New beta build! https://wiki.arcengames.com/index.php?title=AI_War_2:Multiplayer_Alpha_And_Beta#Beta_2.750_Bastions_And_Tuning
You need to use the current_beta branch on Steam or GOG to play this one. If you have trouble with it, there is a most_recent_stable_beta, now, too.
It's been 6 days since the last release, which feels like a lifetime, and it shows in this release. Most of what is new in this one is just tweaks and fixes and tuning (and features for DLC2), but the release notes are REALLY long for it, and it really shows how much polish this adds. This one also adjusts balance fairly substantially in a few areas, though, so let's talk about that.
First of all, the AI homeworlds were getting to be nuts in terms of their power on high difficulties in particular. A number of changes have been made to make the end battles more versatile and give you more options. Against a single giant planet, you only have a few types of ships that work. So instead, we now have split out things a bit into the homeworld and some surrounding "Bastion" planets. The dire guard posts are divided between those now, versus all being on the single homeworld planet. All you have to do is kill those dire guard posts to then go for the guardian, but the fact that they are not all on one planet now is both making it easier and more challenging at the same time, somehow. It opens up more places for you to use multiple potential strategies, too.
You also can't cheese running transports back to friendly territory to make them instantly repairable. Note that when in stationary mode, transports can be given orders to move to another planet and they will stay put while their ships rally there. We'll make that more clear in the interface next build, but it means you can park small transports next door to your attack target.
Guardians now appear in waves, if the wave is powerful enough to warrant that. TONs of mod updates, too. Enjoy!