AI War: Fleet Command

AI War: Fleet Command is a real-time strategy computer game developed by indie developer Arcen Games. The game was first released on Arcen Games website and Impulse on June 2, 2009 before getting a Steam release on October 16, 2009 that coincided with the release of version 2.0. AI War: Fleet Command blends the 4X, tower defense, and traditional RTS genre to create something new and unique. Players go up against two AI opponents that are superior to the player. The objective is to destroy the home planets of both AI opponents. AI War: Fleet Command was lauded by reviewers for being a fresh take on the RTS genre and bringing something new to the table. It was also noted that the AI represented a significant challenge and reacted to the actions of the player. AI War supports dynamic cooperation where up to 8 players can play together and drop in and out of the game at any time.

An expansion titled The Zenith Remnant was released on January 12, 2010 that adds new factions, AI types, ships and new gameplay mechanics.

AI War pits human players against advanced AI opponents that control vastly superior fleets at the start of the game. The main goal of gameplay is to destroy the two opposing AI's home command stations without losing the player station (in multiplayer the humans will not lose until all human home command stations have been lost). Maps vary in size from 10-120 systems and map size has a significant impact on the play style of the game as well as time required.

Unlike conventional RTSes where the AI will basically emulate playing as a human opponent, the AI in AI War operates off something called AI Progress. This mechanic works as an indicator of how aware the AI is of the leftover human remnants in the galaxy (as well as to balance the fact that if the AI simply attacked you with everything it had at the start of the game it would win every time). As players complete objectives and capture systems this value goes up, increasing the volume of reinforcements and attack forces the AI gets to use.