Which expansion to buy?

[Ramsar]

I'm planning to buy AI War and one of the expansions. Which of the three is recommended? As I don't own the base game yet it's difficult to distinguish the different features of the expansions, so how exactly do they differ?

[snrub_guy]

If you want just one of the expansions (although with everything 60% off at the moment, it's a good time to get them all...) I would pick Zenith Remnant. It's the first expansion, has been out for a year and so is almost completely balanced (except for an ongoing discussion and work on the Golems), and is definitely the easier of the expansions to understand in terms of ship types. The two newer expansions are more out there in terms of new ship types, and add some new things that are designed to inject stuff into the game to make it more exciting for the people who know the ins and outs of the base game.

If you have a specific question about any of the expansions give us a shout.

Just my opinions by the way.

[Ramsar]

So the expansions mainly add ships, AI types, alien factions and map styles (= campaign styles?).  Which one of these features adds the most variety (i.e. longevity) to the game?

Zenith Remnant
* 122 new ships, including:
   * 14 new ship classes with a variety of abilities.
   * 7 massive capturable "Golem" ships.
   * Dozens of other new capturables, including "experimental" ships.
* 14 new AI Types.
* 4 Zenith alien minor factions (NPCs).
* Over 40 minutes of new in-game music tracks.
* Several new map styles.
* Several new AI behaviors and many related special AI weapons.

Children of Neinzul
* 36 new ships, including:
   * 5 new ship classes with a variety of abilities.
   * Enclave Starships and Regeneration Chambers for direct unlock.
   * 6 new AI special weapons.
* 6 new AI Types.
* 3 Neinzul alien minor factions (NPCs).
* Devastating new Hybrid Hives AI plot.
* 3 new in-game music tracks.
* Two new map styles: X and Concentric Circles.

Light of the Spire
* 180 new ships, including new "spirecraft" ships (larger than starships, smaller than golems).
* Nine new bonus ship classes featuring massive starship-like spire ships.
* New Defender campaign type that allows for an all-new way to play shorter sessions.
* New AI weapons: Beachheads AI Plot, 4 core guard posts, and 10 guardians.
* Exciting new Fallen Spire story-based campaign-within-a-campaing. Alternate way to win!
* New in-game music tracks.

[lanstro]

I second what snrub_guy said.

[snrub_guy]

If you are only interested in how much extra gameplay you'll get, Light of the Spire will probably just edge out the Zenith Remnant. Children of Niezul will fall well short in that regard. But bear in mind that the Light of the Spire expansion is not finished yet, on top of in my opinion being more complex for new players, and if you buy that, you will have access to the current build- which is a bit unbalanced and a bit buggy (no offence guys I know polish is coming next). It's not due for release for a couple of weeks yet. For a beginner, ZR still gets my vote. Light of the Spire is going to be awesome when it hits though.

[Irxallis]

If I had to pick one, I would pick either Zenith Remnant or Light of the Spire.

Zenith expands AI War in the 'natural' way; at least, I felt it as "AI War, but more".
Light adds lots of VERY interesting concepts which radically alter the game (for example, I cannot scout 90% of galaxy having 3-4 worlds only even having mark2 scouts and transports because of dreaded Gravity Guardians).

Zenith will make you play the great game but with more toys.
Light will make the game very different and difficult in many more ways.

Bear in mind I am a newbie, so I can be terribly wrong :-).

...of course you can check those expansions yourself using the demo mode (2h of gameplay if I recall correctly) selecting particular expansions and options and trying to get the feel of the game on your own. I did it and now I have all the expansions ;-).

[superking]

I would recommend the Zenith Remmenant if you only want to buy one of the three, no question.

Children of Neinzul introduces a comparatively small number of ship types that all considered add little to the game; the neinzul fleet ships in particular are of little use to the player, make little appearance in games and function much more effectively in the hands of the AI, which uses them in vast swarms that are difficult to repell but self destruct after a few minutes. the music is v. inferior in comparison to that of the other expansions and I actually replaced all but one of the tracks with duplicates of the zenith remmenant music. the minor enclaves & enclave starships are excellent, and worth the purchase of the expansion if you want the complete AI war experience, but as a whole this one is the lowest priority.

the light of the spire adds a HUGE amount of content, sans amount of gameplay and ship types; the point to be wary of is that it is currently very much in beta development, incomplete, lacking music and some functions and generally rather imbalanced for now.

so yeah, imo: zenith remnant, Light of the spire, Children of Neinzul in that order.

[Mánagarmr]

I'm just gonna go ahead and say all of them. No excuses.

[HitmanN]

I haven't tried Neinzul yet, and am only starting with the Spire beta, but at a quick glance I'd go with Zenith, mainly because its features seem more like balanced add-ons.

Although, personally, I'd go with just the base game at first. I played around dozen games with just the base game and was still finding new stuff to discover and learn. It's also a good way to learn the core mechanics before you add more options into the mix.

[keith.lamothe]

You're probably best off going in-order if you're going to do some but not all.  So TZR is a good place to start   CoN is a micro-expansion and doesn't have as much as the other two (but still quite a lot, all told, and I think you'll find the hybrids to be interesting opponents), and LotS isn't even done so I wouldn't suggest it as the one to get if you're only getting one.

[Ramsar]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm going to go for the base game and Zenith Remnant, though if this game is as good as everyone says I'll probably end up with all the expansions

[keith.lamothe]

Yes, that is the goal of the mind control device   Oh, wait...

[mavorspam]

Go with them all. Your missing out on a lot of great content if you don't pick up LOS.

[NickAragua]

While they're on sale, all of them, since it'll run you less than ten bucks total for an ungodly amount of extra content.

[Ramsar]

Ok, you've convinced me. They're all in my possession now. I'm lucky that I got a lot of spare time coming up