Big thank you to everyone who participated in Beta 1, and especially to those who sent in saved games to illustrate different issues. Saved games are extremely important for us - they’re often the only way to truly see and understand what’s going on. Screenshots or videos usually give very little insight into the actual cause of a problem, which makes them much less helpful.

Reminder: the best way to send a saved game

1. Zoom in so the “problem” is centered on your screen. This makes it much easier for us to spot later.

2. Press Esc → Save, and create a new save with a sensible name. Please don’t overwrite an existing save.

3. Go to Documents → My Games → ICBM-Escalation → SAVES.

4. Find the save folder with the highest number in its name (e.g. SAVE12, SAVE43, etc.).

5. Compress this folder into an archive (zip, rar - anything works).

6. Post the archive along with a description of the problem on the game’s Discord server - or email it to vufnarovsky at gmail.

Thanks in advance!

What’s new in Beta 2

Beta 1 was focused on testing the AI’s conventional invasion/defense mechanics and how it handles military build-up. For this purpose, AI aggressiveness was set to the maximum, which resulted in very dynamic - and often chaotic - gameplay.

In Beta 2, AI aggressiveness is set to a normal level. You can now expect longer periods of armed neutrality from AI factions - don’t expect massive invasions or rapid land grabs immediately after the peace timer expires.

That said, the AI does not underestimate threats. If you attempt an invasion, it will respond accordingly. This also doesn’t mean the AI will remain peaceful forever. Investing all your points into technology from the very start to create an early tech gap can still backfire (and this is actually something worth testing).

In Beta 1, the AI was also prone to attacking its allies and was overly eager to attack factions it didn’t even share land borders with. Beta 2 significantly tones this behavior down.

Note: if you want to bring the AI aggressiveness to the same level as in Beta 1, check the “Aggressive AI” setting when starting a new game.

Fixes based on your reports

Thanks to your feedback, a number of issues were found and fixed, including:

• Resupply ships and FOBs not repairing units

• AI deploying its navy in foreign waters

• Incorrect evaluation of support unit influence

• Occupation of already surrendered states

• AI producing too many naval and AA units

• AI building and deploying support units with insufficient range

• AI massacring cities even when population was already at zero

• Research center effects being shared with allies

• Many other minor issues

Overall, Beta 2 should offer a noticeably different playstyle, with more sensible diplomacy and a more deliberate build-up before conflicts truly unfold.

Looking ahead to Beta 3, the focus will shift to the nuclear side of the game - both warfare and diplomacy. Performance will also be a major priority, especially reducing late-game “stuttering” caused by AI logistics calculations, as well as improving performance in general when large numbers of units are present on the map.

Thank you once again for your support!

Changelog:

• The AI army divisions don't try to board the Self-Destructing airbases anymore

• Changed the double-occupation pattern. Now the faction that controls the most population gets the region

• Restricted the number of naval units used by the AI

• Not showing relations with the surrendered factions anymore

• Now checking for compatibility the saved points distributions

• Fixed resupply ships and FOBs not repairing units

• Fixed the incorrect reading of target AI technologies

• Fixed the AI transports not reacting to the destination change

• Fixed the problem with AI deploying its navy outside of its waters

• Fixed the problem with the enemy power evaluation for invasion possibility

• Added the "backup" solution for support categories when the default AI group does not have the range to cover the potential invasion target

• When invading enemy region that has ground border with our faction and the army requires transporting, default to deploy to our bordering region instead

• The faction can now occupy the cities of a surrendered faction even if was not in state of war

• The AI now considered its allies differently from the rest of the factions when deciding to invade / go to war

• The AI now always prefer dealing with the factions it has direct land borders with

• Research center and Intelligence center don't buff the allies anymore 

• Fixed the problem with cities not saving their "in range" status, thus showing incorrect stats on load

• Units that are disbanding to return to your stockpile due to ceasefire now report themselves as "Disbanding" instead of "Self-destructing"

• Reduced the aggressiveness of the AI factions in the beginning of the match

• The support type categories are now dynamically defined instead of being hardcoded

• Adds a new radar type to landing ships and air transports, which only sees army divisions and bases - goal is to reduce player confusion and frustration when a unit fails to deploy due to enemy zone of control

• City art update

• SSBNs no longer treat EMPs as a default weapon