Let’s start with a question: aside from multiplayer, if you’re in the beta branch, are you seeing anything that would prevent us from merging back with the main branch? Because I’ve finished all the todo items off my list for single-player. I have another day or day and a half of multiplayer work and fixes to do, plus whatever bug reports people make in that timeframe, but other than that we’re head back for the stable branch for the first time since mid-July, good grief!
But seriously, if I’m missing something please let me know!
This version has a lot of bugfixes, and yet more total conversion support. The first total conversion mod for AI War 2, called “Classic Fusion,” seems to be nearing a releasable state. It’s essentially recreating most of the original AI War (AI War Classic) in the AI War 2 engine, with the AI War 2 factions, and with other specific tweaks to kind of merge the two games and meet in the middle. I got my first taste of booting it up today, and just going into the build menu — which looks like AI War 2, of course — made me immediately have this intense wave of nostalgia as I saw all the AIWC ships and structures, reborn in a new fashion. This is something Puffin has been working on for years now, and it’s quite a feat.
Tom has also added more refinements for fuel in expert mode, which seems quite welcome! That mechanic has seen a lot of discussion on discord, and I’m glad that it’s getting balance and attention. In the short run I’ve been focusing my efforts on getting us out of beta, but even after that there’s a long list of other items I plan to work on for expert mode, DLC3, DLC1 late additions, and some other general base game additions.
Speaking of DLC3, StarKelp has been working hard on the Neinzul Custodians, which is basically the Roaming Enclaves. The Neinzul Wild Hives, another DLC3 faction, also got some updates and some new planet-wide ship mechanics to go with them. This game went from being “oh, poor Neinzul, they get no representation and it’s all spire and zenith” to “wow, we have five substantial Neinzul factions in the third DLC.” I am pleased with this development, and the further expansion of the lore and civilization of this race. Out of the three main alien species in the AI War universe, they’ve always been the least-explored. Nice to be reversing that!
More to come soon.
Enjoy!
