Hands down my favorite RTS of all time, if you can even call it that. AI war is a game truly all to its own. While I will definitely say this game isn't for everyone, It commonly goes on sale for less than 3$ for the game and all its DLC's, and if thats not a steal I don't know what is. There isn't a game out there I'd recommend faster.

AI war is what I would consider a true "gem" in gaming. Something so different and well made its hard for me to find a complaint. Something of a fusion between 4X, grand strategy, and basic RTS, AI War removes most forms of micro and many forms of macro and takes difficulty in a different direction. I would make the claim that this is the single most well thought out and crafted RTS game in any recent year. Its hard to even know where to begin, but I'll try and describe what makes this game special.

- Basically a RTS on the level of a 4X with no diplomacy. Just you (and your friends) against the AI.
This isn't a civ game, but it can easily take about as long. I remember reading somewhere that an average game is supposed to take around 20-24 hours. Mine usually take longer. Map size and a multitude of options can change this dramatically. Want a more intricate RTS where trickery and advanced tactics matter? Think micro is a headache or just want something new? This it is.

- OPTIONS. So many options.
This is another place I don't even know where to start. There are a MASSIVE amount of options, far far more than I've ever seen in an RTS. Control options, map options, AI options, options to turn anything you could want on or off, difficulty options, expansion options, sliders to change the influence level of options. Want a brutally hard game? Turn up the difficulty (around 15 options), change the AI type to something aggressive (probably over 30 or 40 types, I haven't counted) give them nigh indestructable astro trains to patrol through your space, hybrid hives with their own seperate AI to hatch nasty plots against you, titanic golems, and massive raid strike forces. Does that sound awful? Turn the difficulty down, make the AI more defensive, and turn all that off.

- Toys to be found.
Like stealing things from your enemy? You're in the right place. Go out and capture things like special buildings, advanced fabricators that make ships you otherwise don't have access to. Derelict golems that can mow down hordes of smaller ships, flood planets with swarmers, bomb hard targets from infinite range, or lead the charge with the rest of your fleet. Mine asteroids to produce huge alien ships with exotic weapons.

- Alternate ways to win
While everything does involve destroying each of the two AI's home stations, there are many ways to do it, and the tactics you choose to employ are your own. Taking planets is optional. Controling the system will give you a massive amount of resources but equally piss the AI off, bringing them down on you harder. Keep them off you by hacking terminals found on planets to lower AI Progress, something I'll come to later to reduce this. Keep it off your back by limiting your expansion and relying on precision rather than brute force to clear out AI planets and work your way to your objectives. There are two less direct ways to win, one of which was made to resemble a convential RTS campaign built into the game using objectives, different scaling AI and conditions, and a final showdown that calls in an entire alien race on your side.

- The AI IS actually that good.
I know it seems impossible, but its not. Even when shackled, the AI is smart. It is quite devious with its actions, often probing for weaknesses when attacking, or forgoing frontal assults or continious harrassment until it thinks it can overwhelm you or you're not paying attention. Frequent and well timed counter attacks make any assult a risk. It will often wait to amass a gargantuan amount of forces in order to force you to gather your own in one place, only to slip a small attack in through a weak spot in order to destroy something irreplacable rather than try to kill you off in one swoop. You'll have to work to keep the forces it has on hand to a managable level while keeping yourself intact in the process. There is REAL strategy involved, and tactics that would be wasted in other games are not here. You can trick the AI, stay one step ahead, use cloak and dagger tactics, and all within the scope of combat.

- Headache-less gameplay
Kind of. No game of this scale could exist without some level of stress, but Arcen has kept it to a minimum and fully within your control. You can pause whatever you want, give orders and start production or building during this time. Like I said previously, micro is rare, and more importantly TOTALLY UNNECESSARY. While the option is there if you're so inclined, you don't ever have to partake. In fact, many stressful mechanics are just options that you can turn off at will. While backline harrassment is something that does often end up bugging me, its only been made more managable as the game has been further developed. One of my favorite mechanics is that any attack order will be stored (up to the last 5) and ships ordered to do will remember and prioritize those targets first when engaging the enemy (something else that can be done automatically, especially on defence.)

