Here's the latest prerelease:
http://www.arcengames.com/share/AIWar1007B.zipThat version is an upgrade from version 1.006, so you have to already have 1.006 installed. Just unzip it into your game folder (usually C:\Program Files\Arcen Games\AI War\ unless you specified something else). Please make sure that your unzip process keeps the folder structure from the zip file, rather than just unpacking all of the files into the base target directory.
What's new since 1.007A:
(Cumulative release notes since 1.006 are attached at the bottom)
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-The game's suggested paths between planets on the galaxy map are now much better, preferring to stay with neutral/allied planets before venturing into enemy territory. This will therefore suggest paths that are longer, but that don't go through enemy planets, when possible. This makes players have to less frequently provide their own manual interplanetary travel paths.
-The AI (at all levels) has learned some new tricks. Guards will now temporarily leave their posts to help with the defense of certain large structures (currently command stations and superfortresses) on the same planet as them. They will also leave their posts for a bit to join in the attack on a command station if they are guarding something on a human planet.
-Harvester ExoShields are now a bit cheaper to build, and no longer have a build cap. However, they now also use -1/s of both metal and crystal, making them essentially reduce the net benefit from the harvester they are protecting. They also now cost 1,000 energy, which increases your energy needs rather dramatically if overused. These changes will make this ship more useful for general play, but also increases the cost of its use so as to not make it suddenly overpowerful.
-The AI scores are now trended over time as part of the Score, Ships Killed, Ships Lost, and Planets Held graphs, letting players compare their performance against the AIs in these ways. There is also now an "Include AIs In Extra Graphs" option in the graph window that allows for the Total Ships, Ships by level, and ships built graphs to also include the AIs (although these comparisons are usually apples to oranges and of little relevance).
-The Graphs screen now includes new graphs for Scouted Planets and AI Progress, which just shows those single metrics over time (these are not per-player).
-When the game's zoom gets too large for the window clipping area, it no longer jumps back and forth. It also now has a larger clipping area, to allow for overzoom.
-There is now a settings option called "Allow Overzoom." When paired with the "Allow Far Zoom" option, this allows players to zoom and pan beyond the edge of the planetary map, which is helpful for seeing absolutely the entire planet at once, or for easing zooming in on ships at the edge of the galaxy map from far zoom.
-Drawing hundreds or thousands of simultaneous ship ranges now not only looks better, but it also will perform vastly better, especially on older graphics cards.
-It is now possible to select multiple constructors of the same type (docks, factories, etc) and issue build queue orders to them all at once. If their build queues differ, a Reset button will be shown in place of the actual queue icon. The queues can still be managed in these cases, but you won't be able to see your changes without clicking to an individual constructor. You can use the Reset button to clear all the queues, and then any commands that are issued will cause the queues to be in sync and thus shown as if only one constructor was selected. Lack of resources, ships hitting their ship caps, or engineers being unevenly distributed could cause the the queues to later get out of sync again. These changes are meant as a first pass for the players who wanted them, but we may add some more improvements in this area once we have more playtest data.
-Constructors with queues are now shown as grayed out when paused, same as how it works for manufactories that are paused.
-It is now possible to give most commands to ships that are still being built. You can basically set everything up at docks and other queue-based constructors, you can give attack targets, assistance targets, wormhole commands, or movement targets. The main thing you can't do is issue build commands from placement-mode ships (command stations, mobile builders, etc), and you can't research technologies until a science lab is completed building. The in-progress ships still won't act on any of the above until they are finished building, but you can set them up in advance.
-The AI will now build counter-sniper turrets and sniper turrets in place of whatever turrets it would normally build during reinforcements when there are enemy sniper-type ships in its presence.
-Special Forces Command Posts now allow for AI reinforcements to be made against their host planet.
-The game now supports downright tiny galaxy maps: 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 planets.
-The game now scales downward better for maps smaller than 80 planets. The difficulty should now be more on par with what the 80-planet maps provide. More appropriate numbers of data centers, special forces command posts, and advanced research stations are seeded into these maps.
