Wednesday, January 13, 2010

AI War 3.0 Released!



Arcen Games is pleased to announce the release of AI War: Fleet
Command version 3.000. You can download a trial version
of the game, as well as purchase
a license key
to unlock the full version. If you already have the
game or demo installed, just hit "Check For Updates" inside the game to
get the latest patch.  




- Updated art for many ships, including larger and more
impressive command stations, space docks, fortresses, colony ships, and
more!

-New starships: The Raid Starship line has been split, so
that now there is a Raid Starship line (Mark I-III), and a separate
Leech Starship line (Mark I-III).

-New capturables: Fabricators, which let you manufacture (the
previously AI-only) Mark V ships, Bomber Starships, and more!

-Co-op improvements: Players who have lost their home
station, or who join the game late, now get a “Home Command Station
Core,” which provides them with the resources and build capacity they
need to keep playing in a fun way without slowing the other players
down.  Other minor changes also abound, such as messages to allied
players when technologies are unlocked, and improvements to engineer
assistance from allies.

-AI Improvements:  The AI is smarter and more devious than
ever, while some of the more game-flow-interrupting tactics such as
Cross-Planet Attacks have also been made less frequent.  Ship
autotargeting is now notably better for both the players and AI.

-Performance Improvements: The game now performs 400% to
1000% better in supermassive games of (those with 100,000 to 200,000
units on the map), and on average 20% to 80% better on regular sized
games (usually 80,000 units or fewer).

-Interface Improvements: A wide variety of player-suggested
minor tweaks have been made to the interface, leading to ever-improved
usability.  The planetary summary now has category-colorization on
mouseover, planet names are colorized by owner status in the galaxy map,
“control nodes” have been added to allow new automation options for
players, amongst many others.

-Other New Ships: Rally Posts allow for directing incoming
allied forces to a specific place on a planet, Cleanup Drones remove
exploded enemy mines and turrets, and Mine Layers have turned into more
generalized Remains Rebuilders which can auto-rebuild turrets as well as
mines for players (both AI and human, so be sure to use Cleanup Drones
on enemy planets).

-New Minor Factions: Minor Factions aren’t just for customers
of the expansion!  Three new minor factions have also been added to
version 3.0 for all AI War players (optionally enable any combination of
them through the lobby).  

-Human Marauders are a hostile minor faction that will
sometimes attack you or the AI from deep space, using their powerful new
Buzz Bombs and Dagger Frigates.

-Human Resistance Fighters are an allied minor faction that
will sometimes decloak from deep space and join you in assaulting AI
worlds with their powerful new Fighter/Bombers and Frigates.

-Rebelling Human Colonies are formerly-captive human cities
that need your help in order to survive -- fail and you’ll see an
increase in AI Progress, but succeed and your entire team will be able
to build the powerful new ships used by the Resistance Fighters.

-Ship Balance Updates: Many minor and major ship balance
adjustments have been made – the most notable of these is that the core
fighter/cruiser/bomber triangle has been redefined into an
easier-to-follow fighter/bomber/frigate triangle.

-Game Flow Improvements: Not only are the disruptive
cross-planet attacks less frequent, but all human ships now move 40%
faster (making it easier to stage defenses or coordinate assaults –
especially so since AI ships are still the same speed as before), many
new automations have been built into the interface (the most notable of
which is that metal/crystal harvesters are now automatically rebuilt on
human planets after hostile AI forces are gone), and a few key
structures (space docks, factories, etc) have been made more robust.
 Players will spend less time than ever on repetitive tasks, letting
especially new players take to the stars faster.

-And Much More: The full release notes for version 3.0 (not
including expansion notes) are over 10,000 words long.  This is by the
largest single release AI War has ever seen, and no small wonder – it
was three months in the making!  Future free DLC updates will resume
their monthly schedule.




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