AI War:Base "Fleet Command" Game Features

What exactly are the features in the base game of AI War?

A: This topic is something of a moving target, as new features are added all the time in terms of free DLC, etc. This listing is current as of version 3.120 of the game.

Please bear in mind that this is also not even going to make an attempt to list all of the interface features, all of the facets of the AI, all of the possible activities, etc -- that would be an absolutely gargantuan task, and the rest of the wiki makes that pretty clear. Instead, the idea of this topic is to provide a reference for things like AI types, map styles, ship types, etc, which are easily to enumerate. It thus provides something of a referent point for comparison to expansion additions, for instance, or just serves as a plain old reference if you want to look up certain types of information.

In all, there are currently 293 different ships in the base game of AI War, not counting things like modular components or control nodes.

Basic Ship Classes

These four basic ship classes are available to all players (human and AI alike) in literally every game. Almost all of the bonus ship classes are weak against one or more of these basic ship classes. In total there are 18 ships in the basic ship classes.

• Fighters (I-IV variants)
  • Inexpensive, with a small attack range.
• Bombers (I-IV and Core variants)
  • Inflicts high damage on heavy defenses. Best ship class for hitting force fields and the final AI command stations.
• Frigates (I-IV and Core variants)
  • Fires powerful, long-range missiles, but has a very slow reload time.
• Scouts (I-IV variants)
  • Crucial for scouting enemy planets and gathering intel data. Be sure to bring at least one scout with you on every raid, to make sure you can see the full Planetary Summary.

Bonus Ship Classes

The base game of AI War includes 27 "bonus" ship classes beyond the base fighter, bomber, frigate, scout quartet (see above) that is in every game. Here is a list of them, along with what makes each one unique. In total there are 117 ships represented between all the bonus ship classes.

• Bulletproof Fighters (I-IV variants)
  • Standard fighters upgraded with armor that repels all shell-based fire.
• Tachyon MicroFighters (I-IV variants)
  • Tiny fighters best in swarms. Reveals any cloaked enemy ships they come near.
• Raiders (I-IV and Core variants)
  • Fast ship able to bypass many standard defenses such as mines and tractor beams.
• Parasites (I-IV and Core variants)
  • Reclaims enemy ships it kills (reclaimed ships have health = half damage inflicted by reclamator).
• Vampire Claws (I-IV and Core variants)
  • Close-combat ship that repairs itself when it damages enemies. Unless issued a specific command by its controller, it will automatically attack nearby enemies.
• Raptors (I-IV and Core variants)
  • Large, blazing-fast cloaked fighter good against lightweight ships, and excellent for kiting.
• Snipers (I-IV variants)
  • Great for weakening targets at extreme distances.
• Space Tanks (I-IV variants)
  • Very heavily armored with low speed and range, but a strong attack. Excellent against heavily defended targets in the same manner as bombers.
• Electric Shuttles (I-IV variants)
  • Slow moving, but emits lightning into ALL nearby enemy ships. Stronger than their stats look in midsize-to-large groups.
• Vorticular Cutlasses (I-IV variants)
  • Spinning blade mass crashes into enemies, damaging itself and them, straight through their armor. Unless issued a specific command by its controller, it will automatically attack nearby enemies.
• Infiltrators (I-IV variants)
  • Passes through force fields and fires small, armor-piercing shots. Best in huge swarms.
• Eye Bots (I-IV variants)
  • Acts as a scout, passes through force fields, and is missile-proof. Has cloaking and cloaking booster abilities like regular scouts.
• Spiders (I-IV variants)
  • Extremely effective at damaging the engines of enemy ships.
• Laser Gatlings (I-IV and Core variants)
  • Fires low-power lasers at a high rate. Best in large groups.
• Autocannon Minipods (I-IV variants)
  • Extremely fast cloaked ship with short-range rapid fire attack. Excellent against heavy targets, but weak to opposing fleet ships.
• Deflector Drones (I-IV variants)
  • Very long range electrical attack. Protects nearby allied ships by reducing the power of incoming lasers to 1/4 their normal power.
• Space Planes (I-IV and Core variants)
  • Cloaked fighter excellent for bypassing enemy defenses (such as mines and tractor beams), with special onboard radar-dampening equipment that makes it impossible for ships to hit it if they are beyond a certain range from the plane.
• EtherJet Tractors (I-IV variants)
  • Blazing fast cloaked fighter that can grapple an enemy ship and drag it.
• Force Field Bearers (I-IV variants)
  • Does relatively low damage, but has high health and provides a mini force field to protect allied ships. Its force field does not reduce the attack power of protected ships.
• Armor Ships (I-IV and Core variants)
  • Weak firepower but heavily armored; excellent against most small craft.
• Anti-Armor Ships (I-IV variants)
  • Excellent for attacking enemy armor and other targets at high range.
• MLRS (I-IV variants)
  • Multiple Launcher Rocket System fires multiple mid-power rockets.
• Munitions Boosters (I-IV variants)
  • Strong fighter in its own right, it also gives an attack bonus to nearby ships on your team.
• Teleport Raiders (I-IV variants)
  • Fast raiders able to traverse space in an instant.
• Teleport Battle Stations (I-IV variants)
  • Teleporting battle station fires multiple lightning shots.

