New beta build! https://wiki.arcengames.com/index.php?title=AI_War_2:Multiplayer_Alpha_And_Beta#Beta_2.710_The_AIs_Visit_An_Accountant Please use the current_beta branch on Steam to test it. This is a huge overhaul of how the AI deals with a whole lot of things are higher difficulty levels (it was being a little too nice about a few things), and it's also a solid reshaping of the graphs for how AI budgets increase over time. They are more aggressive right at the VERY start, then they accelerate a lot more slowly than before to a lower overall point, then they spend the middle game in a lower state than before as well, and then they accelerate upwards faster to meet the same "beyond the late game" dark place if you go that far. Essentially the idea is to make playing the early game less tense, the middle game more feasible, and the late game just as punishing if you go too far. But there are a ton of other changes here, some related to multiplayer, others related to making the AI more reactive on high difficulties when you lose a planet in its territory, and others relating to several included mods. We are still hearing some persistent complaints about a few tech lines that are "too good" and thus boring because it requires you to over-specialize the same way every time, so there are a variety of plans in general to make more tech lines just as exciting. Please let us know what you think when you get a chance, so we can get back out of the beta branch hopefully by next week sometime.