question, yes, I personally believe Ancient Shadows is well worth getting.

[ZaneWolfe]

I can whole heartedly say that Ancient Shadows is worth every single penny you spend on it. I've not even heard the new music, since as far as my game, patch just before 6.0, its not on it, and I can still say I am looking forward to it. The champs are rediculusly fun even if you're playing in a "Champion Only" role. (Something you can only do in multiplayer) The Tackle Drone Launchers are a perfect match to my already devastating Spire Blade Spawners, and the Medic Frigates are a perfect companion to any strike team. (I pair them with golems for added hilarity) And that is just two of the new units.

As for the AI being something you can eventually stomp whenever you want, I can easily say. ABSOLUTELY NOT. I cheat. I use most of the cheese that Spikey00 talked about and then some. And I can still lose to the AI. I can pull every dirty trick the game lets you and then a few of my own programing, and still legitimately lose to the AI. As keith said, if you can stomp the AI in 10/10, its clearly a bug and they WILL patch it.

[Cyborg]

The new expansion has a lot of good features. Unfortunately, I didn't end up liking the killer feature- the "champion." Still worth five dollars for the other additions.

[chemical_art]

Do you want lots of music?

Do you want new ai ships?

New ai plots?

New maps?

If you like any of these, it is worth 5 dollars.

[Volatar]

Arcen added more content to AI War?

I didn't notice. I just saw that they put up the option to give them more of the money they deserve and I took it. 

(I am still playing with stuff from Light of the Spire. I haven't found the time to play with Ancient Shadows. Theres so much content in this game...)

[Mánagarmr]

It's quite common for Arcen stuff being an instant buy regardless of what it is
But yes, AS is definitely worth getting.

[Gershawl]

sadly, y'all have convinced me......to buy it

thanks for the confirmation of this game's difficulty-twas a major factor for me.

omg its that fox who made videos that i watched!

*currently trying to get friends to buy also*

see you space cowboy

[keith.lamothe]

Thanks for the support

its that fox who made videos that i watched!

Watch out for that one, he's wily.