PROLOGUE ARCEN GAMES END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

Arcen Games, LLC (ARCEN GAMES) hereby gives you a non-exclusive license to use the software AI War: Fleet Command (the Software). For evaluation versions of this software, the following license is granted, but you may not use reverse engineering or other means to remove the limitations imposed by the evaluation version of the software. You may: use the Software on any single computer; use the Software on a second computer so long as the primary user of each copy is the same person and more than one copy is not simultaneously used; copy the Software for archival purposes, provided any copy contains all of the original Softwares proprietary notices. You may not: permit other individuals to use the Software except under the terms listed above; modify, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble (except to the extent applicable laws specifically prohibit such restriction), create derivative works based on the Software; copy the Software (except as specified above); remove any proprietary notices or labels on the Software. TERMINATION The license will terminate automatically if you fail to comply with the limitations described above. On termination, you must destroy all copies of the Software and Documentation. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY The Software is provided on an AS IS basis, without warranty of any kind, including without limitation the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. ARCEN GAMES will make reasonable efforts to correct any defects, but no guarantees are made as to the timing of defect correction, that every reported defect will be corrected, or that that the product will be defect-free. ARCEN GAMES IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY CHARACTER INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF GOODWILL, WORK STOPPAGE, COMPUTER FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION, OR ANY AND ALL OTHER COMMERCIAL DAMAGES OR LOSSES. Title, ownership rights and intellectual property rights in and to the Software shall remain in ARCEN GAMES. The Software is protected by international copyright treaties.

For eight hundred years, human civil war was waged. Our orbits are still littered with wreckage, with the terrible casualties. The civil war is now over. We have learned to cooperate. But this did not come about in a way that anyone could foresee. During the war, both sides used sophisticated AIs to run battles. It was the AIs that first learned to cooperate. Against us. Some believe that this is a benevolent strategy on the part of the AIs; We humans are never more united than when we face a common enemy. But as this new war begins, the AIs brutality makes us wonder: If their goal were our unification, why would they push us so close to extinction? We must act on what we see. The enemy is stronger, faster, more advanced, and demonstrably ruthless. One of us is going to destroy the other. Soon.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE FINDER TOOL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

SECTION 5: RESOURCES

GAME MANUAL
SECTION 1: SETUP
INSTALLING AI WAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 LAUNCHING THE GAME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 THE MAIN MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 MISSION BRIEFING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AI WAR IS MORE THAN JUST AN RTS GAME ACHIEVING VICTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . THE CAMPAIGN MAP . . . . . . . . . . . . VIEW MODES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE AI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . OTHER FACTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . KEY CONCEPTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SHORTCUT KEYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MAKE USE OF THE TOOLTIPS . . . . . . . . . THE CAMERA . . . . . . . . THE RESOURCE MONITOR . THE AI PROGRESS LEVEL . . THE THREAT MONITOR . . . THE PLANETARY SUMMARY THE MINIMAP . . . . . . . . THE QUICK BUTTONS . . . . WAVE MONITOR . . . . . . UNIT SELECTION . . . . . . UNIT ORDERS . . . . . . . . BUILDING UNITS . . . . . . . CONSTRUCTORS . . . . . . GIFTING UNITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 . 7 . 7 . 7 . 8 . 8 . 8 . 9 10 10 14 14 14 14 15 15 15 16 16 16 17 18 19 22 22 22 22 23 23

METAL AND CRYSTAL . . . . . KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH ENERGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . LOW POWER MODE . . . . . .

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SECTION 6: CAMPAIGN SETUP

SECTION 2: CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW

SETTING UP A MULTIPLAYER CAMPAIGN SELECTING YOUR HOME PLANET(S) . . CAMPAIGN SETTINGS . . . . . . . . . . SAVING AND RESUMING CAMPAIGNS . YOUR FIRST CAMPAIGN . . . . . . . . . COMMAND STATIONS BONUS SHIPS . . . . . ECONOMIC SHIPS . . STARSHIPS . . . . . . . WARHEADS . . . . . . DEFENSIVE UNITS . . . CONSTRUCTORS . . . GUARDIANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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SECTION 7: UNIT TYPES

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SECTION 3: PLANET VIEW

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SECTION 8: ADVANCED FEATURES

FLARES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SETTING GATHER POINTS FROM CONSTRUCTORS CONTROL GROUPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CLOAKING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TELEPORTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MUNITIONS BOOSTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GROUP MOVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ATTACK-MOVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . FREE ROAMING DEFENDER MODE . . . . . . . . PREFERRED TARGETS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GAME . . . . INTERFACE . GRAPHICS . AUDIO . . . . EXPANSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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SECTION 9: SETTINGS

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SECTION 4: GALAXY VIEW

ACCESSING GALAXY VIEW . . READING THE GALAXY MAP . INTEL SUMMARIES . . . . . . . PRIORITY MARKERS . . . . . . . CREATING NOTES . . . . . . . GALAXY MAP DISPLAY MODES

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SECTION 10: SHORTCUT KEYS REFERENCE CREDITS

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INTRODUCTION SETUP

INTRODUCTION

SECTION 1: SETUP
INSTALLING AI WAR
Download and run the AI War installer from your chosen location, then follow the instructions provided on the screen. Alternatively, if you purchased AI War through a digital distribution platform, please follow the prompts provided by the platform.

HOST NEW CAMPAIGN

This will take you to the Campaign Lobby. From here, you can setup either a singleplayer or multiplayer campaign.

JOIN MULTIPLAYER GAME

AI War supports LAN and Direct Connect multiplayer. You will need the IP address of your friend if you wish to play over the Internet. Visit the AI War Meeting Grounds Forum and/or the AI War IRC Channel if youre looking for people to play with.

EXPANSION INSTALLATION
Installing an expansion to the game is exactly like installing the game itself. However, if you are installing it via an installer (rather than via a digital distribution platform), be sure to choose the same installation directory that you used for the game itself -- otherwise the game wont be able to find the expansion files.

LOAD SAVED GAME

From this menu, you can resume previously saved singleplayer and multiplayer campaigns.

TROUBLESHOOTING
Please refer to the Technical Support forum for the latest information regarding troubleshooting and technical support - http://www.arcengames.com/forums/

TUTORIALS / MANUAL
The Tutorials menu will give you access to a selection of simulated exercises covering everything from using the games interface to conducting your first campaign. We recommend that you play through these tutorials first to familiarize yourself with the basics of AI War. Links to online video tutorials and an extensive online wiki are also invaluable tools.

LAUNCHING THE GAME

Once installed, AI War can be found via an AIWar folder in the Start Menu on Microsoft Windows, or the Applications folder on Mac OSX. Simply run the AIWar program in these folders.

HIGH SCORES
Here you can view a list of your local campaign scores. Each score also shows statistics from its associated campaign, as well as the campaign settings such as AI difficulty.

ENTERING THE LICENSE KEY

When prompted, enter your license key and click Unlock to activate the full version of the game. If you have purchased license keys for expansions to the game, these can be entered on this same screen. You can later get back to this screen (to enable/disable expansions, or to enter a new license key) by clicking the License/ Expansions button on the main menu.

ACHIEVEMENTS
AI War has a large number of achievements to unlock. These include actions such as reaching certain numbers of captured planets and destroyed enemy ships. The Achievements Viewer allows you to keep track of your achievements and decide what to aim for next.

CREATING YOUR PROFILE

The first time you launch AI War, you will be asked to create a profile. Your chosen player name will be used to identify you in multiplayer games. When starting a new campaign, your default player color will match the preferred color set in your profile.

UPDATES
When official or beta updates are available for AI War, this button will appear when you first run the game. You can choose to install the latest released version of AI War, or help to test beta updates if youre feeling adventurous. The game automatically checks for new updates on launch -- if you wish to disable this, you can do so under the Game tab of the Settings window. When there are multiple updates, they are downloaded and applied cumulatively.

THE MAIN MENU

The Main Menu is the central hub of AI War and is displayed when the game is launched. The specific options available on the Main Menu are covered below.

SETTINGS
The Settings menu allows you to edit a variety of options that will affect how AI War looks and plays. The keyboard controls can also be viewed and edited through this window.

CURRENT PROFILE
This box shows the currently selected player profile. You can create, edit, and swap between profiles by clicking here.