Starships

Starships are oversized, expensive, powerful vessels for various specialized purposes. Most of them work better on offense, but some of them -- like the Riot Control Starships or Siege Starships or Leech Starships -- can be just as effective on defense. Almost all starships are built at the starship constructor, except for the few that follow special rules (see below). In all, there are 22 different kinds of starships.

• Scout Starships
  • No combat value, but is cloaked, emits tachyon beams, fires counter-sniper flares, and acts as a scout.
• Fleet Starships
  • Light Starships
    • Inexpensive, lightly armored and armed starship. Boosts the strength of nearby ships.
  • Flagships
    • Mid-strength starship with high firepower. Boosts the strength of nearby ships.
• Alien Starships
  • Zenith Starships
    • Advanced alien technology makes this a mobile fortress. Very strong against large groups of ships, and boosts the strength of nearby ships.
  • Spire Starships
    • A formidable starship using technology based on alien artifacts discovered years ago. Very strong against large groups of ships, and boosts the strength of nearby ships.
  • Core Starships (AI Only)
    • The toughest starship in the game, this relic of the Zenith is a secret controlled only by the AIs. These core starships roam around the core and home planets of the AIs, but tend not to be seen anywhere else.
• Siege Starships (I-III variants)
  • This is not so much a ship as a gun with engines on it. It is expensive, slow, thinly armored, has a low rate-of-fire, and can't even fire upon most small mobile targets. But its artillery shells can do grievous harm to starships, fortresses, guard posts, guardians, and turrets.
• Raid Starships (I-III variants)
  • Small, lightning-fast starship with powerful lasers. Excellent for long-range raiding. Can pass/shoot through force fields, and is exceptional at destroying ships with a high armor rating.
• Leech Starships (I-III variants)
  • Reclaims enemy ships it kills (reclaimed ships have health = half damage inflicted by reclamator). Very low main attack, but strikes huge numbers of ships at once (marking them for reclamation if any ship kills them).
• Riot Starships (I-III variants)
  • Specializes in disabling and destroying large numbers of weaker disturbances to the peace. Has three advanced light hardpoints, two medium hardpoints, and two heavy hardpoints.
• Bomber Starships (I-IV variants)
  • Fast, armored starship that inflicts very high damage on any one target. Great against anything with high health. This is an experimental class of starship that is normally only used by the Mad Bomber AI type. There are also Fabricators around the galaxy that allow the human players to build Mark I Bomber Starships.

Directly-Constructed Ships

These different categories of ships represent the different tabs in the command station or mobile builder menus. Rather than being built through a looping queue (as with the military ships and starships noted so far), these ships are directly placed into space and are constructed in-situ. The grand total of these kinds of ships is 83.

Economic Ships

Economic ships are, simply used for maintaining and extending your economy, or for doing engineer-type repair/cleanup/rebuilding duties. There are 14 economic ships in all.

• Energy Reactors (I-III variants)
  • Generates a moderate amount of energy at a moderate cost-to-benefit ratio. Efficiency goes down by 20/40/80% (by mark level) for each new reactor of this type built on the same planet.
• Harvesters (Metal and Crystal variants)
  • Mines crystal or metal found amidst rock deposits or debris fields. Crystal and metal are needed for constructing units.
• Manufactories (Metal and Crystal variants)
  • Expensive method for generating crystal or metal by converting one into the other. Useful when access to deposits is limited. Will automatically activate when your supply of one resource runs low, or when storage of one resource is full but the other is not.
• Science Labs (I-III variants)
  • Research and unlock new technologies. Also gathers up to 3000 knowledge per planet. Mark I and II are mobile but cannot gather from hostile planets. Mark III is immobile but can gather from hostile planets while in supply, which enrages the AI at that planet.
• Engineers (I-III variants)
  • Repairs damaged ships or can accelerate construction done by other ships. Unless issued a specific command by its controller, it will automatically repair nearby allies.
• Remains Rebuilders
  • Cleans up exploded ship remains and builds replacement ships in their place. Each ship it rebuilds costs half the normal metal/crystal/time, and it prevents players from having to manually rebuild them. Unless issued a specific command by its controller, it will automatically rebuild nearby remains.
• Cleanup Drones
  • Removes exploded enemy ship remains, to prevent them from being rebuilt by enemy Remains Rebuilders. Also able to dismantle enemy mines on allied planets.

