The Imaginary AI Wars Expansion: Shadows of Extinction

[Hearteater]

While enjoying the AVWW beta, if you feel a slight craving for the AI Wars expansion, enjoy this entirely imaginary thought exercise!
 
The Imaginary AI Wars Expansion: Shadows of Extinction
Humanity was nearly wiped out, but the threat they unleashed has not limited itself to just the one pitiful corner of the galaxy occupied by humans.  The AIs’ rapid expansion has found other space-going races, and those races have not fared well.

Now you can take on the deadly AI unleashed by the humans as one of thousands of possible custom alien races.  Build your race and see if you can save your species!

Custom Races
Select from six racial types with their own set of unique traits, special unit and missile type.  Spend custom picks to customize your race from a set of Racial and General Traits.

Each Race Type comes with one free bonus trait, one additional type of missile, a special replacement for one of the normal triangle ships, and a selection of optional Racial Traits.

Racial Units
Not all units a player controls use their unique racial technologies and properties.  All fleet ships, starships, turrets, and structures receive racial benefits except:

• Any unit that is captured: Ion Cannons, Golems, etc.
• Units purchased from a Zenith Trader
• Neutral units: Human Resistance Fighters, Dyson Sphere Gatlings, etc.
• Neinzul Youngling fleet ships
• Spirecraft (produced from asteroids)

Units that benefit from traits are called racial units.  Not all units that can be racial units are racial units.  Only if a unit that can be a racial unit is produced by a player does it become an actual racial unit.  Units produced from Advanced Factories and Fabricators are racial units.

Gifting
Gifting more units to a player than their ship cap allows transfers part of your ship cap for that unit to them temporarily.  As they lose gifted units, the transferred ship cap will drop and return to the gifting player.

Gifted racial units retain their original racial properties and always transfers ship cap even if the receiving player has ship cap available.

Racial Types
Select one racial type from the below set and spend six custom picks between that race’s Racial Traits and the General Traits.  Each Racial Trait costs two picks, and General Traits costs one pick.  Players without this expansion (or who have it disabled) have a default race selected that maintains the current player abilities (see below).

Organic
Your race uses living ships, turrets and structures.  Biological solutions replace mechanical ones.

Bonus Trait
Regeneration – After 8 seconds without receiving damage, your racial units regenerate to full health over 90 seconds (180 seconds for non-military units).  Receiving additional damage suspends regeneration for 8 seconds.  Regeneration requires the units to be in supply.

Ship Replacement, Bomber
Organic Bomber – Damage ignores 20% of the target’s armor.

Racial Missile
Infestation Missile II-IV – Instantly destroys many enemy fleet units of an equal or lesser Mark in the area.  Enemies destroyed randomly become Standard Fighters, Organic Bombers or Missile Frigates of the same Mark at 50% health, controlled by the player.  These new ships are racial units.   Enemies can only be destroyed until the player’s ship caps are full.  AIP increase 2/4/6.

Racial Traits
Rapid Regeneration – The Regeneration Trait is not stopped by damage and does not require supply.  When in supply, Regeneration is increased by 200% if the unit has not been damage in the last 8 seconds.  Units with Rapid Regeneration cannot be repaired by engineers.

Spawning Chamber – You produce Mark I-V Larva and Star Larva instead of fleet and starships at a Spawning Chamber (replaces Space Dock and Starship Constructor).  Every 15 seconds a Spawning Chamber generates 2 BPs, although engineers can increase this rate.  Larva can be produced for a BP cost equal to their Mark, and Star Larva for 40 BP per Mark.  Both are very fast units that have an extremely weak melee attack but can metamorphosis very quickly into any fleet or starship respectively unlocked (25% normal build time, 100% normal resources).  During metamorphosis larva are immobile and metamorphosis time cannot be reduced by engineers.  Capturing an Advanced Factory permanently unlocks Mark IV units whose Mark III level is unlocked.  Capturing Fabricators that would produce Mark V racial units instead unlock Mark V units.  Larva ship cap 180, Star Larva 18, reduced by 5% per Mark.

