AI War:Mark

In AI War, nearly all units have a mark level. This level, often abbreviated "Mk", is always displayed as roman numbers and ranges from I to V (1 to 5). The mark of a ship is a general sign of its power. While an individual Starship is often more powerful than a single fleet ship, some MkV fleet ships are comparable in metal cost, firepower and resilience with MkI starships.

• Mark I is displayed white and there is an option to not display it.
• Mark II is displayed white.
• Mark III is displayed with a dark red outline.
• Mark IV is displayed with a bright red outline.
• Mark V is displayed with a bright purple outline.

Humans begin with only MkI units and can upgrade most of them with Knowledge up to MkIII. They can't research MkIV units by themselves; they need to capture advanced AI Factories and Starship Constructors in order to access MkIV. (Only Turrets can be researched up to MkIV without the need of AI technology.) The MkV level is reserved to the AI players; they use them almost exclusively to defend their Homeworlds. Only by capturing specific Core Fabricators can Humans access specific MkV units.

Several units have only one version at one mark level. For example, the Dire Guardians are only MkV and there is no lower version of them. On the other hand, other units, such as the Energy Collector, are only MkI.