Command Stations

There are 18 different kinds of command stations in all.

• Home Command Station (Humans)
  • The first team to destroy all their opponents' home planet command stations is the winner. If one player controls multiple home planet command stations, destroying one will destroy them all. However, while one player controls multiple home planet command stations, the ship caps of the player will be increased.
• Economic Orbital Command Stations (I-III variants)
  • Economic Command Stations have very little defensive quality, and absolutely no ability to attack enemy ships, but they provide the largest income in metal, crystal, and energy. Command Stations are the nerve center of every planetary base. All other base buildings are created here. Can only build one per planet (counting all players). Can be built at destroyed planets, but provide no supply there. Must be built close to a colony ship.
• Logistical Orbital Command Stations (I-III variants)
  • Logistical Command Stations provide very little in the way of economic gain, and can't shoot at enemy ships, but they vastly increase the speed of all allied ships and halve the speed of all enemy ships in the current system. They also have middling armor. The highest mark version also stops enemy units from teleporting while they are on the planet. Command Stations are the nerve center of every planetary base. All other base buildings are created here. Can only build one per planet (counting all players). Can be built at destroyed planets, but provide no supply there. Must be built close to a colony ship.
• Military Orbital Command Stations (I-III variants)
  • Military Command Stations provide very little in the way of economic gain, but have much more health and the ability to shoot at enemy ships, along with some specialized immunities like the immunity to blade attacks. They also emit tachyon beams (the highest mark version providing planetary tachyon coverage) and an attack boost to all allies on the planet. Command Stations are the nerve center of every planetary base. All other base buildings are created here. Can only build one per planet (counting all players). Can be built at destroyed planets, but provide no supply there. Must be built close to a colony ship.
• Orbital Command Station - Warp Jammer
  • Costs significant ongoing resources, but prevents any warps from being initiated against its host planet.
• Home Command Station - Core (Humans) (I-III variants)
  • This is the core from a destroyed command station. When a player's home planet command station is destroyed, and that player still has surviving allies, this core warps to the allied home planet.
• AI Orbital Command Stations (I-III variants)
  • Nerve center of every AI's planetary base. Destroy this to greatly hamper the AI's ability to reinforce itself (although certain other structures, like Special Forces Guard Posts, also need to be destroyed to completely prevent the AI from reinforcing a planet). +15 AI Progress if killed.
• Core Command Station (AIs)
  • AI Home Command Stations cannot be damaged until all of the AI Core Guard Posts on the AI home planet and all of the AI Core Shield Generators in the galaxy have been destroyed. The first team to destroy all their opponents' home planet command stations is the winner. +100 AI Progress if killed.

Constructors

There are 6 different kinds of constructors that can be directly built, but there are many other types of constructors that are actually under the Capturables section (Advanced Factories, and many types of Fabricators).

• Space Docks
  • Creates the fighters, bombers, frigates, and other ships that will comprise most of your fleet.
• Mercenary Space Docks
  • Creates mercenary ships. Mercenary ships are vastly more expensive than their non-mercenary counterparts, but they have a much larger ship cap.
• Starship Constructors
  • Generates starships over a long period of time.
• Missile Silos
  • Generates powerful (and expensive) warheads over a long period of time. Nukes in particular are very dangerous to use, and should only be attempted by advanced players. Detonating any warhead causes the AI Progress to increase by some amount (the amount varies by the warhead).
• Mobile Builders
  • Allows you to build economic and defensive ships at planets your team doesn't control. Crucial for establishing beachheads in enemy or neutral territory. Note that ships which require supply will not function outside of supply.
• Colony Ships
  • Send to an uninhabited planet to build a new Command Station and capture the planet. Wanting to upgrade an existing command station on a planet? Don't scrap it! Just build the new one and it will replace it without impacting harvesters, reactors, and ownership of the planet.