Rapid Infection – Units you reclaim that can be racial units become racial units matching your race, but have health equal to half the reclamation damage received.  Against enemy units not immune to reclamation, 10% of your racial units’ damage is reclamation damage.  Your racial fleet and starships cost 30% more metal and crystal to build.

Organic Division – When your racial fleet or starships are killed, they split into two ships of a lower mark at half health, ship caps permitting. Ship types without lower marks are not affected.  Maximum health on your racial fleet and starships is reduced by 30%.   Your racial fleet and starship caps are reduced by 10%.

Crystal
Your race manipulates energy through partially sentient crystals.  The complex crystal growths present throughout your technology bring unusually powerful properties to your ships and tools.

Bonus Trait
Absorption – Damage taken by your racial units is reduced by 10% after armor is applied.

Ship Replacement, Missile Frigate
Crystal Frigates –Base movement speed increased by 25% to 28.

Racial Missile
Crystal Web I-III – Tractors all mobile units in the area for 30/60/90 seconds to an indestructible temporary platform, deals 30/60/90% damage to their engines, and reduces their damage by 50% while tractored.  These effects do not apply to your own racial units.  AIP increase 1/2/3.

Racial Traits
Reflectivity – Your units reflect back at the attacker 50% of the damage (100% for Command Stations, Fortresses and Force Field generators) stopped by the Absorption Traits as Laser damage with maximum Armor Piercing.

Crystalline Growth – All of your racial units’ armor is increased by 10% plus an extra 300.  Each of your Command Stations’ maximum health increases by 5% of their base maximum every 6 minutes.  The growth rate is decreased by 0.025% each cycle (maximum bonus +502.5% health at 20 hours).

Energy Propulsion – All of your racial ships gain 10% additional movement speed, 100% more engine health, and cannot be reduced below 50% movement speed by engine damage.  Your Fortresses and Force Field generators gain 6 additional movement speed.

Enhanced Absorption – Your Command Stations, Fortresses and Force Field Generators’ Absorption Trait starts at 30% and decreases by 1% for every 2.5% of maximum health lost, down to a minimum of 10% absorption when the unit reaches half health.

[Hearteater]

Temporal
This is any race that utilizes an ability or technology to manipulate time itself to their own benefit.

Bonus Trait
Temporal Mining – Your harvesters produce 10% more resources and have no build time.

Ship Replacement, Missile Frigate
Rapid Fire Frigates] – Base reload time reduced by 10%.

Racial Missile
Rewinder I-III – A short time after detonation (1/2/3 minutes) the game rewinds back to the moment of detonation with everything the same as before except for the system in which the warhead detonated and any AIP generated by events in that system.  Units cannot be duplicated with this missile.  When time rewinds, those units remaining in the target system are not returned to their pre-detonation locations or state.  AIP increase 8/16/24.

Racial Traits
Temporal Barracks – Units stored in this structure do not count toward your normal ship cap, and instead count against your time-shifted ship cap (which is equal to half your normal ship cap).  They still cost energy.  You can only store racial units inside this structure.

Backslide Gate – This structure can instantly produce any racial fleet or starship at no resource cost.  You can produce up to Mark IV ships of any of your unlocked ship types, even if that mark is not available yet.  Ships produced here count against both your ship cap and time-shifted ship cap.   Any ships produced from a Backslide Gate must be produced normally within 30 minutes or a paradox is created, dealing 100,000 damage to every unit in the system with the Backslide Gate and generating 2 AIP per paradox event.  Ships produced that are currently required to prevent a paradox automatically disappear as soon as they are produced, meeting that demand and no longer count against the time-shifted ship cap.  Your racial fleet and starship caps are reduced by 10%.

Time Shifted Weapons – Your racial fleet or starships with a reload time under 20 seconds will fire twice with double their normal reload time afterward.  This ability has a one minute cooldown.

Temporal Evasion – Your racial fleet or starships that would be destroyed by enemy fire will vanish, evading that attack and any other incoming attacks.  They reappear five seconds later.  This ability has a 30 second cooldown.

