Which role do you play as in AI War: Ancient Shadows?

[Chthon]

There's no Normal + Champion + Champion + Champion + Champion

When playing multiplayer I think it's better to have the champions be controlled separately by players from the main fleet due to the nebula situation.  Sometimes it's good to have 2 or more players inside too as pausing frequently is far too boring.

I think it would be better if one or two players only controlled all the champions as a result.  Other players can deal with the homeworld defenses.  Perhaps if a player choosing champion only could get 1 extra champ per player choosing homeworld only it would make it more interesting for that player.  Just a thought.

Edit:  I'd also like more options for the champion ships, more abilities etc.  Perhaps though if they could be automatically unlocked upon reaching a certain hull size, instead of being in the list of possible gifts for beating a nebula.  They are drastically different after all, you don't pay points to unlock the different levels.  The other stuff already has a nerf like that.

[nitpik]

I only play multiplayer with one other person, and we both play Normal + champion. We think it works great. The nemesis response seems to be dangerous without being overwhelming now. We play Epic combat style, and it's easier to split attention between the nebula battles and the regular galaxy when someone else is occasionally pausing the game and yelling at you to drop a shield because your champion is about to die

We'll also try to run nebula scenarios during lulls in the game while we're waiting for superweapons to build or something, which makes the attention splitting easier too.

I think we'd both be bored playing just a champion, but that's a personal preference.

[Aziphos]

Additional to normal+Champion, Champion+helper is a nice way of playing (as champion-player its very nice to coordinate scouting/raiding and some attacks while a normal player is concentrating on defence).
For Champion only there aren’t enough skills, reasons for fine-tuning and units to control.
When I first played, I thought the Champion-player would control the allied ships from the nebulas...i still think it would improve the champion-endgame.
A way to have different weapon-types as controllgroups would be nice too.

By the way I tried out a nomal +champion +champion +champion game...is it intentionally that I got the firs mobile fortress 3 times? (the others aren’t unlocked)

[Chthon]

By the way I tried out a nomal +champion +champion +champion game...is it intentionally that I got the firs mobile fortress 3 times? (the others aren’t unlocked)

The champion rewards have been changed to scale with # of homeworlds or number of champions, whichever is higher, so yes.  This is normal.  If you have 3 champions, you should get 3 mobiles total unless you have 4 or more homeworlds.

Edit:  Another way to improve champion only gameplay would be to let homeworld players "gift" specific groups of ships to the champion players.  They become their ships...ish.  They still count towards the original player's caps, but this allows a champion player to have more than just a champion to lead attacks making the champion player an offensive human player while homeworlders are more defensive.

I do understand that you can allow team control of ships mind you, however team control still doesn't let you make control groups.  This would allow the champion player to be gifted 30 bombers and 2 bomber starships from player A, and 2 bomber starships from player B, and make a control group for 30 bombers and 4 bomber starships.  It would ease micromanaging of attack fleets greatly.

[Zeyi]

Unfortunately I don't think the poll is going to be entirely useful as there are far more scenarios than the ones you listed. However to contribute to the discussion: I play Normal only, unless playing with friends then we all go normal and champion.

I find solo play with a champion to be distracting, tedious and incredibly boring. I'm not a massive fan of the MOBA genre anyway which is why I have never been a  huge fan of the champions, I think it distracts too far away from what AIW is all about. However in multiplayer its far less noticeable as you can speed through the nebulas much more quickly and you can split responsibilities so you aren't all staring at the nebula all the time. Still, the champion response felt like it took away the very advantage we were being given and since then I've just not bothered - its more hassle than its worth. I'd rather just get a golem.

The only things that could really change this are more nebula scenarios, shortening the nebula scenarios and (IMO) removing nemesis champions for something else (afterall the shadow frigates were meant to be just for us, to allow us to go into the nebulas - is there any explanation why the AI can't use or see them (the nebulas) considering they have hundreds of these things at their disposal?)

Whilst additional abilities and such seems like a nice idea it also makes me worried we'll have horrible balance issues as it becomes an all-in-one unit which you can adjust and modify on the fly (providing engineers are close by). It just doesn't sit well with me as we are either given a totally OP unit or you dial up the AI in some way that negates it to just make it a time sink while you're building something big.

However all that said, the beauty of Aiwar is being able to customise just about everything so i'm content with champions being turned off.

[Mick]

I liked the idea of champions a lot, but I find nebulae to be incredibly unfun. They are like mini-MOBA games without any of the fun parts of MOBAs, and they do feel out of place in this game.

I'd love to have an option that lets me play a champion without having to deal with nebulae at all, or just have nebulae be much more interesting and less of a slogfest.

[Lord Fiddlemeister]

I had posted this in the champions options thread. Might as well post it here too:

I do agree with everyone that nebulas for champions are the most invariable part of AI War. I love playing as a champion but the nebulas make you too detached from the actual game.

Maybe we could have some interactions between nebulas? Say you have to help escort a couple of ships from nebula A to nebula B, meaning that you have to fly along an armed escort to protect them from the AI.
Another example could be that you need to deliver an item to another nebula without getting destroyed (bonus for no hull damage?) or hack the AI and give the results to a minor faction.

Missions like these would make you feel a lot more active and allows a normal player to help with the missions as well.


Another solution could be to just create more missions, or even randomly generated, and have the missions randomly picked from a big pool. This would mean that at the very least, you won't be doing the same missions every game, although I'd prefer the first solution.

My biggest issue right now is that nebula missions take too long to complete while also detaching you from the real game. Making nebula missions take less time could potentially solve the problem, although it could also end up making the champion too strong too early.
Having mission take place outside could make it a lot more enjoyable for both the champion and his teammates.