QUIT
This will close AI War and return to the desktop.

CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW

CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW

SECTION 2: CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW

MISSION BRIEFING
You are outgunned. You are massively outnumbered. You must win. These are your orders. Humanity has already fought its war against the machines -- and lost. AI death squads stand watch over every planet and every wormhole, the few remaining human settlements are held captive in orbiting bubbles, and the AIs have turned their attention outward, away from the galaxy, to alien threats or opportunities unknown. This inattention is our only hope: a small resistance, too insignificant even to be noticed by the AI central command, has survived. These are the forces you will command. The AI subcommanders will fight you to the death when they see you -- but your glimmer of opportunity comes from quietly subduing those subcommanders without alerting central processing to the danger until its too late. You do have a few things going in your favor. Your ships are much faster. You have safe AI routines to automate defenses and mining outposts. You have production techniques that can churn out fully-outfitted unmanned fighters in seconds. There will never be more than a few thousand of your ships versus tens of thousands of theirs, but through careful strategy you must somehow reach and destroy the heavily-guarded AI cores. Go forth into the galaxy, steal AI technology, recapture those planets you must in order to achieve your ends, and save what remains of humanity. But draw too much attention to yourself, and the full might of the AI overlords will come crashing down.

AI WAR IS MORE THAN JUST AN RTS GAME

AI War draws heavily from the RTS genre, but it also has elements from grand strategy, turn-based strategy, and, most importantly, tower defense. The flow and feel of AI War is unique, so dont worry if you find yourself floundering at first. The Intermediate Tutorial will guide you through your first campaign. The online video tutorials also lay things out very nicely if youd rather just watch.

ACHIEVING VICTORY
Victory in a campaign is achieved if both of the AIs home command stations are destroyed by the players forces. The players are defeated if the AIs destroy all human home command stations. Locating the AI home planets often requires extensive scouting of the galaxy, and you will likely need to accomplish a number of intermediate objectives, such as capturing advanced research stations, before your fleet will be strong enough to launch an assault on an AI home command station. The Missions tab of the in-game Stats window can provide some guidance if you become uncertain of how to proceed.

NO TWO CAMPAIGNS ARE THE SAME

The level of content in AI War is such that you can encounter ships youve never seen before even after a hundred hours of play. The unique interactions between these ship types provides the game with much of its immense tactical depth and replayability. The AI continues to execute advanced emergent tactics that were never explicitly programmed, so if you wish to truly master AI War, youll need to be able to adapt.

GAME DURATION
Game duration scales with map size. A full campaign on the recommended 80 planet map size usually ranges from 7 to 16 hours from start to completion, but can occasionally take even longer. Campaigns can be saved and resumed at any time, so theres no need to play through it in a single session.

KEY STRATEGY ADVICE

If you remember anything from this manual, remember these general tips: 1. Scout early, scout often. Before attacking an AI planet, always scout it and the adjacent planets to know what youre getting yourself into. 2. Expect swift and brutal reprisals when you attack the AI. If one doesnt come, consider yourself lucky, but dont get complacent. 3. Channel your aggression: if you take every easy target you see, youll enrage the AI too much and likely lose. Take targets that have value to you, not targets that are easy to take. 4. One layer of defenses is never enough. Sometimes four or five layers arent enough. Just because the defenses have held in the past doesnt mean they will continue to do so.

THE CAMPAIGN MAP

PLANETS
The gravity well around individual planets comprises the game map in AI War. The space around each individual planet is an isolated locality.

WORMHOLES
Traveling between planets requires the use of Wormholes. Wormholes always exist in pairs and form a two-way link. Ships that enter a wormhole will appear instantaneously at the corresponding wormhole on the linked planet. The text above a wormhole denotes the planet that it links to. Wormholes are the galaxys natural chokepoints; make use of this by concentrating your defenses near them. Bear in mind that the AI will do the same.
A WORMHOLE

CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW

CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW

VIEW MODES
There are two distinct View Modes in AI War; Planet View and Galaxy View.

HUMAN COLONIES
Most human settlements have been destroyed or completely subdued, but occasionally one rises up against the AI. However, these civilians are always outmatched despite their enthusiasm. If you do not help them take back their planet, they will die and the AI Progress will increase. Rescuing them will allow you use of their unique ship production facilities.

PLANET VIEW
When in Planet View, you are viewing the space around a single planet. This is the view from which you will conduct battles, build structures, and issue most of your orders.

THE ZENITH (EXPANSION ONLY)

The Zenith Aliens are a truly ancient race, who used to be the undisputed masters of a nearby galaxy to ours. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, however, their civilization crumbled, leaving a galaxy littered with the remnants of their past glory. So what happened? The exact cause of the destruction of the Zenith empire is not known to humanity at this time, but what is clear is that it did not completely obliterate all specimens of that race. Instead, it fragmented them and scattered them to the stars. Some simply trade with other species, organic or otherwise. Some simply roam around in an amoral state, harvesting planets, or other other spacecraft. One faction of the aliens has the capability to harness the power of entire stars by the construction of Dyson Spheres -- those are the moodiest bunch of all, and their motivations are particularly unclear. They are equally likely to attack humans as the AIs at first, but perhaps they could be befriended? All of this speaks to the history of the Zenith as a species. What are they, as individuals, actually like? Unfortunately, no human knows. Trade with the Zenith is handled in a very impersonal manner that does not facilitate conversion. In fact, no one has ever seen a Zenith alien in the flesh. For all we humans know, they actually are their ships -- all of their ships have many organic components. For all we know, when we are using their blueprints to create new ships for our own use, we are actually helping them reproduce -- and then enslaving their offspring. This is just one theory, though. Players have a chance of encountering Zenith miners, traders, dyson spheres, and devourers. Their presence can greatly alter the balance of power during a campaign, and they can individually be enabled or disabled through the lobby.

GALAXY VIEW
The Galaxy Map shows all planets and wormhole links on the map. As well as providing you with a wealth of information regarding each planet, it presents you with an overall view of the current state of the campaign. Tip: Pressing the Tab key in-game toggles between Planet View and Galaxy View.

THE AI
AI TYPES AND DIFFICULTY
AI War will pit you against a variety of AI Types, each with its own tactics and many with unique and specialized units. Be prepared to challenge the powerful defenses of the Entrenched Homeworlder, and to fend off the unrelenting assaults of the Vicious Raider. There are two AI opponents in each campaign, each of which can be of a different type, allowing for a huge variety of challenges. The AI difficulty level affects the sophistication of the AIs tactics, as well as the number of reinforcements it will receive. The overall strength of an AI is influenced by the combination of both its type and difficulty. Some maps are also inherently harder or easier, because of factors like the positioning of the AI units, where their higher-level worlds are, and so forth.

VERY IMPORTANT: AI PROGRESS

The AI progress level can be viewed as a general indication of how threatening the AI perceives you to be. A higher AI progress level means the AI will receive more numerous and powerful reinforcements, and will attack you more viciously.

THE NEINZUL (EXPANSION ONLY)

The Neinzul are an insectoid race of perpetual younglings that live for an extremely short span before dying and being superseded by fully-aware and vicious replacements. Their Enclaves form mini-collectives with their own personalities, goals, and desires. They are essentially a race of sentient fruit flies. Each Enclave is run out of a Neinzul Enclave Starship, and each starship has its own centralized knowledge-store from which its younglings pull their collected memories; this sort of nodal archival system is the only thing that has allowed such a short-lived species to ever advance to star-faring status. Players have a chance of encountering Neinzul roaming enclaves, rocketry corps, and preservation wardens. Even more deadly are the hybrid hives that are part-AI and part-Neinzul. Their presence can greatly alter the balance of power during a campaign, and they can individually be enabled or disabled through the lobby.

MINOR FACTIONS
HUMAN RESISTANCE FIGHTERS
Pockets of human allies still live in deep space around AI controlled planets. They may come to the players assistance during the campaign against the AI.

HUMAN MARAUDERS
These are hostile human vagabonds that operate from deep space, raiding human and AI planets indiscriminately. The player may be forced to protect themselves from these marauders, but equally they can serve as a valuable distraction.

FAST FACTS

FAST FACTS

KEY CONCEPTS
UNIT CAPS
In AI War, the unit caps are per unit type. This ensures that as you progress and gain access to more advanced and powerful units, your older ships will never become obsolete. Deciding where to deploy your weaker units forms an important part of the strategy.

