AI War:Current Post-7.000 Beta

Prerelease 7.011

(not yet released; we're still working on it!)

• Fixed a bug where starting a game with Shark-B enabled (as the only AI Plot enabled, most likely) would cause client-receiving-data errors right off the bat.
  • Thanks to Kahuna for the report.

• Finally fixed an ancient bug (since the Unity port) where moving the mouse (and various other seemingly unrelated hardware/software events) would actually increase the framerate of the sim (the graphical framerate would be unaffected).
  • This involved using a fundamentally different method of timing for the sim, so please let us know if something broke, but it looks like it's working just fine.
  • Thanks to... goodness, a lot of people have reported this over the years. Thanks to everyone :)

• To retain the ability to get "extra hyper speed" (previously done by setting the performance profile to extremely-low, the speed to +10, and moving the mouse like crazy), the + and - speed settings have been reimplemented along a different pattern:
  • Previously they added and subtracted fixed amounts from the "fixed frame rate" of the sim. Now they no longer do that.
  • Now a -1 speed causes sim-frames to happen half as frequently, a -2 causes sim-frames to happen one-third as frequently, etc.
  • Similarly, a +1 speed causes sim-frames to happen twice as frequently, a +2 causes sim-frames to happen three times as frequently, etc.
  • Finally, +10 speed has been repurposed as "+!!!" speed. It actually tells the game "before every drawn frame, run as many sim frames as you can physically cram into 250 milliseconds". This results in a very choppy visual experience but it does the job of moving the sim along about as fast as the machine physically can.
    • Note: if you're already in such a heavy simulation that you're getting 4fps or worse, this generally won't speed things up at all, it's already going full bore.
    • Also, in multiplayer you'll probably not be able to get very fast hyper-speeds due to latency between the machines keeping in sync. All machines must remain in lockstep or it'd desync all over the place.
  • Thanks to Toranth and others for inspiring the +10 bit particularly.

Hacking

• Now that hacking has come far enough along and is generally well-received (though still in need of much tuning), the <a href="http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,12812.msg153264.html#msg153264">proposed combination of Metal and Crystal</a> into just the Metal resource has been implemented, and so Hacking has moved up from the alert box to the main resource bar.
  • Basically everything that had metal and crystal numbers previously now just has a metal number (for costs, production, etc).
  • The cost of the metal harvester upgrades has been doubled to reflect that now you're upgrading ALL your harvesters, not just part of them.
  • An exhaustive search through all the tutorial logic, text files and such was done to reflect the fact that crystal is gone, but if we missed something please let us know!
  • Thanks to Tridus, chemical_art, LaughingThesaurus, DrFranknfurter, Eternaly_Lost, Shrugging Khan, TechSY730, tmm, and others for inspiring this change.

Metal Storage

• The minimum stored-metal cap was increased from 999,999 to 2,000,000 due to the combination of metal and crystal.

• Previously your stored-metal cap was always the same regardless, and this contributed to long refleeting times (despite a strong economy) in the mid and late game because your resource production and consumption had increased but your storage had not. This was particularly true of Fallen-Spire games, but even outside that it was causing problems. So:
  • Each command station now provides metal storage:
    • Home Command Stations provide 2 million (so at the start of a 1HW game you just have that 2M, it's not 2M on top of the minimum).
    • Econ Command Stations provide 100k/200k/300k at mk 1/2/3.
    • Logistics Command Stations provide 60k/120k/180k.
    • Military Command Stations provide 30k/60k/90k.
    • Warp Jammer Command Stations provide 50k.
  • In addition, each Spire City Hub (Fallen Spire campaign) provides 1 million.
  • Note: metal storage is per-player, so in an MP game if you just have one HCS you still only get 2M storage even if one of your partners owns half the map.
  • Thanks to Fealthas, Diazo, Tridus, Darloth, tadrinth, Shrugging Khan, LordSloth, Qatu, Cyborg, Toranth, Draco18s,

Salvage

• Fleet wipes <a href="http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,14227.0.html">still sometimes lead</a> to long periods of both low-player-action and low-danger (and thus low-interest), so Salvage has been introduced to both reduce the period of low-player-action and to avoid it being a low-danger situation while still leaving the overall pacing in player control.
  • Thanks to Diazo, Draco18s, Cyborg, Qatu, Toranth, Draco18s, chemical_art, Eternaly_Lost, Kahuna, TechSY730, LordSloth, Fealthas, Faulty Logic, Tridus, Volatar,

• Now when an AI-controlled unit dies on a player-controlled planet it leaves a certain amount of invisible "Salvage" behind, proportional to the metal cost of the unit.
  • Minor faction units don't leave salvage.

