Won my first game!

[Draco18s]

And if you pay attention to the other acheivements, you'll see that 26.4% of all players have played a game that lasted 1 hour or more. And 22.2% have taken control of a second planet...

33% have hit 50,000 spare energy which is trivial in the current model.

He do I learn what is good and bad to do when either what I learn will be outdated, or constantly changing due to beta adjustments? That was my logic anyway.  A bit like playing chess and someone keeps changing how the knight moves at random intervals in the game.

Majority of the changes aren't that significant.

Indeed.  Most of the changes are on individual unit levels, making "bonus unit 1" 10% buff in damage and "bonus unit 2" get a 5% nerf in speed.

The big-big stuff is usually optional in some manner (i.e. you don't need to play with Nomads) and generally get playtested heavily (which is when wild swings change) but given their optional nature, you don't have to worry about it usually.

[Bud Backer]

I've been something of an "advanced novice" or "brave newbie" on this game for years. Don't feel bad. I vacillate between playing barebones games over a few months, to playing more advanced games (often quitting halfway through) over the course of a week or two. I'm a far cry from the experts around here, but I have fun, and I feel I know the game about as well as I want to.

AI War's remarkable in that its pacing and difficulty are so customizable. Figuring out how to do that can be tricky without prior experience, though, and daunting.

I'm currently turtling my way through the Beginner 2 campaign, which is basically a few steps up from where you are right now. I have a newborn, so this fits the sporadic 20-minutes-a-day-where-the-hell-was-I play space I currently have. I really recommend it. The AI is well-balanced, lets you take your time, but doesn't let you fart around too much. I suggest you start with it, and add a few options that you think you can handle.

Thanks for the suggestion. I actually selected beginner campaign (not #2) because it is actually harder than the settings I used, but slightly easier than the ones you are using. I tried it once before and was unable to finish, the AI and I reached a stalemate. It wasn't killing but I could not get past its forces to continue.

You have my sympathies with your time limits. It's themsort of thing that keeps me from attempting multiplayer - it's nice to sit down when one has a moment - an unscheduled moment - and play. Though I'd like to try multiplayer at some point because the shared experience must be richer than facing the computer alone.

[TheVampire100]

Congrats! Welcome top the 5% (of people who've played long enough to do that)!

(No really, look at the Steam global stats)

Where would one see these stats?

http://steamcommunity.com/stats/AIWar/achievements
And I was slightly off.  First Victory is 3.9%

You have to add that Steam tracks everyone that ever started this game so it is likely that a major part of this are people that picked up the game but weren't interested in it

And if you pay attention to the other acheivements, you'll see that 26.4% of all players have played a game that lasted 1 hour or more. And 22.2% have taken control of a second planet...

Yeah, exactly. That's 3/4 of the players not playing the game to the end.

Beginner campaigns are set to give the players a start into the game. All the minor factions and AI personalities are quite confusing and new players don't know what factions and personalities would fit their playstyle and wouldn't make the game too hard.
In my very first game I set almost everything on that was there and was very fast screwed. Beginner camapign helps to figure out what minor factions are for a good start into the game, after that you can test them individually.

[Bud Backer]

May I ask how many games you had before your victory (you can see the number of total games in the game under stats or even on the front page).

I'm sorry I haven't answered this yet. I was planning to when I got home today, but the latest update 8.017 has rendered the game unloadable so I can't get the info you requested.

However, to the best of my recollection, I got this game something over a year ago, when Vengeance of the Machine came out. Not counting starting short test runs where I may play for 20 min or so to try something, I'd say I've attempted perhaps 6-8 serious games.

All but one were aborted some hours in, because (usually) an update occurred and I wanted a clean install, or I decided that I was headed down the wrong path and it was too late to really make up for my mistakes (too high AI Progress is in some sense, irreversible, Data Centers, etc notwithstanding).

[NickAragua]

Just wanted to say congrats on winning a game. It's really a non-trivial accomplishment.

