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At A Glance
- Space-based RTS, single player or up to 8 player co-op.
- Powerful emergent AI that retreats, probes defenses, and surprises even veterans with intelligent tactics.
- 30,000+ ships at a time on 10-120 simultaneous planetary battlefields.
- Different Every Time: 16 billion procedural maps, each with specific units. - A focus on deep strategy with nearly no micromanagement.
- PC Gamer UK (November 2009): AI War breaks most of the genre's rules. Which is precisely why it's incredible... This out-of-the-blue one-man passion project is one of this year's finest strategy games. (More Press & Player Reactions)
- Space-based RTS, single player or up to 8 player co-op.
- Powerful emergent AI that retreats, probes defenses, and surprises even veterans with intelligent tactics.
- 30,000+ ships at a time on 10-120 simultaneous planetary battlefields.
- Different Every Time: 16 billion procedural maps, each with specific units. - A focus on deep strategy with nearly no micromanagement.
- PC Gamer UK (November 2009): AI War breaks most of the genre's rules. Which is precisely why it's incredible... This out-of-the-blue one-man passion project is one of this year's finest strategy games. (More Press & Player Reactions)
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What Makes AI War Unique?
AI War is an entirely unique large-scale RTS with aspects of TBS, tower defense, and grand strategy. It features single or cooperative play with as many as 8 humans against a pair of powerful, intelligent AIs. These AIs are driven by an AI Progress stat that players contribute to through aggressive actions such as taking control of planets and destroying key units, forcing tough decisions regarding which targets are worth capturing or destroying. Human fleets are usually several thousand ships in size or larger, with games often featuring 30,000 units at any given time across galaxies of anywhere from 10 to 120 planets. Some games have reached as many as 90,000 units! Despite this, players retain powerful control over their fleets in a macro-sense, ignoring painful micromanagement present in other games in favor of actual tactics like flanking. Meanwhile, ships themselves attempt to target enemies as intelligently as possible so the player can focus on the tasks that really matter. Scouting also plays a major role in the game, supplying an intel 'snapshot' about important capturable units, enemy fleet sizes, and planet ownership. Designed by RTS veterans and backed by strong, responsive support on the official forums and elsewhere, AI War is an exciting and refreshing experience.
I have no idea how to explain how amazingly fun this game is. The AI consistently surprises us - even after playing for hours. The AI is stupendous, and the game is immensely fun to play - with battles of a few thousand ships being quite common. Strategic and tactical concerns outweigh economic micromanagement - there's sufficient intelligence and automation to allow you to take as much control over your economy as you like - or not at all.
In short, the game is an RTS that is actually about strategy / tactics. It doesn't boil down to an economy game with units, like so many RTSs invariably do. With a phenomenal range of units, abilities, and defenses available, every battle is its own unique challenge, with many ways to play each.
The game was programmed essentially by a single dude, and it's his one-man-crusade against the flaws of common RTS's. The whole game is about 120MB, but that's almost entirely AI scripting. XBoxers and other new gamers would find the graphics somewhat offensively lackluster - but the gameplay is what's important. I started a new game last night with two of my friends, played 8 or so hours, until 3AM, and it is the most fun I have had gaming in YEARS. Combined arms assaults, multi-directional flanks, just fantastic.
This is my new favorite game.