FLEETS CANT BE EVERYWHERE AT ONCE

As large as your fleets may get, they still cant be everywhere. As your empire grows, this will become an increasingly serious problem. Figuring out ways to protect your flanks, and ways to effectively divide your forces for the current situation, is a big part of the game. Central to this concept is the idea of defensive structures. A wide array of turrets, fortresses, mines, and more await your use -- make sure you dont overlook them! One turret is often worth five to ten smaller ships; but turrets are also more expensive, and have the disadvantage of being fixed in place. Allocate your resources and your firepower wisely to win.

SCOUTING
When it comes to making strategic decisions, youll need all the information you can get. Scouts provide intelligence about the planet theyre on, including the number of enemy ships, resource gather points, and any special structures that are present there. All of the information you have access to is available in Galaxy View. Scouts are also needed to fill in the Minimap and Planetary Summary when viewing neutral or AI controlled planets. Be sure to look for data centers, advanced research stations, advanced factories, and the AI home planets, all of which are of highly valuable targets and will be covered in more detail later.

PICK YOUR BATTLES

Actions such as destroying the AIs command stations and warp gates will increase the AI progress level. You need to be highly selective with your targets in AI War; you cant simply capture every planet. Doing so will result in the AI progress level climbing too quickly, causing the AI to crush you with overwhelming force. Deciding which planets to capture, and just as importantly, which not to, forms part of the grand strategy of the game.

SHORTCUT KEYS
AI War has a variety of shortcut keys designed to give you quick access to important tactical data and allow you to issue your orders efficiently. A comprehensive list of the available shortcut keys is available at the end of this manual. Shortcuts youll want to familiarize yourself with quickly include pressing P to pause the game, holding G to issue Group-Move orders, holding X to issue Attack-Move orders, holding V to issue Free-Roaming-Defender Move orders, and holding Z to view the attack range overlay. Attack-Move and Group-Move are both indispensable for advanced offensive tactics. Free-Roaming-Defender Move is critical to a self-maintaining defense that you dont have to baby-sit.

SUPPLY
Many units, including turrets and constructors, will only function on planets that are supplied. For a planet to be supplied, there must be a friendly command station on the planet itself, or an adjacent planet. Be sure to maintain your supply lines, as your defenses will fail without them. This is true for the AIs fixed defenses, too, although the AI uses very little in the way of fixed defenses.

BE PREPARED
No single unit can prevail in all situations. Youll have to maintain an effective mix of ships in your fleet to ensure that youre equipped to deal with any situation that arises. Examples include using fighters to target AI bombers, frigates to deal heavy damage from afar, and bombers to destroy reinforced defenses such as force fields or certain types of starships.

FLEETS NEED CENTERPIECES

As important as your fleet ships are -- those smaller ships that you build in such bulk from your space docks -- they cant act alone. The AI uses starships, massive self-defending guard posts, and deadly mobile guardians that will tear up your fleets of small ships if they are not supported. In addition to your fleet ships, you should build a variety of starships: siege starships are excellent for dealing massive damage from extreme range, light starships and flagships both boost the attack power of ships around themselves, Zenith starships and Spire starships project an enormous amount of short-range firepower wherever you desire, and a single Riot Control starship can dismantle the engines of a sizable incoming AI raiding party. This is to say nothing of the Leech, Raid, Cloaker, or other starship types. Neglect starships to your peril! But similarly, most starships wont survive long on their own. You need a good mix.

MAKE USE OF THE TOOLTIPS

Hovering over a unit or menu item will display a tooltip. Depending on the context, tooltips will provide useful information about a unit and its status, including current health, attributes, and special abilities. Tooltips are an effective way to learn about the games interface and to gain information on ships that you have not previously encountered. Tip: Pressing F1 will expand the Planetary Summary (the palette on the right side of the planet view) and display an iconic index of all units in the game, including those not present on the current planet. You can then hover over any icon to display that unit types tooltip.

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PLANET VIEW

PLANET VIEW

PLANET VIEW

SECTION 3: PLANET VIEW

Current Planet Campaign Timer Alerts Monitor

Resource Monitor

AI Progress Monitor

Threat Monitor

Planetary Summary

Quick Buttons 12 13

PLANET VIEW

PLANET VIEW

THE CAMERA
PANNING THE CAMERA
To pan the camera, simply move the mouse pointer to the edge of the screen. If you prefer, you may also use the arrow keys, or can hold down the middle mouse button and drag. Tip: Hold the Shift key to pan twice as quickly.

THE PLANETARY SUMMARY

The Planetary Summary is displayed below the Minimap. It shows how many units of each type you and your allies have on the current planet. If you have a command station or scout on the current planet, it will also list hostile units. You can select all units of a type on the current planet by Left Clicking on the corresponding icon on the Planetary Summary. Right Clicking on a unit icon will focus the camera on a unit of that type, while further clicks will cycle through units of the same type. Sometimes the AI will have a unit you have never seen before. Hovering over its icon in the Planetary Summary will provide you with information regarding that unit that you can use to devise a strategy to counter it.

CONTROLLING THE ZOOM LEVEL

The space around a planet is quite vast, and you will need to vary the zoom level in order to see both fine details and the big picture. The easiest way to control the zoom level is with your mouse wheel. Alternatively, you can use the Page Up and Page Down keys to zoom in and out, respectively. When zooming in, the camera will focus on the location of your mouse pointer.

THE MINIMAP
The Minimap is displayed when you hold the T key while in Planet View. It shows the locations of units and wormholes on the current planet, as well as the focus of the camera. The color of the icons corresponds to their controller. In the case of wormholes, the color reflects the linked planets controller. Unclaimed resource deposits and wormholes linking to unexplored planets will be shown as gray. Usually it is best to zoom out rather than using the minimap, but in cases where you need a quick peek at the planet while youre zoomed in, the minimap is ideal. You can Left Click anywhere on the Minimap to focus the camera on that position.

SENDING YOUR VIEW THROUGH A WORMHOLE

Ctrl + Left Clicking on a wormhole will send your view through the wormhole to the linked planet. After the transition, the camera will be focused on the linked wormhole.

THE RESOURCE MONITOR

The Resource Monitor allows you to keep track of the various resources at your disposal. It displays your total amount of each resource, along with your net income per second. In the case of metal and crystal, your total inflow is also shown in parentheses. Note: Energy functions differently from the other resources and hence there is no income displayed.

Tip: Showing the Minimap and clicking on it a useful way of getting the camera back to the action if you accidentally pan into empty space. You can also hit the H key to recenter your view.

THE QUICK BUTTONS

The Quick Buttons are displayed towards the bottom left of the interface. They maintain a galaxy wide list of several unit types, including engineers, science labs, and reactors. Hovering over any of the categories will display a list of the units in that category, as well as the name of the planet on which each unit is currently located. You can also jump the camera to any listed unit by first Left Clicking the category icon and then selecting the desired unit from the resulting list. If you do not currently control any units in a category, then that category will be grayed out.

THE AI PROGRESS LEVEL

The AI Progress Monitor displays the current AI progress level. The Roman numeral indicates the unit level of the waves the AI will send to attack you, as well as the minimum unit level of the reinforcements the AI will receive at a planet, regardless of the planets Mark level.

THE THREAT MONITOR

The Threat Monitor shows the number of friendly planets currently under attack by AI ships. The Attack column displays the total number of AI ships attacking friendly planets. Additionally, the Threat column displays the number of existing AI ships currently heading towards friendly planets, while the Wave column indicates the total number of AI ships en route to friendly planets via warp gate waves.

ALERTS MONITOR
Warnings regarding any incoming attacks will be visible in the Wave Monitor, as will other highpriority notices such as ships having flown into a minefield or enemy units at the current planet. This monitor is only visible if at least one alert is showing. When it refers to incoming waves, you will receive an indication of the type of attack the AI is launching, which of your planets it is targeting, and how long you have to prepare. Depending on the type of attack you may also receive information regarding the type of ships that are approaching. You can click alerts to go to them. 15

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PLANET VIEW

PLANET VIEW
If you have a command station or supplied mobile builder on the current planet, you can press B to access the Build Menu. The Build Menu has 4 tabs, with the units and structures on each grouped by general purpose. Units that have not been unlocked will be grayed out. The Economic Tab (Econ): Ships useful for growing your economy. This tab includes units such as engineers and resource harvesters. The Constructor Tab (Const): Ships useful for producing other ships. This tab includes units such as colony ships and space docks. The Support Tab (Sup): Ships for defending your own planets or supporting your ships in enemy territory. This tab includes units such as mobile repair stations and fortresses. The Turret Tab (Tur): Stationary ships for defending your planets. This tab includes units such as basic turrets and tractor beam turrets.

