AI War 2

AI War 2 is an RTS/grand strategy hybrid game from Arcen Games that defies many conventions of both genres, offering players an immersive galactic battleground where territory acquisition happens without drawing too much notice from rival players and empire building must take place with care to achieve victory (Tom Sykes of PC Gamer). AI War 2 follows Arcen's earlier work and follows Arcen's original enormo space RTS AI War (which PC Gamer reviewed as "one of 2009's finest strategy games")

Artificial Intelligence in strategy gaming continues to develop at an astounding rate.
2021's Paradigm Shift (which provides overviews and tutorials here) has grown increasingly devious since 2018, increasing in size each year as its subordinate factions or neighbors grow ever larger and more numerous.
At its heart, this game's premise is straightforward: you have already lost. Your entire galaxy belongs to other factions - predominantly AIs - while you begin on one small planet in hostile terrain, trying not to draw too much notice from AIs. Your aim should be to carefully assess targets while gradually expanding territory just enough for running fleets and defensive networks while then striking when ready.
AI War 2 was designed to be both accessible and deep. Early 2021 saw improvements that made its midgame easier to get into for newcomers, along with more forgiving Science system elements and powerful Hacking system features. Q3 2021 will see the introduction of Expert mode which provides additional challenge by including permanent loss elements as well as reasons to hold disadvantageous positions; nevertheless the mode you play remains your personal choice.

Over twelve years since we coded AI War 1, we've made significant advancements to our simulation engine atop Unity 3D, but AI War 2 has presented some truly unprecedented technical challenges, especially regarding running large amounts of AI simulations in massive parallel fashion. By harnessing modern multicore processors to their fullest extent we were able to harness them even further; now our challenge from 2020 on is taking that power into multiplayer realm - still technically in beta but becoming quite an impressive showcase!

Mod support in this game is fully embraced; having mods that are both multiplayer-safe and provide deep access to parts of the core simulation is rare among games as a whole, let alone in this genre. We managed to make multiplayer self-repairing so players on different OSes or hardware can join together, with most mod-code errors corrected automatically by core gameplay itself.
AI intelligence has drastically advanced since 2018, while your framerate is no longer tied to simulation performance - meaning if one person plays at 120fps during heavy battles while someone else drops below 30fps on their machine during battle, both machines stay synced as long as both remain consistent without slowing the simulation down significantly. Plus you have control of speeding up or slowing down without placing undue strain on their CPU and can pause whenever desired!
The interface respects your time by automating activities that you would do manually 95% of the time anyway, leaving only 5-10% for advanced features like placing spy nanites or tweaking or disabling automation rules if desired, redesigning fleet compositions at will, hacking existing leaders to give them unusual upgrades or transform into completely different classes!

Streamlined yet Deep.
When sequels claim that their story has been "streamlined," that sometimes means dumbed-down; here, however, "streamlined" means more precise in some aspects - for instance you don't need to decide on how best to wash each dish; thanks to your dishwasher there won't be as many tiny decisions to be made in some areas; though honestly that might have been wise as rabbit holes of complex scenarios may go deeper still!

There's too much information to memorize (even with tooltips always nearby) and there will always be unfamiliar aspects, so clicking quickly won't do. In order to win the AI War, improvisation, adaptation and smart use are keys components. At their best. - For highlights! -
Faction's system lets you organize multiple optional factions with distinct goals and strategies into an active galaxy, while fleet's system gives you access to numerous ships which can be organized quickly without creating confusion in their distribution.
Science upgrades can be managed easily while offering multiple ways of approaching any campaign based on personal tastes and what lies within nature itself.
Hack your enemy, your allies and yourself for maximum advantage in battle! Hacking points provide powerful methods of getting more ships or abilities quickly or directly weakening enemies directly - or even stealing from opponents directly! With hundreds of map types to choose from and numerous sub-options for every map type available - all this combined makes for a highly engaging strategy game experience!
Outguard offers you a reliable method for quickly deploying surprise mobile forces wherever needed and many factions may become allies. imunitar The Warden, Hunter, and Praetorian Guard fleets of AI provide unique challenges (and sometimes opportunities!) in how the two interact with one another.
Amazing Moddability with easy XML access for most levers. Also, some player-supported mods come bundled directly in so you always have access to their latest versions without hunting around for them!
What Is New in This Edition of The Original Game??
Gameplay that is both approachable yet challenging; with more options and choices in each moment of gameplay and choices; more to discover or be conquered-by; all this and much, much more await you here!
Polished gameplay mechanics that incorporate all that was learned during development (plus three additional years for expansions).
Trimmed Fat: repetitive tasks have been automated or simplified for your convenience and more options have been included to allow for customization when desired. Our goal is not only to save your time but provide interesting challenges as well.
Redesigned User Interface that gives you all of the information and power when needed, 1.5 Hours of New Music added to 4.5 Hour Score from Original Game, Multithreaded Engine for Modern Performance with Codebase that won't summon an Elder God (recoded from scratch for modern rigs), Multithreading performance engine for Modern PC performance with Multithread Performance for enhanced modern performance, plus Multithreaded for high speed game play!
Over 1900 lines spoken from over 25 actors.