AI War 2 is a grand strategy/RTS hybrid against a galaxy that has already been conquered by rogue artificial intelligence. It's also "a sequel to [Arcen's] enormo-space RTS AI War, which we called 'one of this year's finest strategy games' back in 2009" (Tom Sykes, PC Gamer)The most devious and acc...
AI War 2 is a grand strategy/RTS hybrid against a galaxy that has already been conquered by rogue artificial intelligence. It's also "a sequel to [Arcen's] enormo-space RTS AI War, which we called 'one of this year's finest strategy games' back in 2009" (Tom Sykes, PC Gamer)
The most devious and acclaimed artificial intelligence in strategy gaming returns... with a host of mutual enemies.
Face off against a more advanced version of the original AI, who once again has captured the entire galaxy leaving you only a tiny planet to yourself. Then strike out and find a way to cleverly outwit it nonetheless. All the new capturables, larger fleets, and hacking abilities are sure to help. (You're going to need it.)
Or immerse yourself in a far more complicated galactic struggle involving the nanocaust, macrophages, dyson spheres, and more. Other factions each have their own goals, rules, units, and entirely unique economies. Make the scenario complicated enough and it can become "World War XV is in progress, you're in a tiny farm in the middle of it, nobody likes you, but if you can just kill that one giant angry enemy leader this will all be over."
If that sounds over the top -- and frankly that bit is wearying to us to imagine even though some people seek it out -- then take a break and maybe hack the all-consuming computer virus to be your ally, and convince the star-sized alien hives to watch your back as you take on a suddenly-less-arrogant AI.
(If you're really feeling spiteful, take yourself out of the equation, turn on super fast forward, and watch them all fight like ants on a galactic scale.)
Modernized and supercharged.
It's been ten years since the original AI War launched, and the gaming world has changed a lot -- as has the available computing power on any device you're using to read this. We've pulled out all the stops to build foes more formidable and intelligent than before, and to create simulations of hundreds of thousands of units running at 120fps in a lot of cases. You can speed up and slow down the simulation without any extra load on your CPU, and pause at will.
The interface respects your time by automating things that you would do the same 95% of the time anyway. For that other 5% there are indeed advanced features such as placing spy nanites, tweaking or disabling the rules of automation, or redesigning your fleet compositions as much as you want.
Streamlined, yet deeper.
Sometimes when a sequel says it's "streamlined," it can really mean "dumbed down." And there are indeed fewer tiny choices to be made in some areas here: you don't have to decide how to wash each dish; you have a dishwasher. And it's a good thing you do, to be honest, because the rabbit hole of complex and confounding scenarios goes as deep as you want it to.
All those bits where you make the interesting strategic decisions? Those bits are tougher than ever, and you can't fall back on old boring habits to muddle through. You need your attention free to anticipate, to plan, to dream... and then throw those all aside and figure it out by the seat of your pants when everything goes sideways.
There's too much to memorize (but tooltips are always right there, anyway), and there's always an unfamiliar element. Clicking fast won't help you. To win the AI War, you'll have to improvise, adapt, and use your wits.
As it should be.
How About Some Highlights?
Many optional factions, each with their own goals and strategies, create a living galaxy.
A new Fleets system gives you even more ships than before, and allows you to customize your empire more than ever.
A ton of map types, and with a lot of sub-options to make them even more varied.
Outguard to hire, factions to ally with, and oodles of targets to capture or hack --with the AI or aliens.
Warden, Hunter, and Praetorian Guard sub-fleets of the AI provide for new challenges (and sometimes opportunities) in how both you and the AI interact with each other.
Crazy moddability, with many levers available in easily-accessible XML.
What's New Compared To The Original?
More approachable gameplay, but with a rabbit hole that goes as deep as ever.
More to do, in terms of moment to moment gameplay and choices. More to find, more to conquer or be conquered-by.
Polished gameplay mechanics, representing everything learned from first game’s six expansions (plus three years of development on this sequel).
