Prerelease/Expans. v2.001A (Expansion Preorders,2 New Map Styles,3 Ship Classes)

[x4000]

The latest prerelease is available at http://www.arcengames.com/share/AIWar2001.zip

That version is an upgrade from version 2.000, so you have to already have 2.000 (or greater) 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.

F.A.Q. Answers:
1. If you have the base game, and install this, you will go into trial mode of the expansion.  Feel free to explore the expansion that way, but if you want to go back to full mode without buying the expansion, simply go into Settings, Expansions, and turn off the expansion.
2. All upcoming prereleases for the next few months (until the expansion fully releases) will have a mix of both expansion and non-expansion content.  If you just want the latest non-expansion content, see #1.
3. If you want to preorder the expansion (and get your full license key), see this page.  It's $12.95 USD (or equivalent), and requires a valid copy of the base game to play.
4. If you want to know all about the expansion in general, see that same page.
5. This prerelease version is compatible with any other version of the game -- Steam, Impulse, whatever.
6. If you use this with your Steam copy of the game, however, you will be asked to enter your AI War CD key (which Steam provides, but normally you do not have to enter), and also the integration with Steamworks leaderboards and achievements may be disabled.  So you may want to make a separate install of the preorder version if you use Steam, at least for the moment.


What's new since 2.000:
(Cumulative release notes since 2.000 are attached at the bottom)

-------------------

-A new expansions tab has been added to the Settings window, with a way to enable/disable expansions, and/or unlock them for full rather than trial use.  All of the other logic relating to having expansions that are unlockable (but first in trial mode) has also been added.

-It is now possible to enable or disable expansions for a given savegame, and the high scores and galaxy map totals now include information about which expansions were enabled for their play.

-It is now possible to select which expansions will be used in a game during the lobby.  The game won't start unless all players have the selected expansions.  Additionally, players loading a savegame or joining a game-in-progress won't be able to load/join if they don't have the expansions in use by the existing game.  Existing savegames cannot be upgraded to the expansion or downgraded from having the expansion (since the expansion content has a large effect on the entire game).

-Two new cheats have been added: "advanced fat" adds an advanced factory, and "core of the star" adds a core starship.

-The game will no longer crash when it is missing images, but instead will log the error and will display a pink square instead.

-New Ship Class (expansion only): Zenith Bombardment Ship (and core).  Fires very powerful, very long-range energy bombs, but is expensive and has a very slow reload time.

-New Ship Class (expansion only): Zenith AutoBomb.  Suicidal unit destroys itself when attacking in order to deal focused area damage to enemies.

-New Ship Class (expansion only): Grenade Launcher (and core).  Launches mid-power grenades over medium distance.  Grenades explode on contact and deal area damage (to enemies and allies).

-Previously, there was a problem with lightning missiles not always detonating immediately upon reaching a player-set target.  Fixed.

-When the expansion is installed and available or in trial mode (not disabled), it now shows a new expansion-specific logo and splash screen.

-Two new map styles are now available (expansion only):  Tree and Spokes.  Tree tends to have lots of little branches and long corridors, with very long numbers of hops between the sides of the map (but not always).  Spokes tends to have certain hub planets that have super-high numbers of connections (10 to 14 or even more), and usually any part of the map is a bit closer (but again, not always).

[dumpsterKEEPER]

Preordered! All the new expansion stuff sounds really exciting. Although, I feel like I've barely even begun to get through all the variations of content in the base game...

[x4000]

Thanks for your support!  Of course, you'll still have all of the base game content in there as well (the beauty of expansions, versus sequels), so hopefully this will add even more variety for you as you progress.

[dumpsterKEEPER]

Oh absolutely. I always felt a little bad that I purchased the base game off of Impulse when it was on sale, and based on the number of hours I've put into it, I feel like I should have at least bought it when it was full price. But yes, I do really like the expansion model you're using because of how it seamlessly adds additional content without limiting anything that was previously available. However, it does make me feel that much further behind

Which leads to my next question: why on earth did you have to release this an hour before I'm leaving for the entire weekend without my computer?

[x4000]

Oh absolutely. I always felt a little bad that I purchased the base game off of Impulse when it was on sale, and based on the number of hours I've put into it, I feel like I should have at least bought it when it was full price. But yes, I do really like the expansion model you're using because of how it seamlessly adds additional content without limiting anything that was previously available. However, it does make me feel that much further behind

Which leads to my next question: why on earth did you have to release this an hour before I'm leaving for the entire weekend without my computer?

My bad!  Well, on the bright side, there will be even more content by the time you are back and next looking at it.

[Revenantus]

The ZenithAutoBombI sprite is not included in the patch file.

EDIT: Zenith autobombers cannot hit moving targets. They head to where the target was, stop, then resume chasing it.

[x4000]

The ZenithAutoBombI sprite is not included in the patch file.

Hmm, somehow or other SVN decided not to export that.  Possibly because I renamed it at one point, I'm not sure.  At any rate, that's in there now, if you download the zip again.  Good catch!

EDIT: Zenith autobombers cannot hit moving targets. They head to where the target was, stop, then resume chasing it.

I'll have to look at that -- can you add that to the bugs list instead of this thread?

[Velox]

     Woohoo!  SO ordered!

     I've only looked at the preview page so far, but - wow, do the golem images look amazing.  Hooray art!

[Revenantus]

EDIT: Zenith autobombers cannot hit moving targets. They head to where the target was, stop, then resume chasing it.

I'll have to look at that -- can you add that to the bugs list instead of this thread?

Sure, no problem.

