AI War 2:AI Types

The AI types you are fighting determine how the AI behaves and what ships and defenses it is able to use against you. Some types only give the AI access to extra units, while others radically alter its behavior. Some types are so defense-oriented they don't even launch regular waves, while others are extremely offense-oriented. The type you're up against can greatly influence how you play the game.

Note that this is for AI War 2. This page is currently WIP; some AI types are missing

AI Opponent Types by Difficulty

Easier

AI Name	Wave or Ship Types	Additional Spawns and Unlocks	Description
Full Ensemble	The Full Ensemble gets access to most of the AIs 'normal' ships	Nothing	Hugely varied AI in terms of what its planets are like. However, it doesn't use any niche tactics... usually.
Simple Ensemble	The Simple Ensemble gets access to a subset of the Full Ensemble's ships, minus the more esoteric variants		Very solid, generalist AI. Nothing fancy
One-Way Doormaster		Black Hole Machines on most planets	The presence of so many Black Hole Machines will cause problems to the player as they move ships around, and will increase the AIP as the player destroys them.
Shield Hater	Focuses on anti-defense and anti-shield ships		Generalist AI other than its focus on particular ships
Overreactive			Sends much larger Counterattacks when human ships spend a lot of time ineffectually dying on its planets.
Bar Fighter			Reacts violently to any attacks on its planets; rarely retreats and almost always prefers to fight

Moderate

AI Name	Wave or Ship Types	Additional Spawns and Unlocks	Description
Vanguard	Focuses on regular Guardians instead of strikecraft		Similar to the Royal AI, but instead of getting Royal Guardians it gets regular Guardians. Requires The Neinzul Abyss expansion.
Gladiator	Gets access to Zenith Architrave Ships, in some cases heavily strengthened versions.	Gets Zenith Architrave-themed defensive structures on many planets	Generalist AI with new units available; Requires Zenith Onslaught expansion
Wormhole Master	Specialises in Wormhole Invasions that spawn behind your lines.		Generalist AI other than it's wormhole focus. Can make defending more challenging.
Turtle	Specialises in defence but also has larger Cross Planet Attacks.	Gets extra defensive structures.	Defence focused AI. Can seem easier in the early game, but it's worlds become very challenging to attack later on. Managing planet alert status is particularly important with this AI type.
Thief	Uses a mix of tractor beams, paralysis and zombification to steal your stuff.		Fairly Generalist AI other than its ship focus.
Speedster	Attacks with fast ships.	Has speed magnifiers on all it's planets.	Fairly Generalist AI other than its ship focus. Warden will respond more quickly than normal! Requires The Neinzul Abyss expansion.
Sniper	Uses lots of long and infinite ranged ships.		Fairly Generalist AI other than its ship focus. Particularly dangerous on larger gravity well settings.
Sledgehammer	Waves are infrequent but strong.		Generalist AI.
Reservist	Specialises in defence but also has larger Cross Planet Attacks.	Gets more reinforcements, and your deepstrike range is shorter in it's territory.	Defensive AI. The shorter deepstrike range makes it harder to move deeper into the galaxy. Requires Zenith Onslaught Expansion.
Reconquista	Specialises in counterattack and reconquest waves.		Swingy AI. Capable of punishing player mistakes particularly well.
Quadratic	Each incoming wave is about twice as large as the previous one		With every normal wave it sends, it doubles the minimum strength of wave that it is willing to send. This tends to lead to waves that take much longer to 'charge' (before being announced), but eventually leads to VERY large waves.
Peace Maker		Gets lots of Ion Cannons and Mass Drivers	Generalist AI alongside the extra defenses.
Orbital		It's guardposts orbit the gravity well and may have orbiting turrets. Also uses additional orbital defences.	Generalist AI alongside the extra defenses. Assaulting it's planets can pose interesting challenges. Requires The Neinzul Abyss expansion.
Ghost	Uses lots of cloaked units.	Gets cloaked versions of its Guardposts.	Generalist AI other than its ship focus.
Fortress Baron		Gets lots of extra defensive structures, including the exclusive Superfortress.	Generalist AI alongside the extra defences. It's Superfortresses grant the player science on death, making it one of the easiest moderate AI types in the long run.
Ensnarer	Uses lots of units with tractor beams.	Gets specialist turret variants that also have tractor beams.	Generalist AI other than its ship focus.
Aggressor	Devotes a lot of resources to border aggression.		Aggressive AI that can strike with little warning. Requires The Neinzul Abyss expansion.

