AI War 2:Factions

Please note: Some factions have different possible allegiances, which can be modified in the game setup. Descriptions below will assume the default allegiance. Updated 22/09/2021

Basegame Factions

AI Risk Analyzers

Throughout the galaxy, there are up to 10 risk analyzers. Every hour, each risk analyzer on an AI occupied world will increase the AI Progress by 1, as they begin to correctly estimate the player. The human player may destroy them for a fixed +10 AI progress, or capture a planet with risk analyzer to cause it to reduce AI progress.

After 40 minutes into the game, the risk analyzer will begin allocating resources towards sending exogalactic strikeforces. The speed and strength of these special waves is increased if the planet is not controlled by the AI, with a risk analyzer feeding the budget about ten times as quickly should it be in human hands.

While these can theoretically be a net benefit to the player, it takes a very long time for the reduction effect of taking a few analyzers to overcome the costs and the increases caused by other risk analyzers, so adding these is generally a boost to the AI.

Astro Trains

The AI periodically spawns Depots that are the focal points of various AI anti-human countermeasures. Trains will spawn and travel between Stations on the way to the Depot to increase the power of these attacks. Intercept and destroy the trains to weaken those attacks. You should note however that the more trains you destroy, the better the AI will protect them, so destroying the Depots can be preferable.

This is a notable boost to the AI, boosting it and creating new unique units to fight you, the types of both depending on the selected Intensity. You can however perform some robberies on the Trains for some usually limited resources, so if done right they can be a net boost to you."

Dark Spire

Several mysterious, ancient structures exist on AI Planets throughout the galaxy. They cannot be harmed and do not have any weapons, but they absorb energy when a ship dies on the same planet. When they absorb enough energy, they may either create Dark Spire ships which are hostile to almost everything or share energy with other vengeance generators across the galaxy. The amount of ships spawned is proportional to the energy absorbed, and the generators grow more powerful as they absorb more energy.

Hacking can be used on the Generators to obtain ships, cause further Dark Spire attacks across the galaxy, or make the generators vulnerable, but these are all fairly dangerous hacks.

This is a notable boost to the level of chaos in the galaxy, and scales even further with the number of other factions in play, since their conflict will also feed the generators. They can create new opportunities, but also new challenges.

See also: https://wiki.arcengames.com/index.php?title=Lore:Dark_Spire

Devourer Golem

The nigh-indestructible Devourer Golem makes its way slowly around the galaxy, absorbing all of the mobile military forces it finds in order to power and repair itself. It is powerful enough to break ceasefire effects.

This is a small boost to the level of chaos in the galaxy, in a way that will usually slightly benefit the player, since they can better avoid the Golem than the AI. However, the AI is better able to absorb the losses.

Human Resistance Fighters

Pockets of human allies still live in deep space around AI planets; when they see you fighting the AI, sometimes they will reveal themselves and join you. The fewer losses they take, the more ships they'll have available next time, so it pays to help them out if they arrive rather than just using them as a distraction.

This is a useful boost to your power, but they won't win games for you on their own.

Macrophage Infestation

The galaxy is being invaded by enormous biological Macrophages. Their Tellia create harvesters which prey on the AI's ships for metal, and they will try to eat your ships too. If they manage to become reasonably prevalent in an area, they can start to create spores, which allows them to create more Tellia. Once they get going, they can grow exponentially, but it is hard for them to get going in the first place.

The impact of this faction tends to relate closely to how much effort the player is willing to invest in them.

Marauders

Hostile human vagabonds who live in deep space will occasionally raid human or AI planets via traditional propulsion methods (and thus come in from the edge of a system, not a wormhole). If they capture a planet then they will fortify it and use its resources to strengthen future attacks. Higher intensity gives this faction stronger and more frequent attacks.

This faction expands, and can do irreparable damage. If allowed to expand enough, they can be an enormous threat, but can struggle to get going initially. This can considerably change the viability of some strategies.

Nanocaust

The Nanocaust is a horde of nanobots that take over other ships. It hates the Humans and AI alike. It can be hacked by the player to make it an ally, which is a massive benefit to the player if successful, but the hack is extremely dangerous and long.

This is one of the highest impact factions in the base game. It expands, and can do irreparable damage. It is capable of steamrolling most enemies due to being able to capture their ships. Even a low Intensity will be dangerous. They will likely dominate any game they appear in except at the highest AI difficulties, and require specialised strategies or overwhelming force to deal with. The level of chaos they add to a game can cause opportunities, but they are quite capable of defeating the player on their own if not managed properly.

Zenith Dyson Sphere

The massive Dyson Sphere Golem exists at one of the AI planets, and is basically a massive fortress that will attack humans and AIs alike. However, if you free the planet from the AI, the sphere will realize your benign intent and will help you fight the AI on nearby planets. If you take the planet for yourself, the sphere will attack you until you give up the planet. If you've needed to kill the command station yourself, it's usually worth temporarily taking the planet in order to claim any fleets, and extract the science and hacking points present there, since you've already incurred the AIP cost. Hacking the Sphere itself will make it temporarily hostile to you, but can gain you ship lines, or affect the Sphere's power in order to make it a stronger ally in the mid-long term. This can however backfire at higher Sphere intensities, due to Dyson Antagonizers:

If the Dyson Sphere's intensity is high enough (>=8), the AI will periodically spawn Dyson Antagonizers that will cause the Dyson Sphere to turn hostile toward you. If there are multiple high intensity Dyson Spheres the AI will spawn Antagonizers for each of them. But any Antagonizer will make all the spheres hostile. This means lots of Dysons can be a scary proposition.

This faction does not expand, and doesn't do any irreparable damage. It can be boosted to a level much higher than it starts via hacking, but can occasionally be a bit wimpy if it has a bad start or is in an irrelevant part of the galaxy.

Zenith Trader

These alien traders are happy to do business with anyone who can pay. They travel around the galaxy, providing special structures (for a hefty fee) to both human and AI players alike.

Also causes a temporary ceasefire on any planet it is visiting, which can be a good thing if you need a break or a bad thing if your enemies need a break.

This faction does not expand, and isn't a combatant in any way. Can be helpful, hinderance, or both, but not usually to a large degree. They increase the total possible power of a player slightly, but tend to make it slightly more difficult to go on the offensive after a while.