The AI decided to test out its new arsenal on me from the word go, it seems. I was immediately set upon by a squad of autobombers which quickly crippled my economy; two of them will bring down a harvester. Fortunately they're completely ineffective against force fields at this point, but it might be fun to allow them to blow themselves up at the edge of a force force thereby causing immense damage to it. I'm currently crunching for numbers for the strong/weak data, I don't see the data favouring these guys too strongly.

I'm currently using the new Bombarders, which by all appearances function as mini-dreadnaughts. I was initially surprised to note that they don't have a bonus against force fields, though on reflection I suppose this might make them somewhat overpowered.

[x4000]

Yeah, I'm really excited about getting those Golems actually live and in the game over the weekend.  I think that's going to be really cool.

I'm really pleased with how the ships that are already in there turned out, too.  The Grenade Launchers look to be a new favorite for me, I think.  Although, those Bombards are pretty wicked, too.

[x4000]

The AI decided to test out its new arsenal on me from the word go, it seems. I was immediately set upon by a squad of autobombers which quickly crippled my economy; two of them will bring down a harvester. Fortunately they're completely ineffective against force fields at this point, but it might be fun to allow them to blow themselves up at the edge of a force force thereby causing immense damage to it. I'm currently crunching for numbers for the strong/weak data, I don't see the data favouring these guys too strongly.

Yeah, I'll have to look at them more closely for making sure they are balanced completely properly.  Doing something against force fields might be interesting, you're right, as well.

I'm currently using the new Bombarders, which by all appearances function as mini-dreadnaughts. I was initially surprised to note that they don't have a bonus against force fields, though on reflection I suppose this might make them somewhat overpowered.

Yeah, part of the challenge of force fields is having to get in proximity of them (usually), so these would be a bit too much.  They also have a HUGE penalty against gates, so that they don't make gate-raiding too easy (similar reasons as to the teleporting stuff being weak against the same).  It will be interesting to see how these all balance out in the end, for a lot of them they just need more playtesting before I'm going to get down to the nitty-gritty with them too much.  Think of their current balance as something of a rough sketch.

[Revenantus]

One slightly more fundamental question;

It completely threw me that these ships can be constructed at the standard space dock. My thinking was that the Zenith were to have a limited presence in the galaxy itself, and their ships would only be acquired through them by capturing an ancient Zenith manufacturing facility, data archive, or the ships directly. Maybe this is too similar to the advanced factory mechanic, but lumping them in with all the human bonus ships surprised me.

Particularly if the Zenith ships are to have a consistent styling, it seems that they ought to created in a structure with the same styling. Just throwing ideas out there, what about a Zenith mothership that acts as a faux-constructor through which the players purchase ships? Players couldn't control where the ship went, but could use it for recruitment whenever it happened to be in one of their systems.

Are there plans to develop the Zenith beyond just the additional ship types?

[x4000]

The Zenith will have a presence in the galaxy as basically a neutral force that you can find and interact with in various ways.  A couple of ways have been suggested here:  http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,2002.0.html

And feel free to add on to that.  But, as for the various ship classes, I definitely am intending to handle them the way that they are -- as bonus ship classes.  This is consistent with (for instance) having the Zenith Starship in the middle of your other starships.  The idea is that this is technology which is now freely available to either the humans or the AIs, having been acquired originally from the Zenith aliens.  In a literal sense, this is just a way to do some different styling to the new bonus ship classes, and tie them in with the overall Zenith theme of the expansion.

What is unique about the Zenith will be the things that you acquire in novel ways -- like the Golems -- and then meeting the Zenith themselves out in the galaxy and either dealing with them as a friend or foe, at your option.  The Zenith will most likely just make themselves felt in one corner of the galaxy in each game that includes them, but they'll really make themselves felt there.

That's the idea, anyway.  I'm not looking to have a new advanced-factory type of mechanic with the Zenith.  The focus this time is more on larger capturables, and then them as an independent third party in general.  The styling of the bonus ships is just to go along with the larger theme.

[Revenantus]

The Zenith will have a presence in the galaxy as basically a neutral force that you can find and interact with in various ways.  A couple of ways have been suggested here:  http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,2002.0.html

And feel free to add on to that.  But, as for the various ship classes, I definitely am intending to handle them the way that they are -- as bonus ship classes.  This is consistent with (for instance) having the Zenith Starship in the middle of your other starships.  The idea is that this is technology which is now freely available to either the humans or the AIs, having been acquired originally from the Zenith aliens.  In a literal sense, this is just a way to do some different styling to the new bonus ship classes, and tie them in with the overall Zenith theme of the expansion.

What is unique about the Zenith will be the things that you acquire in novel ways -- like the Golems -- and then meeting the Zenith themselves out in the galaxy and either dealing with them as a friend or foe, at your option.  The Zenith will most likely just make themselves felt in one corner of the galaxy in each game that includes them, but they'll really make themselves felt there.

That's the idea, anyway.  I'm not looking to have a new advanced-factory type of mechanic with the Zenith.  The focus this time is more on larger capturables, and then them as an independent third party in general.  The styling of the bonus ships is just to go along with the larger theme.

Okay, that's fair.

I question allowing players to start with the Zenith-type bonus ships though, I'd be inclined to limit them to ARS capture only on the assumption that it's the AI that is conducting vast amounts of research into reverse engineering Zenith technology. I think that this would serve to make the Zenith ships a bit more exclusive, without the need for complex mechanics.

[RCIX]

Downloaded the prerelease (will be preordering Tuesday) trial and i really want to try those grenade launchers, except 2 things:

1. It doesnt appear to be included in the simple ships setting
2. It won't let me change it

Also, the L1 grenade launcher graphic seems to be missing.

I took a look at the graphics for the Grenade launcher and they look awesome!! kudos to regnared for making great graphics!