Hard

AI Name	Wave or Ship Types	Additional Spawns and Unlocks	Description
Ragnarok	Gets access to stronger versions of Dark Spire units, and Dark Zenith units.	Has access to extra Dark Zenith-themed defensive structures.	Generalist AI with new units available. Requires Zenith Onslaught Expansion.
Zombifiyer	Uses many units that deal zombification damage.		Generalist AI other than its focus on specific units.
Vicious Raider	Significantly larger waves, and uses more raiding units.		Offense focused AI.
Tsunami			Offense focused AI. Spends more on Waves and border aggression.
Swarmer	Uses lots of drone ships and swarmer-type strikecraft.	Has modified guardposts that all spawn swarms of drones.	Generalist AI other than its focus on particular ships.
Special Forces Master	Gets much larger warden and hunter fleets.		Can be very difficult to make progress against due to it's reactivity, and the use of it's budget directly on warden and hunter makes it significantly more dangerous.
Panopticon		Uses AI eyes everywhere. Has access to stronger eye variants.	Defence focused AI. Requires The Neinzul Abyss Expansion.
Neinzul Enthusiast	Has many, many Neinzul units.	Has access to Neinzul defence structures.	Expect to be swarmed. Requires The Neinzul Abyss Expansion.
Heroic	Has access to Elderling and Templar units.		Generalist AI with new units available. Requires The Neinzul Abyss Expansion.
Aedile		Slightly Stronger Praetorian Guard that can move further from its homeworld.	Generalist AI, but it's Praetorian guard can move further from it's homeworld. Can be particularly hard on highly connected maps. Requires Zenith Onslaught Expansion.

Brutal

AI Name	Wave or Ship Types	Additional Spawns and Unlocks	Description
Vengeful	Gets extra exowaves.		Generalist AI that retaliates with (relatively) small exogalactic attacks whenever you destroy it's guardposts, warpgates, command stations, data centres, and more. Requires Zenith Onslaught Expansion.
The Beast	Has access to strengthened versions of Nanocaust units.		Generalist AI with access to powerful Nanocaust units that can require specialised strategies to deal with. Requires Zenith Onslaught Expansion.
Spire Hammer	Gets access to stronger versions of Dark Spire units, and weaker but more numerous versions of Fallen Spire units.	Has access to extra Spire-themed defensive structures.	Generalist AI with new units available. Requires The Spire Rises and Zenith Onslaught Expansions.
Jabberwock	Has access to strengthened or altered versions of many minor faction's units, including Dark Spire, Dark Zenith, Nanocaust, Scourge, Spire and Zenith Architrave units. Also gets Templar and Elderling units if The Neinzul Abyss is enabled.	Gets ZA-themed and Spire themed defensive structures on many planets.	Generalist AI with access to a wide variety of powerful units that will require specialised strategies to deal with. Possibly the hardest AI type in the game. Requires Zenith Onslaught Expansion.
Geneticist	Has access to slightly less powerful versions of Scourge units.		Generalist AI with access to powerful Scourge units that can require specialised strategies to deal with. Requires Zenith Onslaught Expansion.
Skirmisher	Has access to Venators from the start of the game. These ships are extremely hard counters compared to other units in the game.	Has access to Venators from the start of the game.	Generalist AI other than its access to Venators. Requires The Neinzul Abyss Expansion.
Royal	Focuses on Guardians instead of Strikecraft, and they are much more powerful.		Extremely Guardian focused AI. It's stronger guardians can require specialised strategies to deal with.
Praetor		Stronger Praetorian Guard that can move further from its homeworld.	Generalist AI, but it's strong Praetorian guard can move much further from it's homeworld. Can be almost impossible on highly connected maps. Requires Zenith Onslaught Expansion.
Golemite		Extra AI Golems on its planets.	Generalist AI, but it's golems can be very difficult to handle in the early game.

Other Types

• There are also Random and Adaptive options. Random gives a randomly chosen AI Type from the appropriate class. So a "Random Easier" will give you a randomly chosen "Easier" AI Type. Adaptive will change AI Types every hour or so. So if you have "Adaptive Brutal" then every hour or so the AI will change to a different Brutal type.