Defensive Ships

Defensive ships serve a wide variety of purposes, and some of these are even more useful on offense rather than defense - but they all tend to have a support role of some variety, and more often than not are best either used away from the action on enemy planets, or else in the thick of the action on your own planets. There are 21 ships in all in this category.

• Rally Posts
  • Allied ships that are sent to this planet will gather at this rally post, which can be moved around at will. If there are multiple allied rally posts on a single planet, entering ships will pick one of them at random.
• Advanced Warp Sensors
  • Provides better warning of incoming enemy warps to a planet. Wormholes through which a warp will arrive will flash on the minimap, and will turn orange in the main view.
• Tachyon Drones
  • Weak, mobile ship reacts with nearby enemy cloaked ships, making them trackable for a short while.
• Decloakers
  • Fast mobile ship with moderate attack and the ability to reveal any cloaked enemy ships in a wide arc.
• Mines
  • Enemy ships coming too close to these invisible traps will incur heavy damage. The minefield is also damaged, and eventually destroyed, in the process.
• Mobile Repair Stations
  • Simultaneously repairs all nearby allied ships. After moving, it must recharge for 60 seconds before it can start doing repairs again: it's best to find a good position for it and leave it there until you're ready to deploy it in a new locale.
• Transports
  • Carries up to 200 units (cannot carry certain very large units). Heavily armored and defensible, this is ideal for slipping past minefields, ion cannons, or high-level enemy planets. If the transport is killed, all of the ships inside are ejected safely just before the explosion. Every wormhole that the transport goes through outside of supply drains its health substantially, but it also regenerates health quickly on a friendly planet. Unloading is instant in friendly territory, but only 10 ships per second in hostile territory. Cannot be scrapped in hostile territory.
• Fortresses
  • Extremely large, powerful, and expensive mobile defensive structure. Can store up to 500 units inside itself to protect them during attacks. Also repairs all nearby ships. After moving, it must recharge for 60 seconds before it can start doing repairs again. AI Fortresses are immobile.
• Force Field Generators (I-III variants)
  • Creates a small, mobile force field that provides protection for nearby ships. Ships firing out from under the force field do 75% less damage than normal, so it is best to build defenses around the field. Bombers have a substantial bonus against these and other hardened targets. Raid/Leech Starships, Infiltrators, EyeBots, Ion Cannons, and Counter-Spies can move and fire through force fields as if they are not there.
• Harvester Exo-Force Fields
  • Place on metal or crystal harvesters to create a tiny shield bubble around them. As long as the exo-shield exists, it will take all damage that would have been dealt to the harvester. Ships that are able to fire through normal force fields can't ignore an exo-shield, as it becomes an extension of the protected ship itself. However, the other effect of having this protection is that the output of the harvester is halved.

Turrets

Turrets are, in general, much more powerful than their mobile counterparts. The downside of turrets is that they are immobile. They are thus very well suited for defense (and sometimes for offense, either in creating a beachhead or otherwise), but typically work best when either augmented with mobile ships or tractor beams / gravitational turrets. There are 33 turrets in all.

• Basic Turrets (I-III and Core variants)
  • Inexpensive, basic defense for planetary bases.
• Flak Turrets (I-III variants)
  • Fires bursts of hundreds of canisters each in turn containing hundreds of secondary explosives. Blankets an area with light damage that is extremely effective against melee ships but equally ineffective against heavily armored targets and starships.
• MLRS Turrets (I-III variants)
  • Multiple Launcher Rocket System turret fires multiple mid-power rockets.
• Missile Turrets (I-III variants)
  • Slow, high-power, high-range defense for planetary bases.
• Laser Turrets (I-III variants)
  • Fires powerful lasers at moderate range.
• Heavy Beam Cannons (I-IV variants)
  • Stationary defense platform mounting a massive long-range beam cannon. The beam can vaporize multiple smaller craft in one blast, or do heavy damage to a larger target.
• Lightning Turrets (I-III variants)
  • Fires electric bolts into ALL nearby enemy ships.
• Counter Turrets
  • Counter-Sniper Turrets
    • Launches flares to dissipate any sniper shots coming within its range. Particularly useful for setting up 'beachheads' in enemy territory.
  • Counter-Missile Turrets
    • Fires shots to disable any missile ammo coming within its range.
  • Counter-Dark-Matter Turrets
    • Launches flares to dissipate any dark matter ammo coming within its range. Particularly useful for protecting against Astro Trains and Munitions Boosters.
• Sniper Turrets
  • Sniper Turrets
    • Long-range defense for planetary bases.
  • Spider Turrets
    • Long-range defense for planetary bases -- identical to the base sniper turret, but also inflicts engine damage.
• Tractor Beam Turrets (I-III variants)
  • Locks on to a large number of enemy ships, preventing them from moving (but not from firing).
• Gravitational Turrets (I-III variants)
  • Slows the movement of enemy ships. Range and slowdown amount increased at higher marks.
• Tachyon Beam Emitters (I-II variants)
  • Reacts with nearby enemy cloaked ships, making them trackable for a short while.