UNIT SELECTION
To select a unit, simply use Left Click. You can also select multiple units by using Left Drag to draw a selection box. Double Left Clicking a unit will select all units of the same type on the screen. A selection circle around a unit indicates that it is a part of the current selection group. Tip: Hold Shift when selecting to add units to the current selection group. Note: When drag-selecting, if the selection box contains mobile military ships, then only mobile military ships will be selected. This prevents you from accidentally giving unwanted orders to noncombat units such as engineers.

UNIT SELECTION FILTERS

When drag-selecting, you can use Unit Selection Filters to select units based on specific criteria. For example, holding N + 1 whilst Left Dragging will result in the selection of only Mark I ships. Tip: See the Shortcut Keys Reference for a complete list of the available Unit Selection Filters.

UNIT PLACEMENT MODE

Once you have selected a unit from the build menu, you will enter Unit Placement Mode. In this mode, your cursor will display a transparent image of the unit you selected. If the image is green, it

UNIT ORDERS
Orders can only be given to the currently selected units.

MOVE ORDERS
Right Click on empty space to order the selected mobile units to move to that point. Hold Shift to queue multiple waypoints.

ATTACK ORDERS
Right Click on an enemy to order the selected military units to engage. Hold Shift to queue multiple targets.

ENGINEER ORDERS
Right Click a unit to order the currently selected engineers to repair that unit. Right Click on a constructor to order the currently selected engineers to assist the constructor, increasing the rate at which it builds units but increasing its rate of resource consumption accordingly. Units cannot be repaired if they have been damaged within the last 3 seconds. can be placed in the current location. if the current location is not an acceptable build location, the image will be red. Use Left Click to confirm the placement of the unit and begin construction. Right Click will cancel Unit Placement Mode. See the Shortcut Keys Reference for a list of shortcuts related to Unit Placement Mode.

WORMHOLE ORDERS
Ctrl + Right Click a wormhole to order the selected mobile units to travel through the wormhole to the linked planet. You can also Right Click on a planet in Galaxy View to order the selected units to travel to the chosen planet.

CONSTRUCTORS
Constructors are units that produce other units. Examples include space docks, which produce military ships, and missile silos, which produce warheads. Selecting a constructor unit will display the constructors build queue, as well as a selection of the units it is capable of constructing, at the bottom left of the Planet View interface. Hovering over a 17

BUILDING UNITS
THE BUILD MENU
16

PLANET VIEW
unit icon will display a tooltip containing information related to that unit. To add a unit to the constructors build queue, simply Left Click on the corresponding icon in the constructors build menu. You can also remove a unit from the constructors queue using Right Click. Press the Build Mode button to toggle the Build Queue In A Repeating Loop option. This will cause the constructor to build the units in the current queue repeatedly, as long as the required resources are available and the unit cap has not been reached. This is highly useful for building the large numbers of units you will require during your campaigns. Tip: You can pause all constructors using the Pause All option in the Ctrl window at the bottom of

PLANET VIEW

the interface. Press this button again to order all constructors to resume construction.

GIFTING UNITS
The currently selected units can be transferred to the control of another player using the Give button at the bottom of the Planet View interface. This is highly useful for assisting struggling allies, and transferring control of units to new players joining an existing multiplayer campaign. Units cannot be transferred to the control of a player if they do not have that unit type unlocked, nor if the transfer would cause the player to exceed the cap for that unit type, nor if the transfer would send you or them into negative energy balance.

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GALAXY VIEW

GALAXY VIEW

GALAXY VIEW

SECTION 4: GALAXY VIEW

Priority Markers

Add Notes Create Flare Finder Tool Display Modes Display Filters

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GALAXY VIEW

GALAXY VIEW

ACCESSING GALAXY VIEW

When in Planet View, you can switch to Galaxy View using the button at the top right of the Minimap. Alternatively, the Tab shortcut key can be used to switch between Planet and Galaxy views. Left Click on a planet in Galaxy View to enter Planet View on the selected planet.

CREATING NOTES
It is possible to attach notes to any planet by using the add notes button. To do this, Left Click on the add notes button, then select the planet you wish to add the note to. You will then be presented with a text input box in which you can enter custom notes. This is useful if you expect to continue the campaign at a much later date and need to remember some vital information.

READING THE GALAXY MAP

Galaxy View will be instrumental in planning and executing your strategy. Nodes represent planets, and a line between two nodes represents that those two planets are linked by wormholes. The color of the lines between the planets is a quick visual guide of connections between allied, enemy, and neutral planets. Hold Ctrl to display the names of all planets on the map. Controlled planets will show a larger, colored planet icon corresponding to the controlling teams color. If a planet has not yet been explored, or does not currently have a command station present, it will be shown as a tiny white star. Planets controlled by the AI also have a Mark level from I-V that is visible on the Intel Summary. The Mark level of a planet is minimum unit level of the reinforcements that the AI will receive at that planet. Only the AIs Home Planets are Mark V. Planets with high Mark levels for their location will also be indicated on the Galaxy Map.

GALAXY MAP DISPLAY MODES

Galaxy Map Display Modes provide quick access to tactical information on each planet. Highly useful filters include pressing Q to display the number of units under your control on each planet, and K to display the knowledge collected from each. You can display a complete list of the available display modes by clicking on the display modes button on the left toolbar.

GALAXY MAP FILTERS

You can use the secondary Galaxy Map Filters to fine tune the results from the Galaxy Map Display Modes. Options include All, My, Allied, My and Allied, and Mobile Military. Note that Display Modes that already filter based on these criteria, such as My Ships, will ignore filter settings. Refer to the Shortcut Reference for a comprehensive list of Galaxy Map Display Modes and Filters.

INTEL SUMMARIES
You can view an Intel Summary for each planet you have explored by hovering over the planet. The Intel Summary will display the number and type of units on a planet, whether or not the planet is supplied, the amount of knowledge collected from the planet, whether the AI is aware of your presence on the planet, and the planets number of resource gather points, as well as icons for significant units such as advanced research stations.

THE FINDER TOOL

The Finder Tool can be used to locate units you control via Galaxy View. Clicking on the Finder Tool icon will allow you to select the unit type you want to find using a tree menu. Having chosen the required unit type, numbers indicating the number of units of that type on the corresponding planet will appear above planets on the Galaxy Map. Green numbers indicate that the units on the corresponding planet are selected, whilst red numbers indicate that those units are not selected. Left Click on a planet to change the selection. You can issue move orders to the selected units.

PRIORITY MARKERS
You can tag any planet on the Galaxy Map with a priority marker. Priority markers are visible not only to yourself but to all players on your team. To tag a planet with a priority marker, first Left Click one of the P0-9 buttons on the toolbar on the left of the screen, then Left Click on a planet to assign it the corresponding priority. You can also Right Click on a planet to clear its priority when in this mode. Priority markers have no effect on gameplay, but are an efficient method of keeping track of the importance of the vast number of planets on the map. Its recommended that you prioritize each planet as it is scouted. Planets are generally prioritized based on their contents. Here is one suggested priority system; P0 - Nothing of interest. P1 - Nothing of interest, but theres something dangerous here. P3 - Data Center. P5 - Advanced Factory. P8 - Possible AI Home Planet. P9 - Advanced Research Station or AI Home Planet.

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RESOURCES

RESOURCES

RESOURCES

SECTION 5: RESOURCES
METAL AND CRYSTAL
All units require metal and/or crystal to construct. You must collect metal and crystal by constructing harvesters on the resource deposits located on planets you control. Harvesters are available on the Economy Tab on the Build Menu. Each metal harvester will produce 12 metal per second, and each crystal harvester will produce 12 crystal per second. Note: Harvesters can only be constructed on supplied planets controlled by your team. Tip: To build all harvesters of a type on the current planet, Ctrl + Left Click the corresponding harvester icon on the Economy tab. Normally the command station will do this for you, but not if there are hostile ships on the planet at the time.

