AI War:Vengeance of the Machine

What exactly is added in the Vengeance of the Machine expansion?

A: This expansion gives players some fun new toys but focuses on adding still more variety to your main opponent: the AI. There's already a ton of that variety, but our community is very excited about the new stuff VotM brings to the table, including "Dual-type" AIs, Dire Guardians, AI Planetary Subcommanders, and the "Hunter" and "Shark" AI plots. There are also new bonus ship types, AI types, map styles, core guard posts, guardians, core turret controllers, and a lot more music from Pablo Vega. The expansion also adds a new "Showdown" option that provides a brand-new way to win (or lose) in the form of an ultimate stalemate-breaker. This expansion is slated for official release in June 2013.

Dual-Type AIs

Now you may optionally assign a secondary type to each of the two AI players so you can see what it's like to play against a Speed-Racer/Thief and a Spire-Hammer/Neinzul-Youngster (answer: the former is quite amusing in a morbid sort of way, and the latter is _rather_ challenging).

You can also use it to "mix in" some of the new AI types like Chivalric and Bouncer to make the game perhaps a little easier in some ways, while still getting the distinctive features of the other types chosen.

AI Planetary Subcommanders

Now some of each AI's planets (mainly picked from the MkIV and Core ones) will have a "subcommander" represented by a special command station. Most subcommanders can also pick from some of the special new guard posts (like "Plasma", "Implosion", and "Widow") and most also try to be extra clever in how they place their station and guard posts.

The "Paranoid" subcommander, for example, will place its station as far away from all the wormholes as it can, and pick only Command-Station-Shield posts and place them as far away from the wormholes and each other as it can.

The "Knife Fighter" subcommander, on the other hand, will pick from short-and-medium range combat-oriented stations and posts and try to place them so as to cover all its wormholes with overlapping fields of fire.

And so on, with types like the long-range-favoring "Lobber", the tractor-and-gravity-loving "Obstructionist", and the ever-popular "Rude Gesture" (who is not at all happy about no longer being able to stack 13 counterattack posts on its planet, having to settle instead for 4).

Dire Guardians

Guardians in general are scarier than they once were, but we've also added much nastier versions called "Dire Guardians" as new "heavy-hitters" in the AI's toolbox, specifically:

• Needler
• Laser
• MLRS
• Implosion
• Sniper
• Spider
• Tractor
• Widow
• Disassembler
• Gravity
• Munitions Boosting
• Infiltration
• Artillery
• Raider
• Shield

Normally you'll only encounter these through a few "Dire Guardian Lairs" seeded in each map (unless you disable them in the lobby). Each lair is normally not a problem... until its planet goes on alert. Then it starts building a Dire Guardian inside. You're warned when these are building and you'll want to be ready to take it down (not easy, but doable with major fleet action) when it spawns. For some lairs you'll probably want to deal with them permanently at some point, and you can do so by destroying them. But destroying them releases a one-time spawn of _three_ Dire Guardians. Ouch.

If you have any "Exogalactic Attack" sources on (Fallen Spire, Broken-Golems-Hard, etc) then Dire Guardians are also eligible to seed in those. They're only one step below Hunter/Killer units in cost so it's not really making exos any more dangerous overall in terms of raw strength, but it does add more variety and thus more potential for picking a "killer combo" that your defenses will be hard-pressed to withstand.

New AI Types

• Easier
  • Chivalric
    • This AI refrains from targeting irreplaceable structures (like Advanced Factories, Fabricators, etc) other than your Home Command Station, and instead gets a bonus to the size of its Cross Planet Attacks.
    • When present in an AI with a secondary AI Type, this type's "do not target irreplaceable structures" characteristic is dominant despite being a disadvantage.
  • Bouncer
    • This AI uses normal guard posts instead of wormhole guard posts next to each of its wormholes. The result is that you generally take more losses the first time you attack a planet but you have a much easier time keeping it from reinforcing much if you choose not to take it.

• Moderate
  • Artillerist
    • This AI is fascinated with bombardment and focuses on throwing lots of (preferably long-range) artillery units at you. Its defenses leave something to be desired, however.
  • Exotic
    • This AI does not send normal waves, and instead sends small "exogalactic attacks" (similar to those provoked by the Fallen Spire, Broken Golems - Hard, Botnet Golem - Hard, or Spirecraft - Hard minor factions) with methods of composition and approach very different from normal waves.
  • Reservist
    • This AI gets a larger-than-usual strategic reserve and uses part of it to defend important planets that are normally not reinforced from the reserve.

• Harder
  • Vorpal
    • This AI focuses on force-field-immune units and strong Cross Planet Attacks as a counter to fortified human positions.
  • Vengeful
    • This AI retaliates with (relatively) small exogalactic attacks every time you destroy one of its guard posts, warp gates, command stations, data centers... it's kind of attached to a lot of things, actually. Doesn't take criticism well.

• "Red" Hard
  • Vicious Exotic
    • This AI does not send normal waves, and instead sends LARGE "exogalactic attacks" (similar to those provoked by the Fallen Spire, Broken Golems - Hard, Botnet Golem - Hard, or Spirecraft - Hard minor factions) with methods of composition and approach very different from normal waves.

New AI Plots

• Hunter
  • If this is enabled, the AI gradually adds some extra-nasty units to its Special Forces. The SF fleet normally functions as a mobile defense fleet for the AI, but these extra units will make it far more... interesting.

• Shark
  • If this is enabled (A and B can be enabled separately), the AI gains strength every time one of your command stations falls. Normally it's fairly minor when a human player loses a planet unless it was a critical defense point or had some important irreplaceable structure, but with the Shark plot once the AI smells blood in the water things could get out of hand in a hurry.
  • Shark-A gains AIP with each human command station death.
  • Shark-B gains no permanent bonuses with each human command station death, but does launch immediate follow-up ("go for the throat") attacks and contributes an extra chunk to the next Cross Planet Attack.

New Bonus Ship Classes

• Lightning Torpedo Frigate
  • (wiki in-progress)

New Music Tracks

(To Be Announced)

Other Miscellaneous Additions

(To Be Announced)

AI_War:Fleet_Command