• On player-controlled planets, the command station collects a certain amount of the salvage each second and convert it back into usable metal.
  • The amount per-second is about 1% of the total remaining salvage (minimum 100), multiplied by the station's salvage efficiency:
    • Econ command stations have 5/10/15 % efficiency at mk 1/2/3.
    • Military command stations have 4/8/12 % efficiency.
    • Logistics command stations have 10/20/30 % efficiency.
    • Warp Jammer command stations have 10% efficiency.
    • Home command stations have 50% efficiency (meaning that an attack that doesn't get stopped until your actual homeworld gives a _lot_ more metal than elsewhere).
  • So if you have a mkII econ station with 100,000 salvage floating around, the next second you'll gain 100 extra metal that second and 900 of the salvage will just disappear. Whereas on your homeworld you'd gain 500 extra metal that second and 500 of the salvage would disappear.
  • You can view which of your planets have orbiting salvage, how much, efficiency and rates etc on the Metal tooltip on the resource bar at the top of the screen.

• Now when a player-controlled unit dies on a non-player-controlled planet (so AI-controlled or neutral, but NOT the nebulae champions can get into), an AI player is given that unit's metal value in salvage to use for a reprisal wave.
  • Scouts do not contribute.
  • Minor-factions do not contribute.
  • Units still being built (turrets, if you build turrets on enemy planets, etc) do not contribute.
  • Scrapped units DO contribute.
  • The actual salvage value the AI gets to use is difficulty-based:
    • Diff 7: about 35%
    • Diff 8: about 50%
    • Diff 9: about 70%
    • Diff 10: all of it
  • Then the Metal is translated into Strength at the ratio of a MkI Bomber's metal cost and strength.
  • On AI planets the controller gets the salvage, on neutral planets the game picks one of the AI players to give it to.

• The reprisal announces about 3 minutes after the first bit of salvage comes in, and includes all the salvage collected during that time, plus a normal wave (basically it just schedules the next wave early and throws in the salvage units on top).
  • The reprisal won't announce if the total salvage available is lower than about 100-strength worth, to prevent really tiny casualties from triggering the mechanic.
  • After announcing a reprisal wave, that AI player has to wait at least 10 minutes before announcing another.

• The overall impact of both sides of the new salvage mechanic, hopefully, will be to set up a situation where:
  • When you throw a fleet at the AI, your casualties are significant. Not catastrophic, but meaningful. And a complete fleet wipe can be genuinely dangerous, thus costing more than just time spent rebuilding.
  • But this new form of AI attack still doesn't take control of the pace away from the player, because it only happens when the player takes the initiative (and is fairly minor unless the player takes high casualties).
  • When the AI "throws the ball back" this way, it not only gives you something to do during the rebuild, but if you survive you likely have a significant economic boost (and thus shorter rebuild times).
  • In addition to all of that, whenever the AI is hitting you hard for whatever reason you have an opportunity to collect resources and hit it right back.

• This will likely have a fairly profound impact on balance so much iteration is likely needed. In-house MP testing gave very reasonable results for the early/mid-game on 7/7 but that's really just a proof-of-concept. Some specific caveats to watch out for:
  • Several units whose metal costs were previously irrelevant have been updated to work with the salvage mechanic (Hunter-Killers, etc) but if you see a unit give an off-the-wall (low or high) amount of salvage please let us know!
  • It's entirely possible that, combined with the high output of command stations and upgraded harvesters, the econ game will be simply too generous to the player. That said, we didn't want to pre-emptively nerf-hammer the standard econ sources (particularly since this may just mean econ techs become less always-taken, which would be great). So just let us know how the metal-income balance feels.
  • It's also entirely possible that the AI's reprisals will be vastly too strong (or too weak) in some situations. It looked fine in basic testing but there's a lot of cases out there. If it goes bonkers let us know.
  • It's intentional that player units dying on player planets do not give salvage to the player, and that AI units dying elsewhere do not give salvage to the AI. That was tested but ultimately it has much larger repercussions than desired.