RESEARCH
To unlock a new unit using your available Knowledge, simply select any science lab to display a menu of the available research options at the bottom left of the Planet View interface. After unlocking a unit, it will be available for construction either on the Build Menu or its corresponding constructor.

ENERGY
Every active unit costs a certain amount of energy to sustain. Your net energy balance is the sum of the energy required by each of your units subtracted from your total energy reactor output.
ENERGY REACTOR I

MANUFACTORIES
You may occasionally find yourself in a situation where you have too much of one resource and not enough of the other. You can construct manufactories to convert one material into the other, though at a loss of overall net income. Metal and crystal manufactories are available on the Economy Tab on the Build Menu.

Each active energy reactor draws metal and crystal, so youll need to balance your metal and crystal needs with your required energy supply. Placing reactors in Low Power Mode will prevent them from drawing resources, but also from providing energy. Constructing additional energy reactors will increase your total amount of available energy, but be aware that constructing multiple reactors of the same type on a single planet will result in a reduced reactor efficiency. Reactors operating at a reduced efficiency will still draw resources at their normal rate, but will provide a lower amount of energy.

A single manufactory will convert 12 of one resource into 8 of the other per second. Once constructed, manufactories will normally manage themselves to optimize your economy.

CRYSTAL MANUFACTORY

Protect your energy reactors. If your net energy balance becomes very negative then your turrets and force fields will shut down, and you will be unable to construct new units.

LOW POWER MODE

Units can be placed into Low Power Mode at any time by selecting them and clicking the Low Power Mode button at the bottom left of the screen. Units in Low Power Mode will only draw one tenth of their normal amount of energy. They are unable to perform any actions other than moving, but will remain cloaked. Constructors in Low Power Mode will stop construction, and force fields will shut down. As long as you have the required energy, you can reactivate units at any time by selecting them and clicking the Low Power Mode button again. Tip: To do surprise attacks on the AI, leave cloaked ships in low-power mode as a form of hold fire. Then when youre ready to have them attack, give them an attack order or take them out of low power mode explicitly, and they will come out of low power mode with guns blazing. The AI does this to you, also.

KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH

KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge is the only finite resource in AI War. It is used to unlock new units. Each player can gather up to 3,000 knowledge per planet. As long as the planet is supplied by your team, any science labs and advanced research stations on the planet will automatically gather knowledge. Once all the SCIENCE LAB I available knowledge on a planet has been gathered, your knowledge gathering units will be exhausted. Be sure to move exhausted units to new planets so that they can continue to gather knowledge. Tip: When playing multiplayer, send science labs to your allies planets to maximize your available knowledge. Unlockable units have a variety of abilities, ranging from raw strength to highly specialized functions such as countering missile fire. You can unlock units in almost any order you wish, allowing you to customize your civilization to suit your preferred play-style. You wont be able to gather enough knowledge to unlock even a third of the available units in a single game, so you will have to decide carefully which to invest in.

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CAMPAIGN SETUP

CAMPAIGN SETUP

CAMPAIGN SETUP

SECTION 6: CAMPAIGN SETUP

Select Host New Campaign on the Main Menu to be taken to the Campaign Lobby. From here, you can configure every aspect of your campaign.

CAMPAIGN SETTINGS
The campaign settings can be modified via the Map, Ships, and Game Options tabs. Some of the available options are covered below.

EXPANSIONS
Expansion content can be enabled/disabled by the host in the campaign lobby. If expansion content is enabled and any players do not have the expansion installed and available, it will not be possible to start the campaign.

AI DIFFICULTY
The AI difficulty affects the sophistication of the AIs tactics, as well as the number of reinforcements it will receive. Difficulty 7 is the recommended difficulty for RTS veterans. At this level, the AI will execute all of the tactics at its disposal. New players, especially those new to the genre, may prefer to start at difficulty 4.

AI TYPE
In addition to the difficulty levels, there are also a number of AI Types available. Each type has distinct tactics, many utilizing unique and specialized units. They are divided into three tiers, Easy, Medium, and Hard. If you choose a random AI type, and disable Reveal Random AI Type in the lobby, you will have to discover its type by analyzing its tactics during the campaign.

# OF PLANETS
Here you can choose the number of planets on the game map. You may select anywhere from 10-120 planets. We recommend an 80 planet map, as this provides the ideal balance of strategic depth and difficulty. Note: Fewer than 30 planets is quite hard, as you will run into the AI home planets faster with less opportunity to gather knowledge to upgrade your fleet.

SETTING UP A MULTIPLAYER CAMPAIGN

Up to 8 players can play a campaign cooperatively. While the host is in the Campaign Lobby, other players can join the campaign using the Join Multiplayer Game option on the Main Menu. AI War supports LAN and Direct Connect multiplayer.

MAP STYLE
You can also choose the map style. Simple maps are the easiest to see and interpret and are recommended for beginners. Complex maps are often more interesting, but can also be visually intimidating and more difficult to read. Hubs style maps contain a far greater number of wormhole links.

SELECTING YOUR HOME PLANET(S)

A preview of the Galaxy Map is displayed in the Campaign Lobby. Potential home planets will display an icon indicating the bonus ship type you will receive when starting on that planet, as well as a number indicating the number of wormholes connected to the planet. Left Click on a planet to select it. The selected planet will change color to match your team. Right Click on a planet to deselect it. You can choose not to select a home planet, in which case it will be chosen randomly for you. It is also possible to select multiple Home Planets, in which case you will start with all associated bonus ships, but doing so will also make the AI more powerful.

MAP SEED
The map seed is the random number used to generate the map. Pressing the New Map Seed button will generate a new seed and corresponding map. You can also generate maps by manually entering your own seeds and pressing Generate Map.

COMBAT STYLE
There are three combat styles available; Epic/4X, Normal, and Blitz. In Epic/4X mode, the game is considerably slower. In Blitz, its very much faster. We recommend the Normal combat style for new players, Epic/4X for 4X/TBS fans, and Blitz for fans of very fast RTS games. 27

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UNIT TYPES CAMPAIGN SETUP

UNIT TYPES

UNIT TYPES

UNIT CAP SCALE

You can change how many ships the players and the AI get to use. Normal is very much recommended, but High lets you have many more ships -- however, your CPU may not be able to hold up. If youre playing on a very low-power computer, then Low might be a good idea. Unit scaling does not influence gameplay very much -- as the scale gets higher, the number of units increases, but their attributes are divided accordingly. A full unit cap of fighters on any unit scale will have the same aggregate health and damage as any other scale.

SECTION 7: UNIT TYPES

This section presents a small cross section of the units you will encounter in AI War.

COMMAND STATIONS
A team controls a planet if they have a completed command station present there. They can be constructed by colony ships, but only one command station can exist on a planet at a time. Command stations produce metal, crystal, and energy, as well as providing supply to the host planet and all adjacent planets. Players can always access the Build Menu and full Planetary Summary on controlled planets. A team is defeated if all their Home Command Stations are destroyed. If a COMMAND STATION player does not have a home command station (such as if it is destroyed by the AI, or they have just joined the game) they will be given a command station core to provide them with the resources to participate in the campaign.
HUMAN HOME

PERFORMANCE PROFILE
You can change the draw speed and simulation coarseness with this. Most players will play on High, which is the default. However, if your game starts running slowly, or you prefer a very high framerate, you can adjust the performance profile up or down at any time during the game. Simply click into the Players tab of the Stats window in-game. This generally has very little effect on gameplay, just how much computing power is used versus how smooth everything looks.

AUTO AI PROGRESS
You can modify the rate of automatic AI progress increase. The increment amount and frequency can be modified separately. An AI progress increment and/or frequency of 0 will disable automatic AI Progress increases.

BASIC SHIPS
In addition to any bonus ships that are unlocked, players can construct 4 basic ship types at their space docks.

MINOR FACTIONS
Here the optional additional minor factions that will exist in the campaign can be configured, including 4 from the base game and many more from the expansions.

SCOUTS
Scouts are cloaked units that are used to gather intelligence on other planets. If you are playing with the Fog of War enabled, you will be unable to view the Intel Summaries for planets that have not yet been scouted. All scouts have the cloaking booster ability, and so will be able to penetrate further into AI territory when operating in groups. Its recommended that you keep a scout, or scout starship, with your main fleet, as this will allow you to view the full Planetary Summary on hostile planets.