Technologist
Races that build tools from machines, like Humans.

Bonus Trait
Logistics – Increases your racial fleet and starship caps by 10%.

Ship Replacement, Fighter
Standard Fighter – Maximum health increased by 10%.

Racial Missile
EMP I-III – Same as the current EMP missiles.

Racial Traits
Efficiency – Your engineers repair and assist construction 20% faster and your engineer ship cap is increased by 20%.  Paralysis caused by Intra-Galactic Warp Gates reduced to 20 seconds for all of your units.  Advanced Factories and Fabricators do not require repairs before use when captured from the AI.

Industrious – Your build queues produce racial units 4% faster and for 2% less resources for each unit of the same ship type (of any Mark) produced in a row, for up to 20% faster and 10% less resources on the sixth and later similar unit.  Your Space Docks, Starship Constructors and Missile Silos cost 20% less energy.

Transporter Drone – This small cloaked drone can move your turrets.  It can disassemble or reassemble a racial turret in 10% of the normal construction time.  To move turrets, issue the movement order to the turret and any Disassemblers in the system will automatically carry out the requested movement.  Turrets cannot be moved to a different system in this way.

Electronic Warfare Specialist – Enemy unit radar dampening ranges are increased by 20% against your units and your own racial units’ radar dampening ranges are decreased by 20%.  Your racial units with cloaking recover their cloak after combat 20% faster.

Psionic
These races have the ability to manipulate the physical world using only thought.

Bonus Trait
Coordination – Your racial starships have x1.05 munitions boost, and those that normally have a damage boost have that boost increased by 0.05.

Ship Replacement, Fighter
Psychic Fighter – Attack damage multipliers increased by 10%.

Racial Missile
Mind Screamer I-III – Deals 75/125/225 damage with maximum armor penetration to all units within range for each racial fleet or starship in the system and gives a x1.4/x1.9/x2.8 system-wide munitions boost to your racial units for 30 seconds.  Your racial units are immune to damage from this warhead.  AIP increase 2/4/6.

Racial Traits
Expanded Senses – All racial scout units provide scouting information from adjacent systems.  Your racial fleet ships have a 25% chance to dodge Ion weapons, taking no damage.

Mental Shielding – Your Force Fields generators have 25% more health.  Any damage to your racial starships after armor greater than 30% of their maximum health is reduced by an additional eight million, allowing only the most powerful weapons to deal more than 30% of the starship's health per hit.  All paralysis and EMP durations on your racial units caused by enemy sources are reduced by 50%.

Collective Will – Every 6 seconds your racial fleet and starships generate a collective mental attack against enemy ships in the same system.  The damage of this attack is 100 per racial fleet and 2000 per racial starship in the system.  The damage is applied to enemy ships at random, destroying one after another until all generated damage is applied.  Does not target powered down ships.

Telekinesis – Your Tractor turrets have 100% more health and hold an additional 25% more targets.  They work against fleet, starships and guardians normally immune to tractor beams.  Units affected by tractor beams from your racial units take damage equal to 1% of their maximum health each second.

[Hearteater]

Religious
These races have some external and powerful source of intervention that they appeal to for powerful effect.

Bonus Trait
Cathedral – This structure can be built in any system with one of your Command Stations.  Systems with a Cathedral are protected by a force that strikes 1% of enemy fleet ships (round down) in the system every 10 seconds, regardless of stealth.  These strikes deal damage the same as a Mark III Ion Cannon.  Cathedrals have no ship cap, but are limited to one per system. [1.5 million health, Command-grade hull, 2000 armor, 5k m/c, 250 energy, 2:00 build]

Ship Replacement, Bomber
Fanatical Bomber – Deals 30% more damage, but reload time increased to 14 seconds.

Racial Missile
Judgment I-III – Deals 10,000 / 35,000 / 75,000 damage to all fleet ships, guardians and starships in the system for each of your Cathedrals.  Your racial units are not affected.  AIP increase 4/8/12.