Prerelease 7.010 Oops!

(Released March 12th, 2014)

• Fixed a bug where the alert types on the per-planet controls window used the name string instead of the description string for the mouseover tooltip.
  • Thanks to Joubarbe for the report.

• Fixed a bug where the Mercenary Fighter was using the normal Fighter's description.
  • Thanks to Joubarbe for the report.

• Units that provide cloaking-boost (Eyebots, Cloaker Starships, Scouts... that's mostly it) now continue to provide that even while in stand-down mode.
  • Thanks to Kahuna for the report.

• Fixed a bug in recent versions where using certain hacking units (sensor hack, for instance) could corrupt some saves.
  • Thanks to roberto_melfra, hellgnomo, Zombiestocker, crimsonknight3, eriksr, and RockyBst for the reports and saves on this.

• Fixed a bug in recent versions where using multiple sabotage hackers on the same planet could lead to a unhandled errors if there weren't enough targets for the sabotage hackers to blow up.
  • Thanks to alocritani for the report.

Prerelease 7.009

• Fixed a bug where 7.008 wasn't reading in some recent saves correctly (looking for "True" or "False" instead of "1" or "0" on some of the "has this planet had this hack before" flags), causing those saves to not be playable.
  • Thanks to Zair for the report and save.

Prerelease 7.008 More Dirty Tricks

• Spirecraft Scouts no longer count as "major weapons" (like all other spirecraft) for the purpose of alerting planets. So in general they shouldn't cause much alert.
  • Thanks to TechSY730 and many others for inspiring this change.

Hacking, Round 3

• Added new type of placeable for the Hacker: Sabotage Hacker
  • In-game description:
    • Only works on a planet with an intact AI command station, but hacks into that station's network to destroy an important AI-controlled structure on the planet. Eligible targets include fortresses, forcefields, ion cannons, mass drivers, warhead interceptors, armor inhibitors/boosters, blackhole machines, distribution nodes, Zenith reserves, interplanetary munitions boosters, raid engines, alarm posts, radar jammers, gravity drills, troop accelerators, and AI Eyes.
    • If more than one eligible target is present on the planet, the one closest to the hacker will be destroyed. If multiple sabotage hackers are used, each will destroy a separate target.
    • The AI will notice the hacking in progress and respond against your units both on that planet and nearby.
    • NOTE: Successfully destroying a unit via sabotage reduces your Hacking-Progress by 2. Each hack after that costs 1.5x the previous.

• Added new type of placeable for the Hacker: Sensor Hacker
  • In-game description:
    • Only works on a planet with an intact AI command station, but hacks into that station's network to disrupt the entire local AI sensor net. This grants all human ships on the planet the normal cloaking ability and suppresses all AI tachyon sources. All normal "must recharge cloak after firing" rules still apply. In addition, all AI cloaked/camouflaged units are revealed for the duration of the hack.
    • The hack takes 30 seconds to start, and lasts for 35 seconds. Further sensor hacks during that time (by the original hacker or another one) simply refresh the duration, but also trigger the hacking-progress cost again.
    • The AI will notice the hacking in progress and respond both on that planet and nearby.
    • NOTE: Successfully performing a sensor-hack reduces your Hacking-Progress by 10. Each hack after that costs 1.5x the previous.

• Fixed a bug where the hacking response logic that was supposed to trigger a 30-second wave against the planet being hacked would instead do warp-anywhere logic if that particular planet was ineligible for normal waves. Counterwaves are valid hacking responses too (at a certain point) but are supposed to give 4 minutes warning.
  • Thanks to Zeyrun, Eternaly_Lost, and others for reporting.

Prerelease 7.007

(Released July 8th, 2013)

• Fixed a bug in the last version preventing knowledge gain.
  • Thanks to MaxAstro for the report.

Prerelease 7.006 Design Meddling

(Released July 8th, 2013)

• The AI's base response to hacking is now based on AIP - HackingProgress, so that your early hacks are basically always easy, and having surplus HaP generally helps. Hopefully this won't make things too easy but the alternative has been fairly, um, "startling" to players doing their first hack of a game at 300 AIP or so :)
  • Thanks to LintMan, ZaneWolfe, chemical_art, Tridus, and others for inspiring this change.