Human-Only Ships

These ships represent technologies that the human forces have developed after the AIs took over the galaxy -- and so the AI forces do not yet have access to these tools. This can prove very helpful in counterbalancing all of the new tools that the AI has developed (or bought from alien sources) since humanity was pushed to the brink. Of course, humans have the advantage of being able to steal most all of the different types of AI technology in some fashion or another, but the AIs are unable to steal the human technologies. There are 8 different human-only ships, not counting control nodes, which aren't really ships per se.

Warheads

• Lightning Warheads (I - III variants)
  • Emits a mid-power explosion of lightning that damages enemy ships in a wide arc on detonation. Can be given a direct target that it will chase and then explode near, or it will explode on death. +1/2/3 AI Progress if killed or scrapped.
• Armored Warheads (I - III variants)
  • Armored version of the standard Lightning Warhead. Almost impossible for enemy ships to destroy, so it is highly likely to reach its target. Emits a powerful explosion of lightning that damages nearby enemy ships on detonation. Can be given a direct target that it will chase and then explode near, or it will explode on death. +10/15/20 AI Progress if killed or scrapped.
• EMPs (I - III variants)
  • Does a small bit of localized damage and causes a planet-wide electromagnetic pulse when destroyed by enemy forces or by scrapping. Temporarily paralyzes most ships, disables cloaking, and disables force fields and mines on the planet on which it is set off. EMP effects last for 30/70/120 seconds, and affect your ships as well as enemy ships. Does not affect mark V ships or starships. +2/4/6 AI Progress if killed or scrapped.
• Tachyon Warheads (I - III variants)
  • Does a small bit of localized damage and causes a planet-wide tachyon pulse when destroyed by enemy forces or by scrapping. Reveals for 5/8/12 minutes all cloaked ships (enemy and allied alike) on the planet on which it is set off. +1/2/3 AI Progress if killed or scrapped.
• Nuclear Warheads (I - III variants)
  • Causes a massive nuclear explosion when destroyed by enemy forces or by scrapping. Destroys all resources and most ships within its area of effect. Does not affect mark V ships or starships. Also causes supply to be permanently lost for all teams within its effective area, meaning you then cannot use science labs, docks, etc. Mark I destroys the planet on which it is detonated. Mark II destroys that planet and any planet connected to it via wormhole. Mark III destroys every planet in the galaxy. +50/500/5000 AI Progress if killed or scrapped.

Mercenaries

• Mercenary Fighters
  • Inexpensive, with a small attack range. Identical to the Fighter Mark IV, except 10x more expensive and with a much larger ship cap.
• Mercenary Bombers
  • Inflicts high damage on heavy defenses. Best ship class for hitting force fields and the final AI command stations. Identical to the Bomber Mark IV, except 10x more expensive and with a much larger ship cap.
• Mercenary Frigates
  • Fires powerful, long-range missiles, but has a very slow reload time. Identical to the Missile Frigate Mark IV, except 10x more expensive and with a much larger ship cap.

Control Nodes

(obsolete)

Replaced in 4.0 by toggles in the CTRLS tab.

There are currently 23 different types of control nodes, but they are less ships and more behavioral control quasi-interface elements. They are completely invisible and inert as far as the AI is concerned, and only the humans can build them.

Capturables

Except for the cheats-activated ships, all of these capturables tend to be found scattered around the galaxy, waiting for humans to come make use of them. There is a fair amount to capture in the base game, but one major focus of the first expansion to the game was adding many new capturables. In the base game, there is a total of 15 types of capturables, including the cheats-enabled ones.