Racial Traits
Retribution – When your racial fleet ships are destroyed, they deal damage equal to 5% of their maximum health to the killing unit.

Zealots – Your Cathedrals produce Zealots which have a ship cap equal to 4 times the number of Cathedrals you own.  Zealots have no Mark, but count as Mark I for most purposes.  [ 4320 attack, 1500 armor pen, 2880 range, 4.0 reload, 42 speed, 200k health, Swarmer hull, 200 m/c, 40 energy, 4.0 build, x6 vs. Artillery/Light/Polycrystal ]

Tithe – Your Cathedrals generate 10 metal and crystal per second and your Harvesters generate an additional 10% metal and crystal.  When fleet ships are destroyed in a system in which you have a Cathedral, you gain resources as if that ship had been scrapped.  When you scrap units normally, you receive twice the normal resources.

Shield of Faith – Your Cathedrals produce a small force field, have their health increased to 10 million and armor increased to 200,000.  Every second, your Cathedrals regenerate 75 health for each of your racial fleet ships in their system even during combat.

General Traits
Each of these traits cost one custom pick.

Accurate – Sniper and Spider Turret caps increased by 20%.
Combative – Fighter, Bomber and Missile Frigate health increased by 5%.
Commanding – Starships health increased by 10%.
Creative – Knowledge gained per planet increased by 250.
Fatalist – All missiles’ area-of-effect increased by 20%.
Green — Energy cost of racial units reduced by 10%
Lucky – Distribution Nodes opened return 20% more resources and are never Trojans.
Paranoid – Tachyon and Stealthed Tachyon turret caps and Decloaker ship cap increased by 20%.  Tachyon Beam Emission ranges increased by 20%.
Protective – When you begin constructing a command station, five Mark II zombie Fighter racial units spawn on Free-Roaming Defense.  These units are replaced once per minute if destroyed.  Your home station starts with five Mark IV zombie Fighters.
Scavenger – Gain 2% of the resources of fleet and starships destroyed or scrapped in a system you control.
Sneaky – Your racial missiles, transports, and fleet ships and starships have boosted cloaking for two seconds after warping into a system and your command stations are cloaked during construction.
Tinkerers – You Command Stations also act as a Remains Rebuilder and a Mark I Engineer.

Game Changes
To facilitate the new options available, some reductions have been made to maintain balance.

Unit Tweaks

• All racial fleet and starship caps are reduced by 10%.
• All racial units energy cost are increased by 10%.
• Engineer construction and repair rates are reduced by 20%.
• Engineer ship caps reduced by 20%.
• Standard Fighters health reduced by 10%.
• Knowledge gain per system reduced to 2750.

Advanced Factories and Fabricators
These structures drop to 25% health when captured and must be repaired to full before use.  This repair period signifies converting the manufacturing process to suit the capturing race, allowing the units produced to be classified as racial units.  Fabricators and Advanced Factories themselves are not racial units.

Gifting these structures to another player reduces their health down to 25% of maximum.

Default Racial Benefits
For players with this expansion turned off or that have not purchased it, the following racial picks are selected:

Racial Type: Technologist

• Bonus Racial Trait: Logistics (+10% racial ship caps)
• Ship Replacement, Fighter: Standard Fighter (+10% health)
• Racial Missile: EMP

Custom Picks:

• (Technologist) Efficiency: 20% better engineers, 20% engineer cap, 20 second IGWG paralysis, full health AF/Fabs
• (Technologist) Transporter Drones: Movable turrets
• (General) Creative: +250 Knowledge per planet
• (General) Green: -10% Energy cost on units

With these picks, players have all the pre-expansion values for their forces, with the additional ability to move turrets using the new Transport Drone unit and a reduced paralysis from Intra-Galactic Warp Gates.

[Fleet]

*drool*

I can't wait for Kieth to start coding for some of that temporal logic 

[Hearteater]

Hey, it isn't as bad as it looks.  There are actually some trickier things to do.  The fact that there would be multiply variations of a single ship type in play at the same time would probably require a good amount of work and would end up affecting a lot of different areas.  That and the ship cap handling would get messy for having ships of multiple races either through gifting or reclaiming.