• Each hacking response is now limited to 100 wild-rolls even if the response gets really high, to help avoid effectively infinite-loop situations.
  • Thanks to Toranth for the report.

• The HaP cost of each hacking operation is now 1.5x the previous of that kind, instead of 2x.
  • Thanks to Toranth, TechSY730, chemical_art, madcow, and others for inspiring this change.

• Fixed a bug where the tabs for building Protector Starships or Spire Corvettes would not show up at Starship Constructors if you'd hacked the corresponding core fab (but had no other access to that bonus type).
  • This should also make hacking core turret controllers work, though that isn't something we've intentionally included in the existing fab hacking yet so it may have other issues.
  • Thanks to GP_Trixie for the report and save.

• Re-fixed a problem from previous officials where for some subset of users the Fallen Spire Shard Reactor close-zoom graphic is 256x254, causing sprite errors when viewed in close zoom or in the ship-design window.
  • Thanks to Skyswimsky and rylen for the report.

• Knowledge gathering in general no longer requires supply (normal knowledge gatherers still require the absence of an AI command station), since there are now other very powerful deterrents to the "knowledge-hack the entire galaxy" approach.
  • Thanks to Toranth for inspiring this change.

• Orbital Mass Drivers now have the health of a mkI arachnid post and the DPS of a mkIII one (with no change to rate of fire). Both changes are significant buffs.
  • Thanks to Spikey00, Toranth, onyhow, Histidine, krieger, Tie-Viper, Tridus, Ozymandiaz, and others for inspiring this change.

More New Forms Of Hacking

• Added new type of AI structure to the "Data Center" family: Design Backup Server
  • In-game description:
    • This server houses some of this AI's backups for one or more ship designs.
    • Redundant backups elsewhere make destroying this futile, and it self-destructs if the command station is destroyed to prevent tampering. While the station stands, however, you may use a Hacker to either propagate a corrupted version of the design(s) (preventing this AI from building more for MkI-MkIV purposes, Core R-and-D is handled via an isolated network) or download a master copy for your own use.
    • If either hack is performed successfully, the server will lock down and you will not be able to access it further for either purpose.
  • The actual types "stored" there are displayed in the server's direct mouseover and on the new galaxy display mode for the backup servers.
  • Thanks to Tridus and madcow for inspiring this.

• Added new type of placeable for the Hacker: Design Corruptor
  • In-game description:
    • If placed on the same planet as one of the AI's Design Backup Servers, this device can corrupt that AI's copies of the design(s) stored there and prevent further fabrication for use in this galaxy.
    • Please note: if the command station is destroyed, the backup server goes with it. Also, if the server has already been hacked by a Design Downloader it will go into lockdown and corruption will become impossible.
    • The AI will notice the hacking in progress and respond against your units both on that planet and nearby.
    • NOTE: Successfully corrupting an AI's design reduces your Hacking-Progress by 30. Each subsequent design corrupted costs 1.5x of the previous.

• Added new type of placeable for the Hacker: Design Downloader
  • In-game description:
    • If placed on the same planet as one of the AI's Design Backup Servers, this device can download master copies of the design(s) stored there and allow you to build them yourself.
    • Please note: if the command station is destroyed, the backup server goes with it. Also, if the server has already been hacked by a Design Corruptor it will go into lockdown and download will become impossible.
    • The AI will notice the hacking in progress and respond against your units both on that planet and nearby.
    • NOTE: Successfully downloading an AI's design reduces your Hacking-Progress by 50. Each subsequent design corrupted costs 1.5x of the previous.

Prerelease 7.005

(Released July 3rd, 2013)

• Fixed some hacking types using testing times (seconds instead of minutes).
  • Thanks to Toranth for the report.

• Fixed some bugs where a really intense hacking response could result in array-index-out-of-bounds errors.
  • Thanks to Toranth for the report.

• Fixed some bugs where some of the new hacking state (how many fab hacks you'd done, which fabs you'd hacked) was persisting between quitting and starting a new game.
  • Thanks to Toranth for the report.