General

• Data Centers
  • Server farm. Destroy to damage AI Progress by 20.
• Advanced Research Stations
  • Vault of advanced AI technology. Capture to gain a new ship type for your team to build at space docks. Never destroy these, but if it dies sometime after you capture it, you won't lose the technology you gained from it. Can gather knowledge, but not from hostile planets.
• Advanced Factories
  • Capture to build Mark IV versions of any ship types in which you have already attained Mark III. Never destroy these!
• Core(MkV) Fabricators
  • There are 9 types of these in the base game, one for each of the Core ship types included in the base game. Capturing these is the only way that human players are ever able to build Core/Mark V ships. Each fabricator only allows you to build a single type of core ship by controlling it.
• Starship Fabricators
  • There is only one type of these in the base game, allowing you to build Mark IV Bomber Starships.
• Experimental Fabricators
  • There is only one type of these in the base game, allowing you to build Anti-Starship Arachnids.

Cheats-Activated

• Omega Drive
  • This ship is only available via the "Activate The Omega" cheat. It is severely unbalanced and just for fun or testing.

AI-Only Ships

In the time since the AIs took over the galaxy from the humans, they have been hard at work developing new and stronger technologies as well as buying technologies from aliens the next galaxy over. In many of the ship categories above, from the bonus ship types to the starships to the turrets, there are some ships that are typically only available to the AIs unless the humans capture the technology (and a few of which are technologies that cannot be captured). That pattern holds in this section, but this section lists the more unusual ships -- including special weapons -- that are AI-only (though a number of the weapons in particular can be captured for human use). In all, there are 30 ships in this section, counting the ships that are specific to minor factions (third party AIs).

Guard Posts

• Guard Posts (Normal, Stealth, Core, and Core Stealth variants)
  • See AI War:Guard Posts
• Wormhole Guard Posts
  • See AI War:Guard Posts
• Special Forces Guard Posts
  • See AI War:Special Forces Guard Posts

Misc AI Ships

• AI Force Field Generators (I-III and Core variants)
  • Creates a force field that provides protection without reducing attack power of ships underneath. Attack with several dozen Mark I Bombers (or better) to destroy. Bombers have a substantial bonus against these and other hardened targets. Raid/Leech Starships, Infiltrators, EyeBots, Ion Cannons, and Counter-Spies can move and fire through force fields as if they are not there."
• Warp Gates
  • Destroy these gates to prevent AIs from initiating new warps of raids and reinforcements. Or, is automatically destroyed when the AI's command station is destroyed. The ship production facilities of the AIs are somewhere outside the galaxy -- cut off their ability to warp in raids against adjacent planets by destroying these gates. Note that if all Warp Gates are destroyed, the AI can still bring in ships across normal wormholes, but you won't get a warning.
• Exo-Galaxy Wormholes
  • This one-way wormhole leads to somewhere outside the galaxy. A mysterious force prevents your ships from going through. This wormhole cannot be destroyed, and it will continue letting enemy ships into the galaxy until you finish off both AIs and win the war.
• Anti-Starship Arachnids
  • Extremely effective at damaging the engines of enemy ships.

Astro Trains

• Astro Trains (I-III variants)
  • Nearly-indestructible robotic courier. Slightly damages nearby ships, damages constructors, heavy defense, and turrets more heavily. More importantly, they reveal any cloaked ships that come near, and they tend to disrupt player minefields. Build Counter-Dark-Matter Turrets to protect against them, or destroy Astro Train Stations to re-route them.
• Astro Train Stations
  • Waypoint for astro trains. Destroy to re-route trains.

Special AI Weapons

• Ion Cannons (I-V variants)
  • Advanced weapon which insta-kills most ships equal to or lower than its Mark level (and many ships with no Mark level at all). Cannot fire upon ships immune to insta-kill.
• AI Troop Accelerators
  • Advanced AI technology allows the AI to add reinforcements to this planet at double the normal rate. Destroying this causes the AI Progress to increase by 10.
• Counter Spies
  • Advanced weapon insta-kills cloaked ships.
• SuperFortresses
  • Incredibly powerful fortress with a massive range. Only bombers and tanks have any chance against it. Immobile. Also repairs all nearby ships.
• Avengers
  • This ship only comes into play as part of the Avenger AI Plot. A massive, moon-sized space station created by the AI as the final defense against the human onslaught. If the AI Home Command Station to which it is assigned is destroyed, the Avenger will live up to its name.
• Planetary Cloakers
  • A highly advanced cloaking device. All team ships on the planet which this resides are utterly invisible, even while firing, even if they normally would be visible. They are also immune to tachyon beams and tachyon missiles.
• Attrition Emitters
  • Emits precisely-tuned pulses to drain the health of any enemy ships in the local system.