Trimmed fat: repetitive boring tasks have been automated or streamlined, but more options than ever have been added for you to customize things when you want to. Our goal is never to waste your time, but always have an array of interesting challenges for you to pursue at once.
Redesigned UI that gives you a ton of information and power right when you need it.
1.5 hours of new music added to the 4.5 hour included score from the original game.
Multithreading for modern performance, and a codebase that will not summon an elder god (recoded from the ground up for modern rigs).
Over 1900 lines of spoken dialogue from more than 25 actors.
After a publicly turbulent development cycle, the sequel to one of indie gaming's most complex and original strategy games is finally here.
The premise is humanity has lost the war against an AI rebellion. The remaining pockets of humanity are so weak the AI considers them beneath notice and has turned its attention to threats outside the galaxy. You command the last bastion of humanity capable of fighting back. Instead of a total war, which you would lose, you have to carry out a guerilla campaign, gaining fleets and resources and tech and carefully winding a path through the galaxy to the AI core without presenting enough of a threat for the AI to take much notice of you before it's too late.
The action takes place in the orbits around planets, connected by a web of warp gates. Each planet you control brings in a constant stream of metal and energy, like in Total Annihilation, as well as a finite amount of research and hacking points. In addition, planets can have strategic resources for increasing the size and quality of your forces.
The problem is, every planet you take back from the AI increases its aggression meter (AI Progress) which increases the size and tech level of its forces, especially the ones it sends in regular waves to attack your systems. Conquer a big chunk of the galaxy for yourself, and suddenly you can get squashed by the AI retaliatory fleet.
Unlike the first game, you don't build and control ships individually. Instead you have carrier fleets with a random selection of ship types installed, and nearby factories automatically build strike craft for them until they reach their unit cap. Once deployed from their carrier, you can still command individual ships or lasso groups to do flanking maneuvers and the like, but from a grand strategy perspective this makes things much simpler.
I'm out of space. It's prettier, more streamlined, and more approachable for newcomers than AI War 1. But the AI is just as smart/scary.
Recommended!
Pros:
doesn't feel like a "real time strategy" but it's a strategy that is in real time.This is an incredibly GOOD thing.Breaks the mold, does right what so very many do wrong.
Incredibly in depth Intuitive tutorial
GUI does not test-patience of player
Unbelievably good settings options menu.
Tons of options.
Every time you click a button in the settings, the sound is actually DIFFERENT
I detect an insane amount of love went into this game
Mentions of modding multiple times in JUST the settings alone! WOW!
One big fun chess game where you really have to think about your next move
Gameplay itself is EXCELLENT
Cons and other very annoying things:
When zooming out, your screen angle (set with Q) resets automatically to a TOP-DOWN view
No option that changes the scale of the "Selected Ships And/Or Fleets"
If you press the button "Set to defaults" in the settings, on some pages it will only reset the defaults of the current page, while on other settings pages it will revert 100% of ALL OF YOUR SETTINGS back to DEFAULT. You will lose fullscreen and ALL settings and have to customize the whole entire settings ALL over again.
Even if you press V multiple times, pursuit mode refuses to turn off on a group of your ships, forcing the player to turn off V on 100+ ships one by one each time.
I can't understand anything the enemy AI is saying. I just perceive a threatening tone from them but the words are impossible to make sense of.
There is way too much emotional piano music and also "cute soothing baby music" like when I was little and they would put the little music maker above my bed. It's beautiful but it doesn't feel "spacey" "scifi" "danger" "mysterious" "suspenseful" enough to match the theme of the game.
The game is extremely quiet-no noticeable ambient/spacey/environmental/ship engine/engineers building ships or objects sounds. The universe doesn't feel "Alive" at all.
My comp could run Witcher 3 on high settings, but the game makes my computer fan run a lot.
10/10
AI War is about an AI with its own mind which took over the whole galaxy. You are the last bastion of humanity and your ultimate goal is to defeat the AI core but without being too much a threat for the AI. It is pretty much Terminator but in space and in a much larger scale.