[Zair]

That big ol' YOU WON! is a good feeling, amen.

I think I've seen it all of four times since I got the game, and that was back when there were just three expansions. Always feels good to add another notch to Home Command's hull.

Congrats!

[Bud Backer]

Thanks, guys. So far in my next game, 6/6, I'm getting pasted. Ugh! The taste of victory is sweet but short-lived!

[Zair]

I haven't gone above 7/7 yet, but modern 7/7 with Fallen Spire on and being progressed along is ... interesting!

Also, the AI waves are a lot larger than I remember from the first Fallen Spire game I had.

I'm thankful for the Zenith Trader! I'd have died for sure without a planetary armor booster at each of my chokepoints.

[TheVampire100]

The highest what I've done so far has been 8/8 and I'm still struggling with that difficulty.

[Draco18s]

I haven't won a game since before the Transport Nerf (pre CoN).  That was on 7.3 I think.

Trying to get a friend into the game, we didn't play yesterday because he'd gotten into a "short" game of Supreme Commander and every time they thought they were about to win, the game would expand the map and supply more objectives.

Like, "I got home at 7pm," got a message from time "at about 8," then "right around 9" he said 'almost done' and wasn't actually out of the game until nearly 10.  I'm really sure he'd like AI War if he just gave it a chance to figure it out.  He's dyslexic, so the sheer number of units and sub-ideal tooltips probably aren't helping.

We're going to try again tonight, see if I can use the tutor feature to see what's causing him problems.

[Hamlet]

I just won my first full game last night.  I'd lost in the final moments of the tutorial (I hadn't managed to destroy the AI homeworld and their revenge attack wiped me out), but decided to jump into the full game anyway, albeit on 5/5 AI difficulty and a 50 world map.

In the end actually I had a relatively easy ride - the two random AI types turned out to be the mine one and a turtle - only losing one unimportant world through the 10 hour campaign, and basically never having a problem with resources at any point.  I feel like it gave me a good introduction though.

Now the question is whether to jump up to 7/7 for the next game, or stick with the natural progression of 6/6.  I'm also planning on including more of the extra options.  What do you think?

[Aklyon]

Go with 6/6 if you want to throw lots of new extras in all at once.

[tadrinth]

Now the question is whether to jump up to 7/7 for the next game, or stick with the natural progression of 6/6.  I'm also planning on including more of the extra options.  What do you think?

I would suggest jumping to 7/7 and adding a moderate amount of extra stuff.  Definitely enable all the expansions you have access to. 

[Bud Backer]

I just won my first full game last night.  I'd lost in the final moments of the tutorial (I hadn't managed to destroy the AI homeworld and their revenge attack wiped me out), but decided to jump into the full game anyway, albeit on 5/5 AI difficulty and a 50 world map.

In the end actually I had a relatively easy ride - the two random AI types turned out to be the mine one and a turtle - only losing one unimportant world through the 10 hour campaign, and basically never having a problem with resources at any point.  I feel like it gave me a good introduction though.

Now the question is whether to jump up to 7/7 for the next game, or stick with the natural progression of 6/6.  I'm also planning on including more of the extra options.  What do you think?

If you've been reading this thread, you know what I did 6/6, all expansions on, everything at default, random AI's. Noticeably tougher than 5/5, but depending on how you're feeling, 7/7 might be the right fit.

Congratulations on completing a full game! I too lost the first time I did the tutorial. I knew when that happened in what is supposed to be a training enviroment that this game is...different..

[Hamlet]

If you've been reading this thread, you know what I did 6/6, all expansions on, everything at default, random AI's. Noticeably tougher than 5/5, but depending on how you're feeling, 7/7 might be the right fit.

Congratulations on completing a full game! I too lost the first time I did the tutorial. I knew when that happened in what is supposed to be a training enviroment that this game is...different..

Thanks - I think I'll probably follow your lead and go for 6/6, but with some more things enabled this time around.  "Noticeably tougher" is probably enough for now!