Minor Faction Ships

• Rebelling Human Colonies
  • A formerly captive city filled with living humans. AI progress will skyrocket by 100 if this is destroyed. These civilians have decided to rebel, and have erected a temporary invisibility cloak while they call for aid. When the cloak dissipates, they'll be vulnerable to attacks from the AI, and surely won't last long. When the city is captured by the humans, your entire team can use their facilities to build rebel ships. While you hold the planet on which they are located, their invisibility cloak will remain at full power.
• Marauder Buzz Bombs
  • Hostile human vagabonds who live in deep space will occasionally send these automated bombs at human and AI settlements to destroy what they can so that they can escape with the resulting scrap. The buzz bomb fires high-impact grenades that explode on contact with its target, dealing area damage. They won't attack any AI ships that human players must normally manually target.
• Marauder Dagger Frigates
  • Hostile human vagabonds who live in deep space will occasionally send these extremely long-range frigates at human and AI settlements to destroy what they can so that they can escape with the resulting scrap. They won't attack any AI ships that human players must normally manually target.
• Resistance Fighter/Bombers
  • Pockets of human allies who still live in deep space around AI planets will occasionally send these versatile fighter/bomber hybrids to aid you in the fight against the AI at their local planet. They won't attack any AI ships that human players must normally manually target.
• Resistance Frigates
  • Pockets of human allies who still live in deep space around AI planets will occasionally send these very long-range frigates to aid you in the fight against the AI at their local planet. They won't attack any AI ships that human players must normally manually target.

AI Types

The following 26 AI types are included in the base game.

Easier

• Entrenched Homeworlder
  • Planets are heavily defended, and they do moderate attacks on the players.
  • Unique Units: Captive Human Settlements
• Fortress Baron
  • Planets are mostly moderately defended, but the core planets are incredibly heavily defended, and they do moderate attacks on the players.
  • Unique Units: SuperFortress
• Sledge Hammer
  • Waves slam into one player planet after another, with potentially fatal effect.
• Turtle
  • Planets are all very-to-incredibly heavily defended, but they do no waves against the players (Cross Planet Attacks and border aggression still happen).
• Train Master
  • Uses many, many astro trains.
  • Extra Units: Double the normal number of astro trains.
• Mine Enthusiast
  • Planets are all moderately defended, but are heavily booby-trapped with mines.
• The Tank
  • Planets are all lightly defended, and they do slightly heavier-than-average attacks on the players.
  • Extra Units: Has tanks and armor ships from the start, as well as whatever other ships they might unlock.

Moderate

• Vicious Raider
  • Planets are all moderately defended, and they do heavy attacks on the players.
  • Extra Units: Has raider ships from the start, as well as whatever other ships they might unlock.
• Mad Bomber
  • Non-core planets are all very lightly defended, but does extremely brutal attacks on the players.
  • Unique Units: Bomber Starships
• Feeding Parasite
  • Uses parasite raids almost exclusively (which can be highly damaging).
  • Extra Units: Has all parasite ships from the start, as well as whatever other ships they might unlock.
• Stealth Master
  • Uses stealth raids almost exclusively (which can be highly disconcerting).
  • Extra Units: Has all ships with cloaking from the start, as well as whatever other ships they might unlock.
• Counter Spy
  • Planets are heavily defended, and advanced scouting is almost impossible because of the counter spy defenses on each planet, which insta-kill all cloaked ships.
  • Unique Units: Counter Spy
• Teleporter Turtle
  • Planets are all very-to-incredibly heavily defended, but they do no waves against the players (Cross Planet Attacks and border aggression still happen). Specializes in teleporting ships, which are particularly powerful in defensive postures.
  • Extra Units: Has all ships with teleportation from the start, as well as whatever other ships they might unlock.
• Backdoor Hacker
  • Planets are all moderately defended, and they have a permanent path into each player's home planet (so creating the usual defensive perimeters won't work).
  • Extra Units: Has a permanent Exo-Galaxy Wormhole on each player's home planet.
• Assassin
  • Planets are all moderately defended, and they harass the strongest player with prejudice.
• Bully
  • Planets are all moderately defended, and they harass the weakest player with prejudice.

