AI War Beta 5.088 "Strategic Reserve" Released news

This one deals with several longstanding requests that have been at the top of the mantis voting for a while:

1) Now the game will tell you what the local time is, and how much real time you've actually spent in that particular game, when you mouseover the in-game clock. Note: the "how much real time you've actually spent in that particular game" timer will only be correct for game started in this version or later, as it doesn't know how much real time has elapsed in older saves.

2) It's now possible to have auto-FRD on but still have some units ignore it, by using the new per-control-group controls on the CTRLS window. You can also have it only auto-FRD those control groups you designate, if you prefer a more targeted use of the feature. It also allows more granular use of the Auto-Kite behavior, since some people have asked for that.

3) The shard seeding in the Fallen Spire campaign no longer pays attention to how much territory you've conquered. Generally this makes things easier, but from the feedback I've been seeing other recent changes should more than make up for any decrease in that part of the challenge, since it hasn't been the really killer part of it anyway.

Also, not from the mantis voting but from more recent feedback, we've added another tool to the AI's arsenal: the strategic reserve. This functions mainly as a homeworld defense force but is less susceptible to baiting than other defensive mechanics. In general this should help prevent cases where it feels like the homeworld is underdefended, but without piling tons of ships on it all game. Balance feedback is, of course, welcome.

Enjoy!

This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.