AI War 2:Outguard
Outguards are groups of usually temporary allies that you can hire on any planet. Obtaining Outguards requires hacking the beacon they're on. Once obtained, they can be deployed infinite times for free (albeit with a cooldown). Here they're explained a bit more in depth.
Acquiring And Hiring
First, you have to find an Outguard Beacon, which show up on the Galaxy Map as an icon under the planet it's on. Then you must get a Hacker to that planet, and perform the Access Outguard Beacon hack on it. Once completed, you then have access to the groups listed in the Beacon description. Each Beacon has two groups available from it.
To hire a group, simply be looking at the planet you wish for them to spawn on, and click on the Group in the Hacking tab of the sidebar. Note that each group has a specified type of location (i.e AI controlled only) in their contract, and can only be hired if that requirement is met. Once activated, they will then spawn on the edge of the planets gravity well.
Each group has a cooldown before it can be hired again, and a limited number of "charges" which regenerate over time. Charge capacity increases with AI Progress generated.
Behaviour
Each group has different behaviours when they arrive:
- Attack: Simply fights every enemy on the current planet, and when done, will move to another planet with enemies to keep fighting until either death or their time expires.
- Defend Local Planet: Will remain on the planet they were hired on and defend it until either death or their time expires.
- Patrol Adjacent Friendly Planets: Will roam this planet and nearby friendly ones, rushing to defend any if they come under attack until either death or their time expires.
- Patrol Adjacent Friendly And Neutral Planets: Similar to the above, but also roams neutral planets.
- Player Controlled: Are added to the players control permanently.
Once spawned, outguards remain in the galaxy for 10 minutes before withdrawing, except where otherwise specified.
Available Groups
There will be more in the future from Backers - until then, these are what are currently available to you.
Group Name | Behaviour | Restriction | Units | Game's Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Arnaud de Cervole | Patrol Adjacent Friendly Planets | Player Planets Only | Outguard Flagship Aggressor Paralyser |
Arnaud became a safe and cautious leader after his family was eaten by AI-infested wombats. He leads a pack of Aggressors and Paralysers who will patrol nearby allied planets. |
Lobar the Wolf | Attack | AI Planets Only | Outguard Flagship Vanguard Heavy Fusion Bomber |
Lobar and his group hate the AI with a passion and will attack AI planets, using a mix of Vanguards and Heavy Fusion Bombers. |
Xenophon | Attack | Any Planet | Outguard Flagship Porcupine MLRS Corvette |
Xenophon and his men just want to get home again after each job, and as such will warp out after their first battle. They use a mix of Porcupines and MLRS Corvettes. |
Prufrock's Partisans | Defend Local Planet | AI Planets Only | Outguard 'Distractor' Flagship Decoy Drone Carrier |
Prufrock is an expert at distracting the AI with swarms of decoy drones. |
Hereward the Wake | Patrol Adjacent Friendly And Neutral Planets | Not AI Planets | Outguard Flagship Velociraptor |
A defensive specialist, Hereward will lead his group in patrolling nearby planets using a group of Velociraptors. |
Kosciuszko Fortifications Inc | Defend Local Planet | Player Planets Only | Outguard Flagship Concussion Turret Spider Turret |
Kosciuszko is a turret specialist, and brings his own defensive emplacements. |
War Harvesters | Player Controlled | Any Planet | War Harvester | Purchase a group of War Harvester bots from a fellow resistance group. These bots harvest metal from their targets and grant it to you using their scrap cannons. These are put under your command permanently. |
War Siegers | Player Controlled | Any Planet | War Sieger | Purchase a group of War Sieger bots from a fellow resistance group. These bots wield a rapid fire plasma cannon for long range devastation. These are put under your command permanently. |
Automated Firesupport | Attack | Any Planet | Automated Sentinel Frigate Automated Sniper |
A group of vagabonds have activated an abandoned drone factory, and are willing to supply you with a temporary force of Sniper and Sentinel Gunboat units. |
Automated Shredders | Attack | Any Planet | Automated Metabolizing Gangsaw Automated Vampire Claw |
A group of vagabonds have activated an abandoned drone factory, and are willing to supply you with a temporary force of Gangsaw and Vampire units. |
Automated Construction Swarm | Attack | Any Planet | Automated Construction Bot | A group of vagabonds have activated an abandoned drone factory, and are willing to supply you with a temporary force of modified construction bots, that spawn smaller copies on death. |
Anvil Securities | Patrol Adjacent Friendly And Neutral Planets | Not AI Planets | Anvil Securities Shield Starship Anvil Securities Spider |
Before the current war, they used to be a defense contractor. Now, for a price they'll help defend nearby friendly and neutral planets with their Forcefield Frigates and Spiders. |
Sabre Company | Attack | Any Planet | Outguard Flagship Sabre Company Pulsar Tank |
This military company, gone rogue from the start of the war, will, for a price, send a group of Pulsar Tanks. |
Spire Archivist | Defend Local Planet | Player Planets Only | Outguard Flagship Forcefield Generator Beam Cannon |
After decades of silence, a rogue scientist has contacted us, offering potent spire technology to defend our planets. The power required to fuel these defenses is immense, however, and we can only keep them up for a limited time. Withdraws after 5 minutes. |
Hydral Hobbyist | Attack | Any Planet | Hydran Outguard Flagship Hydran Outguard Flagship Major Head |
We have recieved an offer of assistance by one who simply goes by Hydran. Their ship seems to be weak on offensive power, but is filled to the brim with paralyzing shots and redundancy systems. |
Democratic Demolitionists | Defend Local Planet | Any Planet | Outguard Flagship Grenade Launcher Turret Grenade Launcher Corvette |
The leader of this group was stuck with nothing but grenade launcher ship and turret schematics. He took the only logical conclusion and built hundreds of them. |