Zenith Remnant Preview Page Updated

[x4000]

If you guys want to check out some of the art from the expansion (both in place since I last updated the page, or upcoming for the next few weeks), here you go:  http://www.arcengames.com/aiwar_zenithremnant.php

It doesn't include everything that is in place, or everything that is art-complete-but-not-yet-coded-in, but it's a good representation.

[Spikey00]

...that Dyson Sphere is massive.

They all look great if you ask me.  Nice work on them, Chris!

[RCIX]

*jaw drops*

wow..... Those look awesome!

[quickstix]

Yay! New toys! Now let's go destroy them. 

[x4000]

All the art is by Philippe Chabot, not me -- I'm as impressed as you guys.  Lots of cool new stuff already out, and more new stuff coming, I'm really pumped.

[Vaos]

The art is really awesome. My favorites are the Dyson Sphere and the Zenith Mirror.
I still never seen the Raid engine in game, it looks pretty impressive.
Phillipe is really good at this! Keep on the good job.

[Baleur]

"Special Forces Alarm Post. When an AI Command Station is destroyed on the alarm post's planet, or an adjacent planet, all of the "special forces" ships in the entire galaxy will turn aggressive and attack the humans. If the alarm post itself is attacked and destroyed, there is only a 50% chance of it alerting the special forces ships."

 

This is why i like AI War. Its unbalanced. Its the thing i never knew i always missed in other RTS games. Unbalance = fun (and realism, funnily enough.. think azteks vs cortez).
Somewhat unfair things add repercussions to whatever you decide to do, thats actually large enough to bother thinking about.

In any other RTS it would be like, kill their command center and onoooooo, now the other AI ally will build another expansion. Big deal.
Here its like, attack the wrong planet adjacant to one of those nasty special forces alarm posts, and you just alerted the spec-ops of the AI in the entire galaxy..
THATS fun. Thats fun crazy "OMFG HELP!" moments in games that we remember. Nobody remembers the mediocre "it-doesnt-really-matter-because-everything-is-the-same" events other games offer.

Remember that time when you played C&C3 and the AI was like totally building 4 refineries instead of 3? And then it attacked with 4 stealth tanks and 1 flame tank, instead of 4 stealth tanks and 1 cyborg? Yeah.. didn't think so

[Ktoff]

Wait a minute... This Dyson sphere would have a pretty poor efficiency... Who would build one of concentric rings? The outer rings would always lie in the shadow...


The dyson sphere does look pretty impressive....Escher strikes again :-)

[Volatar]

These look so awesome. I can't wait to play with them 

[x4000]

This is why i like AI War. Its unbalanced. Its the thing i never knew i always missed in other RTS games. Unbalance = fun (and realism, funnily enough.. think azteks vs cortez).
Somewhat unfair things add repercussions to whatever you decide to do, thats actually large enough to bother thinking about.

In any other RTS it would be like, kill their command center and onoooooo, now the other AI ally will build another expansion. Big deal.
Here its like, attack the wrong planet adjacant to one of those nasty special forces alarm posts, and you just alerted the spec-ops of the AI in the entire galaxy..
THATS fun. Thats fun crazy "OMFG HELP!" moments in games that we remember. Nobody remembers the mediocre "it-doesnt-really-matter-because-everything-is-the-same" events other games offer.

Remember that time when you played C&C3 and the AI was like totally building 4 refineries instead of 3? And then it attacked with 4 stealth tanks and 1 flame tank, instead of 4 stealth tanks and 1 cyborg? Yeah.. didn't think so

Thanks for the support, Baleur -- that's something that I was surprised to stumble upon in development of the game, too.  Being unbalanced (not in pvp) really is quite fun, and that's a surprising thing for a game designer to learn.  Not so surprising for a movie director, novelist, or other sort of story creator, though; as you say, there are countless both historical and fictional examples of the outnumbered forces winning against vastly superior odds.  I hope other strategy games will consider simulating that sort of thing more in the future, it would be nice to see more of that instead of just equal forces smashing into one another all the time.

[Baleur]

Haha yeah, dont get me started on how unbalanced real life is compared to games =)
In a game you might research improved armor, which would give you more hitpoints, but less speed.
In real life, new composite armor gives more protection, more speed (less weight), and is cheaper. Totally imba! nerf!

[RCIX]

Well in that case it's like upgrading a mark level... It costs resources and time to research an effective way to make those composite armors doesn't it?