Just played AI War 2 for the first time... what have I gotten myself into?

Hey everyone,

So I just wrapped up my weekly "First Two Hours" stream where I tackle games from my Steam backlog, and this week was AI War 2. Holy crap, what a ride.

Has anyone else tried to learn this game recently? The tutorials are like being waterboarded with spreadsheet data. I'm talking 40+ minutes just to understand basic fleet movement, and that's WITH the game holding my hand. The tutorial even bugged out on me twice where I did exactly what it asked but it wouldn't advance to the next step.

But here's the weird part - once I said "screw it" and just started playing, things actually started clicking. The scale is insane. We're not talking about building a base and some units. This is full galactic warfare where every decision affects how much the AI hates you personally.

The fleet system is actually pretty brilliant once you wrap your head around it. Instead of micromanaging hundreds of units, you're managing strategic assets and fleet compositions. Transport flagships ferry entire armies between star systems. Battle stations provide mobile command points. It's like nothing I've played before.

Anyone else think the music is completely wrong though? It's this pleasant classical stuff that sounds like coffee shop background music. I'm commanding space fleets against robot overlords and the soundtrack is making me want to read poetry.

Bottom line - if you like complex strategy games and have the patience of a monk, this might be your jam. If you want something you can pick up and play casually, run screaming in the other direction.

Currently 75% off on Steam too, which makes the learning curve slightly less expensive.

Anyone got tips for a newbie who just wants to stop getting his butt kicked on basic difficulty?

Full review here: [AI War 2: When Strategy Games Forget You're Human](https://2tonwaffle.com/ai-war-2-when-strategy-games-forget-youre-human/)

What are your thoughts? Worth the pain or should I stick to games that don't require a manual to understand the main menu?