--- Cons --- (Or at least things you should know)

This game isn't for everyone, like I said. While there are many ways to customize your experience, this game is not quick, simple, or easy. It's 2d, which I know bothers some people. I wouldn't consider the graphics to be any kind of problem, but its worth knowing this game is not incredibly beautiful. Its designed to handle battles where there can be ships numbers in the 10,000's. However, when you zoom in, there are quite pretty (although often kitbashed) sprites for EVERYTHING, even projectiles. I wouldn't call this game ugly, but its not made to be beautiful.
PLAY THE DEMO. It will give you a good idea of what you're getting into.

The UI is something else I see many people complain about. While I personally don't get the complaints, it is rather sparce for such a complicated game. It might be worth looking at a (recent) video to see it for yourself. Play the demo.

The learning curve. I don't want to, but I have to list this. Theres no getting around it, this game is complicated. HOWEVER, I would not put it on the same level as something like the X series. Its going to take you some time to get used to things and learning how the AI will respond to your actions, and how to avoid being sniped out and losing to happenstance. However, something to consider here is that many of the more intricate element can be ignored relatively safely, and aren't necessary to succeed, especially on lower difficulties. Hull types in particular are very intimidating, but are something you will learn as you play. Did I mention play the demo?

The AI is MADE to ♥♥♥♥ you. Seriously. I would consider this something that could be a downside as well as an upside due to the sheer doggedness of the AI messing with you, so im listing it here too. At times, especially if the difficulty is higher than you're capable of dealing with, it can be tiring and overwhelming. This is something that I think is an easy trap to fall into. Setting the AI level too high when starting off could quickly kill your will to play. This is by no means something that never goes away, or is insurmountable, and probably one of the first things you get better at dealing with as you play. My advice would be start on 6 if you're confident, 5 if you're not, and 7 if you're willing to thrashed. 7 Is considered "normal" but is still quite hard.

There is no PVP. I don't feel like thats made readily apparent, so there you go. Singleplayer or coop only.

Its extremely, extremely slow. While theres definitely always something to do, know its going to take a while to get there.