• Knowledge Hacking no longer requires supply on the target planet, as there's only so many of these that you're going to pull off anyway.
  • Thanks to Toranth for the suggestion.

Prerelease 7.004

(Released July 3rd, 2013)

• Corrected some uses of the wrong newline character in the CounterHacking log.
  • Thanks to Toranth for the report.

• Fixed a bug in the hacking progress display that thought the cost of ST-hacking doubled with every tick instead of every 20 ticks. The actual computation was right, but this quickly made the display useless.
  • Thanks to Toranth for the report.

• Added some logic to the new hacking-response computations to guard against arithmetic overflow. Both by capping the intermediate results to avoid absurd numbers, and by expediting the destruction of the player.
  • Thanks to Toranth for inspiring this change.

Prerelease 7.003

(Released July 3rd, 2013)

• Fixed a bug preventing the loading of old saves (where you had at least one inbound wave in the alert box).
  • Thanks to Toranth for the report.

• Made the Hacking Progress display show up all the time, not just when you'd spent some.
  • Thanks to Aklyon for inspiring this change.

Prerelease 7.002 Hacked To Pieces

(Released July 3rd, 2013)

• Fixed a bug where using "Apply To Selection" to change the planned modules on a unit under construction (like a modular fortress) would reset that unit's construction progress.
  • Thanks to TechSY730, Shadowsand, and MaxAstro for reporting.

• Space Docks, Mobile Space Docks, and Advanced Factories:
  • Can now all build all 5 mark levels, assuming you have the prerequisites for those ships (so if you have a Core Shield Bearer fabricator you can now build Core Shield Bearers at any Space Dock, Mobile Space Dock, or Advanced Factory; even if you don't have access to building mkI shield bearers).
  • Their buy menu tab is now labeled "FLEET" instead of "I-III" or "IV" or whatever.
  • There is now a "FLEET 2" tab that will show next to that one if your name is Cinth; I mean, if you have more than 20 distinct fleet-ship types.
  • Thanks to Cinth for inspiring the fleet-2 tab part.

• Starship Constructors and Advanced Starship Constructors can now build all 5 mark levels, assuming you have the prereqs for the ships in questions. So you can now build Warbird Starships at a normal Starship Constructor if you have the right fab, etc.

• Fixed a bug where Core Flak Turrets had needler ammo in their magazines instead of flak grenades. The logistics officer has been sacked.
  • Thanks to SNAFU for the report.

• We express our sincere condolences to Cheesemasters everywhere: Lightning Torpedoes can no longer be put in transports. The days of the Transpocalypse are over (or at least more complicated to achieve).
  • This goes for Maws, too.
  • Thanks to Toranth for the report.

• Fixed a bug where the MkIV Scout could be built from a Mobile Space Dock without controlling an Advanced Factory.
  • Thanks to Kronic for the report.

The New Hacking

• This is the first step in the promotion of Hacking to a full resource, and the removal of Crystal (it will just be merged into Metal). This won the "Big Items for 8.0" poll here, after being discussed at length here. The actual implementation will vary somewhat from previous discussions as I figure out what works best. More kinds of hacking are coming, the actual crystal removal (and moving of hacking to the resource bar), and iteration on hacking balance and such will be ongoing for a while.
  • Thanks to chemical_art, Wingflier, ZaneWolfe, Cinth, Kahuna, Faulty Logic, RCIX, Lancefighter, nas1m, _K_, Irxallis, Toranth, Eternaly_Lost, Cyborg, Billick, Aklyon, Valtiel, KDR_11k, Radiant Phoenix, LaughingThesaurus, Vyndicu, Moonshine Fox, TIE Viper, Winge, Drjones013, Hearteater, contingencyplan, and the poll voters for inspiring these changes.

• Added a new ship to the ECON build tab: the Hacker.
  • This works a lot like the Ship Design Hacker but doesn't do any hacking itself. Instead it can deploy devices much like a champ can deploy projected shields, etc (so it has to be within X range, is essentially free and instant, etc). The first two such devices are:
    • Covert Knowledge Extractor; a renamed Knowledge Hacker (formerly known as the Science Lab MkIII).
    • Research Redirector; a renamed Ship Design Hacker.
  • Both are immobile, no longer directly buildable (except by the hacker) and can only be placed on planets that are currently controlled by the AI.