AI War is Arcen Games best product and the first one is definitely in my top 5 strategy games list of all time. AI War II is pretty much the first one but with better graphics, more refined systems, tons of quality of life improvements and a much better UI.
Pros:
~ Unique setting
~ Deep strategy game with high replayability
~ Multiplayer is super fun
~ Crossplatform-support since day one
~ Game is much more accessible for beginners
~ Very cool developer who listens to the community
~ Very good ingame tutorial
~ Has a lot of potential for future content
~ Even for the full price it is a bargain for what you will get
~ Game receives updates regularly (weekly)
~ You can notice that a lot of love went into this game
Neutral:
~ Music is kinda meh, some tracks are good and some just do not fit
Bad:
~ Still a couple of minor bugs to find but nothing game breaking
~ Others mentioned it before, there are no engine or ship-/factory-sounds so the game can feel a little bit too artificial
Overall AI War II is like the first one but better and much more accessible for beginners! And imho it is an absolute no-brainer for every scifi strategy fan!
Let me give you a small taste of this game and the strategic thinking that you will require.
Imagine sitting at the galactic map, paused, for about 10-15 minutes. You are looking for your next target. You are deciding how best to use the hour you get between forced encounters with the AI. Each encounter could give the AI that critical moment of weakness that it can, and will, use against you. Just how much are you willing to trade for that extra fleet? That defensive bonus? That extra economic output for your forces? How much is too much? What if it's too little?
Everything you do can give your opponent the power to crush you. This opponent knows your weaknesses. It understands them. It will prod and poke you to understand what is where and how best to counter it. And it will, when the time is right, try to kill you. It will succeed at least half of the time, if not more.
The name of this game is Critical Mass. You need to reach this as fast as you can, as safely as you can, and in the best position that you can before it is too late and the AI crushes you.
Best piece of advice I can offer you -- If you go into this thinking it's Starcraft, Civ, or any other RTS you've played before that has a large emphasis on quick growth in the early game to outpace our opponents -- You will not like this game until you train yourself to not think that way.
You're resistance fighters. A rough collection of misfits who think they can topple a god. It's all a gamble and you better be damn sure what you're gambling with. Everything you do is critical. Every second counts because that timer is ticking to the next instigator that will force you to make a move against the AI or suffer the consequences. When you do make your move, the AI is watching. The AI is waiting. It's going to go for your throat at the worst possible time.
This review is my first impression of AI War 2 after having previously played AI War: Fleet Command. I got into the first game after all its expansions had already been released, and would consider myself a late beginner player of that game. I have an understanding of all the base mechanics, though I have not played with or experienced every ship type available.
AI War 2 retains the same feel of AI War: Fleet Command while overhauling several of its central features such as how space ships are managed and how to explore the galaxy. Graphics and sound are both improved. The user interface has been revamped to fit AI War 2's new features. This is a complex game, and I think the UI does a good job of helping the player navigate within the game world.
The most apparent difference between AI War 2 and its predecessor is that ships are now managed within fleets that populate themselves automatically based on their composition of ship types. The effect of this is that I spend less time managing ship production and delivery of new ships to the front lines. It's easier to direct my forces around the galaxy because I can now do so from the galactic map. On the other hand, it's a little more difficult for me to isolate specific ship types to use on an ad-hoc basis. Overall, I like the new fleet management because it distinguishes the 1st game from the 2nd and it allows me to speed up my games.
AI War 2 has several other exciting new features that I am unable to evaluate yet. The AI has been rewritten, and is supposed to be more sophisticated. We have even more options for setting up a new game including the ability to have 1 or many AIs rather than being limited to 2 for each game. In my games so far, I've seen many new structures and ships that were not in the first game.
I think that anyone who likes the first game will like this one too. AI War 2 feels like an improvement over the first, and will likely be my go-to galactic conquest game moving forward.