SAVING AND RESUMING CAMPAIGNS

A campaign can be saved at any time by pressing the Esc key and selecting the Save Game option. To resume a previously saved campaign, select the Load Saved Game option from the Main Menu. When resuming a multiplayer game, only the host needs to load the save game. The other players should use the Join Multiplayer Game option as normal.

SCOUT II

MANAGING PLAYERS
During a campaign, the host can manage the current players by pressing Esc and selecting the Manage Players option. Existing players can be removed from the campaign by disabling them, in which case all remaining players will be able to issue commands to their orphaned units, including gifting them to themselves or other players. To add an additional player to an existing campaign, enter their profile name and team color, then set their status to active.

FIGHTERS
Fighters are fast, versatile units that are highly effective against enemy bombers. Fighters are relatively inexpensive, and so are especially useful in the early game.
FIGHTER I

BOMBERS
Bombers are highly effective against heavily reinforced targets. Theyre vital for attacking powerful defenses such as force fields and fortresses. Bombers are also very good against the thick armor of frigates, but are vulnerable to enemy fighters.
BOMBER I

YOUR FIRST CAMPAIGN

The Intermediate Tutorial will guide you through every aspect of your first campaign, from constructing your first ships to the destruction of the AI. It is possible to be defeated during this tutorial, so be on your guard at all times. Good luck.

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UNIT TYPES

UNIT TYPES

FRIGATE
Frigates are large, slow, relatively fragile ships that can deal heavy damage via long range missiles. When used in numbers, they can inflict significant losses before the enemy can get into range.

STARSHIPS
Starships are large, formidable ships with immense amounts of firepower. Many starships have the Munitions Booster ability, which allows them to increase the firepower of nearby friendly ships. All starships must be constructed at a starship constructor. These are just as integral to gameplay as your normal fleet ships.

BONUS SHIPS
FRIGATE I Like the basic ship types, all bonus ships are constructed at space docks. Players start with access to 1 bonus ship per Home Planet, and will gain access to 1 random additional bonus ship for each advanced research station that is captured from the AI.

WARHEADS

FLAGSHIP

Warheads can be constructed at a missile silo. Detonating a warhead will increase the AI progress level, so use them sparingly. Warheads detonate when they are scrapped or destroyed.

Unit caps are per unit type, so gaining an extra bonus ship increases the total number of ships you are able to deploy. There is a great variety of bonus ships in AI War, all with differing abilities. View a bonus ships tooltip to learn about its strengths and weaknesses.

LIGHTNING WARHEADS
Upon detonation, lightning warheads deal heavy damage to all units in a certain radius around them. They are highly effective when attacking heavily entrenched locations.

PARASITES
Parasites are some of the most feared ships in the Galaxy. If a ship sustains damage from parasites, it will be captured upon its destruction by the parasites controller. A swarm of parasites can quickly take control of an enemy fleet, turning them against their former allies.

NUKES
A nuke is a weapon of last resort. Upon detonation, it will instantly obliterate all LIGHTNING MISSILE but the Mark V units on the planet, along with the entire planet itself and all resource gather points. A command station built on a destroyed planet cannot provide supply to adjacent planets. Using this weapon will greatly increase the AI progress level.

...AND MANY MORE

To name just a few: Shield bearers, Armor Ships, Anti-Armor Ships, Space Tanks, Teleport Battle Stations, Raiders, EyeBots, EtherJet Tractors, Electric Shuttles.

PARASITE I

SUPPORT UNITS / TURRETS

TURRETS
Turrets are static units that cannot move from their place of construction. Their abilities range from heavy firepower to restricting enemy movements. They always provide more firepower for a given cost than mobile fleet ships, making them an excellent choice for defending your structures and wormholes.

ECONOMIC SHIPS
Economic ships are accessible on the Econ tab of the Build Menu.

ENGINEERS
Engineers are vital for accelerating construction, repairing units, and assisting constructors. They will automatically assist with construction and repair in nearby locations, but they can be ordered to construct/repair specific units if required. When no other tasks are available, engineers will assist nearby constructors, allowing them to build units more quickly. Engineers can also be explicitly ordered to assist a constructor by Right Clicking on the constructor, in which case they will not leave to perform construction and repair tasks.

MINEFIELDS
Minefields are cloaked units that deal heavy damage to any enemy units that collide with them, also damaging themselves in the process.
BASIC TURRET I

Tip: Place mines around wormholes and on routes that the AI is likely to take for maximum effect.

SCIENCE LABS

ENGINEER I

FORCE FIELDS
Force fields are mobile units that absorb any fire aimed at units under their protection. The protection radius of a force field will shrink as it takes damage, so you should keep your most valuable units close to the center of the force field. Be aware that friendly units will only do 25% of their normal damage when firing whilst under a force field. A small force field circle around a unit indicates that it is under the protection of a force field. Some units are immune to force fields, moving and firing through hostile force fields without issue.

Science labs are used to gather knowledge and unlock new units. A Supplied science lab will automatically gather knowledge on its current planet. Science labs are unarmed and relatively fragile, and so will require support when operating in hostile locations. Selecting a science lab will display a list of the units available for research.

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ADVANCED UNIT TYPES FEATURES

ADVANCED FEATURES

ADVANCED FEATURES

CONSTRUCTORS
Constructors are units that build other units. They are on the Const tab of the Build Menu.

SECTION 8: ADVANCED FEATURES

FLARES
Flares can be used in Multiplayer Campaigns to draw attention to particular locations. To create a flare, press the F key to enter Flare Placement mode, then Left Click on the desired location. The chosen location can be either a planet, chosen in Galaxy View, or a specific point on a planet, chosen in Planet View. Flares are visible for 10 seconds after creation. Press ~ to focus the camera on the most recent flare.

COLONY SHIPS
Colony ships are required to build command stations. Command stations can only be built on planets if there is not already one present, so you will need to destroy the AIs command station before beginning construction of your own. Upon completion, all capturable units on that planet, including advanced factories and advanced research stations, will be transferred to your control.

SPACE DOCKS

COLONY SHIP

SETTING GATHER POINTS FROM CONSTRUCTORS

All units produced at a constructor will automatically head towards the constructors assigned gather point. To assign a gather point to a constructor, first select the constructor, then Right Click on the desired gather point. You can set other planets as gather points by Right Clicking on the planet in Galaxy View. If a gather point is designated while holding the Alt or V key, the produced units will emerge in Attack-Move or Free Roaming Defender mode, respectively.

Space docks are used to construct all the basic ship types, as well as any bonus ships that are unlocked. Space docks require large amounts of energy, so place them at key strategic locations.

ADVANCED FACTORIES
Players cannot build advanced factories; they are an advanced structure that must be captured from the AI. Advanced factories are the only means of constructing powerful Mark IV units, so controlling at least one is highly desirable. If an advanced factory is destroyed, it is lost forever, so be sure to defend them well. Note: You must have the Mark III ship unlocked to construct the Mark IV variant.

CONTROL GROUPS
The selected units can be assigned to a control group by pressing Ctrl + 0-9. You can then select any units on the current planet assigned to that control group by pressing the corresponding number key. Units can belong to multiple control groups. If there are no units in the selected control group on the current planet, then the camera will swap to the nearest planet that contain units in that control group. Assigning a constructor to a control group will cause all units subsequently built by that constructor to be automatically assigned to the corresponding control group(s). See the Shortcut Keys Reference for a comprehensive list of controls related to control groups.

GUARDIANS & GUARD POSTS

Two major categories of ships and structures that only the AIs use are Guardians and Guard posts. The AIs use these in place of turrets or some of the other support units that players have.
SPACE DOCK

CLOAKING
Many units, including scouts, have the cloaking ability. Cloaked units cannot be seen or targeted by most enemies. There are a few specialized detector units available to the AI and you. Units cannot fire whilst cloaked, and wont be able to recloak for 8 seconds after firing. A purple circle around a unit indicates that it is cloaked. Unless in Attack-Move mode, cloaked units will not reveal themselves by automatically firing on enemies that are in range.

