New build! https://wiki.arcengames.com/index.php?title=AI_War_2:Finalizing_Multiplayer#3.307_Art_Overload_And_The_Devourer_Chrysalis (Reminder that if you have trouble with the build, you can always go into betas and choose most_recent_stable to go one build back. This is how I sleep at night after making some major changes.) There are so many projects going on right now for AI War 2! Personally, I'm taking a pause from Expert (and the other related) modes, and working on some art upgrades and general artwork. There's something north of a dozen new or updated unit graphics in this particular build. I have on my todo list another... 140ish.
One of the cool things changed in this one is the AI Command Stations, which you see ALL OVER THE PLACE. They were some of my much older art, where I was trying to get a sense of large scale without having repeating elements or using greebling (which is how Star Wars makes things feel large). Normally in not-outer-space, you use horizon lines, distance fog, and other things to give a sense of scale. None of that really exists in space, although in the last few years I have discovered that using a smaller camera FOV actually does give some of the benefits of horizon lines (making things seem larger than life), while also avoiding lens distortion of spherical objects (aka all the planets don't turn into ovals near the edge of the screen). At any rate, there was a great discussion about those sorts of techniques, and things that I've learned that work well or poorly, in our discord. Links to the relevant parts are in the release notes. The new command station started out being something I was iffy on after my initial paint work -- I came back after lunch and noted that now I hated it -- but after working with it in my more modern shaders, the result is actually really killer. Here it is:
Other command stations, and also fortresses of various types, and various capturables in the base game, are all on the schedule for major upgrades like this. There's also a lot of Zenith Onslaught art coming. A major new mod also is now out as of this release: the Chrysalis Devourer. This is something that NR SirLimbo has been working on for what seems like most of 2021 so far. It's a really ambitious faction that asks the question: what if the Devourer Golem actually evolved over the course of the game? And somewhere along the lines, additional questions like "what if it behaved more like a real animal?" and "what if you could defeat it temporarily, but it held a grudge?" The result is something that preview testers in the discord modding channel have been enjoying a lot. Behind the scenes, there's also a lot of work going on for the next expansion, which will now come out in October. Our "DLC3" is being split into two parts, because once again the scope has grown and we have a lot of people working on things with it. So the first part will be October, part 2 will be Q1 2022. More information on that will be available in the coming months, and we'll have updated the store page with the new info, too. There's a lot of features that have not been announced yet at all, some features that were announced but which will now just be given free to everyone who has the base game, and then some features that are going in either one part or the other.
Multiplayer isn't perfect yet, but is getting there. A lot of bugs have been slain recently in general, so taking a detour into art after being so bug-oriented for a bit seemed like a good idea. There's a lot more bugslaying in the near future, though. And there's still various other free features coming this summer, like Interplanetary Weapons, among others. More to come soon. Enjoy!