• The scale of the AI's response to hacking is now determined by a mix of AIP and the new "Hacking Progress" resource instead of the old under-the-hood "Hacking Antagonism" metric.
  • Hacking Progress is basically equal to total AIP (not effective AIP, but total before reductions) minus whatever you've spent. It's spent thus:
    • Knowledge hacking: 30 for the first planet's worth, 60 for the second planet's worth, 120 for the third, etc.
    • Ship Design hacking: 50 for the first ARS, 100 for the second, 200 for the third, etc.
    • Superterminal hacking: 1 each for the first 20 ticks (which is a net 20 AIP reduction, 2 each for the next 20, 4 each for the twenty after that, etc.
  • Hacking Progress can go negative! This basically represents a situation where your hackers have used all the known vulnerabilities in the AI's network defenses to the point that the AI has patched them all, and now further hacking is basically brute-force stuff that really trips a lot of alarms.
  • The hacking response is:
    • If Hacking Progress is >= 0, then just uses Effective AIP (so AIP after reductions).
    • If Hacking Progress is negative, then it uses either Effective AIP or -HackingProgress (whichever is greater) AND multiplies the result by 1+(HackingProgress/-10).
      • So if AIP is 10 normally the response would be scaled by just 10. But if Hacking Progress were -50 the response would be scaled by _300_.

• Added new device that can be placed by the Hacker: Fabricator Hacker.
  • Since AI fabricators do not store the full Master Data of their design, we can only build from that design while the fabricator remains intact.
  • This device infiltrates the AI's local industrial network and corrupts the fabricator's design data. The AI's autocorrection then triggers a rebroadcast of the relevant Master Data. Our device will then helpfully intercept this transmission, enabling us to build that design from our standard Space Docks.
  • Please note: once the AI loses control of a planet its security protocols will prevent any retransmission to any fabricator on it. Accordingly, if you wish to perform this hack you must do so BEFORE the AI's command station on the planet is destroyed.
  • The AI will notice the hacking in progress and respond against your units both on that planet and nearby.
  • NOTE: Successfully hacking a Fabricator reduces your Hacking-Progress by 20. This cost doubles each time, so the second hack costs 40 (for a total of 60), the third costs 80 (for a total of 140) and so on.

• Added new device that can be placed by the Hacker: Advanced Constructor Hacker.
  • Since AI Advanced Factories and Advanced Starship Constructors do not store the full Master Data of their designs, we can only build from that design while the facility remains intact.
  • This device infiltrates the AI's local industrial network and corrupts the facility's design data. The AI's autocorrection then triggers a rebroadcast of the relevant Master Data. Our device will then helpfully intercept this transmission, enabling us to build those MkIV designs from our standard Space Docks (or Starship Constructors, in the ASC's case). Assuming we have the corresponding MkIII research, of course.
  • Please note: once the AI loses control of a planet its security protocols will prevent any such retransmission to any facility on it. Accordingly, if you wish to perform this hack you must do so BEFORE the AI's command station on the planet is destroyed.
  • The AI will notice the hacking in progress and respond against your units both on that planet and nearby.
  • NOTE: Successfully hacking an advanced constructor reduces your Hacking-Progress by 100. Performing another such hack costs 200 (for a total of 300).

Prerelease 7.001

(Released June 19th, 2013)

• Added a clarification to the tutorial text in step 11 of tutorial 2 that you're supposed to unlock the harvester exo-shield from the SUP tab of the Science Lab, not of the Command Station.
  • Thanks to Some Donkus (actual provided name, not an editorial comment) for inspiring this change.

• Fixed a bug where the Lightning Torpedo still had a theoretical cost of 50,000m+50,000c instead of 1+1 (they're never built normally, this is just to prevent scrap exploits).
  • Thanks to onyhow for the report.

• Added support for an easier way for the steam version to recognize that you own the first four expansions. As in, not copy-and-pasting 4 separate keys.
  • There's still some other stuff we need to do to make this work, though.

• Updated the Advanced Starship Constructor to no longer claim that the MkIV enclave is built at the normal starship constructor.
  • Thanks to corfe83 for the report.