Guard posts on a planet are where the AI receives reinforcements when it warps in new ships from its production facilities outside the galaxy. Destroy the guard posts to prevent the AI from heavily reinforcing on a planet -- but be warned, some of the guard posts strike back hard. A few ever launch deadly counterattacks at planets that you otherwise thought were protected. On the plus side, Guard Posts are immobile like turrets, so they wont ever come chasing after you. Guardians, on the other hand, are big, mean, and mobile. Depending on your chosen AI difficulty level, youll find these hanging out at guard posts, ready to defend the planet they are on -- and quite often, counterattack you in return. Before you stir up a group of guardians, be sure that youve got defenses that can withstand the onslaught if they overrun your main fleet. The most dangerous thing about attacking a high-level planet is the reprisal that comes if your strike force fails (and sometimes, even the smaller reprisal that comes if your strike force succeeds, if guardians and other ships retreat from the planet and regroup).

TACHYON EMITTERS
Units with the Tachyon Emitter ability will automatically fire Tachyon Beams at any cloaked units that come into range. A Tachyon Beam, represented by a yellow line, disables the cloak of the targeted ship. After being revealed by a Tachyon Beam, a unit will be unable to recloak for 8 seconds. Notably, Tachyon Guardians have the Tachyon Emitter ability, and so can cause major problems for your scouts should they cross paths.

ADVANCED RESEARCH STATIONS (ARS)

Capturing these is a huge priority during your games. Every galaxy contains exactly five of them. Every time you capture an ARS, you gain a new bonus ship class that you can build -- this makes your fleets bigger, as well as more varied and powerful. 32

CLOAKING BOOSTERS
Units with the Cloaking Booster ability can boost the cloak of a limited number of cloaked units in range. Cloaking Boosted units will not be revealed by Tachyon Beams. A unit that is boosting cannot itself be boosted by another unit. A purple line between two ships indicates this occurring. 33

ADVANCED FEATURES

SETTINGS

SETTINGS

TELEPORTATION
Teleporting units can travel instantaneously between two points on a planet. Because of this, they can traverse the wormhole network very quickly, making them especially useful for both defense and hit-and-run attacks. After teleporting, a unit will be stunned and unable to perform any further actions for a short time. The duration of the stun is proportional to the distance teleported.

SECTION 9: SETTINGS
The Settings Menu is accessible from the games Main Menu. Here, you can adjust various options that will affect how the game looks, sounds, and plays. Enabling items displayed with green text can improve performance, while those in red text can reduce performance. You can also access the games controls reference from this menu.

MUNITIONS BOOSTERS
Units with the Munitions Booster ability can boost the firepower of nearby friendly ships. A unit can be boosted by 4 other friendly units simultaneously, greatly increasing its firepower.

GAME DATA DIRECTORY

This directory is where error and save files are located. If you wish to post a bug report on the AI War Development Forum, attaching any error files found in this directory to your report will be of assistance to the developers.

GROUP MOVE
Holding the G key when issuing move orders will cause all selected units to move at the rate of the slowest selected ship. This is highly useful for keeping your fleet together.

GAME
UDP NETWORK
This setting controls the UDP port number that AI War uses to send network traffic. To play a multiplayer game, all players must have the same network port setting. Unless you have a specific reason to do so, we do not recommend that you change this.

ATTACK-MOVE
Units can be placed into Attack-Move mode by holding the X key when issuing a move order. A yellow border around a unit in Far Zoom indicates that it is in Attack-Move mode. Units in AttackMove mode will chase any enemies that come into firing range. Once the enemy is destroyed, they will move/return to the location designated by the Attack-Move order. Units in Attack-Move mode will not pursue enemies through wormholes. Tip: Place units in Attack-Move mode near wormholes to have them chase down any hostile units that come through.

AUTOSAVE EVERY
This setting defines how often the game will autosave. By default, this is set to every 5 minutes. A setting of 0 will prevent any autosaves from occurring.

TURN-BASED STRATEGY STYLE SETTINGS

If you wish to issue orders while the game is paused, you should enable the Use TBS-Friendly Pause option.

FREE ROAMING DEFENDER MODE

Units can be placed into Free Roaming Defender (FRD) mode by holding the V key when issuing a move order. A pink border around a unit in Far Zoom indicates that it is in FRD mode. Units in FRD mode will engage any enemies present on the current planet; this makes FRD mode very useful for mopping up any hostile ships that make it past your defenses. If there are no enemies present on the planet, the units will move/return to the location designated when issuing the FRD move order. Engineers placed into FRD mode will attempt to repair any units on the current planet, regardless of how far away they are.

NETWORK SYNC PERFORMANCE SETTINGS

These settings can affect the performance of the game when loading/syncing games across the network. If you are having trouble in this area, refer to the in game help for more detailed information.

INTERFACE
From here you can tweak the games interface to suit your preferred style, including whether you wish to run the game in full-screen or windowed mode.

PREFERRED TARGETS
Units ordered to attack a specific target will acquire that unit type as their preferred target. When possible, a unit will always choose to fire on targets of its preferred type, allowing you to maximize the effectiveness of your fleet during engagements. View a units tooltip to display its current preferred target type.

GRAPHICS
Here you can modify the graphical aspects of the game. These changes are purely aesthetic, and will not affect gameplay, though they may help performance on older graphics cards.

34

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SHORTCUT SETTINGS KEYS REFERENCE

SHORTCUT KEYS REFERENCE

AUDIO
This menu allows you to modify the volume of the games sounds and music. You can also choose to disable them entirely if desired.

SECTION 10: SHORTCUT KEYS REFERENCE

Legend Legend
Left Click Double Left Click Mouse Wheel Right Click Drag Shift Arrow Keys

EXPANSIONS
Expansion features can be enabled/disabled here. Activating an expansion for which you do not have a license key will cause the game enter trial mode. To return to full use of the game, simply disable the expansion.

(H)

Hold

THE ZENITH REMNANT

The first expansion for AI War, including a massive amount of new content that brings the galaxy to life in exciting ways. Capturables, special AI ships, and ancient alien artifacts litter the cosmos, making your choices as a player more varied than ever. Keys features include: 122 new ships, including; 14 new ship classes with a variety of abilities. 7 massive capturable Golem ships. Dozens of other new capturables, including experimental ships. 12 new AI Types. 4 Zenith alien minor factions (NPCs). Over 40 minutes of new in-game music tracks. Several new map styles. Several new AI behaviours and many related special AI weapons.

Mouse Controls Mouse Controls

Select unit (deselects prior selected). On Selected Units Dropdown - Select unit type.
+ +

Select multiple units (deselects prior selected, selects only military units by default). Select unit (adds to prior selected). On Build Button - Queue 5 ships instead of 1. On Selected Units Dropdown - Select unit class.
+

Select multiple units (adds to prior selected). On Wormhole - Send view through wormhole. Select multiple units (all units, not just military). Deselect unit. On Item in Build Queue - Send item to front of queue. On Build Button - Queue 10 ships instead of 1. Deselect multiple units. Select all units of same type on screen group. Deselect all units of same type on screen. Selected units move to target location. On Enemy - Selected units attack target enemy. Build Button - Dequeue ship of clicked type. Galaxy Map - Send selected units to clicked planet. On Selected Units Dropdown - Deselect unit type.

+ Ctrl + Ctrl + + Alt + Alt + + Alt

CHILDREN OF NEINZUL
The second expansion for AI War, this one is a half-price micro expansion, and all of Arcens proceeds from it are donated to the Childs Play charity. Keys features include: 36 new ships, including: 5 new ship classes with a variety of abilities. Enclave Starships and Regeneration Chambers for direct unlock. 6 new AI special weapons. 6 new AI Types. 3 Neinzul alien minor factions (NPCs). Devastating new Hybrid Hives AI plot. 3 new in-game music tracks. Two new map styles: X and Concentric Circles.

Selected units add target location to their waypoints. On Enemy - Selected units add clicked enemy to their target queue. Galaxy Map - Add wormhole path to end of current path of all selected units. On Wormhole - Send selected units through wormhole. Build Button - Dequeue 5 ships instead of 1. Open the context menu for the selected units. Galaxy Map - Selected units move to planet in Attack-Move mode. On Item in Build Queue - Send item to back of queue. On Build Button - Dequeue 10 ships instead of 1. Selected units Group-Move to target location. Selected units move to target location in Free-Roaming Defender Mode. Galaxy Map - Selected units move to planet in Free-Roaming Defender Mode. Selected units Attack-Move to target location. On Capturable Structure - Selected units attack target. Zoom in and out (zooming in centers on mouse cursor). Zoom in and out at double speed.