Hands down my favorite RTS of all time, if you can even call it that. AI war is a game truly all to its own. While I will definitely say this game isn't for everyone, It commonly goes on sale for less than 3$ for the game and all its DLC's, and if thats not a steal I don't know what is. There isn't a game out there I'd recommend faster. AI war is what I would consider a true "gem" in gaming. Something so different and well made its hard for me to find a complaint. Something of a fusion between 4X, grand strategy, and basic RTS, AI War removes most forms of micro and many forms of macro and takes difficulty in a different direction. I would make the claim that this is the single most well thought out and crafted RTS game in any recent year. Its hard to even know where to begin, but I'll try and describe what makes this game special. - Basically a RTS on the level of a 4X with no diplomacy. Just you (and your friends) against the AI. This isn't a civ game, but it can easily take about as long. I remember reading somewhere that an average game is supposed to take around 20-24 hours. Mine usually take longer. Map size and a multitude of options can change this dramatically. Want a more intricate RTS where trickery and advanced tactics matter? Think micro is a headache or just want something new? This it is. - OPTIONS. So many options. This is another place I don't even know where to start. There are a MASSIVE amount of options, far far more than I've ever seen in an RTS. Control options, map options, AI options, options to turn anything you could want on or off, difficulty options, expansion options, sliders to change the influence level of options. Want a brutally hard game? Turn up the difficulty (around 15 options), change the AI type to something aggressive (probably over 30 or 40 types, I haven't counted) give them nigh indestructable astro trains to patrol through your space, hybrid hives with their own seperate AI to hatch nasty plots against you, titanic golems, and massive raid strike forces. Does that sound awful? Turn the difficulty down, make the AI more defensive, and turn all that off. - Toys to be found. Like stealing things from your enemy? You're in the right place. Go out and capture things like special buildings, advanced fabricators that make ships you otherwise don't have access to. Derelict golems that can mow down hordes of smaller ships, flood planets with swarmers, bomb hard targets from infinite range, or lead the charge with the rest of your fleet. Mine asteroids to produce huge alien ships with exotic weapons. - Alternate ways to win While everything does involve destroying each of the two AI's home stations, there are many ways to do it, and the tactics you choose to employ are your own. Taking planets is optional. Controling the system will give you a massive amount of resources but equally piss the AI off, bringing them down on you harder. Keep them off you by hacking terminals found on planets to lower AI Progress, something I'll come to later to reduce this. Keep it off your back by limiting your expansion and relying on precision rather than brute force to clear out AI planets and work your way to your objectives. There are two less direct ways to win, one of which was made to resemble a convential RTS campaign built into the game using objectives, different scaling AI and conditions, and a final showdown that calls in an entire alien race on your side. - The AI IS actually that good. I know it seems impossible, but its not. Even when shackled, the AI is smart. It is quite devious with its actions, often probing for weaknesses when attacking, or forgoing frontal assults or continious harrassment until it thinks it can overwhelm you or you're not paying attention. Frequent and well timed counter attacks make any assult a risk. It will often wait to amass a gargantuan amount of forces in order to force you to gather your own in one place, only to slip a small attack in through a weak spot in order to destroy something irreplacable rather than try to kill you off in one swoop. You'll have to work to keep the forces it has on hand to a managable level while keeping yourself intact in the process. There is REAL strategy involved, and tactics that would be wasted in other games are not here. You can trick the AI, stay one step ahead, use cloak and dagger tactics, and all within the scope of combat. - Headache-less gameplay Kind of. No game of this scale could exist without some level of stress, but Arcen has kept it to a minimum and fully within your control. You can pause whatever you want, give orders and start production or building during this time. Like I said previously, micro is rare, and more importantly TOTALLY UNNECESSARY. While the option is there if you're so inclined, you don't ever have to partake. In fact, many stressful mechanics are just options that you can turn off at will. While backline harrassment is something that does often end up bugging me, its only been made more managable as the game has been further developed. One of my favorite mechanics is that any attack order will be stored (up to the last 5) and ships ordered to do will remember and prioritize those targets first when engaging the enemy (something else that can be done automatically, especially on defence.) --- Cons --- (Or at least things you should know) This game isn't for everyone, like I said. While there are many ways to customize your experience, this game is not quick, simple, or easy. It's 2d, which I know bothers some people. I wouldn't consider the graphics to be any kind of problem, but its worth knowing this game is not incredibly beautiful. Its designed to handle battles where there can be ships numbers in the 10,000's. However, when you zoom in, there are quite pretty (although often kitbashed) sprites for EVERYTHING, even projectiles. I wouldn't call this game ugly, but its not made to be beautiful. PLAY THE DEMO. It will give you a good idea of what you're getting into. The UI is something else I see many people complain about. While I personally don't get the complaints, it is rather sparce for such a complicated game. It might be worth looking at a (recent) video to see it for yourself. Play the demo. The learning curve. I don't want to, but I have to list this. Theres no getting around it, this game is complicated. HOWEVER, I would not put it on the same level as something like the X series. Its going to take you some time to get used to things and learning how the AI will respond to your actions, and how to avoid being sniped out and losing to happenstance. However, something to consider here is that many of the more intricate element can be ignored relatively safely, and aren't necessary to succeed, especially on lower difficulties. Hull types in particular are very intimidating, but are something you will learn as you play. Did I mention play the demo? The AI is MADE to fuck you. Seriously. I would consider this something that could be a downside as well as an upside due to the sheer doggedness of the AI messing with you, so im listing it here too. At times, especially if the difficulty is higher than you're capable of dealing with, it can be tiring and overwhelming. This is something that I think is an easy trap to fall into. Setting the AI level too high when starting off could quickly kill your will to play. This is by no means something that never goes away, or is insurmountable, and probably one of the first things you get better at dealing with as you play. My advice would be start on 6 if you're confident, 5 if you're not, and 7 if you're willing to thrashed. 7 Is considered "normal" but is still quite hard. There is no PVP. I don't feel like thats made readily apparent, so there you go. Singleplayer or coop only. Its extremely, extremely slow. While theres definitely always something to do, know its going to take a while to get there.