AI War 2

Game is complex without depth. It is a real shame because it is still fun to play at first. Everything devolves down to throwing mobs at the end of the day. The only depth comes from trying to throw the right types of mobs but since so many different types are available and usually combined it just results in everything being the same. Bugs galore... they are not exactly game breaking by omg there is some kind of a bug with everything. Drone's cannot be controlled. Beams... they suck, they suck bad by comparison to the first game. Beams are expensive and do nearly nothing because even though they are hitting no damage is registered, this was most common on the Lone Spire ship. I watched the ship keep attacking and even though the beam looks like it was hitting it did not actually register a hit until I clicked on the enemy unit to force and attack and then it hit. Pathing is occasionally bugged... every once in a while fleets will go exactly the opposite direction you want them to go if you send them more than 1 system away. This is occasional enough to get you not remain vigilant watching it and then wham... you notice that one of your fleets is way out in BFE for no reason getting slammed in an enemy system you didn't even send them too. The new ships bound to fleets management is a headache and I began to hate managing them once I started getting large fleets. One problem traded for a different problem and results in no change in the micromanagement headache when it comes down to it. The progression is likewise annoying. I hate that I need to keep going back to old systems to add new tech I just recieved and the new tech tree seems less intuitive than the original. You can also spend tech points in ways that really wastes them and is nice for flexibility but gives hearburn when you find out that your fleets do not upgrade the way you expect them. looks like I am out of space...

The gameplay is deep and the ability to jump right in makes it very accessible. Does the fleet battle piece really well.

Has come on leaps and bounds since early access. It's almost a new game but at its core it's as it ever was in AI War Classic with about 4 expansions now we are able to purchase the first DLC for this, the sequel. I thought AIWC a masterpiece, frankly. The interface was just right despite the volume of info to digest -- pressing F1 cycled through a catalogue of all shiptypes in-game; a wonderful QoL touch. A slew of wide-ranging options kept tweakers like me well-occupied. The AI was reactive progressively smartarse AI that could thump you at a default "7" difficulty setting and murder you at "9". Happy days. So it's roughly the same again here, but... The oversized UI and fonts look dreadful on an 1080p display. Its as if you were timewarping back to those heady days of gaming at 640x480 resolution -- if you want to play in a window, again it looks awful with the perception of a 72 point font writ large at first second and fortieth glance on your screen. As for the audio ... as others have noted the AI taunts are wretchedly incomprehensible-- the voiceover actor has a very particular, acute, regional dialect that makes you reach for the audio off setting -- and quickly. No offence intended but it sounds very amateur. Also Arcen found fit to stereotype national idioms in their "unit feedback". This too sounds comically dreadful. The music is hard to love as well, but tastes of course will vary. So, in summation, you may decide the prequel did it all so much better and tastefully better at that.

I'd say the game is great at lower difficulties but that's about it. Once you want to actually have a challenging AI the AI doesn't want to fight anymore. Instead all it wants to do is hit and run across your entire zone. Due to the sheer amount of ships they send your systems have no method of slowing them all down. This is what really ruins the experience. At the higher levels the AI is going to have a lot more power but if you hold good choke points you'd have a semi-chance of holding off the waves(like all 4x and strategy games. Its how they are made). However, since they just run right past your setup because them losing 5 strength is nothing and their army spread out across 5 zones is far more powerful than you being able to hold anything. It just goes right past every defense and straight to your economy so you have to play chase and fight across multiple systems. Now this isn't easy for you because your ships respawn based on where your transport is and he can be in only 1 location at a time. With the fleets so spread out you can no longer use your strengths of your fleet setup because you're trying to chase an enemy, pick up, and move your fleet constantly. While this is all happeniing your economy is dying around you and new waves coming in at your choke points which you can't reinforce. If you look at some past mega balance problems of 4x games like this where you have "lanes" it was giving the AI the ability to not need to use the lanes. AI did just this, hit and run everywhere. It made the gameplay incredibly frustrating because you can never build an economy if the AI just runs past all your defense setup, especially when even the best player can barely fight head on with a good defense. Which is why ultimately these games removed things like this due to sheer amount of abuse from the AI. This wouldn't be as bad in this game if the bases could put up a fight against more than a few ships which is another problem all together.

Unique strategy game where you have to make the most of what you find in a procedurally generated galaxy to beat the AI overlord. The latter already controls the whole galaxy and launches predictable waves at you which increase as you take territory, as well as the not-so-predictable Hunter and Warden fleets. You can't possibly conquer the whole map, so deep raids to capture or destroy objectives are essential. A variety of allies and aliens can be added to the game to spice things up. Coop multiplayer (the sequel was renowned for this game mode) and a first DLC are coming Q2 2020. The strategy layer is fascinating and the game tense and very satisfying when you win, but the interface while better than the first game is pretty unpolished and confusing at first. I also find the unit control and actual tactical gameplay serviceable but somewhat dull, with units that differ only by HP, damage and speed as well as a complicated rock-paper-scissors system. All in all a unique game that's well worth trying. Once coop is in it might become the best coop strategy game out there.