Harder

• Attritioner
  • Planets are all moderately defended, except that each one has an Attrition Emitter, which drains the health of any human ships in the system. Does heavy attacks on the players.
  • Unique Units: Attrition Emitter
• Scorched Earth
  • Heavily defended planets. Whenever it loses control of a planet, it destroys that planet and all the resources there. Ships will survive.
• Shadow Master
  • Like the Stealth Master, except every planet is equipped with a powerful device that keeps all ships permanently cloaked, even when firing, even if they wouldn't normally have cloaking. The only sign of this enemy is the device itself, which can be difficult to reach what with all the invisible enemies firing at you from the nether.
  • Unique Units: Planetary Cloaker
  • Extra Units: Has all ships with cloaking from the start, as well as whatever other ships they might unlock.
• Special Forces Captain
  • Only has special forces guard posts -- no regular guard posts. This makes for a tremendous number of ships patrolling around the map at any given time.

Technologist

• Technologist Homeworlder
  • Like the Entrenched Homeworlder, except the enemy uses only the highest-technologies right from the start (these are quite a formidable foe).
  • Unique Units: Captive Human Settlements
• Technologist Raider
  • Like the Vicious Raider, except the enemy uses only the highest-technologies right from the start (these are quite a formidable foe).
  • Extra Units: Has raider ships from the start, as well as whatever other ships they might unlock.
• Technologist Sledge
  • Like the Sledge Hammer, except the enemy uses only the highest-technologies right from the start (these are quite a formidable foe).
• Technologist Turtle
  • Like the Turtle, except the enemy uses only the highest-technolgies right from the start (these are quite a formidable foe).
• Technologist Parasite
  • Like the Feeding Parasite, except the enemy uses only the highest-technologies right from the start (these are quite a formidable foe).
  • Extra Units: Has all parasite ships from the start, as well as whatever other ships they might unlock.
• The Core
  • Planets are all lightly defended in terms of the number of ships at each, but all ships of this AI are deadly Mark V/Core ships.

Randoms

Normally when you choose a random AI type you cannot see which type was actually chosen until the game ends. However, there is an AI Modifier in the lobby that allows you to make them visible from the start, but still chosen at random. You can also use the disabledaitypes.txt? file to exclude specific AI types from being chosen (if you've already played them, say, and are trying to work your way at random through the whole list -- or if you simply don't like a specific type of AI).

• Random Easier
  • Chooses one of the easier AI types at random.
• Random Moderate
  • Chooses one of the moderate AI types at random.
• Random Moderate/Easier
  • Chooses one of the easier or moderate AI types at random.
• Random Harder
  • Chooses one of the harder AI types at random (technologist AI types are all considered harder, so this includes them).
• Random Harder Non-Technologist
  • Chooses one of the harder AI types at random, but specifically excluding any of the technologist types.
• Random All
  • Chooses one of AI types at random.
• Random All Non-Technologist
  • Chooses one of AI types at random, but specifically excluding any of the technologist types.

Minor Factions

Minor Factions are a pretty hefty topic, so they are covered in way more depth on the Minor Factions wiki page. Here's a list of the ones added as part of the base game, though:

• Human Resistance Fighters, which occasionally show up to help the player against AI planets.
• Human Marauders, which occasionally show up at player or AI planets during large fights to attack both parties.
• Human Rebelling Colonies, which occasionally call for aid -- rewarding the human players with income and new ships if they answer, or causing an AI Progress increase if the rebel colony perishes.

AI Plots

AI plots can be enabled through the lobby, and provide varied endgame scenarios.

• Avenger
  • An avenger space station spawns on the death of the core command station of the AI with the avenger plot turned on. The Avenger is incredibly powerful, and will go straight for human home command stations.

Map Styles

The following map styles are included in the base game:

• Realistic
  • Connections between planets are much more complex, as real wormhole networks would more likely be.
    • This mode tends to create more interesting maps, but the visual complexity of them can be intimidating to new players.
• Realistic - Hubs
  • Connections between planets are complex and plentiful.
• Simple
  • Connections between planets are simpler and easier to see.
    • This is the recommended mode for new players, but it will result in fewer unique maps.
• Simple - Hubs
  • Connections between planets are simpler and easier to see, but very plentiful.

Music Tracks

In all, there is over 50 minutes of music in the base game. The specific tracks are:

• Special Tracks
  • Title Theme
  • Victory
  • Defeat
• During-play tracks:
  • Energy Storm
  • Intro
  • Marisa
  • Metal
  • Odyssey
  • Smooth
  • Spike
  • Thor Variation
  • Thor
  • Variation 1
  • Warp

Miscellaneous

• There are a goodly number of cheats, enumerated on the cheats page.
• Local high scoreboards, or Steam leaderboards if you're using the Steam version of the game.
• 132 achievements, either for local use or for via Steam if you're using the Steam version of the game.

AI War:AI War