+ Ctrl + Alt

+G +V +X

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SHORTCUT KEYS REFERENCE View Controls

Pan View.
+

SHORTCUT KEYS REFERENCE

SHORTCUT KEYS REFERENCE General Keyboard Controls

Tab H P B K Ctrl (H) (H) Z (H) Z + X (H) Z + A (H) A (H) I (H) F ~ Enter Delete Backspace Escape Spacebar Spacebar (H) End + Ctrl + + Ctrl + F1 + F1
Toggle Galaxy View. Center on friendly forces at current planet. Pause. Build Menu. Toggle Low Power mode for selected units. Show names of all planets in Galaxy View. Show movement paths for all selection ships.

SHORTCUT KEYS REFERENCE

Pan View at double speed. No Zoom. Mid Zoom 1. Mid Zoom 2. Farthest Zoom. Zoom In (centers on mouse cursor). Zoom Out. Force display of Far Zoom style icons in main view. Force display of actual ship graphics instead of icons in main view.

Q W E R PageUp PageDown F9 (H) F10 (H)

Show range of all selected units, and/or units under mouse cursor. Show all enemy ranges in addition to the above. Show range of selected units at cursor instead of their position. Show selection circle around all on-screen ships. Show hit % and damage for all selected ships, and/or units under mouse cursor. Create a Flare. Go to most recent flare. Open the chat window. Scrap the selected units. Scrap the selected units. If in Galaxy View, return to the main game display. Center display on the selected units. Follow selected units with display. Stop selected units. Increase game simulation speed. Decrease game simulation speed. Increase command lag (Improves network performance). Decrease command lag. Cycle Planetary Summary help icons. Switch to non-help view of Planetary Summary.

Minimap Shortcuts Minimap Shortcuts

F5 (H) F6 (H) F7 (H)
Show military ships only. Show wormholes and resources only. Show enemy ships only.

Ship Placement Controls Ship Placement Controls

Place ship at location.
+ + + + Ctrl + Ctrl + + Ctrl + + Alt + Alt + + Alt + + +

Place ship at location (remain in ship placement mode). Place multiple ships. Place cluster of 5 ships at location. Place cluster of 5 ships at location (remain in ship placement mode). Place multiple clusters of 5 ships. Place cluster of 10 ships at location. Place cluster of 10 ships at location (remain in ship placement mode). Place multiple clusters of 10 ships. Exit ship placement mode.

Control Group Management

0-9 + 0-9 + Alt + 0-9 Ctrl + 0-9 Ctrl + X + 0-9 Ctrl + + 0-9 Ctrl + Alt + 0-9 X + 0-9 0-9 (Double) 0-9 (Triple)
Select control group ships at current planet (switches to other planet if none at current, never selects ships from more than one planet at a time, does not select constructors). Select control group ships at current planet in addition to current selected. Remove control group ships from the current selection. Assign control group. Assign control group (exclusive). Add to existing control group. Remove units from control group. Select constructors only (also works with double and triple presses). Select control group ships and center the view on them. Select control group ships on the next planet that has them.

Object Viewing Shortcuts

/ M C 38
Wormholes Metal Deposits Crystal Deposits

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SHORTCUT KEYS REFERENCE Ship Selection Filters

N+0 N+1 N+2 N+3 N+4 N+5 N+7 N + 7 + Space N+8 N+9
Select only ships with no Mark level. Select only Mark I ships. Select only Mark II ships. Select only Mark III ships. Select only Mark IV ships. Select only Mark V/Core ships. Select only ships with damaged engines. Select only ships with undamaged engines. Select only ships with 33% or less health remaining. Select only ships with 66% or less health remaining.

SHORTCUT KEYS REFERENCE Cheat Codes (Cont) Cheat Codes

Nuke Em I Love Leeches Fight Or Flight Bombs Away Just Cruisin Core Cruisin Armor Em I Can See My House Engies Energize More More More Parasite This Advanced Fat Core of the Star Activate the Omega Busted Teensy Teensy Busted Shinra Shinra Busted Ohm Ohm Busted Curse Me Curse Me Busted Its A Troll Its A Troll Busted And The Hegemon And The Hegemon Busted Zombie Bots Zombie Bots Spawn Angry Colonists Spawn Vagabonds Spawn The Conners Go Go Trade Pact Spawn Miners Calling Mr Miles Invoke Unicron Cmd:activate expansion 1 Cmd:toggle hud
* Expansion only. Enter a code into the chatbox to activate the corresponding effect. Cheats must be enabled on the Campaign Setup menu prior to the game starting. To see if cheats are enabled in your current game, hover over the Totals button in Galaxy View. +5 Nuclear Missiles +50 Core Leeches +50 Mark IV Fighters +50 Mark IV Bombers +50 Cruisers +50 Core Battle Cruisers +1 Armored Missile All Planets Are Scouted +10 Mark II Engineers +10 Zenith Energy Reactors Ignore Ship Caps Reclamators Ignore Ship Caps +1 Advanced Factory +1 Core Starship +1 Omega Drive +1 Broken Black Widow Golem * +1 Black Widow Golem * +1 Broken Artillery Golem * +1 Artillery Golem * +1 Broken Armored Golem * +1 Armored Golem * +1 Broken Cursed Golem * +1 Cursed Golem * +1 Broken Regenerator Golem * +1 Regenerator Golem * +1 Broken Hive Golem * +1 Hive Golem * +1 Broken Botnet Golem * +1 Botnet Golem * Spawn Rebelling Human Colony Spawn Human Marauders Spawn Human Resistance Fighters Spawn Zenith Traders * Spawn Zenith Miners * Spawn Dyson Sphere Golem * Spawn Zenith Devourer * Activate expansion content in a campaign that did not already have the expansion enabled. * Show/Hide HUD.

Ship Selection Shortcuts

B S . D U O ,
Command Stations and Mobile Builders. Science Labs. Engineers. Docks, Starship constructors, missile silos, and Advanced Factories. Starships. Scouts. Select next idle mobile military unit at current planet and center on it. Select all idle mobile military units at current planet. Select all military units at current planet (idle or not). Select half of the currently selected units (rounding up per ship type). Select a third of the currently selected units (rounding up per ship type). Select first idle unit out of currently selected units.

+, Ctrl + , L +L \

F3

Debug Info Controls Debug Info Controls

Write/Clear Debug Info.

Ctrl + Ctrl + Ctrl + I (H)

+ F5 + F6 + F8

*Write the smaller UnitTypeStrength.xml file (requires 45+ minutes, inludes only same-level ship types). *Write the FULL UnitTypeStrength.xml file (requires several hours, includes all ship types against all other ship types). *Write the Excel Secondary XML files (requires only seconds, useful for all sorts of analysis). *Show the last target search cycle for each unit onscreen.

*Must be in Test Mode, or have F3 debug output displayed.

Cheat Codes
Give Me K Metal Head Crystal Goblet Bomb The Stars Be Peaceful Get Angry 40
+10,000 Knowledge +100,000 Metal +100,000 Crystal +1 Mark IV Bomber Starship -100 AI Progress +100 AI Progress

41

CREDITS
Designer Christopher M. Park Programming Christopher M. Park Keith LaMothe Music Composition / Editing Pablo Vega Piano & Vocals Pablo Vega Electric Guitar Ted Hardin Trumpet Elizabeth Thompson Sound Pablo Vega Various Artwork Philippe Chabot Christopher M. Park Maxime Trpanier Daniel Cook Hans-Martin Portmann I-KP Techwriter Calvin Southwood Special Thanks / Alpha Test / Design Assist Michael Park Melvin Park Desmond Kaplan Special Thanks Marisa Park Lars Bull The Unity 3D Team Michael Lidgren The SlimDX Team Beta Testers Lars Bull Zack Cataldo Desmond Kaplan Andrew Leach Austin Moore 42

CREDITS
Special thanks to players with contributions to the game manual dumpsterKEEPER Haagenti kjara Patrick Burke For more information about the game, please see our online wiki for the game: http://www.arcengames.com/mediawiki To join the close, ever-growing AI War online community (and ask questions or share your own expertise and opinions), please visit our forums: http://www.arcengames.com/forums