[Ranakastrasz]

All I can say is that the lending of ship cap is identical to my suggestion from a while back.

Well, that and quite an interesting suggestion.

It does however not follow the rule of no invisible bonuses, so I don't know.

[Hearteater]

Yes, yes it is .  It is really the only sensible way to handle it besides not allowing gifting at all since two players might have their own version of Vampires with two different ship caps due to racial modifiers.  Otherwise you'd be encouraged to give units with reduced ship caps (such as Organic races using Organic Division) to a player with a ship cap bonus (any Technologist) to field more of an advantaged ship than you should be able to.

The "invisible" bonuses would be unchanging and present from the beginning of the game, so the feel you get for how your ships will fare won't change during a given game.  Really the only issue would be in co-op with identical ship types but different races.  That would take some getting used to for players, but again, at least nothing would change during play.  Once you learned how Player 2's ships differed from yours everything would be fine.

[Ranakastrasz]

Yes, yes it is .  It is really the only sensible way to handle it besides not allowing gifting at all since two players might have their own version of Vampires with two different ship caps due to racial modifiers.  Otherwise you'd be encouraged to give units with reduced ship caps (such as Organic races using Organic Division) to a player with a ship cap bonus (any Technologist) to field more of an advantaged ship than you should be able to.

The "invisible" bonuses would be unchanging and present from the beginning of the game, so the feel you get for how your ships will fare won't change during a given game.  Really the only issue would be in co-op with identical ship types but different races.  That would take some getting used to for players, but again, at least nothing would change during play.  Once you learned how Player 2's ships differed from yours everything would be fine.

Hmm. I think I agree with your reasoning.

[Nice Save]

This reminds me of Space Empires V.

I'm a little confused by the Rewinder warhead. Can you give us an example of how you would use it to your advantage?

In other news, the word racial has lost all meaning for me and now looks plain weird.

Racial racial racial.

[Orelius]

This sounds too much like Star Ruler.

I didn't like Star Ruler.

[chemical_art]

This sounds too much like Star Ruler.

I didn't like Star Ruler.

I'm waving a finger at you right now. Not the middle one.

Star ruler's racial effects do not effect the gameplay as much as these do. And the gameplay itself is so vastly different to not draw that many comparisons.

[Hearteater]

Ok, so I came back across this thread of mine while searching on something else and I can't believe I never answered this question.    I feel so ashamed and am now compelled to respond.

I'm a little confused by the Rewinder warhead. Can you give us an example of how you would use it to your advantage?

The Rewinder warhead has three major uses:

1) Every mobile unit you throw into the system you target that dies, comes back once time rewinds in its original pre-warhead location.  Unless that unit was already within the target system.  Note that this is also true of any AI units from adjacent systems that might come in and die.  Since the AI rarely assists adjacent systems under attack this works in your favor.

2) Every mobile unit that was in the system when the warhead explodes but then leaves, will cease to exist when time rewinds.  Consider if there is an Exo wave coming at you in the enemy system you target.  They keep coming and attack your system, leaving the system you targeted.  All you need to do is not lose the game before time rewinds, because once it does they will be gone. This use may actually require a slight AI behavior change in that an Exo wave would stop and wait out the time rewind so as not to be caught outside the target system and "destroyed."  Exo waves would probably be the only thing that should really get this special treatment.  Because of this option, Mark I are actually better than Mark III so the AIP costs might need to be adjusted to something tighter like 16/20/24.

3) If you are finding youself attacked on multiple fronts, you can use a Rewinder Warhead on your own system and defeat that attack with your fleet.  When time rewinds that attack is still defeated and you can send the same ships to a different front to fight that as well.  For maximum effect make sure your defending units are outside the system when the warhead explodes so any loses you suffer are replaced during the rewind.  With enough Rewinder warheads you can actually leap frog your entire fleet anywhere in the galaxy and defend any number of fronts with the same ships simultaneously.  But the AIP cost would be outrageous.