Arcen Games has released a brand new expansion The Spire Rises for its grand strategy title AI War 2 released last year. AI War 2 was released back in October 2019 and we also reviewed the base game in which we found out that Arcen Games has done a great job in making an excellent space real-time strategy game.
The next expansion for AI War 2 is called The Spire Rises and it further builds upon the concept for AI War 2. The Spire Rises adds brand new capturables, turrets and ships to the game however the biggest addition to the game with the expansion are two brand new factions The Scourge and The Fallen Spire.
Both new factions sit on the opposite end of the spectrum. The Scourge is an evil faction and also the toughest enemy faction you can come up against in the game. On the other hand, The Fallen Spire is the best ally that can support your cause with great firepower against any type of enemy. Both new factions can be activated and used in the game on demand thanks to lobby customization offered by the game.
The Scourge is nothing like something you have already faced in AI War 2. You can activate this faction in the game via the lobby or by their beacons in the game. They have some really sneaky tactics to deal massive damage. The Scourge is capable of building cloaked ships that can suicide into your economic command stations crippling your economy while the remaining units create a distraction.
The Fallen Spire is the perfect AI ally for you against the threat of The Scourge. The Fallen Spire come with some of the biggest weapons in the game. They can also bring back extra-galactic forces to the game and help you in battle while also allowing you to build entire spire cities of various complexities and styles.
Apart from the new factions, following new content is also coming in the new expansion:
- 30+ new turrets for you and the AI to use; vastly more than in the base game.
- Tackle Drones, Bombards, Viral Shredders, and Tesla Torpedo Frigates
- Five new Arks to find and capture in any game!
- A variety of new game mechanics used by the new Arks, turrets, and so on. Any mods can make use of these new mechanics, whether you have the expansion or not.
- Four new minor capturables to find throughout the galaxy as you’re chasing larger targets.
- Dozens upon dozens of new ships and structures in the scourge and fallen spire factions.
- Integration with the base game factions! Macrophage, Nanocaust, and Marauders can interact with the Spire and build unique new units if they’re also enabled while you play fallen spire.
- Additional music! Not as large an addition as in some past cases, but some really exciting pieces.
The base game is also getting some new content with The Spire Rises expansion:
- “Fireteams” from the scourge were backported into the AI itself, and the scariest other factions, making the AI vastly smarter in general.
- Improvements to targeting and other AI efficiency and performance improvements benefit all the factions, expansion or otherwise.
- A major upgrade to the lighting and materials used in the game makes everything prettier. We had to retouch all of the existing ships and structures from the base game to make this happen.
- Loads of requested features, such as the ability to load quick starts (or even savegames) into the lobby for further customization before starting a new game.
- The Extragalactic War features that the AI brings out against the Fallen Spire are technically part of the base game, so that any other faction or mod can use them in the future if desired. We didn’t want to gate that off.
- Keep a lookout for our review The Spire Rises in which we will dig deep in the brand new expansion of AI War 2.
Have you played the original AI War 2 and are you looking forward to playing The Spire Rises expansion for the game? Let us know in the comments section below.
